The travels mix and match very well with the memories and even with the nostalgia of the past. The nostalgia of childhood is determined by our memories. The passing of time erases the unpleasant memories, I don't know if it is valid for everyone but I remember my childhood as a lost paradise. Of course, there were shortcomings and pains but I don't easily remember them and I don't want to make an effort to remember more. Thanks to my brain for making such a selection, letting me remember only what was beautiful.
A very recent trip to the city where I lived for a while, a trip to my childhood home.
I now propose such a journey because I am sure that none of the eventual readers have ever arrived in these places and it cannot be an interest to ever arrive. Maybe there is an interest for some to see what a part of the world looks like, a part that is not touristy, it is just a place where people live, people who live closer to nature.
To get to the city where I grew up I have to drive more than 400 km and in this direction, there is no highway. This makes driving difficult because the road crosses dozens of localities, from a few large cities to dozens and dozens of villages. Of course, with many speed restrictions that make the travel time to be at least six hours. The city I am heading to is in northern Romania, in a hilly area. When I get close to the destination and go on secondary roads, unimportant and uncirculated, I start to enjoy the view ...
Such are the villages here, with scattered houses, stretched along the road, with large spaces between them, walked by the inhabitants, because few have cars.
My eyes have already forgotten about blocks, concrete, and crowds of people and cars. We have already reached peace, people do not see each other in the village because they are in the field, at work.
Whenever I return to my childhood home, I am glad to see the storks. Storks come every spring from the Nile Delta to their nests to raise their chicks and in the autumn they go with them back to Africa. The stork nests are very large and always at the top of the electricity poles.
The view is wonderful, small villages can be seen among the small hills. It is the landscape that I like and I look to see it on every trip.
Finally, after almost seven hours of travel, I see the city in front of me. The tallest buildings are, as in almost all small provincial towns, an evacuation tower of a factory long abandoned and the main church, they call them the cathedral but far from it, the Orthodox Christian religion does not have the characteristics of large churches.
The city is called Falticeni. It is a small town typical of the province, with small buildings and the church we talked about in the center.
Although it is a small town, located on the northern edge of the country, it is a well-known city in Romania, not because of its appearance but because of many important people in the culture and art of this country who were born or lived here. Especially people have lived the last century, from the beginning of the century until after the Second World War. Poets, writers, actors, painters, sculptors. One of the explanations for this is Nicu Gane High School, a famous high school that managed to deliver many important people.
The least pleasant part is that European road 85 passes through the middle of the city and is always very crowded.
That, in the end, doesn't bother me too much, because my childhood home isn't in town. In Bucharest, where I have lived for over fifty years, my house is on the outskirts. Fortunately! Because I am far from the intense circulation and the related pollution.
In Falticeni, where I grew up, my grandparents' house was outside the city, also in a suburb. Only here a suburb is a village! It has nothing to do with the city, being at a distance of over half an hour's walk from the center to the house.
I have three nephews who now live in my childhood home. The two older ones were waiting for us in the city. We took a very short walk, of course, short and because the city is small. The city is small, well maintained, and full of flowers.
As I said, many important people lived here in the last century, so the city had an important past. I tried to see the old houses, unfortunately, there are not many because they were demolished during the communist period, to build blocks of flats.
In such a provincial town all roads lead to the church. This is the biggest.
Of course, there are more to show, especially a few museums but that is not my intention for this post. In my opinion, there would be little reason to visit the city, but if someone did that, then they would eat well. I ate with my nephews, because they love to eat in the city, but their parents don't like it very much.
My heart started beating harder when I left the city and found my way home after the asphalt was finished. From here begins the paradise of my childhood, the places where I played with friends of the same age.
A little connection with comfort and civilization ends, dirt roads began, without ditches and sewers. Only the cars of the inhabitants remind us that we are close to the city.
This is what the village looks like now, with scattered houses, large gardens, and full of greenery.
I almost arrived, I have to climb a small stretch of road and then, on the right, my grandparents' house is waiting for me.
The house where I grew up! In fact, it is no longer the same house, now my brother lives here and he modified and enlarged the house because he has three children. It is no longer the same house, now it is bigger and more modern but it still reminds me of my childhood. The road, the garden, and the yard remained unchanged.
Most of all, our youngest grandson enjoyed our arrival.
My childhood memories struck me immediately. The most beautiful days, spent with friends, in the surrounding fields and hills, from morning until sunset.
The first thing I did was look around, see the places so dear to me. I remember that after I started school I came to my grandparents only on vacation, after the rest of the year I only dreamed of returning.
It is wonderful to be free in front, free to look so far, free to see the surrounding hills and lakes.
I look at my nephew and see his freedom, I see myself sixty-something years ago.
The surrounding gardens are invaded by grass and greenery. This early summer it rained a lot and that made the vegetation explode.
Neighbors' gardens remained untidy. Because they are no longer neighbors, those I knew died and their children moved to the city.
Every time I get here I have to see the places where I played, that is, I lived, together with my friends of the same age. There were many children in the village then and our playground was on the field.
Uphill! That's what we called the place where we liked to meet. Of course, I was looking forward to seeing those places again...
That's how I got into the Green Sea!
The old road was taken over by grass, a sign that it is no longer used.
It is like a tunnel that leads to a magical world, to the kingdom of Emperor Green!
Wildflowers, so clean and beautiful. When I was a child I didn't pay much attention to them, but now I know how to value them, as precious and hard-to-find objects.
The road abandoned and invaded by grass is no longer visible but I remember where to go to the place called "up the hill".
We reached the plateau, the grass is everywhere. A very beautiful flower in the grass, I don't know it, I haven't seen it before.
The threatening clouds that gathered quickly did not let me enjoy these places more. Luckily the house is very close, in five minutes I was sheltered from the coming rain.
It was better to look out the window like I did when I was a kid and it was raining. I was very upset when it rained and I was forced to stay in the house. I had nothing in the house to attract me while outside, in the fields, hills, and forests I was happy. That happiness never comes back. Childhood happiness!
This was my bath of nostalgia and memories visiting the small town called Falticeni. I found a real Green Sea. I know it's not a travel post in the truest sense, it's a story of a very personal journey. Which will take you to a part of the world that many have not heard of and can get an idea of life in northern Romania, in a city that is not made for tourism. The surroundings, as is the suburb of the grandparents' house, it's a place of almost wild nature ...
And one more thing, from Falticeni you can easily reach many of the famous monasteries in Bucovina. Those are really some important tourist attractions.
