Europe

[Visited: October 2010, May 2023]

It was a beautiful, quiet October afternoon when I reached the entrance to the Monastery of Bosie. The sun was already approaching the ridge of the mountains in the west while I climbed to the level of the monastery. It was quite easy to reach, and I was soon standing on the balcony right in front of the portal of the Church of St Nicholas. On the side walls of the finely carved entrance, I saw the inscriptions for which this monastery is partly famous. Cyrillic and Slavic characters have been carved out indicating who built the monastery, and another text referring to someone who had stayed here in a winter in the 17th century. When I entered the rock church, I was surprised about its space. It was easy to recognize the altar and nave; besides those, there were additional spaces in the rocky cell. I continued to explore the other cells that formed this monastery, and could only imagine what they had once been: perhaps congregation cells, those for storage, and of course sleeping for the monks.
When I stepped out on the ledge again, the sun had already gone down behind the mountains, but light was still reflecting off the Raut river below me. From here, I had a perfect view towards the main ridge on which I could see the Birth of Holy Virgin Church and the belfry of the other famous church of Orheiul Vechi in a distance. The next morning, after a long walk I ended up climbing my way to the Monastery of Bosie again. After having seen other places in the Orheiul Vechi area, I felt attracted to this quiet place where I had not seen anyone around. Unfortunately, I also realized that at this time of year, the sun would never manage to climb high enough to be able to shine on the great entrance to the Church of St Nicholas. I walked the galleries of the Monastery of Bosie again, and discovered several more vague carvings of writings and crosses in the rocky surface. Below me, in the shade, the earth was still white with frost, while in the sun I knew the temperature was pleasant. I decided to move on - on my way to the sun.
Many years later, I am back to Orheiul Vechi on an early summer visit. After all, this is one of the main sights of Moldova, and I want to show it to my travel companion. It is actually my third visit already to the area, and it will be my second to Bosie. Things have changed: we had to buy an entrance ticket, and there was a crowd of people sprawling over the ridge on which Orheiul Vechi is located. When we walk up the hill, we even see cars struggling to get up the rocky track. The difference with my first visit couldn't be greater. However, when we take a trail down the hill, away from the main area of interest, we are soon by ourselves. We meet two more people on our way down. After a short walk, we take the path up, and reach the ledge on which the monastery of Bosie was created. We have it all to ourselves. Nothing much has changed. The inscriptions in the rock face are still there, the views are the same, and Bosie is still largely off the visitor's trail.

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Bosie Monastery (Moldova)

Bosie Monastery > Moldova > Europe

[Visited: October 2010, May 2023]

Around the World in 80 Clicks