The Annunciation Day (Romanian ”Buna Vestire” or “Blagoveştenia”) is the feast that gathers, every year, a large number of tourists and pilgrims at the Durău Monastery, located at the foot of Ceahlău Mountain. On this day (the 25th of March) the Monastery celebrates its Dedication Day. After taking part in the religious service, people will enjoy fish dishes, being allowed to eat fish on this holy day.
In the popular culture, calendar the Annunciation Day is also known as the Cuckoo Day (Romanian “Ziua cucului”). The elders say that in the …

The 1st of March is approaching and beside the customs and traditions related to the trinket (mărțișor) the herald of spring, popular belief reminds of The Old Ladies’ legend, associated with Baba Dochia, the one who brings winter. Once the weather gets warmer, from the 1st to the 9th of March, Baba Dochia starts throwing away her heavy coats.
The beginning of spring is a good occasion for the tourists who like trekking to climb Ceahlău Mountain. Up there, Dochia Cliff reminds of a beautiful legend. According to it, Dochia was …

 
 
Ceahlău National Park
 
 
This park was declared a protected area in 1955, but the current limits were established in 2003. The 7,742.5 hectares of the park encompass the following reservations: Ocolaşul Mare (with the highest summit – 1,907 m), Poliţa cu Crini, Cascada Duruitoarea (30 m high) and Avenul mare (a spectacular sinkhole formed by waters in limestone).
Mount Ceahlău, Moldova’s precious stone, as the scholar Prince Dimitrie Cantemir called it in his famous work in Latin Descriptio Moldaviae (1716), has its share of spirituality. There have been sites of praying here …

If you climb the mountain Ceahlau on the route bookmarked with a red line, that starts in the Durau resort – Cabin Fantanele – Piatra Lata – Panaghia – under Toaca Peak and goes up to the Dochia Cabin, you’ll see, after you pass the Panaghia Stone, the east side of Toaca Peak. If you go along the trail you’ll reach the top of the peek where you can also see the weather observer. In the clear sky days the view from up here is magnificent.
As all the other important …

Who climbs Ceahlău to reach Dochia Chalet, it meets with Panaghia, a majestic rock, imposing. It is said in ancient times, the Panaghia was a girl whose name was Maria. She had blue eyes, bright and blue as the sky in the summer days, the hair blacker than the deepest and silky night, the skin soft and pink, as roses from the gardens of paradise, the voice of a nightingale. At her birth, God gave her a part of his heart and soul. From day to day, the girl grew and became increasingly …

When we are in Durău resort (800m), from somewhere on the slope, we can admire the beautiful view of the Massif Ceahlau dominated by the topToaca (1900 m), the Panaghia and Piatra Ciobanului. Thinking to reach Cabana Dochia through Fantanele, we follow the red tape and climb through the forest of spruce and beech. We cross the county road Durau – Mountain Spring, once a beauty road, and continue our ascent through the forest to the heights of the mountain, so that after about an hour, we arrive at a halting …