On my way from Transylvania to Bucharest, I visited the Monastery in Horezu. I had stayed over night in Targ Jiu and hopped a minibus direction Bucharest, getting off at Horezu. From the Horezu bus station, I walked uphill to the monastery.

It's now more than half a year that I visited. And frankly, nothing really stuck with me. I guess, you can see that it's a rather modern interpretation of an old pattern. It was built in the 17th century and clearly copies medieval Greek orthodox monasteries, e.g., Athos. It lacks a unique Romanian touch. Personally, I found the churches in Northern Romania significantly more impressive.

As mentioned in Els summary text, the inscribed property covers more than the main monastery. Due to bad planning/research I missed it. I saw a very nice picture from Samuel of (I think) Schitul Bolniţa. It's located to the right of the entry. There are also some buildings behind the monastery. It's not well signposted, as far as I could tell, so just snoop around.

Getting There

There are direct buses from Targ Jiu via Horezu to Bucharest. The next larger town is Râmnicu Vâlcea and there are local buses making the connection between Horezu and Râmnicu Vâlcea. Note: The local buses are really slow and do a huge detour through the country side.

The Horezu bus station is a bit outside of the city center at DN65. Don't expect much at the bus station. Upside: It's closer to the monastery, so it saves you a few meters. From the bus station, it's a 45min walk uphill to get to the monastery. You can either follow the car road. Or a small trail where you get a great panorama of the monastery and the mountains (see my picture).

While You Are There

Coming with luggage and not being aware of it, I missed a coule (T): Cula Greceanu. Supposedly, this one is the nicest of the proposed properties and I only managed to get a glimpse from the bus window heading to Râmnicu Vâlcea. I felt reminded of the Kaiping Dialou in China.

Around Râmnicu Vâlcea, you find Primeval Beach forests, some Dacian Limes (T) and Byzantine Church (T). If you travel on, Targ Jiu (T) is a good stopping point.