“The monastery of flowers”/Agapia Monastery

On July 10 we visited “The monastery of flowers” called Agapia Monastery, in Neamț County.

First, we stopped at the little store that the nuns run outside the monastery. The nuns were selling all kinds of goods that they made, We just couldn't resist buying those yummies. They had different jams, breads and a thing called Serbet, that I remember having as a child. My whole family loved serbet. It's a sweet that you eat with a spoon and dip it in water, this totally took me back to my childhood. I bought Strawberry flavor and Hippophae which is a genus of sea buckthorns, my girls are going nuts for it! It's the biggest treat for them, they love it! My brother and mom also bought bread buns, they were so good! I wish I could have some right now. Only when I came home and looked at the pictures , I realized they are selling something called Cozonac, which is a traditional Romanian sweet leavened bread, which I wish I saw it when I was there. I was looking to buy a good Cozonac. Oh well, next time. We also bought a verity of Jams, Jams in Romania are extremely good, because of the clean air and great soil that produces extremely sweet and good fruits. I got this Jam that is made out of raw Walnuts, it is out of this world. Also we got Bitter black cherries jam, Rose hip jam,Rose Jam, Sweet Cherries jam and Blueberries jam. We sure filled up on jams.

On the bottom picture is Daniel our tour guide advising us with flavors to get.

We weren't allowed to take pictures, so I secretly sneaked a photo of this sweet nun that was selling hand made hats and scarfs.

Serbet and Jam

The rose hip, also called rose haw and rose hep, is the accessory fruit of the rose plant. It is typically red to orange, but ranges from dark purple to black in some species. Rose hips begin to form after successful pollination of flowers in spring or early summer, and ripen in late summer through autumn.

The incredibly good Walnuts Jam

Agapia Monastery is one the most important Orthodox nuns convent in Romania, initially built between 1641-1643 and later expanded. The monastery is famous around the world due to its interior frescoes painted in 1858 by the great Romanian painter Nicolae Grigorescu (one of the founders of modern Romanian painting).

The monastery's beauty, peace of mind and serenity can be sensed by the people visiting it. All the flowers, paintings, carpets, and books made by the nuns support those feelings of being into a real oasis of tranquility.

The Agapia Monastery complex is a true architectural jewel, combining the characteristics of the Byzantine style with Neoclassic and Romanian style. The monastery's museum has a collection of medieval art, religious objects and a library with old books and manuscripts.

Only some of us entered the monastery, It was my mom, my brother Avi, Pierra, Jay and my cousins David and Noa. When we entered the monastery we were in awe of how beautiful this place was. So many flowers everywhere, so clean and such a relaxing atmosphere. The flowers were so well kept, just perfection. Those flowers are called Geranium and you can see them all over Romania pretty much every house has them in their windows. I loved seeing it so much, that now this is my favorite flower. I put it on my windowsill when I came back from the trip.

The nuns at the monastery were making hand made rugs, made without electricity. This was pretty incredible thing for me to see, since I love art and hand made things. Once again we were not really supposed to take pictures, but hey, I just had too sneak a few. There were rugs hanging everywhere, different color yarn hanging on those big walls of yarn strings. and a few nuns dressed all in black weaving those rugs into beautiful art work.

Those nun work so hard on those rugs, I asked them, how long it takes them to make a small? They said that they work from early in the morning till 11:30 then they have a break till 1:00 and go back to work until 6:00 in the evening, for a few months only on the small rugs. They look so relaxed doing it.

All the nuns totally fell in love with Pierra, they started talking to her in Romanian, we told them she doesn't know Romanian and that she is from America. They said that she looks so cute and she look 100% Romanian, they thought for sure she was Romanian. Well, It's her Romanian blood I guess. So we asked if we can take a picture and this lovely nun agreed. She told me her name and her name was so beautiful, I wish I remembered it. It was so different from any name I heard before.

On the bottom picture the second rug on the right, is the rug my brother bought for his little girl, as one of the nuns recommended ( Actually it was the nun that took a picture with Pierra), since it was so cute and had a little baby dear on it. Now its above her crib and looking so precious!

We entered a different room where they were making, hats, scarfs and coats. We had a long conversation with some of those sweet nuns. I was telling them how much I love Romania and how beautiful it is. I also told them that I bought the people were so extremely nice , warm and welcoming. So they invited me to come live in Romanian :)

I end up buying a few cute hats from them. Pierra loved her new hats.