We start today with a visit to St Cassian Monastery which is near the cave where St Cassian supposedly lived as an ascetic for a short time. As one of us really likes religious buildings and we enjoy caves this was a no brainer as we were exploring the area. The monastery is actually quite new, still in construction in fact, even though it is impressive from a distance.
But before entering the monastery we stop to look for birds, there are quite a few steppe birds here and we enjoy watching them before parking and entering the monastery.
We are, at least in the beginning, the only lay people in the monastery and it seems we can walk everywhere except the monk accomodations. No one tells us anything but if a door is open we assume we can enter it, like the door to the church. Here you can see most clearly that it is a new church, only since 2001 as it is not as ornate as the typical Orthodox monasteries.
Next it is time to visit the cave which helpfully is signed but only in Romanian. And on we go following the trail and the signs.
There are some nice views from the trail and we enjoy them as we slowly descend watching butterflies and flowers on the meadows.
The descent becomes more dramatic as we approach the cave. We though it is close to the top of the cliff where the monastery is but actually it is closer to the bottom so down we go. At least the views are becoming more impressive with nice lakes and cliffs all around.
And then we reach the cave, actually more like a small cavern. There are a few icons of St Cassian here even though in fact he lived here only for about a year or two, if at all, before moving throughout Europe and dying in Marseilles at 75 years old. But at least he was born in the area, maybe, but little else is known about his early years.
But the cave is impressive enough to be an ascetic’s cave. Not size wise but access wise, it must have been a pain to access it before the stairs were installed. And even now we are very careful climbing up before exploring the cave and then returning downstairs.
And then it is time to climb back to the monastery and the car enjoying the great views and birds. And soon we are there and it is time to move to the next cave we intend to visit which is a wild one and close by.
