In 1487 Stephen the Great of Moldavia had a small church built at Pătrăuți, dedicated to the Holy Rood, and it still stands, among the earliest of his many foundations and today part of the UNESCO listing of Moldavian churches. It is a modest building, whitewashed and low, with a steep roof, and it stands in a village on the edge of Suceava county, a stone's throw from Dărmănești. The scale surprises people who come expecting a cathedral, and then the frescoes inside bring them up short.
The story behind it is a good one. Stephen won an extraordinary run of battles against the Ottomans and the Poles and, so the tradition goes, built a church after each major victory. Whether or not every church fits that neat pattern, this one belongs to the same period of ambition, when Moldavia was a small country holding a large power at bay. Inside, the painted walls show saints in a warm, remarkable palette, and the church is a fine early example of Moldavian painting.
The road in is easy. You are close to Suceava, where fuel and food are plentiful, and Pătrăuți and Dărmănești are both small towns of four to six thousand people with basic shops and stations. Roads here are flat to gently rolling, through farmland and plum orchards, and the traffic is a mix of cars, tractors and horse carts. Nothing technical, but a pleasant warm-up for the bends of the Bucovina hills.
Visit in good light, ideally mid-morning, and do check ahead for opening hours, which can be limited. Dress respectfully, since this is a working church, with covered shoulders and no shorts. Not far to the north is Dragomirna monastery at Mitocu Dragomirnei, founded in the early seventeenth century and known for its tall, slender church, and the two stops together make a fine morning. Autumn light on the whitewash is superb, and the farmland smells of apples and woodsmoke.