CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Chernivtsi it runs 355 km to Chernivtsi; allow about 7 h 53 of riding. On the way it passes Churches of Moldavia, Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster, Church of the Resurrection of Suceviţa Mon and Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Ukraine into Romania - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
The Residence of the Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metropolitans in Chernivtsi is one of the most extraordinary buildings in Eastern Europe, a red-brick complex of towers, domes and arcades that looks like a cross between a Byzantine monastery, a Moorish palace and a Victorian college. It was designed by the Czech architect Josef Hlávka and built between 1864 and 1882 as the seat of the Orthodox metropolitan of Bukovina and Dalmatia, then provinces of the Austrian Empire. The roofs are covered with coloured glazed tiles in patterns derived from the folk art of the region, the interiors are lavishly decorated, and the complex includes a seminary, a church and gardens. Today it houses the Chernivtsi National University, and it was listed by UNESCO in 2011. Students fill the courtyards, and guided tours show the main halls, including the stunning Marble Hall.
Read the complete Residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metr write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metr is where the day begins. Next is Churches of Moldavia.
Sucevița is the last and the largest of the great painted monasteries of Bucovina, and when you come down into its valley and see it for the first time, a squat fortress of white walls and towers with a church inside painted from eaves to plinth in deep greens, reds and blues, it stops you in your tracks. It was built in the 1580s and 1590s by the Movilă family, princes and churchmen of Moldavia, and its frescoes are among the best preserved of all the painted churches. UNESCO groups it with seven others as the churches of Moldavia.
Read the complete Churches of Moldavia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Churches of Moldavia comes up about 85 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster.
Moldovița is the monastery that makes people go quiet in the courtyard. It sits in a green pocket of the Bukovina hills, ringed by a stout defensive wall with corner towers, and inside it the Church of the Annunciation is painted from the ground to the eaves with saints, prophets and battle scenes in blues, reds and ochres that have survived some five centuries of Carpathian weather. It was founded in the time of Petru Rareș, in the 1530s, and it belongs to the famous group of painted churches of northern Moldavia that UNESCO lists together.
Read the complete Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 120 km into the recorded legs you reach Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster. Next is Church of the Resurrection of Suceviţa Mon.
Green is the colour that defines Suceviţa, and it is a green you have to see to believe. The monastery, in the Bukovina hills of northern Romania, was built at the end of the sixteenth century by the Movilă family, princes of Moldavia, and its church of the Resurrection is covered, outside as well as in, with frescoes that run in unbroken bands over every wall. Where the neighbouring monasteries of Voroneț and Moldovița are known for blue and yellow, the dominant tone here is a deep, mossy green, and the effect in the shade of the surrounding spruce is almost underwater.
Read the complete Church of the Resurrection of Suceviţa Mon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Resurrection of Suceviţa Mon, about halfway. Next is Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap.
Arbore is a village in Bucovina, in the north of Romania, and its church is one of the famous painted churches of Moldavia. It was built in 1503 by Luca Arbore, a nobleman at the court of Stephen the Great, and dedicated to the Beheading of St John the Baptist. Like the other painted churches of the region, its exterior walls are covered with frescoes, applied in the sixteenth century to teach the Bible to ordinary people who could not read. Arbore's frescoes, painted around 1541, are known for their green tones, and while weather has faded the walls facing the prevailing wind, the west facade still shows scenes of the Last Judgement, saints and the Book of Genesis in remarkable detail. UNESCO lists it among the eight churches of northern Moldavia.
Read the complete Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap sits at 149 km, about halfway. Next is back through Church of the Resurrection of Suceviţa Mon.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Resurrection of Suceviţa Mon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of the Resurrection of Suceviţa Mon comes up about 202 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 237 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster. Next is back through Churches of Moldavia.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Churches of Moldavia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Churches of Moldavia, late in the day. Next is Residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metr.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metr write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 355 km.
Residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metr → Churches of Moldavia is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Churches of Moldavia → Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster → Church of the Resurrection of Suceviţa Mon is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Resurrection of Suceviţa Mon → Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap → back through Church of the Resurrection of Suceviţa Mon is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of the Resurrection of Suceviţa Mon → back through Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster → back through Churches of Moldavia is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Churches of Moldavia → Residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metr is 82 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.