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 423 km to Chernivtsi; allow about 9 h 43 of riding. It goes by way of Churches of Moldavia, Church of St George of the former Voronet, Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster and Codrul Secular Slătioara. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 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 St George of the former Voronet.
Voroneț is known as the Sistine Chapel of the East, and it earned the name with a colour. The little church of St George, built in 1488 by Stephen the Great, prince of Moldavia, is covered inside and out with frescoes, and the outside, especially, glows with a deep blue that has never been exactly replicated and is now called Voroneț blue. The west wall carries a vast Last Judgment, added in 1547, in which rivers of fire pull the damned toward the pit while saints, angels and a procession of animals look on. Legend says that Stephen built the church in three months, three weeks and three days after a victory over the Ottomans.
Read the complete Church of St George of the former Voronet write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 136 km into the recorded legs you reach Church of St George of the former Voronet. 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.
Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster, about halfway. Next is Codrul Secular Slătioara.
Slătioara is old-growth forest of the kind that Europe has mostly lost. The reserve, tucked into the slopes of the Rarău and Giumalău ranges above the Moldova valley, protects beech, fir and spruce that have never been seriously logged, and it is part of the Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians that UNESCO recognised. Walk under the canopy and you notice the scale first: trunks as thick as a doorway, fallen giants furred with moss, and a dim green light even at noon.
Read the complete Codrul Secular Slătioara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Codrul Secular Slătioara sits at 196 km, about halfway. 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.
back through Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster comes up about 254 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Church of St George of the former Voronet.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of St George of the former Voronet write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 290 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Church of St George of the former Voronet. 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 423 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 St George of the former Voronet is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of St George of the former Voronet → Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster → Codrul Secular Slătioara is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Codrul Secular Slătioara → back through Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster is 41 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 Church of St George of the former Voronet is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of St George of the former Voronet → back through Churches of Moldavia is 51 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.