Sub Cortina de Fier

July 28, 2021July 28, 2021 / Andrada Costoiu / 25 Comments

by Andrada Costoiu

My first novel it’s out! It was a long journey, as publishing the traditional way it’s a long process. The book is published in Romanian, by Niculescu Oxford Publishing House in Bucharest.

I am not going to tell you the plot, I will just say that throughout its 463 pages the story takes the reader through the most important events of the last 3 years of Ceausescu’s regime, 1986-1989, including the Chernobyl Disaster and the fall of the Iron Curtain. Besides being informative on that time period, this is a story of moral courage and of the beauty of human spirit that shines through years of hardship. It is also a story of millions of people, past and present, who have lived under oppressive regimes.

The Romanian version can be bought on-line from the publishing house https://www.niculescu.ro/sub-cortina-de-fier.html, or from the libraries across the country.

A world within a world

July 23, 2021July 23, 2021 / Andrada Costoiu / 1 Comment

by Andrada Costoiu

Eros made holes in my dress,
That why Chopin must feel so good…..

Sitting by the window, in lavender summer dress,
I’m thinking to give cosmic basis another depth,
The one of my heart.

I guess that’s what’s happening…
When you trust your heart without doubt,
When you let the thieves steal your reason,
And love with passion.

I smile,
It’s the beginning…..

The touch, the skin, the dream…..
Whatever they meant through World Atlas they were wrong,
As it doesn’t contain the places that I am going to,
With you in my mind,
A world within a world,
Just mine and yours.

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My new poetry book “Love poems: insights into the complicated mystery of love” is available on Amazon. You can get it here. Please write a review if you get around it. I would really appreciate it.

A village museum, Curtisoara, Romania

July 17, 2021July 17, 2021 / Andrada Costoiu / 5 Comments

by Andrada Costoiu

There are many places that seem out of a fairytale in Romania, and this is just another one that I visited a few days ago. It is a Village Museum, in Romanian language called Muzeul Satului. It is situated in the South-West part of the country, called Oltenia and represents houses that were traditional in this region. A while ago I have visited a similar museum in Bucharest, that is much larger, with houses equally beautiful as the ones in the pictures below.

This museum is the result of a remarkable effort, as houses were moved from their original locations and reassembled on new foundations, according to their original techniques. Some of the houses you find here were built in 1700s! To me, they don’t look so old, because believe or not….houses like this are still inhabited in this part of Romania.

Together with the houses you can also find a fountain and a church ( the property of a former Romanian prime minister, Tatarascu, that was removed from his seat once the communists took over the country). The church is small inside, very cozy, and it features the original furniture. The church’s bell, shown in the picture below, was imported from Italy, and when the guide hit it gently to show us how it sounds, I got a feeling that it resonated through the surrounding hills and villages.

Some houses you can visit inside, others you cannot. The ones open inside display objects that were traditional in the rural life.
The village is beautiful and I will let the pictures speak for themselves, with the mention that the smell of flowers and the fresh air adds to the beauty of this place.

Romanian mountains, Papusa Peak, 7000 ft

July 9, 2021July 17, 2021 / Andrada Costoiu / 6 Comments

I climbed on the mountains today. I found them as I remembered, serene and beautiful ❤️

The peak I reached is called Vârful Păpuşa (Păpuşa peak), a 2,135-metre (7,005 ft) mountain in the Parâng Mountains of Romania.

To go to the base of the mountain, you have to drive through Transalpina, the road more affectionately known as the ‘King’s Road’ or ‘The Devil’s Pathway’. This is the highest road in Romania, reaching a maximum altitude in the Urdele Pass: 2,145 m. Situated in the Parang Mountains of the Southern Carpathians, the 150 km long road ties Oltenia (historical province in the southern Romania) to Transylvania (central and western Romania) between the towns of Novaci in Gorj County (southern Romania) and Sebes in Alba County (central Romania).

The scenery it’s really beautiful!

The road is only open in the summer, because otherwise it is covered in heavy snow.

My grandma and I, visiting a Romanian monastery

July 7, 2021July 17, 2021 / Andrada Costoiu / 21 Comments

By Andrada Costoiu

I am visiting my family in Romania ❤️

Today I took my grandma , 89, to visit a monastery that was built in the mountains , near the city where my family lives. The position of this historical place is really wonderful, on the spectacular Jiu Valley.
The monastery is called Lainici, and it was built in 1817, on the foundations of an older monastery, dated to the 14th century.

This is an Orthodox monastery , with only monks. Throughout time, it went through a lot, as the place was destroyed first during the Austro-Hungarian empire in the 18th century, then during the WWI, when the German army destroyed the church, and also the cemetery and the archive.

A loss of equilibrium

July 5, 2021July 5, 2021 / Andrada Costoiu / 7 Comments

by Andrada Costoiu

Photo by Dominika Roseclay

Love,
Ceaseless thoughts of you,
Feelings that want to stay inside.

Love,
Compromised by consciousness,
The reason versus instinct.

Love,
The head versus the heart,
What could be more important?
When these two don’t agree?

In most cases, mind wins by calculation,
Multiplying incompatibilities to the maximum.
But not this time……

Between pleasure and pain,
I’m sitting in no balance, on the cloud of unknown,
Quietly watching
The parade of feelings, in revolt against my mind.
I wonder who will win…..