The Valley of the Twelve

The Şerbești Inn is a former tourist inn, built in the 17th-18th centuries in the village of Şerbești (today the village of Ștefan cel Mare in Neamț County). The Şerbești inn was included in the List of Historical Monuments in Neamț County in 2004. According to tradition, this place was built in the 17th century, during the reign of Vasile Lupu (1634-1653). By marrying Mrs. Tudosca, the daughter of the great nobleman Costea Bucioc, Vasile Lupu had become the owner of half of the village of Şerbești. In 1637 he built a church there.   The inn was built in the center of the village, halfway between Tupilați (where the Ancuței Inn is located) and Piatra Neamț, on the right side of the county road. It served as a stopping place for merchants' shacks and vagrants. The inn building had thick walls of unhewn stone and two monumental entrances with heavy, pointed gates. In order to protect the inn from the nocturnal attacks of robbers, the windows were reduced to the size of a simple rampart, and the gates were fenced from the inside with bars or beams.   During the First World War, the roof of the inn burned down, but it was rebuilt afterwards. The inn in Şerbești operated until the establishment of the communist regime and the nationalization of the properties. After the nationalization, the inn was transformed into a warehouse, it was later abandoned and left to ruin. In 1989, the authors of the monographic work "Traditions of Romanian Hospitality. Through the Inns of Iași" (Ed. Sport-Turism, Bucharest, 1989) found that the stone walls were kept intact, and the inn could be renovated without too much expense. Currently, the inn is in a process of restoration and enhancement, through a project of European funds.

Cantacuzino Manor in Şerbești is a manor house, built in the middle of the 17th century by the treasurer Iordache Cantacuzino, in the village of Şerbești (today the village of Ștefan cel Mare in Neamț County). It underwent additions in the 19th century. The mansion is located in the immediate vicinity of the "St. Gheorghe" church, towards the southeast. The Iordache Cantacuzino House, today a school, was included on the List of Historical Monuments in Neamț County in 2004, having LMI code NT-II-m-B-10704. Currently, the Cantacuzino Manor in Şerbești houses an educational unit for children with physical disabilities and is adjacent to the village School of Arts and Crafts.

The "St. Gheorghe" church in Ștefan cel Mare is an Orthodox church, founded in 1636 by the ruler Vasile Lupu, in the village of Şerbești (today the village of Ștefan cel Mare in Neamț county). It underwent changes in 1922. The place of worship stands on a plateau dominating the eastern part of the village, surrounded by a comprehensive enclosure, surrounded by strong stone walls. The church was included on the List of Historical Monuments in Neamț County in 2004. Along time, the Church of "St. George" in Ștefan cel Mare benefited from donations of cult objects or other odors from the owners of the estate, mainly the Cantacuzine boyars. Among the precious scents that are in the parish's heritage, the following should be mentioned: "a gold-polished silver chalice, engraved with the following inscription: "Io Cantacuzino vel Spătar, leat 1767" In the churchyard, near the southern wall of the place of worship, there are two old tombs, with funerary monuments of remarkable artistic value above them. One of the graves is that of Prince Alexandru Ilie Cantacuzino, who died in Karlsbad (today the city of Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic) in 1859 and was reburied in Şerbești ten years later, by his wife, Princess Elena Cantacuzino. And the second tomb has above it an obelisk with an iron cross on top; an almost illegible inscription is engraved on the plinth and above it, the double-headed eagle (the coat of arms of the Cantacuzino family), carved in high relief.

Clement apartments, located in Piatra Neamț, a 30-minute walk from the center, offers accommodation units with high standards. Modernly and complete furnished, all apartments offer generous accommodation and en suite facilities. Each accommodation unit has a fully equipped kitchen. Access to the complex is based on an entry code, so arrival times are flexible for our guests. The WiFi access is available for free throughout the building, and 8 of the apartments have balconies, some overlooking the Pietricica and Cozla mountains. In each apartment there is a tablet, with the help of which the guests can access information about accommodation services, tourist attractions in the area, itineraries, restaurants and transport possibilities, etc Facilities include a green terrace on the roof of the building. Other facilities offered are: video surveillance, free parking (within the limits of available places) and facilities for people with disabilities.

Drumul Plutașilor is a new guesthouse, born from the love for tradition, in a little-known place, Neamtului County. Our guesthouse was inspired by the ancient story of the Raftsmans road. Thus, Drumul Plutașilor Guesthouse is the ideal place where you can meet the legend and the adventure. Here you can spend the most beautiful holidays, in a place full of peace, tradition and temptation. We are waiting for you to live our story together. We look forward to living our story together.

What is known today as the Nechit Monastery was, at the beginning, a place of retreat for monks who wanted to perfect their union with Christ. As the name suggests, the first inhabitant of these lands was Nichita the Hermit. He was followed by a host of other hermits whose names inspired the entire toponymy of the place: Samson's stream, Jacob's river, the springs of Saint Chiriac. Almost 800 years later, God's providence fulfills with the old Zenovie Ghidescu the prophecy of his great-grandmother: "If something happens to you, go to the foundation of our nation, to Nechit." And so we get a little closer to the way the monastery looks today...

Nicolae Popa (1919-2010) was a folk craftsman and poet, recognized for his efforts to build a small folk museum in the yard of his house in Târpești (Neamț), recognized today throughout the world for his unique creations. His collections, open to the public since 1977 include: archaeological objects, numismatics, ethnography, religious objects, icons, naïve painting, but also creations of Neculai and Elena Popa: masks, costumes for winter performances, wood and stone carvings.  "Since my youth, I have liked the traditions and customs of my ancestors. That's why I made the museum. I realized that only by preserving tradition can we prove that we existed as a people. I regret that young people are ashamed of our traditional costume. A more beautiful folk costume than in Romania does not exist anywhere in the world. Young people have begun to embrace what comes from abroad. Instead, foreigners appreciate what we have here more than we do", said the craftsman Neculai Popa. The unique exhibits can be viewed in the 12 rooms allocated the museum and in the beautiful courtyard with sculptures of the Popa family. The first museum - it functioned from 1964 to 1977 in the old service building of the village teacher, which N. Popa repaired it and remodeled it to be able to house his collection of objects The House of Masks - This building was built by Vasile and Elena Popa in the second part of the 19th century and is composed of four rooms: entrance hall, centrally located, two rooms located on one side and the other of the hallway and a fourth room (which served as a warehouse, later enlarged), located in the back of the building. Currently, the building houses most of Neculai and Elena Popa's creations (masks and costumes for Christmas and New Year performances, naive wood and stone sculptures, made over the years) and a collection of vests embroidered with traditional decorative motifs, from the Neamț area .   House of collections - With the entry of the Târpeşti museum into the tourist circuit, at the beginning of the seventies, Neculai Popa realized that there was a need for the construction of a building dedicated to the collections of this museum, especially since the number of collected objects had greatly increased . And because it was a new construction, he thought that it should be placed in the courtyard of his home, the place where he carried out his creative activity and where he had already begun to think about the creation of a complex of sculptures for the exterior (the gate and the courtyard with sculptures). The collection house was started in 1974, and three years later, in 1977, it will be opened to the public. The building houses most of the collections of the Popa Museum: > archaeology, > numismatics, > ethnography, > religious objects, > naive painting. Sculpture courtyard - The museum courtyard has been decorated since the beginning of the 70s with the wood and stone creations of Neculai Popa, works whose dimensions vary between 1 and 2.5 m. Access to this ensemble of sculptures is through a monumental gate, carved in oak wood, a kind of "family tree", which includes about 23 human figures. Foto Video & Info Credit: www.muzeulpopa.ro

Aris Meridian in Piatra-Neamț opened on January 1, 2018 and has a capacity of 17 rooms (16 of them have a maximum capacity of 3 people, and the 17th room offers a maximum capacity of 5 people). The building has 2 kitchens and a dining room. The rooms are equipped with color TV, cable TV, private bathroom, non-stop hot water, central heating, WI-FI internet.

In Neamț County, in the Șugaului-Munticelu Gorges, there is the Via Ferrata "Astragalus", with the longest Via Ferrata route in the country. By climbing rocks, you enjoy both nature and adventure without being a professional mountaineer. The ascent is done safely, with 5 routes available with varying degrees of difficulty. The easy trails are also accessible to children over 8 years of age. Via Ferrata Astragalus is a Romanian Mountain Club project, led by Constantin Lăcătușu, the first Romanian atop Mount Everest. This project is powered by HeidelbergCement.