THE BUCOVINA MOUNTAINS (OBCINILE BUCOVINEI) “Near a low foothill, at Heavens doorsill...“
...like in a huge triangular basin, the century old settlement of Gura Humorului is being spoiled, guarded by the low foothills of the three mountains (obcina = afforested mountain), the Great Obcina, the Voronet Obcina and the Humor Obcina.
Friendly geographical shapes, accessible to anyone who whishes to know and use them, the Bucovina mountains have been humanized for ages. Firstly, in the troubled days of the natives, the mountains and river valleys served them as hard to discover hiding places and as powerful fortresses.
The large and bright passage of the rivers Moldova and Bistrita through the mountains, offered itself in ancient time, as the only secure link between brothers of the same people, living on both sides of the Carpathians.
Once time passed, the river meadows from between the mountains, having the aspect of long fields, began to be gradually used for permanent human settlements. Later, our ancestors, tied the permanence of their existence to these land and to the mountains they defended as parental estates.