March 2025. Old Orhei. Moldova.
It’s generally accepted that the main activities in Moldova are craft beer bars, wine tasting, and monasteries. Let’s get the 2nd and 3rd of those ticked.
Our guide Vasili had a nice looking car to take us to Old Orhei’s little collection of museums and monasteries.
Well, it was a nice car, before he worked out we weren’t too interested in fossils and flowery dresses and would prefer to go off-road near Trebujeni,
taking a track littered with increasingly large fallen rocks to a secret place he goes fishing. And possibly murders British tourists.
The track stopped here;
“You can go across, Vasili !” I urged.
Back on safer ground, Old Orhei is generally accessible only on foot, but Vasili apparently had a surname in common with the guard and was able to spare Mrs RM a steep walk to St Mary’s Church,
and its stunning interior,
while outside we may have spotted our dinner.
The highpoint is the cave monastery where sits a lone monk praying you won’t fall to your doom.
Here we saw four other tourists, Bosnian and German reckoned Vasili. Moldovan tourism is in its embryonic stage.
A room to match any pub interior.
And a fairly simple lunch in Eco Resort Butuceni, polenta and pork all sourced locally.
Looks like our goat lived to see another day.
On to the wine. There will be carnage.
retiredmartin 