Moldova Inn: On the very tourist path

Finally the moment of visiting places in Moldova have came! It was a pretty intensive weekend, with hours spent in the bus, no sun and terrible cold. But of course it was worth it!

Saturday was a day of visiting the main Moldova's tourist attraction - Orheiul Vechi. We took the marshrutka from Central Station (strada Tighina, just next to Piata Centrala) to Butuceni at 10:20. The ticket cost 26 MDL one way. The journey takes about an hour, don't worry about where to get out, if the driver knows where are you going he will stop at the right place.
The view is stunning from the first minutes - a high, rock cliff, what is not very common sight in Moldova (for how long I haven't seen a hill? since the moment I left Poland!). In the rocks there are several caves where we follow in the first place. They are in the middle of the hill, we need to go a bit up, but the way is pretty easy even for someone with fear of heights :D

The caves arised naturally, but later they were secured by the rectangle blocks to not collapse. Even like this they give a great impression and the view from up there is very beautifull. We see the monastery on the distance, the river flowing below us and the sea of fields with some horses going around. The rocks themselves are also really interesting, there are plenty of shells as relics of the very old times when this area was covered with the sea.

We decide to go to the monastery up on the cliff (there is also second option, along the river) but going straight up appears to be too difficults (at least for someone with the fear of hights :D). So we go a bit back to the village Trebujeni in order to get up on the cliff by the gentle slope. The village itself is also very interesting and I recommend to take this path. It is so traditional, with all the houses in Moldovan style, beautifully painted in different ornaments.

As we go up the view is even better and we go straight to the monastery enjoing the nature. On the path, we are alone but when we get to the place we meet much more people, as the evidence that Orheiul Vechi is a truly tourist attraction. The church is renovated, looks nice and has a plesant garden around, but we cannot take a look to the interior because it's closed.

Anyway, another church which is open seems much more interesting than the previous one could ever be, we go down into the cave made (dug) by the monks, the first monastery here that comes from XIII century. It's dark, he rock walls are full of icons and one old, stooping monk bustle around talking to himself. Beautiful impression.

After the monastery we go down to another village - Butuceni, which looks exactly like the previous one. Although is a bit more touristic, the group of children stops us offering to tell us something about the monastery for 1 leu :) Further we find a guesthouse with the outdoor swimming pool! And this image so characteristic for Moldova, on the road which doesn't have an asphalt surface are going super expensive cars (belonged to the pilgrimes from the capital city) getting so dirty and leaving a dense trial of dust behind.

The village has two other interesting places - a museum with the exhibition of items found in the place coming from different time periods (situated at the end of the village) and an exhibitory traditional house. Both worth seeing.
The trips (for someone who travels by bus) has to end at 4 pm when the last bus to Chisinau is going. You can catch it at the bridge in the village. But before is good to eat something in the only restaurant in the village (I think) which serves typical Moldovan food of course. Very recommended!

It was a great trip, the place really suprised me in a positive way, it offers a lot of different attractions and surely would be interesting for many. Don't miss it while being in Moldova!