Day 1
10:35 am – departure to Chisinau from Moldova by air (Air Moldova).
11:35 am – arrival in Chisinau. Meeting at the airport.
12:00 noon – 2:00 pm – city tour of Chisinau
One can hardly find a more attractive, friendly and green summer city than Chisinau. This can be easily proved during the excursion where you will see the main cultural and historical attractions of the city.
2: 00 pm – 3:30 pm – lunch at the “Vatra Nyamuluy” restaurant in Chisinau (for surcharge)
3:30 pm – 4:00 pm – transfer to the Cricova Cellars.
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm – tour and wine tasting at Cricova Cellars.
The Cricova Complex is a true underground city stretching over 80 km with its own streets, avenues and boulevards (Cabernet, Aligote, Riesling, Sauvignon). The cellars are keeping the prominent Republican wine collection. Here you can find a truly “historical” wines, wines with character, unique wines! .. The unique exhibits, such as “Easter of Jerusalem”, liqueur “Jan Becher” (harvest of 1902) and 158 of the best brands of French, German and Hungarian wine, constitute the true wealth not only of the complex but also of the whole of Moldova.
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm – transfer to Chisinau.
Hotel accommodation. Leisure time.
Day 2
08:00 am – 09:00 am – breakfast at the hotel.
09:00 am – 10:45 am – transfer to Bender.
10:45 am – 12:30 noon – excursion to the Bendery fortress.
This old medieval fortress was built in the XV-XVI centuries by the princes of Moldova. The fortress was captured by the Ottomans in 1538 (during the military campaign under the leadership of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent) and was fortified in 1541 becoming the center of Ottoman “Paradise” (which included Moldova and the surrounding villages). The walls and round towers of the fortress have survived to the present day.
12:30 noon – 1:00 pm – transfer from Bender to Tiraspol.
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – city tour of Tiraspol.
In Tiraspol you can make a trip back in time to the USSR. City tour begins with a visit to the monument of Vladimir Lenin and tanks inherited from the Second World War. The city seems to be the ghost of the Soviet past. However, you will observe a lot of contrasts one of which is the football complex «Sheriff» – a real jewel of modern architecture.
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – lunch at the restaurant in Kumanek Tiraspole (at surcharge)
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm – a visit to the Chiţcani Monastery.
Nou Neamţ Monastery of Holy Ascension located in the village of Chiţcany is an excellent place for prayer and spiritual restoration. The tour takes you in an incredibly picturesque region which can be perfectly observed from a 64-meter high bell tower, the highest one in Moldova. The true connoisseurs of religious culture and history will appreciate the Monastic Museum. The museum not only has magnificent icons that date back to XVIII-XX centuries, but also numerous old prayer books, crosses and antique pictures.
5:00 pm – 6:30 pm – transfer to Chisinau.
Leisure time.
Day 3
08:00 am – 09:00 am – Breakfast. Check-out from the hotel.
09:00 am – 09:30 am – transfer to the house museum of A.S. Pushkin.
09:30 am – 11:00 am – a visit to the house museum of A.S. Pushkin and the Church of the Annunciation.
Pushkin’s House Museum in Chisinau is a genuine house preserved from 20ies of the XIX century. The legendary poet lived and wrote his first Bessarabian compositions here. There is a Church of the Annunciation nearby the house visited by A.S. Pushkin while he lived in Bessarabia.
11:00 am – 12:00 noon – transfer to the Curchi Monastery.
12: 00 noon – 1:00 pm – tour of the Curchi Monastery.
According to the legend, Curchi Monastery was founded in 1720 by Jordan Curchi escaped from Tatar invasion with his brother and the family of a priest from Buzeşt. There is another version stating that the temple was built according to the drawings of great architect Rastrelli. After the global restoration 2 years ago, Curchi Monastery became the most beautiful and highest (over 30 m) Cathedral of Moldova.
1:00 pm – 1:30 pm – transfer to Old Orhei.
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm – lunch at the hostel in the guesthouse in Butuchany village
Natural goods grown by peasants will become ingredients of dishes for your lunch. The lunch will be accompanied by the play of folk ensemble. You will be able to participate in the ethnographic program after lunch.
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm – excursion to Old Orhei, a 40 thousand years old amphitheater.
The caves, trees, monasteries, towns, cemeteries, hermits… No, it is not just words from the history textbook. You can track the whole history of Moldova in Old Orhei – Museum Complex under the open sky. Being located in the countryside, the landscape of the Complex is in striking contrast with the familiar terrain of Bessarabia. The town where first people settled 40 thousand years ago and further flooded by Thracians, Getae, Dacians and Tatars is worth to see.
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – transfer to the airport.
7:10 pm – departure from Chisinau to Moscow (by Air Moldova)
