Short Monastery Entry

  Orheuil Vechi, Moldova
Thursday, October 18, 2007

Church on the Plateau

When Transdniestr split from Moldova, it took 70% of the country's industry with it. On top of that, Moldova is Europe's poorest country, and it's apparent everywhere. Eighty percent of the population lives below the poverty line and the average annual salary is only 960 Euros. Moldova's infrastructure, installed by the Soviets, is falling apart. In Moldova, they say you can tell someone is driving drunk, if the car is going straight. The roads are potholed and the sidewalks are a veritable obstacle course. Driving through the countryside, you see horses and carts and wells line the streets in many villages, but the country still has amazing beauty which I'm rapidly getting hooked on.

Limestone Hills

Today, two guys from the hostel and I headed for Orheuil Vechi, a cave monastery about 30km north of Chisinau. After spending an hour getting to the north bus station, only to realized we needed to be at the central bus station (strike two for Lonely Planet and Chisinau buses) we finally headed out. The drive through the Moldovan countryside was gorgeous with rolling hills and beautiful foliage. Alighting in the town of Orhei, we negotiated a taxi for 250 Lei ($22) to take us 20 minutes through more fall beauty to the monastery.

Inside the Monastery

Like Crimea, Moldova's hills are made of limestone and in the 13th century, monks carved this monastery into the cliff face. The underground chapel still acts as a church for three surrounding villages and we were able to see the dormitories, where monks slept on bedrock, year in, year out. Lovely. We spent the remainder of our hour clambering across the cliff face and hiking along the plateau above before returning to the taxi and Orhei.