3 excursion in 1 day: Cricova Winery, Curchi Monastery and Old Orhei

Excursion in Chisinau, Cricova, Orhei

Tour Price : €217 Duration : 6-8 hours Languages: Romanian, Russian, English Discount: 31 euro 2 persons, 62 euro 1 person

In the morning, after breakfast, we will departure to one of the most fascinating wonders of the world - Cricova cellars, that was founded in 1952. They are situated under of the small c Cricova town and those cellars form an underground city. The basements were formed after limestone extraction from the mines. Later, from cellars winemakers formed avenues and streets with wine, which are stored in the surrounding niches: Cabernet, Aligote, Sauvignon, etc. These avenues and streets have a length of 120 km in total. The constant temperature is about +12 degrees and humidity that does not exceed 97-98% - are the most favorable conditions for the storage of 30 million l of quality wine. Today, the wooden gate of Cricova winery is open to everyone. You have an undeniable chance to penetrate into the mysterious wine making process and to taste the best quality Moldovan wines. 

The excursion includes: The total duration of the excursion is 1.5 - 2 hours, including round trip time, excursion along the streets of the underground city, a visit of the production areas for manufacturing of vintage wines and classic champagne, State Collection and the "Tasting Halls" and wine tasting that includes 4 types of wines. 

The excursion will continue in the North direction, Monastery Curchi - is a genuine gem of architectural art. At various times it was the centre of work and unique creation of priests, monks, churchwardens, architects, landscape designers. Today the Curchi monastery revives the spirituality of the Orthodox people and preserves ancient traditions. The tourists visiting the monastery will find here peace of mind and become strengthened in the Christian faith. 

The third point that will be visited in this full day of excursions is Old Orhei - one of the most remarkable monuments of the dim and distant past. On the eastern outskirts of the fully stocked wood, in a valley formed by cliffed rocky banks of the river Reut, at the Cape Pestere ("cave"), it was the city - Old Orhei. 

The history of Old Orhei brings us back to the far back in the past - fifteenth century: reign of Stefan cel Mare. In the summer of 1470, it was finished the construction of the fortress on the rocky shore of Reut. The city's population was about two thousand inhabitants. In the early 70-ies of the XV century Orhei reached its greatest prosperity as a handicraft and trade center of Moldavian Principality. Artifacts that were found during excavations tell about the development of pottery, smithcraft, nailery, leather craft, Shoemaking, jewelry and other crafts. After the attack of the Crimean Tatars in 1499 and in 1510 respectively, Orhei was not able to restore, but attempts to revive the city were taken by hospodar Jeremiah Movila. However, already in 1603, 1633 years Orhei-called "old" or “ramshackle”.

Many scientists and lovers of antiques made great efforts to find the Old Orhei, because after its destruction, no one knew where there was this town. In 1947, the first expedition of archaeologists under the direction of G.D.Smirnov to Cape Pestere allowed to determine where Old Orhei was. During 20 years, it has been found more than 200 installations: workshops, storage rooms, cellars, houses, tools, coins, and many others. But as it turned out, Old Orhei is not the most ancient settlement that existed in this place.

Additional information