Orheiul Vechi; Oct. 4, 2009

You may remember that when I first met Dr. Cebotarenco, she mentioned I should join her for a Moldovan picnic.  Well, when I ran into her at the physiopneumology congress we revisited the idea, and two days later we were on our way!  This was also the first time I would meet Irina, Julia and their parents, as well as "the other Dr. Cebotarenco," Dr. Sergey Cebotarenco.

As I soon found out, this wasn't going to be just any picnic... it would be a full day excursion, complete with a trip to one of Moldova's most lovely national treasures.  Orheiul Vechi is a cave-monastery, carved into the face of a cliff which overhangs a loop of the Raut River.  It was dug by Orthodox monks in the 13th century and remained inhabited through to the 18th century.  The cliff is a massive finger of limestone, carved out of the valley by the river.  It's unique landscape caught the strategic eye of Stefan Cel Mare, who commissioned the construction of a fortress atop its crest in the 14th century.

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The church on the left, and chapel on the right are barely visible perched on top of the cliff.

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 The majesty of the surrounding cliffs becomes more apparent; the tower over the chapel is visible just to the right of the foilage in the foreground.

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A closer view...

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Harvest in the valley

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Julia and Irina!

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 A little cemetery of blue metal crosses along the pathway to the monastery.  It was overgrown with wild grass and flowers.

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A cross... people scoot around its base three times for good luck.

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A view of the church dedicated to the Ascension of St. Mary further up the path; but we were headed to the right to go down into the cave...
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Here's a better view of the church...

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Dr. Cebotarenco in the entrance to the cave-monastery.

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The door; and check out the wrought iron grape-leaf under the door-pull!  (below)
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A nun tending to the candles.  The bags on the right are filled with food brought by travelers for the monks.

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The resident monk and nun

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 "Chilii" - the tiny stone nooks that monks slept in for decades at a time with no bed.

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Julia and Irina in one of the nooks...

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I don't know which monk got the end-room, but the window view was fantastic!

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Outside the chapel was a terrace...

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The chapel's window

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Flowers spilling over the cliff's edge

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The girls, goofing around on top of the world.

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The Doctors Cebotarenco and Mr. and Mrs. Ivasiuc

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And that was Orheiul Vechi.  A beautiful canyon in the midst of Moldova's rolling farmlands.  Quite a sight, and well worth the trip!

Oh... the picnic, you say?  Well, after our cliff-side tour we made our way back out to the highway and found a nice little place in the woods...

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... where we enjoyed homemade clătite and plăcinte (kind of like crepes and hand-pies... the clătite were made with fresh cheese, and slightly sweet while one variety of the plăcinte was stuffed with pumpkin and the other was made with fresh cheese.  They were very, very good!)

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And, the appropriate Champagne fade out... hope you enjoyed the post!

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I've been holding out on you...

Well, December has come and gone.... but I still have some great photos to share from a few adventures in October.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years celebration.  Bailey and I just returned from a wonderful trip to Romania, where we celebrated Christmas and rang in the New Year with my Dad, Cristina and Mama Ica... in Mama Ica and Cristina's home town of Robești!  My Dad, Cristina, Bailey and I also made our way through the mountains to Brașov... more on all of that later (with pictures) when the blog has caught up to the speed of life.  :^)

La mulți ani!