Last summer I went to Moldova and wanted to visit the countryside, so my friend Anna invited me to the “only village foreigners ever go to”, where we visited a monastery and a local restaurant styled as a traditional house.
What’s up with foreigners visiting just one place in the countryside of Moldova? As Anna said, “I had only met one person in my whole life who dreamt about going to Moldova”. People who come here, are not too excited about the country, they visit for business, go on a one day trip out of Chisinau, the capital, and leave. Technically, the only one village I will write about is two different villages, Trebujeni, where the monastery is and Butuceni, where the restaurant is. These villages are very lucky – foreigners come here and therefore there is inflow of money and they even have indoor toilets.
The monastery in Trebujeni is located by the river, and was once only accessible by river way, and that is why there is a staircase monks used to climb. One can see the beautiful scenery of the banks of what used to be Sarmat sea millions of years ago.
The wall of the monastery is covered with little holes, and one can put a coin inside to make a wish.
Inside the monastery one can light a candle bought from a hunchback monk. Why is he crooked like this? Well, the ceilings of the cells are not too high, and you simply cannot walk upright here.
Next stop is a traditional village villa in Butuceni. Here one can see hand woven carpets, eat traditional food and drink homemade wine. This house looks like a typical well off Moldovan village house, decorated with haystacks for tourists. Waiters wear traditional local outfits and lazy cats walk around looking for food, while apricots fall on your head directly from the trees.
They say Moldovan fruit is the tastiest and the juiciest in Europe, I agree and can add – it is one of the cheapest too. People are warm and welcoming, and there is much more to discover in Moldova than just one village. In case you want to dive in and experience this beautiful country from within, join Anna on instagram, and let the journey begin.
mehmehsasa 