Moldova's Ancient + Remote Orheiul Vechi Monastery

A lonely Northern Irishman out in the middle of nowhere on a mission to tour Orheiul Vechi in Moldova.

A morning goat in deepest Moldova. On a drab dreary dark lonely Wednesday morning on a Moldovan November, I awoke in in Chisinau on a mission to visit Orheiul Vechi Monastery.

Moldovan wilderness at Orheiul Vechi.

Place to grab a coffee or a 10am beer in Chisinau Moldova.

Where the bus drops you off.

Church (Ascension of St. Mary) — at the very top of the hill you will see the church which is dedicated to the Ascension of St. Mary. The church was predictably shut down by the Soviets in 1944 and remained abandoned throughout the communist regime. Services resumed in 1996, though it still looks abandoned. Archaeologists have uncovered remnants of a defence wall surrounding the monastery complex dating back to the 15th century.

Church in Orheiul Vechi – just knock on the door and they will let you in.

Church on the lonely hill

Inside the church – there are great murals on the walls, something quite similar to the monasteries in Bucovina Romania.

Cave Monastery — the highlight is the cave monastery. The below door is the entrance to Orheiul Vechi Cave Monastery.

The steps down to the cave monastery.

In this cave I met Vasil who lives in Orheiul Vechi. The cave monastery looks like a man’s face in the rock side when viewed from afar.

The nose and face shape of the monastery. One of the rooms out the back has bats in it. It wasn’t clear to me what the room was originally used for, presumably shelters or sleeping quarters for religious people who came here.

In the room with bats.

Vasil admiring the views.  Admire the Views – the views of the countryside here are remote, inspiring and sublime.

Moldovan wilderness at Orheiul Vechi.

Grave on the Hill — there is a curious stone cross tombstone – a grave on the hill. It makes for an eerie feeling seeing the world behind it and a breeze blowing by.

Then, I headed down into the village of Butuceni. The cave monastery reminded me of Kandovan in Iran, Goreme in Turkey and Davit Gareja/ Uplistsikhe in Georgia.
 

Jonny Scott Blair

Jonny Blair is a self confessed traveling nomad who founded and blogs at Don't Stop Living. He sees every day as an adventure. Since leaving behind his home town of Bangor in Northern Ireland ten years ago he has traveled to all seven continents, working his way through various jobs and funding it all with hard work and an appetite for travel. Don’t Stop Living, a lifestyle of travel' contains over 1,000 stories and tips from his journeys round the globe. He wants to show others how easy it is to travel the world, give them some ideas and encourage them to do the same but most of all he aims to constantly live a lifestyle of travel. He is currently based in Hong Kong and on Twitter @jonnyblair.