So many good people return home in August! Let’s celebrate a great family reunion! Take your loved ones and go for an outdoor picnic. Over 70 local artisans and producers, products of vegetarian and fishery cuisine, wine tastings, dozens of parent and child workshops, DJs and live music, and many other exciting activities for adults and children. Gather a crowd of beloved ones, grab a picnic blanket and come to Pohrebea village to have some fun.
Hodina Festival
Strawberry & Wine Fest
Chateau Vartely returns with one of the year’s most anticipated events, namely Strawberry Day! Strawberry Day at Chateau Vartely is not just an event but a memorable journey where the joy of fresh strawberries harmoniously blends with the refinement of sparkling wines from the Inspiron series, offered unlimited on this day. The event includes live music, adult recreational activities, and creative workshops for the little ones. A joyful atmosphere envelops Chateau Vartely, making Strawberry Day a memorable event for the whole family. Strawberry Day at Chateau Vartely represents a unique opportunity to spend a wonderful day amid nature, savoring the season’s delights and creating unforgettable memories with family and friends. It’s an event that brings joy, color, and flavor to the hearts of all guests.
Street Food & Wine Festival
The “Street Food & Wine” Festival is the urban culinary event that marks the end of the season in a truly special way. Here, gastronomy perfectly blends with art, highlighting the diversity of the culinary offerings and promoting young local artists. During this festival, you will discover a wide range of culinary delights prepared with passion and creativity by street chefs. You will experience authentic and unique flavors, traveling through a world of tastes and aromas.
The “Street Food & Wine” Festival is also a platform dedicated to young local artists, where they can express their creativity in front of a large audience. Music, street art, and many artistic surprises will delight and captivate you during the festival.
Through this initiative, the “Street Food & Wine” Festival serves as a meeting place for food lovers, art enthusiasts, and culture seekers, offering a unique and authentic urban experience.
Frumoasa Monastery
The gleaming white and dark blues of the Frumoasa Monastery’s exterior remind some visitors of churches in Greece. The name Frumoasa comes from a spectacular meadow in the middle of the oak forest where the monastery is located. “Frumusica,” the word from which “Frumoasa” is derived, means beautiful. The Soviets converted the monastery from a religious sanctuary to a multi-use social-services complex. They used some buildings as an orphanage, others as a school for the deaf, and still others as a reform school for delinquent girls.
- Distance from Chisinau: 60 km
- Visiting hours: Monday – Sunday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
- Type: Monastery for nuns
Saharna Monastery
The Saharna Monastery, which sits in a steep, wooded valley, is a magnet for religious pilgrims because of a legend about the Mother Mary. The story goes that centuries ago a monk saw a shining figure of Mary on the top of a cliff overlooking the monastery. When he reached the lookout point, she was gone, but he found a footprint of hers, according to the legend. The area around the monastery contains the Church of the Annuciation, which was carved into a rocky hillside. The annunciation was the Angel Gabriel’s disclosure to Mary that Jesus had returned from the dead. Also near the Saharna Monastery are 30 cascading streams and waterfalls, an Iron Age archaeological site and a Geto-Dacian fortress. The Geto-Dacians were an Eastern European tribe who fought Greek and Roman encroachment.
- Distance from Chisinau: 110 km
- Visiting hours: Monday – Sunday, 6 a.m. – 10 p.m.
- Type: Monastery for monks
Tipova Monastery
Tipova is Eastern Europe’s largest cave monastery and Moldova’s oldest religious sanctuary. Monks began carving it out of limestone before the medieval state of Moldova was formed. Located at a dizzying height, the complex has been transformed into an open-air museum of amazing beauty. Legend says this is where King Stefan cel Mare met his wife Maria Voichita and where the Greek poet Orpheus spent the last days of his life. Visitors can also explore hundreds of other caves around the monastery.
- Distance from Chisinau: 100 km
- Visiting hours: Monday – Sunday, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.
- Type: Monastery for monks
Raciula Monastery
The Raciula Monastery, an hour from Chisinau, offers visitors an experience that few Moldovan religious enclaves do – a chance to live like a nun for a few days. So if you are looking for inner peace in a simple setting, consider staying in the soothing atmosphere of Raciula for awhile.
The monastery’s massive gates are always open. The 70 nuns live in a small cluster of old houses and gardens. The Raciula is one of four Moldovan monasteries built in the shape of a cross. The others are Frumoasa, Hirbovets and Hirjeuca.
- Distance from Chisinau: 45 km
- Visiting hours: Monday – Sunday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
- Type: Monastery for nuns
Veverita Monastery
The Veverita Monastery, built in the early 1900s, offers an interesting juxtaposition of architectural styles. The buildings on its left wing are Gothic and on its right wing Russian. The monks’ quarters are one of the largest you’ll see at a Moldovan monastery, and its church one the most stunning of any of the country’s religious sanctuaries.
- Distance from Chisinau: 70 km
- Visiting hours: Monday – Sunday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
- Type: Monastery for monks
Tiganesti Monastery
The Tiganesti Monastery near Chisinau was built in 1725 by a member of the Moldovan aristocracy, Lupu Dencu, and freed serfs. Tatars and other invaders destroyed it many times over the centuries, but it has risen from the ashes in every instance. A stark reminder of the battles waged on the monastery’s grounds are the graves of hundreds of Romanian, Russian and German soldiers lost in World War II. After the war, in 1945, Red Army soldiers arrived to close the monastery. The chief monk, Ioachim Burlea, was so hospitable, and the monks’ piety so touching, that the soldiers left without closing it. In 1960, Soviet authorities finally forced its closure, burning its books and relics except for a painting of Patelimon, a miraculous healer whom the Romans killed for being Christian. The same year, the Soviets converted the monastery into a psychiatric hospital.
- Distance from Chisinau: 30 km
- Visiting hours: Monday – Sunday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
- Type: Monastery for monks