Known as the most colorful part of Moldova, the southwestern enclave of Gagauzia will amaze you with its energy, traditions and people. Gagauzia, which declared itself autonomous in 1995, is culturally distinct. Gagauz are closer to the Turks than Moldovans, although they are Orthodox Christians rather than Muslim. UNESCO highlighted another distinction when it declared the Gagauz language extinct, like Latin. Gagauz costumes and traditions are also different. The people even have an unusual way to celebrate Christmas. When the holiday they call Colada rolls around, Gagauz hunt wild pigs, using their spleens to make new year’s predictions and their skin to make shoes.

Comrat, the de facto capital of Gagauzia, will conquer you through gastronomy first. Gagauz cuisine is rooted in their nomadic past. Two staples are lamb with herbs cooked for hours in a pot and ribs coated with a couscous paste of hot pepper and other spices. For color and tradition, you can’t beat a Gagauz wedding — so if you get a chance, by all means go to one in Comrat. A particularly exuberant part of a wedding is the celebration of a bride taking her dowry from her parents’ home to her new in-laws’. The whole village gathers on the street to mark the occasion with singing and dancing. The best time to come to Comrat is May, during the Hederlez festivities, which feature horse races and the earth shaking as Gagauz do a communal dance known as the Horo.

Vulcanesti is a place where many ethnic groups live side by side, offering visitors a view of a tapestry of cultures. One of those ethnic groups is the Gagauz, who put great food on their tables, along with good will, hospitality, generosity, and noisiness. The Kara Gani winery will serve up all of these, plus a good glass of wine. Some visitors prefer rosé, others grape brandy. You’re sure to find one you like. And Gagauz food? Everything they serve is yummy. This includes cheese made from sheep’s milk; pide, a pie containing cow’s cheese; gozleme, a pie filled with a mix of cow’s and sheep’s cheese; shorpa, a spicy lamb soup; mangia, a tomato and pepper stew that can include chicken; and bulgur — or wheat — with sheep’s offal.

Beleu, Moldova’s largest lake, is on UNESCO’s list of global habitats that should be preserved for their biodiversity. Part of the Prutul de Jos reserve in southern Moldova’s Cahul district, the lake is at its most captivating when its white and yellow water lilies are flourishing. You can see them up close on a boat ride, which you can line up at the Bread Museum in Valeni village.
Another attraction is pelicans, which flock in by the thousands looking for food. A tip for pelican watchers: Stay overnight in a tent on the lakeshore so you can get good views of the birds at sunrise. After they eat, many fly to the Danube for more feasting, returning late at night.

Moldova’s traditional bread says a lot about our culinary habits and holiday rituals. A good place to learn the ins and outs of bread is Valeni village, home of the Bread Museum. Your schooling will include which types of festive breads are served on various holidays, and what rituals each type pertains to. Among the festive breads are bagels, hoopoe, pigeons, 12 types of braided wedding bread, and eight braided breads served at Christmas, Mardi Gras, Great Sunday and other holidays.

The celebratory-breads section is just a small part of the museum’s exhibits. A lot of braided breads have colorful names — plocon, bridal hoopoe, groom braided bread, father-in-law braided bread, mother-in-law hoopoe bread, and priest braided bread for the wedding.

In the village of Beshalma, there is a Living Carpet Museum. The handmade carpets created following 150-year-long traditions are the pride of the village. Besides the history of this craft that can discovered during a visit to the museum, the visitors can learn about all the stages of making a carpet. The aim of the museum is to preserve the inherited ancestral traditions and to inspire the new generations to love and preserve the elements of the cultural heritage.

The History Museum of Slobozia Mare is a small, but very beautiful museum with 11,000 exhibits. In fact, it wasn’t always a museum. During the Second World War, the Village Hall and the Border Guard Unit Headquarters were in this building. After the war, there was a hospital for typhus and dystrophy patients in it, then a school, and it was legitimized as a Museum in 1988. In the Peasant House hall, visitors often get lost in details and things. The Memory Room, dedicated to the organized famine, the deportations and the participants in World War II, is dramatic. This museum represents a valuable resource for those interested in the history of the locals.

At 30 kilometers from the city of Cahul there is a chain of hills that the locals called “Colinele de aur” (“Golden Hills”) due to the reddish-yellow hue of the clay that came to the surface. These attracted the attention of several researchers who discovered geological and paleontological vestiges here that testify to the past of the places. Skeletal remains of mastodons, camels, rhinos and other creatures were found here. Travelers can stop to admire this natural monument, or even climb it and admire the village of Văleni and Lake Beleu visible from atop the “Golden Hills.

Văleni village Legend has it that, before ascending the Chair of the Land of Moldova, Petru Rareș, son of Ștefan cel Mare, would have lived a quiet life as a fisherman around Văleni. “Petru Rareș’s Road” is a route that winds for a distance of 9 km among the thickets of reeds, willows and legends, connecting with the other bank of the Prut. Another story says that while on a hunt in the region, Petru Rareș dreamed of the Golden Hills of Văleni knealing to him, and the next day he found out the news that he would become the ruler of Moldova. At present, this route has remained a historical and cultural heritage shrouded in mystery for the South of Moldova.

The Gagauz National Museum of History and Ethnography presents unique exhibits of Gagauz national costume, traditional women’s jewelry, work tools, household items and ethnography of Gagauz peasants from the 19th century. You will also learn about the traditions and customs of the Gagauz people and get acquainted with their wedding customs. In fact, the Gagauz are the only Christian Orthodox people of Turkish origin.

Located in the village of Zaim, Causeni, the Alexei Mateevici house-museum was founded in 1988, on the poet’s centenary. The current museum building was built by the poet’s father, the priest Mihail Mateevici. The museum has six rooms that reveal the poet’s contemporary atmosphere through paintings, sculptures, household objects and documents, a library of rare books and antique furniture. In one of the museum’s halls you may find the “Table of Silence”, which stores both soil from the graves of Romanian literature classics such as Mihai Eminescu, I.L. Caragiale, George Coșbuc, Mihail Sadoveanu as well as from the graves of Alexei Mateevici’s parents. The Museum holds over 7000 articles, photos and personal items.