Easter Holidays in Moldova

EASTER HOLIDAYS IN MOLDOVA

 

The period 15.04 – 24.04.2023 the whole country Republic of Moldova is celebrating Orthodox Easter which is a very special and significant holiday in our culture. Early in the morning, on Easter Sunday, people go to the church with an especially home-baked for this occasion Easter Cake “Pasca” and colored (usually red but can be any other color with various ornament) eggs to bless the basket and light the candles.  Later this day, these blessed dishes will be shared among family members at traditional Easter lunch. This day the Moldovans start their meal exclusively with Easter cake and eggs blessed at church. 40 days before Easter, Orthodox people are fastening and going to church to Confession. During these weeks people are not supposed to consume meat, dairy products, eggs and fish can be served on their tables only on certain Fish Days. People in Moldova tend to follow Easter traditions, which are carefully preserved and transmitted, from one generation to another.

 

HospitalityTour Itinerary:

Day 1/ City Tour Chisinau + Milestii Mici cycling tour. 

 

Arrive at Chisinau Train Station or International Airport Chisinau.

Meet your guide and driver.

Transfer to a city/hotel restaurant for breakfast.

 

After breakfast, we invite you to explore the Europe’s greenest capital – Chisinau.  Embark on a walking tour of Chisinau.

En route: Cathedral Park with Lord Nativity Cathedral and Bell Tower; Victory Arc; Main Square “Stefan cel Mare” with a monument to Stefan cel Mare; Alley of Romanian Literature Classics; Opera and Ballet House, Souvenir’s Market, the Presidency, the Parliament, History and Archeology Museum in Chisinau. (entry)

Free lunch in the city.

 

14:00 Check-in a central hotel in Chisinau, time to refresh.

16:00 Departure to Milestii Mici winery for a cycling tour, wine tasting and dinner.

17:00 Upon arrival in the wine-cellars, the group will be divided in two – a part will take a cycling tour, the rest of the participants will go on an electric train due to a limited number of trains on the winery. On the way back from the tunnels, they will change.

During the tour, the group will see rich collection of the selected wines and will have a walk through the underground wine gallery. The wines stored here are made of various years’ crops, beginning with the 1968 to 1991. The “Golden Collection” of Milestii Mici contains over 1.5 million bottles of harmonious wines dating from the period of Moldavi

an wine making prosperity “Pinot”, “Traminer”, “Muscat”, “Riesling”, “Feteasca”, “Codru”, “Negru de Purcari”, “Trandafirul Moldovei”, “Auriu” and others.

The tour finishes with wine tasting and dinner in the winery restaurant accompanied by live traditional music.

20:00 Arrive back in Chisinau. Time at leisure.

 

Overnight in Chisinau.

 

Day 2/ Orheiul Vechi Archeological open-air complex+Branesti Stone Age 

 

09.00 Departure to a taking-breath open-air museum complex Orheiul Vechi and discover how Easter is celebrated in countryside

and what Easter traditions in Moldova are still alive.

10.00-12.00 Visit to the museum complex Orheiul Vechi (Old ORHEI) – an impressive monastery complex that presents the remains of different civilizations established between Nistru and Prut rivers. This is a cave complex comprising caves, grottos, churches, and hermitages. The open-air museum represents a true natural fortress, inhabited since ancient times. Walk into the cave monastery inhabited by one monk.

 

12.30-13.30 Enjoy traditional Easter lunch in a family pension in the mid of this historical complex Old Orhei.

Traditional Easter lunch would include: baked lamb, colored eggs, Easter cake “Pasca”, fresh  vegetables, traditional rice rolls “sarmale” in wine or c

abbage leaves, salty pastry “placinte” with various stuffing like cottage cheese, cabbage or potatoes, and of course, traditional dish “Mamaliga” – corn porridge round shaped served with sour cream and sheep cheese, and which is traditionally cut into portions by means of a thread.

14.00-15.00 Take an active part at some Easter classes like eggs coloring or corn leaves weaving.

16.00 Wine tour& tasting at a “Stone Age” wine-cellar Branesti in a nearby village.

Take a tour to an impressive “Stone age” wine cellar “Branesti” stretching for over 55 km under the ground with unique tasting halls with sophisticated architecture and interior covered with perennial dust that’s originally preserved and untouched. The winery is specializing in red and white wines, dry and semi-dry wines as well as sparkling wines, which are really inviting. But of special demand and interest are the wines like Marsala, Madeira, pastoral wines involving special technology in producing them.

18:00 Dinner at the winery restaurant “Stone Age” /”Epoca de Piatra” in Romanian- a restaurant carved in a limestone rock.

19.30 Back to Chisinau.

Overnight in Chisinau.

 

Day 3/Transnistria: Tiraspol – Casa Caraman -Tighina fortress 

 

This day you will have a full day trip to Transnistria and will learn the history of this self-proclaimed independent and unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic that has its own currency, border guards and policy.

9.00 Departure to Transnistria from Chisinau.

11.00-12.30 Tour the capital of Transnistria – which is the second largest city in Moldova. The city is located on the Eastern bank of the Dniester River. The Russian general Alexandr Suvorov founded it in 1792, whose statue is rising on the central square in Tiraspol. During this tour, you will see the Drama and Comedy theatre, the Lenin, Suvorov and Catherine the Great Monuments, the Parliament, the House of Sovjets and have a walking tour along the river Dniestr.

13.00 Continue to a nearby village Tirnauca and visit a traditional house-museum “Casa Caraman” in Transnistria, which has been carefully preserving old traditions of the region. We invite you to a museum of Moldovan culture in Transnistria that represents small clay house with brick roof and disposes traditional utensils like a stove, old pottery and photographs, carpets that are almost 100-century years old. The housekeeper will meet you in traditional wearing and will show you around the museum and yard.

13.00 – 16.00 You’re going to try at this guest house local home-made food with an accent to Easter holidays and enjoy folk show with traditional music instruments characteristic of the region.

16.30 – 17.00 In the afternoon, you will explore the 16th century Tighina fortress and visit the on-site museum and the War Memorial in the city of Bender. The first documentary mention of “Tighina Fortress” was in 1408.  Its walls have survived to the present and offer an example of classic Moldavian defensive construction.

 

17.30 Drive back to Chisinau

18.30 Arrive in Chisinau. Evening at leisure on your own.

Overnight in Chisinau.

Day 4/ Farewell to Moldova

Breakfast at hotel.

Day at leisure in Chisinau before your departure to the scheduled flight.

You have plenty of time to explore Easter Chisinau on your own and purchase special gifts for the dearest!

 

 

Tour details and reservations on incoming@solei.md