Aside from all the winery visits, we also got to do some sightseeings On our second day, we had a great breakfast before we headed out to our next destination, Butuceni Village.

Our happy driver, Vitalii, picked us up and drove us to meet up with Veronica of Winetours Moldova, for the other part of our incredible trip around Moldova.

Here we were joined by some more local wine enthusiasts and sommeliers, two young couples from Chisinau, so we had a great group of people to hang out with!

Here, we stopped at a viewpoint to see the Orheiul Complex, where an ancient monastery and many caves have been carved out of the cliff faces by monks who were hiding from persecution.

The most impressive part of this monastery is that most of it exists underground, within the cliff itself. It is even still inhabited by a handful of Orthodox monks who maintain the church buildings.

A funny story about this place is that no one can seem to agree on how the cross appeared at the top of the hill. She says it was placed there in ancient times, while others say it is a very convincing replica built for a film set in the 1970s and then left behind. We would be happy with either of those stories!

After visiting the underground monastery, we drove to the Epoca Piatra restaurant for mulled wine and local Placinta pastries. This incredible underground restaurant is located in an abandoned limestone mine, with amazing open fireplaces that have to reach many meters up to the surface. This all creates a unique atmosphere you won’t find anywhere else!

The owners even showed us around the next phase of their underground plans - an underground “stone age” hotel. We can’t wait to see it when it’s ready!