In Căușeni you don't climb up to the church. You go down the steps into it. From outside it is lower than you expect a church to be, and inside it is quieter and cooler than the street. Once your eyes get used to the half-light, frescoes begin to appear on the walls. That's usually when guests fall silent, and I remember well how I went quiet here myself the first time.
This church and a winery are why I drive guests southeast. None of my day trips in Moldova go further in this direction: we cover 248 kilometres, and you spend about four hours of it in the car. There are only two stops on the programme, plus lunch, whereas on most days we manage three or four places. Here that's on purpose, because on this trip the road itself is part of the visit. I'll explain why below.
First of all, to those who have already been down into Cricova and realised that the tunnel of bottles is impressive, but the wine only rests there, while the grapes grow somewhere else entirely. Purcari is exactly that somewhere else: vines, soil and an estate operating since 1827, instead of kilometres of underground streets.
And to people who like the road. It's a little over an hour to Căușeni, about forty minutes from there to Purcari, and two hours back to Chișinău. For the first half hour guests usually say nothing and look out of the window, then the questions start, and by Căușeni we're talking the way people do on a long drive together. There's plenty to talk about. The south and east of Moldova are border country in the literal sense. The borders here ran differently in different eras, and you can still see it in the villages we pass: which language people speak, what they cook, how they build their houses. It's easier to explain in the car, when I can point at a particular house through the glass. Before becoming a guide I spent twenty years in business, constantly travelling for work: hence the languages, and the habit of talking on the road. And when you'd rather sit quietly and look out of the window, I'll notice and go quiet too. Guests bring that up in their reviews as well.
I don't recommend this day to people who don't travel well by car. We can't avoid those four hours on the road, and I don't know another way to get to Purcari and be back in Chișinău for dinner. If you're unsure, write to me and we'll find a shorter route.
And if this is your first day in Moldova and you haven't been underground or to Old Orhei yet, I'd start with the classic route: Curchi, Old Orhei and Cricova. This day works better as your second or third.
We reach Căușeni in the morning, before the sun is at full strength, and we have forty-five minutes for the church, which is plenty. The Church of the Dormition of the Virgin was built in the 18th century, when this land belonged to the Ottomans, and it was built half underground from the start. For an Orthodox church that's a rare choice, and there's no other like it on my routes. From outside it's easy to mistake it for an ordinary building, but once inside you soon see otherwise.
I want you to know exactly where you're standing, because this is border country, and in different centuries the border here ran in different places. I tell you the whole story in the car on the way, so that once inside you have nothing to distract you and can simply look.
The frescoes are the main thing, and they are well preserved. The saints on the walls are easy to recognise and the iconography is Orthodox, but right next to them, on the same plaster, you find Balkan and Ottoman motifs. The two traditions share one space as if it could never have been any other way. I usually give you a couple of minutes to look on your own, then show you where it's worth taking a second look.
Why the church was built downwards rather than upwards I'll explain on the spot. It makes more sense there than on a screen. Forty-five minutes is enough to walk around the outside, stand inside for a while and step back out into the light feeling you've been somewhere very far from Chișinău, even though the drive took just over an hour.
From the church to the winery is forty kilometres, and by noon we're in Purcari. The estate was founded in 1827. It's one of the oldest wineries in Moldova and will soon be two hundred years old. The vineyard is on the winery grounds. You see it straight away, but you have to walk over to it, which luckily isn't far. After an underground tunnel full of bottles, standing between rows of vines under the open sky is something else entirely. That difference is really why I bring people here.
The estate's main wine is called Negru de Purcari, and negru is Romanian for "black". This red was served at the royal courts of Europe, and Queen Elizabeth II ordered it, which the winery will tell you before you've had time to ask. I won't retell the history of the house, because they tell it better than I do. I'll listen along with you and translate if the tour isn't in your language. I'll just add that many guests leave with a bottle, and purchases, like the tasting, are paid on site.
At the winery there is a tour of the estate and a tasting of three wines. Three is enough to get to know the estate's wines and still be wide awake for lunch. If you'd like to try more, tell me beforehand: we choose the tasting before the trip. The tour and tasting aren't included in the price of the day. You pay for them on site, by card or in cash. I do the driving, so you can enjoy the tasting. We have two hours at the winery, and they usually fly by, but if you want to stay longer I won't rush you to lunch.
We sit down to lunch after the winery, and the late hour is deliberate: the tasting comes first, and by then you'll have worked up an appetite. Cobza is a restaurant with home-style Moldovan cooking and one fixed menu, put together by the family who run it, so there's nothing to choose. First come the starters, then soup, then the main course, and at the end tea, coffee and desserts, with homemade wine throughout. It's the food people cook at home in the south, except that you don't have to do the washing-up.
Lunch takes two hours. After a tasting nobody wants to hurry, and I don't hurry anyone. In winter, when there are fewer visitors, these lunches go on even longer, which is one of the reasons I love November.
Lunch is optional and paid on site. If you don't feel like eating after the tasting, we sometimes skip it and get back to Chișinău a couple of hours earlier.
Ordinary city shoes are fine, since there's no climbing over rocks and no trails on this day. For the church, as for any Orthodox church, it's best to have your shoulders and knees covered.
Two things are paid on site: the tour with tasting at Purcari and lunch at Cobza. Bring a little cash, because cards aren't accepted everywhere in the villages. Everything else is already in the price of the day:
This is a private trip: only your party and me in the car.
If the people in one car speak different languages, that's not a problem. Sometimes one person listens in German and another in Russian, and I switch between them as we go. Just tell me in advance which language is the main one for you.
Children are welcome. Child seats for ages nine months and up are available on request and included in the price. But to be honest, it's a long day with about four hours in the car, so schoolchildren manage fine, while with little ones I'd suggest a shorter route. Ask me and I'll tell you which.
As for the best time to visit, the church and the lunch don't depend on the weather, but the vineyard is most interesting from April to October, when there's something to see on the vines. In summer it can get hot at the winery, and if the sun is hard on your group, I'll change the schedule: we set off earlier and spend longer in the shade.
Up to four guests travel in a Toyota Prius+, five or six in an Opel Vivaro, and seven to twenty in a Mercedes Sprinter. If I'm booked on your date, a guide from my team will do the same route, and I remain responsible for how it goes.
I drive all 248 kilometres. I translate the conversations in the church and the guide's talk at the winery. I also keep track of time: if you get tired, we head back earlier, and if you'd like to linger, we leave later. We're usually back in Chișinău in time for dinner, and the evening is yours.
The timetable and booking terms are on the tour page: Căușeni Frescoed Church and Purcari Winery. Write and tell me when you'll be in Chișinău and how many of you there are, and I'll organise the rest.
Message me on WhatsApp with your dates in Chișinău, how many of you there are and your preferred language. I'll reply the same day, confirm the transport and tell you how best to plan the drive.
Frescoes below ground, a red above royal tables.Book on WhatsApp
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