Orheiul Vechi

So I had suspicions we wouldn't... but we did not wake up on time. Everyone was extremely hung over. Well, except me but I like sleeping so..
Eventually, after Lizs angry encouragement Karel (sounds like Karl) rebooked the car for 12:30 not 10.
I was in total hysterics. This guy is a 100% stereotypical american dickhead but when he made the call 30 minutes after we were meant to be there the reason he gave was "due to the bad weather we have postponed put plans"
It was so so sunny. His speech pattern and accent is exactly like snake from the Simpsons.
Liz gave us another hour which was enough prep time for me to jump up. I helped by ripping the blanket off karel. We for some unknown reason had asked for a taxi to drive us the 4 blocks.
By the time we got there because of traffic we were late. It was ok though cause they called and said they would be there at 1.
We waited but were hungry so went to the restaurant next to the radisson blue hotel which was our pick up point. It was so cheap except the water was $5!!!! Almost the most expensive thing we ordered.
At 1:30 they were still not there so we called them - they were stuck in traffic apparently - they got there soon after.
We had to do all our contract signing in the business conference room of the hotel 😂
Karel was a small douche but we got there. Seriously his stereotype is off the charts.
I said to Liz outside he is so American and she was like " yes, he is so difficult " 😂
We got upgraded to "an intimation car"
America was driver - we drove to Orheiul Vechi but on the way past the most ridiculous prison I have ever seen in my life. It was so dilapidated and abandoned looking we were like "hey how cool would it be to have a look inside" ... until I spotted the man in the watch tower holding a machine gun.
We are all totally flabbergasted that this is a working prison. I'm sure the guns are a deterrent but if you pushed the walls in an attempt to escape they would probably collapse. This place was so dirty I can't imagine the quality of life in there...

We made it to a view point- popped out for pictures - jumped back I. And drove to the monastery car park. There was a very vocal Turkey there 🦃

Walked up the hill and ta da, beautiful scenery and a church. This is suppose to be the big "it" place of Moldova. Not grossly impressed. The nature rather than the church was cool.
There was a cute dog and some goats I touched which was a highlight.
A monk rang the bell and I have recently found out also walked in on Will on the loo 😂hahahah
The church had some weirdo pidgeon whose ass feathers were like peacocks. We think maybe carrier pigeons ? 🤔🤔🤔🤔

The cool part of the sight was the cave/rock face monastery which we had to walk down stairs to get too. Only one was accessible but when driving to and from you could see lots of different caves. I would have loved to have follows the monk man down further into what I assume is his living chambers.
Outside on the ledge people had put coins into the holes in the rock face so we did too.
The view was so nice.

The boys were keen to keep exploring so off we went towards some river Liz found on the map.
We drove through so many villages and on the shitties roads we had to drive so slowly on because of the human sized pot holes and rocks.
In separate villages we saw geese and then turkeys being herded😂
Our car also got chased by a very angry dog that at first i was so stressed was going to run under the car - nope, just at it; with great aggression and force.

Finally found this damn river- chatted to some more sheep while there - nothing noteworthy about the river but it did give us a clear view of Transnistria on the other side of the river (unrecognized/recognized country)
There are so many random Jesus shrines in places no one loves for miles around..

Idiot Karel ignored directions because he wanted to explore but we all eventual came up with a plan of going to Orhei for dinner.

The villages remind me very much of the Bulgarian villages.

Karel parked the car in "Romanian style" i.e. Half way on the footpath then we went to dinner.
Terrible food lol but sooooo cheap.
Also, I'm not complaining about the translation difficulties.... I asked for ice cream -1 scoop chocolate 1 scoop strawberry but she brought out a bowl of each which was 3 scoops per flavor woohoo!! Hahaha
Will drove home for a bit but they swapped back over at the petrol satiation when we filled up.
It was bloody cold.

Karel, though so very very American did have some truly terrific one liners throughout the day so despite being so freaking frustrating I'm glad he came.
I couldn't do a second day with him though - great In small doses.

We dropped the car off and had another adventure on the bus to get home. 2 cats followed us to the hostel so i fed then some cat food. They were so friendly 😭😍

Overall we had a great day and pleased we actually did something in Moldova. We paid for half the car which came to $22 👍🏼Read more