Cricova Winery & Old Orhei & Curchi Monastery

A must do. I did the evening tour with tasting. Tour of the expansive underground cellars which included salt displays and visiting the tasting rooms. You ride through the cellars on a motorized trolley which takes you to several of the major cellars. It is basically an entire city with street names underground. If you can, do a tasting tour as they do really formal seating with delicious samples. There is a video at the beginning in their bar/theater which explains the history & process. The tour is done by Crickova staff not your tour guide, and you may select the language. There is a superb gift shop.

The tour started with hotel pick up at 10AM. Our tour driver, Veaceslav, was waiting for us when we walked down about 10 minutes prior the scheduled time. We headed off to our first destination, Old Orhei, which is about an hour or so from our hotel in Chisinau. On the way, he shared really interesting information about Moldova. Before our stop to Old Orhei, he took us to two "unplanned" stops that were amazing. The first stop was a lookout far away from the monastery but had absolutely stunning views from lookout. The second stop was ruins of a bathhouse in the area. He explained the significance of it for it's time. At the site, we visited an archaeological museum that showed several pieces of history throughout the area dating back to early BC periods. He then showed us a common house of the village. We then walked made a quick walk up the stairs to the monastery itself. He showed us around in the monastery and then walked us up to the church and showed us inside the Russian Orthodox church. Afterwards, Veaceslav suggested a great little lunch place were were stopped and had an authentic Moldavan lunch for incredibly cheap (not part of the tour but worthwhile!) The food was delicious and the service was prompt. Our guide even showed us around the property, the cellars the store the food and another house in the village. After lunch, we made our way to Cricova Winery. The drive was shorter and we arrived a little early. At this point, Veaceslav, waited for us to do the tour with the winery. Unlike Milisti Mici, Cricova has large golf cart buses type things that you ride around in for the tour. Our tour guide showed us the impressive winery that houses some the world leaders wines (my favorite part of the winery!) and through the underground tunnels. There we watched a brief movie about the winery and were able to enjoy our first wine, a dry sparkling wine. We then moved on to the tasting, a red wine, white wine, and sparking sweet wine. They also provided a few snacks for our tasting. The winery here was far more impressive than Mici but felt a little intimidating. I did enjoy the wine more at Cricova. After our tour of about 2 hours in the winery concluded, we met with Veaceslav who took us back to the hotel. Overall, it was a really great day. The tours were perfect combination for my husband who loves to be outdoors and me who loves wine. I would HIGHLY recommend Veaceslav as he was a great tour guide who very clearly loved Moldova.

I traveled to Orhei and Cricova on my second day in Moldova. Fortunately, I knew my guide Nicolai and, therefore, knew that I would learn much and have an enjoyable day. I definitely did. In the morning, Nicolai drove us to a lovely church and provided great insight. We then journeyed to Old Orhei, stopping in several places to take great photos. As always, Nicolai proved to be a great guide, answering all my questions and being a great companion. In the afternoon, we visited Cricova. Cricova is a bit fancier than Milestii Mici; more elaborate (but not as fun to visit). I recommend visiting both Milestii Mici and Cricova, though, such that the wineries can be compared. Once again, I must thank Nicolai for being a great guide and taking such good care of me. cheers