Last night's stopover remained perfectly peaceful and we didn't see or hear any human activity between arriving and waking up. The same can't be said about the cicadas, though. They were in full song most of the night.
The morning's drive saw us imbibing a bit more of Moldova and initial impressions were basically reinforced. It was good to see lots of old Eastern Bloc trucks still working, with many ancient Kamaz and Tatras being particularly prevalent. We also spotted loads of ancient Ladas, some of which were in extremely good shape. I particularly liked the 4x4 Niva variants we spotted: my kind of go-anywhere utilitarian vehicle.
Whilst bumbling we came upon a really good example of a Moldovan orthodox church and cemetery. The grandeur of the spires was quite something, they were flawlessly adorned in what looked like highly polished copper (most likely plated). The cemetery was also notable in as much as it was very different to any we've seen to this point on our travels. It was very tightly packed with graves sporting all manner of memorials. Some headstones were fairly 'conventional', some were simple (but substantial) wooden crosses, yet others were really simple and quite crudely welded steel affairs. Many of the graves also had accompanying seats and tables.
Post church we made our way to what is probably Moldova's flagship tourist destination: an area contained within a staggeringly vast natural amphitheatre known as Orheiul Vechi. It's basically an area that, because of its geology and natural forces, sports many cave formations contained in vast cliffs surrounding an extremely fertile plain; complete with substantial river. Unsurprisingly, it's therefore been attractive to humans over countless centuries and there are numerous examples of archaeological sites betraying many epochs of habitation. The natural history interest is also enormous.
The whole site is truly sprawling and vast, and the three or so hours we spent there were just about the bare minimum required to get a sense of the place. Though public roads run through it, it's a paid attraction. Parking and admission to everything was just under £3: for both of us.
Of the more unusual sights there was a monk living in a cave (in suitably cramped and humble quarters) serving a subterranean chapel (pic). He just got on with serving whatever mission he was materially / spiritually / purgatorially serving, whilst gringos milled back and forth through the chapel and probably added to his purgatory by gongoozling his living quarters. We're a strange species.
Though the whole Orheiul Vechi area was definitely being touristed, numbers were relatively low and most people trooping around seemed to be native Moldovan. Additionally, some Romanian, and a smattering of French and Italian cars / languages were also seen / heard.
Tonight's camp is not too far from the area and was found by following a random dead end road that looks like it probably once served a quarrying operation. It's been cracking for birds, with bee-eaters, turtle doves, hoopoe, hawfinch, golden oriole and a new 'trip' sighting in the form of middle-spotted woodpecker all making a show.
There's a bit of a downside to this spot in as much as about a kilometre away there's a village that, although out of sight and easy commute, has what sounds like about two dozen dogs that haven't once stopped barking in the four hours or so we've been here. It's a distant but still incredibly irritating racket. How people normalise this is beyond me.
Speaking of dogs, I managed an hour out on the bike from here and twice got chased by aggressive little versions that had seemingly been left to their own devices at closed-for-the-day commercial premises. In fairness, they've probably never seen a cyclist before, ever. In the time we've been here we haven't yet seen one person running / cycling or - in any other fashion - doing anything even similar to recreational exercise.
We accept that we are probably the more foolish.
Post composed at 22:30 on Thursday 7th August from our intended overnighting spot N 47.34762°, E 28.91475° / http://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:47.34762%2C28.91475