Tsipovo, part two.

(This post has a Russian version.)

I’m not going to disrupt the photographs with my words in this post. Just want you to look at the views and take in the beauty of this country.

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Before coming down to the river, I wanted to step into the church, to light a few candles and say a few hasty prayers. I will never pretend to be a good Christian, but I do have faith, and what I’ve got of it I try to keep.

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The church in Tsipovo is small. This is pretty much all of it.

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After exiting the church, we rushed to our boat to go to our next stop – Saharna.

Coming right up!

Codru Reserve.

The second part of the Sunday tour included a nature reserve Codru.

The reserve itself consists of three zones: the protected zone, the buffer zone, and the transit zone. The protected zone in the smallest one. Any human activity, with an exception of scientific observation and sampling, is prohibited in the zone. The buffer zone allows for moderate human activity, including experimentation. It exists to guard the protected zone from the outside world. The transit zone is large, up to 2 km in width. For the most part it contains public and private allotments.

Unfortunately, the tour didn’t include a walk tour through the reserve itself. We only had time to take a look at the museum.

Now, I don’t pretend to be knowledgeable about Moldavian flora and fauna, but I think even for a person with a bit of interest in the local natural world some of the facts will come as a surprise.

For example, as I found out that day, Moldova has 153 types of birds. I had no idea! I thought it was something like, I dunno, maybe 40? There are 8000 types of insects *shudder*. And apparently Codru reserve also has wildcats on its territory. Wildcats are at the brink of extinction. They’re on the Red List of Threatened Species.

If taxidermy isn’t your thing (I feel ye), then some photos may make your eye twitch a little, but eh.

They’re part of any natural history museum.

See the first part of the Sunday tour here.

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Continue reading Codru Reserve.

Old Orhei Revisited, Part Two.

As we’ve established last time, the reason for visiting Old Orhei back in June was my cousin’s wedding. So most of the party climbed up for a decent photoshoot. At first I attempted to follow suit.

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Partly because I was a little afraid of these guys.

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Continue reading Old Orhei Revisited, Part Two.