Richard And Jo Demeester's photos

In front of the Holy Trinity Church (now mueseum).

Another building that was abused and misused during the Soviet era, with the books and icons purportedly burnt inside. The cathedral spent a good number of years operating as a museum.

Another political and geographical oddity of Moldova, albeit much more formal and far less contentious than Transnistria. We filled in the afternoon on our last day in Moldova with a drive to Comrat, the capital. It is a recognised autonomous region, with its own government, with a stronger dependence on Moldova than they would like. The status of the region, and what they are permitted to do, is not set in stone. Constant legal battles ensure the definition is constantly waxing and waning.

Note the scoring in the ceiling from the saws that carved the solid rock in to building material. I feel like the description should talk about and unfathomable number of shelves with countless bottles of wine. However, to receive the Guinness award that was eventually earned, they were once counted. A proper and complete audit by hand, cataouging location, variety and vintage, and exact number of bottles. Let's just settle on a huge number of shelves with lots of bottles on each.

Some of the oldest unsold bottles remaining in the collection. An aromatic dessert wine.

Ideal conditions. Wines lying at 80 metres depth, in bottles covered in dust and mould, in small elegant houses. Constant year round temperatures between 12-14 degrees, 85-95% humidity. Genuine long-lived wine varieties, from 1987. This vintage was produced during Gorbachev's anti alcohol era, although it was bottled in 2000.

Being the only English speakers booked for the tour, we had a personalised guiding service. Getting to the interesting parts of the old mine required a ride in a little electric train. The tunnels were made when building stone was cut out in blocks, making the tunnels quite regular, like a town street plan. Accordingly, they were now named, with inspiration from grape varietals. Chardonnay Street, Cabernet Avenue, you get the idea. We whizzed past scores of huge barrels, most so large you could not imagine another place they could be used. Eventually, we stopped where some gates were opened for us, presenting smaller tunnels. We continued on foot.

However, that is only a tiny part of the story. We are in our boots and our heaviest clothes because this was our last day and we were heading to the airport that evening. Since we had bought a fare that only included hand-luggage, the bulkiest clothes were picked aside to be worn at the airport during check-in and boarding. In the end, it was a moot point. We ended up acquiring 4 bottles of wine. We had to fork out for a checked bag to bring our liquid purchases back.

The photo is mainly a reminder of the key figures. It also acts as proof when I tell people 1.5 million bottles, that it is not a mis-remembered figure.

Most people were heading to the main door of the church. Here, many priests bustled busily, lighting the candles that were proferred to them by the faithful. I went forward, mainly because I wanted a photo, and a priest noticed me, and my lack of candle. He took one of the "spares" on the table behind him, lit it, and gave it to me, accompanied by a beautiful smile and some words that I did not understand. I thanked him, and we carried it back to our room, where it continued to burn for most of the night. When I woke, during the early hours, and noticed the flickering flame, it was a wonderful prompt to remind me to be thankful for the true meaning of Easter.

Getting in and out of the cathedral did involve negotiating a path between the singers. Maybe this was reason enough for many to just enjoy from outside, as despite the large crowd gathered around the building, the inside felt no more or less busy than it did during the day.

For many hours, the crowds came and went. On the steps, the choir sang. Of course, in this day, it was a multi-media event, with large screens erected for the proceedings. It was a beautiful event to be a part of.

In Chisinau, there is a military museum, with some of its most interesting hardware sitting outside. With almost everything in town closed for the Orthodox Easter long weekend, we were pleased that we could at least take in part of this site, despite the museum's closed door.

Looking down from one of the cliff-side monk cells. Not more than 100 metres from the cave monastery of Tipova, along the riverside trail, quite a number of caves have been adapted for habitation. Although no longer used in this way, they were utilised for sleeping and living over many centuries.

Every crack in the soft walls of this cave was occupied, by either a coin, or a slip of paper with a prayer. However, that would not prevent more being added. Being so soft and crumbly, little effort would be needed to create a tiny new spot. The challenge would be to not upset the balance of earlier offerings.

A well at a picnic spot.

This well celebrates the Biblical story when the woman at the well.encounters Jesus, and he offers living water that never runs dry.