The town of Purcari, located about 120 km south-east of the capital, is globally recognized for being the production area of the most delicious Moldovan wines, especially reds. This area, which is wedged between the self-proclaimed Moldavian Republic of Beyond Dniester and Ukraine, enjoys fantastic exposure to the sun for its vines as well as the influence of a relatively mild climate due to the proximity of the Black Sea which provides the right degree of salinity of the clay soil in the area. The smooth slopes rolling gently along the right bank of the Nistru River near the village of Purcari once belonged to the Afono-Zagrafsky monastery. Thanks to these excellent characteristics, this area has attracted many farmers since ancient times who settled there to grow vines. Documented historical facts narrate that the monastery forced the farmers to pay a duty on the production of grapes which was around 1/10 of the total, furthermore the religious forced the farmers to take extreme care of the vines to preserve their excellent quality. It was during the period of the Russian Empire that this area received a great impetus in the development of the wine industry. In 1827 the first production holding company was created in Purcari and was called Hermanson, a name due to a German founder of Russian origin. From this moment Purcari became a point of attraction for many other foreigners who settled there; French (with their native vines), Germans and Russians. Subsequently, during the 19th century, the Russian prince Golytsin and Count Vorontsov who controlled the production of the area had the inspiring idea of replacing part of the native grapes (with low alcohol content) with some varieties coming from Western Europe (especially French) which fit exceptionally well into the morphological and exhibition context of this territory. Grapes such as: Cabernet-Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Game Freo and Pinot, all grapes with very high yield as well as increased sugar accumulation. Nowadays Purcari is characterized by its high production of collectible wines such as Negru and Rosu de Purcari, its excellent Cabernet-Sauvignon de Purcari, Pinot Noir de Purcari and the Kahor dessert wine.

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Odessa

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Do you remember the famous staircase in the film "The Battleship Potemkin" by S. Eisenstein?
Well, it is located in Odessa.
In fact, it was in this town that the popular revolt took place in 1905 supported by the mutinous crew of the battleship that gave rise to the famous film. Odessa (in Ukrainian Odesa) is the main center of southern Ukraine, it is an ancient city and home to a large Jewish community. Today its inhabitants are over one million and with the surrounding areas over 2. Located on an inlet of the Black Sea, between the mouths of the Dniester and Dnepr rivers, formerly a port and colony of the Greeks (ancient Odessos), during the 19th century it developed exceptionally from both a demographic and urban perspective.