DAY 1 KYIV
- Arrival to Kyiv by train, breakfast, following with the city tour (before check-in)
This ancient city is the capital of Ukraine and one of the biggest cities in Europe. It has been standing on steep hills overlooking the Dnipro River for more than 1,500 years.
10:00 – 14:00 Kiev city tour. You will have a tour to St. Sophia Cathedral and Monastery Complex, a real pearl of the world architecture. Inside, you will view the largest frescoes and mosaics collection in the world. Further on you will move to St. Andrew’s Church, the Ukrainian Baroque church designed in 1754 by the Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli. You will also see The Golden Gates of Kiev that is a major landmark of the Ancient Kiev and historic gateway in the ancient city fortress, located in the capital of Ukraine and currently serves as a museum.
Afternoon tour to the golden-domed Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Monastery, the most famous sight-seeing object in Kiev, which has been included in UNESCO World Heritage Register. This twenty-eight hector functioning monastery contains caves, numerous churches, towers, a printing works, miles of maze like underground tunnels containing numerous churches and some of Kiev's riches museums.
From the walking distance from Lavra you can see famous Museum of the Great Patriotic War that is a memorial complex commemorating the German-Soviet War.
- Nigh at the hotel.
DAY 2 KYIV
- Breakfast at the hotel.
- Full day tour to Chernobyl with lunch.
- 9 a.m. Pick up at your hotel.
- 10.30 a.m. Transfer to Chernobyl passing Dytyatky village at the border of the 30-km Chernobyl Zone. Passing the check point on the border of 10-km Zone. Meeting the representative of Chernobylinterinform Agency.
- Arrival to Chernobyl town. Information regarding the Chernobyl tragedy, borders of the Zone, life in Chernobyl nowadays. Up-to-date information about the liquidation of the Chernobyl catastrophe consequences in the 30-km Zone, most contagious places, machines, cemeteries. Forecast for the future.
- Trip around the Nuclear Power Station. Photo-stop near the Reactor No 4 of the former station with the view on the sarcophagus. You will be only 100 m from the main cryptic object of the Zone!
- You will be driven nearby to the "red forest", which was left for scientific researches.
- Trip to Pripyat - "The Dead (Ghost) Town" walking, visiting one of the tallest buildings – Polissya Hotel; a school, a kinder garden, former living houses, which are absolutely empty now. You will see the town that was left by its 50 thousand inhabitants within 24 hours. The spirit of Soviet darkness reigns here. You can make pictures of the National Emblem of the Soviet Union and of Soviet Ukraine, slogans ‘Peace, Labor and May", red-yellow public call-boxes and other objects that were symbols of the 80's in the Soviet Union. Additionally, you will visit a Central Park with a big Ferris Wheel. They planned to open this big Ferris Wheel on 1 May 1986 (public holiday). This big Ferris Wheel has never seen its visitors.
- 15:30 Dinner at Chernobyl
- 16:30 Departure to Kiev
- 18:00 Arrival to Kiev
- Night at the hotel.
DAY 3 KYIV
- Breakfast at the hotel.
Tour to Mezhygirya - the former residence of ex-President Victor Yanukovich who rented that area from 2002 till 2014, which is a huge and luxury complex and park. With a guide we will go inside Honka club house (big wooden cottage), will visit "Galleon" barge restaurant, private zoo, canine centre, undeground sport complex, golf club, helipad, lots of monuments and nice pavilions and gardens.
Afternoon tour to Ethnographical Museum Complex “Ukrainian Village”, that is 30 km from Kyiv. The complex introduces the visitors to the culture and life of the Ukrainians of the 18th-19th centuries. Here you can come into genuine ancient houses, which had been brought from different regions of Ukraine, you can visit the wooden Church of ST. Demetrios, see and feed domestic animals, take part in master classes (clay modeling, pysanka (painted eggs) writing, wood chopping, moonshine home brewing, candle making)
We stay for a night here in an ancient ethnic hut having all the facilities. Having spent a night in the hotel in the woods, on a fir-tree bed with a comfortable pillow-top mattress, you will wake up in the morning with the song of birds, feeling well rested with the energy for the whole day.
DAY 4 KYIV – ODESSA
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Morning departure to Odessa by bus (500 km)
On the half way to Odessa we have a stop at Strategic Missile Force Museum
Take an underground corridor to the massive doors which lead to a self-contained silo-based 12-storey Command Post which could function sealed from the outside world for 45 days.
Sit in the Command seat and experience what Soviet officers could feel during the Cold War and being in charge of nine missiles SS-22. You can touch the button that could cause a catastrophe if pressed 18 years ago.
Look inside SS-18 'Satan' Intercontinental Ballistic Missile - equipped with up to 10 warheads and 40 penaids - it used to give Soviet Union "first strike" advantage over the U.S. - it's operating range 10,200-15,200 km, Weight 209,600 kg (462,000 lb) Length 32.2 m (106 ft) Diameter 3.05 m (10.0 ft).
- Continue our way to Odessa.
- Arrival, check-in at the hotel.
DAY 5 ODESSA
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Odessa orientation city tour (3h)
Today you will be introduced to the largest seaport on the Black Sea and the third largest city in Ukraine. Your morning tour will include the Prymorski Boulevard and legendary Potemkin Staircase leading to the sea, the famous Opera and Ballet Theater, Troyitska and St. Paul Churches and the Art Museum.
Afternoon tour "The Mysteries of the Odessa Catacombs". Odessa was built on the coquina stones that had been mined out of the ground. That is why the long labyrinths spread under the city. They keep the secrets of the past one episode of which will be opened for you while the excursion to catacombs museum of heroic defence in the time of W.W.II
You will visit sellers of the guerrillas’ warriors, who kept fighting the Nazi in the war hinterland. Please, take some warm clothes to the underground tour, since the temperature there is not going higher than 10-12 C.
DAY 6 ODESSA - CHISINAU
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Morning departure to Chisinau. Meeting Chisinau guide at Ukrainian border and departure to Purcari estate. Excursion & wine tasting at Purcari winery.
More than 3,500 tourists each year come to Moldova with the only purpose – to visit the legendary Purcari estate and touch the history and century-old traditions of winemaking. At the estate, built in the style of French chateau, you can experience the atmosphere of calm and luxury, and discover the innermost secrets of the creation of the legendary Purcari wines. The tour of the Purcari vineyards does not leave anyone indifferent – the fresh air, the sea breeze and the vines grown based upon the strictest canons of French viticulture, reveal the secrets of our wines. Purcari terroir is known far beyond the borders of our country – a unique micro-climate, the location of the vineyards on the south-western and south-eastern slopes, proximity to the sea and closeness to the Nistru river offer ideal conditions for the creation of high quality wines.
The crown jewels of the estate are, of course, the Purcari cellars – the oldest wine gallery in Moldova, remaining unchanged since 1827. In the mansion’s galleries the best collection of Purcari wines are gathered and stored, with samples, dating from 1948. The Wine Gallery will charm you with neatly arranged bottles, covered with thin filaments of noble dust. In the mansion’s old-style tasting room, you can taste the exquisite Purcari wines. The atmosphere and the magic attract true connoisseurs for a conversation about the taste, properties and values of a truly noble wine.
Afternoon departure to Chisinau, brief orientation city tour. Chisinau is considered to be one of the greenest cities in Europe. Its territory is 120 square km; population is about 1 million people. Chisinau has a rich and diverse history dating all the way back to 1436. The city is called the "White Stone Flower" because of the beautiful architecture that was built of white stone. Although Chisinau suffered two World Wars and a ruinous earthquake in 1940, the city is still beautiful with buildings.
DAY 7 CHISINAU
- Breakfast at the hotel.
- Excursion & wine tasting in Cricova winery – enjoy the biggest winery in the world!
It is situated in a distance of about 15 km from Chisinau. Founded in 1952 Cricova wine factory can complete the world wonders list. At 60-80 m underground there are drift-galleries stretching out over more than 120 km, where during the whole year there is a temperature of +10 - +12 С and a humidity of 97%, which are considered to be ideal conditions for keeping the wine and producing the champagne. The fact that it is a real town is also showed by the presence of streets, named by famous wines Aligote, Feteasca, Cabernet, Pinot, Sauvignon..The most valuable exhibit of Cricova collection is a small bottle in spacious cylinder the bottle which contains wine from 1902. It is the Red Wine of Jerusalem. Today it is the single bottle of such wine from the whole world.
Excursion to the open air museum Old Orhei. It is placed in a rocky gorge of Raut river, having a 200 m depth, at a 60 km distance from Chisinau. The medieval city was constituted in 1330, during the Gold Horde period. Millenniums old signs of the Dacian civilization, the ruins of the fortress Sehr al Djedid, built by the Gold Horde in the XlV-th century, the rupestral monastery, caves dug in stone, the St. Maria church, ruins of a Dacian fortress and of an ancient Turkish bath all of them situated between the Trebujeni and Butuceni villages make up the wonder Old Orhei. Each of them comes from different times having different stories and different architecture.
- Dinner with a folk show in Trebujeni village.
After excursion you will be invited to enjoy the hospitality of Moldovan people at local boarding house where you will be served with traditional dishes such as placinte, zeama, mamaliga and exceptional wines prepared by the technology passed from one generation to another. You will be able to share the sincerity of Moldovan songs and dance the unforgettable «pelenitsa» (traditional dance).
DAY 8 CHISINAU
- Breakfast at the hotel
Departure to Transnistria. City tour Tiraspol & Bender including Bender fortress. Tiraspol is internationally recognised as the second largest city in Moldova, but is effectively the capital and administrative centre of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. The city is located on the eastern bank of the Dniestrer River. The modern city of Tiraspol was founded by the Russian generalissimo Alexander Suvorov in 1792, although the area had been inhabited for thousands of years by varying ethnic groups. Tiraspol is like a ghost town, coming from Soviet Union times, but you will be surprised by different contrasts: one of them, football complex “Sheriff”, is the important sign in modern architecture.
Bender (also known as Bendery, or Tighina) is famous by Tighina fortress. It was built in one the most powerful of the medieval cities of Moldova – Tighina, which was an important trade outpost. Fortress is an architectural ensemble of irregular quadrilateral plan, surrounded by wide walls, 2-3 meters thick, made of limestone and brick. The fortress has 10 artillery bastions at the corners, 11 towers, and 6 gates. It is surrounded by a moat of stone. After the last battle of the Russo–Turkish War, in 1806 the city was acquired by the imperial Russian military authorities, becoming “legitimate” master here in 1812, after the occupation of Bessarabia.
DAY 9 CHISINAU
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Tramsfer to the airport