Moldova: Cricova Wine Cellars

Guess where the second largest wine cellars are? Moldova also. While “only” 120km of underground tunnels with 40km filled with wine (Milestii Mici is world’s number one with 200/55km), Cricova is a rich-man wine cellar, beautifully decorated and finished. It is in fact the world’s most expensive wine collection! The world’s oldest wine from 1902 is here, as is the entire massive wine collection of 1936-39 French wines of Hermann Goering, Hitler’s #2 (guess the Soviet troops seized it and brought it here). Interestingly, the cellars are also famous for hiding Jews in wine barrels during WWII. Many famous world’s leaders have wine cells here – Putin, Merkel, Tusk, Aliev, and dozens more. Putin actually celebrated his 50th birthday here, and Gagarin (Soviet cosmonaut) spent 2 nights underground after his space flight. There are super lavish tasting and party rooms with different themes and every celebrity that comes to Moldova invariable ends up here.