The cave monastery at Orheiul Vechi is cut directly into a sheer limestone cliff above a loop of the Raut River — a remarkable feat of medieval construction that has been in continuous use, on and off, for over seven centuries. The complex includes a series of interconnected chambers: a restored altar room with Orthodox iconography, living quarters for the resident monk, and a terrace that juts from the cliff face with an unrailed drop of many metres to the river below.
If the resident monk is present — which is most days during the warm season — he will let visitors descend into the altar chamber. The interior is simple and functional: whitewashed walls, brass candleholders, and a small collection of icons. The monk speaks Romanian and very basic English, but the experience of visiting an active monastery embedded in a cliff, maintained by a single cleric living essentially as a medieval hermit, is difficult to describe. Above the cave complex, a more conventional nineteenth-century church with a blue exterior stands on the clifftop and is usually open to visitors.