GYPSY HILL

Soroca is the "capital of the Roma", with the largest concentration of Gypsies in Moldova (Otaci also has many). Across the country, there are more than 270,000 of them. From the fortress of Soroca, you can see these big, colourful and glittering houses on the steep banks of the Dniestr. True triumphant and ostentatious palaces, they are distinguished by their architecture and size. Victorian palaces, Chinese pagodas, reproduction of the White House, Moorish residences, Greco-Roman palaces? The Roma reportedly settled in Moldova in 1417. It is said that Stefan cel Mare was in great need of weapons and asked Sigismund, King of Hungary, for help. He says he is willing to help him in exchange for gold, livestock and land. Stefan told him that he had no gold or cattle, and that he was not selling his land. Then Stefan cel Mare called upon the Gypsies, considered to be very skilful craftsmen. The Gypsies, whose iron work was a specialty, settled in Soroca and began to make weapons to equip the soldiers of the fortress.

The palace of the "baron" Artur Cerari, leader of the Gypsies of Moldavia, comprises about thirty rooms. In the courtyard are stored his old cars, one of which is said to belong to the former First Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR, Yuri Andropov, and another to the National Security of Moldova. He speaks several languages but meeting him is not free. Similarly, the predictions of "fortune tellers" can be expensive.