Experience the best of Iași

Iași was the capital of Moldavia for three centuries, until the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united in 1862, and it still has the feel of a capital. The Palace of Culture, a neo-Gothic building completed in 1925, houses several museums, and the Church of the Three Hierarchs is wrapped in carved stone patterns. The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University is the oldest modern university in Romania.

Copou Park holds the lime tree beneath which the poet Mihai Eminescu is said to have composed, and the botanical garden is the oldest in the country. The fortified Golia monastery and the hilltop Cetățuia monastery are two of the city's historic monasteries. The Prut river and the border with Moldova lie only a short way to the east, and the vineyards of Cotnari are to the north-west.

Moldavian cooking, with cabbage rolls called sarmale, polenta, soured soups and sweet pancakes, is served in the city's restaurants and student cafés. Each October the relics of Saint Paraskeva draw a large pilgrimage to the cathedral. Spring in Copou Park, with its blossom, is a favourite time for strolling.