The hectic, tree-lined B-dul Ştefan cel Mare leads directly southeast from Piaţa Unirii to the monumental Palace of Culture. Along this way is the prominent Moldavian Metropolitan Cathedral. With a cavernous interior painted by Gheorghe Tattarescu, it's Romania's largest Orthodox cathedral and thus a busy place of worship.

You can forget seeing its interior during Iaşi Days, when most of Moldavia's able-bodied pilgrims flock here to stand in line day and night for the chance to view the body of their beloved St Paraschiva, the patron saint of the cathedral and Moldavia, whose body is trundled out for this brief period each year. Additionally, the cathedral has a coffin said to contain the bones of St Friday.