Photos from Moldova – Part 1
Despite the fact that quite a lot of time and other events have passed since then, I still haven’t fulfilled my promise to put up some photos from the trip to Moldova, which we went on during this summer. Before this innocent debt becomes a toxic asset as these thing tend to happen these days, here goes…
Moldovan government and the main square in Chisinau. A new liberal coalition was just forming when we got there, just after the second round of elections where the communists (in name only) lost.
The main church of Moldova, right vis-a-vis the government. The great majority of the country is Christian orthodox and on weekends, this square is full of newlyweds.
Selling cheese at the truly vibrant market of Chisinau.
Plenty of vegetables at the market as well, people from all around come to sell.
You can get a really nice quick lunch for a Euro or two.
Main boulevard, nice and clean, with electric buses which have been here for decades.
Mixing old with the new. Post office in front.
The boards and Lonely Planet were promising a lake full of swimmers, rowers...
...what you get is not quite as advertised. The lake was polluted and emptied a few years ago.
That lead to a certain level of frustration. Let's hope they fill it up again soon. Are you listening, new government?
Exploring the city, while using some quirky optical illusion. Or is that supposed to be a national symbol? 
Partying at night with friends from Moldova. Clubs are pretty awesome, relaxed and always with something going on.
The gobnik/čefur cultural elements seem to be amazingly internationalised.
Our hotel room, pretty good for 18€/night. And that's only half of it, there's another bed and a large fridge on the other side.
Moldova has wine of incredible quality at laughable prices. Of course that warranted a visit to Milesti Mici, a famous winery with 170 km of underground tunnels. Wine tasting & debate with a friendly Russian with dubious stories is mandatory.
World War II memorial with honorary guard scorching in the sun. Every 15 minutes another guard comes to wipe the sweat from their foreheads as they stand still.
Memorial to the soldiers who died in the war Afghanistan. The previous one, back when the USA were sponsoring the Taliban and Soviets fighting (occupying) them. Oh my, how the tables have turned.
A Soviet-era jet. They didn't leave the keys in, I checked.
Yes, iPhone is available in Moldavia while we in Slovenia still wait. In fact Orange has their most modern 3G mobile network there.
Orhei Vechi, monasteries carved in stone next to a river meander.
The dwellings of an orthodox monk.
The dwellings of goats.
If you ever wondered, cows indeed are fond of bananas.
Spectacular views.
Fishing old school, like with phishing, they also use the nets. 
Wandering off on the green fields.
The friendliness of our Moldovan friends really cannot be overstated.
Oh but there is more…
Filed under Travel | Tags: Chisinau, gobnik, iPhone, market, Moldova, monastery, Orhei Vechi, orthodox church | Comment (1)Chisinau and its’ wonders
Monday, 3. August 2009:
We all had the dumbs that day, with reasons not hard to imagine. So we strolled down to Andy’s which is a local restaurant chain and one of the enterprenurial success stories of post communist Moldova. They serve a mixture of pizzas, lasganas, steaks and similar plates and while the food is way to fastfoodish for everyday consumption they make up for some of that with a surprisingly good and consistent design of the whole franchise, a real ice tea and minty lemonade.
Again, we could not really concentrate on any discussion we were starting, partly because we were having the dumbs and mostly because my eyes and attention would wander away every time a gorgeous girl would walk by or sit down nearby. Which happened every 20 seconds or so. Many discussions pertaining to the source of such overwhelming beauty were undertaken, resulting in the most possible explanation that the constant mixing of nations and their genes, which was indeed prevalent in these parts, were to be credted. Neither in Romania, nor in the more Slavic Transdnistria was the concentration of beuaties on the streets so high. To add to the experience, most of women dress elegantly, revealing and with great attention to detail for the most part. I could go on about Moldovan women for ages but let’s leave it at that for the time being and let me just say that they leave the best of impression, out of line of any of the stereotypes you might have in mind. No wonder most flower shops here are open 24/7.
Back to the story, we then went to the National history museum. Fascinatingly, a furniture shop was housed in the same historic building as the museum. We learnt a lot about everything from the national insignia, examples of communist propaganda and the general history of Moldova. We then drove to the other side of the city with a minibus costing only 3 Lei (1€ = app. 16 Lei) while Elena was our patient guide explaning everything we drove past. There we got to see a memorial for Moldovan-Soviet soldiers who died in the war in Afganistan. The previous one. We could also see some of examples of “Gobnik” behaviour, the Moldovan brand of “Čefur”, proving once again that it’s a state of mind, having nothing to do with nationality.
After returning to the center we were simply strolling the streets, when we were stopped by a bypasser. He recognised Ivor’s football jersey. His name was Branko, and he lives in Chisinau working as a represantative of a Croatian company. We got along quickly and after exchanging the basic pleasentries went for a beer or two in a local bar. The conversation was enlightning and fun, but there was a full winery-visiting day ahead of us.
First impressions of Moldova
Sunday, 2. August 2009:
Passing the lakes, wines filled hills and Lukoil petrol stations (app. 0.70 €/litre) cast in morning light we arrived in Chisinau. Just by looking outside the bus, our preconceptions about the coutry were shattering quicker than glass storefronts after a football match.
Judging by the GDP numbers and Moldova’s status as Europe’s poorest country, we were expecting something quite different than the clean, wide streets, colorful storefronts, scattered Casinos, karaoke bars and decent cars of Chisinau. Despite having learnt a similar lesson in other countries I was once again taken aback.
Next, taking care of the basics. Money exchanges were all closed due to the early hour, so we first took a taxi (who after some arguing exchanged 5€ for us and charged 2) to the Zaratea hotel which was recommended to us before. The receptionist spoke only Russian and Romanian (which they often call Moldovan for national pride reasons) and must have been trained in customer service by the Soviet school for coldness and unrelenting pessimism. She pointed us to a 24/7 exchange and food store close to the hotel. When we returned with the money her mood was somewhat improved and she even gave us two 3 bed rooms for the price of 2 bed ones. Rooms were rather old, but spacious and decent with even a fridge and a TV. The shower and toilets were shared per three rooms, but always clean. All that for about 9€ per person per night.
Then, a quick expedition around town. Main park with an orthodox cathedral right accross the road from the government building. We did not fit in with our short trousers so we quickly departed from the sunday prayers. We were surprised to see the women wearing little headscarves for church, despite their otherwise revealing and elegant dresses. Everything incredibly tidy in a way you would not see in most European capitals. Drink stands on every step and of course, no capital is complete these days without a McDonalds right in the centre. We largely ignored them, apart from their free WiFi. The latter is common, a short walk will reveal a bunch of hotspots, most resedential ones locked, but a lot of cafes offer it for free, much more often than in Slovenia.
After a coffee to boost our step we headed for the primary destination you should visit first in any city. The Market. It was Sunday morning but it was nonetheless bustling with activity. Long rows of stands selling everything from vegetables, meat, dairy products to clothes, detergents and Kučma hats. What’s homegrown is really cheap with other goods usually only slightly cheaper than back home.
- Tomatos 0.20 €/kg
- Watermellons 0.15 €/kg
- Box of ciggarets 0.5 €, Marlboro 0.7 €
You get the picture. We did some more walking around seeing a Jewish synagogue (there used to be a lot more of those before WWII) where we put on the black cap and took a quick peek at the Toras. Lonely Planet told us of a lake in the north of the city with locals swimming, rowing, enjoying all kinds of recreational facilities… Yeah right, all that was leftt was a bush covered valley. They dried it up 3 years ago due to water pollution when all the fish suddenly went belly up.
All that was left was to observe the natural beauties of Chisinau which comprise of the incredible greenery of the city but mainly its’ female inhabitants. A quick nap, shower and we were ready for nightlife. We met with Elena who Ivor knew from a conference and her friend Tea. We hit it off splendidly right from the start and proceeded to a great night cruising the city’s bars and clubs…
People’s palace and the long and winding road to Chisinau
Perhaps you’ve noticed I’m falling behind with my live blogging. By live I of course mean with a few days of delay. Energy/alcohol related reasons usually keep me from writing before going to bed, thus making me fall behind. I apologize to you, my cherished readers. Both of you.
Saturday, 1. August 2009:
Still in Bucarest, previous night and the hardships of travel took a toll, extending our sleep almost until the early afternoon. We managed all the necesseties, grabbed a coffee at a bar full of locals. They could easily tell we were tourists. You might think that the cameras, Lonely Planet guide, lack of knowledge of the Romanian language or our inquisitive looks were a giveaway. No. We were the only ones not drinking alcoholic beverages at 12.00.
We split up with Jan and Ivor going to the national history museum, where, according to them, practically all the items were replicas and the biggest attraction was the massive neoclassical building the museum was housed in. Sanjin and I went to the Ceaucescu’s Palace of the people, where we first started with the part housing the Contemporary art museum. Since we didn’t get the right entrance right away we had to take a 5-10 minute walk to the other entrance. Yeah, it’s THAT big. The museum itself turned out to be a dismal experience for the most part, much of it comprising of 50-something year old “artists” discovering Photoshop for the very first time believing they have something to offer. While that might be just fine otherwise, the problem is that they are embraced by the “artistic establishment” and hosted in galleries accros Europe. There were some rare gems though in this sea of self-congratulating manure. Rare.
The teracce cafe on the top revealed the true vastness of the palace estate in the heart of Bucarest and the slight chlorine aftertaste of the Romanian filled Kinely Tonic. My outpouring of criticsm might not have gotten that message through but the visit was quite an entertaining experience in whole.
We signed up for a guided tour on the other side if the palace where the parliament is housed, but we were running a bit late, which we could not afford since it was the last one that day. We therefore took a taxi which brought us to the other side of the building. Crazy, I know. Ivor & Jan were already there, the guide led us through the tour. Just a few facts, read the rest on Wikipedia. 4 billion $ to complete, 10% still not finished, all the materials had to be from Romania, 400 architects worked on it, already falling apart in some areas due to shoddy work, maintenance, a looot of houses destroyed to build the boulevard in front of it, second largest building in volume – after Pentagon…
After that we met with Flavia once more, slowly got to the bus station where we booked a trip to Chisinau. It costs 65 Romanian Lei or 20 € (it’s a bit more in Euros) and takes app. from 20.00 to 7.00 in the morning to get there. It was a bit hot on the way, mostly because of the low powered air conditioning, but also because of the beautiful ladies which seemed to all have found a way on our bus (more on the reasons in later posts). The guessing which one of them might be a lady of the night during the stops, combined with tech/political/phillosophical debates during the drive kept us entertained throughout the journey. Black humor helped us during the unnecessarily long but otherwise uneventful border procedure. In the morning we discovered how wrong our preconceptions about Moldova really were, but more on that next time. Don’t you just loooove cliffhangers? 