Post 41. Chișinău, Moldova. Part 2

Day Two

My plan had been to visit one of two highly recommended Moldovan wineries, just outside the city. However the weather decided not to play ball and I had to reconsider. The rain was some of the heaviest I have ever seen - and that is something coming from a resident of Co. Donegal!! Luckily I had brought with me one of the many free umbrellas I picked up from universities over the years.

So I looked for alternatives for the day. As it was now lunchtime, my priority was food. I decided to go for another very popular recommendation online called Andy’s - no relation to Couchsurfing Andy! This, like a lot of the food in Moldova, had a very Italian theme to it, but with lots of Moldovan variations. 

I went with the Italian theme and ordered Bruschetta cu Ardei Copt, followed by 

Lasagne cu Carne de Pui (chicken lasagne) which was appealing for me as I don't eat red meat. I had 50cl of Vin Alb Roşu, a Moldovan red wine which came surprisingly chilled. The food was great but very very filling. It all came to 255 MDL or €12.50. The service was efficient … I can't really say it was polite, but this could have been a language issue.

My second priority of the day, given that it was still raining was to get my hair cut. I looked up barbers near me and found a place in a back yard with over 150 5-star ratings. It was a very relaxing experience lasting over an hour, with a haircut, beard trim, wash, dry and head massage for €15. 

The rain was unrelenting but I wanted to see the sprawling Central Market. So I set off in a sea of umbrellas.  

Even in the pouring rain, on the surrounding streets there were numerous old ladies selling flowers, fruit, vegetables and bric-a-brac. 

Museum of Military History 

I looked through the list of museums sent by Couchsurfing Andy and the only one to pique my interest was the Museum of Military History as it had rooms dedicated to Soviet gulags, Chernobyl and Transnistria - right up my street!

What I didn't expect was that a lot of the exhibits and the more visual ones were outside, so I still needed the umbrella. There were quite a few ex-Soviet weapons, SAMS and army vehicles.

Then on the second floor, weapons from before and after WW1, WW2, right up to the Cold War. Some limited information in English was available, but the details of it were not translated. The most interesting rooms for me were as expected, the deportations to Gulags during the Stalin era, how Chernobyl affected Moldova, and the Transnistria conflict. 

Moldovan National Art Gallery

Finally, the rain had now eased and I decided to have a quick look inside the Moldovan National Art Gallery before it closed. 

It was a beautiful building inside and out, but I was not familiar with any of the artists and the styles didn't really appeal to me, except for the sculptures. 

Overall Impression

Contrary to the media, Moldova seems like a safe country to visit. I never felt at risk. It is also often referred to as the poorest country in Europe and the least visited. True, I saw few tourists, except for the handful of journalists on the walking tour who were here to cover the upcoming elections.  

I came away with a much more positive opinion of the place than the image portrayed on the many YouTube videos about the place.

Chișinău is clean, graffitti-free and litter-free. The main streets in the city centre look like other European capitals. There was no evidence of any drugs. I saw only one beggar in my time there. 

Moldova seems to be like the distant cousin of Romania, both being part of an extended family, based around language. The Romanian language is very similar if not almost identical to Moldovan and sounds lovely to the ear. Being a French speaker helped greatly to understand written Romanian, but trying to follow any conversation was impossible. 

The people are often curious, kind, and helpful – especially if you show interest in their culture and say a few words in Moldovan. There is definitely enough to see and do in Chișinău in two days.