40. Chişinău, Moldova. Part 1
Introduction
Above is the much-photographed former Chișinău Intourist Soviet Hotel dating from the 1970s, of a similar design to the sister Intourist hotels that I saw in Vilnius and Riga last year and a good example of this type of Soviet architecture. Unlike the previous two hotels, this one however has been abandoned. It was originally painted in the colours of the Ukrainian flag after the Russian invasion, and has since been painted over in the colours of the Moldovan flag.
Andy had already sent me a carefully curated list of things to do, restaurants, coffee shops etc. Remarkably a lot of the same places he mentioned were in my host Alexandr's house guide. I wondered was AI involved and given that both men were in their late 20s it probably was!
For the main course I chose Carne de Pui Cordon Bleu (cordon bleu chicken). It tasted a lot better than it looked! Dinner was only €14, including a pint of Kozel beer. Everything was delicious, again the portions were huge. The service was very friendly and welcoming, the staff even smiled!!
Moldova is a small country wedged between Romania and Ukraine. It has a population of 4.4 million and is has the unfortunate reputation of being Europe’s poorest and least visited country. This made it even more attractive for me as a destination! Other claims to fame are that it is regarded as having a lot of corruption and also that it has one of the largest Roma populations in Europe.
Many of its citizens live abroad and send money back home to remaining family member. On the plane from Dublin, the announcements were all in Romanian and one of the air stewards told me I was the only non-Moldovan or Romanian on the plane! Whether she knew from my height and looks or from the passanger list, I will never know!
One of the reasons for the huge numbers became apparent very quickly from one of the ads outside Chişinău airport !!
Recent History
After World War II, the Moldovian Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR) became one of the Republics of the USSR. The Moldovan language was forced to be written in the Cryllic alphabet.
In 1989 under Gorbachev’s perestroika relaxations, the Moldovan language was allowed to be written in the Latin alphabet, and then on 27 August 1991 the country gained full independence. To all intents and purposes, Moldovan is Romanian, the differences akin to the differences between American English and Hiberno English - in my opinion.
Two small regions of the omer MSSR, Gagauzia and Transnistria, refused to recognise the new state of Moldova. However Gaguazia in the end (reluctantly) accepted becoming an autonomous region within Moldova, but Transnistria (locally called Pridniestrovie) wanted full independence. This led to a civil war in the region.
In 1992 a ceasefire was negotiated where Transnistria was granted so-called "independence". Since then a tri-partite peacekeeping force has controlled security in the place, made up of troops from Russia, Moldova and Transnistria itself. The ceasefire has held for 33 years.
Transnistria is famous for its Soviet culture and customs and I hope to visit the capital Tiraspol on a full day trip.
Chişinău
The capital of Moldova is Chisinău (pronounced kish-in-now or ki-shun-nau), which has a population of about 650,000. The photo below is the main thoroughfare, the Stefan Cu Mare Boulevard named after Stephen the Great.
Unfortunately nearly everything I read about Chișinău and Moldova in advance was tinged with negativity. I have to admit that perversely this added to the intrigue and piqued my interest and curiosity even more. I was determined to embrace Chisinau in a positive light.
The Accommodation
My accommodation was a brand new HomeExchange apartment which I got for GuestPoints, it was 40 minutes by trolleybus from Chişinău city centre. The apartment was located in a calm neighbourhood near a forest and it was close to public transport, so it was easy to get
around the city.
My host was Alexandr, a Moldovan software engineer. It was perfect for one person, with one bedroom, a combined living room-kitchen, and a balcony. It had everything you would need for a comfortable stay: a washing machine, dryer, air conditioner, bathtub, fast internet and a workspace. The cat in the picture below from the HE website had gone to stay with the owner's parents so I didn’t have to care for it.
As my expected arrival time was 5am, I had booked to stay the night before, which meant that I would be able to go straight to bed on arrival.
Alexandr left me a wonderful bottle of Moldovan red wine. Moldova has an extensive wine industry with a high reputation, but very little wine makes it to Western Europe. He also gave me a recommended list of wines that could be found in the supermarkets. Unfortunately on both occasions that I tried to purchase a bottle, it was past the alcohol licence time restriction.
Getting Around
Neither Uber nor Bolt currently operates in Chisinău, so Alexandr recommended two local taxi apps - Letz and Yandex Go. With Moldova being still a mostly cash society, neither app allows card payment. You know the final cost of booking in advance, but you just pay the driver in cash. The one-hour journey from the airport to the apartment during morning rush hour only cost the equivalent of €15.
In general, public transport in Chișinău is cheap, frequent and reliable, and the buses and trolleybuses are modern. City bus fares typically cost 6 MDL (€0.30) per journey. Tickets are bought directly on board from a conductor, who only accepts cash. I had to remember to always carry small change.
To See and Do
I found the Wander Lush travel blog incredibly useful in preparing for this trip as they provide a fantastic three-day guide to Chisinău packed with things to do: https://wander-lush.org/things-to-do-in-chisinau-itinerary/ I was able to use this to create a bucket list for my shorter two-day stay.
Other useful blogs were https://englishmoldova.com/blog/
The most detailed blog is by a couple who stayed 36 days in Chișinău https://awayfarers.com/moldova/chisinau/
Day One
Alexandr met me just outside the apartment and took the time to show me around. When he left, I didn't even unpack, I was so tired I went straight to bed. I woke in the early afternoon. After a shower, I headed out in search of lunch.
My research had told me all about a chain of family restaurants serving traditional Moldovan cuisine called La Plaçinte. Alexander highly recommended the local branch which was just a ten-minute walk away. It was very big, bright and modern. The lunchtime rush was over when I arrived but it continued to offer a full service all afternoon. Helpfully the extensive menus contained large colourful photos of all the dishes, with an English version of the menu available online. I normally avoid restaurants where the menu is all photographs, but as an introduction to Moldovan cuisine, this was a safe bet.
I ordered a Chișinău draft beer, a selection of four mixed starters and a local pie stuffed with saurkraut. I really enjoyed three of the starters. The total bill was less than €12.50.
After lunch I took the trolleybus into the city centre for a walking tour that I had booked starting at 5.30pm.
Before that I popped into Taproom by Litra and Friends, which boasted the largest selection of craft beers in Moldova. It had very much a pub atmosphere, with sports showing on large screens. I tried two IPAs (for a change !!) and both were full of flavour.
The sinks in the toilet were an interesting design.
The Walking Tour
As with previous city visits, I booked a guided walking tour. I always find that they give a fantastic overview of a city in a short space of time. I always see things and pick up pieces of interesting (and some useless) information that I would never have discovered on my own.
The tour guide was very knowledgeable and friendly and quite funny at times. However, a lot of what we were brought to see was not that interesting, but she did the best she could with the material she had to deal with. Here is what we saw on the two hour-walk:
Anove is a statue of the founder of Chișinău, Stefan Cu Mare (Stephen the Great), after whom the main street in the city is named. Boulevard Stefan Cu Mare is 4km long, and it certainly feels it when you walk it! Most of the architecture in the city is post-World War II, as the city was largely destroyed.
This is the Presidency Building, also from the seventies. Moldova has a general election in the next few weeks. The current pro-European President Maia Sundu faces strong challenges from pro-Russian parties.
More 1970s Soviet architecture here, a conference centre and performance space.
Here is a typical Soviet era fountain - they did love their fountains!
On the walking tour there were several European journalists who were visiying Moldova to cover the election campaign. We also came across these tv reporters from Euronews doing the same thing in front of the Parliament building.
While I was there a BBC undercover report confirmed a widespread disinformation and propaganda campaign, funded and controlled from within Russia.
The Parliament Building has an interesting design, representing an open book.
Here is the Chișinău Water Tower.
This Orthodox Church stands out from all the Soviet Architecture.
One of Chișinău's most famous landmarks is the Arc de Triomf - a much smaller version of the Parisian one.
In a prominent position, directly in front of the museum is a new sculpture from 2023 called the Capitoline Wolf.
The tour ended in front of the Organ House which has been recently restored.
In the refurbished square in front of the Organ House is a lovely park with this lovely French style café.
People were queueing up for a show in the National Theatre as I passed, on my way to meet Andy from Couchsurfing.
Andy from Couchsurfing
When the tour was over, I had arranged to meet Andy from the website Couchsurfing, who lives in Chişinău. I had joined the site during the summer when I had not got home exchanges sorted in the cities I had planned to visit. I had listed Chișinău as one such place and had forgotten about it.
Then a few days ago I got a message from a local member. I no longer needed accommodation but I learnt from him that there is a whole other side to couchsurfing where hosts agree to meet for a coffee, or go for a walk with visitors and offer useful advice about the city.
We met in the park where the guided tour finished and it was just great to sit down for 40 mins or so and ease my tired legs and back. Andy sent a verification later that evening which means I have my first feedback on the app, which apparently will make it easier to get stays in the future. I am not sure if I would ever use it as an alternative to home exchange but it was interesting to hear from someone who uses it extensively.
I took the trolleybus back to the apartment, where everyone was packed in tightly like sardines, even at eight in the evening. I figured that a lot of people had very long working days. I decided to go back to the same restaurant La Plaçinte for dinner as there were loads of Moldovan options still to try.
Once settled in, I ordered a spicy soup called Ciorba Ardeleneasca, served with a crunchy green chile. The combination worked well.
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