Moldova

Ukraine-Moldova border area

After leaving Odessa, we headed for the Ukraine/Moldova border passing many sandbag-type fortifications on the way. 

Presumably they were there, as in other parts of Ukraine, to help fend off pro-Russian terrorists.

Road to Chişinău

Leaving Ukraine was easy compared to entering. We got the right pieces of paper and stamps, but the officials seemed to spend a lot of time admiring and examining our passports!

We moved onto the Moldova customs and passport control section where smiles greeted us. A friendly customs chappie wanted to know if we spoke French, and how much wine we had on board!

It was so nice to be greeted as welcome visitors.

Moldovan meal

Formalities completed we headed into the Republic of Moldova. 

There, we discovered lots of livestock crossing the roads, many horses with carts, and more bad roads. 

We happily bumped and weaved along until reaching Chişinău, the capital.

Traditional Moldovan wedding

Camping grounds seem to be non-existent in Moldova but we managed to find our way to a hotel that had parking. 

They welcomed us and organised an electrical hook up for us, which was great.

We had a delicious traditional Moldovan meal at the hotel restaurant that night.

Chişinău city cows, Marg

It consisted of tasty fried pork in mujdei (garlic sauce), with mămăligă (a dense maize porridge), sour cream, and brinza (goat cheese), along with a very nice local wine.

There was a traditional Moldovan wedding going on at the hotel. 

Chişinău central market

It was interesting to see how they dressed, the wedding customs, and the dancing. 

Dancing was “folk” style with everyone in a circle holding hands, and doing fancy footwork together.

There was also an office party in another part of the hotel and they danced in the same way.

Chişinău architecture

We headed into Chişinău the next morning for a wander around. It was not a spectacular city but had nice streets, some impressive buildings and interesting street art.

The Soviet style of architecture was ever-present but the communist government that’s been in power since 2001 has done lovely job on ensuring there are plenty of street trees and parks – it is very, very green.

We found a huge and interesting farmers market – the Central Market. It was very busy, spilled out all over the sidewalk and roads for about four blocks, and seemed to have every type of vegetable, fruit, clothing and more, that you could want. 

We checked out local wineries and bought some of the local drop which is pretty cheap for a good wine. This part of the world is known for its very large underground cellars and they make a wide range of wines.

Because there were no other places to stay we headed back to our hotel car park for another night, and another wedding with its accompanying music.

Ear plugs helped mute the very loud music only slightly, and we headed off the next morning feeling a little jaded from lack of sleep.

We were impressed with the friendliness of the Moldovan people and felt it was a nice, but slightly Soviet-style place to visit. 

Moldova is a very small country so it didn’t take us long to reach the border and within a short space of time, were headed into our next country - Romania.