Based on the video of Chișinău that I was using as my reference point, I had pretty low expectations. And coming off of a 21 hour train ride, I was starting a bit grumpy to boot.
Admittedly I was starting low but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Not super pleasantly but regularly pleasantly surprised and that is plenty good enough for a quick visit.
And to be fair, I saw more recent YouTube videos posted since the one I used that paint the city in a far better light.
Regardless of which video you use, Chișinău is a little rough around the edges but cleans up nice if you look in the right places. That was plenty for most of the things that were on the to do lists I found online. Its relatively small city and most of the “must do’s” are simply “must see’s”..
Moldova has a good reputation for the wine it produces and it is generally not available outside of the region. Sadly , fine wine is wasted on me. It is all just tingly grape juice to me.
They speak Romanian and Moldovan in Moldova so at least I could figure out some words. Not enough to read a menu though. So I stuck to my old standby of pizza and McDonalds. Not at the same meal, of course. But now that you mention it. Hmmmmm.
As there wasn’t much on the list of things to see, I had plenty of idle time to figure out my next destination. Because of the war, the only trains were long distance and after the train from the last 20 hour ride, i wanted an alternative.
When I was in Kiev back in 2017, I was talking to a couple old ladies clearing their bucket list and they highly recommended Odesa on the Black Sea. It is in the Ukraine and it is on the Black Sea in the middle of winter. Those are good enough reasons for me so the next morning I was packed into a bus for 5 hours on my way to Odesa.
I was a bit surprised that the bus was so crowded given the destination. And as is.my luck, I was seated next to a rather stout older lady. When she asked where I was from in barely passable English, my response elicited a look that started with incredulousness like maybe I was on the wrong bus. Then a slight nod of the head and a little smile that I assumed was approval.
So stay tuned. Maybe the next post will announce that I can check Russia off my list of European countries visited.
In the meantime, I’ll be happy with country #72.
Pictures are at my Google photo storage