Moldova for Christmas - Chisinau

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Why Moldova? This was a question we were asked repeatedly. For me, it was a last minute trip as my Christmas plans and backup plans were canceled. I had seen this trip listed and was curious: wine cave? Cycling? Trains? Yup!

I knew a couple of people in this group of eleven women and one man. We flew to Bucharest where we quickly made it thru customs, were picked up and taken to the train station. We had about 5 hours to kill before our trip, so we just hung out in a coffee store inside the station, occasionally harassed by a territorial / homeless man. The station was fine and decorated a bit for Christmas, but aside from a couple places, you need cash to pay for things, especially the toilet.

Our train came a few minutes late, but we had booked first class cabins, just two per each and I was roomed with another American girl who I got along well with. In fact there were 5 American women in this trip - I'm usually the only American. The rest were from Germany, Ireland, India, Iran, and New Zealand. I actually liked the cabin - with just two people it was spacious, the sheets were clean, and it has a kind of ... authentic.... decor. We actuator spent most of the night hanging in one cabin with wine, music and the train decorations.

When we we crossed the border between Romania and Moldova, it was in the wee hours of the morning. And it took some time. First Romania checked our papers, then Moldova. But what apparently took up the most time was the changing of the trains wheels (?) because soviet tracks are different size / width, this was created to prevent invasion. I had no idea but very interesting! We were on the last car and the back of the train had open doors on each side. It was cold, but refreshing and peaceful to go back and watch the sunrise.

We arrived in Chişinau (pronounced Kee-shee-now) at around 9am. Our guide, Natalia, picked us up at the cute station with her driver, the very young looking Igor. We passed a sidewalk flea marker, which she said included intellectuals. Her first description of Moldova: miserable. Inflation is 39% and many struggle to make ends meet. 70% of the city was destroyed in WWII so there are few old buildings. In the plus side, they have a 99% literacy rate, a female president and lots of female representation in government, and their wifi is amazing.

We dropped our bags at the hotel Bristol and had a delicious buffet breakfast in the restaurant at the top of the 9 story building. I was a bit hungover with a wretched headache.

Then we went to do a morning city tour. First we visited their Memorial Park with the Eternal Flame. Here they remember the 27 million Soviets liked in WWII. Despite no longer being a part of the USSR, they still respect the sacrifice and the changes caused by the war. They have parades and speeches at this park every year on May 9. The flame is covered by an arch with what looks like five rifles, each commemorating the five years of the war. The park itself was pretty large, with many people walking around. There are other red monuments depicting stories for each year. The last one closest to us had soldiers with a young girl (the future) and a sun behind (tomorrow). I thought it was very well done and interesting. We made a quick stop by there now closed Circus - I guess that is a thing here. We were quite impressed with their new style had stations with clean bathrooms, food options and a little Cafe that we visited on all our road trips - reminded me of America.

We were then dropped off in town for the remainder which was a walking tour. There is a large Cathedral of Christ's Nativity in the park square near our hotel. The outside was plain due to the Soviet ban on religion, but the interior was lovely orthodox. Then we walked thru the park, thru the Triumphal arch and up to the main road. A Christmas Market was just ahead that was just opening up but we turned right, past the national ballet theater and another small Christmas Market - these would be open thru Jan 7, the orthodox Christmas. We then saw the president's home; she had been in power since 2020 and keeps the gate open so you can walk up to the building and the small park within. Across the street is parliament. We headed back the other way and stopped in the Cherry Bar where we each had a "shot" (small drink) of their cherry wine - quite interesting! Then we saw the Stephen the Great monument at the same name park - he is their national hero. We walked back thru the first Christmas Market in front of the government house, which looked so nice! Our final stop was the Zero Kilometer marker, which is where the postal route begins. The marker has the distances to various cities around Europe and Asia.

After this, we headed back to our hotel for an afternoon of rest. Thank God, because my head was about to explode. Thankfully, I had my own room and I got a shower and a good 3 hour nap.

That evening we walked with Natalia and one of her colleagues to the restaurant, Taifa's, which serves authentic Moldovan food. It was so good, but so much! There was also live music, good wine, and great decor. Afterwards, many of the group decided to head back to the cherry bar to start an evening out. It was after 9 at this point, so me and a few others walked thru yet another friendly Christmas Market before heading back to the hotel for a night of rest.

We actually had quite a bit of free time during our trip, which I needed to catch up on rest. My room was super nice with great views of the city. Three hotel was ideally situated in town. Everyone just seemed so friendly while we were here.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Overnight train to Moldova
I was thinking about you earlier this week and wondering when we would see another blog. I was certain you were exploring some place. I'm intrigued by this train trip and Moldova. Which company did you book with or did you do this independently? There are so many places to go it is difficult to find the time. Thanks for taking us along.

[lexispence10]

Group
I went with my normal travel group, Trekkup. But our guide, Natalia, is independent out of Chisinau and I think she set up the train tickets for us. She was fantastic!

[RENanDREW]

Moldova
What a fabulous thing to do over Christmas. We were in Romania a few years ago and it piqued our interest in Moldova and surrounding countries, so it's interesting to read this blog. Your travel group seems like a nice bunch of people :)