Advertisement
Published: August 6th 2023
Edit Blog Post
Monument to Suvorov and flags of the only three countries (themselves unrecognised) that recognise Transnistria
The statue is of Alexander Suvorov, a Russian commander who is said to have never lost a battle. Suvorov Square, Tiraspol. As with many things, it’s all Stalin’s fault. The historic region of Moldavia stretched from the Carpathian Mountains to the Dniester River. It unified with Wallachia in 1859 to form Romania then the eastern part was ceded to (or annexed by) the Soviet Union in 1940 to become the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. However, rather than put the eastern border along the Dniester River, Stalin put it about 20 km east into the territory of the Ukrainian SSR so that they would be too busy arguing with each other to jointly go against Moscow. It worked.
In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and Moldova declared independence. The ethnic Russians living in the strip of land east of the Dniester River were against the independence and were afraid of a rise in Moldovan nationalism and a possible reunification with Romania, of which they were never a part. Thus Transnistria broke away, forming the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. That “breakaway” was actually an armed conflict from 1991-1992 with Russia intervening militarily to support Transnistria. A ceasefire was signed, a security zone was established that was policed by all three sides (Moldova, Transnistria and Russia), and that is how it
still stands today.
With the current war in Ukraine and the Russian military bases in Transnistria, we were slightly hesitant of visiting. Our pals who we travelled with in Moldova gave a flat “no” when asked if they wanted to join us; they feared being targeted as Romanian. Even though we are sure British and Polish are not exactly popular either, our hesitancy was more related to ethics about whether we should visit a place where the population – due to Russia’s influence and media dominance – are likely mostly on Russia’s side in the war (though that was speculation). Something that made me feel more at ease about visiting was when looking online for accommodation in Tiraspol and many hotels were offering discounted rates for Ukrainian refugees and there were plenty of recent positive reviews from people from all over the world.
The first couple of people we met did not fill us with hope of a friendly welcome. The marshrutka driver in Tiraspol bus station had a go at us for nipping away to buy a pastry for breakfast and then for attempting to eat it on the minibus. Then the border
official in his military garb was particularly unfriendly, but then they usually are. From that point on, everyone else we met was really nice.
We got off the minibus in Bender and walked to the fortress. First you pass through the perfectly manicured Alexander Nevski Park and then can pay to enter in Moldovan Lei, if, like us, you haven’t had chance to get any Transnistrian Rubles yet (the currency is not exchangeable abroad because the country, and therefore the money, don’t really exist). The fortress was originally built by the Ottomans and was attacked over the years by Moldavians, Cossacks, Swedes, Russians, Romanians and French. We read that it was the principle (some say only) tourist sight in Transnistria. Yet, as grand as it is, we now feel it would be a shame to come here and visit only the fortress. It has been renovated over the last decade or so as the area was demilitarised. You can now walk around the walls and climb the towers for great views over the Dniester River, and go in some of the fortress buildings that house a disturbing museum of medieval torture instruments and a little museum of
the fortress’ history.
We then had a stroll around Bender without any real objective, just because we were there. It’s nice. I had read on some travel blogs that Transnistria generally was a dump, and Bender especially once you are anywhere other than the fortress. But that is not the case. True, there are ugly Soviet apartment blocks, but there are also nice tree-lined avenues with cycle paths, parks with nice gardens and fountains, and signs for tourists in Russian and English with information on the history and particular sights – the town where I come from has none of that. In the central market we stumbled across a Soviet-style canteen, the inside being decorated with Soviet paraphernalia. It isn’t just for tourists, as it wouldn’t survive, and we got a nice welcome when Magdalena started talking in Russian (even after we told people where we were from). The food was good too, and very cheap.
We took a trolleybus to Tiraspol, which was not far off being free, but relied on us having some Transnistrian Rubles. We had tried an ATM in a bank but they told us it only accepted local cards,
however, we could exchange Euros in the bank. We later discovered when in Tiraspol, and should have realised before, that no ATMs in the country will work with foreign cards after all things Russian were barred from using the Swift system after the invasion of Ukraine. Fortunately, we had some Euros and leftover Moldovan Lei that we could exchange. For the same reasons regarding Swift, the hotel also had to be paid for in cash (for which they were very apologetic and extremely friendly and helpful about what to do).
Tiraspol was surprisingly nice. Surprising because all the information online leads you to believe that this is the last bastion of Soviet times and all you’ll find are crumbling statues of Lenin and communist architecture. Nope. It’s infinitely nicer and more interesting than where I live in the Netherlands. The most interesting sights stretch along 25
th October Street. These include the churches, government buildings, theatres, parks, statues, murals, none of which are spectacular sights, but it’s just pleasant to wander about. The baskets of flowers lining all the streets though are lovely and the musical fountains at night were a nice place to hang out sipping from
our little bottle of very good Kvint cognac (perhaps Transnistria’s most famous export); our 12-year-old variety cost about 4 Euros. Tiraspol essentially reminded us of European Russia, which we visited a few years ago (
European Russia or Trans-Siberian Adventure Part 1); I suppose because that’s what Tiraspol is. Whenever you see the Pridnestrovian flag flying, there is always a Russian flag flying next to it. Although it was interesting to see the flags flying in Suvorov Square of the only three “countries” that recognise this one, those being the equally unrecognised South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Artsakh.
In order to visit somewhere other than Bender and Tiraspol, we crossed the Dniester River (on a bridge above the busy beach) and took a marshrutka to Chițcani. We were advised where to get off for Noul Neamt Monastery and had a stroll around the complex amongst the monks tending to their vegetable plots. It was fairly nice but we had recently been quite spoiled by Bukovina’s painted monasteries. The stroll to the “nearby” monument turned out to be longer than expected, as it’s actually a few kilometres out of the village. This monument commemorating a local WWII battle (the Memorial Complex Kitskany Bridgehead) has a nice
view and was really just another excuse for a bit of exploration.
And that is about all we did in Transnistria. Other options would have been visiting the Kvint factory or a caviar farm but you often needed to book and provide passport details strangely far in advance. We just enjoyed unplanned wandering, eating and talking to people.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.224s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 32; dbt: 0.1752s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Harper orn
non-member comment
such a good knowledge to seek
such a good knowledge to seek