Things to be aware of:

1)  It is an amazing city with a huge park in the centre

2)  Has a mall called Mall Dova … which is just a mall

3)  Lots of people come here from Ukraine as a break from what is going on there

4)  Your money will go a long way

5)  Andy’s (a chain of café-bars in Chisinau) do the best mint tea

6)  It’s a reasonably small city, so easy to get around

7)  Good cheap public transport on foot, bus and trolley bus

8)  You can take excursions out to Transnistria and other places in the country

9)  English is widely spoken – also Romanian and Russian

10) The city has a relaxed attitude and I always felt safe

I think waking up to see a McDonald’s outside, sums up my 10 days in Chișinău… it was not at all what I was expecting.  I think I have rarely been in a place which has had so many contrasts.  It’s a city with a huge piece of countryside right in the middle of it.  It has buildings from the Art Nouveau through communist brutalism into contemporary.  Supposedly the least visited country in Europe, but I heard voices from around the world.  A place that has embraced capitalist culture but doesn’t take it too seriously … where else would you find a shopping mall called Mall Dova? 

There was plenty to see and do in my local neighbourhood, so much that I didn’t travel out of it for the first couple of days.  Partly this was due to weather, torrential rain, but partly because I wanted to soak in so much of this busy little city and just people watch.  Nearby was a botanical garden (always a must for me) and a really beautiful street mural … the photo doesn’t do it justice. 

On day 3 or 4 I decided to take the bus into the centre.  This was a bit of an adventure as I had no idea how to pay for my ticket.   Should I have bought it beforehand or do I pay the driver?  Is there a machine inside?  It turns out that there is a ‘bus conductor’ who issues tickets as you go along.  I remember these from my childhood in England and it once was a dream job of mine (I moved onto bus driver when I was about nine.)  I felt I had to shove my money into her hand, but I got my ticket and change and stayed on the bus as it travelled along.  I think it may have been the last bus ticket I bought.  Although there was a bus conductor on every bus and trolley, they rarely came to me, I’m not sure if it was an age thing.  Luckily I didn’t meet with any ticket inspectors, though my luck was to run out at my next destination. 

Knowing there was an arch de triomphe in the city, that was my immediate goal, but I was distracted and got off early just to walk through the city.  I passed street vendors selling all sorts of items, but being a true nomad I never want to buy anything that will make my suitcase heavier, but one thing caught my eye; some bathroom scales. 

I found out that in Albania, people will bring out scales and charge a couple of pence for you to weigh yourself … so I wondered if that was the case here.   Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  I stood on them and took note of the weight (which I am not revealing) and then gave the vendor a small amount of money.   She seemed happy, I was happy (at least with the service if not the weight!) and so I moved on.   I eventually came to the arch, which is tiny and put onto a main road almost as an after-thought.   But directly opposite was a large square with some lovely buildings around it and from the noise and busyness, it was clear there was a wedding going on.   I decided to gate-crash and took a photo of two young women in traditional costume who were so happy to pose for me. 

I eventually caught the bus back and was struck by how much of the journey was on an overpass straddling a sea of green tree tops, something to look into on another day. 

A day later I took a bus out and got off opposite the Mall Dova, a short walk past some modern flats took me into another world of woodland and lakes.   It was definitely a place to explore and I came across an abandoned modernist building, maybe a retreat or hotel but there were other older buildings around, mostly turned into upmarket restaurants or conference venues.  I walked for about an hour, past people swimming and sunbathing on the shore line and then popped into the mall for an altogether different experience.   It was easy to forget what was outside and I could have been in any western European city.  Not an experience I was expecting.

Of course, I am aware that equating Chișinău to the rest of Moldova is like saying that Dublin is the same as the rest of Ireland.  For all I know Mall Dova may be the only shopping mall in the country.  I didn’t plan enough time or work out how to see any more of the country.  But I did feel I was falling in love with the place and that if I ever got the chance I would go back … and that’s not something I would say about everywhere.

That evening, I commented on this to some people drinking in a bar near to my digs who were fluent in English.  Moldovans but had been living in California and had now moved back but were planning to move on again to Ireland, once a visa had been arranged.  They confirmed that Moldova has progressed a lot over the last 5 to 10 years as it bids to be the newest member of the EU.  The country has a very transient population, much like Ireland did in days gone by and lots of people leave the country to get work in the EU and beyond and send money home.   They also acknowledged that many people were coming over from Ukraine and in effect doing the same thing on a more localised basis.    It was an interesting discussion and I was sad that we couldn’t meet up again.  But all too soon I came to the end of my stay and made my way back to the railway station I had found so difficult to leave on that thunderstorm day the previous week.  I had a last pot of mint tea before I left from an Andy’s café – a chain in Chisinau and very different to the usual teabag concoction I was used to.  Oh and that was the “tea” in the title of my last post … only just remembered!   

I also bought a small electric fan which I was told was needed for the next part of the journey, back to Romania and specifically Bucharest … but more of that to come.

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