Birthday day

Happy birthday,  Gary!!  Such a quirky way to celebrate your birthday, eh?

Gary: Yes. Remember you have to be nice to me today.

It is 9.00 am and we have just arrived at Chisinau. We both feel quite rough, after a sleepless night on the overnight train.

Despite being so early, it is hot and sticky in Moldova. Slow and tired, we drag ourselves along the streets of Moldova to find the accommodation as quickly as possible. We have booked a self-catering apartment for €21 per night at only 1.6 km from the centre. So it should be easy to find.

We mentioned in a previous post that we were forced to make our staying in Moldova a four-day trip, as there is no train to Bucharest until next Tuesday. So we have come up with the following travel schedule:

Day 1 (today): wandering around the city, seeing a couple of museums, and celebrating Gary’s birthday

Day 2: visiting a monastery in the countryside

Day 3: a day trip to Transnistria, a wanna-be country (will tell you all about it in a later post)

Day 4: a wine tour. Moldova is very famous for its wines

Moldova is not a big capital, it has just under 700,000 habitants. It looks quiet, there are not many people around. Maybe, it is too hot or too early.

A local market is currently being set up. People are coming from everywhere and laying out on the ground all sort of stuff: from clothes,

to DIY tools.

In the loosest possible sense of the word, they are so old and rusty, much of it looks like junk. GDR

It reminds me of the boots fair that take place in the countryside in the UK on the Sundays. But here, people take over the streets of the city. And I have the feeling that, whilst people in the UK do it for fun and for a bit of recycling, these people might be doing it to earn their living.

After 40 long minutes, we reach the area where our accommodation is but we struggled to find the number of our apartment. The numbering system is a bit weird. The apartments line up only one side of the road, with the odd numbers at the front and the even numbers at the back. To make it more complicated, each number have been tagged with letters: A & B.

The area looks a bit rough, not well maintained. The facade of the buildings look dirty, as a result of lack of care and pollution. The rendering is falling apart.

But what is amazing is how people are amending there apartments, see how some are infilling the balconies with windows, and others are even extending them, bridging the gaps. Howe this works structurally, who know. You would never be able to do it in the UK, mainly because it impacts negatively on the apartment below you, cutting off their light. (Not strictly true- but it would be really difficult and expensive to negotiate). GDR

We are walking on an uneven pavement, avoiding stepping into holes.

This is where our apartment is.

Our host opens the door for us.

The lift is like that of a terror movie, clunky, slow, sinister. A wet patch on the floor looks suspicious. We stay far away from it.

The view when leaving the lift looks pretty grotty. It feels like your worst nightmare of what the Bronx could be like.

This is our balcony. Hardly appealing for a nice evening drink enjoying the sunset.

Before we enter our apartment, we have to go through a common space shared by other two neighbours. It seems some sort of storage where everybody dumps anything they don’t want to keep in their flat.

And finally… our accommodation. Actually very nice. It has a spacious bedroom.

With nice panoramic.

A kitchen with everything we need, especially a washing machine. This is the main reason why we have picked this apartment.

Gary had the clever idea of doing the laundry here. Looking for a self-laundry place is always a pain, especially in this part of Europe. So we have managed to stuff one of our rucksacks with all the dirty clothes, including the bedding. The other rucksack is big enough for four days of clothes for the two of us. So laundry in Romania will be done nicely, easily and cheaply. We are so efficient!

We have even brought the washing powder and conditioner with us, and it really wasn’t that heavy or that much hassle. GDR

So time to go sightseeing. But first things first, coffee. I am very proud of myself that I have been able to survive without having one yet. But I am not allowed to moan today, it is Gary’s birthday.

After coffee we find some local dancing close to the apartment.

We make our way towards the War museum. The market continues. Around here, there is the fruit and vegetable market.

With very good value. A kilo of large potatoes costs Lei 6 (€0.30). (€0.10 if you go for the cheap ones! GDR)

Now we are entering the clothes section. It is incredible. The whole city is one single market.

The War museum was incredibly interesting and educational.

It covers the whole history of the country with more emphasize on recent history. Everything is translated in English.

Moldova has had a turbulent history, being invaded by Romania, then Russia, then Romania again, then becoming part of USSR. These days, after having declared itself as an independent republic, it wants to become, like most East European countries, part of the EU. Good luck!

Me, fascinated about both remembering and learning.

Cartography is really helpful here to understand boundaries, invasions, dominations…

The exhibition continues outside, with interesting display of planes and tanks used in the WWII.

This truck is not part of the display but old enough to be.

Satisfied and full of knowledge, we go back home to have lunch and a bit of siesta. It is too hot and sticky to continue our tour.

We are also still in recovery mode after our lack of sleep on the train. GDR

Surprise, surprise, a casino. They do like their betting in this part of the world. Maybe it is not as regulated as in the UK.

After a nice few lazy hours, dozing, reading, Wi-Fing, we get ready to go out again. It is 18.00 and as hot as when it was 12.00. This time we will wander around the north of the city, looking for the wine tour agency, following vague directions from our host.

This part of the city is even quieter, more relaxing than the south.

The cathedral lays in the middle of one large park. In front of it, the tower and a barren  square. Due to lack of shade and benches, people don’t feel like walking around on a hot day like today.

With a fountain in the middle an official, army-like building in the background.

We can’t  find the wine tour agency. We have been walking randomly for half an hour and, therefore, getting a bit stressed.

We are not allowed to have an argument today, ‘cause it is my birthday.

Some sort of event is held at the edge of the park. Saturday night clubby music is played aloud. Maybe it is a Summer festival, which have become so popular in recent years in Western Europe.

Nope, it is a wedding event. A bit surreal.

Across the road there is another big park. A war memorial welcomes visitors. The WWII is also remembered strongly in this part of Europe. These kind of monuments are non-existent in Spain. We didn’t participate in the WWII, we have our own Civil War instead. Interestingly, we don’t keep any of these memorials. As soon as our dictator died in 1975, people got rid of every memory; statue, bust and street name that would remind them of the war.

A human ‘Monopoly’ game is taking place in this park. Renamed Moldopoly, how funny.

This park is a bit more popular than the one we have been before. It is more shady. It has lakes with ducks swimming around and sweety shops, so popular among the children.

And these little trikes for the children to play on. Here, some of them are proper petrol engine ones. I can image a four year old tearing off at 80 kmph! GDR

We leave the park and finally find the wine tour shop. It is closed but it will be open tomorrow at 9.00 an. We will pop in before we catch the bus to the monastery.

It is 19.30. Time to go to the restaurant to celebrate Gary’s birthday.

We like trolley buses, so environmentally friendly. A good legacy of the communist era.

Although not a big city, but it still has their own large, wide, imposing avenues.

Which are quite tricky to cross.

We finally get to the restaurant. Although it is recommended in our guide, we popped in this morning to check out the menu, and we liked it. We wanted to book but the waitress said there was no need. And she was right. The restaurant is empty.

I wonder how a place like this can survive. It is not in a particular good location for tourists and not particularly cheap for Moldovan standards. This is also Saturday night so you would expect a few more customers. GDR

It is weirdly decorated in a Charles Dickens’ style.

We ordered a nice bottle of local, dry white wine. Happy birthday babe, I hope you’ve had a nice day!

We share a Russian salad to start with.

I have a tasty charcoal grilled salmon with some vegetables and Gary has lamb casserole, Moldovan style.

I always stop after the main course. Gary always makes a bit of room for dessert.

He is not sure what to have. A couple of guys next to us are having a cake.

It is a traditional Moldovan cake says the waitress.

I will have one of those.

A perfect birthday, I really loved it, thanks Susu.

SM