Moldova

Capital:
Chisinau

Currency
Leu

Best time to visit:
from april to september

In a word:
Noroc (welcome)

Vaccines
None

Essential experiences:
Wander around the Chisinau flower markets open 24 hours a day; Stroll around the historic center of the capital among old Soviet buildings and ancient Orthodox churches; Taste a sip of Moldovan Divin

Window on the West

a place that abounds in natural beauty, fantastic cuisine, wonderful people and a huge cultural heritage, despite being incredibly cheap

Bucolic landscapes, vineyards as far as the eye can see, ancient monasteries. A semi-unknown destination, unrelated to the most popular tourist route circuit and perhaps therefore even more intriguing.

Before telling about our adventure we must specify one thing: what is it called, Moldova or Moldavia?

Although both names are often used, actually Moldavia is a wider region that includes (in addition to Moldova) also a portion of Romanian territory. Officially, the nation that was born in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union is called the Republic of Moldova or Moldova.

Discover Moldova in 2 minutes (Video)

10 june Chisinau (Moldova)

Bad roads, dense forests and in an hour and a half we reach the decadent suburb of Chisinau, capital of Moldova.
I confess that everything seems to be arranged, old rusted Lada parades next to big, modern cars, people with envelopes and buckets of cherries crowd the stops of old and not very reassuring buses ...

Along the outskirts we travel along roads of obvious invoice and Soviet style ... but the historical center is very different from the periphery ... there are so many cafes and restaurants very nice and westernized ...

Resurrected after the devastation of the Second World War, the capital of Moldova is rich in splendid attractions. The best place to start the tour of the city is the historic center. Here are the most famous city parks. You can admire the Sacred Door of 1841, also known as the Arc de Triomphe, the Parcul Catedralei or the Cathedral Park dominated by the main Orthodox building, the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ with the bell tower, the Government Palace, majestic building in front of the Porta Sacra, the Palace of the Parliament and the Presidential Palace.

Nearby there is a small flower market open 24 hours a day, although it is nothing special, much more characteristic is the central market which extends over a huge area along Mitropolit Varlaam Str. The incessant shouting of busy people coming from the rural villages "in the capital" reminds many Middle Eastern bazaars ... I was struck by the many elderly women lined up side by side along the sidewalks, each showing one or two dresses for sale to passers-by or a bucket of cherries from your own garden and that's it ... unique merchandise for sale ...

There are porters who run up and down with carts loaded with goods, women of Gypsy ethnicity spitting sunflower seeds while begging, little groups of old people bargaining over prices when they don't play chess in the city's various "soviet style" parks .

11 june Chisinau (Moldova)

We leave Chisinau passing by a statue of the Capitoline she-wolf (lupoaica romei) that the Moldovans consider a symbol of their Latin roots!

As we already know, Moldova is also famous for being the least visited country in all of Europe, so the probability of encountering another tourist is minimal. Precisely for this reason you will appreciate the authenticity of the country itself, which is difficult in other tourist destinations in the most popular countries. This means the lack of annoying crowds for museums and galleries, long lines in restaurants and bars and the chance to explore the country in serenity as a "stranger".