Chisinau

I left Odessa on a mini bus in the morning and was not looking forward to the 5 hour trip since the roads were not in good shape.  The bus was fairly full and I think I was the only foreigner on it.  The border exit from Ukraine and entrance into Moldova were not bad, but took about a hour for the passports to get reviewed and stamped.

The part of Moldova we entered was very rural and poor.  I saw people working in the fields with rakes, hoes, and small rototillers.  We got to Chisinau about 30 minutes late, so I quickly got $20 changed into local currency & caught a local bus to reach the apartment I was renting for 2 nights.  The outskirts of Chisinau were a depressing block of crumbling apartment towers, but neighborhood where I stayed was very nice and the apartment I rented for 2 nights was one of the nicest Airbnb places I have been in.

I was a few blocks from the main street in Chisinau & close to the local market where there was everything from produce, women's underwear, and electronics for sale.  There were also some nice parks and even a knock off of the Arc De Triumph.  I also found an old abandoned Circus arena, which something popular back in the Soviet days and also an old Soviet hotel (still in business). 






The following day I visited a country called Transnistria which I will cover in separate post.  There aren't many touristic sights in Chisinau, but it was an interesting place to spend a few nights.  My next stop is Kazan, Russia which requires traveling on a flight to Moscow & then another flight to Kazan.

Here are a few more photos from Chisinau.











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