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The only tourist in Moldova

telegraph.co.uk

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Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#121

Post by ludwigschubert »

swozey wrote: post #103
trte9343r4 wrote: post #16

This would fit maybe in 2019, but Moldova now has many foreigners. Hotel prices went up considerably! For "Europe's least visited country" try Belorus, Ukraine, Russia, Ossetia or Armenia. Traveling to Mariupol as a tourist is the real deal in 2024

I have a Russian friend who is adamant that I would really enjoy and have a great time in Russia. IIRC he tells me to go to St Pete more than Moscow. But I cannot imagine doing that as an American. It kind of makes me wonder if he's messing with me but he hates Russia and Putin and I don't know why he would. I feel like I would be so unsafe. I'm a very "American" looking person and I only know a handful of Russian wo…

I imagine your friend is genuine. During undergrad/before 2014 I attended a summer school (https://www.jass.school) in St. Peterburg. I found the city to be welcoming, almost European in ambiance, with friendly university students. It never felt too foreign or unsafe. In my experience, St. Peterburg is as distinct from how I imagine Moscow as San Francisco is from Dallas, Texas.

(edit: I have no idea how it’d feel nowadays, and won’t visit Russia atm either.)

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#122

Post by viraptor »

danielodievich wrote: post #117

Travelling to any ex-USSR countries on the periphery from the "western" world is taking a nice fun gamble. The bigger places in Kazakhstan are probably okay, and yeah, you likely would have fun in Tbilisi or Yerevan, but the chance of you having a very bad time in Bishkek or (heavens forbid) the Dushanbe is just too high. It could be a lot of fun, it would be fairly cheap by western standards, it will certainly be un…

> but the chance of you having a very bad time in Bishkek

Could you tell us more? Is the issue just that outsider's problems will be ignored so you have a higher chance of getting stuck, mugged, etc.? Or some other more specific issues?

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#123

Post by agent281 »

cafard wrote: post #116
swozey wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Russian friend who is adamant that I would really enjoy and have a great time in Russia. IIRC he tells me to go to St Pete more than Moscow. But I cannot imagine doing that as an American. It kind of makes me wonder if he's messing with me but he hates Russia and Putin and I don't know why he would. I feel like I would be so unsafe. I'm a very "American" looking person and I only know a handful of Russian wo…

> He's only been in America a few years so as soon as he speaks the entire bar knows he's Russian. Because Americans are so good at distinguishing Slavic languages by ear in a noisy room? I live near a Russian Orthodox church. People complain about the congregants, but mostly about their parking. A house opposite the church as a Ukrainian flag prominently hung; on the other hand one of the congregants has a sticker o…

> Because Americans are so good at distinguishing Slavic languages by ear in a noisy room?

There is a simpler explanation: Russian is probably the only Slavic language most Americans know about.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#124

Post by albroland »

danielodievich wrote: post #117

Travelling to any ex-USSR countries on the periphery from the "western" world is taking a nice fun gamble. The bigger places in Kazakhstan are probably okay, and yeah, you likely would have fun in Tbilisi or Yerevan, but the chance of you having a very bad time in Bishkek or (heavens forbid) the Dushanbe is just too high. It could be a lot of fun, it would be fairly cheap by western standards, it will certainly be un…

I was in Bishkek last year and I don't see the risk; what concerns would you have aside from food poisoning?

Dushanbe I agree with you, but simply because I found Tajikistan rather boring and desolate but in an unimpressive way.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#125

Post by rvnx »

lostmsu wrote: post #85
brabel wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to laugh at "this country is not safe" :D my country also advised that, but I've been there many times. It's about the safest country in Europe IMHO.

It well may be the safest country in Europe, provided you shut your mouth instead of talking much about important matters.

It's like China, respect the local politics and it's an amazing place to travel.

Much safer than let's say France.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#126

Post by type0 »

brabel wrote: post #65
Freak_NL wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well yeah, Belarus is essentially off-limits to a large part of the world due to Russia's war with Ukraine. Belarus does seem like a wonderful country at its core, but after the election fraud all progress just froze and the country is (once again) seen as Russia's de-facto vassal state. This sucks for the people of Belarus who got caught up in this, but for the average tourist going there is not something to conside…

I had to laugh at "this country is not safe" :D my country also advised that, but I've been there many times. It's about the safest country in Europe IMHO.

it's probably fairly safe until you are arrested and accused of being a spy in hope of bargaining for some sanction lifting deal with you country

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#127

Post by travismark »

vzaliva wrote: post #112
swozey wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Russian friend who is adamant that I would really enjoy and have a great time in Russia. IIRC he tells me to go to St Pete more than Moscow. But I cannot imagine doing that as an American. It kind of makes me wonder if he's messing with me but he hates Russia and Putin and I don't know why he would. I feel like I would be so unsafe. I'm a very "American" looking person and I only know a handful of Russian wo…

If you go to russia there is a chance of you being arrested on made-up charge just to be used as exchange fund for russian spies or arm dealers arrested in the west. Look up Paul Whelan, Brittney Griner, Michael Calvey, Trevor Reed, and most recently Travis Leake.

or Evan Gershkovich. St Pete was a wonderful city to visit before the 2014 invasion, now I think it's too risky

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#128

Post by viraptor »

userulluipeste wrote: post #84

"Sergiu exuberantly offers up shot glasses of mulberry vodka, pine-needle vodka, strawberry vodka, “medicine” vodka, “78 per cent proof” vodka" Although Moldova has vodka-drinking Slavs in it, the beverages described are not vodkas. Vodka is made of cereals or potatoes, whereas these are nicer-flavored, fruit-based distilled beverages that locals call "rakiu", in English it would be schnapps: https://en.wikipedia.org…

These are often described as vodkas in practice, even if they technically aren't. Applies to other eastern Europe products too. For example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C3%B3dka_%C5%BBo%C5%82%C4%85... is fruit/herb based, but is commonly known as vodka and even was labelled as such.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#129

Post by pound »

trte9343r4 wrote: post #16

This would fit maybe in 2019, but Moldova now has many foreigners. Hotel prices went up considerably! For "Europe's least visited country" try Belorus, Ukraine, Russia, Ossetia or Armenia. Traveling to Mariupol as a tourist is the real deal in 2024

BelArus

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#130

Post by viraptor »

geoka9 wrote: post #80
trte9343r4 wrote: post #16

This would fit maybe in 2019, but Moldova now has many foreigners. Hotel prices went up considerably! For "Europe's least visited country" try Belorus, Ukraine, Russia, Ossetia or Armenia. Traveling to Mariupol as a tourist is the real deal in 2024

> Traveling to Mariupol as a tourist is the real deal in 2024 Don't. It's impossible to do from the Ukrainian side and illegal from Russia.

Also, from the practical side you don't want to accidentally find the leftover mines.
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