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The only tourist in Moldova

telegraph.co.uk

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Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#191

Post by petre »

euroderf wrote: post #89
jmspring wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Estonia’s old city is a treat to explore. Last time I was there was several years back during the winter and it was -30c or so out. Didn’t stop some drunk Brits from having a good time.

It was a top destination for Brit bachelor parties some years ago but that trade seems to have dried up of late. Good riddance.

Why? Cheap flights and booze? I'd like to know in order to avoid such destinations. Drunk Brits on bachelor parties were by far the most annoying tourists in Spain or Greece. I thought my co-nationals were annoying until I encountered drunk Brits.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#192

Post by racional »

rodary wrote: post #190
dralley wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt many Russians can tell the difference between Ukrainian and Polish either. I unironically think that some of them convinced themselves they were fighting Polish mercenaries just because they heard western Ukrainian accents.

Not true. Hearing Ukrainian for the first time, if you're Russian, sounds like you're hearing a Russian dialect you never heard before but understand 90% of, bar some words you've never heard. The languages are that close. Polish, otoh, would baffle a Russian at first, you'd grasp quite a bit but you know you're hearing a foreign language, Slavic but foreign.

Yup - Polish is in a different family (Western Slavic), with lots of unknown words and a different phoneme density that immediately lights up as "foreign".

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#193

Post by racional »

stychos wrote: post #172
dralley wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt many Russians can tell the difference between Ukrainian and Polish either. I unironically think that some of them convinced themselves they were fighting Polish mercenaries just because they heard western Ukrainian accents.

I doubt most of Ukrainians knows Ukrainian language.

This is meant in jest, of course.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#194

Post by dansky »

The last time I visited Moldova was in February 2020. Recorded some walks there: [1][2].

I also went several times since 2010. There were good connections towards Odessa which I loved during summer and Chisinau had OK flight connections.

Transnistria was more interesting back in 2018 when it was like being transported into a 1980's Russian province city. It was super cheap there actually.

[1] https://youtu.be/CISUVZ8siGA

[2] https://youtu.be/nH_oHUIOe6E

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#195

Post by alexey-salmin »

golergka wrote: post #144
thriftwy wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They will also not be considered vodka in Russia, rather 'nastoika'.

Not exactly. Nastoikas are vodkas and other similar strong spirits infused with different aromas after distillation. You could buy a vodka bottle from the store and make a nastika at home from it. Rakia is a strong spirit which is distilled from a different base than vodka. Whereas vodka is distilled from grains, rakia is distilled from fruit. You could also do a nastoika from rakia, I suppose.

Yes, not the same, but it's very likely that "pine-needle vodka" from the article was indeed a nastoika.

The rakia was only mentioned here in comments, not in the original article.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#196

Post by paganel »

racional wrote: post #79
paganel wrote: post #42

Kind of crass for The Telegraph to write this when there are Ukrainian men getting shot by Ukrainian border guards for daring to cross into Republic of Moldova, but that's on brand for this media entity. From here [1]: > A body with a gunshot wound was found near the border of Moldova with UkraineCivilians & politicians > Last weekend, while harvesting wheat near the Klokushna-Sokiryany checkpoint, local residents di…

The Telegraph article predates the shooting incident at the border by 14 days. You are referencing "men" getting shot when the incident involves 1 person getting shot, and this is the only such incident that has been reported 2+ years into the full-scale invasion.

That "shooting incident" has not been an isolated case, not by a long shot.

> You are referencing "men" getting shot when the incident involves 1 person getting shot (...) and this is the only such incident that has been reported 2+ years into the full-scale invasion.

So the barbed wire put along-side the Tisza river on the Ukrainian side is to keep the geese in, not for making Ukraine an open-air prison for its military-aged men. And when it comes to Moldova vs. Ukraine and Ukrainian men dying close to the border you're also of course very wrong, here's another such "incident" [1] from just a few days prior

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/UkraineRussiaReport/comments/1e3old...

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#197

Post by racional »

paganel wrote: post #196
racional wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Telegraph article predates the shooting incident at the border by 14 days. You are referencing "men" getting shot when the incident involves 1 person getting shot, and this is the only such incident that has been reported 2+ years into the full-scale invasion.

That "shooting incident" has not been an isolated case, not by a long shot. > You are referencing "men" getting shot when the incident involves 1 person getting shot (...) and this is the only such incident that has been reported 2+ years into the full-scale invasion. So the barbed wire put along-side the Tisza river on the Ukrainian side is to keep the geese in, not for making Ukraine an open-air prison for its mili…

I'll believe it when I see it in sources other than, well, that website that some people seem to think of as a news source.

(One of the two links posted corresponds to widespread news reports. The other just shows some dead guy in a field).

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#198

Post by imp0cat »

ludwigschubert wrote: post #121
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…

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…

I'd skip Russia and Ukraine right now for obvious reasons. But I have a friend who managed to visit St. Peterburg before the current war and was quite impressed.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#199

Post by imp0cat »

petre wrote: post #191
euroderf wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was a top destination for Brit bachelor parties some years ago but that trade seems to have dried up of late. Good riddance.

Why? Cheap flights and booze? I'd like to know in order to avoid such destinations. Drunk Brits on bachelor parties were by far the most annoying tourists in Spain or Greece. I thought my co-nationals were annoying until I encountered drunk Brits.

Is it still a thing? Before covid, even central Europe suffered from the drunk Brit invasion, but nowadays it seems they have moved on.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#200

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]
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