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The only tourist in Moldova

telegraph.co.uk

211–220 of 427 posts

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#211
post #126
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'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

I am not aware of Belarus having used that sort of behaviour, do you know of any examples?

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#212
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time I've been to Armenia there are many people visiting, although I think probably 80%+ are diaspora or descendants of diaspora folks edit to add -- not sure Ossetia is technically a country... the Georgians might quibble with you on that one

Went to a hotel lobby bar once and asked guys sitting to the left and to the right of me where are they from. Turns out both were Scots. Asked them what do they think about Scottish independence. One thing led to another and soon enough they started fist-fighting each other. Armenian cognac is great.

Damn Scots, they ruined Scotland!

https://youtu.be/i2q0T7QXETs

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#213
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time I've been to Armenia there are many people visiting, although I think probably 80%+ are diaspora or descendants of diaspora folks edit to add -- not sure Ossetia is technically a country... the Georgians might quibble with you on that one

Went to a hotel lobby bar once and asked guys sitting to the left and to the right of me where are they from. Turns out both were Scots. Asked them what do they think about Scottish independence. One thing led to another and soon enough they started fist-fighting each other. Armenian cognac is great.

>soon enough they started fist-fighting each other

Never change Scotland.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#215
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if it is NATO blasting through Moldova into Ukraine?

why would they; more realistic would be Romania and Ukraine deciding to disarm Transnistria on behalf of Moldova

So are they going to take Tiraspol in three days?

I believe that Moldavian central government is very cautous. PMR already plays ball so why rock the boat.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#216
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m guessing it’s actually răchie from pine cones, not needles. Either way, now I’m curious to try it.

Drinks made out of pine needles are pretty common. They have a very distinct nice taste.

Small soft pine cones are also used for jams and flavored liquors.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am Ukrainian

... and that's why you go around and policy the usage of the language which isn't even spoken in your own country?

English is spoken very widely in Ukraine in fact, and was just promoted to an official status (not as a primary language, but to a secondary official status nonetheless) in the past month.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#218

I was in Moldova back in 2013 for a university org summer course and for me it somehow felt like being in Cuba. There weren't many tourists but everyone was very welcoming. You could see even between students the difference in pro-russians and pro-europeans. Weird thing is cut the hot water during the summer. Best wine I've ever had and it was home made from my friend's parent's cellar. Loved the time there.

Old Soviet style communities get hot water from central plants, mainly used for heating but also for showers, so when winter is over, they shutdown the heating plants for the season and no hot water at all. Some places in Northern China hook into muni hot water for showers in the winter but use solar hot water in the summer, when hot showers can be a bit less satisfying (in my experience anyways).

Lebanon has a non-functional government where all publicly-owned everything basically doesn't work. Beirut is essentially a libertarian enclave now, where everyone with means has their own solar panels and gas generators, self-produces all power, and the economy runs on paper US dollars and cryptocurrencies. It's amazing what people can do when their governments are non-existent.

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Rakı is deceptively strong, especially the Cretan version, from which I am proud to have recovered.

It's also important to distinguish between the "Balkan" rachiu/rakija/whatever (which can be distilled from several types of fruit and isn't further processed) and the Turkish/Greek raki/ouzo (which is distilled from grape pomace, flavored with aniseed and generally drunken with water, which gives it a characteristic cloudiness - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rak%C4%B1).

Re: The only tourist in Moldova

#220

I've been to Moldova this year during my 15-countries 2-week solo road trip. To be honest it was hard to find interesting (for me) places to visit there. I found Old Orhei, which they try to make a big tourist attraction, to be kinda boring, same for Stephen the Great Central Park, but really liked brutal building of Chișinău State Circus and Romanița Collective Housing. I've skipped Mileștii Mici Winery, as it didn'…

What about Romania, which is basically the same country (and was before the Soviet Union decided to mess things up)?

My wife is Romanian, and we visit the country once every year. There are plentiful of things to visit in Romania; the most beautiful cities are Sibiu, Sighișoara, Brașov, Timișoara… We have still to visit the famous painted monasteries in Bucovina, which seem to be amazing.
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