From Odesa to Moldova
On the next day, we get off in Odesa at 8:10 am, heading for Palanka – the Ukrainian-Moldovan border crossing point. We ride along the Dniester and, as usual, the wind blows straight into our faces. We have already got used to it :-(. On reaching the border checkpoint we are a bit tired, but also eager to explore the new country. We go through the Ukrainian customs very quickly. Naturally, I talk with a customs officer for a few minutes: why we ride on bikes, how many kilometres a day we cycle, where we are going, and so on. The Moldovan customs point is 5 km away, but we pass through it quickly as well. We exchange 200$ and the remaining UAH to Moldovan leus (MDL). When we later compared the exchange rates, the one at the border was the most favourable.
Moldova (the Republic of Moldova) enchants us right from the start – a better road, light traffic, no speeding drivers. A peaceful idyll. Really neat houses and farmyards. We admire small gardens, meadows and roadsides sprinkled with flowers. Seas of sunflowers stretch to the horizon! Moldova is a lowland country, although the roads are sinuous, with altitude differences often up to 200 metres. Road surfaces are varied. Wayside crucifixes and shrines are a common sight, which is very untypical for the Orthodox Church. The historians believe that this custom spread over this land in 17th and 18th centuries, influenced by the Polish culture. In the 1960's the Communist Party destroyed tens of thousands of Moldovan crosses. Few of them were saved, being moved to museums or Orthodox churches. When Moldova regained independence, the crosses were put up again, and nowadays, in defiance of the communists, they are more numerous than ever before. Many Moldovan Orthodox churches and monasteries suffered the same fate, as they were turned into warehouses, sanatoriums and hospitals. Luckily, they were revived and now are still vibrant with life. Another characteristic feature of Moldova is a wayside well. A well is a "put" in Moldovan, and in the local landscape there are thousands of them, often situated outside the fence, so that everyone can use them. It might have seemed that after most Moldovan villages had plumbing systems installed, such traditional wells would fall into oblivion. However, in the 90's the cost of water services went up substantially, and Moldavians started to use their old wells again. And they will probably not be given up soon – in the meantime water pipes rusted and are now out of use.
The people in this country are very kind and fortunately, most of them speak Russian (Moldova was a part of the Soviet Union), although more and more Moldovan politicians want to restrict the use of Russian language and make Romanian the only official language.
Our first night in Moldova was luxurious – we stayed in a castle by the Purcari winery. Naturally, the price (EUR 90 per room) included wine tasting. In my personal ranking, one of the wines – Cahor – stands as high as the Pina Colada I drank in Belize. In the morning, I am wondering why we decided pay so much for the night, without being able to get enough sleep? Waking up at 8 am is in fact the middle of the night! Unfortunately, Igor is relentless because we are 130 km away from Kishinev (Chisinau). It is hot, so we make a stop in every village to have a cold drink. About 7 pm we notice a wayside motel. If it had not been for this motel we would probably have continued cycling, but seeing it, I suddenly lost my motivation to cycle another 20 km to that day’s destination. The price is MDL 500 for a double room, so we stay. We eat a delicious supper in the hotel restaurant: Igor finally tries Moldova’s national dish – mamaliga, made of maize flour, served with sour cream and bryndza cheese. We moisturize our today’s sun tan with Panthenol – despite a 3 week assimilation and a constant use of high protection sun creams, there are still days when we suffer from mild sunburn.
Moldova (the Republic of Moldova) enchants us right from the start – a better road, light traffic, no speeding drivers. A peaceful idyll. Really neat houses and farmyards. We admire small gardens, meadows and roadsides sprinkled with flowers. Seas of sunflowers stretch to the horizon! Moldova is a lowland country, although the roads are sinuous, with altitude differences often up to 200 metres. Road surfaces are varied. Wayside crucifixes and shrines are a common sight, which is very untypical for the Orthodox Church. The historians believe that this custom spread over this land in 17th and 18th centuries, influenced by the Polish culture. In the 1960's the Communist Party destroyed tens of thousands of Moldovan crosses. Few of them were saved, being moved to museums or Orthodox churches. When Moldova regained independence, the crosses were put up again, and nowadays, in defiance of the communists, they are more numerous than ever before. Many Moldovan Orthodox churches and monasteries suffered the same fate, as they were turned into warehouses, sanatoriums and hospitals. Luckily, they were revived and now are still vibrant with life. Another characteristic feature of Moldova is a wayside well. A well is a "put" in Moldovan, and in the local landscape there are thousands of them, often situated outside the fence, so that everyone can use them. It might have seemed that after most Moldovan villages had plumbing systems installed, such traditional wells would fall into oblivion. However, in the 90's the cost of water services went up substantially, and Moldavians started to use their old wells again. And they will probably not be given up soon – in the meantime water pipes rusted and are now out of use.
The people in this country are very kind and fortunately, most of them speak Russian (Moldova was a part of the Soviet Union), although more and more Moldovan politicians want to restrict the use of Russian language and make Romanian the only official language.
Our first night in Moldova was luxurious – we stayed in a castle by the Purcari winery. Naturally, the price (EUR 90 per room) included wine tasting. In my personal ranking, one of the wines – Cahor – stands as high as the Pina Colada I drank in Belize. In the morning, I am wondering why we decided pay so much for the night, without being able to get enough sleep? Waking up at 8 am is in fact the middle of the night! Unfortunately, Igor is relentless because we are 130 km away from Kishinev (Chisinau). It is hot, so we make a stop in every village to have a cold drink. About 7 pm we notice a wayside motel. If it had not been for this motel we would probably have continued cycling, but seeing it, I suddenly lost my motivation to cycle another 20 km to that day’s destination. The price is MDL 500 for a double room, so we stay. We eat a delicious supper in the hotel restaurant: Igor finally tries Moldova’s national dish – mamaliga, made of maize flour, served with sour cream and bryndza cheese. We moisturize our today’s sun tan with Panthenol – despite a 3 week assimilation and a constant use of high protection sun creams, there are still days when we suffer from mild sunburn.
