Moldova...Chişinău
Dec. 18th, 2015 02:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
motodraconisCatch up! A delayed picture review of Chişinău in Moldova. Moldova, Europe's least visited country!
St. Theodor Tiron Convent (no information available! Or indeed directions, as it was not marked on the local map I was given. Verily, tourism isn't a thing in Moldova.
Ladas! Not seen so many Ladas since I visited Moscow in 1990.
Triumphal Arch in the main square of Chişinău
View on my 40 minute walk into the centre from my hotel.
And er... that's about it. There really isn't much to see in Chişinău. On the way back on the plane, I got talking to a British tourist who, like me had come out on the same flights for 2 days in Chişinău. I'd gone to Transnistria, and he'd wandered round Chişinău for 2 days.
Getting very bored. You can walk round Chişinău in a morning. He was quite jealous of my Transnistria trip. Foodwise, apart from Al's Pizza, there doesn't seem to be much around. There are sordid smokey coffee shops (with no loos) so I was reduced to going twice to La Placenta, a franchise Moldovan Cuisine eatery. No bad thing, as full of yummy traditional dishes very cheap.
This Unknown Vodka - served with gherkins wrapped in lard was served up in Transnistria.
Homemade! I'd ordered a beer and a vodka, and then discovered with disappointment that the vodka I'd odered was not the home brew. So they brought those 2 lard 'n' vod protions out for me and my guide. He wasn't drinking, and after a beer and a voka already I poured the extra vods into my water-bottle for later consumption. A good idea, as I drank it in bed in the hotel later, mildly fearful that it would make me blind. (Just the memory of it appears to have distressed my spelling.)
Kvass a very mildly alcoholic (1%) Russian soft drink made from bread. The Russian Government apparently touts it as a more patriotic alternative to coke. (We're still in Russia-obsessed Transnistria here.) Given the opportunity, I'd pick Kvass over coke too.
Quails eggs, fish eggs and butter anus.
And now - food in Chişinău, from the tasty La Placenta. Spiced mulled wine for a pound or less.
Spiced soup - served with cream.
Sausage! (Unknown meat.) Served with cream.
Honey beef and polenta, served with cheese and... cream.
Dumplings stuffed with potato and doused in a cream and mushroom sauce (disappointed this did not come with extra cream.)
Frankly, I can recommend La Placenta, (apart from the fact it seemed to be the only restaurant I could find that wasn't pizza in the capital) it's a chilled out place, and with wifi, cheap food and mulled wine such good value it's a great place to loll after you have exhausted the delights of Chişinău and are waiting around before flying home.
Genuine Moldovan beer, brewed in Moldova with goats. I always try to drink the local beer if I can, but for some reason every beer I ordered was "foreign" I got this at the airport on the way out (cheaper than a coffee) and drank it at home.
AAAAARRGH! Carefully placed bonus!
Merry Xmas from Moldova! So would I go back? Curiously, I might! One of the things I missed that would have been good to see where one of the fabulous wine cellars. Cricova is said to be the largest underground wine cellar in the world. It needs a day trip though, and I didn't have enough time between flights to manage 2 day trips. Maybe next time, a day in the wine cellars and a potter stuffing my face with Moldovan dumplings the next day.
St. Theodor Tiron Convent (no information available! Or indeed directions, as it was not marked on the local map I was given. Verily, tourism isn't a thing in Moldova.
Ladas! Not seen so many Ladas since I visited Moscow in 1990.
Triumphal Arch in the main square of Chişinău
View on my 40 minute walk into the centre from my hotel.
And er... that's about it. There really isn't much to see in Chişinău. On the way back on the plane, I got talking to a British tourist who, like me had come out on the same flights for 2 days in Chişinău. I'd gone to Transnistria, and he'd wandered round Chişinău for 2 days.
Getting very bored. You can walk round Chişinău in a morning. He was quite jealous of my Transnistria trip. Foodwise, apart from Al's Pizza, there doesn't seem to be much around. There are sordid smokey coffee shops (with no loos) so I was reduced to going twice to La Placenta, a franchise Moldovan Cuisine eatery. No bad thing, as full of yummy traditional dishes very cheap.
This Unknown Vodka - served with gherkins wrapped in lard was served up in Transnistria.
Homemade! I'd ordered a beer and a vodka, and then discovered with disappointment that the vodka I'd odered was not the home brew. So they brought those 2 lard 'n' vod protions out for me and my guide. He wasn't drinking, and after a beer and a voka already I poured the extra vods into my water-bottle for later consumption. A good idea, as I drank it in bed in the hotel later, mildly fearful that it would make me blind. (Just the memory of it appears to have distressed my spelling.)
Kvass a very mildly alcoholic (1%) Russian soft drink made from bread. The Russian Government apparently touts it as a more patriotic alternative to coke. (We're still in Russia-obsessed Transnistria here.) Given the opportunity, I'd pick Kvass over coke too.
Quails eggs, fish eggs and butter anus.
And now - food in Chişinău, from the tasty La Placenta. Spiced mulled wine for a pound or less.
Spiced soup - served with cream.
Sausage! (Unknown meat.) Served with cream.
Honey beef and polenta, served with cheese and... cream.
Dumplings stuffed with potato and doused in a cream and mushroom sauce (disappointed this did not come with extra cream.)
Frankly, I can recommend La Placenta, (apart from the fact it seemed to be the only restaurant I could find that wasn't pizza in the capital) it's a chilled out place, and with wifi, cheap food and mulled wine such good value it's a great place to loll after you have exhausted the delights of Chişinău and are waiting around before flying home.
Genuine Moldovan beer, brewed in Moldova with goats. I always try to drink the local beer if I can, but for some reason every beer I ordered was "foreign" I got this at the airport on the way out (cheaper than a coffee) and drank it at home.
AAAAARRGH! Carefully placed bonus!
Merry Xmas from Moldova! So would I go back? Curiously, I might! One of the things I missed that would have been good to see where one of the fabulous wine cellars. Cricova is said to be the largest underground wine cellar in the world. It needs a day trip though, and I didn't have enough time between flights to manage 2 day trips. Maybe next time, a day in the wine cellars and a potter stuffing my face with Moldovan dumplings the next day.
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Date: 2015-12-18 03:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-19 12:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-19 01:56 pm (UTC)Have you read "Playing the Moldovans at Tennis"?