Greetings from Moldova

Moldova. Just saying the name out loud gets you blank stares and polite nods from people who couldn’t find it on a map if their life depended on it. Sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, it’s a land that feels like someone misplaced it somewhere around 1983 and never bothered to look for it again.

After a strange bus journey from Odessa in Ukraine, we’ve just arrived in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. We took extra care to avoid the territory of Transnistria, which covers most of the Ukrainian border. It seems to be locked in some sort of post-Soviet conflict with Moldova and we were advised not to receive any passport stamps there.

Good morning Chisinau.

There’s a feeling like I’ve stumbled into the forgotten corner of a Cold War postcard. Soviet concrete, statues of uncertain heroes, and a quiet resignation in the air. Not hopelessness, just the kind of weariness that comes from having survived every empire that’s ever tried to claim you.

People have been living in the region for a very long time and the territory has seen a number of invaders. After the ever-present Romans came the Byzantine empire, and later on the Russians arrived. It seems the lingering ghost of the USSR never really left.

Our cozy apartment in Chisinau.

Chisinau is not Paris. Hell, it’s not even Bucharest. But there’s a strange charm under the dust. Men loitering outside kiosks, nursing beers with the deliberation of philosophers. Old women hunched like they’ve seen a hundred bad winters. There’s not much to do here, which might be the point.

I haven’t come here to sample fancy hors d’oeuvr. I want to eat hearty meals like someone’s babushka is still worried you look too thin. I stroll past post-Soviet architecture and the soundtrack of the day is “Moldavia” by Front 242, even though I’m pretty sure that the merry Belgians hadn’t been here when they wrote the song in 1991.

Chisinau is raw, real, and a little rough around the edges, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Most tourists skip Moldova. Most people don’t even know it exists. All the more reason to come here.