Moldova in a round-about sort of way

[Mr H]

Can I recommend La Placinte for Moldovan food?

​

 

[jase05]

Would you rate TK for a long flight - eg Bali to London via IST, in J?

Absolutely I would. Only negative is I ended up in a food coma such was the quantity and quality served onboard.
We have flown long haul on their 777 and B787 but still yet to try their A350.
I don’t know if they still do or not but the beauty of flying to LHR is that they use the wide bodies on many of their flights, none of this Euro business garbage

 

[kookaburra75]

A bit of background information for you, just in case you want to get into conversations with the locals
Cash, Mules and Paid Protests: How a Fraudster Seized an Ethnic Enclave Cash, Mules and Paid Protests: How a Fraudster Seized an Ethnic Enclave

 

[RooFlyer]

Can I recommend La Placinte for Moldovan food?

​

Thanks. Will see how I go. I went to La Taifas last night which seemed pretty good Moldovan

A bit of background information for you, just in case you want to get into conversations with the locals
Cash, Mules and Paid Protests: How a Fraudster Seized an Ethnic Enclave Cash, Mules and Paid Protests: How a Fraudster Seized an Ethnic Enclave

Thanks - That sounds pretty much like what I heard when I visited the place yesterday. Although by the look of it, you not believe there’s much money sloshing around in Gaugauzia.

 

[Mr H]

Thanks. Will see how I go. I went to La Taifas last night which seemed pretty good Moldovan

Yes, that looks like it covers the same ground.

 

[Flashback]

Can I recommend La Placinte for Moldovan food?

​

Thanks. Will see how I go. I went to La Taifas last night which seemed pretty good Moldovan

Thanks - That sounds pretty much like what I heard when I visited the place yesterday. Although by the look of it, you not believe there’s much money sloshing around in Gaugauzia.

Yes, that looks like it covers the same ground.

Eli-Pili is also worth a shot, open 24 hours too.

Eli-Pili · Strada București 68, Chișinău, Moldova

★★★★★ · Cafe

maps.app.goo.gl

Caravan is also worth a try.

Caravan · Mihai Eminescu Street 64, Chişinău 2012, Moldova

★★★★★ · Uzbeki restaurant

maps.app.goo.gl

 

[RooFlyer]

Next day I was on the first of three day tours booked through Moldova Tours. More on them at the end. Today it was basically a trip down to Gagauzia, an autonomous area to the SW. Honestly, if you look into Moldovan history and think it complex and sometimes off, Gagauzia is where the rubber hits the road.

When Moldova declared independence of the Soviet Union, the Transnistrians to the east tried to form their own republic, there was a war and an uneasy truce has remained (more later) with the Transnistrians calling themselves independent (recognised only by Russia). The Gagauzians thought to do the same, but because they are broken up into three separate areas, impossible to 'defend', they gave it up and they have a special autonomous status within Moldova.



Basically Gagauzians have Turkish heritage; their language is sort of Turkish, but there is a strong Russian influence, politically and language-wise. Lotsa corruption and Russian money.

Trip started with a visit to the mansion of Manuc Bey. Little interest; a restored mansion of a guy who came to the area in the mid 1800s for the Turks, but acted as a Russian spy. Place has been restored and sparsely furnished with reproduction furniture.

Road I've seen so far have been good, and driving habits OK to good - except for cars with Ukrainian number plates. Nuts.



Town of Hincesi



The spread



On site, there was the obligatory local history museum. Anyone who has been in local museums in former Soviet republics know what I mean when I say its an incredibly tedious experience. Hundreds of pics of the local folk for generations, their farms, their horses, each described in minute detail; big emphasis on the war dead, which I don't want to trivialise, but I don't need to know every story ... it goes on and on ...

Local heroes in the war with Transnistria



Onto the furnishings - this might say it all



This was interesting



Obligatory escape tunnel for whn the baddies come



Hit the road again. This is a feature of all the highways I've been on for 2 days - walnut trees planted down each side. They have deep roots and are more impervious to drought than most trees and were planted to shelter the highways from blowing snow. And the people can take up to 300kg each year!



Then - welcome to Gagauzia! No border formalities.

 

[RooFlyer]

We stopped at the capital, Comrat (pop abt 25,000) for a look around. Statue of Lenin set the scene (it was in the NY Times piece posted earlier)



At least they show both flags:



Popped into a shop for some local cuisine. “Kyvyrma” (puff pastry with cottage cheese)



And a spicy pressed roll of lamb. They have a lot of lamb in Moldova.



Then - oh, no! The local history museum. They get virtually no visitors these days, so I was positively seized upon by the local lady and given the "full tour" Every. photograph. and. every. poster. Well, it would have been if I hadn't led the pace, while trying to look interested, smiling and nodding at hopefully appropriate times and looking sad at other appropriate times. Tour was in Russian, translated by my guide. Demonstrations of weaving and churning butter .... Oh, God.





The current 'President' of Gagauzia and map of the 'country'



Finally escaped, and to the church. Welcome ...





Obviously dedicated to ST John the Baptist. 75% of the churches in Moldova are Russian orthodox, reporting to Moscow (yeah, that's another issue) and 25% report to Bucharest. During Soviet times all the churches were abandoned, but in Moldova have been restored since 1991.

 

[RooFlyer]

Thanks @QF WP

Inside, a new iconostasis and new paintings.





Then we visited a very unremarkable market



And then one of the highlights - the opportunity to try kvass - a very low alcohol drink made by fermenting dark bread. It was much nicer than it sounds - here sold as 'new cola' and it was sort of like cola, without the bubbles.





Then lunch where I just had a special Gagauzian soup - a nice broth with a pork knuckle in it.





Then the drive back to Chisinau. Overall, not a spectacular day - interesting to learn about Gagauzians, but I wouldn't call it a must-do.

 

[RooFlyer]

Dinner was a recommended 'traditional Moldovan' place just around the corner - La Taifas



I only got half the menu. It certainly looks very 'traditional'. Not cheap, about middling prices. One thing here, and most of the places I've gone to, is that there is only a limited selection of wines by the glass.





I chose 'stewed' pork (it actually came out without any 'sauce/gravy' but garnished with onions and gallic) and Mămăligă - very traditional corn meal 'polenta'. The pork was excellent, and the other - well, its corn meal.



Also convinced to try a 'Moldovan pie' - many varieties but this one is goats cheese in puff pastry. Pretty nice.



All very filling! A couple of glasses of white, from the top of the wine menu.

It was still early and light when I finished and went for a walk



Oh! a wine bar. More a wine shop, but small area to taste wine - crowded, so no pics.



Further on. Oh! Marlene - a coughtail bar. Went in, not really my scene but comfy lounges and young and old couples having coughtails ...





next stop 'Wine Republic' - small and very busy, I gave it a miss and headed for bed.

 

[RooFlyer]

Tour the next day was an old monastery (including caves) and the huge Cricova winery.

I was told the night before that someone would be joining me - OK. But it turned out to be 2 others (an American and a German) and I had to negotiate hard with Moldova Tours to get a reduction in the price!!

Another good road out of town and again, no issues with other drivers



The Monastery Churchi complex was founded in the 1700s, with the main building built in the 1800s, has been restored and re-established after independence in the 1990s. Beautiful grounds and buildings.



One if the secondary churches



All the artwork and iconostasis is from post 1990s restoration.



The main church was built in 1872 and suffered bomb damage to its towers in WW2, as well as being abandoned during the Soviet era. So again, a big restoration effort.










I think this image is interesting! That's Mary lying deceased (which is sorta fascinating) - anything else catch your eye? We were told the story - anyone know it?

 

[craven morehead]

This trip has come about in a round-about way, and its execution is also a bit indirect.

In 2019 JohnM and I were on a trip through the 5 Stans and a fellow-traveller told us enthusiastically about an Intrepid trip she had done through Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. I signed up soon thereafter and I think JohnM did too but of course Covid put paid to that, and then the war

I had gotten all enthusiastic about Moldova however, and it was then on the radar. I had points burning a hole in my pocket and when I was able to book award flights almost all the way, I did so.

First things first. yes, where the heck is Moldova? Obviously, between Romania and Ukraine. As a bonus, along the border with Ukraine is a Russian-aligned 'autonomous region' of Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. Going there too.


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Routing is pretty straightforward, although the timings are a bit awkward.

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HBA-MEL-ADL to start is a Qantas award in J (turned out to have a 'i' in there)
ADL-MEL-DOH-SAW is a Qatar award in J using my BAEC and QRPC avios
IST-KIV-IST is a revenue TK J ticket
IST-AUH-MEL is an Aeroplan award ticket in J on Etihad
MEL-HBA is a QF award ticket in J.

This is my first overseas trip where the flights are substantially on points. Generally, I've been reluctant to do o/s trips with points, due to possible complications with cancellations etc. But this is a straightforward itinerary on a non-critical trip, so all good (so far!!). But I have suffered one of the other problems with Award trips - bad connections and the need to pad the itinerary extra to accommodate issues.

I'm in, albeit at a pace

 

[Daver6]

We arrived at Doha about 30 mins early, but to a remote gate. But of course the Qataris know how to do busses - I've shown the First Class bus before, and this is the business class one; only 2/3 full, at that.

View attachment 344637

Originally, my transit was about 3 hours - pretty ideal, if in the middle of the night. This was opened out to about 10 hours, with the flight in arriving at 11pm and out at 8:50am. This mean an overnight stay - like I said, with awards redemptions you rarely get to choose optimal timing. So I bit the bullet HARD and had a night at the airside Oryx hotel - a cool $420 . Yes, sure, more dollars than sense, but I value sleep, which is a bit scarce anyway when I'm travelling.

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The view (there was no noise at all)

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Next morning, out to Gate 40A for the flight to Istanbul (SAW), via brekkie at the J lounge. A quick refresher for those who haven't been there. There are now 2 J lounges - this is the original; there are also a plethora of other plat and silver lounges, as well as the Al Safwa First lounge.

Shows the upper restaurant, one of two

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The signage at DOH is terrible; conflicting, scarce, missing, too many:

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I had a bit of time, so checked out the Oryx 'Garden Hotel' at the end of the C pier. As people have concluded, it is not bookable by the public - QR uses it as their transit-package hotel.

If you wanted to save a few shekels you could have grabbed a quite room in the other J lounge. Not quite a bed, but looked acceptable and decent enough to me

 

[RooFlyer]

Not quite a bed, but looked acceptable and decent enough to me

Not for these old bones, unfortunately.

 

[zig]

Enjoying your trip report.
I hope no one from QF is reading your report and getting menu inspiration from the Moldovan stewed pork you enjoyed.

 

[Flashback]

Enjoying your trip report.
I hope no one from QF is reading your report and getting menu inspiration from the Moldovan stewed pork you enjoyed.

Here's the La Placinte version .....

 

[zig]

Here's the La Placinte version .....

View attachment 345742

That looks more appetising.

 

[Flashback]

That looks more appetising.

Would have been cheaper, too.

 

[RooFlyer]

Next stop was Old Orhei, an archaeological complex on the Raut River, where it does a U bend beneath limestone cliffs. Its said to be one of the most beautiful vistas in Moldova. Wikipedia tells us:

Old Orhei contains traces of different civilizations, including the remnants of earthen and wooden fortresses of Geto–Dacian fortress (6th–1st centuries B.C.), the Golden Horde fort Shehr al-Jedid (or Yangi-Shehr) (14th century), a Moldavian fort dating from the 14th-16th centuries, an Orthodox monastery (c. 14th century), and the Moldavian town of Orhei from the 14th–16th centuries.

Our only stop will be the monastery and cave church you can see in the middle left, on a ridge which runs between the two arms of the river.

We walked from the bottom right of the pic up the ridge spine, and this about half way. You can see some cave openings in the cliffs.



This is the entrance to one of the cave churches, and the remains of monks' cells down the hole







All cut into the fossiliferous limestone



View from out of the cave. The river is a trickle compared to what it used to be.



The cave church, dating from the 17th century



The monastery was unexceptional, but of course you had to walk past the merch ...





One of the issues in sharing tour with randoms, no matter how pleasant company they are. Oh, look! They keep pigeons! Lets go over and ogle them for 10 minutes or so .... (No, its hot, lets just go and have lunch and get to the winery)

 

[RooFlyer]

Lunch was at a very pleasant little place downhill from the monastery.



Shown the stores of preserved fruit and veg, kept in a cellar



I had a light lunch but one of the others wanted three courses Mămăligă again for me, to check out the variety (not much!), with some sheep cheese and sour cream



Finally got away (we had a particular time slot booked at the winery). Entry to the village of Cricova; its not far from Chisinau



The Cricova Winery is a huge complex of underground tunnels, left from what is still an active limestone underground mine (that in itself is pretty bizarre). Wikipedia again:

The wine cellars of Cricova are the second largest wine cellar in Moldova, after Milestii Mici (the largest in the world). It boasts 120 kilometres (75 mi) of labyrinthine roadways, versus MM's 200 kilometres (120 mi). Tunnels have existed under Cricova since the 15th century, when limestone was dug out to help build Chişinău. They were converted into an underground wine emporium in the 1950s.

Half of the roadways are used for wine storage. The roads are named by the wines they store. This "wine city" has its warehouses, tasting rooms, and other facilities underground. It goes down to 100 metres (330 ft) below ground and holds 1.25 million bottles of rare wine. The oldest wine dates back to 1902. The temperature is maintained at about 12 °C (54 °F) all year round (which is perfect for wine).

We checked in at reception, then waited for the electric buggies to collect us for the tour. As I recounted in the Cheeses me Off thread, its here I first heard a loud and obnoxious Australian lady, made so by the fact that she had bought & made a good start on a bottle of wine while waiting, and took the bottle and glass with her on the tour and carried the glass whenever on foot. At least half way gone.



Anyway, we all climbed on two electric buggies (here passing one exiting) and proceeded underground. No PPE



The tunnels (or 'drives' as I'd call them) were very large in dimensions. Cut by a circular tunnel boring machine, they then somehow levelled off the roof (backs). I naturally wanted to know more about the engineering, but the lady from Cricova who was giving us the tour ended up not knowing anything more than her script, about the winery or the wines let alone anything else.







Lots of the tunnels were 'developed', as shown above, but vast amounts are just access routes, like a fancy underground metal mine.