Chișinau (pronounced Kee-shee-no) is the capital of Moldova, a small country situated in Eastern Europe between Ukraine and Romania known for its wine industry! I spent a day there in between my trips to Bucharest and Dubai. While I didn’t get to spend a ton of time there, I did enjoy it!
Arrival in Chișinau
We arrived to Chișinau fairly late, around 7 or 8 pm.
Our flight from Bucharest took about an hour, then we took an Uber over to our hotel on the edge of town. Our original hotel choice was booked, but I really liked the place we ended up staying in, called the Iris Hotel! It’s a bit out of the way, but it’s a 4-star hotel and has a big grocery store just across the street! (It’s around $55 a night.)
After getting settled in, the friend I went with wanted to try out the public transport. So we boarded a bus to the city center, where we visited the Triumphal Arch (mirroring the one in Paris).
From this arch, we decided to walk around the park a bit and look for something to eat.
Unfortunately, it was getting fairly late by the time we got there, so many places started to close. Around 10 pm, even the few places that remained open didn’t seem to be accepting any new customers, or they only sold American food. (We wanted to avoid eating familiar foods when possible, so these fell low on the priority list.) By around 11pm, the only place still open was McDonald’s, so that plan fell through.
The city center is really nice, especially at night! There are a lot of decorative lights and still quite a few people out and about.
We decided to take a bus back to our hotel as well. The bus fare is cheap, but unlike Bucharest where you pay with an app or on a terminal, there’s someone sitting on the bus who comes by to charge you for a physical ticket. So make sure you have some physical cash on you if you plan to use the bus!
Some Daytime Exploration in Chișinau
The next day, we got breakfast at a small café next to our hotel. It was like a cafeteria of sorts, with a bunch of trays of food that we could order from.
One big difference between Moldova and Romania was the language barrier. Romania has a lot more English speakers than Moldova does, so we had to communicate through gesture and expression more than words. It was a fun experience, though, seeing how well I could actually communicate like that!
All in all, we had a very hearty breakfast. It included meatballs, steak, and potato salad. Different from most breakfasts I had, but I would definitely eat there again!
We planned to take a train out of Moldova that evening, so after getting breakfast we went to the train station to drop off our luggage before walking around the city more. It didn’t cost too much to leave it there!
Exploring the City
Our first objective was to reach the Chișinau Central Market. So we set off on foot from the train station to find our way there and get some sights of the city.
I thought it was really cool to see the old Soviet-era buildings sitting alongside modern, window-covered high-rises and corporate buildings. The style and dichotomy of it just really stood out to me. I’m sure that pattern holds across most of Eastern Europe, too!
I definitely noticed it in Bucharest too, though not to the same extent.
We walked along the sidewalk past a bunch of market stalls selling clothing, fresh fruit, and other common goods. This wasn’t the market we wanted, though, so we pressed on.
Only to find that the market we wanted seemed to be closed. It was supposed to be inside a courtyard between a few buildings, but a big gate stood in the way of the entrance.
So, we pivoted. We made our way instead to the Museum of Transportation. It’s worth noting that we did this on a Monday, and most of the big museums in Chișinau are closed on Monday. So the big history museums and such that we really wanted to visit weren’t an option.
Chișinau Museum of Transportation
The Museum of Transportation is free, which is nice! There are a couple of caveats, though.
First of all, figuring out how to enter was a bit weird. Luckily, you have me to help! There’s a gate at the main entrance which, for us, was closed. Don’t let the gate dissuade you! It wasn’t locked, and we opened it to get to the front door, where we had to ring a doorbell to get in.
The next little obstacle came in the form of a language barrier. Upon entering, we were handed special covers to put on our shoes (to protect the floors of the museum). The woman asked if we spoke Russian, as her only languages were Russian and Romanian. I have no clue if she’s the only museum guide, or if there are other guides who do speak English.
Fortunately for us, there were a couple other guests who did speak English! They’re from Moldova but spent time living in the US and France. They translated everything the guide told them, and I think it really enhanced the experience by meeting some new people!
The tour went through the development of the public transport around Chișinau, and how different leaders added to their transport routes and systems! They also have some dioramas of the bus depots and a lightmap of all the rail systems as they developed!
I think the best part was at the end, though, when we got to go sit in buses from different decades of Chișinau’s history. They had everything from the modern, currently in use buses to the oldest ones they ever used. You can sit in the driver’s seats and mess with controls to your heart’s content!
While in the museum, I asked our new acquaintances for some recommendations about places to visit with only part of a day left in Moldova. He recommended some of the parks, and the museum guide handed us a bunch of brochures with sightseeing opportunities.
Parks and a Train
We walked back towards the city center and headed for a few of the parks, which were very nice and well-maintained!
The first one, Stephen the Great Central Park, (shown on the right) had a little coffee stand in the middle, and was full of greenery and trees, providing a lot of shade. A very welcome environment on such a hot day!
The second, Valea Morilor Park, is a lot bigger, and really close to Stephen the Great Park. From the street, you’ll take some stairs down to the main park area, which has several big playgrounds including some bounce houses and motorized RC cars you can rent for your kids to ride in! It also has a big lake which you can swim in if you go around the other end of it. I wanted nothing more than to jump in that lake, but I wasn’t dressed for it and couldn’t access it from that area.
We also had limited time before our train ride.
Departure
We entered Chișinau by plane from Bucharest. But our plan for returning was a little different.
See, we had a flight from Bucharest to Dubai the next day, and decided that instead of flying, we’d take the extra time to go for a unique experience!
I mentioned earlier that we dropped our luggage at the train station. Well, after stopping at a Turkish restaurant across the street from the station to grab some food for the trip, we went and got it back.
Then we boarded the Prietenia. It’s a Soviet-era sleeper train that’s still in active use. The ride to Bucharest takes 13-15 hours!
I’ll go into more detail on that train ride in a separate post, cause there’s a lot to talk about. But it was a great experience even if I didn’t actually sleep very much!
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