It was a long way to travel for just a stamp on our passports
and the trip back from Chisinau took even longer than the ride to Moldova. But we didn't have to suffer from the young woman with BO! Still, five bumpy hours is a long time to
spend on a mini-bus, the backbone of transportation in Eastern Europe, but we
weren’t allowed to drive our rental outside of Romania. Chisinau, the capital of Moldova
(not to be confused with Moldovia) isn’t such a great place to visit,
anyhow. But it is one of the
countries in Europe and our goal is to visit them all.
In his book The Geography
of Bliss Eric Weiner rated Moldova dead last on the “happiness scale,” so
we weren’t expecting much.
Chisinau was a gray city on a gray day, made even more dreary in the
late afternoon twilight, when the bus dropped us in the middle of cabbages and
potatoes in the Tuesday market.
Moldovans may not be happy but they can be friendly. Vasili, who works at the nearby Academy
of Science, literally took us by the hand and showed us to the Chisinau Hotel,
a monument to the Soviet era, and a cold room with lumpy beds and lukewarm
showers.
We started planning our getaway as soon as we arrived, so first impressions were all
we were to have of Moldova. I didn't even take any photos! The
roads are terrible, traffic is bad, and the architecture screams “Soviet
Union!” The people seem normal
enough; the young women are as fashionable as those we have seen in other
countries.
Our bus back this morning was SRO and once again we were seated
in the back row with Radu and Stella, Moravian by birth, but now living in
Ireland. He also has a Romanian
passport and they were in Moldova to collect paperwork that would allow Stella
to apply for hers. Moldova was
part of Romania before WW II and if you can prove document ancestors who were
citizens then, Romania will welcome you back as a citizen. This is a good thing because a Moldovan
passport is good only for Ukraine and Russia.
Radu confirmed much of what we read in Bliss and gave us insights that we couldn’t have gotten in a month
in Moldova. Graft and corruption
are the two biggest businesses in Moldova. Radu says that if you are honest, then you are stupid. And likely poor! Those who can make some money on the
side through bribery – police are notorious – make nice livings. A thousand euros a month ($16K a year)
is considered well-off but many people survive on less than 1000 a year! Everything is for sale, from driving
licenses to university degrees.
People our age fondly reminisce about the good old Soviet days
when they had jobs, food and government housing. Many like Radu and Stella have left for Romania or more
distant countries and many have left their kids behind in care of the
grandparents. The kids don’t
bother with school and squander the money their folks send home on clothes,
clubs and partying.
Part of the reason the trip back to Romania took so long is that
Stella, along with the entire bus, was detained at the border when the guards
questioned her Irish residency card.
She didn’t even bother showing her nearly worthless Moldovan passport.
