16 Impressions of Chisinau, Moldova

There’s no doubt that the once called “countries behind the iron curtain” changed dramatically since the early nineties. But Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, still retains some of the characters from the communist times. There’s an atmosphere I can only describe as “Soviet”, slightly nostalgic, that fills the city with a long-gone era’s charm.

After my first trip to the city, back in 2013, I was excited and intrigued, so I decided to share with you guys my impressions of Chisinau. Not scientific, but based on feelings, ok?

My Impressions of Chisinau, Moldova

As I explained on previous posts, despite being spring, Chisinau was extremely cold when I visited. So, it comes with no surprise that the most common word that comes to my mind when I think about the city, is “grey”. Partly because of the skies, partly due to the city’s own appearance.

In this post I want to share with you another 15 other impressions I had about Moldova’s largest city.

1- Chisinau is small and easy to explore.

2- It’s one of the very few cities I’ve been to that offers free Wi-Fi in public parks (and back in 2013 that was a huge thing!).

3- Virtually every restaurant and coffee shop has free Wi-Fi without a password – so you’re connected pretty much anywhere you go in the city centre.

4- It’s a very budget-friendly destination. To give you an idea, a 500ml bottle of beer costs USD0.90 (£0.60, €0.70). But I’m sure once you move away from the city centre prices will be even lower.

5- I was surprised to see that, despite food and drink being quite cheap, a cappuccino costs the same as in London.

6- There is an enormous contrast between the relative simplicity of the churches façades and their very opulent interiors.

7- It found it touching that girls dressed in a very trendy way, some with needle stilettos and ultra-tight pants, were praying in churches with a lot of devotion.

8- Moldovan women are really beautiful – would be even more so if they exercised their smiles more often… I’m not saying they should be smiling around, just that they looked too serious, almost angry.

9- Local food is simply delicious! I loved Mămăligă with cheese, especially.

10- Although Moldovan Romanian is the official language, I couldn’t believe it when I met locals who spoke Russian as a first language, and didn’t speak a single word of Romanian.

11- The fact the country is at the bottom of Europe’s wealthiest countries, is quite evident.

12- Public transport is by far the cheapest in Europe and are very reliable – from my experience.

13- Moldovans are very patriotic and proud of their country and own ethnics.

14- Just by visiting Chisinau you can already notice the country has a melting pot of different ethnicities, as I pointed out on this post. There are some ethnic groups that I didn’t even know about, such as the Gagauz, who are Christian Turks who speak mostly Russian.

15- Chisinau is packed with karaoke bars and locals love a karaoke party. So, fancy sing-a-long-a, anyone?

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