Today
we visited a country that doesn't exist. It is not recognized by
most countries in the world as an independent country, even though it has been 20 years since they fought about it.
Transnistria has it's own capital, border control, money,
government, etc. We got to meet with a local that showed us around and
gave us a real insight on Transnistrian life. We also bought a bottle of their own cognac made in the only Kvint factory in the world for 27 Transnistrian
Rouble (about 3 CAD). We visited the main sights of the city in a few hours and came back with the minibus to Chisinau.
The minibuses to go and back were really crowded, and the drivers don't seem to care about the lines on the road. They will drive on it, pass when they feel like it, but surprisingly, we didn't see any accidents on the way. We read about Transnistria before deciding to go, and we weren't too sure on what to expect, especially at the border. For example, Wikitravel gives a number to call in case of corrupt officers, so we were a bit worried on the way there. Turns out, it was really easy. We filed out the little piece of paper, handed it to the Moldovan officer with our passports. She then looked at it for a few minutes while entering our info on the computer and gave us back the paper with our passports. We were now officially outside Moldova. We walked to the next building, and gave our paper to the Transnistrian officer who looked at it along with our passports and gave us the second half of the stamped paper back. On the way out, same process, but even easier as the officer actually spoke English. He looked at our documents and we moved on to the Moldovan border where the officer left with our passports for a few minutes in order to add some info on the computer.
It was an interresting day where we learned about the Soviet time and about life in Transnistria. It is actually a pretty quiet place, where even crossing the roads seemed safer than Chisinau.
The minibuses to go and back were really crowded, and the drivers don't seem to care about the lines on the road. They will drive on it, pass when they feel like it, but surprisingly, we didn't see any accidents on the way. We read about Transnistria before deciding to go, and we weren't too sure on what to expect, especially at the border. For example, Wikitravel gives a number to call in case of corrupt officers, so we were a bit worried on the way there. Turns out, it was really easy. We filed out the little piece of paper, handed it to the Moldovan officer with our passports. She then looked at it for a few minutes while entering our info on the computer and gave us back the paper with our passports. We were now officially outside Moldova. We walked to the next building, and gave our paper to the Transnistrian officer who looked at it along with our passports and gave us the second half of the stamped paper back. On the way out, same process, but even easier as the officer actually spoke English. He looked at our documents and we moved on to the Moldovan border where the officer left with our passports for a few minutes in order to add some info on the computer.
It was an interresting day where we learned about the Soviet time and about life in Transnistria. It is actually a pretty quiet place, where even crossing the roads seemed safer than Chisinau.
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| Kvint Factory |
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| Tiraspol City Hall |
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| Disney store with fake castle on the bottom floor of a Soviet looking apartment building |
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| KBAC, or Kvass is a traditional Russian drink made of fermented black or regular rye bread |
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| Transdniestria, Founded to Live! |
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| Suvorov Monument |
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| Soldier statue in memory of the war of 1990-1992 |