Unexpected trip to Odessa and Moldova

05 July 2019 • Travel time: with 25 May 2019 on 27 May 2019

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An unexpected trip to Odessa and Moldova

These May holidays not only never cease to amaze, but also never cease to end. It seems like just recently we were in Annecy, then after a few days of respite in the Carpathians. Then, less than a week later, Dasha and Misha unexpectedly received a ticket to Odessa and left immediately for 24 days. And so, with a laptop in my backpack, I go on another trip to my family. Misha offered me a ride to Moldova on the phone. Of course, I cannot refuse another trip, especially since this is the best chance to see a new country. True, the return routes did not connect in any way, but this will not stop the native travelers!

My train arrived at 6 am. I endure trains quite hard, not only does a ticket in a compartment cost almost the same as a ticket to Istanbul, only you still have to listen to someone snore all night. I even had a dream that our office released a beautiful screen saver with a snoring sound. The dream came down to the fact that I was looking at the screen saver and listening to snoring. Fortunately, I thought of inserting earbuds into my ears, but on the way back it was even tougher, I lost one of the earbuds, so I had to choose which ear to listen to snoring. Looking ahead, I’ll say in advance that I alternated them. All the same, it is unlikely that someone will succeed in snoring so spectacularly as that Frenchman on an Indian train. It's not even so much about the accent of the snorer and not even about the chic mustache... In general, if anyone is interested, I'll tell you personally about the nuances of snoring of international residents.

Morning Odesa received me in a peculiar way, I didn’t have time to go far from the train, as someone in front of me lost a wad of money, another man immediately picked it up and began to ask me not to hand it over, and he would thank me for that. For about a couple of seconds I was in a stupor, and then I remembered that this was the beginning of some old scam and, if I'm not mistaken, then with dummy policemen. I put the headphones in my ears and went to the tram. The man who wanted to thank me walked beside me and tried to explain something to me. After all, if I do not take his gratitude, then the whole staged show will fail. Then a guy who lost money and wanted to say something caught up with me, but quickly fell off, as the first one apparently gave him a sign that he hadn’t thanked me yet, it’s too early to make claims. I assessed the situation, there were many unfavorable looking people around. So the tram, no matter what number it has, jumped in and left. A little, of course, it's a pity for all of our humanity, but there's nothing to be done, such people have been absolutely at all times, and here even natural selection is powerless. By the way, I was lucky with the tram, I got just the right one. Dasha and Misha gave me a tour of the sanatorium and its surrounding areas. In the old days, this sanatorium was clearly grandiose, even Brezhnev himself rested here. Now the sanatorium looks very tired. But all the Soviet service kept its best moments. The sanatorium even has a service in which you will be placed in a room with your family, but without providing a bed. But it is 25 UAH cheaper than renting an apartment in the center of Odessa for the whole family. We spent the first day in Odessa. This is our second time in Odessa, the last time we were here for the new year 10 years ago.

The city that then, that now pleased, Odessa is really cozy and it is joyful to walk around it. The first place was taken by the Victory Arboretum. The whole park is located around a large lake in which ducks and swans swim, a lot of fish and turtles! I didn't even know there were so many turtles in this world! This is the real turtle therapy! And Misha even rode an exclusive attraction - a canoe! Also in Odessa, delicious cafes pleased. And we were also impressed by the fountain, which is located at the opera house. There is even a park donated by Turkey.

In the park, benches and trash cans are the same as in Istanbul. Near the famous Potemkin stairs there is a rather mysterious funicular. The whole essence of his trick is that despite the breakdown of the first car, the second, contrary to the laws of physics, goes up and down on its own. But the magic itself is to wait for him from below. The car apparently waits until at least someone willing appears from above and completely ignores the crowd gathered from below. Moreover, the whole system is so arranged that you could not look the driver in the eyes from below. We honestly tried to wait until he deigned to go down, and the stairs were not that big at all. But the funicular won, we went on foot. It was only after that that he began to descend. ) By the way, for those who like Greece more, there is a Greek park next to the Turkish park) In general, my firm assessment of Odessa is a cozy city. In the evening we boarded a train, which took us three and a half hours to the capital of Moldova.

Moldova

To be honest, we did not expect much from Chisinau, I heard reviews that it was the Soviet Union, etc. But to be honest, only the most pleasant thing remains from the Soviet Union - prices. We took a trolley bus from the station for 2 lei per person (3 UAH). The hostel was a bit noisy, but settled neatly. While the manager was arranging our check-in, cats were suspiciously watching us from the glass door. There was a pamphlet on the counter calling to visit the Cats Café and experience the real “moore therapy”.

The capital itself does not have any pronounced sights. But for some reason, a simple walk through the streets, bazaars and parks brings immense pleasure. By the way, the parks here know a lot. For example, "DENDRARIUM PARK" can easily compete with Dutch parks, which are clearly inferior to it. Another most pleasant and unexpected thing is the gastronomy of the country. There is a chain of restaurants "La Pl? cinte" in the city.

Explaining that prices have never been lower. To my answer that the site administration would be more aware of what the price should be, he began to quickly delete the correspondence. And then something else to prove that he is right. The blah blah cara tech support, of course, banned him, and responded in the best Airbnb support style. Like, we're sorry, but that's your problem. It is clear that no one would pay the driver in principle. We just went back to the hostel and asked what we should do.

The girl from the reception explained where the bus station was. We arrived at the bus station a minute before the departure of the minibus. But I had to buy tickets first. Here we cranked out the most difficult special operation called “Purchasing a ticket for a departing minibus. ” Dasha ran to the driver, I ran to the box office. Dasha gave me a signal that the driver agreed to stop Malekh. I ask at cash desk number 8 that they sell me a ticket, explaining that the driver is waiting. The woman was not opposed to selling, but the payment by card is only in another building of the bus station. I ran to another building. I explained to my grandmother that the driver was waiting and my grandmother called on the phone and asked to open ticket sales in the database. But she didn’t sell them to me until I ran to the first building with ticket office number 8 and asked for a ticket there, and then I returned to the second building so that she swiped me a card. I ran to checkout number 8, but it was already closed, so I explained everything to checkout number 10. The cashier answered me “What??? ”. I repeated the whole essence of the task, after which she called the cashier with her grandmother and yelled at her on the phone. It seemed that now this woman will decide everything! After all, she put everyone in their place so confidently. She took my card and asked me to come to the ticket office number 11, which was in the next window. She closed the blinds at box office number 10, and opened the box office number 11. It seems that the box office is different and it would be nice to explain the whole story again, but, fortunately, it was the same cashier from the box office 10. They barely pushed a paypa receiver through the window, I snapped a card. After that, the cashier closed the blinds at cash desk number 11 and told me to go to cash desk number 10. Where guess who was? She again! How does she do it? I could not hide my incomprehension of what was happening. It was even harder for Dasha with the driver, they watched it all from afar. I was approached by a woman who checks departing passengers and explained that there is a card terminal only at ticket office number 11. I was given tickets, I jumped into the departing minibus.

By the way, our 3 seats were the last free in the minibus. So it was double luck to catch the minibus to the very last places.

In Odessa, I still worked for two wonderful days, and every evening we walked around the evening city.

Translated automatically from Russian. View original