Chisinau Moldova Information

Chisinau is the capitol city of Moldova and is actually a very beautiful little city. The downtown area of the city is quite small and walking from one end to the other takes no more than one hour, but the streets are all lined with beautiful trees and it has a really laid back atmosphere.
Most of the hotels are quite expensive but there are a few hostel options that are all run by the same family. The Central Youth Hostel is the hub for these other hostels and is generally considered to be the best hostel. It's actually a small flat with about seven beds crammed in to it. The older gentleman who watches the desk speaks about four words of English and you will more than likely be handed the telephone to talk to his daughter in English to work out the details. The hostel is located on 6 Pruncul which is about 5 minutes walk from Cathedral Park and Flower Market which puts everything in to easy walking distance. The rates at the hostel work out to about nine euro a night.

The city doesn't have a great deal to offer tourists, there is the monastery that is built in the hills about fourty-five minutes away and wine tours about twenty kilometers away. Both of the tours are extremely over-priced and I declined to go on them. The monastery can be reached via public transportation but involves a complex series of buses and minibuses.

The downtown area does have a couple art galleries and museums if you want a little Moldova culture before you leave. The Archaeological museum is quite interesting, but rather lacking in artifacts and you find yourself walking around quite quickly to the modern section which has telephones and cameras from the 1900s. The National Art Gallery of Moldova is very small and has a nice collection of religious art, but to be honest didn't really impress me much. With that said, both of these attractions only cost 15 Lei to enter or about 1 euro so it's not a big loss if you don't find yourself enjoying them.

On of the busiest hubs of the city is the central market, where minibuses converge and you can buy just about anything your heart desires. The market is surprisingly large considering the size of the city and the prices on most things are quite affordable. The food market portions of the central market are a great place to pickup fresh fruits and vegetables at next to nothing, but be prepared to buy at least a minimum of 0.5KG of each item. Wander around and get to know the prices before you approach one vendor, if you ask for the price, it'll be higher for a tourist. About half of the stalls have prices listed on them so use those as a general rule before you go to buy from other vendors.

The thing that makes Chisinau so attractive is the extremely friendly and helpful people who are always interested in chatting with you and finding out about where you are from and where you travelled.

Wireless Internet is almost unheard of here, but there are at least half a dozen "Internet Clubs" which charge about 6 Lei per hour (0,50 Euro / Hr). The connections aren't great for uploading pictures, but more than adequate for e-mails, facebook and the other common sites.

One must see restaurant in Chisinau is the Beer House Brewery & Restaurant. The prices are a little expensive, but the beer is really cold and damn good. There are four primary brews offered: BH Lager unfiltered, BH Dark Unfiltered, BH Extra Unfiltered and BH Lager filtered. All of them are about 36 Lei per half litre but it's a great place to relax and eat some great beer while swilling some of the best beer in town.

One of the most impressive things about the city is its modern and comfortable train station. There platforms are beautiful and clean, the service is quick and reasonably friendly and the waiting lounge upstairs in the station has fish aquariums and makes you feel like you are in some other part of the world. You can also store your luggage for 8 Lei a day and use an Internet cafe for 6 Lei at the train station.

If you are planning on heading to Bucharest after Moldova the train leaves daily a few minutes after 5PM. Class 3 is 380 Lei, Class 2 is about 645 Lei and arrives in Bucharest about 6AM the following morning.

Backpackers Bible: The Lonely Planet

Budget Holiday Books
Originally uploaded by Nyved.

Anyone who frequents hostels or hangs out in the Backpacker areas of tourist locations will without a doubt see more than a few copies of the Lonely Planet floating around.

I don't know how many times I have heard it referred to as "The Bible" but I have to admit I think it's a bit annoying. It takes a lot of the fun and adventure out of traveling.

Don't think that I am slamming The Lonely Planet, I feel the same way about most guide books. I've purchased more than a few in my travels but most of the time I'm left feeling bored and ripped off.

I do like the maps, the information on tourist sites, suggestions on travel, and the section on language and customs for different areas.

With that said I do have a problem with some of those sections too. The maps are often outdated or notoriously wrong. The information on different tourists sites is often really brief and not of much use and quite often the language section chooses to publish the "polite" version of phrases, but ones that are not used by the common person.

The problem with most guide books is that if you buy one on a country like India, there is just so much information to try and pack in to the book. That means that you are going to get just a superficial overview and no good details. Often there is more specific books, for instance on a province (state) or particular city within a country which gives great details. The problem is if you are touring all of India you would need at least 5-8 books and you would be increasing your bag weight by about 10 Kilos.

My advice to everyone is to do a little bit of research on the Internet. Book your "first" hostel in a new city online before you arrive and then work out the details after you get there. Every hostel I've ever been to has brochures for neighboring cities, tourist maps and generally a helpful staff that will help you sort out what you should see.

If you aren't in to the hostel and budget travel option then head on down to the tourist information office and you can get loads of really great information and maps for free.

Half the fun of traveling is experiencing and interacting with society, why not start off with the tourist information office? =)

Travel Advice and Contact

Colombo Airport
Originally uploaded by kden604.

Do you have questions about budget travel, need advice on great things to see in Istanbul?

Well you are in luck, I will now be taking e-mails of questions, comments and generally trying to help people with their travel headaches.

I will try and field all sorts of questions, but try to keep in mind places that I have been and the fact I was a budget traveler, not a high-roller!

If you wish to contact me, please do so via email at the following address:

NOTE: I will not publish your email address or full name in any public replies.

Budget Travel Information

Old Barn
Originally uploaded by kden604.

So after doing more than a few modifications to both of my blogs I have decided that a change is needed. My goal in the coming months will be to post more articles about travel.

I know it sounds strange, but for the most part I was blogging strictly about where I was, what I was doing. That is good, but it doesn't really help anyone.

So from now on I will no only talk about my travel experiences, but also endeavour to include information about transportation, costs, accommodations and other information that I think would be useful to the budget traveler.

I will be adding a "Travel Tips" section, a photo section and I will expand on a foods section because quite frankly one of my favourite things about traveling is food and drink.

Good Idea?
(Don't answer that)