Chisinau, Moldova

I had a dreary, rainy introduction to Chisinau (KEE she now), the capital of the former Soviet Republic of Moldova. Everything was so bleak!

The next day the sun was shining and Deanne arrived. What a difference a day makes. Our apartment was near the Cathedral Square, the main plaza in town. We walked several miles and saw all the main sites including some communist-era brutalist architecture.

As a huge coincidence, we happened to be here on the 35th Independence Day celebration. In 1991, Moldova declared independence from the USSR. Most of the other former Soviet republics have their independence day within a week or two of this day.

I looked online for events and I saw that there was a huge concert scheduled that night and to my surprise, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine was set to speak at 9:00 with the presidents of Romania and Moldova. Wow.

In 1995 I saw president Alberto Fujimori of Peru getting out of his limo at his presidential palace in Lima. In 2014 I was in Berlin for the 25th anniversary of the Wall coming down. I saw Lech Walesa, Angela Merkel, and Mikhail Gorbachev on stage in the Tiergarten. I think that makes 7 foreign presidential sightings.

There was a huge military parade beforehand. They only hold these every 5 or 10 years. Moldova is positioned between Ukraine and Romania. There's a breakaway region to the east called Transnistria. About 5,000 Russian troops are stationed there. So you can say Moldova's situation is precarious. They are not in NATO. Russia has interfered heavily in the past two elections but Maia Sandu, a Harvard educated and Western leaning politician has won both elections. Barely.

The concerts were great, even though it was raining half the time. Zelensky's speech was brief but powerful. He spoke in Ukrainian, English, and gave an introduction in Romanian, the language of Moldova. Slava Ukraini.

Moldova is probably the poorest country in Europe. But people seem happy and hard-working. A lot of young people have left to work in Western Europe and send remittances back home.

There was enough to do for a couple of days of sightseeing but not much more. Tomorrow we're taking a tour to Transnistria. There was a brief war in 91 to 92 and there has been uneasy peace ever since.

After that, we're exploring wine country. I hear it's some of the best in the world.

More photos and videos are here.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/51sbk165XnNTHJPn7

The 3 minute video of the night concert with Zeleskyy's speech is here. https://photos.app.goo.gl/qdXLTUXdy1ZZnLCz9

The Moldovan Military Parade photos are here. This was part of the 35th Independence Day.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/whmKMgfJKjp2GZRQ9Read more