Moldova
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Visas, Embassies & Border Crossings
Transnistria: The entry by minibus from Chisinau was easy, there was a list for the entry fee in 6 different currencys. (It was) €0.45, so much less than I expected, although leaving was a bit harder. I left on a bus from Tiraspol to Odessa. Everybody had to put their luggage through an x-ray, and then the custom officer complained that I didnt have a Moldovan exit stamp! (you dont get one as there is no border post). I told him in my broken Russian that it was another country, and why does he care, but he insisted and took me into his office. Finally he gave my passport back and said I had to go back to Moldova. Well I just hopped back into the Ukraine bound bus and left. I was really getting nervous, but he didn't demand money as I expected.
Rainer Hamet, Austria (Jun 06)
Update on getting to Moldova. I took a bus from Odessa, there are several every day. It looked like the 11:00 bus avoided Transnistria, but I wasn't sure how late Adresa, who owned the apartment I was renting, stayed open (turns out they say 24 hours), and I took the 9:10, which was a mini-bus. With 20 of us, it took an hour to clear the Ukraine-Transnistria border. There was a guy on the bus who spoke some English and offered to translate for me, but one of the TN border guards spoke English and sent him away. We did a back-and-forth about how I should have entered Moldova at a different crossing, and where was my letter of invitation for TN (I pointed out that since I wasn't staying I could hardly have an invitation). Eventually we got around to the cost of the transit pass and I paid €20. (I was told) the going rate was €10-50, depending on how much money you had, so this is one border where it pays to dress down. It took the remaining 10 of us about 15 minutes to cross the TN-Moldovan border, no hassles, no stamps.
Kathy Wilhelm, USA (May 06)
I feel you need to emphasise the problems re visas and invitations to travel to Moldova. If a person enters by road from Romania or by air through Chisinau, a visa is available at the airport and entry consulate at the border for road. But not by train. You will be turfed off the train. If you are from an invitation needing country (eg Australia) you will need an invitation and it must be original, not a copy or scanned print out or fax. If you do have an invitation and not a visa and have enough money, a security officer may accompany you to the nearest visa issuing consulate, but you still need two photographs and the taxi money and the visa fee. If arriving during the wine festival you will not need to pay for a visa, BUT you still need the invitation if from a country whose citizens' need one. The best thing if possible is to get your visa from the country you are entering Moldova from, namely Ukraine or Romania. Do not get stuck without a visa at the border - you may be arrested !!!
Edward Congdon, Australia (Aug 05)
The Chisinau-Bucharest train is terribly hot inside in summertime - windows cannot be opened manually - and excruciatingly slow. It leaves at 5.10p.m. from Chisinau and arrives at the border town of Ungheni at 7.30 p.m. where it stops for about 2 hours to change wheels and for customs controls - the Moldovan custom official may decide to check throughout your baggage, unwrap everything you bought to find out if you have ancient icons...or drugs.
Ferdinando Giammichele & Fiorella Polo, Italy (Aug 05)
I got stuck in Ungheni and wasted half a day because I believed I could cross the border by road here, but this is only possible at Sculeni about 25 km north. From what I could figure out, there is no bus or maxitaxi between Ungheni and Sculeni, so I had to wait and take the twice daily (8.00 and 17.00) train from Ungheni to Iasi in Romania. Ungheni is a town of reasonable size with, among others, a hotel on the main street if you get stuck overnight.
Peter Goltermann, Denmark (Aug 05)
Travelling to Moldova, I had serious problems with the authorities for not registering my visa. I was there in June 2004, I had a tourist visa, but stayed privately. One has to register within 3 days, with what used to be the "OVIR". After finding out about the need to register (after 5 days), I went to the office, naively thinking I could settle everything no problem. I didn't speak Russian, and, naturally, they didn't speak anything but Romanian or Russian. At first they wanted me to pay a ridiculously high fine, but the organisation I stayed with (an orphanage) knew people who knew people and everything was fine after 2 phone calls. Nevertheless, I had to be registered with A PERSON, who had to come to the office with me (which is in the middle of nowhere, aptly called "Botanica"). All this is of no concern if one stays in a hotel, but any other option is quite complicated!
Elvira Gottardi, Austria (Jul 05)
Just came home from a trip that took me through Transnistria in Moldova. I have some comments on the info provided in the book. First of all, we did not have any problems at all with the authorities. Secondly, we stayed at a hotel which has lovely staff, but they can not register your passport, so we had to do it by ourselves. However, we could not do it at the Militia passport office, which is marked on the map. Instead, they kindly told us to go to OVIR on Katovskava 2a (everyone was very nice to us in this little statelet!). The OVIR building is brand new but it is surrounded by small old houses and gardens, so at first we thought that we had been fooled, but we finally found the right house. We had to fill in a form in Russian and pay 4.7 rubles and after that we got our registrations. Once again, the service was excellent. The hotel gladly accepted our registrations, as did the border guards, no problem at all there!
Johan Dittrich Hallberg, Sweden (Jul 05)
Travel Tips
Warn people that if they head out into the Moldovan countryside they need to carry food. You can't count on a cafe, never mind a restaurant, at the tourist sights like Saharna.
Kathy Wilhelm, USA (May 06)
If you buy Moldovan Lei in Moldova (€1 = 15.10/15.14 Moldovan Lei) and plan to change them back in Romanian Lei when you are in Romania... well you simply won't be able to change them! No bank in Romania changes Moldovan Lei into Romanian Lei. Not even the BCR Bank. After trying at the BNP Bank in Piata Unirii where they treated me as if I were a leper, I went to the BCR Bank in Piata Universitatii. First I tried at the exchange counter where a surly lady recoiled at the sight of Moldovan lei and uttered angry words in Romanian. Then I went to the bank information desk where they told me this very textual words, translated by a kind girl from Romanian into English. I was lucky because I changed only a €10 note at Chisinau station before departing with the train bound for Bucharest and spent most of them there - I still have the equivalent of €2 in Moldovan Lei, and I will have them forever unchanged given that even in Italy they refused to change them into Euros.
Ferdinando Giammichele & Fiorella Polo, Italy (Aug 05)
Just came home from a trip that took me through Transnistria in Moldova. We did not have any problems at all with the authorities. We stayed at a hotel, which had lovely staff, but they can not register your passport, so we had to do it by ourselves. However, we could not do it at the Militia passport office, which is marked on the map. Instead, they kindly told us to go to OVIR on Katovskava 2a (everyone was very nice to us in this little statelet!). The OVIR building is brand new but it is surrounded by small old houses and gardens, so at first we thought that we had been fooled, but we finally found the right house. We had to fill in a form in Russian and pay 4.7 roubles and after that we got our registrations. Once again, the service was excellent. The hotel gladly accepted our registrations, as did the border guards, no problem at all there!
Johan Dittrich Hallberg, Sweden (Jul 05)
Moving About
Transdniestr - I think the best and most reliable source of information on Transdniestrian affairs is the OCSE office in Chisinau. It is located on Strada Sfatul Tarii, close to Strada 31 August, 1989, around the corner from the UN offices. The information I got was that foreigners travelling by private transport might expect some harassment at the internal "border" but travelling to Tiraspol by bus was no problem. The price is 14 Moldovan lei one way and in both Chisinau and Tiraspol it has to be paid in Modovan lei. Apparently no registration is needed if you return to Chisinau the same day.
Pasi Hannonen, Finland (Mar 00)
Scams & Warnings
I have been living and working for an NGO in Chisinau for 4 months now, and thought you should correct information in the health/saftey section of the book with regard to water in Moldova. Since I have been here, I have heard/read universally (from locals, expats, and the government itself) that the water is NOT good to drink. People in many villages use well water but it is not recommended by anyone who I have spoken to. It is recommended that water be boiled to remove bacteria/amoeba etc., and then filtered to remove pesticides and heavy metals, or just drink bottled water.
Up to 80% of water in Moldova's eight rivers, 57 lakes, 53 water reservoirs, 1,500 ponds, and over 120,000 water wells is substandard sanitary-wise. Similar percentage has been observed in 3,500 artesian wells. The worst situation with water has been recorded in Glodeni, Falesti, Sangara, Calaras, Ungheni, Nisporeni, Criuleni, and Basarabeasca. Each year Moldova consumes over 145 mln cubic meters of water, at that less than half of the population can enjoy quality drinking water.
Brigid Kennedy-Pfister, USA (May 06)
One evening, at about 21.00, I was stopped by police right on B-dul Stefan cel Mare in the centre of Chisinau and asked for ID. I did not carry my passport, so I offered them we could go to my hotel 15 minutes away, but this was impossible, they wanted to take me to the police station. They could not explain to me how they could verify my identity at the police station, and I figured I better not get into their police car, so I refused. We discussed on the street for almost half an hour and more policemen appeared (in the end they were 7!), and then they began to push me into the car by force. I made a big scene, and fortunately a young couple stopped and interfered. They offered to go with me, which I gratefully accepted, and later we went to my hotel for my passport, and the whole situation was sorted out. I never got a logical explanation why we couldn't just have gone to my hotel in the first place, but this very nice (English speaking) couple assured me it's correct that everybody - also Moldovans - in Chisinau (and perhaps all of Moldova?) must carry ID; that is your passport if you are a tourist.
Peter Goltermann, Denmark (Aug 05)
Yarns, Fables & Anecdotes
If you really want to see how the old Soviet Union was, wander round Bâlti. This town is a communist stronghold in aspic: complete with very noble bas reliefs of Marx, Engels and Lenin on the restored town hall. There are freshly painted red stars gracing walls and fences in some abundance. The central square is very imposing with a statue of Steffan cel Mare, and it larger than the one in Chisinâu. I attempted to ignore your correspondant's advice to avoid the railway system and whilst studying one of the poorer examples of a railway timetable in Bâlti's railway station was arrested by a very polite monoglot Russian speaking policeman (he saluted me!). 15 minutes later after desperately trying to think of the French word for 'tomorrow' and after being assisted by a superior officer who spoke some English, I was escorted back to the very same timetable by the polite police constable! Bâlti's a town Kafka would love to have visited! I never caught the train, but that is another, equally bizarre, story. But that is why I travel.
Lari Parc, UK (May 06)
I got a taxi from Chisinau to Bendery in the "Republic" of Transdniestr earlier this month. I was only there for six hours; getting in we were just waved through. Coming back I was stopped and taken off the bus for not having a permit. I explained I thought you only had to register if you stayed over three days. After studying a huge tome the Border Guard decided you had to register after three hours not three days. I would have to pay a fine of US$12 (this was worked out by the number of hours I'd overstayed) but they wouldn't take the money as they had no receipts (they wouldn't take the cash as a backhander either). I should have got a permit from the Transdniestr Police in Chisinau. I pointed out there were none. They decided I would have to go back to Bendery for the permit. OK, what address do I go to? They didn't know. So what do I do now? They didn't know that either. An impasse had been reached. Fortunately the English speaking one who was questioning me had managed to glean that I was a Customs Officer by profession and made me draw him a picture of my shoulder epaulets (seeing this as a way out I added an extra stripe for effect). It worked, he jumped to his feet, saluted me of all things and suddenly it was handshakes and cigarettes all round! Finally they flagged down the first Chisinau bus and waved me off. They even refunded my busfare so I profited from this rather amusing incident.
Mike Wallace, UK (June 02)
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