15

You can easily fill up ten days in Moldova. However, unless you have a real interest in the country, I'd suggest half the time in Moldova and spend a few days in Odessa.

Spend some time in Chisinau and get an overview of the city - couple of days will give you time to look around and drop by the meager selection of museums. Then rent a car and tour old Orhei, the cave monasteries, and the central highlands (taking in the beauty of the country and some of the more classic monasteries)

Then hightail it to Odessa. Easy to drop 3 or 4 days there in a couple of their excellent museums, touring the city, and the best food in east Europe. Stop by Comrat on the way down and come back through Tiraspol.

16

Hi! Ive also lived in Moldova for the last 2 years and I would say that while Chisinau can be interesting, most of the truly fascinating, cultural things to do are out of the city. Try going to a winery, Orhei Vechi (there is also an old ruined Mongolian fortress nearby. Also, if you go in with a girl she needs a headscarf and to be wearing a skirt), and if you can, visit a village! (Maybe connect with a Peace Corps volunteer via couchsurfer?) There is also a castle in Soroca (more northern Moldova) but I think that its not worth going up to. If you are looking for a hostel, there is a good one behind Malldova for I believe 150 lei (12 lei=1 dollar). The mall also has a grocery store on the bottom floor but I wouldnt buy anything in the rest of the mall (its expensive and poor quality!). In the city, I think the central bazaar(piatsa in romanian) is fun to walk through. Its located off Stefan Cel Mare and Ismail behind a few streets behind soviet style mall called Unic. Thats also where a lot of the buses run to. I would say that restaurant wise you may want to try La Placinte for traditional food or if you want pizza, Celintanos. The public transit is very cheap. (The big red buses you see cost 2 lei usually and the white smaller buses cost 3 lei). Unfortunately, most people dont speak english so it may be hard to find out where they are going. Be careful with taxis! They will try and rip you off. You should be able to go anywhere in the city for 35 lei at the most. I always tell them Im going ot pay 30 lei when I get in and it usually works. Good luck!

17

10 days are too much for Chisinau. If you are interestead in beautiful girls, partying, bars,clubs then it's the best city for you, but i would suggest you to stay on Friday and Saturday in Chisinau because the best parties are on weekends and then go visit Cricova, Orheiul Vechi, Milestii Mici. Or you can go to Odessa, it's a great city, in European style and it's about 180 km from Chisinau, or ...if you have visa, you can visit the city Iasi in Romania (150 km from Chisinau), it is also a beautiful city and you'll have what to do there.