Stefan cel Mare - Chisinau, Moldova

There is a person you cannot miss in Moldova. For starters, he is on every single bill you will use here. And he is still today an important part of the Moldovan identity as a whole. His name: Stefan cel Mare. Here is his story:

You might have noticed, I mention Stefan building monasteries, in the middle of the song. Well, it turns out (narrative alert!) some of those are the ones I visited in Bucovina (see Bucovina blog post Here). Their paint is fading but the symbol Stefan cel Mare's in today's Republic of Moldova is going strong. His extremely long reign and political flair gave stability to the Kingdom of Moldova for the centuries to come, and as a reward, Steeve gets his face on the Lei, the local currency. Or, in this picture, on my tenor ukulele.

Stefan on my tenor Uke

History, eh? Great stuff. But shouldn't I share a bit of every day Moldovan culture with you as well? Like, for example a TV show? That would be a great idea! The fact that a ukulele-playing backpacker traveling through Europe and writing songs was the guest, has here nothing to do with it. I just thought you might enjoy a fun Moldovan chat/cooking show. 

This is Part 3. If you want more cooking ideas and such, here are Part 1 and Part 2.

And on this (musical and culinary) note, a big thank you to Moldova(ns), and a "see you soon" in the next country Ukulele Road Trips ventures to.

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Last musical moments in Chisinau. Before the road leads me further East still.

"Come, let us drink" - Cricova, Moldova

If you're the type of person who uses lists to organise your travels and priorities, at the top of "to see", "to do", "to visit" and "to drink" in Moldova, there will be the same word every time: wine.

Wine, wine, wine. It's quite the thing here. Wine production is the most important contributor to Moldova's economy and accounts for roughly a quarter of its GDP (facts!). The vines have been around for thousands of years, but it is only after the second world war that gigantic abandoned limestone mines started to be used for the storage of wine. Conditions in there, temperature and humidity, are "just right". The two main wine cellars are Milestii Mici, and Cricova, incidentally, the two biggest underground cellars in the world! I visited the later, Cricova, being the only one where you can take little train-tour inside the cellar. But if you have your own car, you can drive around which ever sounds nicest to your ears.

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The cellar of Cricova is almost a city underground. There are "street" names, mainly types of grapes and wine, that will guide you on your way. But even with light-up signs, it is easily imaginable that tourists without a guide could lose themselves for days, were they to wander through these dark alleys of barrels and bottles. Hence the amusing (and probably completely false) story according to which cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin lost himself, drunk, in these tunnels and was nowhere to be seen for two days - which you might have heard from the Moldova Podcast's song. What is definitely not made up, is that Yuri did visit these cellars and even graced the guest book with a little autograph in 1966.

A day out at one of Moldova's wine cellars is very enjoyable, although I don't really remember that much after the wine tasting. A bit of a blur to be honest. What is certain is that I was in no state to record a little video that afternoon. So it's once back in Chisinau, after a recovery period that I came by a Milestii Mici shop in the capital and recorded a little "catch" by a certain Henry. A catch being the musical equivalent of a tiny glass of Moldovan bubbly. Light, tasteful, and quickly consumed.

Wine, wine, wine and wine - check !

Music and Change in Chisinau, Moldova

Welcome to Moldova ! It's the small country chilling quietly between Romania and Ukraine. A country you probably didn't know existed, but, it certainly does exist! Fact. And if you want to get up to speed with all things Moldovan, you might want to give the Moldova Ukulele Road Trips Podcast a little listen. It's got great guests, songs and 'sort of reliable' fun facts. Or you can come get a first hand experience yourself, traveling through its calm and authentic countryside before you make it to the capital Chisinau.

Above, a few photos from Chisinau, and from the quiet Moldovan countryside.

I arrived in Moldova just in time for the "Limba noastră" public holiday, which is a celebration of the Romanian language as part of the Moldovan identity. Which was a bit confusing as I had been hearing a fair amount of Russian in the city. The traditional Romanian/Moldovan music was great fun though, and I thought you might enjoy a small slice of said fun.

However, as you spend time here, you slowly understand how complex the situation of today's Moldova is. Following roughly 200 years of Russian domination, the people, as well as the languages have mixed, and it is not uncommon to hear Romanian and Russian entangled in the same conversations, even sentences. I might point you here to the direction of the UkuRT Podcast's guests Serghei and Max, who give a much better account of this issue than I can, being only a curious foreign backpacker.

But another event coinciding with my first week here was the start of large protests against corruption and the dire political situation, at the week-end. To get to the point, the corruption has attained such levels, that over a billion (billion!) dollars have vanished from the state's treasury in recent years. Issues with which a lot of people are much more concerned with than with a language divide. Tents of protesters still cover the Main Square as I type this post, two weeks later. Spending time there, I met Liviu, the young man who started this whole movement for justice and transparency, alone, back in February 2015. This desire for change culminates now in daily protests, concerts and speeches right in front of the Parliament building.

The music is an integral part of the protest and joins the strong emotions of the Moldovans gathered every day on the square. A young musician, Patrick, was kind enough to play "Taticul meu e la Razboi" again when I requested it to him, having heard him once before. A truly moving song by Teodor Neagra on war and grief.

You can also get a little feel of the nights around the tents (and a bit of ukulele music) in this short report by TV Jurnal.