European Railroad Discussion > A few images of Moscow to Kishinev Moldova.

There are three daily trains between Moscow and the capital of Moldova, Kishinev. All are overnight trains and take from more than 30hours to about 23 hours. The train travels through Ukraine for several hours before passing into Moldova. I didn't find the border crossing between Russia and Ukraine any different than it was back in September. If anything the Russian was simpler and more perfunctory than in September. Moldova, well it's Moldova and you still get the border guards to stamp your passport, a doctor to ask you how you feel, and a customs officer to check you for drugs (i guess).
Electric power rules from Moscow to Ukrainian , Moldovan border where Moldovan diesels take over. The consist of the fast train was all Moldovan. 15 good solid Ammendorf style cars most having East German and Soviet builder plates. These cars are solid and ride well but the interiors are dated and well worn though clearly well cared for. No aircon anywhere. The restaurant car was Moldovan with a pretty decent Mititei dish and soup. Plenty of good and cheap beer.

Picture 1 Kiyevskiy Vokzal (Киевский вокзал). Classic Moscow station,

Picture 2 At Kiev, a 15 minute stop.

Picture 3 Moldovan restaurant car.

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Picture 4. The next day in Moldova

Picture 5 the Moldovan countryside.

Picture 5 at Kishinev a local train arriving.

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Very interesting. Thanks for posting. What was the purpose of your trip? Tourism? If so, what are Muldova's tourist attractions?

Milepost_130 Wrote:
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> Very interesting. Thanks for posting. What was
> the purpose of your trip? Tourism? If so, what
> are Muldova's tourist attractions?


I was traveling as a tourist. It was part of a trip that started in Myanmar back in early May and took me to China, North Korea, Japan, Russia and eventually across Moldova and western Europe and home from London. My reason for traveling through Moldova this time was to get to Transnistria. Transnistria is a breakaway republic located between Moldova and Ukraine that fought a two year war civil war with Moldova to gain it's independence back in the early 1990's It's not recognized by any countries except other states like Abkhazia, Ossetia and Nogorno-Karabakh, though they have very close relations with Russia and a few thousand Russian soldiers are located in Transnistria as peacekeepers. The capital, Tiraspol is a very pleasant walkable city of about 150K with a very friendly Russian speaking population, good food, and cheap prices. It's not hard to get by if you speak a little Russian and many of the younger people speak some English. I wouldn't be at all surprised if after the situation in Ukraine settles down for Transnistria see a tourist and retiree boom, the country has a lot going for it. It's also proudly kept and added to the Soviet iconography present all over the place. There are new statues of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle is still on it's flag and present on government buildings, this despite the fact it's about as capitalist as you can get, it's just how the people express their pride in their Russian and Soviet heritage. Of course for travelers who visit the statues and Soviet imagery are part of the attraction. It's a place where you can get something of the feel of what the Soviet Union might have been like if things had gone better.
As for Moldova, well it's a bit of a hard luck case, things are getting better but right now other than old churches and if you have a taste for Eastern European villages it's never going to a great travel destination.

Pretty typical street scene in Tiraspol, still plenty of Ladas and Volgas on the road here, many are clearly treasured by their owners , though they still run like Ladas and Volgas.......
this Lada has everything you need for a good time in a Lada, a first aid and repair kit, fire extinguisher and a bottle of vodka on the passenger seat. sorry I know it's not trains.
picture thanks to Tiraspol Hostel.......

the train from Kishinev to Tiraspol, it continues on to Odessa, Ukraine.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/14 08:40 by GettingShort.

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Thanks for the follow-up message. I consider myself fairly well-traveled, yet I know nothing of the places you mention. Further, my travels have never yet taken me to Russia, Ukraine or any of the other countries in central Asia. My complete lack of knowledge regarding the Russian language together with living on the West Coast of North America unfortunately consign these destinations to the "back burner."

The main thing with Russian is to figure out the alphabet, so you can get the gist of signs, and a few other things like counting to ten or so, please thank you, the names of a few common food items, it's not that bad. I started with no knowledge myself though I did do the Rosetta stone Russian software, it won't you able to carry on a conversation but you begin to get an idea of what's being said. Like anywhere making a small effort with the language pays big dividends. The same goes for other languages. I picked up a bit of Korean on my two trips to the DPRK and that and a pin I was awarded in the DPRK paid off with one very interesting afternoon at a North Korean restaurant in Beijing.
Sometimes you just have to take the dive, 95% of the time things go better than you expected.
Still it was all a big step outside my comfort zone but the experiences always made the leap worth it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/14 17:33 by GettingShort.

Thanks for the great photos and inspitrational story. I've been to Czech Republic, Slovokia, and Hungary and they were all great. My travels there made me want to travel further east into the ex-Soviet countries. Your post is giving me the travel itch again.

Are those trolley bus wires in the street scene?

The electric in the Kiev station scene is a domestic (Zaporozhye) rebuilt of the Skoda (Czechoslovakia) ChS4....originally constructed in 60s and 70s.

Geodyssey Wrote:
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> Thanks for the great photos and inspitrational
> story. I've been to Czech Republic, Slovokia, and
> Hungary and they were all great. My travels there
> made me want to travel further east into the
> ex-Soviet countries. Your post is giving me the
> travel itch again.
>
> Are those trolley bus wires in the street scene?

Yes Tiraspol has a good trolly bus network. There are also many marshrutka routes around Tiraspol and the surrounding countryside, frequent and very, very inexpensive.One trolly bus route to the city of Bender is likely the longest trolly bus route operating in the world. The older buses like the one picture are steadily being replaced with new coaches from Belarus. Now's the time to visit. If you're ever interested in visiting contact http://www.moldovahostels.com first.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/14 08:08 by GettingShort.

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GettingShort Wrote:
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>
> Yes Tiraspol has a good trolly bus network. There
> are also many marshrutka routes around Tiraspol
> and the surrounding countryside, frequent and
> very, very inexpensive.One trolly bus route to the
> city of Bender is likely the longest trolly bus
> route operating in the world. The older buses like
> the one picture are steadily being replaced with
> new coaches from Belarus. Now's the time to visit.
> If you're ever interested in visiting contact
> http://www.moldovahostels.com first.

I thought the Simferopol - Yalta line was the longest?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_Trolleybus

Thanks again for your great photos and insights.

pennengineer Wrote:
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> GettingShort Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > Yes Tiraspol has a good trolly bus network.
> There
> > are also many marshrutka routes around Tiraspol
> > and the surrounding countryside, frequent and
> > very, very inexpensive.One trolly bus route to
> the
> > city of Bender is likely the longest trolly bus
> > route operating in the world. The older buses
> like
> > the one picture are steadily being replaced
> with
> > new coaches from Belarus. Now's the time to
> visit.
> > If you're ever interested in visiting contact
> > http://www.moldovahostels.com first.
>
> I thought the Simferopol - Yalta line was the
> longest?
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_Trolleybus

I think there's some question as to wether that route's still in operation. If it is I'd certainly like to ride it.

Oh, those 2Te10s and Te10s...thank you for sharing the pictures!

GettingShort Wrote:
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>
> I think there's some question as to wether that
> route's still in operation. If it is I'd certainly
> like to ride it.

Didn't see anything on Ukrainian or Russian news sites about it going out of operation.....

Getting into Crimea is tricky these days.....via Ukraine (trains from Kiev to Simferopol/Sevastopol are still running) is the pretty much the only route that will not lead to you having issues in the future.....

chs7-321 Wrote:
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> GettingShort Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > I think there's some question as to wether that
> > route's still in operation. If it is I'd
> certainly
> > like to ride it.
>
> Didn't see anything on Ukrainian or Russian news
> sites about it going out of operation.....
>
> Getting into Crimea is tricky these days.....via
> Ukraine (trains from Kiev to Simferopol/Sevastopol
> are still running) is the pretty much the only
> route that will not lead to you having issues in
> the future.....


Unless the world blows up I'm going to give it a try in April, want to come along? You sound like you might be an interesting guy to travel with. Promise to work on my Russian.