At the northern shore

My another short, one-day trip in Moldova was Soroca, a small city in the north of the country, just at the border with Ukraine. We left early in the morning with first marshrutka, at 7:30 from Gara de Nord and the ticket cost us 75 lei. The journey unfortunately is pretty long, lasts a bit less than 3 hours :( That's one of biggest problems of Moldova, the country is quite small, so you suppose to get everywhere faster, but because of bad roads it's not possible. 
But this time it wasn't that bad, somehow it passed fast and soon we were at the place. The bus station is situated just at the bank of Dniester river, at the other side is already Ukraine. 

Soroca is famous because of a fortress and that's what we hoped to see the most, but as there was no sign or anything we decided to go up to the view point from where we hoped to see it. Just like looking for a hidden treasure, only a bit bigger :) 

To get to view point you have to go left from the station, along the road you just came. Less than ten minutes from there you'll find a spot - very characteristic, a gate and behind it a number of stairs up the hill. 

Stairs are not generally the best idea to go up and soon I felt a bit of pain in my legs that lasted even two days after. Well, that's only a sign I should exercise some more :) But the way isn't that bad and the view up there is so amazing you easily forget about past. You can see the city of Soroca placed at the river and Ukrainian bank as well, and it all is so green it's hard to belive it. Moldova is generally very green country, even Chisinau is very nice and feel natural, but this view was a real big thing. 

Of course we tried to spot the fortress, but we failed. Eventually I asked a guard who keep eye on the little church up there and with his help we managed to find our "treasure". It is just in the middle of the city, among the grey buildings and doesn't mark out. That's what we have in our defence :) 

On the way to the fortress we went at the bank of the river, the weather was perfect, sunny and warm. In the city there's no single bridge that would let to get to the other side, they have small ferries instead. In front of it you would have to pass the border control, but there are no queues, everything seem so calm and easy-going. 

Border control point

When we got to the fortress it was closed, we have known about that, that's because of the renovation. But there is a funny thing, a board on the fence says that it should be finished exactly the day we've been there! Well, we didn't decide to wait for that, the work looks like it's still far from the end. 

Renovation in progress :)

We continue our walk along the river to find a place for lunch and we find absolutely perfect one! A few benches with umbrellas at the river, seems it's a sort of a beach, although pretty "grassy" one. 

Lunch place!

And that's basically all what is worth to see in Soroca, but it's not late enough to go back. So we continue our walk in the city. Up hill we see an interesting building with the gold dome and we decide to check it out. That's how we found ourselves in Roma neighbourhood. In Soroca lives a big Roma community and the city is often called "the Romani capital of Moldova". It was very interesting wandering around these specific houses, looking so differently from Moldovan ones. 

Romani neighborhood

After that we felt like we have seen everything in Soroca and we decided to go back to Chisinau. The buses leave every hour and the last one is at 6 pm. One day was absolutely enough to see it all and relax, not doing anything in a rush. Maybe if we would have a chance to visit a fortress it would be different, but it will be closed for a long time probably, so you can easily make such a one day trip. 

The church at the view point

Come to visit Moldova in the summer! It's totally worth it and this picture of green and nature will stay with you for a long time!

 

Crossing a border by ferry

Going to the province

I'm sure you want to read some more about Moldova and you gonna get it today, although I will write about not the most exciting part of it :/ Balti! The second largest city of the republic (excluding Transnistria, then Tiraspol would be on second place). 
I had a chance to spend there a nice weekend, although that's not the city which caused my good mood about it. When the friend who invited me there, had tried to describe to me her life in the city, she didn't stop repeating a word "boring". And that's how it is indeed, not many places to go out, very few restaurants or cafes, no tourist places, just a small, provincional city. Or rather town. There are some nice things though, they have a lake and some nice parks and forests very close with perfect place to have a barbecue, what many, many Moldovans did that weekend. 

That is actually all I can say about this city, here are some pictures, they would speak better than me :) 

Market - meat section

Market

Old Lenin fabric with Lenin's pic ;)

Resting area at the lake

Old part of Jewish cementery

For the people who are convinced to go ;)  To get to Balti you have to take minibus from Chisinau, Gara de Nord, cost 65 lei. To get back I took the minibus from the center of Balti, it was the unofficial one - very often thing in "the east", they go pretty fast (mostly because of the drivers-suiciders) and cost 60 lei. Quite an exciting drive :D

Favorite city

It's became a tradition already that every time I get first time to a Romanian city I end up  in the place that I have no idea where is and how to get from there to the place I want to be ;) This time instead of landing at Gara the Nord I arrived to Autogara Filaret - very small and not pleasently looking bus station where the buses from Chisinau go. But I happen to be very lucky and despite not having a map with me and only one, quick look on the map before arrival I managed to choose the right way to the center with the first try. Seems like my intuiton is never wrong ;) 

At first I spend some time in Lipscani - the old town district, with some really interesting old buildings, both renewed and not. It's also the place full of bars, pubs and restaurants, some of them are actually really cool, it's the perfect place for a pub crawl, which would take a couple of long nights. 
That's also the place where my hostel is - Old Town Vogue Hostel on Gabroveni street - a new, comfortable place with nice atmosphere, it's not possible to be bored there, you would surely met some interesting, opened people, what actually is very typical for Bucharest itself.  

Somewhere in Lipscani

The first day, beside wandering around, I visited National History Museum, where you can se for example a replic of Traian Column and a part of Romanian gold treasure which is one of the biggest in the world.

The second day started for me with Bucharest Free Tour - a must-do while you're in the city. It starts every day at 10:30 am and 6 pm. at Piata Unirii, next to the clock. It lasts about 3 hours and gives you really interesting information and as the guide said, you can have any kind of questions, even about some controversial and unplesant things. You will get to know sth about the People's Palace and why Michel Jackson is so important for it, about how to impale people (really interesting part with the visualisation ;D), why the oldest church in the city is not really oldest, on which balcony Ceausescu had his last speech and you can elaborate if Romanian revolution ever happend or not. Also other extremly interesting stories, but it's better to hear them on your own. 

People's palace interior

After the trip there was a time for lunch in Caru cu bere - the first beer garden in the city with really interesting interior and delicious food. After the time came to see the biggest (literally) attraction of the city - the People's Palace. Don't forget to have your ID with you, they won't let you in without it. At the entrance you will have to also pass the security gateway, just like on the airport ;) 
The tour is really nice and the interiors are amazing. They are not only big, but also pretty tasteful, ornaments are based on Romanian folklore, and it was a surprise for me that communism can ever look that good.

People's Palace interior

Then, I spend the evening in Cismigiu Gardens, lovely park, full of people on Saturday, sunny day - perfect place to relax. 

My last day unfortunately weather got bad, it rained pretty havily and I didn't realize my plan about going to Herastrau park in the north of the city which also is famous from its beauty. Instead I went to National Art Museum and I wasn't dissapointed. It is situated in old Royal Palace, the building is very impresive and the collection is very interesting, especially if it's about Romanian art. 

It all was really great, but what I liked the most about this trip and why it felt so nice to me are the people I met. It was unbelivable for me how really opened and easy-going they are, much more than in any Romanian city I've been to. The atmosphere is really special and it makes you go back there as fast as possible. I trully hope that one day I will manage to move there, at least for some time to feel it even better and also to see all the places I didn't visit yet. 

Maybe Bucharest is not the most beutiful city you can imagine and maybe not very touristic one, but if you want to simply relax and have lots of fun - go there!

The view from the main balcony in People's Palace