Transnistria – National Day of Transnistria Tour

Itinerary

Sunday 29 August – Bucharest

• Own arrival in Bucharest.
• Dinner at the famous restaurant Caru Cu Bere. (optional)
• Overnight stay in Bucharest.

Monday 30 August – Bucharest

• Highlight: Parliament of the People; one of the largest buildings in the world.
• Revolution Square, named after the revolution of 1989.
• Churches that survived the Communist revolution.
• Free afternoon.
• 7:15 p.m. night train to Chisinau.

Tuesday 31 August – Chisinau

• 9:00 a.m. arrival in Chisinau.
• Rest in the hotel.
• Former National Hotel, this was once one of the most important hotels in the city.
• Monastery, this old monastery was spared during the Second World War.
• Urban prison, one of the most notorious places in Moldova.
• Highlight: Second World War Memorial, an impressive and large monument.
• Army museum, although Moldova is a small and unknown country, they are very proud of their military history.
• Walk over to the flea market.
• Free time.
• Overnight stay in Chisinau.

Wednesday 1 September – Tiraspol

• Drive to Tiraspol.
• Register with the local authority.
• Billboard of President Smirnoff, this man ruled the republic for years.
• Highlight: Embassies of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two special embassies that only exist here.
• Office of the infamous Sheriff organisation. This organisation controls the majority of Transnistria.
• Local bookshop, a good place for souvenirs.
• Highlight: House of Soviet, an impressive building with Stalinist architecture.
• General Suvorov statue, he was an important Russian general in this region.
• Parliament building, in front of the building stands a large statue of Lenin.
• Highlight: Eternal Flame War Memorial, memorial to the Afghanistan War, Second World War and civil war.
• Palace of Culture, with a big Lenin bust outside it.
• Russian Orthodox Church, a beautiful self-sufficient church.
• Kvient Supermarket, here you can buy cheap, quality drinks.
• Soviet obelisk and viewpoint over a former civil war battlefield.
• Overnight stay in a real Soviet hotel in Tiraspol.

Thursday 2 September – Tiraspol – Bender – NATIONAL DAY

• Highlight: We will find a great place to watch the military parade. This is one of the most important days of the Transnistrian calendar.
• Listen to the speeches by the President and Russian diplomats
• Free time to walk among all the different festivities.
• Drive to Bender, a city where there was a lot of fighting during the civil war.
• Here, too, National Day is celebrated on a grand scale. We’ll join in whatever is happening.
• Highlight: We take a boat across the Dnjestr river, from where we can see the fireworks.
• Overnight stay in a real Soviet hotel in Tiraspol.

Friday 3 September – Comrat

• Highlight: Drive to Comrat, the capital of Gagauzia. They, too, wanted to become independent in the 1990s, but in the end they made peace with Moldova and remained part of it.
• Abandoned Comrat airport , there are still several Soviet aircrafts here.
• Cathedral of Comrat.
• Big bust of Lenin.
• Afghanistan war memorial, in memory of the soldiers who died.
• National Museum of Gagauzia.
• Highlight: We drive to a local farm / winemaker where we are invited for a local feast.
• Overnight stay in Comrat.

Saturday 4 September – Comrat  – Chisinau

• Free morning.
• Drive to Chisinau.
• At 4:55 p.m. we take the night train to Bucharest.

Sunday 5 September – Bucharest

• Arrival Bucharest.
• End of tour.