March 2025. Moldova to Romnia. Right, Moldova ticked, let’s go home. Except flying home from Chisinau isn’t good enough for Mrs RM, oh no, she wants to take a 13 hour sleeper train to Bucharest and get back to Luton Mid Stay from there. Why ? We’ll soon find out. Our train sets off a… Continue reading CHANGING THE BOGIES : 13 HOURS ON THE CHISINAU-BUCHAREST EXPRESS
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CRAFT BAZA, CHISINAU
March 2025. Chisinau. Well, Mrs RM has finally published her first (excellent) blog post on the Moldovan trip (here), typically for a woman it’s all about trainspotting. She was still planning the night train to Bucharest when I left her for a third and last night of craft beer check-ins. It started disappointingly, Keller Holz… Continue reading CRAFT BAZA, CHISINAU
“Can you eat the flower ?”. Wine tasting at Castel Mimi
March 2025. Castel Mimi. Moldova. One thing I should add about these Moldovan excursions; they weren’t cheap. Not surprising, as you’re basically hiring a private taxi for the day, and the vehicles weren’t shoddy Ladas. So it’s important you get your VFM from 50p pints and 10p donuts. Our fellow tourists (from Kazakhstan) had forgot… Continue reading “Can you eat the flower ?”. Wine tasting at Castel Mimi
TRANSNISTRIAN COGNAC FROM THE TAP
March 2025. Tighina Fortress. Transnistria/Moldova. If you’re reading these foreign posts* in search of history, you’ll be disappointed. And in fairness, our guide Lily wasn’t much interested in facts and figures either. She showed us supermarkets, sturgeon, fridge magnet stores and the Sheriff Tiraspol ground, while changing the tour to squeeze in an unscheduled wine… Continue reading TRANSNISTRIAN COGNAC FROM THE TAP
BACK IN THE USSR – A TIRASPOL UNTAPPD CHECK-IN
March 2025. Tiraspol. Transnistria/Moldova. The highpoint of our tour to breakaway state Transinistria now, as we reach the “capital” Tiraspol, home to the team that won in Real Madrid and more flags than you can possibly imagine. And more Lenin. And more tanks. Our estimable guide Lily had a dilemma. The couple from Kazakhstan had… Continue reading BACK IN THE USSR – A TIRASPOL UNTAPPD CHECK-IN
GOOD BEER GUIDE TO BE SLASHED
April 2025 sees the CAMRA Members Weekend head for that hot bed of real ale on the English Riviera, with Torquay hoping to enhance its reputation as a top Pub Crawl destination as successfully as Dundee and Coventry Warwick University in recent years. I intend to be there, if only to support the honourable member… Continue reading GOOD BEER GUIDE TO BE SLASHED
ON A BENDER
March 2025. Bender. Transnistria/Moldova. Well, that’s an open goal of a blog title, isn’t it ? Actually, only a local pint in the breakaway territory of Transinistria, as I resist those bottles of vodka in the Sheriff supermarket which I subsequently calculated to cost sixteen (16) pence. We’d crossed the border in Bender, a city… Continue reading ON A BENDER
I SHOPPED THE SHERIFF (TRANSNISTRIA)
March 2025. Bender. Transnistria/Moldova. Yes, dangerously close to the Ukrainian border. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised us not to travel to Transnistria, a breakaway Moldovan territory without consular assistance or valid insurance, but Mrs RM insisted. “It’ll be fine !” said our guide Lily, who then seemed to mislay her passport at the border,… Continue reading I SHOPPED THE SHERIFF (TRANSNISTRIA)
A SIP OF HOLY WATER ON THE ROUTE TO TRANSNISTRIA
March 2025. Chisinau. Moldova. By common consent there’s only 3 things to do in Moldova. Lili was about to do the last of those as she picked us up on Day 3 in Moldova, just after I’d made my 3rd morning pastry raid on Linella Supermarket, giving the till assistant a 3rd opportunity to passive… Continue reading A SIP OF HOLY WATER ON THE ROUTE TO TRANSNISTRIA
FRIDAY NIGHT IN CHISINAU
March 2025. Chisinau. Moldova. I was back at our Chisinau hotel from my Tomato Gose expedition by half five, by which time Mrs RM had decided that the plate of walnuts (a Moldovan speciality) and bread sticks that accompanied wine tasting wasn’t sufficient for tea. The Art-Rustique Boutique Hotel (name picked by random computer generation)… Continue reading FRIDAY NIGHT IN CHISINAU
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