always liked the country despite being the poorest in Europe. The country being a Soviet creation has a strange mixture of Russians, Romanians and Turkish people (Gauguz) with a mix of languages and cuisines, the chocolate, cakes, wines and soups are tasty. There 7 years ago and it was a disappointment that there were not more improvements though there were some. All the same it is a relatively pleasant city that has now become much more expensive for unknown reasons. I saw a very good jazz band at a club one evening and there are always other cultural activities and vineyard tours not far from the city. I also visited the imaginary country of Transdneistr and it's capital city Tiraspol which is generally amusing. Of course I failed to get some piece of paper on entering that I needed to have when departing. So there was a stand-off with the customs guards (with their Mussolini hats / uniforms) until I agreed to give them the princely sum of USD5.

Russian style but great people