Independence Day in Transnistria Group Tour

About Tour

How about celebrating the Independence Day of a non-existing country? Strange, isn’t it? Strange but possible… Transnistria is a breakaway part of Republic Of Moldova, who has all the necessary things to be a country (government, local currency, National Bank, local car license plates for the cars, flag, police, army, etc.) but except one thing….it is not recognized by nobody except... South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Nagorno Karabagh, all sister “countries” being in the same situation. And like any normal country they have a National Day, and they celebrate it! So, let’s go and see how they celebrate, meet locals and talk to them, visit their capital Tiraspol, understand their religion - Russian orthodox, see their country, history and see for yourself how they live and what they have to offer.

An unrecognized country celebrates its independence - Transnistria!

1 st Day

Welcome to Moldova

August 30 st , 2021

Included highlights:

You’ll meet your local guide and driver at the airport. Check in at a 4* Hotel and free time. Independent dinner as guests will arrive with different flights.

 

2 nd Day

Chisinau – Tiraspol

September 01 nd , 2021

Included highlights:

After breakfast we shall visit the Military Museum from Chisinau and learn about the fate of this country during the Second World War and about its Soviet Heritage. Next continue to Transnistria and after crossing the border we shall stop in a local village for a special lunch in a family-run Guesthouse. They will share with us their problems living in an unrecognized country and how frustrating is not being able to speak their native language. We will continue with a visit to Aquatir, a large sturgeon-breeding and black caviar-processing industrial complex. Late afternoon arrival in Tiraspol and city tour. Check in - 4 * hotel from Tiraspol or Bender. Independent dinner.

 

Transnistria - is a breakaway territory within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova. Although not recognized by any state or international organization, it is de facto an independent state named the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. The country’s national coat of arms still includes the traditional hammer and sickle and the Lenin statue hasn’t yet been pulled down. The Pridnestrovie today may still retain the look of a Communist state and it’s called “the last remaining Stalinist dictatorship in Europe”.

 

Included meals:
  • Breakfast
  • Lunch
3 rd Day

Enjoying the parade in Tiraspol – Chateau Vartely

September 02 rd , 2021

Included highlights:

Today we invite you to participate in the parade, admire the festivities organized for the independence Day and enjoy this unique atmosphere. After the parade - some free time for lunch, to meet local people and interact with them.  We advise you to try diferent kind of dishes and sweets freshly cooked in the market.

Later in the afternoon, we shall do a Treasure Hunt – but because we are in Transnistria, off course, the main treasure will be the Lenin Statues that they inherited from the Soviet time. We will drive towards the north, along the Dniester River. You will be amazed about the communist monuments still to be seen in villages and small towns like Grigoriopol and Dubasari. Going back to Moldova and drive to Chateau Vartely where we will also overnight. Wine tasting and dinner. Chateau Vartely is one of Moldova’s newest wineries. They produce a range of fine wines that have obtained a considerable amount of appreciators all over the world.

Included meals:
  • Breakfast
  • Dinner
4 th Day

Chisinau – Calarasi area

August 31 th , 2021

Included highlights:

After breakfast you’ll have a city tour about the capital of Moldova – Chisinau. It includes: The Central Park and the Alley of Moldovan literature classics, the monument of Steven the Great and Saint, Great National Assembly Square, the Triumph Arch, the “Nativity” Cathedral, the Organ Hall, the Market of souvenirs.

For lunch we will drive to "Casa Parinteasca" Craft Centre from Palanca village, where you will also discover the Moldovan traditional costumes and ethnographic customs. Traditional dishes will be served with the best local wine, while the organic herbal tea, accompanied by homemade jams will surprise you with their amazing taste. Next, we will visit the Honey Museum from Raciula, learn about the life of bees, taste different kind of honey and other honey products. Back to Chisinau. Same accommodation.

Included meals:
  • Breakfast
  • Lunch
5 th Day

The religios and rural paradise

September 03 th , 2021

Included highlights:

After breakfast let’s stop at Curchi Monastery, a real pearl of our religious life. Here you’ll visit some churches, and among them - the “Virgin’s Assumption” Cathedral, built by the drawings of genius architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Next to Old Orhei, Moldova’s most picturesque and fantastic historical site. Old Orhei is famous for the cave monasteries located there. This zone was ideal for the primary monasticism of early Christian community. It was isolated from the outer world. At the time when Christians came here there should have been smaller and bigger caves in the calcareous rocks cut by pre-historic tribes living on this territory. Traditional lunch in Trebujeni village and further drive to the world famous Moldovan Underground Wine City - Cricova, with wide streets, warehouses, tasting rooms. The total length of its galleries is 120 km. The constant annual temperature of + 12ºC and 82–95 % humidity are perfect conditions for aging quality wines there. Cricova is also well known for brilliant sparkling-wines produced by the classic French method. Excursion in the underground winery and arrival in Chisinau. Check-in in a 4* Hotel, and farewell dinner in a local wine bar specialized in promoting quality Moldovan wines made by small producers.

Included meals:
  • Breakfast
  • Lunch
  • Dinner
6 th Day

Chisinau and departure home

September 04 th , 2021

Included highlights:

If time allows we shall visit more soviet sights of Chisinau, pay a visit to the Lenin Statue that is kept nowadays in a local park etc. Transfer to the airport. Departure back home.

Prices and services:

All services as mentioned in the program

MiniVan with A/C

Professional English speaking guide at your all days

 

Partner Price:

Price in double room/twin:       650  Eur

Single supplement:                    170 Eur

Included meals:
  • Breakfast

What People Say

More reviews ›

Dear Victoria!

Thank you so much for introducing us to your country, its food & people! We are going home with lots of lovely memories – thanks to your superb organizational skills!

Mulțumesc!

Have you ever wanted to go on a culture-wine-food tour? In California? France? Italy? Please, have some imagination! Be a little adventurous and go on one in Romania and Moldova. 

It was my good luck to participate in a tour organized by Ways Travel, during which i checked out the many wonders of Romania and Moldova. 

Our group on the bus was an international gang of nine – a Belgian, a German, a Norwegian, an Australian, a few Americans of interesting ethnic alloys and me, dual Dutch and American citizen. What can I say, it was an experience just sitting on a bus with these people and hear their war stories and get initiated into the workings of the behind-the-scenes travel industry. 

Leader of our tribe was the fabulous tour guide Victoria, who speaks four languages, English, German, Russian, Romanian, one of those people who makes a simple bilingual person such as myself feel humble and uneducated. 

The trip was a symphony of history, food, drink, music and dance. Dancing with the Gypsies no less. I tell you, it was fabulous, it was intoxicating. We got history – a dizzying whirl of wars and battles and bloody strife. Of conquests and annexations, of armies rampaging through the countryside, raping, pillaging and impaling. We heard colorful tales about Dacian tribes, the Roman Empire, the Red Horde, the Saxons, the Ottoman Empire, the communist era under Ceausescu. And let’s not forget to mention good old Count Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, who hailed from Transylvania. Really, we deserved every drop of hootch we got along the way to recover from all the tragedies we vicariously suffered through. 

In Romania we loved the beautiful towns of Sibiu and Sighisoara. In Sighisoara we missed seeing the house where Dracula was born because a movie was being filmed and they’d closed it off for visitors. Fortunately, we had a liqueur and brandy tasting to cheer us up. We hadn’t had lunch yet and our stomachs were empty, which helped raise the mood quickly. 

A highlight was our visit to the home of a Roma family in Transylvania and learning more about their culture and lifestyle. (You can read a story about this on my blog here.) Not all Gypsies are beggars living in the streets of large cities. It’s always a good thing to be disabused of your prejudices and preconceived notions. 

We stayed in excellent hotels and lodges, as well as in a humble hostel run by a monastery. We ate fancy restaurant food as well as simple village fare. We saw exquisite as well as cheery architecture, visited opulent cathedrals as well as the modest underground monastery chapel in Orhei Vechi, not far from Chisinau. The vino flowing across the miles was a charming mix of the good, the bad and the holy. The holy being the wine we tasted in a monastery, blessed by the priests. Unfortunately, the blessing did not transform it into nectar of the gods, but the dinner there was quite gourmet, all prepared from food grown by the monks without chemical assistance. 

We also visited Transnistria, which is a rather unique place, as most of you will already know. It is also home to the famous Kvint brandy factory and would you believe, we went there for a brandy dégustation – seven varieties of brandy. It was very informative, interesting and intoxicating. It was also lunch time, but fortunately there was food. We eventually struggled out of there, back on the bus, across the border that is not a border, and traveled down to the Purcari wineries in the south of Moldova where we were treated to . . . you guessed it . . . a wine tasting. Of ten types of wine. Not just any old village plonk, either. No, we got to sip the wine of kings, queens and tsars. Our livers got a workout that day. 

I’m going to stop here. There was more, much more, but I don’t want to give away everything, because what you should do, really, is check out Ways Travel’s website at www.ways.md .

Dear Victoria,

Please accept the endosed as a token of my thanks and appreciation. I have been lucky enough, over the years, to have traveled to many destinations, and to have experienced every sort of guide. In my opinion you are right at the top, one of the select very few who manage to “get it just right”.

Like any skilled job, guiding is something that, when done well, it looks easy! You and I know that is not the case; it’s a tough, demanding profession that few individuals do adequately, and even fewer, well. Hardly any do such a great job that their clients feel cared for, safe, valued and special. You, in my view, are one of those rare tour leaders.

Please, accept my small token of gratitude. You have been kind, lightful, knowlageble (extremly), considerate, tolerant, efficient, reliable… I could go on, but to spare your blushes I will end by saying I cannot find a single criticism (this is a rare thing for me – I have very high standards!).

Your company depends for its success on your delivering what they promised. You have done professionaly this with a smile, a sense of humor, and grate dignity.

I wish you all the luck in the world for the future & thank you for leaving me with not only happy memories but with a positive impression of Moldova.

With very best wishes, Veronica.