No Visa Required - Part 2: Kiev - Chişinău

This post describes the best train part of our "No Visa Required" trip from Kiev to Chişinău, i.e. going from Ukraine the beautiful country of Moldova.

The main purpose of this trip was to experience the famous 3TE10 trains and derivatives. Any fan of Russian diesel trains appreciate its distinct sound, though it is not up to date with respect to the European emission standards:



My travel companion Gilbère recommended a special route, which goes straight trough Moldova, 10 hours of train ride for less than 300 km. Yes, this is going to be a very slow ride.

Again, as usual with the travels which Gilbère books, some dramatic accident happenes quite closely to our trip. In this case this particular train derailed and crashed into a freight train a few weeks after we took it.

From Reuters.

So, at 1:30 in the morning we were waiting at the railway station at Kiev. We had a shared compartment for four people and no idea who the other two would be. Looking around me at the platform, I mostly saw various versions of dodgy training suit wearing youngsters, ceaselessly spitting on the ground, I feared the worst.

Things turned out very positive though, a very nice Moldovan couple from Israel were our companions. The guy immediately offered us vodka and bread with cold meat. After a few shots, the mood was better and the lady told him off to keep it low.

After a nice sleep-in there was breakfast:

In the morning, we were also approaching the Moldovan border, and officers with very cute looking dogs entered the coach.

As an officer I would really feel my authority compromised by all the passengers addressing the cute dogs.

We crossed the Dniestr river, which separates Ukraine from Moldova. Housing and villages looked more shabby in Moldova I must admit. Ukraine seems to be better off.

Dniestr river.

This was also when the electrification of the tracks stopped, and a 2TE10 was pulling us across the country side. Beautful!

Unfortunately windows could not be opened, except for the one in the toilet, where I could stick out a hand to capture this scenery.

2 or 3TE10 pulling us uphill.

At a first stop in Ocniţa, I tried to blend in with the locals, meaning wearing plastic slippers, unfortunately I did not bring a training-suit.

"Technical stop" (Yes, those slippers are intentional.)

A scent of coal hangs in the air, since the coaches are all coal fired.

Coal furnace for the coach.

During the stop, babushkas try to sell their goods. In particular suspect where the shrimps, far away from any natural sources.

Shrimps, anyone?

Scenery was epic, though. A bit fantasy like, possibly close to Ungheni, the mountains at the horizon is possibly already Romania.

A stop at the train station of Ungheni was only 300 meters from the Romanian border. I felt tempted to run there, but the stop was too short. Our diesel trains was changed to a 3TE10 but only 2 units. Gilbère notes that Moldovans tend to mix all the train sub-units up.



We will make a decent video of the entire trip later, hopefully.

And the ride goes on and on and on...

And finally in the evening (19:35) we arrived in Chişinău!

Chişinău, possibly the least known capital of all European countries. Gilbère was talking for ages about the blessings of the "Hotel Cosmos". This wonderful marvel of a reminiscent communist era, is a functioning time machine. As soon as you enter the main entrance you are taken 30 years back in time.

An astonishing lift took us to our rooms (checkout Gilbère's Facebook profile for more stunning pictures of the lift at Hotel Cosmos.)

Hallways of Hotel Cosmos could probably provide a suitable location for various gory movies.

Redrum. Redrum. Redrum.

The interior reminded me of wallpaper artwork from Windows 3.1.

During our trip in Ukraine, I noted a systematic absence of toilet paper at most lavatories. Therefore, as a rule, we always kept some rolls with us in stock. Staggering with the superior quality of the rooms, along with the very affordable price tag per night (I somehow suspect a money laundry here), I momentarily abandoned this fundamental law of traveling in eastern Europe.
After checking in and entering my room, I indeed found a very decent toilet, which was a very pleasant surprise. Cheerful and enthusiastic of this marvelous hotel Gilbère has discovered, I found comfort at this wonderful spot to do my serious and urgent business.

Now take a close look at the picture below. What is missing here?

After a proper formulated text message ("Where is the f*cking toilet paper!") Gilbère organised a rescue team which eventually resolved my plight.

But Chişinău is not just Hotel Cosmos, yes it is hard to believe, but another gem is the Hotel Chişinău, located just 100 meters away from the Hotel Cosmos.

Hotel Chişinău, "Stalin's style hotel".

You simply got to love their commercial video!
In the opening scene they blatantly boast of being a "Stalin's style hotel" , and the personnel are really making a genuine effort to act natural and make you feel at ease. The movie itself is truly a master piece on multiple levels, a hybrid of Stalin and Gheorghe Zamfir. Highly recommended! Five hammers and sickles!

Watch it and give it thumbs up, they surely deserve it:




Our commie architecture genes were truly pleased when passing by the interesting reminiscences of ancient times.

True Asberger people will notice a little break in the symmetry in the top right, where a barrier between two rooms where removed.

One part of the so called city gates of Chişinău. Concrete on concrete.

The gate of Chişinău. Or at least one side of it.

We did not stay long in Chişinău. For dining we highly recommend the "Pegas" restaurant. Excellent!

Not much to tell here, but coming up: Part 3 - Tiraspol, an open air museum for commie lovers!

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No Visa Required - Part 1: Kiev

During easter, Gilbère and I went for a little round trip in eastern Europe, covering Ukraine (Kiev, Chernobyl, Chernivtsi and Lviv), Moldova (Chişinău) and the rouge nation Transnistria (Tiraspol).

This will be the first post in the series, covering impressions from Kiev.

Flying from Warsaw, I arrived at the Boryspil airport in Kiev, where Artem (PhD student at a laboratory) picked me up. The ride to Kiev central station took us past an enormously large area of commie blocks, of which I unfortunately do not have any picture of, only some video footage. (Gilbère and I work on a full movie of the trip btw.)

The main railway station is truly a massive sight as well. Overwhelmingly, both from the inside as well as from the outside.

Kiev railway station

Subway system is build in the usual communistic neoclassicism, Kiev also features one of the deepest of the subways world wide, possibly only surpassed by Pyongyang in North Korea. However no official records exist of that, surprisingly...

Entrance to the subways are equipped with blast doors in case of nuclear attacks. This way the subway system also serves as a bomb shelter.

Blast door, not sure if door is sliding in from the side, or raised from the ground.

We moved down to the Maidan square, to take a look at the barricades. The transition is quite sudden. Kiev is a beautiful city, and looks totally normal, and suddenly you round a corner and run into a war zone full of barricades...

"I will not move, nor will I be moved."

Gilbère noted that most of the tents, represent various villages all around Ukraine.

Euro trash, possibly.

The building of the labour union. Employees have a day off, it seems.

The feeling at the square was very peaceful, felt more like some weird festival going on, where some people were wearing camouflaged clothing. The only real threat where people with tame pigeons and those guys dressed up as bunnies approaching you, trying to convince you to give them money. You must stay clear of them, no matter how sorry you feel for them walking around in silly costumes.

Gilbère prefers (just like me, most of the times) to what we call "minimize cross sections", meaning, trying to act locally and reduce possible vectors of approach for people targeting tourists.
This means, for instance, Gilbère takes pride in not to run around with a tourist camera and a sky blue jacket, but with a polyethylene shopping bag and dressing shabbily.

This time, though, he sticks out:

Hey Gilbère, recheck your cross section... 

Not surprisingly, the Sberbank Russia has a hard time.

On the entrance only a very laconic message was put up:

Handwriting says "Putin - fart"

Leaving the Maidan square, things got very civilized again. A few of my best pictures:

Governmental building. Note guard to the lower left.

Hotel Kiev, not sure if it was still being used.

During the grey spring time, a coffee franchise stuck out with their "space-cake" pink snails, forming obvious targets for hostile missiles from abroad. Someone should warn those people.

Most of the trip was just usual sightseeing. Going a bit further outside the most touristic parts, you can still find very beautiful houses, most of them in good state. Also (at least seen with Danish eyes) astonishing little trash is lying around. My hometown Aarhus is a filthy mess compared to the general cleanliness of Kiev.

Random corner somewhere just north east of the city center of Kiev.

At the end of the day we went to a faboulous Geogian restaurant Gilbère recommended, the НІКАЛА РЕСТОРАН. Place was deserted, yet the food was great indeed, and we got our personal live musician.

Those where ხინკალი, a famous Georgian dish. In order not to offend people, you must eat them in a special way, not spilling the liquid phase inside, Gilbère insisted.

(...)

We went back to our commie style hotel "Експрес", after a detour to the railway station and a strange posh karaoke bar. Hotel was great, I give it three hammer and sickles out of five.

Not much to be told, next day we had to get up early for the trip to Chernobyl. Stay tuned...

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Full picture album available on picasa and google+..

Tripoint Borders IV: Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine

During my two-month stay in Kraków, Leszek Grzanka helped me to make it to the south-eastern tripoint of Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine.

(And if you do not feel like reading all this, you might watch this little video instead, basically conveying the same information. :)

So, first things first, let's take a look at the map where it is:

View Larger Map

If you zoom in on google maps, you might notice that the borders are not really matching the overlays.

Uhh... nope... lines all messed up, the tripoint is where the green arrow is.
Yes, I've checked it.

Normally I try to reach these points by public transportation, this time however, Leszek drove us from Krakow by car. He reserved a sleeping place in a small hut for hikers, where the border control also stops by for coffee.

The hostel is also at the shortest hiking path to the tripoint. Coming from the Slovakian side is harder technically, but possible. Naturally I would not even try to reach it from the Ukrainian side.

Closest hostel located 2 hour walk north from the tripoint. http://www.rawki.pl
And the border police parking, probably having coffee.

This is the first tripoint of this series which is to a non-EU country, so I expected all kinds of border control and fences. However that turned out to be a "disappointment" in the end...

First views of Ukraine to the left. The border between Poland and Ukraine is clearly visible as a line with a little kink. The remote hills at the horizon are partially Slovakia.

After around 300 meters up (at 1270 meters), you reach a very nice plateau, terrific landscape.

Leszek and first signs of the Polish-Ukrainian border at the end of the road.

Leszek mentioned a story where the Ukrainian border guards hid in the bushes, waiting for trespassers. They cached some poor fellow who wanted to take pictures from the Ukrainian side: "This picture will cost you 100 €!"

Stay on the path, don't cross the railings.

Signs warn you to stay on the path and not cross the border. In order to reach the tripoint you follow the Polish-Ukrainian border for another few kilometers.

I was surprised to see some of the border stones ... displaced...?

The closer you get to the tripoint, the less organized it gets. You encounter displaced border stones and the path takes you quite a few times on Ukrainian territory, at least technically.

Stay on the paths, right. But when the path crosses the border, what can you do?

During the the way to the tripoint we did not encounter any other hikers and did not see any border patrol anywhere. Finally we arrived. A nice monolith marks the tripoint:

And already after a few minutes, we could hear border guards coming on power bikes from the path going along the Polish-Slovakian border. The guards were Polish, and passed us first without stopping, continuing along the Polish-Ukrainian border where we came from. Some 5-10 minutes later they came back and stopped for a chat, asking Leszek, whether he has seen any foreigners. (Not sure why they did not count me as a foreigner.)

Friendly people, they let me take pictures of their quads. I didn't dare to ask whether I could also take pictures of them - after two weeks in Ukraine with Gilbére (some posts are coming up), I somehow became more reluctant in these matters, unfortunately.

Anyway, their power bikes were sponsored by Norwegian funds. Found that puzzling, after all it is a EU border, and Norway is not a member of the EU.

Norway grants?!

The Slovakian side is also interesting because it also marks the most eastern point of Slovakia (and former Czechoslovakia).

The most eastern point of Slovakia!

From the tripoint there was a small path following the Polish-Slovakian border:

Leszek doing genuine efforts for Polish-Slovakian friendship.

Polish-Slovakian border, facing in the direction of the tripoint which is some 30 meters ahead from here.

And another path followed the Ukrainian-Slovakian border. Was really tempting to continue that direction.

Ukraine - Slovakia

Nonetheless, very peaceful area, and the landscape is very beautiful. So far it was clearly the most beautiful of the four tripoints I have covered in this blog.

  

Don't be fooled by the voidness. It got quite crowded at the end of the day, large groups of hikers (all ages) passed by. I am quite happy we left early from the hostel that day, so we could get those undisturbed photos of the tripoint.

Most astonishingly, I did not see any surveillance equipment anywhere, no cameras, no photocells, no infrared lamps. There were also no fences, nothing at all. However, the vegetation looked very dense on the Ukrainian side, not easy to walk off the paths.

Thanks to Leszek for taking me here, and special greetings to Gio Ve and his community... (Hey Gio, feel free to draw the lines or use any of these pics. Full album here. :-)

And here is the aforementioned little video covering the trip, in its embedded version.



Not sure which tripoint I will do next, there still plenty of them. :-)