Entering Transnistria
After exploring the ruins of the former city of Pripyat/Chernobyl, the group I was with was on its way to the Moldavian Republic of Pridnestrovia (or better known as Transnistria to most people). Our tour guides for the trip helped myself and the others load our bags into a private van headed from the post-Soviet capital of Kyiv to the Greek-inspired city of Odessa, which would be where we would rest our heads before crossing the de facto border of Transnistria. In between the time I had exited Kyiv with my group to entering the Transnistria/Moldovan border, I had:
- Toured through a former Soviet military base, seeing several Soviet (and post-Soviet) militaria and historical relics.
- Initiated a nuclear ICBM launch sequence inside a formerly active Soviet-Ukrainian missile silo.
- Seen some Soviet-era vehicles on the road.
- Enjoyed the local cuisine in Odessa.
- Explored the Odessa Catacombs, seeing its natural (and not-as-natural) beauty inside of it.
- Sampled homemade tea and lemon flavored moonshine inside of the caverns.
And now, I was in a van with the rest of the tour group members I had met through the trip (along with the tour guide that I had befriended through the power of humor, knowledge of Eastern Bloc history, and meme magic) with my AirPods stuck in my ears up until we reached the checkpoint between Ukraine and the de facto border of Transnistria. Taking my AirPods out and putting my phone into standby mode, I (along with everyone else) was instructed to hand over my passport when Ukrainian border guards came onto the bus to collect them (as well as to sniff out any kind of theoretical contraband that would’ve entered into Transnistria).
After about an hour, our passports were stamped with an exit stamp from Ukraine and an entry stamp from the border crossing we had entered into through Moldova. Including these passport stamps was what would be my de-facto visa into Transnistria: The Transnistrian Immigration Card. The card slipped into everyone’s passports had the same texture and quality to the kind of paper that would be printed off of a CVS receipt. The free memento to prove I had entered an unrecognized country was still cool, regardless of the fact my immigration document was a piece of receipt paper.
Hotel Aist and The Local Nightlife
The drive into the capital of Transnistria was a long one but it was well worth it as I felt as excited as a kid in a candy store. I was ready to sightsee and explore the Soviet-esque republic that is Pridnestrovia. When the van arrived, we got out to unload our luggage into Hotel Aist.
The exterior (and parts of the interior) of Hotel Aist still remained of its former Soviet glory, as it had that brutalist architecture that many Soviet buildings post-Stalin Era were famous for. All of grabbed our keys from our guides and headed up into our rooms, where we both inspected and examined the interiors of them. For an appreciator of Soviet history, I liked and appreciated the style of the room, as it had a lot of the motifs many tenements and hotels would’ve had at the time.
When I had finished unloading part of my luggage, I headed down to the lobby where all of us grabbed some of the local cuisine (as well as a drink from a local liquor store up the street). Walking from the hotel to a local restaurant to the liquor store a couple blocks away was an interesting feeling. Arriving in Tiraspol at night had the unique effect of showing off the city in a much different way than I would have seen in in the morning or in the afternoon. The city lights had a certain hue to them that glowed quite nicely in contrast to the dark sky with the Soviet flags of both Tiraspol and Transnistria fluttering nicely in the chilly, dark winds. Eventually, after a nice meal and chilling on our balconies outside, I (and everyone else) headed to sleep, looking forward to the next day in Tiraspol.
Exploring Tiraspol, The Capital of The Moldavian Republic of Pridnestrovia (PMR; Transnistria)
The next day, I woke up and headed down to the lobby for our tour of Tiraspol from the guides and a local/friend of the guides who knew Transnistria like the back of his thumb. The first thing we did was walk into what was Suvorov Square (named after both Russian General Alexander Suvorov and the statue that was at the center of the square). Suvorov Square was one of my favorite sites to see in Transnistria (and, arguably, my favorite in Tiraspol). The whole site of flags that covered not just the national flags of Transnistria but also the municipal flags of Transnistria and the nations it recognizes (so far, only the nations of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and the Republic of Artsakh). What was also included in Suvorov Square (aside from the Soviet-era symbolry that was still kept from the days of the Moldavian SSR) was the “touristy” sign that spelled out Tiraspol in Russian.
Moving on, we also examined the Transnistrian Supreme Council (where Parliament would meet to discuss legislation in the region) that still had its Lenin statue up from the days of the Soviet Union and the other part of Suvorov Square that is more well known. This part of Suvorov Square included a T-34 on display (likely used during WWII) as well as a monument to the soldiers in Transnistria/Moldova that lost their lives during the Great Patriotic War of World War II, the Soviet War in Afghanistan, as well as a monument that dedicated the lives lost to those that suffered during the 1986 Chernobyl incident.
After taking a look around Suvorov Square, we headed towards where we were last night as we saw what would later be explained as the Transnistrian Federal Reserve and the Transnistrian “House of Soviets” (which was the City Council of Transnistria). Examining the design of both the building, the flag flying above, and the Lenin bust that sat out front, we all did a photo op in front of it.
When we finished taking photos of the House of Soviets and its Lenin Monument, we then headed into one of the most interesting parts of the tour: a Soviet-era bookstore. The atmosphere of the place was interesting as it had a woodgrain feel similar to some of the Barnes & Noble bookstores I visited back home, but smaller and more Russified. I and the rest of the group entered the store looking around. I looked around the store and eyed around some possible souvenirs before finding what I was looking for: some locally made Transnistrian flags. Knowing what I wanted, I selected the flags that were the national flags of Transnistria (the known state flag with the hammer and sickle on it and the flag that looks similar to the flag of the Russian Federation). Some other things I bought included some magnets for a friend of mine and patches belonging to the Transnistrian KGB and the Transnistrian MVD.
After looking I, and the rest of the group headed onward towards looking at the rest of the city and other attractions around the quasi-nation of Transnistria (including making a toast towards the many that passed during WWII at Transnistria’s WWII monument).
funwithvexillology.wordpress.com 