Tänane sõidupäev oli täielikult pühendatud Moldovale. See on riik, millest meil mõlemal teadmised ja kogemused puuduvad. Internetis surfates üht-teist muidugi leiab. Moldova on Euroopa üks vaesemaid riike. Seda oli sõiduteede olukorrast hästi tunda, teede ehituseks ja paranduseks neil raha lihtsalt pole. Esmaabi mõnele teelõigule ikka anti, st paigati auke, aga läbides Moldovat lõunast põhja, võib küll öelda, et teed on lihtsalt JUBEDAD. Aga kõik muu oli igati ok. Piiriületus läks nobedasti, ükski politsei meie vastu kogu päeva jooksul huvi ei tundnud. Lonely Planeti järgi pidavat kohalik politsei välismaalasi armastama, saate vast isegi aru, miks. Panime mõned EURid juba valmis, et vajadusel saaks kiirelt probleemid lahendada, aga … ühtegi sellist võimalust ei tulnudki ette 🙂
Today’s driving day was completely dedicated to Moldova. This is a country about which neither of us have knowledge or experience. Surfing the internet you can find some things of course. Moldova is one of Europe’s poorest countries. This was clearly felt from the road conditions, they simply don’t have money for road construction and repairs. First aid was given to some road sections, i.e. holes were patched, but traveling through Moldova from south to north, you can definitely say that the roads are simply TERRIBLE. But everything else was perfectly ok. Border crossing went quickly, not a single police officer showed interest in us throughout the day. According to Lonely Planet, local police supposedly love foreigners, you can probably even guess why. We had already prepared some EURs so we could quickly solve problems if necessary, but… no such opportunity arose 🙂
Kui vaadata, kuidas inimesed meid nähes reageerivad, siis tunneme end küll imeliste olenditena: küll lehvitatakse, küll hõigatakse midagi, küll lastakse tervituseks signaali. See on tegelikult niiii armas! Jäime korraks teeservas seisma, et GPSi kontrollida, kohe peatas ka üks auto – küsiti, kas vajame abi ja kas tõesti oleme kogu tee Eestist siiani motikaga sõitnud. Üks külaneiu, kelle käest me virsikuid ostsime, oli meist nii vaimustuses ja tundis siirast kahetsust, et tal fotokat kaasas ei olnud. Tal pidi ka sõbranna Eestis elama. Ühesõnaga on inimesed siin nii sõbralikud, abivalmid ja rõõmsameelsed, ükskõik, kus me olime või mida tegime, alati pakkus keegi abi või tuli lihtsalt juurde juttu ajama.
Looking at how people react when they see us, we definitely feel like miraculous creatures: they wave, they shout something, they honk their horn in greeting. It’s actually sooo sweet! We stopped for a moment at the roadside to check the GPS, and immediately a car stopped too – they asked if we needed help and whether we had really ridden the whole way from Estonia on a motorcycle. One village girl from whom we bought peaches was so excited about us and felt sincere regret that she didn’t have a camera with her. She also had a friend living in Estonia. In short, people here are so friendly, helpful and cheerful, no matter where we were or what we did, someone always offered help or just came to chat.
Peale toredate inimeste on ka Moldova loodus lihtsalt imeline. Siin ei ole kõrgeid mägesid, pigem meenutab maastik meie Lõuna-Eestit, kuid metsi on siin vähe, on vaid lõputud päevalille-, maisi-, ja viljapõllud. Vaated, mis orgude ja nõlvade vahel sõites avanesid, olid tõesti võrratud. Kahjuks ei oska seda kõike sõnade ja fotodega edasi anda.
In addition to wonderful people, Moldova’s nature is simply amazing. There are no high mountains here, rather the landscape resembles our southern Estonia, but there are few forests here, only endless sunflower, corn, and grain fields. The views that opened up while riding between valleys and slopes were truly incomparable. Unfortunately, I can’t convey all of this with words and photos.
Olime endale Moldova ja Ukraina piirilinna Sorocasse ööbimiskohaks paar hotelli välja vaadanud. Tee peal hoidsin silmad lahti, et võib-olla pakub keegi ka kodumajutust nagu Rumeenias seda tehti, aga ühtegi sellist silti ei jäänud silma. Tundub, et siin liigub turiste vähe ja ega me ei imesta ka, selliste teede peal ei taha ühtegi turist sõita, iseasi, kui just ekstreemturismiga ei tegele. Kui teedest veel rääkida, siis autosid liikus siin väga vähe, nii et selles suhtes oli siin hea aukudest möödudes slaalomsõitu harjutada. Minul seal tagaistmel polnud hirmugi, et uni võiks peale kippuda 🙂 Registreerisime ennast Sorocas hotelli, nimega Nistru. Olime seal ainsad külalised, meil lasti ise tuba valida, paigutati ratas ilusti garaazi, restoranis teenindati meid äärmiselt sümpaatselt. Siiani on ainult positiivsed mälestused Moldovast.
We had looked out a couple of hotels for accommodation in Soroca, the border town between Moldova and Ukraine. On the road I kept my eyes open in case someone might offer home accommodation like they did in Romania, but no such sign caught my eye. It seems that few tourists move around here, and we’re not surprised either, no tourist wants to ride on such roads, unless they’re into extreme tourism. Speaking more about roads, very few cars traveled here, so in that respect it was good for practicing slalom driving while passing potholes. In the back seat I had no fear that sleep might overtake me 🙂 We registered ourselves at a hotel in Soroca called Nistru. We were the only guests there, they let us choose the room ourselves, the bike was nicely placed in the garage, and we were served extremely pleasantly in the restaurant. So far only positive memories from Moldova.
Lisaks veel paar sõna Sorocast. See on Moldova mustlaste pealinn. Erinevalt muudest mustlastest on kohalikud mustlased rikkad. Neile kuuluvad uhked villad vaatega Dnestri jõele. Mis on selle rikkuse allikaks, ei olegi täpselt teada. Lisaks asub linnas veel ka vana kindlus. Reede hommikul ületame piirijõe Dnestri ja pühendame päevakese Ukrainale.
Additionally, a few more words about Soroca. This is the Roma capital of Moldova. Unlike other Roma, the local Roma are wealthy. They own impressive villas with views of the Dniester river. What is the source of this wealth is not exactly known. In addition, there’s also an old fortress in the town. Friday morning we’ll cross the border river Dniester and dedicate a day to Ukraine.
