Chișinău
Moldova
Chisinau is this sort of town where, upon arrival, I felt like it wasn’t going to be a blast at all, and over time, with the help of a friend’s recommendations, and as my Russian was slowly getting less and less rusty, it actually became a very nice place to stay at.
The many parks, the lively streets, cafés, and the sketchy hostel with Ukrainian immigrants with whom I was talking in a mix of Russian and Polish, all of that, together made for a suspiciously enjoyable cocktail of experiences.
The mix of brutalist and classic orthodox architecture was a very enjoyable plus. I also did manage to catch up with a backpacker with whom I had hiked earlier in Romania! We got dinner together and exchanged recommendations around a couple of glasses of Visinata.