Day 7-9 – Moldova, Transnistria, Ukraine

Day 7 – 2 Sept 2017 – Adjud to Chisinau (Moldova)

Ready and willing for a new day 🙂
As it turned out the flat lands were pretty epic too!
Moldova – here we come 🙂
Chisinau is a beautiful city, but has a certain contrast about it with European like streets….
…and stark Eastern bloc buildings….(the last two pictures are taken from the same spot)
  • ….and charming gardens…
  • …and churchs
We found a bar. Our unique local knowledge and sense of smell led us to this place!
  • And a special type of radical beer…
  • …it helped us settle in to a night out in Chisinau.

Day 8 – 3 Sept 2017 – Chisinau to Tiraspol (Transnistria)

Slow start after a late night. We looked for any way we could get a bit of power to continue to work on the blog. To run the battery of the bike down….but not too much!
  • The hotel receptionists were…
  •   …so keen for a ride
We went for some breakfast before getting on the road. None of us wanted to order the top item on the menu!
We left Chisinau and it’s beauty behind and “crossed the border” into Transnistria.
Sasha’s (a KTM guy we met in Moldova) brother Max met us at the border and took us into Tiraspol, firstly to the bottle store for some beer and schnapps – our kind of guy!
Max then took us off to his parent’s house in Tirnauca, just outside of Tiraspol. It was amazing, we were welcomed like family and fed like kings!
The old Combi out the front, just like how Sam and Amand grew up on the West Coast
  • Followed by a tour around their big section…
  • …and their basement storing all the preserved produce…
  • …and the 1950s Russian motorbike!
1950’s Sam – not much different to 2017 Sam really!
I think we might have a fourth GAS member 🙂
After dinner and a look around the section, Max took us on a whirlwind tour of Tiraspol by night.
…followed by a visit to De Wollant Park…
…and the Tank Monument
…before heading back to Tirnauca and bed

Day 9 – 4 Sept 2017 – Tiraspol to Zatoka (Ukraine)

After a nice farewell by Max who took us to the edge of Tiraspol to see us off, we crossed the (real) border into Ukraine at Kuchurhan and headed for the Black Sea…
…but stopped almost immediately to chat with some Austrian riders going the other way
We took a few back roads down towards Zatoka. We stopped for some lunch in Bilyaivka and watched the tumbleweed blow by!
Our first sight of the Black Sea in Zatoka. A Ukrainian resort town – wow, really! It felt like it was coming to us straight from the 80s!
  • Some sun and wind to dry out our STINKY riding gear 🙂
The chance to take a dip in the Black Sea couldn’t be missed, although it wasn’t as relaxing as we’d hoped – it was cold and choppy!
The Ukrainian people still took their chance to live it up resort styles!
It almost had a charm about it – actually….not really at all but this photo almost makes it look pretty!
We took the opportunity to have some more meat; there was no shortage of meat to be found anywhere!
The Black Sea looking….well….black….
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