You can have the perfect European vacation without the long flight or expensive plane ticket right here in North America.  It is true!  Quebec City, Canada has a multitude of alluring options to entice all of your senses yet leave you wanting more.

See: Historic District of Old Quebec City was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985.  The architecture is stunning and you will be instantly charmed by it’s beauty.

Touch: The “pitter patter” feeling while walking the old cobbled streets will have you reminiscing of any European vacation taken or future wish list.

Hear: Parlez-vous français? You can practice your French!  Or at least be immersed in a world where French is the primary spoken language.  Nobody panic…everyone is bilingual in French and English.

Taste: There are many restaurants where French influenced food is available.  The most common is the classic French crepes with a little side of Canadian maple syrup to remind you that you are  not in Paris.

Smell:  There are several cafes and bakeries in Old Quebec City so the scent of fresh bread and baked goods seems to waft through the air in every direction.  Pair that with a nice cafe au lait and you have yourself a true delight.

Quebec City is so quaint and charming that you simply want to embrace it!

Seek your adventure!

In last week’s post I shared with you highlights from my amazing recent vacation to Romania, Moldova and Bulgaria.   Well friends,  I saved the best for last or at least the most unique.

Raise your hand if you have ever heard of the Transnistria or  Trans-Dniester.   Anyone?  I had never heard of it until I was preparing for my trip to Moldova.  So this is 1 of only 4 breakaway territories stuck in post-Soviet “frozen conflict” zones.   It is officially defined as Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR)  also known as Pridnestyrovie.  While this territory has their own military, currency, and government; it is not recognized as a country by the United Nations.

We travelled from Moldova with a private guide who was very comfortable with the procedures of entering this territory.  We approached the passport control and my fellow American traveller got his passport approved in seconds. However my passport seemed to cause some problems as they appeared to be having a hard time translating my name into Cyrillic.  Thankfully our private guide spoke Russian and could translate their questions as they wanted to know my father’s full name and city of birth.  Given it is not a recognized country there is no passport stamp but an immigration card that you must return when you leave the territory.  Finally after 10-15 minutes we were in.  Well not so fast actually.  Next came the full car inspection to ensure we were not transporting anything illegal.  While the inspection lasted only a few minutes our guide was brought into the office for paperwork and allegedly required insurance fees.  So after nearly an hour at the border and additional alleged taxes we were off to see Trans-Dniester.

Interesting facts about Trans-Dniester:

• Population is about 30% Russian, 30% Moldovan, and 30% Ukranian
• Only electric tram in the world which crosses 2 cities Bender & Tiraspol
• Only territory to display hammer and sickle which is a traditional communist symbol on their flag
• This territory was previously part of Moldavian ASSR from 1924 – 1940 which was an autonomous republic of the Ukraine
• The Transnistrian ruble coins  are made of plastic and huge collectors item on eBay

Hands down the strangest place I have ever been and I have been around many blocks in many countries.  We spent a few hours touring around the city of Bender and eventually on to the capital Tiraspol.  We were grateful to have the wisdom of our private guide Chip from hellobucovina.com who travelled with us for several days.  He was able to provide guidance on the importance of not taking any photographs of military, police or major infrastructure.

The capital is Tiraspol with a population of 150,000 yet we saw only a few people on the streets that day.  You could clearly see all of the CCTV cameras that were recording your every move which might explain why all of the locals walked briskly looking down at the ground.   It was a completely surreal experience.  It seemed as though we had been transported into a movie set and I was waiting for the director to shout out “Hey you in the white shirt…yes you…can you move a little to the left please?”.  It instantly reminded me of the The Truman Show movie where the character portrayed by Jim Carrey had his whole life staged.  Imagine it for a moment.

On exiting the country, sorry got that wrong….territory, there was some additional trouble with my passport.  My passport is due to expire in December 2017 and I had additional pages inserted a few years ago; yet regardless it is pretty full with immigration stamps along with several visas for India and Brazil.   This apparently raised some concerns at the border control.  Once again my guide with his Russian translation came to the rescue to explain that I was not a secret agent spy but simply one girl who travels.

Seek your adventure!

When I tell people I have just returned from vacation in Romania, Moldova and Bulgaria most people  get that funny look on their face.  For any of you hard core travelers out there you know this look.  I have seen this look before and I can usually guess what comes next.  Their question is always the same “Why in the world would you want to go there?”.   My response is pretty standard “I had never been there before and it sounded interesting!”.

Let’s start with the big reasons visit…

• There are 17 UNESCO sites within these three countries which is pretty amazing!   Even more incredible trying to put this in perspective all three countries total square miles combined is smaller than California yet there are only 23 UNESCO sites in all of the United States.  Apologies to my dedicated readers but this needs another shout out;  although not all UNESCO sites interest me however those that I do find interesting never disappoint me!  Bottom line:  You can see a lot of amazing places that are relatively close together!
• Enjoying simple living and wholesome local food.  While our hotels were in urban areas we would drive through the countryside during the day filled with many farms.  It was commonplace to see a horse and buggy as a mode of transport between farms into the villages.
• The language barrier is minimal as majority of locals speak English.  We visited a few open air markets where communication were a little challenging however with basic hand gestures we managed to sort it out.  We learned only the basic phrases that while our pronunciation may have been terrible most locals were touched that we had made the effort.
• It is very inexpensive.  The exchange rate is extremely favorable to the US Dollar, Euro or British pound.  We had very nice 2 course dinners for $15-$30 for 2 adults not including alcohol.

Best thing I ate and drank in each country…

In Romania:  A lovely bean soup in a bread bowl and raspberry lemonade.         

In Moldova: A cheese plăcintă which is similar to a pot pie or pasty and a glass of Negru du Pucari wine.

In Bulgaria:  A stuffed pepper with tomatoes, onions, beans, topped with feta and a perfect cappuccino.

While we visited so many places along the way I have summarized them with photos in a video for your viewing pleasure.  Grab some popcorn, sit back and watch the brief movie.

In order of appearance and all UNESCO sites denoted with *:

Romania

• Palace of the Parliament
• Bucharest random street view
• Peleș Castle,
• Bran Castle (Dracula’s castle
• witnessed the  annual spring Ploughman Festival
• Râșnov Fortress
• Viscri fortified church *
• Sighişoara *
• Painted Monasteries of Bucovina *

Moldova

• Orheiul Vechi
• Circa cellars
• the streets and people of Chișinău
• Mănăstirea Noul Neamț
• Pucari vineyards

Bulgaria

• Boyana Church *
• Rila Monastery *
• St Alexandar Nevsky Cathedral
• Sofia Synagogue
• Sofia Central Bath houses
• Sofia random street views

Seek your adventure!