Gen X in Moldova

Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
Planning to explore Moldova while here so decided to put together a trip thread. I’ll venture to Romania to see Dracula’s castle at some point as well.

Wasn’t sure where to put a trip thread, if this is the wrong spot please move it.

It all started on 25 Aug 2022, on the truck headed to the port for shipment to Moldova. The guy picking it up was wearing an ankle monitor, but he seemed nice.

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Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
April 2023, kids were visiting for spring break. We went to visit Orhei Vechi, an old village about an hour away to see the 15th century monastery sitting on the cliffs above the river.

We had a little unexpected off roading, Google took me through some rural village streets and up the backside of the cliff on dirt roads. It had been raining for two days so the roads were a bit muddy. Switched to 4wd and carried some momentum to get up. Snapped a couple shots to commemorate the inaugural off road trip in Moldova.

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The monastery

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Couple shots of the river valley. Beautiful area, I will go back to explore the many side roads I saw.

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Finished with lunch at a restaurant carved into the hillside.

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Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
April 2023, another spring break adventure. Cricova Winery, where they store one million bottles of wine in 120 kms of tunnels 300 feet below ground. They are still digging and expanding their tunnel system.

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The oldest bottle in their collection is from Israel bottled in 1902.

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Also on display, an agreement to fortify and protect the region and vineyards issued in 1495, 528 years old!

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Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
April 2023, a busy spring break. We visited Bender Fortress. This is in the semi-autonomous and Russian backed break away region of Transnistria. To visit we need to request permission and enter at a specific point. First you pass Russian troops, then the Transnistrian authorities.

I went to the wrong crossing first, they only speak Russian, I don’t. Thank you Google translate. I pulled up Google maps and the border officer plotted my route to the correct entry.

Twenty mins later, must have done something wrong entering a traffic circle because I got flagged to stop by Transnistrian police. Once I pulled over they realized I had diplomatic license plates. More Russian, but I understood “documents”. Showed diplomatic passports and was immediately waved on.

What an amazing place, built in 1408.

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And a museum with torture devices from the time.

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Took some close ups of a water boarding mask, spike laden interrogation chair, and the infamous spike laden Iron Maiden.

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Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
15 April 2023, using the Wikiloc app to find trails here. They are mostly farm roads around all the fields. Private property isn’t really a thing here, as long as the road is not closed with a gate it’s open for all. I recorded my trip.


Not very hard overall, did get spicy toward the end due to all the rain. Mud here is slick and the ruts from tractors make it interesting. Very narrow in spots, I got some pin striping.

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Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
Went for another trip today. Nice ride along a couple lakes.


Pretty easy trail, a few mud holes. Again the difficult part is the width of the ruts. Got crossed up sideways in this one, front wheels in the left rut, rears in the right. It wasn’t deep and solid underneath so I got out easily.

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Had to wait for some of the locals to clear from the trail.

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Then stopped by the lake for an hour or so and enjoyed the weather.

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Got off the trail and headed about 10 mins up the road to an open air Soviet equipment and statue museum. Lots of Lenin statues.

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And a pretty cool car about the size of a golf cart.

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Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
Visited another 14th century monastery complex today. This is in Tipova on the Dniester River. There’s a church at the top of the river valley.

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Then you hike down into the valley to the old cave sites.

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After that I followed some roads along the river.


Had to detour around some livestock a couple times, didn’t want to drive through and disturb them.

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Overall easy trail, didn’t need 4wd very often. Stopped at a nice campsite that I’ll remember for the next time.
 

Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
Haven’t had to use any spares yet. When I needed to replace the front shocks, I met the owner of Off-Road Group Moldova. He invited me to attend an off road rally on Sunday. They had three different levels of vehicles plus an ATV race.

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We set up on a hill across from the track.

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When the event was over, I ran some of the tracks.


I might enter the next one.
 
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Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
Met up and went on a trail ride with some friends. Took some easy dirt roads to a hilltop overlooking Capriana Monastery where we stopped and had a BBQ.

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We were still pretty clean at this point.

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Then the guys took me through the woods…

Check out this trail from @Wikiloc! https://www.wikiloc.com/offroading-trails/capriana-scoreni-139428718 (Căpriana - Scoreni)

…and we hit some mud. Was on winch four times.

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Was a really fun ride, still trying to get all the mud off even after two washes.

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