Sunday 30th of July

• Meet your group at 7pm at Kiev Central Station Hostel
• Late evening train from Kiev to Odessa

Monday 31st of July

• 6am arrival in Odessa – check bags in at the train station.
• Breakfast, followed by an optional city tour or free time in this historic city.
• Late afternoon departure for the 3-4 hour train ride to Tiraspol, Capital of the breakaway republic of Transnistria.
• On arrival in Tiraspol, we register with immigration at the train station before transferring to the local version of the Soviet Intourist Hotel. This is the quintessential Soviet experience in the region’s original tourist hotel.
• We go for dinner locally, followed by drinks in the country’s only night club.
• Overnight in Soviet Hotel.

Tuesday 1st of August

• Early wake up for breakfast in town.
• City tour of Tiraspol.
• Pobedi Park (across the street from the hostel). Chance to ride the rides at the 50’s style amusement park!
• Walk down October 25th street (the main drag) which has a large billboard of former President Smirnoff (real name) standing with the Presidents of two other Soviet breakaway Republics of South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
• University of Tiraspol to speak with students learning English. October 25th St. to City Hall (government). It has a large bust of Lenin for great photos.
• Visit Russian Orthodox Church of Tiraspol. Newly renovated with golden domes. Guests can buy inexpensive Russian Icons here. We will go inside – girls must wear a scarf on their head and men must take their hats off.
• Statue of Russian General Suvorov.
• Visit the Eternal Flame Independence War Memorial.
• Visit Parliament, housing the biggest statue of Lenin outside Russia.
• Leisurely walk to the river park. There is a walking bridge here for great panoramic photos of the river and downtown Tiraspol. There is also a beach here where we can stop for ice cream.
• Lunch at Andy’s Pizza, somewhat of a PMR icon of a restaurant.
• Convenient store in the city center with $3 for a bottle of one of the most prized Cognacs in Europe (outside France of course). During Soviet times, this was the
• Pobedi Park. There is a famous 24-hour beer and vodka stall here. A great place for people-watching.
• Pobedi Park Disco.
• Overnight at Soviet hotel.

Wednesday 2nd of August

• We leave the hotel for Bendery via mini-bus. We arrive in Bendery within 20 minutes.
• We enter one of the largest outdoor markets in all of Transnistria. Guests will be able to shop and buy anything they want at very, very low prices. Also, many opportunities for old world type photos.
• We leave the market and continue walking down the main street until we reach the big white church in the center, well-renovated and a favorite place for couples to get married.
• We continue walking down the main street until we arrive at Lenin park. We view the main fountain and the bust of Lenin.
• We continue to walk down the main street until we reach the train station, renovated and well maintained. It seems like a ghost town because only a few trains stop here, and there are almost no passengers.
• Beside the train station is an old Soviet train from WWII with the hammer and sickle on the front. Inside is a museum of the civil war between Moldova and Transnistria.
• There are many war relics and great photos to take. (It is 100% free.)
• When finished with the museum tour, we walk back past the park until we arrive at the city hall. The city hall has been left exactly as it was during the civil war and still filled with bullet holes. Great for photos.
• Lunch in the town.
• We continue our walk to the river. There is a huge and very beautiful river walk. There are statues and old amusement rides including bumper cars here. A scene right out of the 1950’s, but the rides are still operating and are very cheap. We walk down to the river for a swim and lay out in the sun with locals! Beach towels and swimmers essential!
• After a stroll down the river, we walk back to the bus stop to catch our mini-bus back to Tiraspol.
• We check out of our hotel and go to the train station for the short ride to Chisinau.
• Check into centrally located Chisinau Cosmos Hostel.
• Free evening and overnight.

Thursday 3rd of August

• City walking tour of Chisinau.
• World War II Memorial and Military Museum.
• Central open air market, great place for kitsch souvenirs.
• Government buildings and parliament.
• Main Square + Central park.
• History Museum.
• Traditional Moldovan Dinner at La Plicente.
• Night of bar crawling in the city.
• Overnight in Chisinau Hostel.

Friday 4th of August

• Morning trip to Cricova Winery to see the wine making process and to of course sample some of Eastern Europe’s best wine! This is one of the most amazing wine cellars you are ever likely to see.
• Free afternoon in Chisinau.
• 00 train to Bucharest.

Saturday 5th of August

• 06.00 arrival in Bucharest (depending on customs).
• Check into the hotel for a short rest.
• We conclude the tour in true YPT style, what else but a day tour of Ceausescu’s Bucharest! No trip to Romania would be worth any salt unless we went and looked at everything and anything Ceausescu related, the don of Eastern Bloc extreme. We will do a local walking tour, seeing all the must see sites from “revolutionary” times such as Parliament Palace (the big palace), Revolutionary Square, and the old centre. We’ll even sneak into his final resting place to “pay respects”.
• Dinner at Care Cu Bare; easily YPT’s favourite restaurant on the planet.
• Drinks and a last night pub crawl in Bucharest’s old town.
• Overnight in Hostel

Sunday 6th of August

• End of tour – Own transport to be arranged from Bucharest.

Price Inclusive of:

• All Transport (except transport to Kiev before tour, onward travel from Kiev after group 1 and onward travel from Bucharest after the tour finishes)
• All accommodation
• Some local tours (unless otherwise stated)

Price exclusive of:

• Visa Fees
• Food and drinks
• Personal expenses
• Local guide tips

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