Tiraspol: The Soviet style city that time forgot
After our trip to Bender the trip continued towards Tiraspol, the biggest city and capital of Transnistria.
The trip there didn’t last that long, I’d estimate about 20–30 minutes. On our way there we had to cross a bridge with a military checkpoint. I could see two Russian soldiers with machine guns standing there, but luckily they didn’t stop us or any other cars this time from what I could notice. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of that since it’s very risky to take pictures of military related objects anywhere in the world, even though I really wanted to take some in that moment.
As we got to Tiraspol the guide told us to bring our passports and “proof of entry” papers with us, because according to him it happens quite often that the police asks tourists for their documents while sightseeing in the city, and especially when they are close to the parliament building, which also was the first thing we checked out in Tiraspol.
You can see the parliament building in the picture below, and the biggest statue of Lenin I’ve ever seen in front of it. The Transnistrian flag and the Russian flag flies on top of the building (the first one is unfortunately hidden behind Lenin), making it yet again very clear which country Transnistria associates itself with.
After we had checked out the parliament building and the huge Lenin statue (both visible in the background) we crossed the street to check out yet another tank memorial commemorating the war between Transnistria and Moldova as well as the Second world war (at least to my knowledge, because that’s basically what all the endless war related monuments in Transnistria are dedicated to).
I already posted the two pictures below in my first post, but since they are located in a park next to the Transnistrian parliament I chose to add them here again with a short description.
Basically there’s a park with a collection of huge flagpoles next to the parliament of Transnistria. In the first picture you can see the Transnistrian flag first followed by the Russian flag. However I’m not really sure what the rest of the flags represents, but I’d assume it’s the municipalities of Transnistria or something similar. The emblem on ground level is the national emblem of Transnistria.
You can see the Russian flag in a lot of places next to the Transnistrian flag. Considering the history of Transnistria it doesn’t really come as a surprise for me, but I still find it a bit ironic that a place calling itself independent insist on flying the flag of a foreign country everywhere.
The flags in the second picture are the flag of Transnistria in the middle, as well as the flag of Abkhazia to the left and South Ossetia to the right, the only two places that has recognized Transnistrias independence (both being Russian backed breakaway republics in Georgia and unrecognized by the international community).
Seeing first the parliament with the huge Lenin statue, the tank memorial and then the almost empty “flag park” left me with a very strange feeling, like I had ended up in a European North Korea.
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Things didn’t really get any better after this, because next we went to a souvenir shop where me and the rest of the people from my tour group were the only customers. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures there, which I kind of regret later. Most of the souvenirs were pretty normal but they also sold some crazier stuff, for example coffee mugs with pictures of Putin on them.
After we finished our souvenir shopping it was time for lunch, and when in Transnistria what isn’t better than a Soviet diner? The restaurant was located in the basement of a building in the center of Tiraspol and had definitely been stuck in time.
The entrance to the restaurant.
Once inside you had to walk to the end of a corridor where the counter was located and the food selection on display. I chose a fried fish with mashed potatoes, unfortunately it was very far from a culinary experience, but the interior and general atmosphere of the restaurant made up for it.
My Soviet lunch. The fish was very dry and the salad tasted like it contained more vinegar than cabbage. In conclusion you shouldn’t have any expectations when coming here (which I didn’t), but it was definitely a very unique experience.
The fridge and some old school decorations on the opposite side of the counter.
After we finished our lunch we were soon going to leave Tiraspol for the village of Chițcani, the last destination of the Transnistria trip (more of that in my next post).
However before going there we had one more stop, which was the building in the picture above. It’s called “the house of Soviets”, a massive building that currently serves as the city hall of Tiraspol. The statue in the front is yet another Lenin statue, which seems to be mandatory for every governmental building in Transnistria.
In conclusion I’d say that Tiraspol was definitely the strangest place we visited during the trip to the already very strange “country” of Transnistria. The city is very clean and quiet, and there’s very few people around as well. Taking all of that into account, and all the huge buildings and Soviet era monuments it feels like a time capsule to the Soviet union, alternatively you could explain it as a European version of Pyongyang, the capital city of North Korea (at least I like explaining it that way).
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Originally published at https://jonathank1997.substack.com.
