HIGHWAY TO THE DANGER ZONE

Danger Zone

So after a month here in Moldova I've found out some pretty interesting facts about the place. It really is a unique country and I wanted to share these fascinating points of non-fiction with you.

1. Chisinau has the largest cemetery in Europe It's true. I've been. In fact when I came to visit in August, we visited the graveyard with my boss and his wife. It's massive and has different sectors including a Jewish sector, a Muslim sector and a sector for Soviet war graves. Many of the older graves are in Russian only but the most recent graves are in Romanian. In fact, there are pictures on most graves of those who have passed but weirdly, on some gravestones there are pictures of those who are not dead yet. For example, Mrs Petrescu's husband might have carked it, but she is still alive, yet her picture is already on the gravestone and the grave is lying waiting for her. Surely for her it must be a bit strange to see her face already on the gravestone when she visits Mr Petrescu. 

2. Chisinau is one of the greenest capitals in Europe Yep, we have many parks throughout the city and the main throughfare, St Stephen The Great Street, is lined with large oak trees. Central Park, on St Stephen The Great, is beautiful at the moment. Leaves have fallen and the trees are bare but it's peaceful yet full of people playing petanque, skateboarding and old men sitting around enjoying a game of chess. Here are a couple of pictures I took of St Stephen The Great Street and Central Park at the weekend.

3. Moldova has the largest wine cellars in the world This is my kind of fact. The wine cellars at Milestii Mici sport 160 miles of tunnels where about half are used to store wine. The second and third largest wine cellars in the world are also in Moldova. You can even drive your car down into the tunnels

4. Moldova has the highest rate in the world of death by powered lawnmower I'm not making this up

5. Living in Chisinau, I am in closer proximity to Baghdad than I am to Perth By about 150 miles

Any more for any more?