Bucharest to Chinisau

There is one train a day to Chinisau, leaving Bucharest Nord at 19:35, arriving a little before 9am the next day. It is an incredibly slow 432 Kilometers on an overnight sleeper train, stopping repeatedly along the way, including two hour stop around 4:35am at the Moldovian border to change the train wheels, a cool, surreal experience wherin as (most) passengers sleep every car in the train is separated, raised on hydraulic lifts, as an eerie steam whistle blairs constantly. There is really no way to describe it, though it's not necessarily an experience that needs to be had. The cost for a second class ticket (in a 4-bed sleeper compartment) is ~125 RON or ~$40. The train conductor will take your ticket after showing you to your cabin and hold it for the duration of the trip. For future reference pay for first class. Second class has no AC and only a few of the windowns open which makes the first half of the ride nearly unbearable. Beer (which they do sell to those willing to walk all the way to the end of the train) helps. 

There isn't much in Chisinau. The poorest country in the EU and one of the poorest in the entire region, Moldova can feel like a forgotten place - the slow pace of daily life continuing nonetheless. The city itself is large and spread out, but it has its charms, there are nice parks, a huge open air market which sells everything. But otherwise it is a tricky place to travel. Public transportation is nearly non-existant. What there is to see is not easily found. Being in Chisinau was a bit like being in Los Angeles - sure there is some stuff there, but it's spread out and you need to find it. The country is supposed to have some great wineries, and some nature worth seeing and these are likely better destinations to head to on the next trip to Moldova, skipping Chisinau entirely. I had a great steak and some good Moldovan wine at ___ but Chisinau offers little other than a hub between other destinations.