Moldova, Europe’s poorest and most obscure country wedged between Romanian and Ukraine is not somewhere high on most travelers’ wishlists. Natalya, our very chatty and loquacious guide informs us that the country receives only around 35,000 tourists a year and most of those from the two countries that loom large over Moldova - Romania and Russia. Although we had been planning this side-trip from nearby Odessa for some time, it was in the end, touch and go whether we’d make it. Due to an error seemingly made by the Ukrainian embassy in Canberra, Kevin had received only a single-entry visa into the country. Meaning that if we crossed the border from Ukraine into Moldova, Kevin would be unable to return to carry on with the remainder of our long-planned journey.

Luckily, the Seattle-based company through which we had arranged our few days in Moldova swooped to the rescue. Phone calls were made to people who knew people in Ukrainian diplomatic circles, a new visa application was filled out online from our hotel room in Odessa and with the right amount of string-pulling a last minute appointment was arranged for Kevin to get another Ukrainian visa at their embassy in Moldova’s capital, Chisinau! Another slightly tense movement when the Ukrainian guard at the border crossing into Moldova spotted Kevin’s lack of a re-entry visa, but after some sweet talking by Natalya we made it across. Outside the gates of the consulate itself Kevin, attended by the ever-supportive Natalya, joined the throng of Ukrainian ex-pats waiting to get their passports renewed. On the stroke of 9am, a guard appeared, unlocked the gate and most likely to the consternation of the other applicants Kevin and Natalya alone were summoned in. We can only speculate on what happened on the inside, but 40 minutes later Kevin was marched out and across to a nearby bank to pay some outrageous fee only then to disappear back through the consulate gate. And that wasn’t the end of the matter. Kevin was instructed to report again the following day (at a time to be negotiated by Natalya) to retrieve his passport - hopefully complete with a visa.

We were fortunate to arrive in Moldova on such a warm and sunny day. Vast fields of sun flowers approaching their glorious peak stretched as far as the eye could see along the main road (really more of a country lane) from the Ukrainian border to Chisinau.

Gently rolling green hills, pretty little villages, goat herds - altogether a pretty idyllic scene and rather different to what our Odessa guide had led us to believe when she asked us incredulously why we would want to go to Moldova “there’s nothing there”! And people smile in Moldova, in stark contrast to the mostly dour frowns that greet you in Ukraine.

But poor Moldova! And not just because it’s Europe’s poorest country but also its awful recent history. What is now Moldova together with a part of Ukraine once formed a region known as Bessarabia, in the Ottoman Empire until the late 17th Century when the area was incorporated into the Russian Empire. The region was mainly occupied by ethnic Romanians who inevitably clashed with Russians who were relocated to the area by the central government intent on Russifying this far flung part of the empire. After the Russian revolution, the Soviets claimed the region as theirs even as Romania made unsuccessful attempts to incorporate Bessarabia. Nevertheless the Romanian language and culture were forced on all of the region’s minorities - mostly Jews, Germans and Russians. At the start of WWII, Romania caved to pressure, the Soviets finally got their way and what is now Moldova became the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic. Initially short-lived as when Germany declared war on the Soviet Union in 1941, Romania joined with Nazi Germany and invaded Moldova. There followed a very bleak period as over the next three years, Romania’s fascist government murdered or deported to concentration camps tens of thousands of people from minority groups, including most of the country’s 100,000 Jews. The Soviets returned in 1944, Russification intensified and Romanian/Moldovan culture was suppressed. Until the final collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moldova was one of the poorest of its “autonomous” republics distinguished mostly for being the Soviet Union’s largest producer of wine.

Moldova finally declared itself independent in 1991 after which a civil war erupted between ethnic Romanian/Moldovans and ethnic Russians. The result of this was the creation of the so-called independent country of Transnistria, a narrow strip of eastern Moldova squeezed in between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian border and populated almost entirely by ethnic Russians. Transnistria was the first of the four Russian-backed frozen conflicts in former Soviet territories.The only "countries" that recognize Transnistria as independent are South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and presumably now, Eastern Ukraine - all victims of Russian-inspired frozen conflicts

But that was not the end of Moldova's woes. A fragile economy, lack of natural resources, poor governance and endemic and pervasive corruption have all contributed to Moldova's challenges as an independent, democratic nation. Many young and well-educated Moldovans have fled the country for the West - indeed Moldova has the distinction of having one of the world's highest rates of emigration. Until around two weeks before our arrival, the government had for several years been dominated by the so-called "Democratic Party of Moldova" which in turn was controlled by the man described as the country's "oligarch-in-chief", one Vladimir Plahotniuc who reportedly led the country to new levels of corruption. Faced with threats from his Russian mafia friends and intense pressure from the US, Plahotniuc agreed to stand aside and fled the country. Rumours have him either in London (surprise, surprise!!) or Miami. Natalya tells us that leading up to Plahotniuc's disappearance, there were mass demonstrations in the centre of Chisinau and she was afraid that civil war was about to break out again

Fortunately that didn't happen and by the time we arrived, all was peace and quiet. Moldova has a new government intent on battling corruption and improving relations particularly with the European Union while at the same time not provoking Russia. We can only wish this delightful corner of Europe the very best of luck in the coming years....