The little-known state of Moldova – nestled between Romania and Ukraine – still carries a lot of heritage from its Soviet past.
The landlocked nation was for almost 70 years a subsidiary of the vast Soviet Union, and even today – some 33 years after declaring independence – its economy is basic.
Nevertheless, YouTube adventurer Drew Binsky travelled to Moldova to see how far $10 (about £7) could get you on its capital’s clean, uncrowded streets.
It’s Europe’s least-visited country, according to Drew, who said it “offers some of the best-kept secrets” in the continent.
He claimed Moldova’s capital city, Chișinău, didn’t offer “a whole lot of excitement, compared to other cities in Europe but I like it that way, I like that it’s not so flashy”.
It turned out that in Chișinău, Drew’s $10 budget stretched a very long way. He was first tempted by one of the city’s many street vendors, who was selling a plastic passport cover that made his US-issued passport look more like an old USSR document.
That only set him back the equivalent of about £1.50. Something similar would go for well over twice that price here in the UK. Drew and his wife Deanna sat down for a cappuccino at a street café, For a little over a pound each, the coffees were excellent, according to Drew.
“The quality of the coffee here is so good,” he said. He then beomaned how in the US, coffee shops operate in much more of a fast-food manner, and don’t encourage people to sit and sip as they watch the world go by.
Moldova is a relaxing place too, and despite its proximity to war-torn Ukraine there seems to be no tension or sense of danger. “I love it here,” Drew explained.
But Moldova is the second poorest country in Europe, after Ukraine, and there was “nothing to buy” for Drew. Setting aside the street vendors selling fresh fruit, there was very little in the way of commercialisation in Moldova.
In the end, after having paid for his $2.87 passport, and the two coffees for the same price, Drew managed to buy a traditional local pastry ($1.25) and even a huge bag of mixed fruit to use up his $10 budget.
He branded the fruit was incredible – testament to the rich black soil of Moldova which is said to be some of the most fertile ground in Europe. He concluded by saying that while there’s no real tourist industry, “if you want to chill for a bit, this is a great place to do it”.