The apartment where we're staying is on the eastern outskirts of this city of 100,000 people or so. We decided to leave the car parked where it was and walk into the city. We were due for some exercise anyhow. And, we've learned that you see a lot more when you're walking.
So, here are some photos of our day...
With pigeons.
The boy was playing at the base of the monument and trying to scare the pigeons. Eventually, he succeeded...
Without pigeons. This is a Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19.
There is a presidential election here on Sunday the 11th.
Tiraspol has some nice big parks.
An old Ferris wheel.
A local hero in Victory Park.
Under construction.
What it's going to look like when finished.
I love Tiraspol.
Huge Christmas tree in Tiraspol.
The Dniester River, and the city beach. Apparently a very popular spot in the summer!
Kevin and an old Soviet tank.
War memorial. Over 700 people died during the two year civil war.
Transnistria parliament and statue of Lenin.
Busy market.
The butcher section of the market.
I had looked at the Tripadvisor website and the top rated restaurant in Tiraspol was along our way back. So we stopped in at the Kumanek restaurant for a late lunch - early dinner.
It's difficult for us to eat at at the smaller food stands or cafeteria style restaurants. There are quite a few places we would have liked to have eaten something, but everything is in Russian, and we can't read the Cyrillic script. So we would have no idea what we're getting, and of course we have to be careful not to get anything that contains gluten. If we were staying here longer than 3 days we would have made more of an effort to learn some basic Russian and a little more about the alphabet here.
At least in a major restaurant, they might have someone who spoke some English.
It turns out our waitress did speak some basic English, however even better is that the menu once again contained English translation in tiny little letters. Nice!
Ruth ordered the salmon and grilled vegetables and potatoes, and I had veal with vegetables and cheese and potatoes and mushrooms.
While we were waiting for our meal, she brought us a shot of some kind of alcohol, as well as a little meat and cheese appetizer. Complimentary.
She came over and said "five more minutes"...but we didn't think it was taking an overly long time. Besides, we were in no rush.
A few minutes later, we heard her come out of the kitchen and then we heard a crash. Uh oh.
We didn't see what happened, but she had obviously run into someone or something, or tripped on something. No idea. But it was our meals that she was carrying!
We felt so bad for the poor girl. She came over and apologized, and brought us two more complimentary shots of booze!
We waited another 20 minutes or so, but that was okay. The food was good, but sorry, no pictures. A little more expensive, at 270 rubles including tip and two lemonades ($26 CAD, $18.75 USD).
Kevin, in the Kumanek Restaurant in Tiraspol.
The Kumanek restaurant.
On the walk home. This was an upscale clothing store.
Today, we're hopping in the car to explore outside of the city. We'll probably go north for 50 kms (30 miles) or so just to go for a drive.
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Sounds like s good day nice meal, but kinda pricey for our budget.
ReplyDeleteIt was only $13 CAD ($9.50 USD) each for a full meal with drink and tip in one of the best restaurants in Tiraspol. I'm glad our budget can handle these things occasionally!
DeleteGlad the crash was just your food and not your rental car. That would have needed lots of shots to sooth that pain. ;c)
ReplyDeleteWe are glad too! :-)
DeleteLove the shot of the two women on the bench.
ReplyDeleteThanks Elaine!
DeleteYes, when I first read your title, I too feared it was a car crash. Glad it was just some quickly replaced food.
ReplyDeleteLone Grey Squirrel
I looks like his title got a few people! ;-)
DeleteWe are very happy that it wasn't our car either.
Great photos and looks like a beautiful and festive city. Cannot wait for your next big adventure!
ReplyDeleteNot sure I would call it a beautiful town or festive although they do have that nice big Christmas tree up. The downtown area is definitely a little more colourful but outside of that it is pretty grey looking. Very Soviet looking, however we do notice more colour in the newer buildings.
DeleteYou remind me of my brother in law who can't eat foods with MSG. It's a headache to travel with sister and bro in law so I don't travel with them often. I've eaten everything but I check out good during annual check up (knock on wood). While my sisters shy away from fatty foods, sugar, etc. they all are now diabetic and have health problems...two younger than me and two older than me. My doctor is always amazed that I don't have issues a lot of people have at my age 71. Oh I do have occasional health problems but they clear up quickly. Recently I had cataract surgery and I'm seeing a whole lot better and can now drive at night :-) Take care while traveling and enjoy.
ReplyDeleteYou remind me of my brother in law who can't eat foods with MSG. It's a headache to travel with sister and bro in law so I don't travel with them often.
DeleteThat's too bad. But I don't think we would be a headache to travel with. We're very adaptable and always find a way to deal with our dietary needs. We're glad you're in good shape!
P.S. Maybe my body is adapting better than my siblings...makes me think of 'only fittest survive.' Maybe it should be only 'those that adapt' survive LOL
ReplyDeleteYou should try using the camera feature in Google Translate application. You open the camera, point it to the text and it will translate it for you. Will make it easier order stuff.
ReplyDeleteJulian we do use this feature a lot but sometimes like at some food stands/stalls there is no real menu to look at so we can't do the google translate thing, if there is then we will use it. We love this feature! :-)
DeleteBeen following along for about a year now and I missed why NO gluten? I have been noticing more and more about the no gluten diet and was curious why? Did I miss something about gluten allergies or was it not as prevalent in Mexico? I keep reading about gluten free here in the states but really how no knowledge what its all about.
ReplyDeleteWe try not to make a big deal of it so perhaps that is why you haven't really noticed it but we have mentioned it in posts throughout the years. I (Ruth) have been gluten free now for over 6 years because I have a major allergy/intolerance to it, so it for medical reasons for me. Kevin has now been gluten free for about 2 or 3 years partly because everything I made was gluten free and it was just easier although he did eat bread and cereal that contained gluten at the time. He started noticing that he was having certain issues and from reading it suggested that it could be gluten related so that's when he started going gluten free and now those problems had gone away. Last year about this time he had eaten bread and had coffee (he doesn't any more) when we were in Colombia and ended up with a horrible rash that took ages to disappear, again not sure if it was gluten related but he feels better not eating it. Yes, in Mexico it is rarely a problem for us because they eat corn tortillas and lots of food is made without flour added. It is much harder in countries that rely on bread and pastries like where we are right now.
DeleteThanks for that. I do remember the rash and the couple of doctors visits. I think I remember the shot was the ticket not the cream?
ReplyDeleteNope it was some pills that did the trick. He got the shot from the first doctor and it did nothing, it was almost a week later that Kevin went to the second doctor and he gave Kevin some pills (predisone, I think) and two different creams. It only took a couple of days and he got the relief that he needed. He decided after that to totally stay away from the gluten he didn't want to take a chance again, even if it wasn't the gluten that caused the rash.
Delete