Posted: June 11 2019
Backpacking in Tiraspol | Transnistria - June 2019.
I took the bus from Chişinău to Tiraspol, the capital of the de facto state of Transnistria. In doing so, I clocked up my 90th Country and Territory visited. That's 84 UN member states and 6 other.
The migration card for Transnistria which you get at the security checkpoint just before the town of Bender. 
On my way from the bus station to my hostel I changed some money. In Transnistria they use Transnistrian Rubles which are useless anywhere else. So don't change too much. They make cool souvenirs though.
I stayed at the Like Home Hostel.
And after checking in and a bit of lunch, I chatted to 2 other guests. Then went walk about. 
Suvorov monument on October 25th street in Tiraspol
Alexander Suvorov is one of the greatest commanders in Russian and world history. Suvorov played a great role in the history of Pridnestrovie: he released this territory from the Turkish oppression and founded Tiraspol - the capital of the Republic. Source: novostipmr.com/en/ 
Lenin monument on October 25th street Tiraspol
St George chapel October 25th street in Tiraspol.
Russian T-34 tank memorial
On my 2nd day I went on a tour. Me and 2 other guests went to the abandoned school in a village just outside Tiraspol with Vlad from the Like Home Hostel. It was abandoned in 1995. There were not enough students to warrant keeping the school open. Though it gives the impression that everyone left in a hurry. Everything was left behind. Here are a series of photos from the Abandoned School. 
Old Soviet map, circa 1981
The in school medical room
A young Stalin as a conscript. 1913 ??
After the Abandoned School, we went to an Abandoned Theme park and then onto the Kurchurhan reservoir just outside of the village of Dnestrovsc. Transnistria, is a land locked country. So they have their own little beach here.
Looking out across the water, you can just about see Ukraine 
In the evening, hosts of the Like Home Hostel, Evghenia and Vlad prepared us dinner. We drank quite a lot of beer too.
This is a Transnistrian beer from Bender. Drinking at the Like Home Hostel in Tiraspol, as the rain comes down, once again. The streets were normally awash with so much water and the river was very high and of course in Summer, this means mosquitoes, take some repellent!
Then it was time to go to Bender. I took Trolleybus #19 from the main street, through the pouring rain. I Backpacked Bender, stayed the night and then went back to Chişinău.
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