Tiraspol and Bender Back in the USSR Tour
Description
Transnistria has preserved a lot of Soviet monuments, equipment, attractive places and facts that will be interesting for everyone to learn. Visiting Transnistria is like traveling on a time machine – not much has changed there since nowadays. The cities of Bender and Tiraspol, keep many soviet monuments, with a specific architecture. You should come to Transnistria especially if you’re from a country that was never a part of the Soviet Bloc or controlled by it. It will help you understand what the daily reality was like for millions of people in the Soviet Union. You’ll visit practically almost fully conserved ‘museum’ of Soviet times. Depending on the number of bookings, sometimes the tour could be private or shared with small groups, up to 8-10 people. But from our experience most of our groups are 3-4 or 5 people.
Tour Options
Itinerary
We will visit the Bender Fortress, located on the right bank of the Dniester in the city of Bender. The Fortress is an architectural monument of the XVI century. Its construction started in 1538 after the town became part of the Ottoman Empire.
We will visit the Memorial complex, the site of an abandoned military cemetery, where, according to existing data, there were buried 5127 souls. It is known that 110 Russian regiments were stationed in Bender at various times, especially during Balkan campaigns.
Overview of Tiraspol, capital of The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Pridnestrovie/Transnistria). We will discover the main highway here that is named 25th October Street. It crosses the center from east to west. We will go along the whole street by car. Visiting Tiraspol, you can say with confidence that you have been back in USSR!
There are several attractive buildings of the Stalin epoch and the magnificent building of House of Soviets with a spire. In this building city councils of Tiraspol, Dnestrovsk and a number of city and republican organs are situated. In front of the building one can see a monument to Lenin; hotel “Russia” (earlier - “Druzhba”) is on the opposite side of the street.
Great opportunity to feel and understand the authentic local life of Tiraspol
The 25th October Street leads to the Suvorov Square of the imposing size (700x400 meters) and is the heart of Pridnestrovie. It was built mainly in 1970-80s. Here one can find Tiraspol Cinema (1984), City House of Culture (1950), Children and Youth Creativity Center, and extremely expressive Monument to Suvorov (1979), an unofficial symbol of Pridnestrovie.
On the other side of the square is Memorial of Glory with a T-34 tank and a gold-domed chapel designed by Harry Fayfermaher (1942-2002). Buried here are liberators of Moldavia who fell in 1944 and the defenders of Pridnestrovie who protected from the troops of nationalistic Moldova in 1991-1992. Next to it is the monument to soldiers-internationalists who died in Afghanistan. Near the bridge are Francois de Wollant’s public garden and the Pridnestrovian Alley of Glory with the monuments to Catherine II and Francois de Wollant.
Near the square is an impressive Supreme Council (the building of the city committee with the flag of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic hovering over it and with the Monument to Lenin of pink granite in front of it). Today it also houses the Government of Pridnestrovie.
Lunch in the atmospheric cafe "Stolovka USSR", in the Soviet style. Lunch is optional, at the request of the guests.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
We can pick you up where you will stay: hotel, motel, hostel, apartment. We will need just to know your exact address in Chisinau and we can pick you up directly from there.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(148)
This was a great tour. Our guide was Natalia who was brilliant she was very knowledgable and pitched all the info at just the right level. It was extremely well organised and Natalia took care of all the entry/exit admin. We visited Tiraspol, Bender and went for lunch in a restaurant called ‘Back in the USSR’. The whole tour was fascinating. Such a strange place. We felt very safe with Natalia’s local knowledge.
Great trip with a knowledgeable and approachable tour guide (Dmitri). Despite a day of torrential rain, the tour was superb and we got to see many sites, as well as walking aside the locals getting a real impression of what life is like in this lovely area.
Wow. This is a fabulous tour, made even better by our fantastic guide Victor. He is knowledgeable, engaging and funny. The logistics were perfect - we were contacted to day before to confirm time of pick up, advised what to bring, and then transported effortlessly to every part of the tour on a comfortable, clean minibus. Victor gave a commentary through Chisinau and onto Bender, explaining the process for crossing the border and making this effortless and straightforward. He then took us to exchange currency, we saw the monuments and buildings in Bender, then drove on to Tiraspol. Victor told us about the history and geopolitical situation at every point and answered all questions openly and fully. Lunch in the Soviet canteen was great (and super cheap) and shopping in the market was great fun. We finished at Bendery fortress with more information and history, and then got driven back to Chisinau. Overall a truly brilliant tour, definitely helped by good weather and a great group of people on the tour, but so worth doing.
Interesting and insightful tour to Tiraspol with our fantastic guide Natalia. This included a really fascinating walking tour, lunch and then a visit to Bender Fortress. I was a little apprehensive about risks before the tour, but rest assured this is a safe tour in a secure environment. Highly recommended and a real 'eye opener'
This tour checked all the boxes for us. We were picked up and dropped off promptly, and had a very capable guide and driver. We saw Bender and Tiraspol, had a nice meal, and learned about the strange status of this territory.
Excellent experience. You leave a western place and arrive at the cult of the Soviet Union. An immersion in a different world.
Tour was perfect, our tour guide Natalia was very nice and had very good knowledge of everything
Moldova has a fascinating history and an even more interesting present. Pridnestrovie … known in the west as Transnistria… is on a different trajectory and this excellent tour gives some insights of how things got to this point and the possible futures. Marina was the perfect guide helping us navigate the history and undercurrents of this land between two rivers - one facing east and one facing west.
It provided a good understanding of the history and current situation of Moldova and Transnistria. Thank you to our guide, Nicolai, for giving us a great tour.
An excellent tour! Natalia was very interesting and engaging, with just the right amount of information and context for everything. The USSR restaurant was great and had a wide variety of good food. Comfortable bus ride too.
