Transnistria - country within another country

First, stop after crossing the border. Tighina Military Cemetery.. This cemetery contains the graves of soldiers of many countries. In front of the monumental entrance, there stands a magnificent statue of General Potemkin, the lover-some say the husband-of Catherine the Great, who captured Bender fortress from the Ottomans.

Bendery is an ancient marvelous city of Pridnestrovie on the right bank of the Dniester River (PMR. History of the city is closely intertwined with the modernity. The city center is very picturesque, where the quarters are primarily buildings of the late 19th – early 20th centuries. There are many historical and architectural monuments in the city, the pearl of the city is the Bendery Fortress.

Tiraspol is the capital of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR). It is a beautiful, modern and hospitable city on the banks of the Dniester River. Every year it becomes more elegant and more comfortable as for the citizens as well as for the guests of the region. The city pays attention to improving the appearance of buildings and streets and infrastructure development, new places appeared recently for recreation for adults and children and for sports. Tiraspol is a city always open for tourism and travel. Lunch in the atmospheric cafe "Stolovka USSR", in the Soviet style. Lunch is optional, at the request of the guests.

Unlike many of the buildings of the Stalinist empire in the republics of the former USSR, this House of Soviets retained all its rich decoration and Soviet symbols. Today, the building keeps its original function and serves as a home for city authorities – the Council of People’s Deputies and local administration.

Green Market is a landmark of the city, one of the most comfortable and well-equipped markets in Europe. It provides a wide range of food and industrial products. The vegetable market in Tiraspol has more than 220 years of history, during which its infrastructure has fundamentally changed. Today it is a modern shopping complex with air-conditioned rooms, elevators and travelators, ground and underground parking, an irrigation system in the hot summers and heated tents in the winter.

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.

The hallmark of Tiraspol is the monument to Alexander Suvorov with which the grateful descendants immortalized the memory of their city founder. The monument was inaugurated over 40 years ago, on November 23, 1979, on the eve of great commander’s birthday celebration. The authors of the 9-meter bronze statue were brothers Vladimir and Valentin Artamonov, while the monument design was performed by architects L. Druzhinin and Yu. Chistyakov.