Do you know Europe's small countries, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monarco, San Marino and the Vatican?

 Which is which and which is where? Even though I have been to five out of six, I recently got in a muddle. I was happily telling a man selling wines on the Liechtenstein stand about driving for a day tip to Liechtenstein when I was a child and  my father who was driving saw somebody talking to a policeman and identified the tourist as an Italian. 

The man representing Liechtenstein wines nodded, agreed that you can identify Italian by the way they talk with the hands, and politely pointed out that in Lieichtenstein they border German and Switzerland and speak German. We had a very jolly, amicable and educational conversation. 

When I got home, I looked up Liechtenstein and realized, to my invisible embarrassment, that I had been recalling a trip to San Marino. When I checked the locations I could see why. San Marino is only a few miles from Rimini in Italy, which I had visited many times as a child with my parents and later as an adult. Rimini with its long sandy beach is a destination which has for years been promoted in package tours to the British traveller. Let's come back to Liechtenstein in a moment and sort out the facts and look at the little countries in Euorpe in alphabetical order.

Andorra - see the skiing and speak Spanish, or maybe French.

Andorra in winter is a ski destination and my son  went there specially to ski last Christmas time as a side trip from northern Spain and sent me pictures of streets and restaurants, landmarks and attractions. Andorra has mountains with skiing in winter and water providing seafood. Sandwiched between Spain and France, depending on the area you visit, you can get by with speaking and reading menus in French or Spanish. You are in the north of Spain, near the border with France, and if the Spanish sounds strange, or the spelling is slightly unusual and unexpected, that's because they are speaking the related language Catalan. The Catalan language is found both sides of the country, in place names, family names and everyday language in Andorra as well as adjacent Spain and France. 

Liechtenstein wine

Leichtenstein is a German speaking principality. I immediately recognized the word stein as German for stone, as in Einstein, a surname meaning one stone. The Leich part means light, like modern German as well as the Scottish. (I recall the Scottish poem from Burns, 'a broad licht moonlicht nicht, a broad, light, moonlit night). The spelling is i before e at the start.

In Liechtenstein, a big attraction is the wine cellars of the prince. The country produces ice wine, which means it has some cold moments.

Eiswein, which is German language for Ice Wine. They speak German.

Luxemburg

Luxembourg has more than one place to visit. Again in mountains. Multi-lingual opportunity and challenge.

Small but affluent. They speak French and German and the local language. As for food,  Luxembourgish cuisines like Bouneschlupp (green bean soup), Ierzebulli (pea soup), and Glühwäin (mulled wine).

Monarch of Monarco - and its Casino

The casino.

The port.

Driving east along the southern coast of Spain you reach opulent Monarco. When I went there from Nice I could not get into the country. You needed a visa. I can't remember whether we lacked the money or time to get one, but either we or the border control thought that the opulent country, its luxury fancy hotels and restaurants,  was beyond our budget at that time. 

San Marino

A side trip from Rimini in Italy. A road uphill to the top with the view. Buy postcards and postage stamps and drive down again. Speak Italian.

The Vatican

The Vatican has assorted treasures, the physical ones, the architecture, history, paintings, treasures, documents, as well as the living  treasures to see, the pope, the priests, the nuns, the devotees. The blessings and the balcony. The outdoors and the shady indoors. 

It also has the world's shortest railway.

Railway station platform.

Pope Francis.

St Peter's Square.

Musei Vaticani.

A top attraction for Roman Catholics, especially at certain times of year. If you are not religious and want to avoid crowds, time your trip off-season or at a suitable time of day, according to advice from the Vatican and your local travel agent or online. 

Expect to speak Italian. They used to speak Latin in services.

Useful Websites

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_City

Moldova - which has the world's largest and most astonishing wine cellars with Putin, Biden and Merkel associations?

 

Flag of Moldova

Since Covid-19 tourism and travel have been restricted and reduced the countries we could visit. Now with reports of the danger that Russia might expand its plans of expanding military movements, Moldova is also facing an uncertain future. Currently, May 1st, 2022, Wikitravel reports that Moldova has closed its air space and declared a state of emergency.

But where is Moldova, and what are the tourist attractions? Let us at least look at them online whilst they are still at peace and intact. 

Moldova is a neighbour of larger Ukraine, sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania. The land of Moldova has changed hands several times.The country was landlocked until an agreement was reached to give it access to the sea. (The Black Sea.)

A quick glance at Wikipedia showed me an interesting landscape. Plus cave churches. 

The country's name comes from the Moldova River. The capital is Chişinău (Russian Kishinyov, Ukrainian Kishiniv, pronounced "Kishinau" with "nau" as in the English word "know") is the capital of Moldova with a population of around 790,000 plus 250,000 people coming each day for work and entertainment from all over the country and abroad. 

Now let's look at it in more detail.

The main attractions are the wineries, and a few public buildings and museums.

Go next[edit]

Nearby[edit]

• Cricova – A Chişinău suburb close to the city. Famous for its fabulous winery with an underground cellar over 100 km long. An tour, including tasting the dishes in its restaurant, plus wine souvenir will cost you 500 lei. Tours must be booked before arriving. Tours booked on the same day as the tour do not include tasting of wine or food.
• Ghidighici – A lake and Chişinău suburb close to the city in its northern part. It is 9 km. in length and at about 1 km. in width. Ghidighici is also, called as "Chişinău sea". There are many resorts and recreation facilities along its shores. 
• Orheiul Vechi – One of the most visited sites outside of Chisinau and a one-hour bus ride from the capital. It features a nature reserve, monasteries, museums, and archaeological sites.
• Mileștii Mici – With over 200 km of underground roadways, Milestii Mici is registered in the Guinness World Records as the biggest wine collection in the world. It may be easier to book a tour through a travel agency as one must provide a car for the tour. Website, phone: +373 22 382 333.
• Chișinău (Kishinyov) - capital - an administrative municipality. A nice city  to walk around.
• Bălți (Bieltsy) -  pedestrian zone around the central square and old part of the city.
• Soroca - called the "Romani (Gypsy) capital of Moldova." The hill on the west side of town has numerous ornately decorated Roma houses. 
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• The city also boasts the Soroca fort built by Stefan cel Mare in 1499. It was an important link in the chain of fortifications which today are located in Moldova and Ukraine along the Nistru river. Hours can be sporadic especially in the winter.
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  Inside Soroca Fort, Moldova.
  
  
  
• Soroco Fort, Moldova. the original was one of a series built by Peter the fourth, son of Stephen the Great whose statue is in the capital. The original wooden fort was replaced by a stone fortress. The circular shape is for better defence.
•  On the road into town, 5km (3 miles) to the south of Soroca there is a Monument called “The Candle of Gratitude”. reach the 29.5m (98 feet) summit by walking up the 600 stairs.
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• Tiraspol - Moldova's second largest city has a number of museums and a nice park along the Nistru river. Tiraspol is the capital of the region of Pridnestrovie.
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• Ungheni is also one of the most beautiful cities .
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• The Jewish history is interesting but grim. Two major pogroms. At one time in the capital before WW2 as much as 60% of its population was Jewish, decimated in WW2. A few Jews remain and there is a synagogue.
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• The country is poor. Its top three exports include seeds and wine.
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  Wine cellar, Moldova.
  
  

Useful websites

Wine Castle, wine factory, Mimi, Moldova.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldova

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Moldova

The capital

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi%C8%99in%C4%83u

Pronunciation of the name of the capital

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ro-Chi%C8%99in%C4%83u.ogg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldovan_wine

Singapore supplier of Moldovan wine

https://www.facebook.com/wineoclockasia/

Stunning picture and story of the wine cellars, state owned, visited by Merkel and Biden. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimdobson/2020/02/26/inside-vladimir-putins-outrageous-underground-wine-cellar-in-moldova/?sh=4bdc984b5e1d

http://moldovawine.co.uk/

The cheapest red wine is 13 pounds sterling. Rose wine at 15 pounds. White sparkling 22 pounds sterling. They are in Guildford.

Wonderful Waddesdon, once home of the wealthy Rothschilds, now a National Trust property

I was at Waddesdon. The first thing to note about this place is the correct spelling if you are looking it up. Not stone not ston but don.

William Brougham suggested the caption: 'The future's bright; The future's orange.' That was the slogan of orange mobile phones from 1994.

Another suggestion was Angel from heaven, (title of a song)

Is it worthwhile visiting only the grounds and not the house? You need a timed ticket to enter the building (to prevent overcrowding during Covid. 

Stairs

Unfortunately the buildings's architects had not thought of two staircases everywhere to create a one-way system. If you want to go from the ground floor up to the top floor with bedrooms and bathroom and treasures, and down to the wine cellar, you might want to hold onto the rope hand rails so you could wear disposable or washable gloves and carry hand sanitiser. 

Toilets

To get to the toilets from the main building you go down flights of stairs. However, the toilets are accessible from the outside of the building on the ground floor outdoor through a short curved tunnel, which is handy for those who don't like stairs, or if you are outside the buildings.

The shop

The shop has lots of items, books and postcards of the house exterior, aerial shots, and paintings. Also books by a member of the family, fact and fiction, softback and paperback signed by the author and unsigned.

Getting There 

 I was lucky enough to be given a place on a trip to Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire on a coach tour organized by a group of which I am not a member. My friend was going. I expressed interest. She phoned the organizer the night before and found they had a cancellation and would be glad to take my money so they could refund the person who had cancelled. Win-win all round. 

The next generation may have inherited the wealth as well as the organizational ability of this family, but you have to admire their enterprise. I have trouble dealing with a small detail like fixing a lock or garden on an already built house. These people looked at a piece of land, decided I want a house here, in such and such a design, to house my paintings, and so on. One of the family bequeathed the house the family built, the treasures they collected, and the land with all the trees and plants they planted, to the National Trust. One of the inside rooms shows what they did for Israel, building the parliament building, a poly-uni, a home for the war wounded and a home for the blind.

The Ground Floor

Downstairs to the Wine Cellars

See the wine bottle label commissioned from famous artists. Chairs have wine scenes on the upholstery.

Upstairs

Bedrooms. The tallest bed you have ever seen. A bathroom. Toilets are covered. Because children of tourist day visitors kept lifting up the toilet lids to let them slam down.

Lunch

Outdoors. Kiosk in the courtyard sold for just under five pounds a brown or back bread bun with a filling of avocado and egg and green salad. Healthy looking and filling. 

My friend bought one of the fruit-flavoured bottles of drink. Elderflower and something. They took credit cards and no cash.

We played musical chairs with tables in the sun and shade and other lurking ladies who lunched.

The shop

I bought a glittery lanyard. I saw lots of honey costing less than five pounds. 

I was tempted to buy water colour pens - a suitable item to sell to visitors inspired by a house full of paintings. The friend I was travelling with had a sketchbook and pencil and drew trees and a doorway and elephant sculptures. I consoled myself by suggesting, "One can always take a photo and paint from it later".

She replied, 'That is not the same. It is an unedited scene, which everybody sees. I like to draw what my eye selects, at the time."

When we arrived, I thought the time allowed, from about 11.30 to 4.30, was too long. 

When we were there in August the rose garden had been converted into late flowering gladioli. Instead we walked back to the house to find the toilets before boarding the bus which we reached in good time. We did not have time to see the converted rose garden.

Gustave Moreau Exhibition

I should mention the Gustave Moreau Exhibition which is on this summer. Vivid, weird, colourful paintings of oversize men with horse's hooves and women with wings. Myths and symbols. Not my taste. Pictures and a short video. Must book, with timed entry to prevent overcrowding. 

As Samuel Johnson, who wrote the dictionary, and travelled with biographer Boswell, so succinctly put it, 'worth seeing but not worth going to see'. I was glad to glimpse the exhibition so as not to waste any more time or money on seeing it again. In addition, the disturbing sight of the scenes of people perched in odd poses left me uneasy that the painter's sitters would have back problems. The contrast with what I saw elsewhere in the building before and after made me appreciate the other restful realistic paintings in the house, of real people, demure, charming, children, morose millionaires perhaps worrying about their money, and wise women standing straight upright.

Waddesdon Manor

Aylesbury

Buckinghamshire

England

UK

Useful Websites

https://waddesdon.org.uk/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waddesdon_Manor

https://www.facebook.com/WaddesdonManor/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Moreau

Must see video

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/waddesdon-manor/features/summer-in-the-garden-at-waddesdon#

How many gardeners and plants. What is unique about Waddesdon?

Creating a picture from a photo using bedding plants.