As Bukovina was once a single territory and much later ended up divided into two, one in Ukraine and the other in Romania, the Romanian-speaking Moldavia became separated into two parts as well – the Romanian Moldavia and the former Soviet state and now the independent Republic of Moldova.
Crossing the Prut River from Romania to Moldova, you enter the historical region of Bessarabia, now Moldova and Transniester.
A long day riding rolling landscape, with continuous spiky climbs 7% to 12%. Only remote villages from the Romanian border to Rîșcani (pronounced Rishan) in the Republic of Moldova, not a single store, a handful of cars and horse-drawn carriages, and scarcely anyone on foot anywhere all day otherwise.
Suddenly shiny gold copulas of a brand new Eastern Orthodox monastery of Saint Trinity at Glinjeni appeared like a mirage on the horizon and drew me off the highway. Were it not for two nuns inside the church and four kids kicking a decrepit old soccer ball on an empty dusty street, the sizable village seemed like a ghost town.