Summer Roadtrip Part 2: Romania to Odesa (through Moldova) and Then Home

Day 5 of our roadtrip was all driving.  Google Maps announced a 9-hour trip ahead of us when we set off (amid heart-felt but pitilessly ignored pleas from our children to take the resident dogs along with us), but it ended up taking even longer.  If we thought the roads in Western Ukraine and Northern Moldova were bad, they were nothing compared to those we found in Southern Moldova and Southern Ukraine!  But first, we enjoyed story-book perfect winding roads through Romanian forest.

It was absolutely breath-taking.  We rolled down the windows to let the cool, fresh mountain air wash over us as we sang along to our now-repeating playlist.

At one point, the GPS suggested leaving this beautiful road to cut through a village, allegedly cutting 45 minutes from the trip.  We decided to try it and soon found ourselves at the top of a steep dirt road along a village cemetery.  Luckily, we have 4-wheel drive.  The locals looked at us driving by as if we were aliens.  We drank in the colors and authenticity of the detour.

But then we were crossing into Moldova and the roads got worse.

We opted to skip Transnistria this go around (it would have added time to our already way-too-long drive, and who knows what other inconveniences if they decided to stop us to try to extract bribes), and soon we were at the border crossing to leave Moldova and re-enter Ukraine.  At the border, the guards stopped us and asked, "Are you sure you know where you're going?  Romania is the other direction."  Perhaps that should have been our first clue, but we decidedly did know where we were going (Odesa) and as much as we loved Romania, we couldn't go back.  So they processed us through, shaking their heads in wonder.  And then the roads really disappeared.  There were more holes than asphalt.  At the same time, we were hit by a torrential downpour, so strong it was hard to see out at all and the depths of the potholes were completely masked.  The road was also surprisingly busy so we had to be careful about large trucks suddenly veering wildly to avoid a hole.  The rain was so loud it was hard to hear the audiobook we'd turned on (Boys in the Boat--a great book!).  But My Man is a masterful driver and white-knuckled us through.  As we approached Odesa, the rain cleared and the roads improved and we arrived at our apartment in time to take a walk around the city, which was nice, with lots of parks and monuments.

The next morning, we headed to the beach.  I'd forgotten that it was a Ukrainian holiday, and was a bit overwhelmed by the masses of humanity joining us on our beach adventure.

Still, we found a nice little beach hut right at the water to make a basecamp.  My Man, Young Man, and Darling Daughter read most of the morning, with the waves crashing lightly on the beach right outside their hut.

Funny Guy was interested in some more excitement, however, so we headed out to see what else we could find.  He was not disappointed.  There was a huge inflatable waterslide, so high and fast that it continually launched him several feet in the air!  He loved it.

Too soon, it was time to head back to our apartment for a late lunch, check-out, and the drive home.  The roads home were much better, though there were still some rough patches, and we made the drive in record time, a couple hours to spare before bedtime.  We were glad to get out of the car, but I'm already busy planning our next roadtrip through the Carpathians in Western Ukraine, and maybe another one to Poland.  Even though we spent more than 30 hours in the car over 6 days, it was great, definitely a trip to remember.