Blog home
Living Abroad
Living abroad tips

8 things you didn’t know about Moldova

8 min read
Calculator placeholder

Send from

Enter the country or currency you want to send money from.

Popular

All countries

EUR Austria
EUR Belgium
EUR Croatia
EUR Cyprus
CZK Czech Republic
EUR Czech Republic
DKK Denmark
EUR Denmark
EUR Estonia
EUR Finland
EUR France
EUR Germany
EUR Greece
HUF Hungary
EUR Hungary
ISK Iceland
EUR Iceland
EUR Ireland
EUR Italy
EUR Latvia
EUR Liechtenstein
EUR Lithuania
EUR Luxembourg
EUR Malta
EUR Monaco
EUR Netherlands
NOK Norway
EUR Norway
PLN Poland
EUR Poland
EUR Portugal
RON Romania
EUR Romania
EUR San Marino
EUR Slovakia
EUR Slovenia
EUR Spain
SEK Sweden
EUR Sweden
GBP United Kingdom
EUR United Kingdom
TRY Turkey

Exchange Rate

– – –

GBP 1 = NGN 2030.28232

Transfer Fee

Free – – – 0.99 0.99 USD

Receiver gets

Enter the country or currency you want to receive money in.

Popular

All countries

EUR Andorra
AED United Arab Emirates
XCD Anguilla
ALL Albania
AMD Armenia
EUR Armenia
USD Armenia
AOA Angola
EUR Austria
AUD Australia
AWG Aruba
AZN Azerbaijan
EUR Azerbaijan
USD Azerbaijan
BBD Barbados
BDT Bangladesh
EUR Belgium
XOF Burkina Faso
BGN Bulgaria
EUR Bulgaria
BHD Bahrain
USD Bahrain
BMD Bermuda
BND Brunei Darussalam
BOB Bolivia
BSD Bahamas
BTN Bhutan
BWP Botswana
BZD Belize
CAD Canada
CHF Switzerland
EUR Switzerland
NZD Cook Islands
CLP Chile
XAF Cameroon
USD China
COP Colombia
CRC Costa Rica
ANG Curaçao
EUR Cyprus
CZK Czech Republic
EUR Czech Republic
EUR Germany
DJF Djibouti
DKK Denmark
EUR Denmark
XCD Dominica
DOP Dominican Republic
DZD Algeria
USD Ecuador
EUR Estonia
EGP Egypt
EUR Spain
ETB Ethiopia
EUR Finland
FJD Fiji
USD Micronesia
EUR France
XAF Gabon
EUR United Kingdom
GBP United Kingdom
XCD Grenada
GEL Georgia
EUR Georgia
USD Georgia
GHS Ghana
GIP Gibraltar
GMD Gambia
XAF Equatorial Guinea
EUR Greece
USD Guam
GYD Guyana
HKD Hong Kong
USD Hong Kong
HNL Honduras
EUR Croatia
EUR Hungary
HUF Hungary
IDR Indonesia
EUR Ireland
ILS Israel
INR India
USD India
EUR Iceland
EUR Italy
JMD Jamaica
JPY Japan
USD Japan
KES Kenya
USD Kenya
KGS Kyrgyzstan
EUR Kyrgyzstan
USD Kyrgyzstan
KHR Cambodia
AUD Kiribati
KMF Comoros
XCD Saint Kitts and Nevis
KWD Kuwait
USD Kuwait
KYD Cayman Islands
KZT Kazakhstan
EUR Kazakhstan
USD Kazakhstan
XCD Saint Lucia
EUR Liechtenstein
LKR Sri Lanka
LSL Lesotho
EUR Lithuania
EUR Luxembourg
EUR Latvia
MAD Morocco
EUR Monaco
EUR Moldova
MDL Moldova
USD Moldova
MGA Madagascar
MKD Macedonia
MNT Mongolia
EUR Martinique
MRU Mauritania
EUR Malta
MUR Mauritius
MVR Maldives
MWK Malawi
MXN Mexico
MYR Malaysia
MZN Mozambique
NAD Namibia
XOF Niger
NGN Nigeria
EUR Netherlands
EUR Norway
NOK Norway
NPR Nepal
NZD New Zealand
USD New Zealand
OMR Oman
USD Oman
USD Panama
PEN Peru
PGK Papua New Guinea
PHP Philippines
PKR Pakistan
PLN Poland
EUR Poland
USD Puerto Rico
EUR Portugal
PYG Paraguay
QAR Qatar
USD Qatar
EUR Reunion
EUR Romania
RON Romania
RWF Rwanda
SAR Saudi Arabia
USD Saudi Arabia
SBD Solomon Islands
SCR Seychelles
EUR Sweden
SEK Sweden
SGD Singapore
USD Singapore
EUR Slovenia
EUR Slovakia
EUR San Marino
XOF Senegal
SRD Suriname
USD El Salvador
SZL Eswatini
XAF Chad
XOF Togo
THB Thailand
USD Thailand
TJS Tajikistan
EUR Tajikistan
USD Tajikistan
USD Timor-Leste
TMT Turkmenistan
TOP Tonga
TRY Turkey
USD Turkey
TTD Trinidad and Tobago
TZS Tanzania
EUR Ukraine
UAH Ukraine
USD Ukraine
UGX Uganda
USD United States of America
UYU Uruguay
UZS Uzbekistan
EUR Uzbekistan
USD Uzbekistan
EUR Vatican City
XCD Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
USD Virgin Islands, British
VND Vietnam
VUV Vanuatu
WST Samoa
EUR Kosovo
ZAR South Africa
ZMW Zambia
This amount placeholder is shown due to an error in the calculator.
Sign up
Sign up to create an account and proceed in a new tab.

Delivered in minutes

Here at TransferGo, we’ve been busy. We’ve recently launched and enabled fast transfers to a wide range of new destinations. And one of these places is—you guessed it—Moldova. It got us thinking. How much do we know about Moldova?

Well, the close relationship this small Eastern European has with its neighbour Romania, its stunning countryside and the glorious wine (more on that in a minute) are just some of the things we know about Moldova. But, on the whole, it does keep a low profile. And a lot of people in Western Europe and the wider world know very little about this beautiful gem of a country. 

This is precisely why we’re revealing a few fascinating things you might not have known about Moldova. Here goes.

Moldova is a relatively new country

Moldova declared independence in 1991 and is a parliamentary republic. But, before that, it existed under a different name and as part of other things.

Known as Bessarabia, Moldova was part of the Romanian principality of Moldavia until 1812 and bounced between Russian and Romanian control for a while. After World War II, Moldova became part of the USSR, before eventually gaining its independence—and its name— in 1991, and subsequently joining the UN in 1992. 

Being bilingual (or even trilingual) is quite normal in Moldova

While Romanian is the official language of Moldova, many Moldovans also speak Gagauz and/or Russian—with some even speaking all three. Gagauz is a Turkic language that’s also spoken in parts of southern Ukraine, southern Russia and Turkey. But, despite there being over 126,000 Gagauz people living in Moldova alone (according to this study), their language is in danger of extinction. 

And the Moldovan people haven’t just had three languages to deal with, but also two alphabets—since the Soviets converted Moldovan Romanian to the Cyrillic alphabet in 1939. 50 years later, the Moldovan government changed it back to the Latin alphabet. And it’s still used today. 

The capital of Moldova is Chișinău, which

…was destroyed in 1940

Three things happened to cause something of the destruction of Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, in 1940 and 1941. First, the Red Army invaded in June 1940. Then, just four months later, Chisinau fell victim to an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale. In 1941, the Luftwaffe attacked the capital, bombing and destroying the little that remained. 

…isn’t pronounced how many of us thought

You wouldn’t be alone in thinking that Chisinau is pronounced like… the chi in ‘chisel’ + the zi in ‘Zimbabwe’ + the ‘ou’ of ‘ouch’ (what Brits say when they hurt themselves). But it’s actually pronounced ‘ki-shuh-naw’. We need to brush up on our capital cities!

Moldova is… possibly the wine expert of the world

Step aside, Tuscany. On your bike, Bordeaux. Sit down, Stellenbosch! There’s a new sommelier in town (in the world), and that’s Moldova. Here’s why. 

Moldova has three famous and historical wine-producing regions

These are Valul lui Traian, Codru and Stefan Voda. The wine produced in these regions is given the stamp of Protected Geographical Indications (PGI), meaning that ‘the product’s given quality, reputation or other characteristics must be attributable to this area and at least one of the production steps must take place in the defined area.’, according to the Food Standards Agency.

Moldova is home to the world’s largest wine cellar

The Mileștii Mici cellar in Moldova is said to be the world’s largest wine cellar. With almost two million bottles inside, we can kinda see why. The most expensive wine bottles in this cellar go for roughly €480 a pop. 

Moldova has a whole day (and more) dedicated to wine

National Wine Day (Ziua Naţională a Vinului) usually falls on a weekend and is often stretched into a week-long event. Each October, wine producers open up their vineyards and cellars to let people see how they make their wines, and they organise tastings, too—many of which are deliciously affordable. A free bus takes you between the wineries because, well, nobody should be driving! 

There’s a bottle-shaped building in Moldova—and it’s the world’s largest

Talk about not doing things by halves. This bottle building houses the Bottle Museum (what else?) and you’ll find it in Tirnauca, near the town of Tiraspol in southeastern Moldova. 

But, sadly, not everyone appreciates fine wine…

Moldovan wine is banned in Russia

The two countries had something of a diplomatic “falling out” in 2006, resulting in Russia banning both Moldovan and Georgian wine. This was terrible for the Moldovan economy. Why? Apparently, Russia imported almost 90% of all Moldovan wine.

Moldova had no president for almost 3 years

In 2012, judge Nicolae Timofti was voted in as the president of Moldova—after 917 days without one! This was because of some complex election results and the formation of a coalition opposition government that boycotted the first round of elections. Some violent protests ensued, and some other troubling stuff went down. Timofti’s appointment brought some stability back, and he presided until the end of 2016. 

Moldova is the least visited country in Europe

And we’re asking ourselves why. After all, a few Transfernauts (who are either Moldovan or have travelled around the region) say it’s stunning. It’s certainly on our bucket list for post-Covid culture. 

But, weirdly, it looks like in previous years very few people have shown an interest. Apparently, in 2016, only 121,000 foreigners entered the country. Based on the number of visitors per resident of the country, only Bangladesh and Guinea had fewer than Moldova. This is according to Priceonomics.

The national animal of Moldova is an auroch

Don’t worry—we didn’t know what it was, either. An auroch is—or shall we say, was—a giant cow. Sadly, aurochs became extinct. But not before their beauty had been captured by Moldovans. They later depicted their glorious head on a shield in the middle of the Moldovan national flag.

But Moldova also loves sheep

Moldova has kind of “adopted” a traditional Romanian ballad about sheep—and printed the first two verses on its banknotes. The ballad is called Miorița. It’s a famous pastoral piece of literature, in which a magical sheep tells its Moldavian shepherd that two other shepherds the guy’s been hanging out with—a Hungarian and a Vrâncean—want to murder him. Yikes. Or rather, baaa.

______________

Do you have some fun facts of your own about Moldova? Share them with us on Instagram. We’ll reshare our favourites! Don’t forget to tag us at @transfergo.

And if you want to send money, sign up now for easy online money transfers with TransferGo.

About the author

jennifertate

Jennifer Tate

Jennifer Tate is a freelance copywriter and content manager based in Newcastle upon Tyne with over 15 years of experience in creating SEO copy and content for both leading brands and independent start-ups. Working across a variety of sectors from fintech to fashion and healthcare to homeware, Jennifer specialises in content creation, content management and social media strategies and has worked with TransferGo since 2017. As well as TransferGo, Jennifer has also recently created copy and content for Charlotte Tilbury, carecircle, Tommee Tippee and Robinson Pelham.

Invite friends to TransferGo, earn £20