How about expectations, when your tour leader explains in advance, that you are about to head for the least visited region in the least visited country in Europe?
Well – I guess, there are really none … and probably that’s not a bad thing.

Comrat is the capital of the autonomous region of Gagauzia in Moldova. Gagauzia is different from the rest of Moldova with the majority of the population being of Turkish descent.
Today Gagauzia is a territory of Moldova, however with a special legal status and autonomy in certain areas. Official languages include Romanian, Gagauz (a sort of dialect of the Turkish language) and Russian and letters remain Cyrillic (as opposed to the rest of Moldova with the exception of Transnistria). People here also still today have a more pro-USSR / pro-Russia view than in the rest of the country (again minus Transnistria).

This all becomes obvious in a subtle way while walking through the center of Comrat. We started that walk with a stop at the Great Patriotic War Memorial to see the statue to the heroes of the war (which in other parts of the country would simply be a memorial to the victims of world war two). From here we made it via the cemetery to the main street – and to the first statue of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov aka. Vladimir Lenin for this trip (with more to come).

We continued to the main square and after a quick look into the St. John the Baptist Cathedral, we got to know another Moldovan institution – Andy’s Pizza.
Andy’s Pizza is a Moldovan restaurant chain with outlets all over the country. Food is – as the name suggests – mostly pizza and Italian-style, with the one or other odd Moldovan dish mixed in. I usually avoid chain restaurants, but this one is just great with a good menu, quick service and consistent food – plus it is not as heavy as most other places (depending on the pick of course) and avoiding the meat is no big deal here – a clear winner. Needless to say, that Lenin would have loved this place (after a bit of redecoration though). 😉