We were leaving Tulcea in the morning on a private van and made our way up to Galaţi. Here we took a ferry, to cross the Danube – and after a stop at a well equipped service station (with a chance to change some last Romanian Leu into ice cream and coffee) we continued towards the border – first leaving Romania (and as such the European Union) and then entering Moldova – – all in all a very straightforward affair.

We were now heading North along the Pruth river for the town of Văleni. Here we made it to a local restaurant, where we were already awaited by our hosts. We were first shown around the small museum, after which lunch was served – and our hosts started their performance of traditional music.

As we had to learn, we were actually looking at a star here … the grandma performing in front of us actually had been part of the Moldovan presentation at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest – “Boonika Bate Doba” (“Grandmamma Beats the Drum”) and now she and her husband were beating the drums for us.