it's way past time...

...to consider Moldova.


The country has a rich history. Language and ethnic differences -- Romanian, Ukrainian, others -- weave a complex human texture. In the past two decades, strife and conflict have unsettled the nation.  Dire economic factors add to the stress.


This is a map:

This is a scene:

This is currency:

This is a stamp:

Speaking of grapes, Wikipedia has this to say:

Moldova consumes the highest amount of alcohol per capita in the world.


I would like to visit there or at least float through. To absorb the atmosphere. To drink some of that wine. Think of the wine-brimming conversations! Everybody sociable and smiling, maybe a little dancing. Someone brings up poetry. Recitations of how forlorn it is to be so landlocked. Of how sad and pleasant to sway while dreaming of wine-dark seas beyond the horizon....