Our
estate is
on the outskirts of a typical village with a very soviet name Krasnaya
Besarabka (eng. Red Besarabka) in
a hilly part of Transdniestr, which is the east part of Moldova with large
Russian and Ukrainian population.
The nearest villages in Trandnister
part are Karmanovo (11 km) and Kolosovo (6 km). 
Besarabka
makes part of Grigoropol district and it is 40 km far from the town Grigoropol
and 80 km far from the capital of Moldova, Chisinau.
We are a family household. Our family consists of my cousin Lena, her husband Alyosha, their kid Ilyusha, their father, who is also, Alyosha (known by every one else as "the aborigen of Besarabka Uncle Lyosha") and me.
What should I tell about each member part of Lena's house?
Lena
is the lovely hostess of this house. She combine very succesfully her
duties of loving and careful wife and mommy, of good and hospitable mistress
of the house, of planner and organiser of houshold processes. She is the
cook. She takes care of the animals and milk the goats and the cows. She
is controlling the land planting and cultivating. Lena speaks basic English
and good Russian.
Her husband Alyosha is a very busy man. Most of his time he is on the markets selling honey, fruits and vegetables grown at their small farm. He is also the chief driver and technician here. The property included two hectares (4 acres) of fruit trees, vegetables, and 100 bee hives. The fertility of our soil and the amount of sun makes it all grow fast, thus requiring a lot of work.
Their
child Ilyusha is a very sweet 4 years old boy. He likes animals and here
in Besarabka he has many animal-friends close at hand. His closest friends
are the two cats 'Lyusya' and 'Murka'. They are already used with his
tight hugs. The goat 'Nochka' (Night) doesn't gutt him and he feeds her
regurely to have some fresh and health-giving milk.
Another
big passion of his is cars and electronics. Please, hide your cell phone
or your laptop far from this young "hacker", when guesting at
us, otherwise you will be tired of his prayers and cunning persuasion
"to let him play a little". Or, do it if you want to play for
a while with him. He is very quite, attentive and obedient in such important
moments of his life :)
Uncle
Lyosha is the GUARDIAN and the MASTER of the bees. He knows many secrets
of the bees and may talk hours long about the family's structure, hierarchy,
roles and duties of each member, their habbits, needs. He is for more
than 30 years in beekiping and for a long time during the Soviet period
roamed all around Moldova with his bee-caravan. He found this place the
best of all he has ever seen and settled down in Besarabka. He instructs
and teaches the younger generation and help us to understand wiser the
life around.
Other
inhabitants of this house are: two cows
Kristina and Malyshka, the she-goat Nochka, couple of dirty rosy-cheeked
piglets, some downy soft rabbits, nutrias that lives in wild, several
obedient chickens and a scrapper rooster. Two dogs Sonya and Bim. Bim
is a very tipical name for a dog in Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia and Moldova.
Soviet cinema has an epochal movie "Belyi Bim chernoye uho"
(White Bim black year) with a very clever devoted dog "Bim"
in the main role. It's a sad story about dog's devotion to his man-friend.
We grow maize, soy, potatos, tomatos, cucumbers, aubergines, peppers, beets, carrots, radish, water melons, melons. We have a small vineyard and a fruit garden with apple-trees, cherry-trees, pear-trees, apricot-trees, plums, walnut-trees. We collect medicinal herbs and berries, and make our own wine.
Living
and working with us is an excellent opportunity to see this part of the
world, meet simple friendly people, learn Russian and Romanian (Our approach
may include such tough methods as placing you in a situation when you
totally depend on people who speak NOT A WORD OF ENGLISH) and pick up
some fun skills like milking cows.
Other skills that may be useful
on an isolatet island or a place like this:
~ Making cheese ~ Cooking ~ Animal care ~ Bee keeping ~ Wine-making, including
honey-wine and fruit-wine making ~ Fruit processing, making jams and other
preserves ~ etc.
Accommodation :
we
have a big house with 4 separate rooms available for our guests. May accommodate
freely up to 6 persons at the same time. Parents can bring children with
them.
In the summer time it is warm enough outside to camp in the field, under the unadulterated boundless starry sky.
Marisha's dacha in
Krasnaya Besarabka is under construction now
and will be available for rent beginning with the summer 2006.
Our farm is opened to guests and volunteers all the year around.
Not recommended for highly allergic persons. Also temperatures may get pretty high in the summer.
Suggested contributions:
15 EURO a day for basic accommodation and healthy country food.
Volunteering and helping us with works on our farm are more than welcomed.
Access :
Make it on your own from the Chisinau Central Bus station by regular minibus to Karmanovo village. Minibus departures everyday at 12 a.m. Tickets should be booked at least 4 hours in advance, but safer a day before. Price of the ticket is about 2 EURO. Arrives at Karmanovo (last station) at about 2 p.m.
From here picked up by someone of us and guided to Besarabka eather by car or on feet. Please, email me beforehand to arrange your lift at Karmanovo.
Accompanied by Marisha from Chisinau to Besarabka eather by bus or by car.
IMPORTANT !!! YOU NEED AN INVITATION TO STAY IN TRANSDNIESTR FOR MORE THAN 10 HOURS. PLEASE, EMAIL US YOUR DETAILS AND WE'LL GET YOU ONE
Other activities which may be of interest:
- Tours of Transdniestr
- Visits to wine and brandy producers from Transdniestr. Tour at Kvint
brandy factory
- Trips to places of historic interest
from Transdniestr, eg Tiraspol and Tighina cities, Noul Neamt monastery,
Tighina fortresses, etc.
- Visits to orphanages from Transdniestr
- Canoe rides down to the Dniestr river
- Boat cruises down to the Dniestr river
- Exploration of the Russian
countryside and trips between Moscow and St. Petersburg via small towns
and villages. Horseback riding near Staritsa, rafting, and hiking.
Karmanova, Kolosova and Glinoe (Glinoye) villages had a big German population since 18th century. Some of the German-named towns located in the area:
Gluckstal, Berdorf,
Neu-Bergdorf,
Neudorf,
and Neu-Glickstahl.
Each village had only Catholic or
Evangalish (Lutheran) residence. You would never find a village with both
Catholic and Evangalish living together. Many of German families left
the region at the biginning of the World War II, others were exiled by
Stalin in Siberia after the War.
WE CAN ASSIST YOU FINDING YOUR ROOTS IN ANY OF THESE EX GERMAN COLONIES
Thousands of Germans from Russia forced to flee their homes during WWII. Many who left Europe for the US, a lot of them relocating in North Dakota. One of our guest was one of them. He and his daughter stayed with Lena October 2006 visiting the hometown of Neudorf, now called Karmanova. More photos
Memorial to German settlers who founded Gluckstal colonies in the area in 1804-1810
"My wife and I are just beginning to think about the feasibility of traveling to Moldova in 2008 when we retire to see the land where her mother came from.
Her mother emigrated to Canada in about 1926 from some small Swabian communities in Bessarabia. Members of her family lived in Alt-Posstal (Malojaroslave- Wtoroj 2), Kulm (Podgornoe), Koletschowka (Colobynth), and Kurudschika (Guensburgdorf).
. Do any of these towns still exist? "