Discover Moldova with #MOLDPRES: Palanca, tourist pearl at country's south-eastern gate

Chisinau, 30 October /MOLDPRES/ - What one can do in a village from Moldova, placed at an edge of the country? Nothing, some people may say. Everything, say the people from Palanca, where the owners of the boarding houses and their employees, bee-keepers, fishers and farmers from the village, can provide hospitability services to tourists, so that their vacation should be really memorable and they should lead a decent living at home.  

Placed on the bank of Dniester, at the border with Ukraine, the Palanca village has a population of almost 2,000 residents. Given that Palanca is only 52 km far from the city port Odessa from Ukraine and just 14 km far from the well-known winery Et Cetera, the attractions worth to be visited from the neighbouring settlements, the good route make the demand for accommodation and leisure services grow much in this area, both on behalf of Moldovans and tourists from abroad.    

Thus, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the government of Switzerland support the development of the local tourism, through the development of three agro-boarding houses, of the Chambers of Honey complex and a business of producing boxthorn seed oil, as well as the arrangement of places of access, halting places and a belvedere of the Dniester river.      

Old House with new investments  

Zaharia and Tatiana Aramă are now the owners of the Old House Boarding House from Palanca, after six years of work on cruise ships abroad and 15 years after the return to Moldova, where they tried their forces in more sectors.  

They say with pride that this is the first business which belongs to them fully, as they invested all savings in it. With the support of the government of Switzerland and UNDP, they will arrange the area where tourists will be able to find food by themselves.   

„It is quite interesting to make tourism at home, but not all easy. We serve our guests with pleasure. We appreciate Moldova and the people who make tourism at home as much as possible,’’ Zaharia Aramă said.   

The Old House boarding house is placed at an edge of the village, providing a spectacular view of Dniester.  

Guests can be accommodated in houses covered with tiles or reed, where they can savour the coolness of clay walls, as well as the soup and other specific for the place. The boarding house for the time being has 12 accommodation places and another four ones are to be set.   

Birds are at home at the Yard of Pigeons  

Victor and Irina Covalenco ruled to leave their work in Italy and to return home. Now they hold the biggest collection of pigeons from Moldova and they called the boarding house which they developed nearby the Dniester river Yard of Pigeons. Victor takes care of 500 pigeons from eight species, with the most capricious being the decorative ones with specific feather and colours. This is a not at all cheap hobby for Victor, but which brings him satisfaction.     

„The nicest, but also the most capricious species multiply with most difficulty. Most often, to save the chicken, I feed them with pipette. My granddaughter asks me if there is my kindergarten there. Any visit to pigeons is just as a therapy session,’’ Victor jokes.     

Due to the support provided by the government of Switzerland and UNDP, Victor built new spaces for birds, as well as a belvedere.    

Victor can endlessly tell stories about the life of these birds, while Irina provides the comfort of the stay of tourists with spacious rooms and tasty dishes.   

Boxthorn seed oil, produced in the eyes of tourists  

After more than six years of work in France, Igor Golban returned home with investments and founded the Biantti company. He produced a wide range of eco products, especially from almonds and white boxthorn, cultivated in Moldova.      

UNDP, with the support of the government of Switzerland, through the Migration and Local Development project, backed the idea of creating a line of eco production and bottling for boxthorn seed oil. Besides, experts of the project encouraged the entrepreneur to enter the local and regional tourist circuit. Tourists now can visit boxthorn plantations and watch the process of oil’s bottling.     

Recreation and sport in open air  

Besides escaping in the quiet and comfort of the boarding houses and the river worth to be admired with birds and other beings, tourists can also fish in Palanca.

Guests can rent bicycles at boarding houses and visit tourist objects from the zone: boarding houses and picturesque places in Tudora, the Fortress from Caplani, the Museum from Talmaza and the wind mill Old Man Tihon from the 19th century. Given that this is an area which is part of the well-known vine-growing and wine-making region Stefan Voda, vineyards can be admired here at sunrises and sunsets.       

Palanca grows in one year just as other villages in seven ones   

In 2019, the Palanca mayoralty, in partnership with the Association of Natives from Palanca, set up with the support of UNDP and the government of Switzerland, ruled to develop and promote the rural tourism as an option for the development of the local economy.

„At a distance of only two years, I cannot believe how much the things have advanced in Palanca. Or, what there were only dreams and plans in 2019, now are fulfilled things, which increase the local economy, create jobs, increase the residents’ incomes. It is extremely important that this fact persuades the Palanca residents who left abroad to return to the village,’’ the head of the Association of Natives from Palanca, Nadejda Vlasiuc, said.     

(According to UNDP Moldova)