Chisinau

Chişinău  also known as Kishinev Russian Кишинёв/Kishinyov), is the capital city and industrial and commercial centre of Moldova. It is also the largest city of Moldova and is located in the centre of the country, on the river. Economically, the city is the most prosperous in Moldova and is one of the main industrial centres and transportation hubs of the region. As the most important city in Moldova, Chişinău has a broad range of educational facilities. Additionally, the city has among the highest proportion of green spaces of any major city in Europe.

Name

According to some historians, the name comes from the old Romanian word chişla ("spring", "source of water"; the word is not used anymore, but was replaced by cişmea, which has the same meaning)and nouă ("new"), because it was built around a small spring. Nowadays, the spring is located at the corner of Pushkin Street and Albişoara Street.

There is another city named Chişineu (alternative spelling: Chişinău) in Western Romania near the border with Hungary, but its relation to Chişinău is highly disputed. Its Hungarian language name is Kisjenő (kis "small" + the eponym "Jenő", the equivalent of the English "Eugene," pronounced yenə), from which the Romanian name originates.

Chişinău is also known in Russian as Кишинёв (Kishinyov), and in Polish as Kiszyniów. It is written Kişinöv in the Latin Gagauz alphabet. During 1940-1941 and 1944-1989, it was also written as Кишинэу in the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet. Historically, the English language name for the city was based on the modified Russian "Kishinev" since it entered the English language via Russian at the time Chişinău was part of the Russian Empire (e.g. Kishinev pogrom). Therefore, it remains a common English name in some historical contexts. Otherwise, however, Romanian-based "Chişinău" has been steadily gaining wider currency, especially in the written language.

Geography

The city is located on the river , a tributary of the Dniester, at 47°0′N, 28°55′E, with an area of 120 km². The whole municipality claims 635 km².

The city lies in the middle of the central area of Moldova.

Geographically convenient in the largely flat Eastern European country, the city is surrounded by a relatively level landscape with very fertile ground, offering the basis for agricultural use, in the cultivation of grapevine and fruit since medieval times.

Transport

Airport

An international airport (Chişinău International Airport) exists, offering connections to a number of major cities, including Athens, Bucharest, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Lisbon, London, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Tel Aviv, Vienna. The airport handled 689.000 passengers in 2007. It has a 3 km long runway (8 and 26).

Climate

Chişinău has a continental climate, characterized by hot dry summers and cold windy winters. Winter temperatures are often below 0°C, although they rarely drop below -10°C. In summer, the average temperature is approximately 25°C, however, temperatures sometimes reach 35-40°C in mid-summer in the city center. Although average precipitation and humidity during summer is low, there are infrequent yet heavy storms. Spring and autumn temperatures vary between 16-24°C, and precipitation during this time tends to be higher than in summer, with more frequent yet milder periods of rain

Bus and minibus

The most popular form of internal transport in Moldova is generally the bus. Bus service in Chişinău can be very inexpensive, ranging from 50 bani to 75 bani. Although the city has just three main terminals, buses generally serve as the means of transport between different cities within and outside of Moldova. Popular destinations include Tiraspol, Odessa (Ukraine) and Bucharest (Romania).

Within Chişinău and its suburbs privately-operated minibuses, known as "maxi-taxis," generally follow the major bus routes and appear more frequently. A ride in a maxi-taxi costs 3 Lei within the city.

Rail

An international railway terminal exists with possible connections to Bucharest, Kiev, Minsk, Odessa and Moscow. Due to the conflict between Moldova and the unrecognized Transnistria republic the rail traffic towards Ukraine is occasionally stopped.