For the most part, Europe’s overnight trains are praised for their comfort and efficiency. But I wasn’t in France, I was in Moldova, taking a refurbished Soviet-era night train from Chisinau to Bucharest.
The best way for me to describe this train would be “19th century steamship.” You make your own bed, the cots are bunk-style (without railings) and made of foam and diner booth plastic, and there’s a canteen car that serves Eastern European classics like Borscht, sour cabbage, hunter’s sausage, and of course, vodka.
It definitely wasn’t the most comfortable train experience I’ve had, especially because the whole car had to be lifted off it’s tracks in the middle of the night so that the railroad workers could change the wheels, but it sure was memorable.
The best way for me to describe this train would be “19th century steamship.” You make your own bed, the cots are bunk-style (without railings) and made of foam and diner booth plastic, and there’s a canteen car that serves Eastern European classics like Borscht, sour cabbage, hunter’s sausage, and of course, vodka.
It definitely wasn’t the most comfortable train experience I’ve had, especially because the whole car had to be lifted off it’s tracks in the middle of the night so that the railroad workers could change the wheels, but it sure was memorable.