Transnistria travel with Anton Dendemarchenko

вторник, 20 февраля 2018 г.

Anton Dendemarchenko, Transnistria. Free walking tour and extended tours to the country that doesn't exist.



Anton Dendemarchenko

i do postcards with my drawings and tours
to top attractions and hidden gems of my motherland, 
the country that doesn't exist. 



My country is off beaten path, but it has amazing soviet legacy and southern comfort, delicious wine and tasty cuisine.  I'm not brilliant in promotion, hard to find right words why Transnistria is a must-see. Anyway, if you give me a chance to present you my motherland - city tour or full day - you won't regret this journey. Essentially I am trying to do what I would like to experience myself when I travel abroad, see real life and picturesque landscapes, explore urban gems with a local and meet not a "guide" but a friend. My art and tours is my chance to hit the budget for my own travels with my family, so honestly, if you support me - you support my dream. You won't be meeting a guide, you will be meeting a friend.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g304010-d17528186-Reviews-Anton_Dendemarchenko-Tiraspol_Transnistria.html

Before you mount up and go, read this note in National Geographic that I am very proud of because I am mentioned there :) and read my own note Travel to Transnistria in postcards, Information how to get to Transnistria from Moldova is here. Another proof that Transnistria does exist and I do exist too - my tour pages with reviews and feedback on facebook, instagram and blogspot. My personal pages on instagram, facebookyoutube/youtube and soundcloud.



instagram     Free walking tour      facebook




contacts:

e-mail: totransnistria@gmail.com or 5runnershigh5@gmail.com
skype: dogme_95
phone: cdma (viber whatsapp) +373-778-05004 gsm +373-68247612


















And here is another proof that I exist, this is me, my son Danila and my wife Zlata :)
by Alexander Gavrillov









четверг, 14 сентября 2017 г.

Travel to Transnistria in sketches by Anton Dendemarchenko

Travel to Transnistria in sketches
by Anton Dendemarchenko
 
photo by Saga Minerals

I have planned to write this story for a very long time. Today some peculiar circumstances finally did put an end to procrastination, and so here is a short journey to my homeland through windows of my drawings.
If you've heard of Transnistria or “a country that doesn't exist” ­- that is the exact destination. There are no proper travel guides or route-maps of the land, a guy from Canada once told me about a travel guide to Transnistria that he'd read at the Canadian embassy in Moldova. I bet it was the briefest travel guide in the world, the guideline was actually just “don’t go there”. 
Fact and fiction formed a tangle of rumors with streets full of guerilla warriors carrying Kalashnikovs and cognac rivers winding through green hills and valleys. Let’s start with the facts while we sketchwalk through the streets of Tiraspol. I liked drawing since childhood, finished art school along with high school and tried to make as much time as I could for city sketching, turning my art into postcards, to this day there is a set of postcards, collection of magnets and my own map of Transnistria.

First and foremost, I tell you the name. 99% of natives have never heard the word “Transnistria” at all. At the same time, 99% percent of foreigners don’t know that there is another name of the country, the official Russian name - Pridnestrovie. F.Y.I. The capital city is Tiraspol.


Nobody ruins our Lenin monuments and nobody renames streets. Most of them are named after revolution heroes and leaders. We are on 25th October Street, that is the date of Russian revolution in 1917. By another chronology, it is 7th November. Dom Sovietov is what they call a City Hall. Lenin statue stands here too in all splendor.


The country has three national languages. There are schools and cultural stratum in every language. 25th October Street ends at the National Theatre. I’ve seen Maugham and Moliere on stage.


State UNI. 



Gagarin Boulevard cuts the main street here. Nice place to have a cup of coffee. You may also pour some Kvint cognac in it.


Post-World War II house with a rotunda at Lenin Street and 25th October Street intersection. Resembles Odessa courtyards.


Haunted mansion nipped between high-rises on Sverdlov Street.


Besides Kvint vinery and distillery drinks, there is one more thing you have to try. It is kvas. It is non-alcoholic, it is made of bread and sugar, you will see these yellow kiosks on every other corner, and it perfectly fits for revival after tiring summer stroll. Another thing from Soviet times that we managed to keep authentic. What they sell as kvas in other countries is just a flavored water.



Lenin Street. Remnants of the past.





Banks. We have own currency. It is pridnestrovsky rouble. 
There are paper and plastic roubles.



You can see general Suvorov who is the founder of Tiraspol on the central square and on transnistrean roubles. Only on small denominations, like one, five, ten, twenty-five roubles, that is humiliating, one might say.



Mira Street, “Mir” means “peace”.


Kotovskyi Street. Another revolution hero, known as Bessarabian Robin Hood.


Old fire station.


Buildings and apartments layout usually carry the name of their epoch, if it was a decade of Joseph Stalin reign, then the house is called stalinka, if it was Brezhnev time they call it brejnevka, there are also khrushchevkas and perestroika times houses. 







The country has everything that any other country has, own government, money, institutions, army, newspapers, car registration numbers and three TV channels. I mean everything. Even passports. But the passport is only used for identification within the borders, you can go nowhere, the country and its ID are not recognized. 



Thanks to peace treaty and peacekeepers, the clime is tranquil. People are polite and friendly unless genuinely surprised by the appearance of a traveler in these lands. The most popular question sounds like “Why are you here?” with “How did get this far?”


Authentic kitchen and the same pizza and fornetti with coca cola as everywhere, that's what you meet in local cafes and pubs. Only McDonalds didn’t worm its way into Transnistria.


A la Paris.


From river Dniester the name of the country descends.


The legend says that Russian tsar banished Alexander Pushkin, his exile location was Bessarabia, and he stayed in Tiraspol also, in this house. I asked the eldest lodger if he knows anything about it, he said there were journalists here in 70ies or something, asked a lot of questions about Pushkin stay in this house, he told them he hasn't met him. 

  
MIG-19, WWII pilots memorial at Balka district, where we live now with my wife and son, and our ginger cat Orange.


Our walk is coming to an end. The point is that I am not giving it all out, better save it for your real life travel. Special sightseeing, lovely kitchen, cultural extravaganza, cats, and more, and more, and more, it's all hidden behind the word Transnistria.

I am running a free tour in Tiraspol now, here are a few words of those who survived. The propaganda is very intense, tittle-tattle is queer, so only a few travelers visit the country. The registration at the border is actually very easy, all you have to do is go out from your bus and say to the nearest custom official that you need to register. So I welcome everyone to the country that doesn’t exist, come and see, and decide if Transnistria deserves to be legitimatized. On October 14th Tiraspol celebrates its 225th anniversary, a huge holiday, don’t miss it!

If you like my art, I’d be grateful if you support my new sketch travels with some funds via PayPal or Mastercard. Send me a message on facebookinstagram or an e-mail to 5runnershigh5@gmail.com and I write you my cash account information. I will send a signed postcard with my sketch to my every supporter. For every donation. It may also a birthday or wedding greeting card from the country that doesn’t exist, you may surprise your friend with, I will write their names on the postcard J Thumbs up for sharing this article with your friends and travelers!
Truly yours,
with a hope for meeting you in nowhereland, comrades,

Anton Dendemarchenko








понедельник, 25 июля 2016 г.

Every day is the best day

This is internet den of me, myself and I, an ordinary man from Pridnestrovie. The world knows my motherland as Transnistria, Pridnestrovie is the russian name, F.I.Y. Anyway, big hello to everyone, comrades! 



facebook
Nowhereland

DeviantArt
Time Turner sketchbook
Some TV for descendants, and some more

Big hello to Le Storybook, Andrey Smolensky, Dmitry Gavrilov and Jason Isaacs!


*     *     *


"Burnout" (2015) collects pieces of noise of almost 8 years period, available in Tiraspol Central Bookstore. It is very lo-fi, very strange, and yeah, must have :)






*     *     *

Pridnestrovie is always open to all types of music, if your band is ready to travel to nowhereland with a live tour, contact dvorec.pmr@gmail.com (373) 533-77322

*     *     *



     I've got this crazy idea to exchange pictures with artists from different countries. So my flat would be full of drawings on the walls, maybe only graphic sketches or watercolor cityscapes, but real, stylish, from Paris, Rome, London, Prague and elsewhere, whoever answers my request. Any place may fit, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I will send my Transnistria drawings in return. Let's use post mail, no need to send a wooden frame, only the sketch between two cartons in an envelope. Size A5, A6, A4. Besides drawings we may exchange some souvenirs like friendship bracelets or authentic amulets, cute handmades, local coins, post stamps, writings or anything.
Sketch exchange  on facebook.com
Sketch exchange on couchsurfing.org

Before I've got enough frames for all wonders of the world, here they are, postcards and a drawing from Полина Пастухова from Ekaterinburg. The stone is jasper, it's authentic for Ural.



Maltese treasures from Fiona Halliday






*     *     *



2016 postcards :: Pridnestrovie sketching

I turned some works from my sketchbook into postcards. There is a set of 12 postcards though there are more than 100 other postcards that may form a personal set:)


























*     *     *

  Now all these jobs are magnets too. And I've made a map also. 











*     *     *

Dendemarchenko - Transnistria (video footage)


*     *     *


...yields of Tiraspol streets walk...




































*     *     *


Santina

     There is one more thing I’d love to tell, well it’s all about a book. It is not actually mine, but I would call it a family treasure. It is an Italian fairy tale about a girl by the name Santina and her fortune. The story was retold to Russian in verses so now it is a poem. Like all fairy tales it resonates through hearts of little ones and their parents, has a space for tears and laughter and would be notably appealing and inspiring for girls about 7-12 years old. The book has beautiful illustrations, a small edition was actually published, A4 size, 48 pages. If you know any Casa editrice that might be interested in searching for new diamonds, let me know. But you can also listen to an audio play, just sit back and take a trip with Santina.





last photo taken from Le Storybook