Wanderings: The regional express to Iaşi

March 21, 2026

We had a good chat with Lucas, the Greek barista (1) at a breakfast place in Suceava. He was very enthusiastic about coffee, bringing out multiple espressos for my friend to try with different tasting notes that he makes each morning (2). Dropping the car, we hopped on the train to Iaşi (pronounced "yaash"), the Moldavian capital.

Like Budapest, much of Iaşi was built in the late 1800s/early 1900s, with a grand boulevard, public parks and intentional lines of sight. The Moldavian National Theater, Concert Hall, and Orthodox Cathedral (3) (4) anchored a park bisecting the pedestrian boulevard leading to the Palace of Culture.

Tonight's entertainment was a Romanian pop band from the 2000-aughts. The band is named 3 Sud Est because the three singers were from Galaţi in southeast Romania. Even though they sang and talked solely in Romanian, we were able to figure out the concerts flow by watching the audience reaction. They started with familiar fast songs, then a few slower songs, then some of the bands bigger hits. As usual, the band pretended to end the night, but the house lights did not come up, and the audience shouted what I presume meant something like "one more song." As planned, the band obliged (5).

(1) His wife is from Romania. Having worked in the tourist trade in Greece, he was happy to be practicing English again.

(2) My friend likes milk in her coffee. "I don't judge," Lucas said.

(3) While part of Romania, Moldavia (a) sees itself as a nation within a nation.

(a) Not to be confused with Moldova, an independent country formerly part of the Soviet Union, about 10 miles east.

(4) Both the Theater and concert hall, while hosting performances last night, were dark on this Saturday.

(5) A young woman (probably mid teens) sitting next to us asked in hesitant English if we enjoyed the show. We had, and she replied (as only a young person could) "They are a very old band."

Officially, Suceava train station is in Burdujeni

Arrival at Iaşi

You can buy Spinoza in a book vending machine at the railway station

A biography of Queen Marie (a granddaughter of Victoria, who convinced the Allies to give Transylvania to Romania) is also on offer.

Iaşi Railway station

Walking in Iaşi

Moldavian National Theater

"Sorrow" sculpture in front of the National Theater

The Orthodox Cathedral

Mănăstirea Sfinții Trei Ierarhi (Monastery of the Three Hierarchs)

Detail of the Monastery exterior; each flower design around the base of the building was unique.

Biserica Sfântul Nicolae Domnesc (Saint Nicholas Princely Church). The Princes of Moldavia where crowned here since the 1400s, although the Church itself was completely rebuilt at the turn of the 20th century.

Glagolithic script from the original Church building. Glagolithic was created by Cyril and Methodius to enable to reading of high Church Slavonic. Clement of Ohrid simplified it to the Cyrillic alphabet used today in many Slavic-speaking nations.

The Angel Gabriel to the right of the altar.

By the time the church was rebuilt in the late 1900s, Romania had reverted to the Latin Alphabet, more consistent with a Latin-based language like Romanian.