On my most recent trip to Moldova, there was a second, lesser-known, region that I wanted to visit as well as its more famous cousin Transnistria. The region I am referring to here is that of Gagauzia, an autonomous region where a Turkic-speaking, orthodox Christian, ethnic minority called the Gagauz primarily live. It is located in southern Moldova and is made up of three main enclaves. They have their own flag, their own language (although most people here do not speak it and instead speak Russian as a default), and their own government. 
The flag of Gagauzia - the three stars representing the three enclaves. 

Gagauzia within Moldova. 
After I returned from Transnistria, my attention turned to visiting this next region, a place I had not heard of just a few months before the trip. I learnt of Gagauzia thanks to NomadMania, a sort of social media website which is used for tracking travels and separates the world into 1301 regions - which is how I found Gagauzia. 
I had a limited time in Moldova to explore the regions I wanted to. Upon arrival in Chisinau from Tiraspol, I was absolutely starving after a disastrous attempt to find a restaurant in the town of Bender, so I went to La Placinte, a chain Romanian/Moldovan traditional restaurant where I dined like a king and ate some fantastic traditional food. 
My delicious Moldovan meal. Think it was veal with buckwheat in a mushroom sauce? 
After scoffing down a succulent Moldovan meal, I once again crammed on one of Chisinau's commuter buses to the airport, feeling even more like a sardine in a can than I did that same morning. As it was winter and the day was slowly coming to an end, I hurriedly picked up my rental car to ensure that I did as little driving in the dark as possible. In front of me was an hour and a half drive to the town of Congaz, a small town in Gagauzia's largest enclave. It was here that I would stay at Gagauz Sofrasi, a fantastic local and traditional hotel, which was themed in traditional Gagauz style. The drive was relatively simple, although it is always a little nerve-wracking when driving on the other side of the road in a country you haven't driven in before. While I had driven on the other side of the road before in other countries, this was my first time doing it truly solo.
Gagauzia - it sounds like something you'd say if you were clearing your throat. But what an incredibly unique part of the world. I arrived after dark, checked into the hotel, bought myself some snacks for the evening before settling down for the night ahead of my final day of adventure. The interior, traditional, wooden decor of the hotel made me feel as if I was staying in a homestay opposed to a hotel. My bathroom was nearly as big, if not bigger, than my room. 
The sign for Gagauz Sofrasi - my hotel in Congaz. Great place. 
I woke up early the next day eager to have a traditional Gagauz breakfast at my hotel but when I went to eat, the place was deserted. Nevertheless, this meant more time on the road, exploring Gagauzia and the rest of southern Moldova. My first stop of the day would be Taraclia, a town that isn't actually in the Gagauz region but is another interesting and unique village, being a Bulgarian majority town here in the heart of Moldova. According to a brief history lesson in Wikipedia, Taraclia's ethnically Bulgarian residents are descendants of Bulgarian immigrants who arrived in Bessarabia after the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-12. I visited a Soviet war memorial to those who died from this town in the Soviet-Afghan War. Not something you see every day. A quick drive into the town centre to meet some Bulgars and practise my Bulgarian (consisting of the sole word for 'thank you = blogadariya') was unfruitful as everything was essentially closed and there was not a soul in sight.  Taraclia - the cyrillic text reads something like 'Centre of Bulgaria in Moldova'
A memorial for workers involved in the Chernobyl disaster from Taraclia. 
I exited the town with the next destination in mind - Vulcanesti - the second largest town of autonomous Gagauzia in the second largest enclave. It was a quiet town and I parked the car had a walk around the centre. Once again I found the town's Afghan War memorial. Interestingly, the town's city hall here still had its Soviet emblem and Lenin statue. Despite being a Turkic people, the Gagauz primarily spoke Russian and I think very few still spoke their Turkish dialect anymore. Once again I tried to find some food without any luck so continued north to Comrat where I planned to visit the Comrat Regional History Museum and grab some food. 

Another Afghan War memorial in Vulcanesti.
The town again was just like any you'd find in Eastern Europe, being winter it was pretty dreary although the church was brightly coloured (normal for Orthodox Christians) but mostly was just local shops selling anything from cigarettes to lawn mowers. I struggled to find the museum at first and I walked into a building and straight into some sort of town hall meeting. I quickly apologised and left before a couple of ladies came out and asked what I was looking for. After they found out I wanted to see the museum they advised it was actually in that building and I was free to come in. I don't know how many, if any, foreign visitors they get but I got what was essentially a private tour of the town's museum. It was interesting to see examples of Gagauz dresses, homes, and the local wildlife and fauna. My guide only spoke Russian and I managed to ask some very basic questions and she managed to explain some bits to me while, although I could not speak Russian much, I managed to understand quite a bit that I remembered from my travels in the past. The guide confirmed to me that most people spoke Russian as opposed to the dialect of Turkish. Interestingly, when I asked if Gagauz people supported independence from Moldova, she said no - the Gagauz people just wanted autonomy but saw themselves equally as Moldovan. 
Lenin still stands tall in front of the Vulcanesti town hall.
From Comrat I decided to head back to Chisinau a little earlier than planned. I ended up getting lost trying to find a parking space for the restaurant I wanted to go to and so just decided to make the slow drive back to Chisinau, where I dropped the rental car off a little early and headed to Chisinau town centre where I found a sports bar, had some lunch, and watched the football before heading back to the airport for my return flight back to the UK. 
Overall, this was a unique trip with some unique places that not many people will ever get to say they've visited. Will I be rushing back? Probably not. There is a reason Moldova is one of the least-visited countries in Europe and while there are certainly things to do - especially if you have interest in wine (there are a few very good wineries I'm told). Unless you have an interest in visiting these places just because they are unique - then you may have found this trip boring. But I certainly found the history of these places quite interesting and unique. Gagauzia is somewhere I had never heard of a few months prior to this trip and just goes to show that Europe is such a diverse continent despite what our pre-conceptions might be. Ethnically, religiously, culturally, linguistically - there's so much to see and explore beyond the borders that make up this continent.