ukraine: khmelnytsky and medzhibizh

My train left kyiv at 2312, and arrived in Khmelnytsky at 0434. Surprisingly, that was 10 minutes late. I'm used to Ukrainian trains always being on time,  even when the distance takes 11-12 hours to cover. 

It was still dark, and I had no desire to walk anywhere at that hour, so I walked into the train station and found the waiting room. There was an entry fee, 8 griven, which is about 30 cents. I don't love entry fees, but that's nothing in the grand scheme of things. Plus, the room was warm and quiet, which I really appreciated at that hour. I stayed in the room for around 3 hours, trying to sleep. 

Unfortunately, there were permanent armrests between all the chairs, so I wasn't able to stretch out much. That being said, it was better than my seat on the train. 

Around 0730, I started walking toward the accommodation I'd booked. It took me longer than the 45 minutes Google said it would take because I kept stopping to take photos. None of the photos were stunning or remarkable, but I thought they represented a normal Ukrainian town. One stretch of the road passed a series of military buildings, though I'm not exactly sure what they were. 

In one park I saw a little lending library. At least, that's what it was supposed to be. But when I peeked in the window, I saw just one book. It wasn't a building, or even a shack; just a structure with a small glass door. 

As I walked along a pedestrian zone, I saw people starting to set up tables and stands to sell stuff. I figured it was just a normal weekend market until I saw a banner that said it was the birthday celebration of the city. 

I arrived at my accommodation, and while the front desk staff were very nice, I wasn't able to check in early. Darn it. 

Since checkin time wasn't until 1200, I understood, and just asked if I could use the loo and store my backpack. I was able to do both, thankfully. I was also given a cup of tea, and found a plug to charge my smartphone for a while. When my phone was back to 100%, I went out walking. 

While charging the phone, I read one of my guidebooks, and figured out that there were at least two bus stations in the city. The one I needed was near the train station. It took me an hour to walk back there, as the fest area was more set up, and I wandered around a little to see what was happening. 

When I got back to the train station I heard and watched a military band playing for a while. I assumed they were practicing for the festival. I wonder what the performance was like?

At the bus station I found a marshrutka heading to Medzhibizh. I was the first person on the marshrutka, and since they usually depart only when they're full, I was afraid I'd have to wait for quite a while. Adventures in traveling sometimes requires a lot of waiting. Fortunately, the wait was only about 20 minutes. 

The ride was 35 kilometers or so, taking about that many minutes. We stopped a few times along the way, but it wasn't often. There are a lot of tiny villages all over this country. Unless you're Jewish, you've never heard of Medzhibizh. Back in the day, it's population was 90% Jewish, according to the guidebook. I still don't understand why Jewish is identified as a separate ethnicity from Ukrainian or Russian or Egyptian or someone from any country, but that's not what this post is about. 

The driver told me when to get off, it ended up being about 100 meters from the main sight I wanted to see, an old fortress. 

Since the guidebook didn't have a map, I was happy to have a visible confirmation that I was in the right place. 

Normally I prefer to buy souvenirs after seeing a place, but I didn't know how long the vendors would hang around, so I bought a magnet before entering the fortress. They didn't have any postcards.

Entry fee to the fortress was 20 griven. It would've been easy to avoid paying, as the ticket office was tucked away inside one wall of the fortress, with no way of forcing someone to pay. I don't know how many visitors they get, maybe this isn't a concern. 

After paying for my ticket, I wandered into the open area in the middle. There is a small church standing almost exactly in the middle, so I put on a head scarf, and went in. There was a wooden iconostasis, and a few other 'decorations.' One lady was selling the usual range of candles, icons, and other religious paraphernalia.

I walked across the courtyard to one corner that was close to an area of construction. Scaffolding totally blocked entry to one wall, but stairs and boards that formed a ramp offered entrance to another area.

This area was mostly empty except for planks that had been set up to allow visitors and construction folks to walk through. I loved the views from the windows. Not that the views were stunning, but I loved the way the windows framed the views. (Me trying to be artsy.)

I followed the planks to another area, which was a corner tower of sorts. I was able to go up a level or two, always fun. Ruins were still standing, and I got to look out a few more 'windows.' This area is very quiet, very peaceful, a lot of agricultural areas. The tiny village of Trebukhivtsi is all bunched together just up the road from where I'd been dropped off. 

Eventually I crossed back into the courtyard of the fortress. Almost directly on the other side, in another wall, is a museum, dedicated to the Holodomor, especially in how it affected this area. 

For those who don't know, the Holodomor was a time of deliberately inflicted famine. The 1932-1933 winter was the worst time. Official numbers of people who died vary, and unofficial numbers are higher and vary even more. No matter what, millions of people died, and it was unnecessary, as state grain silos were full. This was a time when the state was trying to force people into communes, so they were taking grain from the people, and not letting them eat. 

While people were starving, the borders of the country were sealed so no one was able to get help, either by leaving or aid coming in. Anywho, I digress.

This museum was small, but interesting. There were photos and depictions of what happened back then. By photos I mostly mean photos of people from back then. There are books of lists of people, separated by region. There was also a modern art piece on display, of hands reaching out. I assume they are hands reaching for food, or help, but I don't know for sure.

In another section of the wall I found another museum, this one seemed to be a local history museum. It started with the geology of the area, and went all the way to religious items. Quirky, but I liked it. As with some many museums in this country, the lights in each room of a museum are only turned on when you're in the room, as a way to save on the power bill. While visiting this museum the lights were turned off a couple times before I left a specific room. 

Before leaving the fortress for good, I climbed up a corner tower, for views over the area. Nice.

I walked up the street, and found an old synagogue. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a service or event going on, so I didn't go in. 

Medzhibizh used to be almost entirely Jewish, and was the home of a guy who essentially began one of the most observed sects of the Hasidic movement of Judaism. 

As such, it is still an important pilgrimage sight; even more importantly it is still an active synagogue. From my travels in Eastern Europe, this is becoming less common. 

Though I didn't enter the building, I could see the separation of men and women. Signs in the yard describe what is there now, and what used to be there. I entered the yard through one gate, and left through another, going up a different street. 

Not too much further up the street I found the burial place of the man who created such an important observance of Judaism. It wasn't open, but I could see the 'tomb' in the middle of the room through the windows. Next to the door was a sign in three languages (Hebrew, English, Ukrainian,) describing what was there. 

Around the corner on another street was a palace of culture. Well, that's what it used to be. You can find these 'palaces' in heaps of towns that used to be part of the East Bloc or Soviet sphere. 

Continuing on I noticed an abandoned building. These always catch my eye, I don't know why. I took a couple photos, then walked past, toward a small field. I was trying to figure out how to frame a photo of a tree in this field when I heard a dog charging at me. It was going FAST. I could see it was on a chain, but I had no idea how long the chain was, so I moved back quickly. Eeek. 

At this point I'd seen the entire village of Medzhibizh, so I walked back toward where I'd been dropped off earlier. I walked across the river, looking back and noticing how the fortress was mirrored in the water. Very pretty. 

I figured how how to get closer to the river, the view was better from a level closer to the water. I walked even further, to the village of Trebukhivtsi. Not much to see there either, it was just a few streets worth of buildings. On the 'main street' I took notice of a bright blue church. I wanted  to go in, but the gates were closed. Argh. 

At that point I was ready to go back to Khmelnytsky. I found the bus stop across the street from where I'd been dropped off, so I sat down and waited. It was surprising how much traffic went through while I was waiting. Not vehicular traffic, but people on bicycles or on foot. At one point I saw a group of young Jewish men, I think they might've been pilgrims. 

Eventually a marshrutka came along, and I hopped in. It didn't take all that long to get back to Khmelnytsky, though this time the dropoff was at another bus station. 

To get back to where I wanted to be in Khmelnytsky I had to walk a good thirty minutes or so. Part of this walk took me by a few houses with beautiful fall flowers all around. Gorgeous. 

Another part of this walk took me by a building that had an airplane on display out front. I couldn't tell if it was a museum, but there didn't seem to be an open gate to get on the property. Earlier in the day I'd noticed a long row of military barracks, and this was on another part of that property, so maybe it was just a random display. 

I stopped into a small shop and bought a few cookies because they looked good. At a supermarket I bought breakfast food for the next day. I stopped into a sushi place and got some to go for dinner back in my room. 

Walking back to my room took me back through the fest area I'd seen in the morning. At this point in the day it was full of people. Families, couples, groups of friends. 

I noticed a display of flowers organized into the number 585. Khmelnytsky was celebrating its 585th birthday. That's old for Americans, but not nearly so old in Europe/Ukraine. People were having photos taken with the display, but none of them were smiling. Why? 

When I got back to my hotel I finally got to check in. It was nice to eat and relax, then go to sleep early. 

Going to sleep early meant I woke up early, at 0549. 

At some point I cleaned up and packed up, then checked out. 

I walked to a nearby church, I'd seen the steeple the day before. I arrived in the middle of a service though I didn't know that at first. From the number of people coming and going when I arrived I never would've guessed there was a service going on. 

As there was a service going on, I only stepped into the back of the church, and watched/listened for a few minutes. 

I walked over to the administrative area of the city, and the big platz in the area. The biggest building was the oblast rada, basically the state parliament (a comparison for Americans.) In the middle of the platz was a memorial, with photos of many of those who died in the violence in Kyiv three years (ish) ago. There were a couple fountains on the edge of the platz, and a couple other memorials too. 

From there I walked down a strip of land between a split street. There were decorated benches all along, very cute. 

My walk next took me over a bridge, into a completely different area of town. I crossed train tracks, and walked through residential areas. I got to see more houses with gorgeous flowers all around. 

Eventually o got to another church. It was eye catching, but not in a good way. At least, not to me. The bricks were really orange, and the blue and gold just didn't make it appealing. At least, not to me. 

There was a wedding happening in this church, a small wedding. I saw a couple of the bridesmaids, and it confirmed my thought that there is a rule that bridesmaid dresses must be ugly in this country. 

I started making my way back to the city center, changing streets after a little while. I passed through a park full of families out for a Sunday afternoon. It's cute to watch little kids try to be tough when driving hot wheels cars. 

After crossing through a couple more blocks of the fest zone, I wound through streets to yet another church. I ended up walking around an entire block to find the entrance gate. 

This church was a whole lot better looking than what I'd just seen. Blue, with silver domes. Very pretty. 

Then I looked at my watch and realized I needed to get moving. I went back to the hotel (moving really fast because I was not at the time I thought I needed) and grabbed my backpack. I sped out the door, and down the streets back to the train station. I arrived about ten minutes before my train left, that's plenty of time to grab a drink and snacks :) 

The train station itself was pretty, at least in terms of all the blooming flowers. 

Thankfully, my train departed on time and arrived back in Kyiv later that evening. 

ukraine: rivne

Another weekend, another chance to travel. This time I chose Rivne, the capital of an oblast in Ukraine. Not a tourist city, but there aren't many of those in Ukraine to begin with.

My train left Kyiv just before 5 in the afternoon, and arrive around 10 that night. I'd booked a private apartment through booking.com, conveniently located only a 15 minute walk from the train station. Since it was dark I couldn't see a whole lot, but it was interesting to see how quiet everything was at that hour. Clearly Rivne is not a hot spot, despite being an oblast capital.

I absolutely loved my flat. The host was friendly, and it had been redone in a modern style. Totally awesome. The only thing I didn't like was the dog that wouldn't stop barking. Not long after checking in, as I was getting ready for bed I realized I'd forgotten my bag with charging cords. Argh. I forget one thing almost every time I travel, and this time it ended up being the charging bag. I only needed two, but that just meant another thing to find and buy during the weekend.

I woke up after a good night of sleep, and remembered that there was an electronics store on the ground floor of the building in which this flat was located. Yay! I figured it would open at 10, so I putzed around, not doing much of anything. I got to the store around 1030, and found out it had been open since 0900, oh well. They had the cords I needed, thank goodness.

I cleaned up and charged everything, and ended up leaving the flat after noon.

The first sight I wanted to see was marked completely wrong on one of the travel apps I use, I was expecting to have to walk much further to get there.

It turned out to be just a few blocks away.

It was a memorial statue under an arch of sorts, the statue was white. Since it was really sunny, the white statue didn't show up very well at all in daytime photos.

I continued walking, just because. I saw several markets, and decided to wander through a couple of them. Typical weekend markets for a random town. Meat, produce, dairy, dry goods, random stuff, etc... I enjoyed seeing the people living life more than the items available. I saw young and old, couples and singles. I saw shoes and socks, and teddy bears, and tea and coffee, etc...

The markets (or maybe it's just one giant city market?) stretched on for a while, with areas under the bridge and across the street.

At one end of the bridge I ust mentioned was a bill concrete ball, painted to be part of the Pokemon Go game. That game really has spread all over the world! The railings of the bridge were painted yellow and blue, which seems to be pretty standard all over the country now.

I started to cross the bridge, then realized there was more to see near the river on that side. I went down a set of stairs and ended up at a children's railway. There were two train cars, painted quite nicely.

There was an entrance office, with several children waiting around. I'm guessing their parents paid for them to be 'train officials' for a few hours. Very cute.

Then I went over the bridge, which mostly goes over land. It's a pretty big bridge for how much water is there. I wonder if the river ever grows.

Over on the other side of the bridge I ended up taking a couple photos of a gate. Yes, I know that sounds wierd, but it just struck me as photogenic. As I started walking again I saw a statue of a beer drinker just outside a restaurant. There was a group taking photos, so I hung back to wait. They saw me, and said I should join them. I figured, hey, why not?

Further along the street I saw the top of another church, so I wound through another couple streets to get there. In the front entranceway were a series of photos of the people involved with the first reformed evangelist church in the area. I love old photos, I love seeing how faces, clothes, and all sorts of things have changed. The worship area of the church itself was really boring.

I kept going along the main street, coming to another church. This was not an Orthodox church, I think it was catholic. Probably polish catholic.

The church itself wasn't open, but I walked around the yard because it was interesting. I could see the 12 stations of the cross spread around the grounds.

Further along the street I saw what looked like the living quarters for a religious group. I'm not sure of course, but this is what I'm assuming because the building was across the street from a small church, and there were people in religious garb going in and out. The flowers in the garden area were a riot of color, which I loved.

Not too far from the convent/monastery was a random apartment building. It wasn't anything special, just an example of normal life in Rivne. I loved the garden area, currently bursting with sunflowers and other colourful blooms. Off to the side of this building was what looked like a water tower, though I'm not sure.

I stopped into a small cafe because the display case looked good. I had a sort of parfait looking item, but it didn't taste nearly as good as it looked. Argh. After years of traveling in this country, how have I not learned my lesson about things looking good but not tasting good?

I went back into town, back across the bridge. On the other side of the bridge was a memorial to the Nebesna Sotna, or the Heavenly Hundred. Though the number probably isn't that specific, these are the people who died from the violence during the Maidan protests in Kyiv. There were a few photos, sandbags, and helmets as part of the memorial.

I saw what looked like a church, but when I got close I could see that it was now a theater. Unfortunately, the only open door led to the ticket desk. Darnit, I wish I could've gone inside.

I followed the street until very close to my flat.

There was a big theater (not the same one I just mentioned,) with a platz in front. Off to one side of the front of the theater was a statue of a guy sitting on a bench. I wasn't able to figure out who he was.

I continued walking, getting all the way to the kino palace. (Movie palace.) It's big, but some idiot decided it should be orange. It could and should be so much better.

There is a landscaped garden area behind the kina palace with a couple fountains, one at each end. One of the fountains was totally dry, without even a drop of water.

The other was going full bore, and since it was a windy day, the spray was going everywhere. I tried taking photos, but none of them emded up as I wanted because of the sprinkles that kept landing on the lens. There were mini roses and bigger roses, and a couple other types of flowers in the gardens between the fountains. I liked the mini roses.

After leaving the platz in front of the kino palace I wanted to cross the street and go back the other way. Unfortunately, there were fences along the street on both sides of the streets, so I had to walk all the way to the next traffic light to be able to cross the street. Argh.

My next sight was a church. (It's Ukraine, they're everywhere.) This one was marked in the wrong location on the travel app I was using, but it was really easy to find. It's pretty hard to miss, being yellow and blue. I really liked the inside of this church, and lit a few candles while I was inside.

After that, I went back to my room for an hour.

After going back out, I stopped at a grocery store (a big one,) for breakfast supplies for the next day. I had plenty of room in my purse, so I didn't have to worry about carrying an extra bag around for the rest of the evening.

My next sight was going to be Shevchenko Park, but by the time I got close the sun was going down. Darnit. As I turned around, I noticed a giant mosaic on the side of a building. It was done in the style of soviet realism, so it wasn't terribly exciting, but there was a lot of color. The name of the city was on there too, in Russian, which kinda surprised me. Rivne is in the west of Ukraine where Ukrainian is spoken much more often, I'm surprised they haven't changed it. I made a mental note to come back the next day in daylight to get photos.

Then I walked back the street, basically across the city center. I walked to a sushi restaurant for dinner; the dining room was really warm and I was the only one there for at least 30 minutes. The food was okay, and I left with a full belly.

The next morning I woke up early, and got to see a beautiful sunrise from the balcony of my flat. The sky went through a rainbow of colours, it was quiet outside, and life just felt really good.

I cleaned up and packed up, and 'checked out' at 0930. I carried my backpack with me for the rest of the day because I didnt know where else to put it.

I went back to the fountain behind the kino palace, hoping the wind wouldn't be as strong and I'd be able to get a better photo. It didn't really work. Then I went back to the huge mosaic I'd seen the day before when it was getting dark. I set up my camera on a timer, and got the photos I wanted.

Since it was daylight, I was happy to go explore Shevchenko Park. It's fairly big, with lots of little walking trails. There are plenty of trees, so you feel a sense of privacy even if there are other people around. I was up early enough that there weren't many other people around. It was absolutely lovely.

I came upon a fountain (this one was dry,) surrounded by (mostly) old men with their own second hand market. Each of them had their goods on display, most of the items for sale were coins or books, or other really old stuff. I looked for postcards, but didn't see any.

The next part of the park I walked through was an amusement park. I saw a ferris wheel which didn't look very happy, if that's a way to describe a ferris wheel. There was a ticket shack, but I couldn't tell if there was anyone inside. The wheel wasn't moving, and I didn't see anyone else in the area. I saw a carousel getting a bit more business, as well as swings and small kids rides with customers ready to ride.

I stopped at a random cafe for lunch Nothing exciting.

My next stop was another park, Melodi Park. It is known in the city for sculptures. Since I arrived in the afternoon, there were plenty of families out and about. The sculptures were quirky, but I liked them. There was a small pond in the park, very cute. I liked wandering around for about an hour.

One of my travel apps listed two synagogues, I tried to find them next. I found one, it looked quite old and unused. I never found the other one. This is really sad, because the population of Rivne used to be about 70% Jewish.

It is the same story I've learned about so many other population centers of Europe that used to be mostly Jewish. Most of them were deported and died during WW2, and not many who survived came back.

I walked through a few side streets to get to the Amber Museum. It's not really a museum, because I feel like you're supposed to learn something when you go to a museum. This was more like two rooms filled with beautiful works made with amber. I saw maps, and animals, and pretty pictures. It was a lovely place, and I appreciated being able to look without someone following me around, turning on and off lights.

I followed my map to a beautiful blue wooden church. Just as I was coming in the outside gates I saw a family coming out from the church, they'd just baptised their little girl. They asked me to take a few family photos for them, I was happy to oblige.

Go figure, the church was closed when I tried to go in after taking the photos. Oh well. I took photos of the church from all angles, as it really was pretty. I loved the blue colour.

On the street near the church were a bunch of small houses, each with spectacular flower gardens all around.

One of the houses also had an old couch on one side, it didn't look as if it had been moved any time in recent memory. Nor did it look as if anyone had sat there anytime in recent memory.

I decided to walk back to the grocery store I'd visited the night before, and pick up snacks for the train ride back to Kyiv. I couldnt' help but add to my snacks when I walked past a small cafe that had decent looking cheesecakes. It turned out I was right, they were really tasty.

I walked to the train station, and had an easy ride back to Kyiv.

ukraine: kyiv: ulichnaya eda food fest

Woo hoo, I finally get to write about something that happened close to my flat. 

I found out about a food fest that takes place near my metro station. It's a street food fest, it happens approximately monthly, with a different theme each time. 

I didn't know there was a theme, I didn't really know much of anything ahead of time, and didn't have many expectations. 

I walked to the fest from my flat, I think it was about 35 minutes of walking, maybe a little longer.

The entry fee was 70 griven,  (just under $3) I wasn't thrilled about that. I hate paying an entry fee for something where I'm going to spend more money to do anything inside the event. Argh. Anywho. 

I was quite impressed with this fest. It was much bigger than I expected, and well set up. 

I decided to walk around the entire area to find out what was available before buying anything, it took me a while. (Also because I took random photos while moseying.) 

There were a number of Mexican options, kebabs, drinks, donuts, burgers, etc... I found out later that the theme was Mexican, which explained all the quesadillas and burritos available. 

I ended up having some slices of meat on a pita with tomatoes and lettuce, mussels, donuts, and a drink. I came away wishing I'd arrived earlier so I would've had more time to eat more, and find space in my stomach for all of it. 

I can't wait for the next fest, I will be sure to attend both days, and get there earlier in the day :)