ukraine: lutsk and klevan

The second time I visited Lutsk (three months ago,) my goal had been to visit Klevan (the tunnel of love) but it didn't happen. I decided to come back to Lutsk and try again. 

When I booked my hotel in Lutsk they said it was okay if I left my bag there during the day. My train arrived in Lutsk exactly on time (0511!) and I spent about thirty minutes in the train station figuring out timing, as well as where to go. 

Then I started walking. It was still dark, but most of my walk was well lit. Just under an hour later I arrived at the hotel. Even though the ad online said there was a 24 hour front desk, it didn't appear that way at first. I tried three doors before finding an open one, and found another door to a stairway. One floor up I found another open door leading to a hotel hallway. 

Almost immediately I saw the open door with the label of hotel administrator. It was more like an office than a front desk, but I was able to leave my bag there. 

I took a different way back to the train station, it was fully light by this point. Lutsk had gotten as much snow as Kyiv, so there was a problem about where to put it. Sidewalks hold most of the snow, which is fine and dandy for drivers, but not so great for pedestrians. I spent a lot of time figuring out where to walk without spending the whole time in deep snow or melted slushy water. 

Back at the train station I bought a ticket for the electric train to Klevan. My timing was good, I didn't have to wait long to board the train. 

Electric trains are quite common in Ukraine. You don't ride them across the country, rather they take people around different regions of the country. 

They are not at all luxurious, the bench seats are wood with straight backs. Howeva, the tickets are really cheap and they have heaters under each seat. 

My ride was around 75 minutes, arriving in the small town of Klevan. I kept dozing off during the ride, but it was a smooth, easy ride overall. 

When the conductor came through to check tickets, he assumed the kid sitting across from me was with me, much to the amusement of me and the lady he was with. 

I alighted in Klevan, and went into the train station to ask what time the train would come through in the afternoon. After sorting that out, I started walking. 

Since this was my second visit to Klevan, I knew where to go. I followed the train tracks, and found the path I was looking for easily. 

The tunnel of love is sortof man made. It's part of a set of tracks, which were used regularly for a long time. So long that the trees grew over the tracks. In summer when everything is green, it really looks like a tunnel. I don't know where they came up with the love part of the name. I suppose you can say it's a combination man and nature made place. 

I'm glad I got to see it in winter, though I think I was a week to late. I was there when the temperature was just over freezing, and had been for several days. There was still plenty of snow on the ground, but it had all melted off the branches. What I could see were heaps of ribbons tied onto the branches of many trees, I have no idea why. 

The beauty of this tunnel is that you can walk as much or as little as you want. The annoying part of the tunnel is that the wood planks between the tracks are slightly higher than the ground. They're at a normal distance from each other by train standards, but this distance is a bit short for my walking pace. The planks are not even with the ground underneath, so you have to watch where you put your feet. To do that, either your steps are slightly short, or too long. In the snow I couldn't see where the planks were, sometimes I landed on them, sometimes not. 
Since I wanted to see what was in front of me but had to look where I put each foot I was rather frustrated that my eyes couldn't do both at the same time. 

Judging by the footprints I could see, I walked further than most people had since the last snowfall. I was tempted to walk all the way to the end (is there a marker at the end?) but then I'd have to walk all the way back. I'm pretty sure I walked at least a couple kilometers each way. 

While I was in there an engine of some kind came along the tracks, it was green. Nice to see the color in a land of white and brown. How often does that thing come through? And what is it for? (As I understand it, these tracks are no longer used.) 

As I came out of the tunnel, I moved along a different street from where I had entered. This must have been the 'official' entrance, because I saw a homemade sign with tunnel of love (written in Ukrainian) that could be used for photos. There was also an arch covered in ribbons, over a red painted heart shaped rock. 

I walked along for a while, taking random photos every so often. A few cars passed and probably wondered what I was doing. The road curved, and went straight through the middle of town. 

I was able to follow this street all the way to my next sight, it was not a short walk. Around 75 minutes I think. No part of this street was cleared, so I had a choice of slush, snow, ice, or water in or on which to walk. Good fun.

I finally made it to Klevan castle, only to realize I was on the street that went under the bridge from which you enter the castle. Argh. I had to climb up a fairly steep hill to get to the entrance, I slipped more than once. 

Before getting to the top I expected to pay an entrance fee for the castle. That most definitely did not happen. There wasn't another soul around; the entire thing was abandoned, and falling apart. 

Im actually surprised it wasn't blocked off, for safety reasons. As I wandered around, I could see that every staircase had collapsed, as had most of the ceilings. I normally like going through abandoned buildings, but I was worried enough about this one not to do much. I looked in windows, and could only wander through ground floor rooms. Some of the walls between rooms were collapsing as well. Eeek. 

When I read the description, this was supposed to have been a fortress. As I approached it and saw the bridge going to the entry, I agreed. After walking through, I don't see how that could've been a fortress. 

I left the 'castle' on the bridge, which took me to a church. The front gate of the church was open (the dog stayed outside the gate, I don't know why,) but the door to the church itself was padlocked closed. I liked the look of the exterior, I like blue churches :)

I continued walking, back to the main street that brought me to this area of Klevan.

This was a slushy area with even more water, I wasn't thrilled. I walked back in the direction from which I'd come, on the other side of the street. 

At one point I looked off to the side and saw another church. I followed another wet slushy street, but this time the outer gate was closed. I was only able to stick my camera through the gate to take a photo, then continue walking. 

I got back to the main road and looked at the clock. I realized I had to walk fast to make sure I caught the train when I got back to the train station. I knew I didn't have the option of catching another train later.

The walk back was full of more slush and water. I alternated between the sidewalk and street, depending on which was less liquid at the time. At some points the water on the street was big enough to be a pond, so I watched carefully for cars flying through and splashing me. It was a long walk. 

I made it back to the train station in time to be able to sit for ten minutes. I watched the old ladies also sitting around, talking nonstop. 

The train ride back to Lutsk was a lot more crowded than the morning ride from Lutsk. From the train station in Lutsk I walked to the sushi place I visited last time for dinner. From there I walked back to the hotel. I finally got to check in, more than 12 hours after I first dropped off my bag. 

I checked my Fitbit, and found out this was my biggest day ever in terms of steps! More than 46,000 steps. No wonder my feet were tired; I went to sleep early.

The next morning I was awake early, but didn't get moving for a while. I finally left the hotel a little after noon. The weather wasn't great, argh. It wasn't raining, but the temperature was above freezing, so all the snow and slush continued to melt. Figuring out where to walk was a day long challenge. 

I followed a main street back into the city center, taking random photos along the way. I found the so called 'bridge of love,' which was the local take on the idea of closing locks onto a bridge. The bridge itself was quite small, but rather cute, there was a nice bench to sit on at one end. My favorite part were the little houses on the water for the ducks. 

I saw a giant, boring government building, with a religious monument in front. Totally normal in Ukraine. 

I found a church still under construction, holding a service as I walked around outside. The building itself seemed finished, but it didn't look finished, if that makes sense. It still looked really raw. It was one of the flattest (imagine you've squeezed the front and back of a church together,) churches I've ever seen. Nearby was a giant mural on the side of a building, of the Ukrainian trident. 

I went through a supermarket, picking up a couple snacks and juice. I also went to a bakery for a sandwich and cookie, since it was afternoon and I hadn't eaten anything real. I've never been good about eating regular meals, and traveling doesn't help that bad habit. Some people travel to eat, I'm not one of those. 

After eating I walked toward a huge park, called the park of culture and rest. I don't know what the name is referring to, but that doesn't matter. It was fun to follow the different pathways and see how everything looked in winter.  

There are a few waterways through the park, all of which were frozen. I saw one guy coming out of a hole in one of them, he'd gone for a dip in his birthday suit. If I'd had proper clothing (and a towel,) I'd have done it too. It's a nice park, a great place to wander, or to have a family picnic. There are benches all over as well, if you want to sit and people watch. The park wasn't all that crowded, but there were people out and about. I even saw two people cross country skiing on the paths!

In one area is a small amusement park, more for kids than adults. It was almost tragic to see the rides there, covered in snow and not being used. I wonder when the season officially starts. 

After the park I decided to walk along random streets I hadn't walked before, just to see different parts of the city. I found some nifty graffiti in one area. In another area I found a really old bus parked next to a really old truck. Next to that were large glass eggs, I'm guessing they are put on display somewhere when Easter rolls around? 

On yet another street I found a synagogue. Well, I'm not sure it was a synagogue, but that was my guess based on the Star of David I saw through the front window. It was a gorgeous blue building. 

I wound through various streets, one of which brought me to another giant mural on the side of a building. This was one of the best I've seen in the entire country. Beautiful. 

Eventually I walked on a street that took me on a bridge over a river. The sun was starting to set, so the sky was changing colour, which looked great next to the mostly frozen river. 

As the sun fell, I walked back toward the city center, and went back to the sushi place to eat. I was there for a couple hours, just wasting time. Then I walked to a supermarket, and picked up breakfast food for the morning. From there I walked back to the train station, and waited a few minutes to board my train. Another night train ride brought me back to Kyiv. 

I probably won't return to Lutsk, unless I can use it as a base to visit nearby lakes, and can figure out a free weekend to do so. 

ukraine: lutsk in winter

This was my second trip to Lutsk, and it didn't start out very well. I took a night train from Kyiv to Lutsk, arriving at 5 in the morning. The bad beginning to this trip was when I woke up in the middle of the night on the train and had to run the length of the train to get to the bathroom and puke. It was not at all fun, and I have no idea why I got sick.

My train arrived mostly on time, about 10 minutes late. That's not bad at all for an overnight train. When the arrival time is just after 5 in the morning, 10 minutes definitely doesn't matter. Because of throwing up in the middle of the night, I still didn't feel very good when I arrived.

I ended up sitting in the train station for more than three hours, hoping I would feel better, and trying to figure out what time the electric train to Klevan would depart.

I ended up not figuring that out, and assuming I missed it. I used google maps to figure out how to walk to my hotel for the weekend. They let me check in early, and I stayed in my room for a few more hours. Basically I'd been in Lutsk for something like six hours before I even started walking around the city to explore. I still didn't feel good/normal when I walked out of my hotel, but I was feeling cabin fever and didn't want to waste the entire day. What did help was the hotel lady bringing me tea, as well as a few biscuits, YUM.

I checked the temperature just before venturing outside, it was -9C. Not as cold as I've experienced in Ukraine, but pretty much the coldest so far this year. I bundled up and started walking. Everything was snow covered, and hadn't yet turned into ice, so it was cold but not difficult walking.

My first stop was in a small park. There was a large WW2 memorial, in fact it was basically the entire park. I stood in one place to take a photo before suddenly slipping and nearly falling. Apparently I was standing on part of the monument itself, whoops! I managed to get my feet under control and take my photo without falling, thank goodness.

I kept walking, and made my way to a large platz at one end of the old town area of the city. On one side of the platz is a theater in front. The statue in front is of a poet, Lesi. On another side of the platz is a giant sign saying I love Lutsk. I was thrilled that the whole thing was written in Ukrainian, as most of these signs I've seen have been written in English. The letters were white, which made it a bit hard to see, with all the snow everywhere. Of course I took a selfie with the sign. With the cold it was actually rather hard to smile!

Next to the square is a church, the Holy Trinity Church. It's fairly big, but when you go inside it doesn't feel that big.

As I entered I realized it wasn't nearly as crowded as the last time I visited, and one side of the church is being worked on, so there is construction stuff everywhere. It wasn't warm, but it was warmer than the outside. I sat (on a side bench, as Orthodox churches don't have pews and chairs everywhere,) and enjoyed the quiet for a few minutes.

I kept walking, and came to another intersection where I turned left. Not too long after I walked past a government building with a religious mural on the side. This is Ukraine, and such a thing is totally normal.

My next stop was Lubarts Castle. It looks more like a fortress to me, but who am I to quibble with the name. It's quite pretty with all the snow. The entry fee is a little over $1, I'm amazed that such a small amount can make a difference in taking care of the place. Inside the casle/fortress is a courtyard, off which you can enter a bell tower, the walls, and several museums.

This time I chose to go in the museum of books, since I hadn't seen it before.

The book museum was really small, but I liked it. Many of the books on display looked really old, and if I'd been able to read the signs I probably would've learned more about the books. I like seeing old stuff, even if I don't know what it is.

In the middle of the courtyard, below what is now ground level is a church. The entry has not been open the two times I've visited, so I really don't know if it ever is open, or if it's mostly buried. I find it fascinating that the ground level of the place changed so drastically.

After leaving the castle/fortress I walked to St Brigits Monastery.

It was originally a place of faith, and is again now, but the history is long and varied. It was built as a Catholic monastery, but over time (in the 19^th century,) was changed into an Orthodox complex. Unfortunately, somewhere around WW2, it also aquired an addition that was a prison. In this prison area, in the courtyard, the NKVD massacred over 3000 people. It looks really run down now, but I think it still functions at least a little.

My next sight was close by as well, the Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul. You can't help but see it, as it is big, and set right on the edge of the street.

It is a Polish Catholic church, so there are benches in the sanctuary. I wasn't a big fan of the interior, though I don't know why.

I kept walking, and made my way to the Lutheran church, which was closed. It was also closed the first time I visited, so I'm guessing it is only open during services. It's not an eye catching building, but I tend to like churches no matter how they look.

More walking took me to the sculptor's house. It's not an official sight, in that you don't get to go inside and walk around. It is simply a private residence owned by a sculptor, and you can see heaps of sculptures all over the grounds.

The house itself is also unique, to say the least.

I soon found another open church, the church of Holy Protection. It was an Orthodox church, not very big. As I walked in, a lady was cleaning the floor, and she felt the need to talk to me. She asked me about my faith, and when I answered, she told me I was wrong. That's the first time I've been told my faith is wrong, it was not a pleasant experience. I've always believed everyone has the right to their own beliefs, but does not have the right to force those beliefs or act on anyone else. Her telling me I was wrong was pretty much the only part of the conversation that I understood.

I nodded and smiled during the rest, but I didn't have any idea what she was saying. I don't know if she didn't see that I didn't understand, or didn't care. Oh well. When I left the church she taught me how to make the cross properly. According to her beliefs anywho.

As I walked back toward the big platz I mentioned earlier, I passed a sister city tree. At least, that's what I'm assuming it was, as it listed a few cities, and the distances to those cities. I don't know why else that particular set of cities would've been chosen to be on the 'tree.'

I had sushi for dinner that night, as I often have sushi when I'm traveling over a weekend in Ukraine.

The next morning I woke up early as usual, then didn't do much of anything for several hours, also as usual. Eventually I cleaned up, packed up, and checked out. I took my bag to the train station for storage during the day. While I was there I asked about the electric train to Klevan. It turns out it leaves every day at 0840, returning at 1700 or so every day. I should've gone the day before, but between feeling awful and not knowing the schedule, that just didn't happen.

My first official sight for the day was the Icon Museum. I'd never heard of it, and the people working the front desk seemed rather surprised to find a foreigner wanting to visit. The museum was two floors, with 3 rooms on each floor.

The icons on display went as far back as the 12^th or 13^th centuries! Most seemed to be from the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Some were in better shape than others, of course. Different types of wood fall apart in different ways with different types of paint used to tell a story. I really enjoyed them as art, rather than religious items. I was the only person visiting while I was there, but there were three people working. The lights for each room were only turned on when I was in the room, they were all off otherwise.

Not too far from the icon museum was the military museum. The full name of the museum is longer, but I don't remember it. This was another place that seemed surprised to have a foreign visitor. I paid my entry fee, and started my tour by checking out the backyard. The yard displayed a helicopter, a plane, several tanks, and other vehicles and large items. I might've stayed out there longer if it had been a little warmer. Tromping through the snow wasn't so much fun. Many of the vehicles were open, so I was able to go in the (falling apart) helicopter cockpit. There were descriptive signs in front of everything, but since I don't know anything about this industry, knowing the name of a tank didn't mean much to me.

I went inside next, which felt amazing. I don't know how warm it really was inside, but I do know it was plenty warmer than outside. All through the three rooms were pictures and items of various times in military history. There were even some items from the civil war currently taking place in the east of Ukraine. One of those items was a sticker with the name of Donbas Independent Republic, or something along those lines. Argh.

After leaving the military museum I wanted a snack. I settled for something from a bakery not too far away. I stayed in the bakery longer than I should've, but the cold was taking everything out of me. At least I didn't feel like throwing up anymore.

I walked in the direction of the castle/fortress, hoping to catch a tour of the dungeon and tunnels under the nearby cathedral. When I got there I figured out I'd just missed the tour by about ten minutes, argh. I made a note of when to return, and where to buy tickets.

I continued walking, making my way to a monastery. I think it was the Benedictine monastery, though I'm not entirely sure. The sun was starting to lower in the sky, which gave me a couple great photos around that area. I entered the church of the monastery, which was quite small. I was the only one in there at the time, which I loved.

Near the monastery was a bridge over a river, but I don't think it was going anywhere I wanted to go. I crossed over, then turned around and came back; not very exciting, I know. While on the street again I noticed a water pump, which reminded me of what I saw at the one room schoolhouse near where I grew up in the states. Who uses this pump? How often is it used?

I walked to the old synagogue, another example of what was once a vibrant Jewish community that has gone away. This synagogue was also a fortress, to protect the city and offer worship. Sadly, it's now a sports club.

I saw a laundry line that didn't look very useful in the cold weather. It was covered in ice, and icicles. Very pretty, but pointless.

I went back to the cathedral to catch the dungeoun tour. The tour was in ukrainian, so I had no idea what was being said most of the time, but I've gotten used to that. It's not always hard to figure out what I'm seeing when I don't understand a tour guide.

I saw several tunnels, a couple piles of bones, and excavation work still taking place. For some of the years the Soviets ruled with Communism, the church itself was used as a market rather than a church! At one end of a tunnel I got to see the original metal gates from the 1700s, which are quite rusted. Even with the rust, I was impressed that they'd lasted for centuries. So much of what is built now won't last anywhere near that long.

As we exited, I saw the sun had set so it was dark. And cold, very very cold. I put up the hoodie on my sweatshirt, as well as the hood on my jacket.

I moseyed my way back to the same sushi restaurant as the night before, staying there for more than two hours. After eating I walked to the train station and waited for the train. Just before boarding, I noticed icicles hanging off my train, eeeek!!

The train ride back to Kyiv was easy and smooth, something I've come to expect from the Ukrainian train system.

I want to come back to Lutsk, mostly so I can go to Klevan and see the tunnel of love in winter.  

ukraine: lutsk

susannah, marina and i got up early saturday morning so we could catch a 5.5 hour marshrutka ride to lutsk...lutsk is in the volhyn region of ukraine, in the northwest area of the country...i ate breakfast, and had some food while on the ride, but i still ended up pretty carsick, and felt awful when we got there...fortunately, susannah had a sandwich for me, and i felt better as soon as i ate...
marina had arranged the flat in which we were staying, so she called up the lady and arranged for us to meet...the lady took us to the flat, showed us around, told us where to find a supermarket...we got ourselves arranged and settled in...

we realized one of the things we wanted to see would be closed the next two days, so we tried to hurry into the historical center of town to see it before it closed...unfortunately, we weren't able to see the tunnels for two reasons...one, they are temporarily closed for renovation of some kind...and two, even if the tunnels had been open, we didn't arrive until just after closing time...oh well...
the tunnels are located right next to a huge cathedral, (called st peter and paul) which was neat to step into...plus, it was hot outside so stepping into the cool church felt good...

there is polish history in this church, so some of the signs were in polish, others were in ukrainian...(this is typical of a lot of towns and sights in the west of ukraine)
just across the street from this cathedral is the city castle...we explored as much as we could, of course...the castle walls are still standing (and have been rebuilt) but the middle area is almost completely open...there used to be a church in the middle of it, but it seems as though the church has sortof been buried, as the ground floor layer was raised...regardless of the reasons, the church entry was closed, we weren't able to peak in at all...booo...

we walked all the way around, even going into the bell museum...some of the bells were small, but there were a few bigger bells as well...not surprisingly, we weren't allowed to ring the bells...(can you imagine how much employees would hate life if visitors were allowed to ring the bells?)...
after the castle, we found a map on the street, showing different sights in the area...we followed the streets to something called st brigits monastery...according to the sign telling the history (in ukrainian and english, yahoo!) of the monastery, it has also been a convent, and a prison, and more...

it was the sight of a massacre by the nazis during WWII...it was tragic to think of how many people lost their lives there...
our next sight had us walking a little more, another church...st dominican, i think...we bumbled into a service, ooops...marina and i didn't feel comfortable staying for long during the service, but susannah was a happy camper...i'm always nervous about intruding in a church service, i don't want to disturb anyone's worship time...i did have my headscarf, so at least i was dressed appropriately...

we had dinner at a place that had rave reviews in both lonely planet and on trip advisor...a place called vitovt, right next to the castle...unfortunately, none of us thought our meals particularly amazing...oh well...maybe i wasn't thrilled because i ordered carp, which is apparently not very tasty...
walking back toward the flat, we realized we were out during sunset...we got to watch a beautiful sunset from the bridge going over the tracks at the train station...the sky was a beautiful range of pinks and reds...
on the way home from dinner, we stopped at tam tam, the huge supermarket our landlady had told us about...it was HUGE...we bought breakfast and snacks for the next day, water too...we bought too much, oh well...
this was when the fun started...we couldn't find the flat!!! eeek...it was dark, but that wouldn't normally be a big problem...we weren't able to find the correct entrance to the correctly numbered building...it is not a good feeling to not know where you are when it's dark outside...we (marina) asked a couple people who seemed to live in the buildings, but none of them knew the answer to her question...
i should point out that these apartment buildings are big, and all look the same...it's really easy to get lost and/or confused...we'd only gone in once and out once so we didn't really know...
we ended up calling the lady, who told us where to go...not surprisingly, we were really close, hee hee...due to the late arrival home, we didn't go to sleep until after midnight!
the next day we went to klevan for most of the day...
after returning from klevan, we walked back into the historical center of the city...

on the way, we saw a man selling honey, i tried three different types...i didn't taste a huge different between the three, but i did buy one of them...i'd like to think it was organic :)
there is a giant church in this area of town, and since it was a holiday weekend, there was a holiday service...(the holiday is trinity, which is religious)...there were flowers laid out on the ground in front of the church, absolutely lovely...lots of people going to church, most were dressed in their sunday best...absolutely amazing people watching time!

we had dinner at a cafe on a pedestrian street near this church...normal ukrainian food, we were all happy...this cafe listed calories on its menu, the first time i've seen that in ukraine!
on the way back to our flat, we explored more of a memorial park we'd seen the day before...there were several graves, several memorials (including the huge WWII memorial, which we expected) and the grave of someone who had died during the craziness of Maidan, in February...that particular grave was covered in flowers, both real and fake...very colourful, and tragic...

the next morning we all woke up late, and were not ready to go when the landlady showed up to take the keys from us...to be fair, she did come early, but we should've been ready...
we dropped our bags at the train station, then walked into the city center again...(by this point, we knew the quickest way to go, since we'd done this several times)...we walked further into the historical area, finding a couple more churches, one of which was evangelical baptist...susannah and i tried to explain to marina what that meant...(the normal options in ukraine are orthodox or catholic)...

we found a place called the sculptor's house...we thought it would be a museum, but it was a private house, inhabited by a sculptor...he had created sculptures all over the house, and it's outer edge...very unique looking, though not my style :)
we also saw the old synagogue, as lutsk used to have one of the largest jewish populations in europe...the synagogue building was a combination synagogue and fortress when it was built, so it still retains aspects of each...there is no longer a congregation in lutsk, so the building is now home of FC Dynamo, a football club...boooo...

from there we walked toward a big park...a BIG park...on the way, we picked up sandwiches at a small shop, with the idea of having a picnic...
the park was full of people, we kept laughing at the fashion, or photos being taken...one one side of the park was a river in which people were swimming...it didn't look great, to say the least, but it wasn't awful either...we ended up eating our sandwiches while sitting on a bench in the shade...we also used our umbrellas to block the sun...i don't think i've ever done anything like that before, but i could feel my shoulders getting tender from the sun i'd had earlier in the weekend...

after the park we walked down a street we hadn't yet seen...not much there, but we did find a plaque on a building which said a massacre had taken place there during WWII...sad...on this street was a strudel cafe, another branch of the chain i've seen in lviv and kyiv...YUM :)...i convinced susannah and marina (it didn't take much)
when we got to the train station that evening there were more mozzies waiting for us, argh...the mozzies were the only thing any of us didn't like about the city of lutsk...(or the entire region, for that matter)...the train to kyiv got us back to the city in the very early morning :)