cyprus: paphos

As soon as I booked my flights to/from Cyprus, I knew I wanted to visit the city of Pafos because it has Unesco designated ruins. I'm a sucker for history/ruins, as well as anything with Unesco designation.

I got up early Sunday morning and caught a bus from a station not so far from my hotel. A couple hours later I arrived in Pafos, though nowhere near the area I wanted to visit. I wasn't the only tourist caught in this situation, but I was the only one who didn't need a taxi.

During my walk I passed a few churches, an open field, and a few shops. In some places it looked as if construction had started, but been abandoned.

It took me a while, but eventually I was able to find my way to my first sight of the day. It is called the Tomb of the Kings, but has never had any royalty buring there. It has the name because some of the tombs are quite extravagant, and the people who originally found it didn't know any better.

The entry fee was cheap, only 2.50 euros. That's great for a unesco sight! I took a photo of my hand in front of the sign, just because I was there.

This area is a wide open area, the tombs are all down in the ground. Before they were excavated it would've been easy to walk around without knowing they were there.

Some of them are more ornate than others, those have signs describing specific aspects you can see, and what different items mean. I didn't pay much attention to those signs, as I find them overwhelming and I'm not that into architecture.

Several of the tombs were fantastic, and I reeeeeeally wished I had my new camera. When I say fantastic, I mean tunnels and columns carved into the stone. Absolutely beautiful. I climbed through a few holes to get to some of the tombs. I went down stairs whereva I saw them, just to see where I could go. As far as I could tell, there were no restrictions (other than common sense,) about where visitors could and could not go. (This is both good and bad.)

After more than two hours wandering around, I was hot and tired and dehydrated, I knew it was time to go. I ended up eating breakfast for lunch at a cafe not too far from these tombs. Yummy, quickly served, and reasonably priced.

I walked toward my second sight, which was another set of ruins. Both my travel apps took me to a gate that was closed, argh. The actual entrance area was a bit further on. I was the only person on the streets as far as I could tell, am I the only one who walks?

The entrance to Pafos Archeological Park (another Unesco sight) was more expensive, 4.50 euros.

As big as the area was, that is still a great price. I grabbed a map at the ticket counter, but it didn't really help me much. What it did do was tell me the names of some of the bigger spots to check out within the 'park.'

Pafos Archeological Park is full of ancient ruins. I was able to see the foundations of old homes, some of which still had the mosaics that had covered the floors. Beautiful.

The mosaics that were in the best condition were all in a house of sorts, a modern covering built over the mosaics to keep them in the best possible condition for the future.

There were ruins you can climb around, and there were ruins that were blocked off. There were paths throughout the entire area, it was much easier to walk on them than through the fields of wildflowers. There was little to no shade in the entire area, which added to the sunburn I knew I was getting as well as being dehydrated. Why have I not yet learned the lesson about the effects of sun on skin?

At one end of the area was a lighthouse, though it had nothing to do with the archaeological ruins, and was completely surrounded by a brick wall with a locked gate. Slightly down the hill from the lighthouse was an outdoor amphitheater, I'm not sure this whether was one of the original ruins or not. It blended in, but seemed newer somehow. As I was at the amphitheater I watched an older Russian gentleman take 'glamour' photos of his younger girlfriend on the seats/steps of the amphitheater. It was funny to watch, though I was impatient to take my own photos. 

The last mini area I visited in the park was ................ I liked this area best because I was able to climb up stairs a bit, though they were stairs to nowhere. At this point I'd put a scarf over my shoulders, though I knew it wasn't going to help the bright red sunburn I could already feel.

After leaving the park I walked to the seaside, which was right next door. The entire promenade area was filled with people, most of them moseying around to check out restaurants and cafes. I looked for a cafe that seemed reasonably priced, but didn't find anything that appealed to me.

Fortunately I was able to find a place selling water and ice cream bars, both of which sounded like good ideas to me at that point. The sunburn on my arms and shoulders really needed ice and aloe and cold water, but those weren't options at that point.

Listed on the travel apps was a castle/tower on the edge of the water, but when I got there (after dealing with all the people,) I discovered that it was being used as part of an exhibition of some kind. Something about a city of culture? I was disappointed, as I'd wanted to take a photo of the castle with the sea in the background. That definitely did not happen, and was not possible during this visit.

I took a look at the map on my phone and realized I had a good walk to get back to the bus station. In the morning I'd made a note of what times the buses were scheduled to depart, and I didn't want to miss the last bus.

As I was walking up the street I found another set of ruins, this one seemed totally open. It was near a set of catacombs, I skipped those. I wandered into this ruin and found a modern art installation. The artist had strung red string throughout the entire area. I don't have the words to describe it accurately, but it was pretty nifty. I wonder how long the installation was going to stay there?

After the art installation I headed straight to the bus stop. It took me a while to get there, and I was sweating and not feeling so good when I did arrive. Just before arriving I thought I'd just missed the second to last bus to depart, and would have to wait around for an hour, but it was running late, so I was able to board. Yay!

Two hours later I was back in Nicosia.

cyprus: nicosia/lefkosa

I took advantage of a four day weekend to move a little closer to my goal of visiting every country in Europe. During this weekend I was able to take a quick look at various parts of Cyprus. It's a tiny island country, and I thought 4 days would be enough to see a good portion of it, but I was totally wrong. It is small, but it has a mighty history, and has a good amount of natural beauty.

I had a direct flight from Kyiv to a city called Larnaca, which is not the capital of the country. (I don't think there is an airport in the capital.) It's not hard to get to Nicosia, but it isn't the cheapest either. My flight landed in Larnaca, on the southern coast of the island nation.

It turned out I had just barely missed the shuttle bus to Nicosia. I had to wait around another 45 minutes or so. The airport had free wifi though...

The shuttle bus to the capital city of Nicosia doesn't actually take you anywhere close to where anyone would want to go. It stops on the outskirts of the city, requiring just about everyone to hop in one of the many taxis waiting at the bus station.

Since my hotel turned out to be in the middle of a pedestrian area, the cab dropped me off nearby. As I was walking through these streets I started to get a bit worried that I was lost, so I asked a few people at a cafe.

They gave me directions (I was still going the right way,) and also asked me to sit and relax for a few minutes. They were nice enough, so I took a seat. It turned out one of the men (all three were older,) owned the restaurant, and the other two were his lawyer friends. It was fun to chat with them for a while, and ask the random questions I always have. They taught me a little about the history of the island, which I definitely appreciated.

From there it was easy to find and check into my hotel. As it was almost midnight by that point, I was exhausted, and fell asleep immediately.

Nicosia is a split city. As far as I know, it is one of just a few in the world where two governments control the city. In this case it is peaceful, and the split has been in place for years. I've heard somewhere that the people of the island want to unite, but who knows what will happen. The two sides are referred to as Greek Cyprus and Turkish Cyprus, or Cyprus and Turkish controlled Northern Cyprus. The southern side is a sovereign country, and is not controlled by Greece at all, though they share a language. The southern side uses the euro as currency, the northern side uses the Turkish lira.

Both currencies can be used in the north, but only euros are used in the south. Take a look online if you want more details about the split, as I would rather describe what I did and saw, rather than attempt to make simple something that is actually really complicated.

Since I'd read online a number of different descriptions about the 'border' between the two sides, I didn't know how long it would take to 'cross,' so I headed there first to make sure I had plenty of time. To get to the 'border post' I walked along Ledra street, which could've been a street anywhere in Europe. Cafes and shops and everything else that might be needed by tourists line the street.

When I got to the border I handed my passport to the first window, which was manned by the Cypriot (Greek side,) police. They looked me up in the computer to make sure I'd entered legally, then handed back my passport. I walked through no mans land, to another set of windows. This set was manned by Turkish customs officials. They looked at my passport and handed it back. I was really hoping that one or the other side would stamp my passport, but that didn't happen. The reason for this is that neither side considers it an official border crossing. (Though from what I understand, if an American were to enter the country by coming from mainland Turkey, they would not be able to cross into the southern side of Cyprus, as this is not an official entry point to the country, and therefore they wouldn't be legal.)

As soon as I was out of the border area I got a bit lost. As with any city center that has been around for a long time, nothing goes in a straight line. There were signs pointing in various directions, but I just wandered until I found something interesting to see.

The first 'sight' for me was an old church. When I walked up to the door I discovered there was a whirling dervish performance going on inside, and I wasn't in the mood to pay an entrance fee for something that had already started. I don't know if this is ever used as a church anymore. I loved the carving over the door, it was quite intricate.

Right next to the church was a big mosque. Selimiye Mosque actually began it's life as a cathedral, but sometime after Turkey started to govern the north side of the island it was turned into a mosque. Or maybe the change happened even earlier, I don't know. Either way, it still looks like a church from the outside.

Since it is a mosque, that means everyone has to take off their shoes; thankfully there were shelves for all the shoes. Even though I was wearing a skirt that went almost to my knees and a tshirt, I was told that I needed to cover up. Fortunately I was able to borrow a wraparound skirt to cover my knees. I already had a headscarf to use.

I don't have a problem with being respectful in any country or building, but it annoyed me when the standard is not equal. When I was inside, I noticed quite a few men wearing shorts that did not cover their knees, even a few in tank tops. NOT FAIR.

The mosque itself was lovely. The ceilings were high, there was carpet all the way through, and the stained glass let in beautiful light. There was a women's prayer area behind a door, but it was dark and I didn't want to bother the lady in there who was clearly praying. I'm glad I was able to go through the entire mosque, as some won't let a women into the main area no matter what.

After the mosque I wandered through the twisty streets and eventually made it to my second major sight, known as Buyuk Han. It was originally built as an inn, but has long since been turned into an area with shops and cafes for tourists. It is pretty though, and I would've liked it better if not for the displays of souvenirs everywhere I looked.

That being said, I bought a few postcards, and when photos on other postcards caught my eye I was able to ask the shop owner about another town on the island. He told me where it was, and how to get there using local transport, yay!

Since I like to know locations of bus stops and such, I decided to walk to the place I could find the public transport, which took me through more of the north side of the city. In Turkish, the north side of the city is called Lefkosa.

The first part of this walk took me to a memorial column, called the Venetian column. Not terribly interesting, but it was fun to watch a kid chase the birds around the base of the column.

From there I walked straight up the street to one of the former gates of the old city. (The old city – which used to be a single city – was walled all the way around. Much of the walls still stand, though some are in ruins.)

The town I wanted to go to was called Girne, (the Turkish name is Girne, the Greek name is Kyrenia,) and this was the Girne gate, how convenient. It didn't take me long to find where I would catch the local transport, which relieved me.

Since I was already there, I decided to keep walking. I didn't see anything of interest after walking for a while, and it was hot. Hot and sunny with very little shade. I stopped into numerous mini markets until I found something to drink, thank goodness someone finally had water, not a sugary liquid. 

I turned around and walked all the way back toward the crossing area. On the way I ended up stopping for what I thought was a snack at a cafe. It turned out to be a full meal, which I didn't really need or want, but it was good. Another bottle of water later and I felt human again.

On the way back I also passed a super cute bookstore. I wish I'd had room in my pack to buy a book, just because it was so pretty inside the store.

After crossing the 'border' again I found a cafe with fruit smoothie type options, and I couldn't resist. I ended up ordering something with colorful layers, yum. Then I went back to my hotel for 90 minutes to cool down.

After a while I went out again, because it was still light outside and there is always something more to see. I followed one of the old city walls until I came to a monument, called Liberty monument. No one else was around, which surprised me; I guess I expect anything to do with liberty/freedom/independence to have people hanging around. I took my photos and moved on.

Across the street was what remains of an old aqueduct, so I took photos of that too. At that point I had just one more sight in mind, another of the old city gates. I almost missed this one, as it is mostly covered up (by another building,) from the outside and top, and wasn't open when I walked by. Nothing exciting.

Since I wanted to keep walking, I kept going in whateva direction looked interesting. At one point I bumped up on the border between the two sides of the city, this area was fenced off and closed. It was not a solid fence, so I was able to see the other side, and noticed a couple unesco observation shacks.

I imagine when relations between Cyprus and Greece aren't so good, there are people in these shacks, manking sure the no mans land area stays quiet. It didn't look as if that situation has happened anytime recently.

I wound through more of the old city streets, quite a few of which had abandoned homes. I peeked into everything I could, because I find this sort of building fascinating. One of the buildings reminded me a lot of what I'd seen on my visits to the town of Pripyat in Ukraine, which is where Chornobyl is located.

I found more churches, only one of which was open. Everything I saw was Greek Catholic, which makes me think of a combination of Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic.

At one point I stumbled into a small street food fest. Even though I didn't need it, I ended up buying a vegan burrito. Not bad.

I went back to the hotel for another hour or so, then went out for dinner. Since the food I'd tasted the night before at the old man's restaurant had been good, I decided to go back again for a full meal. It was good, and I was remembered. Yay.

The next day I spent in the city of Pafos, returning to Nicosia for dinner.

The following morning I was up in time to catch a bus/mini van to Girne. When I returned to Nicosia I sped through the border crossing, and back to my hotel. I'd already packed up my stuff in the morning, but no one had been at the front desk so I hadn't checked out. This worked out for me, as I was able to grab my bag and go right back out of the hotel.

I dropped my key at the (now manned) front desk, then walked over to the bus station. I hadn't bought tickets ahead of time, and I noticed a growing crowd of people who clearly wanted the same bus I did. Thankfully I've lived and spent time in plenty of places where people don't always respect a queue. I looked for a queue, but didn't see one, so I slowly wound my way close to the door of the bus, which made sure I'd have a seat.

The bus left a few minutes late, and over an hour later I was in Larnaca.

russia: kazan

When my friend Bo found out I had moved to Russia, he decided to visit. He and I have traveled and/or met up on three different continents, in multiple countries and cities. He planned his trip so that he would have time in Moscow, as well opportunities as see several other cities.

The first weekend he was in town, he joined Claire and I for our weekend trip to Kazan. We chose the city because it was one of the host cities for the upcoming World Cup football tournament, and we didn't know anyone else who had been there.

Kazan is the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, a semi autonomous republic in Russia. There are almost 1.2 million people in the city, it's one of the biggest in Russia. There are two official languages, Tatar and Russian. Names all over the city were written in both languages; Tatar has a few characters in its alphabet that are different from Russian. The Republic is both Islamic and Orthodox, with houses of worship of both faiths.

Kazan is pretty much as far as I'm willing to go on a night train for a weekend trip from Moscow, the train ride was 11+ hours. We arrived just before noon, on time. Since the train rides each way were so long, it meant less time in the city, booo. 

We took a couple photos of the trains, station, and one of the train attendants.

From there we walked to the hotel we'd booked for the night. We weren't able to check in, but we were able to use the toilet and leave our bags at the front desk.

Our first sight was one we had seen while on the train coming into the city. It looked like a church in the middle of the river. It took us a while to walk there, but the weather was nice, so we didn't care. When we got there, we were able to go down to the banks of the river but weren't able to get out to the church, as it was actually out in the middle of the river.

I'm not sure how it is possible to get out to the church, and to go inside, but it must be at various times.

The banks of the river at this point were more like sand dunes, which were fun and challenging to get around.

From this church, we walked back to the biggest sight of the city, the kremlin. You can see the white walls from a distance, and it sits on a small hill. You can also see the minarets of a big mosque inside the kremlin.

The landscaping around the kremlin is really simple, just a lot of green, soon to be healthy looking grass.

Near the entrance of the kremlin is a metal dragon, of course I took that photo.

Entrance into the kremlin was free, woo hoo. Almost as soon as we walked in, we saw the mosque, it would be impossible to miss. Kul Sharif mosque was one of the biggest mosques in Russia and Europe when it was built, in the 16^th century. It is white, with blue at the tops of the minarets. The platz around the mosque is paved with bricks, the whole thing is aesthetically attractive.

As we approached we saw a woman having her photo taken in front of the mosque, complete with hair flipping. As much as any people watching we do, it was entertaining. I have no desire to take sexy photos in front of a religious structure.

Entry into the mosque was also free, and one of the volunteer ladies made sure every strand of my hair was covered before letting me go any further. Bo simply had to take off his hat, sigh. We followed other visitors to one of two doors marked as tourist balconies.

It turned out there were balconies for tourists on the walls of the second level of the mosque, the doors led to stairwells to get us up to those balconies. As the balconies were rather small, we had to wait while the queue moved slowly up the stairs.

The view of the 'sanctuary' from the balcony was lovely. There were plenty of windows, so the interior area was filled with natural light, something I always love. There was a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling providing even more lighting.

Back in the entry area, we noticed a man sitting in a box of sorts, singing the Koran. It was really impressive to see, I wonder how long he sits in there at a time.

By the time we left the mosque the weather had changed completely. It was now windy, with grey skies. Walking along we came to the gate of the official residence of the president of the republic. I wonder how often he is there. The gate was closed, so we weren't able to get that close. I'd like to think that tours are available to the public from time to time.

We didn't know of anywhere else to go in the kremlin, so we left. I still feel like we missed something, but I don't know what. Since Claire and I love public transport, and metros in particular, we decided to explore some of the metro stations of the city.

A jeton for a ride cost 25 rubles, it was just a piece of plastic. We rode several stops to the end of the line. It turned out only two or three stations were decorated nicely, but those stations were really nice. The best station had mosaics everywhere, including one of a dragon on the ceiling. 

Awesome. Like Moscow, the stations were cleaned and smelled normal. Unlike Moscow, trains didn't come quite so often.

After riding the metro we decided it was time for dinner. There didn't seem to be a huge range of options, we ended up having sushi from a food court in a mall. Also located in this mall was a store named after me :)

On the way back to our hotel we stopped at a supermarket to pick up food for the next day. We got a little lost on the way back to the hotel, but we got there eventually. It was easy to check in, and all three of us fell asleep quickly.

The next morning was our normal pattern of waking up early but not checking out and leaving for a few hours. Oh well. Unfortunately, when we woke up there was no power in the hotel. No wifi, no lights, no hot water. No fun.

After checking out, the first sight of the day was the Museum of Tatarstan State History. It was free that day, yippee! We had no idea why, but didn't care; what a lovely surprise. 

It was set up quite well, on two floors of displays. The history of the republic goes back quite a way, most of the exhibits were displayed chronologically. 

It was really neat to see the historical/cultural differences, up until Soviet times, when we saw some of the same things we could see in any history museum around the country.

After the museum we stopped in the central market, just to see what was there. I ended up buying some dried fruit, just because I liked the way the display was set up.

While walking around the city we'd noticed a church with an interesting roof several times. We finally found it, but the inside wasn't nearly as interesting as the outside. That has been typical in my Russian travels.

We walked along a park, which would probably be quite nice in a few weeks. As it was, we were visiting in mid April, when the snow had melted but nothing had started growing yet. There was a fountain with a statue in the middle, the water wasn't flowing just yet.

Next up was a statue of Pushkin, right next to a theatre. On the other side of the street from the front of the theatre was a statue of Lenin. I found information online telling me he was put there in 1954. Behind him was a big platz, called University Square.

On the other side of the square was the local duma, looking very big, boring, and Soviet. Since it was a weekend, there was no traffic (vehicular or pedestrian,) in front of the building.

From there we walked back toward a platz/circle more in the center of the city. While walking we saw a statue up on a hill. I'd seen a picture of this statue in the museum, so I was happy to see it in person. By that point the weather was not so great, so every time we walked on grass we were basically walking on mud. We did not walk all the way up the hill because of the mud.

After that we tried to go to the museum of Soviet life. We were quite excited to see this museum, until we started to pay the entry fee and realized it was basically a giant collection of Soviet kitsch. We had all seen these sorts of items from time to time, and didn't feel the need to pay hundreds of rubles to see more, so we ended up walking back out of the building.

It ended up being a good things we didn't spend time in the museum. We had just enough time to pick up sushi to go, walk back to the hotel to pick up our bags, then walk to the train station and board our train. 

We also stopped really quickly in a souvenir store near the train station, so we could get city magnets and postcards.

As expected, the train departed on time, and we arrived on time the next morning in Moscow. I don't feel the need to return to Kazan specifically, but I would be happy to explore more of the area.

ukraine: kamyanets podilsky

I went to Kamyanets-Podilsky my first school year in Ukraine, but I hadn't seen the town since. Since I knew this would likely be my last chance for a while, I figured out a free weekend to return. Getting there was easy, but not terribly convenient. The tickets were cheap, but that's because they were for seats on the train, not sleeper beds. The train left Kyiv mid afternoon, and arrived just after midnight in Kamyanets-Podilsky. Combining the seat and the timing of the train, I dozed on and off, but didn't really sleep.

I'd booked a place to stay for three nights, since the train back to Kyiv left in the middle of the night, and I just wasn't in the mood to carry my pack all day then spend hours at the train station in the late evening and night Sunday/Monday.
The guy who owned the place had sent a message to tell me he would pick me up at the train station when the train arrived. He did so, which was awesome.

There were a couple other people on the train staying at the same place, we were all in the car together. Driving to the hotel didn't take long in the car, it would've taken me a lot longer to walk the distance. As I've experienced in other places in Ukraine, there was no sign outside the building, there is no way I would've found it on my own.

My room had a giant skylight, which I loved. I fell asleep after looking up at the black sky.

The next morning I woke up early, despite going to sleep so late. Annoying to me, because I was tired. Also annoying to me was that it took me foreva to get moving. I didn't leave my room until just after noon, despite being awake for hours already.

My hotel was on the island part of Kamyanets-Podilsky. This is the part that is surrounded by city walls and a few of the old tower gates. There is a newer part of the city, not on the 'island.' Not surprisingly, most of the sights of the city are on the island, so that's where I stayed.

When I got out the door I realized I was really thirsty, and kinda hungry. I used my phone to figure out the closest supermarket, so I walked in that direction. While walking I saw several places of interest. The first was a church, which is basically the first thing anyone sees after crossing the bridge onto the island. It's not a church that makes much of an impression in terms of aesthetics or architecture, but it is the first thing you see, so it's memorable.

The grocery store was off island, so I walked across the bridge, which is also memorable. The bridge goes over a canyon of sorts, which is filled with greenery at this time of year. There is also a small creek at the bottom, which is quite pretty.

Just after crossing the bridge I took a path which took me down to the bottom of the path. It was pretty steep, and not in the greatest condition. I imagine it gets dangerous when there has been a lot of rain. When I got to the bottom I saw a pedestrian bridge crossing the creek, and started to go over. The bridge wasn't in great condition though, and I turned back after just a few steps. I normally have the courage to go over sketchy bridges, but I wasn't loving the swaying, and missing planks. Oh well.

I climbed back out of the canyon and took a look at a fountain, managing to take a photo just before a couple moved in to have wedding photos taken. When they moved in, I knew it would be at least 30 minutes until the area was free of people again. 

From there I walked to a nearby monument, which was memorializing the soldiers who founght in the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

Across the street from the monument is a big church. St. Alexander Nevsky is the name I think. It's an Orthodox Church, with silver domes on top.

The church is on a small hill, which makes it seem even bigger. I climbed the steps and went through the gate onto the property, then found the door to the church. It was closed, but unlocked. When I entered, the guy directly inside looked at me as if to inquire what I was there, but I'm pretty sure it was obvious I'm a foreigner, so he waited for me to speak. I tried to communicate that I just wanted to see the church, and he let me go into the sanctuary.

It was stunning. The entire sanctuary is painted with frescoes. There is painting inside the cupola, painting on the concrete columns, painting on the walls, etc... The iconostasis in the front was gold, with colourful icons. My neck got whiplash of a sort, trying to take it all in.

After the church I walked just a bit further to the supermarket. It felt really good to finally have something to drink, and I grabbed some snacks as well. I also ordered a hot chocolate from the stand out front, I"m such a sucker for hot chocolate.

I walked back to my hotel, then I followed the closest road, which took me to one of the old tower gates, and what remains of the city walls in that area. My travel book said this gate is seven stories tall, but it didn't look that big to me. I'm hoping I got something mixed up, because I'd hate for a guide to be wrong. There were doors at the bottom of the gate, but they were locked. Darnit.

I followed another road for a while, which took me into the center area of the island. I found another church, one that I remembered from my first visit 5 years ago.

The first time I visited I was able to go into this church, but this time the doors were locked. Oh well. The front of the church is bordered by a small cemetery, which had a lot of flowers growing already. It was beautiful, and peaceful. I walked out another way, through a small gate, which was also beautiful.

I walked down the hill, and ended up at what is called the Polish Gate (I'm assuming it was built or named when this part of the country was part of the Polish Empire) which is gorgeous in an abandoned building sort of way. Sadly, there was plenty of rubbish laying around, from people who had a picnic inside the gate remains. People really ought to clean up after themselves. I climbed around a bit, which was fun. Given the way some of the stone was collapsing, I can't help but wonder how/why the whole thing is still completely open for anyone who wants to climb around. (Then again, Ukraine is not known for taking safety precautions.)

I walked back up the hill, and followed the path all the way into the city center. I found a church that wasn't exciting from the exterior, nor was it exciting inside. I think the church was under renovation, I hope religious items would be put back in, and soon.

When I got to the platz in the city center I found the area full of people. Apparently there was some sort of festival taking place, though I never found out exactly what it was. There was a stage set up, as well as stalls selling popcorn and other snacks. People were milling around, a concert of sorts started not long after I walked into the area.

On one side of the platz was a souvenir village, with lots of perma-stalls set up with ukrainian souvenirs and knick knacks for the town itself. I didn't find anything that interested me, and there didn't seem to be many people looking around.

I walked toward the sight for which Kamyanets-Podilsky is most well known. It's a castle/fortress on one side of the island. There are heaps of photos taken of this castle/fortress, it's the most common thing to be seen on a postcard and/or magnet. As I got close I realized how tired I was, and since I'd seen the interior before (five years ago,) I opted to skip that this time.

From there I wanted to dinner. I chose a steak restaurant in the newer part of town. The food was okay, but the service left much to be desired.

I walked back to my hotel, enjoying the city lit up at night. Some of the areas in the canyon were lit up, as was the bridge. Very pretty. 

The next morning I woke up early again, and managed to get out the door slightly earlier than the day before. My first sight of the day was off island, it was a Chornobyl memorial. After touring Chornobyl itself, and learning the history of what happened at the nuclear plant, I always make an effort to see these memorials. All nuclear disasters have been human caused, and all could have been prevented.

I went back to the same supermarket as the day before, getting more to drink, and more snacks. And more hot chocolate from the stand out front.

I crossed back onto the island, and figured out how to get to yet another former tower of the former city walls. This one wasn't as easy to get to, I had to follow a couple paths that clearly aren't used very often. This tower was also closed and locked. Argh.

The guidebook says the building next to this tower was an old synagogue, but it didn't look like a synagogue anymore. I'm pretty sure it is now a restaurant, argh.

My next sight was yet another former tower in the former city defenses. This one was much more difficult to find. The first street I tried was blocked off, so I wound through other streets. Google maps had a street marked on a map, but it wasn't really a street. It was actually just a streak in the grass that had been walked on a few times. I followed the 'street' and eventually got to where I wanted to go. The tower here was missing a roof, and a door. There were windows though :)

Back in the land of 'normal' roads, I walked to a place listed as a Dominican monastery on maps. The outside walls were high, I couldn't see much of anything. When I got to the front door I saw a wedding party exiting the church. It wasn't a big group, so I hung out for a little, and waited until they pulled away. The front door was still unlocked, so I went in. I'm not sure the church is normally open to the public. A good portion of the sanctuary was blocked off, and under renovation, but I still enjoyed taking a look inside. Somehow I don't think the church was normally open to the public, I just got lucky with my timing. 

Further down that particular street was a set of ruins. My guidebook told me it is what remains of an Armenian church. When I use the word ruins, I mean foundation ruins; there is hardly anything to see. The gate is still in front of the ruins though, I wonder if the gate is taken care of more often than the ruins?

Out the backside of the ruins I noticed another church. This one was tiny, but new, used, and well taken care of. I peeked inside, and as it was so small I wondered if it is used as a place to have services or is just for the members of a church order. It's really small, but it has an iconostasis and several icons.

I made my way down the hill, which basically took me to the bottom of the canyon. Along the way I passed what used to the be the barracks for the soldiers who used to guard the city. I wanted to go in the gates of this abandoned building, but when a dog inside the gates jumped up and started barking, I changed that plan.

At the bottom of the canyon I found a bridge crossing the river. This one was a lot more sturdy than the bridge I'd seen the day before, so I took advantage and used my tripod to take a couple photos. The path on the other side of the bridge took me straight up the other side of the canyon, right to another church. I stepped inside, and judging from the look on the face of the priest, there aren't many visitors to this church.

My map had another former tower/gate marked, and I went hunting for it, but never found it. Obviously the map was wrong, or it doesn't exist at all. Argh.

At that point I followed the street I was on, which went down a hill. I ended up seeing the backside of the famous castle/fortress, and I ended up thinking this was a better view than the one you usually see in photos.

To get to the last sight I wanted to see I used my phone to tell me the quickest path to walk. For anyone who has read any of my posts, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I wanted to see another church. This one is called St George.

I walked all the way there only to find that the gates to the property were closed, as were the doors at the bottom of the bell tower. Darnit.

Since I didn't have anything else of interest to me to see, I walked back to my hotel. I hung out for a while, then walked to the same restaurant for dinner as I'd visited the evening before. This time, they didn't have the first two options I wanted, but I found food to eat.

After eating I walked back to my hotel, and hung out in my room for a few hours. Even though I wouldn't be spending the entire night, I'd paid for the night as I didn't have other ways of spending time until the train left. I dozed off and on, not really sleeping, but not staying completely awake either. 

At the right time, or even a bit late, I started walking to the train station. I walked really really fast to the train station, and got on the train less than 10 minutes before it left. The next morning I arrived in Kyiv, totally sleep deprived. It's not fun trying to sleep sitting up, but that's the way the timing of these trains worked.

There are a couple areas nearby Kamyanets-Podilsky that I'd like to come back to see, but I don't know if it will happen in the forseeable future. I'll put them on the list anywho.