Ukraine: Zaporhyzhia and Khortitsa

There are different ways of spelling the name of the city I describe in this post. The name of the town is different in Russian and Ukrainian; Russian is what is spoken by nearly everyone here. There are different transliterations, I've chosen what sounds best to me.

My train arrived 11 minutes late in Zaporhyzhia. That's not bad at all for an 11+ hour ride!

I exited the train station, and walked along the main street of the town in the direction of the accomodation I'd booked. It's a loooooong street. After the weekend was over I believed it that one of my guidebooks says it is one of the longest streets in the country.

I'm not sure of the name of the street, strange as that probably sounds. There has been a lot of renaming over the last few years in Ukraine. Town and street names that have been deemed too "Russian" have been changed to something more Ukrainian. Google maps is rather confusing on the whole thing, I'm never sure whether it is correct or not. It's annoying when a hotel or restaurant or any other place lists an address, but a travel app lists another name. Usually I end up in the right place, but not always. Learning the old and new names is also a way of learning a bit of history of a place.

The name of this street was once Svobody St, which means Freedom St. Then, for a long while, it was called Lenin St. Now I think it's back to Svobody St, though most of the street signs I saw still say Lenin St. (in Ukrainian, of course.) I'm pretty sure another street near my accomodation was changed as well, which makes me think a whole lot of street names in this town have been changed.

Zaporhyzhia is in the western half of the country, which in general means the local economy and mindset of locals is much more tied to Russia than to the West.

As this street was plenty long, I had opportunity to take plenty of photos along the way. One of my friends in Kyiv had warned me that she thought this city is ugly. After just the first walk I disagreed with her. But not in the way you'd think. I already thought this place wasn't ugly, but it was boring.

I passed a door that had a peeling name over it, saying Disney. Let's just say it didn't represent the Disney company that most people recognize.

I walked over a bridge crossing a small creek, which was gorgeous at that hour, with the morning sun.

I passed a memorial to something specific that had happened in 1942. Obviously something that had happened in WW2, but I'm not sure what. Every Ukrainian town has a WW2 memorial, but this was clearly more specific than the whole war.

I passed Holy Protection Cathedral. Another Orthodox church.

I found my accomodation and checked in. The room was tiny, but cheap. A single room, less than $10, including wifi and a kitchenette.

Just before crossing a bigger bridge (which was over land, not water,) I passed what had previously been a memorial.

Whateva it was had been removed recently enough that I could still see the shading of the dates: 1918-1968. The bottom of a platform was still there, whateva statue had been there had also been removed. I really wish I knew what had been memorialized and removed. I'm guessing something to do with Russia, (or the former USSR,) but I don't really know.

As I passed the post office I admired the exterior decoration, which was a giant mosaic. When I went inside, the inside had mosaic decoration as well. It wasn't as grand a central post office as I've seen in other places, but I really liked the mosaics. Sadly, I didn't see postcards in this post office. Argh.

In front of the post office was a big platz, partly filled with military vehicles. There were a few tables of people selling random Ukrainian kitch. I'm guessing this is where the local 'maidan' demonstrations were located a couple years ago.

On the other side of the platz was Hotel Intourist. It's a name that will sound familiar to anyone who has studied Eastern Europe. This one was big and boring, as most of them are.

As I continued walking, I peeked to my right, and saw the top of another church. Since churches always catch my eye, I started walking in that direction, and figured out how to get there. It ended up being a Roman Catholic church, which aren't nearly as common in eastern Ukraine. It was reddish, and behind a set of gates. Fortunately, the gates were open, as was the church. Nothing much was going on inside, but I sat down for a few minutes and communed with my Maker. I appreciate the chance to have these conversations, though they don't always have to be in a church.

Back on the main street I stepped into a hidden courtyard, and found an abandoned fountain that was slowly being taken over by nature, and rubbish. There was also a very decrepit basketball hoop, I'm guessing it hadn't been used in quite a while.

I saw the circus building, not on the main street. Circuses used to be a state supported activity, so many towns have a 'pretty' building for the local circus, or any visiting groups.

I walked through a park that had lots of artists selling their work, mostly paintings. I also saw a few tables of Ukrainian kitch. Through all of my travels around this country I'm always amazed that these vendors make enough money to make it worthwhile to have one of these tables every day, or every weekend. I'm curious how they decide what to sell, what to make to sell.

I walked to the so called "Alley of Heroes,' which is the city WW2 memorial, As usual, it was big. There were a couple specific memorials in this area, and to the whole war in general as well. At this point in the day the sun was already behind the area, so I didn't take photos.

Behind the Alley of Heroes was an abandoned building. For whateva reason there was no barricade around this building. None at all. I'm surprised, as the building could not possibly be considered safe. There was glass all over the place, as well as whateva building materials had fallen out of the walls and ceilings and stairs, etc...

 I loved it. I wasn't the only one wanderng around the building, I saw two other small groups. I found stairs and even though the railing was more than sketchy, I went up. The second floor was just as photogenic as the first, though I know that sort of thing is really subjective.

After a while I walked out of the building, (making sure none of the broken glass ended up stuck in the bottom of my shoes,) and made my way back to the main street. In a tiny little park I saw a few benches painted like animals, very cute.

At the next intersection I saw one of those city signs, saying something like I ❤ ZP. Of course I asked a random stranger to take my photo. Why not?!?

Further along the main street I found a Holodomor memorial. A tragedy that never should've happened, and has never been (and never will be) officially admitted to by any national government, of Ukraine, or what is now Russia. Read my other blog posts to learn the history of this event. What happened, where it happened, and who was affected.

Behind this memorial was a wall with a lot of graffiti, and those towers carrying a lot of power lines. For some reason, I found all of this worth setting up timed photos.

Back on the main street I passed a stella dedicated to steel workers, and a national theater building.

Finally I made it to the end of the street. It really did feel as though it had been going, and going, and going, and going.

At the end of the street was a small park platz, with an empty pedestal for a statue in the middle.

You could still see where the letters of the name had been. Lenin. It turns out they'd taken down the statue of Lenin (one of the last in the country to be removed,) just a few months earlier. This area was backlit at the time, so I didn't take photos, and decided to come back the next day.

I kept walking. To do this I turned onto one of the streets at that intersection, heading slightly downhill. This eventually took me to a dam.

This damn is big, and important in the area. At one end, as I was walking along the side of the river I saw armed soldiers guarding some sort of building, I wish I knew what it was. I stayed on the side of the road, and walked across the damn. At this point in the day the sun was starting to set, and it was a very sunny day, so it felt as if one side of my face was being roasted.

When I got to the other side of the dam, I decided that was far enough. It was on the other side of the dam that I saw the name of the dam, as well as a photo of Lenin. Apparently not everything of the man has been removed.

It was a loooong walk back to my accommodation. LONG. I stopped on the way for dinner, a sushi place. Not bad, not wonderful. Good enough for me.

It was after dark when I got back home. I saw another national university building near my place, all lit up. Pretty, and very quiet at that hour. I wonder what is studied in that particular building?

I don't normally post this, but my Fitbit told me my daily step count for this day was 42,000 steps. I wasn't kidding about a long main street!!

The next morning I slept all the way till 0730. For me on traveling weekends, that's a pretty good lay in. Not that I ever get moving that early, but I usually wake up around 0600, for no good reason. I guess all the walking the day before had worn me out more than usual.

I walked down the hallway to grab a shower, and after letting it run for a few minutes to warm up, discovered it was still cold. I had to go to the front desk to ask them to turn on the water heater, then wait another few minutes while they figured out how to do that. Eventually I got my hot water shower.

After packing up, checking out, and leaving my backpack, I got back to the main street. I got to the Alley of Heroes again, this time the lighting was a whole lot better for taking photos. Yay! At this point I discovered there was another section of the Alley across the street. More war memorials. I like this stuff, though most people get over seeing these sorts of things again and again and again. I hope this history never repeats itself.

I stopped at a small bakery for breakfast/lunch, and picked up a couple items to go.

I walked all the way to the end of the street again, (was it just me or did it feel even longer than it had the day before?) all the way to Lenin's former standing place, and took the photos I wanted. Well, sorta. I had been hoping no one else would be there, but oh well.

Zaporhyzhia is known for the island of Khortitsya in the middle of the river, downstream from the dam. This island was a place of refuge for cossacks, way back in the day. I decided I wanted to see what I could.

The walk to the island took me down a long, quiet road. I was a bit concerned at some points that I was on the right road, as there wasn't a lot of traffic, and the area didn't look very well taken care of. I went over another bridge, (it is an island after all, you have to get there somehow,) and found the main intersection on the island. There was a lot of wind, and the sides of the bridge weren't that easy to walk on. Argh.There were signs pointing me in different directions, but I knew I wanted to see the 'fortress' and hopefully the museum.

The walk from the intersection to the fortress was on a wide, relatively quiet road. Trees on both sides. I could see plenty of walking and biking trails, and wished I had time for more exploration. (Is there ever a time I don't have that wish?)

I did get to see the fortress. Or at least the replication of it. The walls are actually wooden planks. There are a number of buildings inside the walls, each has been turned into a sort of living museum. A church, (which is still functioning,) which was absolutely lovely with wood. A home. A blacksmith, etc....

I looked around each of them, but got bored rather quickly. I looked at my watch and knew I didn't have time for the museum. Argh.

I walked quickly allllll the way back to the main street. I'd seen another sushi place the day before, so I stopped there to pick up dinner to eat on the train. Since all the walking and waiting had taken me a little longer than expected, I was practically running to get back to my accomodation to pick up my backpack.

After picking up the backpack I kept going fast, all the way back to the train station.

Thankfully I had enough time to stop in a supermarket and pick up some water. Also along the way I took a few more photos, just cause I like taking them.

While on the train back to Kyiv I got lucky with a beautiful sunset. Absolutely lovely.