ukraine: chernivtsi

Chernivtsi was the first town I visited outside of Kyiv, when I first moved to Ukraine. That was five years ago! Since then, the university in town has been designated an official unesco sight. I saw the university the first time around, but decided I wanted to see it again. That first trip was just one day, and I wanted to spend a couple more days seeing more of the city. 

My night train from Kyiv was 11 hours, and arrived 2 minutes later than scheduled. That's pretty impressive! It's also pretty standard from what I've experienced of the Ukrainian train system. 

The train arrived before dawn, in a snow covered town. The main train station in town is quite small, but still very elegant. There was a large Christmas tree in the middle of the great room of the station; presumably it would've stayed up until at least 19 January, which is Orthodox Epiphany. 

The train station is at the bottom of a hill. I used the maps on my phone, which said it should take about an hour to walk to my hotel. I knew it would take longer than that, since I knew I would stop to take photos along the way. I have yet to find a place where I don't take photos. 

It did take longer, about 90 minutes instead of 60. I walked through the center of town, which was nice to see without anyone else around. I remembered some of what I was seeing from my last trip, but this time I had a better idea of how it all fit together. There was still a lot of Christmas decoration on some of the buildings, including city hall. I stepped into a few interior courtyards, just to see what they looked like. 

Eventually I got to my hotel. They let me check in early, which was really appreciated. I loved my room, the bed was super comfortable. Wifi was good, and the heating system was good. Yay! I kinda sorta maybe fell asleep for a couple hours ;) 

The only downfall of the hotel was location, as it was nowhere near the city center. It was close to the main bus station though, if I'd needed that. 

Eventually I got myself together, and walked back to the main road I'd followed to get to the hotel, and headed back toward the city center. 

Along the way I stopped into a bakery, because I saw through the window that they had mini chocolate tarts. It was definitely worth it, those tarts were good!! (And cheap!!)

I also passed a church painted pepto pink. A very bright colour, and not one you see very often on a church. I wonder what made the powers that be choose that colour. 

I wandered through the city center until I got to university street. I followed that until I arrived at the front gates of the university. 

This university was originally the private residence of the Bukovinian and Moldavian Dalmatians of the Duchy of Bukovinia. 

This duchy was a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Basically, it was a palace of sorts, complete with a church. 

I asked the security guard at the entrance gate where I needed to go for a tour, in my very very broken Russian. Of course he could tell that I was not a native speaker and didn't understand much, but he tried to help me, which was awesome. He said I had to take a tour, and that the tours were only in Russian. I said that's okay, (I knew I could research what I saw later,) and he pointed out a group that was just starting. Yay for helpful people. 

I walked over to the group, and stood there, even though I had no idea what he was saying. I followed the group when it moved toward the main entrance area, and as we entered I listed to another bit of information I didn't understand. 

Then we went up a set of stairs, and I remembered to look up. I took a couple photos, because the ceiling above the stairs was filled with mini cupolas, each painted very nicely. While I was taking these photos, I got separated from my group. To make that separation more of a problem, another group came down the stairs right about then. By the time I got to the top of the stairs my group was nowhere to be found. Uh oh, whoops. 

I raced back to a security guard I'd seen at the main entrance of the building we were in, and explained my situation. (In very broken Russian.) He understood, grabbed a set of keys, and walked me back to my group. It turned out they'd gone through a door which had then been locked behind the group. No wonder I couldn't find them. Inside that door was a hallway leading to a huge room, where my group was sitting. 

The room was gorgeous. Two large chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and there were many rows of chairs. At one end of the room was a raised platform, the sort of area a professor could stand, or an award be presented. 

Up high I could see a balcony of sorts going around an upper level. A grand room, very pretty. The security guard explained me by saying 'she's an American' and went back to his post after I said thank you. 

I sat with the group, and listened to the rest of the spiel for this room even though I didn't understand. After he finished speaking the guide indicated we should take a few photos, then walked to the next place we would meet. I took more photos, of course. 

The next room was boring in the sense of wanting to take photos. The whole thing was painted a dark baby blue. (I'm not a fan of this color.) Along the walls were chairs, and a couple tables were in the middle of the room. At each end were posters in various languages, talking about builders and architects. During the spiel the guide gave in this room I'm sure he explained why these posters were on display. I noticed that each language featured a different architect. 

We went back through the grand room to get to our next room, on the other side of the grand room. I called this one the red room. The whole thing was painted a dark red. The ceiling was decorated, and the tables and chairs were set in a sort of zig zag formation. As he finished speaking, the guide gathered everyone by a large mirror on the outer wall of this room. He borrowed a lighter from someone, and held it close to the mirror. Everyone watched carefully, though I had no idea what I was watching; nothing happened, as far as I could see. 

The group then exited that building, and walked over to the church. We entered the church, and listened to more information. The church was still decorated for the holidays, with a nativity scene and a Christmas tree. 

As I always do in a church, I looked up. Beautiful. There were frescoes on all the walls and ceiling. I loved it. I looked up and around long enough that I had a small crick in my neck. It was totally worth it. 

The church was the end of our tour. I wish the tour included other areas, as the buildings are rather extensive. Even if not all the rooms are so grand, I'd like to walk through a few more at the very least. Also, this tour didn't involve any time in the gorgeous gardens behind the university. I assume it was because of the weather, booo. (It was a gorgeous day, and everything was snow covered.)

Across the street from the university is a small park with a bust in the middle. The bust is approachable through a small aisle of trees, it was mostly shady when I arrived. The bust is painted gold, which is unlike most of anything else I've ever seen. 

I made my way back to the center of town, then turned into another street. I saw another small platz, it was being cleared of snow. Nothing exciting. 

Around another corner I found another church. (Later on I discovered that though the building was outlined in google maps, it was not named or labeled. I added the name and label, and a couple photos.) St Paraskeva isn't big. The interior is mostly blue, with a nice chandelier and painted cupola. On the grounds of the church, off to one side is a well. The covering seemed rather fancy to me, maybe it reaches all the way to holy water? 

Several streets later I came to a Jewish memorial. I didn't see a sign to say what it was, but I did see the six pointed star, and a few flowers laid there. 

My next spot was an area called Turkish Square. I have no idea why it has this name. There was a set of columns in a circle, and a flat area. Off to one side was an art installation, a giant bicycle. From this area, on both sides of the street, there were long stairways, leading to a bridge over the road. My eyes saw an interesting photo, but I don't think my camera saw what I saw. Also, I like photos without people, and there was a constant enough flow of people on the stairs that it didn't work out. The sun was setting, so it was getting dark, and it was already cold and getting colder. 

I made my way back to the platz in front of City Hall, and branched off to a pedestrian street. I knew there were a few stores on the street, along with cafes and restaurants. I found a sushi place for dinner. 

From there I walked back to my hotel, mostly on the main street. Along the way I stopped in a store to pick up breakfast food for the next morning. 

I slept well that night, in the bed I already loved. 

As usual (much to my frustration with myself,) I stayed inside far too long the next morning. How do I get motivated to get going faster? 

As I got to the main street, I noticed (it would've been impossible not to notice,) floats for a parade. I remembered my town map saying this day was the day for the annual Malanka celebration. Malanka is often called the Old New Year, based on the Orthodox calendar. I think? I'm a bit confused. 

I remember a few of the floats: people dressed up like angry birds, dancing to music, people dressed up like the flinstones, and one guy dressed like charlie chaplain and playing a piano. Each float had speakers, and played music, loudly. I took a couple videos as the floats went by. 

I made the same walk I had the day before, heading into the city center.  I played leapfrog with the parade, depending on how vehicular traffic was moving. I stopped into the same bakery as the day before, and bought more mini chocolate tarts. Yum.

As I got closer to the city center the sidewalks got crowded. Very crowded. I realized this parade was attracting a whole lot of people. I don't know how many people live in Chernivtsi, but it felt as though many of them were out on the streets. 

The square in front of city hall was packed, it was not so easy to cross the street. I pushed through, and made my way to a door that was supposed to be the entry to a tourist information office. It wasn't an office, at all. It was a shop. I found decent postcards, so I bought a few. 

The information office ended up being behind the shop. I walked in, and did not feel terribly welcome. 

My impression was the guy sitting behind the desk was far more interested in continuing his personal conversation with the lady sitting on the chair in front of the desk than helping anyone. I don't know what they were talking about, but that's how I felt when the guy glanced at me, then continued talking to the lady. There was no information displayed anywhere, and the whole room (quite small) just felt/looked like a back office. This is NOT the kind of tourist information office I expected in a town that has a unesco sight. 

I pushed through more crowds to theater square, I wanted to get to the Jewish museum, located on one corner of the square. 

As I got to that square, I saw more people crowded on one end, and another float driving down that street. I walked around the entire square before finding the Jewish museum, and discovered I was too late. It turns out it was only open for three hours on Sunday, from 10am to 1pm. Argh. If I'd gotten going earlier I would've been there in time. 

I went back toward the city center platz, finding even more people. So many people. This time it was a lot harder to get through the crowds, and get to the street I wanted. There were security people around, making sure the crowds didn't get under control, I didn't envy them. 

I walked down this street, going past a couple churches. I entered both of them, because churches always interest me. One was average, and the other had a far more interesting exterior. The towers on top were sortof twisty, and made me wonder if they were leaning slightly sideways. (They weren't, of course, it's just an optical illusion.) As I walked up to the twisty one I realized people were standing around, waiting for a ceremony to start. (I don't know what the ceremony was going to be.) As usual, there was a nicely painted cupola inside, though it was very dark. 

From these churches I kept walking, coming to a turnoff I needed. This street runs between an area of cemeteries, I wanted to see the Jewish cemetery. My first attempt at finding the entrance was a failure, but eventually I found it. 

Only a small gate was open, and I could see the entire cemetery was covered in snow. Right at the beginning was a large building with a dome, which looked abandoned. I would've peeked inside except that it was surrounded by a fence clearly designed to keep everyone out. I don't know if anything was being repaired, or if it was just keeping people out for safety reasons. When it comes to boarded up buildings, you never know.

I wandered through the cemetery, taking note of different tombstones and markers. Some were large and extravagant (in my taste,) while others were crowded together and didn't look cared for. I could see footprints from a few other people, as well as dogs. I'm as fascinated by cemeteries as I am by churches, they're all different and say a lot about the people who once lived. 

After a while I walked back into the city center. I took a different road after a while, and found an Armenian Catholic Church. Just like the last time I was in Chernivtsi, it wasn't open. Argh. 

I went back to the same sushi place I'd visited the night before for dinner. Yum. 

After eating I walked quickly back to the hotel to pick up my bag, then turned around and went back into town, all the way to the other side to get to the train station. 

As the sun fell, so did the temperature. Not by a whole lot, but enough so that all the slush and water froze into ice. It was difficult at times to stay upright and not go sliding down the street on my behind. 

I arrived at the train station about 15 minutes before my train left, I thought it was perfect timing. 

I'd like to see the Jewish museum, but I don't know if that is reason enough to come back to Chernivtsi. Maybe.