ukraine: lviv/sokal

International Womens Day is a holiday in much of Europe. Though the date is the same in different countries, the day is celebrated for different reasons. Regardless of the reason for the holiday, I was just happy to have a day off. This year it was on a Wednesday, right in the middle of the week. I chose to do what was essentially a day trip, with a lot of time spent on trains.

I started my trip with a night train to Lviv, arriving at a ridiculous hour of the morning when it was still dark outside. I found a plug in the train station to charge my phone for a couple hours, then walked into the city.

Each time I arrive in Lviv I have two basic choices as to how I'll walk to the city center, I try to alternate. This particular morning my walk took me past the circus building. It has always looked a bit sad to me, though I don't know why. I'm not sure how often performances happen there. This time it was nice to see the sunrise coming up behind the circus.

My walk took me to the opera building, which is one of the most noticeable buildings in the city. For the first time I realized the back side of the buiding is just as gorgeous as the front. It doesn't get nearly as much attention because it is set right on the street, so there is no place to walk and look and enjoy.

In front of the opera building is a fountain, which was dry at the time. Fountains in Ukraine don't seem to be turned on all the time. Since it was early Wednesday morning, there was no one else around, but I couldn't find a place to set up my camera to take a time delayed photo. Argh.

I continued walking, making my way to one of the many churches of the city, known as the Latin Cathedral. The door wasn't open, darnit. (I found out later if I had pulled a little harder it would've opened. I should stop being so scared of doing something wrong.)

Since that church wasn't open, I found another to enter. This particular church was in the middle of a service, so I kept to the back. Like so many of the other churches in Lviv, this one was covered in frescoes everywhere and was gorgeous.

I went back to the Latin Cathedral and found other people going in. They pulled hard on the door and it opened. A minute or two after we walked in the lights were turned out, which made it seem rather dark inside. (Keep in mind it was still very early in the day, the sun wasn't very strong.) It's so pretty in there.

I walked back to the train station, bought my ticket, and made my way to the train I needed. It was an electric train, not exactly made for comfort or speed. I found a seat and waited to go.

Not long after the train took off the conductor came through to check tickets. Given how cheap my ticket was (approximately 66 cents USD,) I was concerned it was the wrong ticket, but she validated the ticket and all was good.

Three hours later I arrived in the small town of Sokal. The train station in Sokal was small, and almost empty. I checked what time the afternoon train would leave, then started walking into town.

From the train station I could see the domes of a church, so I figured out how to get there and walked in that direction.

It turned out there were two churches on the property. One was much smaller, wood, and much older. The older was bright yellow, big, and new. Neither was open, but I loved the contrast between the two from the outside.

I kept walking, and tried to get to my next destination, an abandoned dominican monastery. I tried to get there by walking at it from opposite directions, but I never found an entrance. Argh. I know there was be a way to get in, even if it is closed, but I didn't find it.

I ended up walking along a street that had at least three houses with chickens. One of them let the chickens run free, they were even in the street.

I crossed a bridge that took me toward the city center. One side of the bridge had a fence painted yellow and blue, but the other side was just old and unpainted. Just after the bridge were the signs marking the official entrance to the city. One of them told me Sokal had been an official city since 1337.

While walking through Sokal I saw a heap of abandoned buildings and homes. They were photogenic, but sad at the same time. I took photos of a lot of them. People walking past probably wondered what I was doing.

I walked past a church, but the outer gate wasn't open. Darnit.

I continued walking and got to the city center pretty quickly. It is rather photogenic, especially considering how abandoned the rest of the city looked to me. There is a fortress tower in the middle of a small platz, it seems to be all that remains of a fortress that once guarded the area.

I found a supermarket and stepped inside to find snacks and drinks.

Further down the street I found City Hall. It's a cute building, and I noticed that two flags were flying in front. Blue and yellow, and red and black.

I saw a basketball hoop in the play area of a school, which made me think of where I grew up. Indiana is known as a basketball state, you'll see hoops everywhere when you drive through the state. If I'd seen a basketball I might've taken a couple shots.

I continued walking, making my way to the edge of a park. On that edge was a small church, quite lovely.

I continued walking and circled around the long way. I was walking fast at this point because I didn't know how long it would take me to get back to the train station and I knew I had a ways to go. Every so often I stopped to take a photo of some random abandoned looking home.

Near the train station I found an abandoned warehouse, which I loved. Lovely!

I took the same three hour electric train ride back to Lviv, which arrived after dark. Since it wasn't warm, and it was dark I walked quickly to the place I wanted to eat dinner. It was the same waffle place I've visited previously, yum. It was also a nice place to hang out for a couple hours before I walked back to the train station.

The night train back to Kyiv left on time and arrived on time the next morning. I love the trains of Ukraine!!