ukraine: ivano-frankivsk (it used to be stanislav)

I didn't originally intend to visit Ivano Frankivsk during this trip, but train schedules made it necessary to spend the day in the city. Wikipedia tells me the city is called Frank by locals, but who knows. Wikipedia also tells me that the name of the city is relatively new, it was known as Stanislav until 1962.

Ivano Frankivsk is the capital of the oblast, so of course it is where I had to come to go and get back to Kyiv from my days in the Carpathian Mountains. On the way back, I had to take a train from the mountains that arrived in Ivano Frankivsk at 0440, in the morning.

Since it was still before dawn I found the waiting room in the train station and dozed for almost four hours.

When I finally left the station I walked along a road that brought me to a church. (Surprise, a church in Ukraine.) This one wasn't listed on a travel app anywhere, it was just a 'regular' church. There were two beggars sitting out front. I didn't give them anything, but felt sortof guilty about it. The church wasn't exciting or unique in any way.

From there I kept walking, and the road took me to a giant government building. I think it was the general administration building for the entire oblast (state.) I didn't go in, as I'm pretty sure it isn't open for tours. I remember this building from my first visit, when there was a protest camp set up on the square in front. (The protest camp was the local 'branch' of the protest camp in Kyiv.) There was a statue of someone in front of the building, but that's it time time around.

On an adjacent street was where I spent the next couple hours. I went into a cafe and stayed there for a while, just because I could. Their wifi worked relatively well, which was also nice.

From the cafe I could see both the government building and another church. I don't know the name of this church, but it is listed in guidebooks and on travel apps. In my head I think of it as the blue church. I peeked into the church, but saw immediately that there was a private ceremony taking place, so I backed out straightaway.

My walk took me to City Hall, which is unique as far as city halls go, especially in this country.

The shape is distinct, and there is a gold dome on top. The sign on the front of the building says it is the only secular building in the country with a gold dome on top.

Like Lviv, the city hall in Ivano Frankivsk has a tower, and visitors can climb the stairs up to the observation deck. I walked in the front door and paid my fee to climb (only 20 griven, less than a dollar,) and up I went. The top two thirds of the climb was on very tight spiral staircases. The spirals were so tight I was almost dizzy from spinning around so much.

The view was nice. It wasn't spectacular, but I enjoyed looking out over the city. It was cold and windy, I could feel the wind a lot while I was up there.

There was also a museum in City Hall, but I skipped that. I saw some artwork on the walls but I"m not much of an art museum person, especially when I have limited time.

Back down the stairs and out of the building, and I kept walking. I wasn't looking at a map, and ended up going in the opposite direction of where I'd intended, but oh well. I ended up in a giant local market area. Stalls selling everything from food to clothing to toiletries, etc... I didn't need or want any of it, but it was nice to walk through and look. Part of the market is in a large circular building, which looked different if nothing else.

I circled around the entire market, then headed back in the direction I'd originally wanted to go. I got to what I thought was a church, but it turned out to be another art museum. I'm pretty sure it was originally a church. There is a bell tower with this church, but it is out front of the church. I thought about going in the museum, but opted to skip it at this point. I wonder if the bells ever ring.

Not too far from the church/art museum was another church, the Holy Ressurection Church. The front facade is tall, but not particularly exciting. The inside of the church is gorgeous.

It's not a place I will ever want to worship, as it is too busy, but I definitely appreciate the beauty of the art. The entire interior is painted in bright colours, with a lot of variety in the colours. The iconostasis at the front is gold, a few levels high. There are a few pews in which you can sit, which told me it wasn't an Orthodox church, as those don't have pews for worshippers. This was a Greek Catholic Church.

There were people coming in regularly, both people who wanted to pray and those who were visitors like me. I took my photos, but I also sat for a few minutes and enjoyed the atmosphere.

It's absolutely beautiful.

From the church I walked to City Lake. When I'd been in the city for a couple hours on Saturday morning I'd walked to the lake but I hadn't had time to walk around. This time I had plenty of time, so I walked all the way around the lake. The path isn't in good condition, though some repairs are being done. I imagine there are more people walking around the lake in better weather. (It was a nice day, but windy and much colder than I wanted for the middle of May.)

There is a small island in the middle of the lake, with benches and a couple photo taking spots. Nothing worth getting excited about. I liked the bridge to get to the island better than the island itself.

When I got back to where I'd started I made my way to City Park, not too far away. There is a main pedestrian walkway through one side of the park, good for strolling. There are a number of paved paths through the trees in another area, with benches for sitting. (I saw entirely too many couples sitting and making out – or more – on those benches.)

There are a couple small ponds in the park, but neither one of them had good water circulation, I could see stuff growing that shouldn't be growing in a well circulated body of water. The park is a great place for people watching.

I walked back toward the city center and somehow found the tourism information center, which I'd missed earlier in the day. They had a few postcards, and magnets. This was where I found out the city has only had the name of Ivano-Frankivsk since 1962. Before that it was called Stanislav.

Interestingly, I noticed the name of Stanislav (in several languages!) on more than one manhole cover while I walked around the city.

Also in the city center was a pink and white library building. Probably not the colours I would've chosen, but hey, who am I to say?!?

There were small stalls selling coffee and sandwiches and the like, but not all of them were open. I suppose they will be when the weather is guaranteed to be better.

From there I walked to dinner, which I had in the same place I'd had lunch. To get to this cafe I walked past the blue church again, and go figure, it was hosting another private ceremony! Will I ever get to go inside this church?

I hung out in the cafe for a few hours, eating and drinking. From there it was a short walk back to the train station. My train left about ten minutes late and I arrived on time in Kyiv the next morning.

I would like to come back to this region, but probably not back to Ivano-Frankivsk except for transit.

ukraine: rivne

Another weekend, another chance to travel. This time I chose Rivne, the capital of an oblast in Ukraine. Not a tourist city, but there aren't many of those in Ukraine to begin with.

My train left Kyiv just before 5 in the afternoon, and arrive around 10 that night. I'd booked a private apartment through booking.com, conveniently located only a 15 minute walk from the train station. Since it was dark I couldn't see a whole lot, but it was interesting to see how quiet everything was at that hour. Clearly Rivne is not a hot spot, despite being an oblast capital.

I absolutely loved my flat. The host was friendly, and it had been redone in a modern style. Totally awesome. The only thing I didn't like was the dog that wouldn't stop barking. Not long after checking in, as I was getting ready for bed I realized I'd forgotten my bag with charging cords. Argh. I forget one thing almost every time I travel, and this time it ended up being the charging bag. I only needed two, but that just meant another thing to find and buy during the weekend.

I woke up after a good night of sleep, and remembered that there was an electronics store on the ground floor of the building in which this flat was located. Yay! I figured it would open at 10, so I putzed around, not doing much of anything. I got to the store around 1030, and found out it had been open since 0900, oh well. They had the cords I needed, thank goodness.

I cleaned up and charged everything, and ended up leaving the flat after noon.

The first sight I wanted to see was marked completely wrong on one of the travel apps I use, I was expecting to have to walk much further to get there.

It turned out to be just a few blocks away.

It was a memorial statue under an arch of sorts, the statue was white. Since it was really sunny, the white statue didn't show up very well at all in daytime photos.

I continued walking, just because. I saw several markets, and decided to wander through a couple of them. Typical weekend markets for a random town. Meat, produce, dairy, dry goods, random stuff, etc... I enjoyed seeing the people living life more than the items available. I saw young and old, couples and singles. I saw shoes and socks, and teddy bears, and tea and coffee, etc...

The markets (or maybe it's just one giant city market?) stretched on for a while, with areas under the bridge and across the street.

At one end of the bridge I ust mentioned was a bill concrete ball, painted to be part of the Pokemon Go game. That game really has spread all over the world! The railings of the bridge were painted yellow and blue, which seems to be pretty standard all over the country now.

I started to cross the bridge, then realized there was more to see near the river on that side. I went down a set of stairs and ended up at a children's railway. There were two train cars, painted quite nicely.

There was an entrance office, with several children waiting around. I'm guessing their parents paid for them to be 'train officials' for a few hours. Very cute.

Then I went over the bridge, which mostly goes over land. It's a pretty big bridge for how much water is there. I wonder if the river ever grows.

Over on the other side of the bridge I ended up taking a couple photos of a gate. Yes, I know that sounds wierd, but it just struck me as photogenic. As I started walking again I saw a statue of a beer drinker just outside a restaurant. There was a group taking photos, so I hung back to wait. They saw me, and said I should join them. I figured, hey, why not?

Further along the street I saw the top of another church, so I wound through another couple streets to get there. In the front entranceway were a series of photos of the people involved with the first reformed evangelist church in the area. I love old photos, I love seeing how faces, clothes, and all sorts of things have changed. The worship area of the church itself was really boring.

I kept going along the main street, coming to another church. This was not an Orthodox church, I think it was catholic. Probably polish catholic.

The church itself wasn't open, but I walked around the yard because it was interesting. I could see the 12 stations of the cross spread around the grounds.

Further along the street I saw what looked like the living quarters for a religious group. I'm not sure of course, but this is what I'm assuming because the building was across the street from a small church, and there were people in religious garb going in and out. The flowers in the garden area were a riot of color, which I loved.

Not too far from the convent/monastery was a random apartment building. It wasn't anything special, just an example of normal life in Rivne. I loved the garden area, currently bursting with sunflowers and other colourful blooms. Off to the side of this building was what looked like a water tower, though I'm not sure.

I stopped into a small cafe because the display case looked good. I had a sort of parfait looking item, but it didn't taste nearly as good as it looked. Argh. After years of traveling in this country, how have I not learned my lesson about things looking good but not tasting good?

I went back into town, back across the bridge. On the other side of the bridge was a memorial to the Nebesna Sotna, or the Heavenly Hundred. Though the number probably isn't that specific, these are the people who died from the violence during the Maidan protests in Kyiv. There were a few photos, sandbags, and helmets as part of the memorial.

I saw what looked like a church, but when I got close I could see that it was now a theater. Unfortunately, the only open door led to the ticket desk. Darnit, I wish I could've gone inside.

I followed the street until very close to my flat.

There was a big theater (not the same one I just mentioned,) with a platz in front. Off to one side of the front of the theater was a statue of a guy sitting on a bench. I wasn't able to figure out who he was.

I continued walking, getting all the way to the kino palace. (Movie palace.) It's big, but some idiot decided it should be orange. It could and should be so much better.

There is a landscaped garden area behind the kina palace with a couple fountains, one at each end. One of the fountains was totally dry, without even a drop of water.

The other was going full bore, and since it was a windy day, the spray was going everywhere. I tried taking photos, but none of them emded up as I wanted because of the sprinkles that kept landing on the lens. There were mini roses and bigger roses, and a couple other types of flowers in the gardens between the fountains. I liked the mini roses.

After leaving the platz in front of the kino palace I wanted to cross the street and go back the other way. Unfortunately, there were fences along the street on both sides of the streets, so I had to walk all the way to the next traffic light to be able to cross the street. Argh.

My next sight was a church. (It's Ukraine, they're everywhere.) This one was marked in the wrong location on the travel app I was using, but it was really easy to find. It's pretty hard to miss, being yellow and blue. I really liked the inside of this church, and lit a few candles while I was inside.

After that, I went back to my room for an hour.

After going back out, I stopped at a grocery store (a big one,) for breakfast supplies for the next day. I had plenty of room in my purse, so I didn't have to worry about carrying an extra bag around for the rest of the evening.

My next sight was going to be Shevchenko Park, but by the time I got close the sun was going down. Darnit. As I turned around, I noticed a giant mosaic on the side of a building. It was done in the style of soviet realism, so it wasn't terribly exciting, but there was a lot of color. The name of the city was on there too, in Russian, which kinda surprised me. Rivne is in the west of Ukraine where Ukrainian is spoken much more often, I'm surprised they haven't changed it. I made a mental note to come back the next day in daylight to get photos.

Then I walked back the street, basically across the city center. I walked to a sushi restaurant for dinner; the dining room was really warm and I was the only one there for at least 30 minutes. The food was okay, and I left with a full belly.

The next morning I woke up early, and got to see a beautiful sunrise from the balcony of my flat. The sky went through a rainbow of colours, it was quiet outside, and life just felt really good.

I cleaned up and packed up, and 'checked out' at 0930. I carried my backpack with me for the rest of the day because I didnt know where else to put it.

I went back to the fountain behind the kino palace, hoping the wind wouldn't be as strong and I'd be able to get a better photo. It didn't really work. Then I went back to the huge mosaic I'd seen the day before when it was getting dark. I set up my camera on a timer, and got the photos I wanted.

Since it was daylight, I was happy to go explore Shevchenko Park. It's fairly big, with lots of little walking trails. There are plenty of trees, so you feel a sense of privacy even if there are other people around. I was up early enough that there weren't many other people around. It was absolutely lovely.

I came upon a fountain (this one was dry,) surrounded by (mostly) old men with their own second hand market. Each of them had their goods on display, most of the items for sale were coins or books, or other really old stuff. I looked for postcards, but didn't see any.

The next part of the park I walked through was an amusement park. I saw a ferris wheel which didn't look very happy, if that's a way to describe a ferris wheel. There was a ticket shack, but I couldn't tell if there was anyone inside. The wheel wasn't moving, and I didn't see anyone else in the area. I saw a carousel getting a bit more business, as well as swings and small kids rides with customers ready to ride.

I stopped at a random cafe for lunch Nothing exciting.

My next stop was another park, Melodi Park. It is known in the city for sculptures. Since I arrived in the afternoon, there were plenty of families out and about. The sculptures were quirky, but I liked them. There was a small pond in the park, very cute. I liked wandering around for about an hour.

One of my travel apps listed two synagogues, I tried to find them next. I found one, it looked quite old and unused. I never found the other one. This is really sad, because the population of Rivne used to be about 70% Jewish.

It is the same story I've learned about so many other population centers of Europe that used to be mostly Jewish. Most of them were deported and died during WW2, and not many who survived came back.

I walked through a few side streets to get to the Amber Museum. It's not really a museum, because I feel like you're supposed to learn something when you go to a museum. This was more like two rooms filled with beautiful works made with amber. I saw maps, and animals, and pretty pictures. It was a lovely place, and I appreciated being able to look without someone following me around, turning on and off lights.

I followed my map to a beautiful blue wooden church. Just as I was coming in the outside gates I saw a family coming out from the church, they'd just baptised their little girl. They asked me to take a few family photos for them, I was happy to oblige.

Go figure, the church was closed when I tried to go in after taking the photos. Oh well. I took photos of the church from all angles, as it really was pretty. I loved the blue colour.

On the street near the church were a bunch of small houses, each with spectacular flower gardens all around.

One of the houses also had an old couch on one side, it didn't look as if it had been moved any time in recent memory. Nor did it look as if anyone had sat there anytime in recent memory.

I decided to walk back to the grocery store I'd visited the night before, and pick up snacks for the train ride back to Kyiv. I couldnt' help but add to my snacks when I walked past a small cafe that had decent looking cheesecakes. It turned out I was right, they were really tasty.

I walked to the train station, and had an easy ride back to Kyiv.