Ukraine: Mukacheve

Mukacheve is another small town close to the Ukrainian border with Hungary and Slovakia. It's only an hour from uzhgorod by bus, and is overlooked by a nifty castle...
Not surprisingly, I didn't get out of my hotel in uzhgorod nearly as fast as I should've, considering I was wide awake at 0615, and breakfast was at 0830...I walked to the train station, checked my bag, then walked across the street to the bus station to catch a bus to mukacheve...
The ride was just an hour, and I used my iPhone to figure out where I was in town...I statutes walking toward the castle (the guidebook says to hop on a bus or marshrutka, but I prefer walking when possible)...

Along the way I saw several churches of varying architectural styles, but I didn't go in any of them...I liked the atmosphere of the rather quiet streets...I saw a lot of people on bikes, and horses pulling wooden wagons...awesome!
The castle is on top of a hill, on the edge of town...it's totally flat until you get to the bottom of the hill, so the walk up isn't super easy...I loved the views over town in all directions...the total height of the hill is only 65m but it felt like more, because the surrounding land is so flat...
The entry fee was cheap, only 10 or 20 griven, I don't remember...there were a lot of souvenir stalls all selling the same range of stuff, Ukrainian kitch...I bought postcards on my way out :)

The castle is said to have three levels, but it felt more like 2.5 to me...the entrance is a big gate, then a first courtyard surrounded by a 'cloister' of sorts...go through another tunnel-ish gatey thing, and another courtyard...
There are exhibits in some of the rooms, done quite well...other areas were blocked off, but it wouldn't have been hard to go behind the table or rope doing the blocking if I had been so inclined...
The castle was originally built in the 1400s, when the area was part of the Austro Hungarian empire...the walls are 10m high and 6m thick...there are places for 164 cannons (so says another guidebook) on the outside, becoming thicker and taller in the inner 'layers'...

According to this second guidebook, the castle was attacked a bunch of times (because it guarded valuable trade routes) and one of the most famous sieges was led by Ilona cringing, who allegedly knew 15 languages...she led a garrison of 2000 men, repelling Austrian army soldiers for 4 yrs...
The castle used to hold the crown of st Stephen, (it was being hidden from Napoleon) a Hungarian royal...the story says the lower part of the crown was blessed by the pope in Rome, and the upper part was sanctified by the Constantinople patriarch...(I don't know where this religious relic is now)...

I wandered around just to wander...there were a lot of people in the courtyards, but not so many elsewhere:)...it was fun to see where stairways led, and to find all the places where i could look out over the city...
As I walked back through town I ate lunch at a quick cafeteria style place, then got back to the bus station and caught the next bus back to uzhgorod...
I would come back here, there are some churches I missed, and general wandering :)

Ukraine: uzhgorod

It's not a very good idea to travel to the east in Ukraine right now, so I took this long holiday weekend (9 May is victory day) to travel west; almost as far west as it is possible to go in Ukraine :)
My train arrived in uzhgorod on time, at 10am Friday morning, after leaving kyiv on time at 1830 the night before...I was in 3rd class, my preferred class of train travel in this country. The other three folks in my area were quiet, and nice, none of them was a smoker as far as I could tell...
The train station in uzhgorod is quite new, there is a sculpture in the middle of one of the rooms...everything looked really nice...

I walked to my hotel, it was an easy walk, and checked in...checkin time was 1300, but the lady was okay with giving me my room at 1100, yahoo...
After resting up for an hour, I walked back to the train station to book a ticket for the next night, then walked back into the centre of town...easy to follow the roads, and I loved walking over the bridge...the uzh river  runs through the middle of town, the city planners have done a great job making it a pleasant place to spend time...there are trees and benches along a sidewalk on each side of the river, so it's a fabulous place to walk...I saw a few people fishing near the bridges too...

After walking along the embankment for a while I turned into a park area, to take a photo of my favourite (and the only one I can name) Ukrainian poet, Taras shevchenko...there are statues of this guy in most Ukrainian towns, he is also considered the father of the Ukrainian language, which was once outlawed...
Continuing my walk I saw a pretty church, rather simple on the outside...I noticed the door was open but no one was going in or out...I went in and could see a set of doors locked and preventing further entry...howeva these doors weren't solid, so I was able to take a photo of the iconostasis, without anyone else in the photo...

I continued walking and found another park...a small park, but it was clearly a place people enjoy...I set up my tripod and took a phot of me with a 'statue' of two guys having a conversation on a park bench...
As I was walking through the city I looked at license plates and saw plenty from outside of Ukraine...Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary...uzhgorod is really close to the border with Slovakia an Hungary, and used to be part of the Austro Hungarian empire...walking through the city, I wouldn't have felt like I was in a Ukrainian town except for seeing Ukrainian words everywhere...the architecture and general feel of the town are much more 'Austrian'...

I walked up a hill and found another church...this one was also closed, because it was under construction...all of the construction was behind the iconostasis, so I took another photo of a pretty iconostasis without anyone else in the photo...
Continuing along the road, I walked to what used to be a castle...it's a museum now, though the outer walls have been preserved...you can do a wine tasting in the cellars (obviously I wasn't able to participate, booo)...one building has lots of exhibits set up, I enjoyed what I saw...one exhibit showed music and instruments of life back when...another showed typical clothing of life back when...one exhibit showed military weapons, mostly swords, knives, and guns...another showed flora and fauna and animals of the area...it's a well curated museum, with a docent in almost every room...

I walked to the botanical gardens, but discovered they had closed at 1600...why do they close so early, when it's light until after 2030 now?
Anywho, I circled around to the river, enjoying the water...I think I saw a naked guy living in a camp of his own making...hmmm...further along I saw an old decrepit train, who knows if it ever went anywhere...there was an entry gate up a set of stairs, it looked like a metro entrance...did it ever function in that way?
Next to that train is the philharmonic theatre, which was originally a synagogue...a beautiful building!!
At that point I felt like I'd seen what I wanted to in uzhgorod...

I bought corn from a vendor, yum! I walked across a pedestrian bridge, noting all the locks couples have closed onto the bridge...a countrywide and worldwide tradition...some of the locks are more ornate than others...
Eventually I walked past a supermarket, so I picked up dinner and water...the supermarket was close to a cemetery which I explored for a while...the cemetery was next to a church; the church looked really new (it was wooden) but the cemetery was totally overgrown...
A nice day exploring a nice town :)

ukraine: odessa madness

odessa is awesome...this was my second trip to the city...when i planned the trip and bought the train tickets, there hadn't been any violence in odessa, all of that had been happening in eastern cities...i should've known better...
after returning from izmail, i walked to the guesthouse i'd booked, only to find a locked gate...i was lucky i was able to pull up my confirmation email, which had the phone number of the owner...she answered my call, and i was able to communicate that i was right outside, so she came out and showed me how to get in, and checked me in...

after relaxing a little, i headed out for a walk...i thought it would be a calm walk, just wandering...since i'd been to the city before, i wasn't heading for anything in particular, just making sure i could figure out where i was going...as much as odessa is a modern, russian leaning city, there are also plenty of places even in the city centre that are clearly old, falling apart, and even abandoned...i wonder if anyone plans to fix up buildings that are falling apart, or if anyone even owns the flats in the building...needless to say, there is no one i know to ask...

as i came up one street, i could see a group of police watching a demonstration...it looked like a pro-russian demonstration, it seemed to be peaceful...i watched for a couple minutes, then heard a loud crack, and saw a body pulled over to a set of stairs...people rushed over to see the man, especially a lot of people with cameras...i thought he'd been hit (with a fist) or something along those lines...later, i thought differently...
i turned around to go back, and saw another group coming up the street, these people were clearly on the pro-ukrainian side...the policemen were the best prepared of everyone...

the pro-ukrainians had a small fire truck with them, and were beating sticks on 'shields' and most were wearing helmets of various kinds...
i made a short video, panning between the groups, then someone on the street indicated i should move...so i did...i went behind the pro-ukrainian group, and watched them advance up the street...by this point, the police who'd been watching the pro-russian rally were moving out of the way, they could see what was coming...at that point, i'm not sure why they were there, as everyone knew they wouldn't do anything...

then the craziness started...someone started throwing bricks that had been taken from the sidewalk...really fast, bricks were going back and forth between the two groups...i don't know how many people were hit...standing behind the pro-ukrainian group, i could see how a group of three people would work together to dig up bricks from the sidewalk, then break them in half so they could be thrown easily...at one point the water was turned on for the fire truck, and it was sent into the russian group...i don't think any damage was done, or anyone hurt, but i don't know for sure...the bricks and yelling kept going for about 30 minutes, then the pro-ukrainian group backed up and left...as did i...

i walked over a couple streets, and realized the fight had continued on other streets...as i was watching a fight in another area, i heard what sounded like fireworks, but i never did figure it out...i saw one guy shooting a gun straight into the sidewalk, so i thought he had blanks...while i was watching him, i felt something hit my face...
i was completely shocked when i realized i'd been hit by part of a flying brick!!! it wasn't a full brick, and it wasn't a head on shot, but still, eeeeek!! i took off running, and i don't think my heart calmed down for at least a couple hours...

i stepped into an indian restaurant for dinner, one that had been recommended by indian friends...i was very rattled, and splurged on yummy food as a way of calming myself down...in the middle of eating, a friend called to warn me about the violence happening in the city...when i told her i already knew, she was surprised and asked how i knew...i told her i had been there, and she was even more surprised...obviously, i was glad to have gotten out of the situation...
that sums up my experience with 'wartime' situations, and i came to the conclusion that i could never be a war journalist...how do those people do it?

the next day i went to bilhorod dnistrovsky...
my third day in odessa, i checked out of the guesthouse, then dropped my bags at the train station...i walked back to the city centre, or at least the tourist city centre...after finding a cheap place for lunch, i stepped into a cafe for a dessert cake slice...i sat for 15 minutes before getting a menu, then no one came to take my order, so i left...booo...
then i walked to the potemkin steps...it's a set of steps well known from a movie, in which one scene shows a baby carriage bumping all the way down the steps...the steps are built in an optical illusion, they don't widen or become narrow as you look down the steps...lots of people hang out on the steps...

from the top of the steps, a tree lined street has a park sort of area in the middle, leading to vorontsov 'palace'...i have no idea why it's called a palace, since there is no indoor section...it's more like a gate made of columns, if that makes sense...while i was in the 'palace' it started raining...ugh...i tried to take cover, it didn't work very well...
right next to the 'palace' is the so called mother in law's bridge, it's covered in locks placed there by couples...(just like bridges around the world)...interesting to see the variety of locks people choose...there is also a small gazebo, and another bridge...i like the giant heart made of thick wire, it's also covered in locks...i'd love to know where in the world the lock tradition started...

after a while, i started walking back toward a street where i could find food...since the weather was awful, and i had nothing to do until my train left, i stayed at dinner for a couple hours...fortunately, as i walked to the train station, it was no longer raining...
i arrived back in kyiv the next morning, ready for another week of school...

ukraine: bilhorod - dnistrovsky

the bus ride from odessa to bilhorod dnistrovsk was quick, only 1.5 hours...we crossed over water a couple times, and stopped a few times before getting to bilhorod dnistrovsky, but it wasn't stopping every few kilometers...it's a small town, known for it's fortress...
lonely planet doesn't list much to see in the city, so i looked up what there was in trip advisor...heaps more sights are listed there...not all of them are important, or even interesting, but there were more listed...lonely planet really doesn't have much listed in their ukraine book, it's quite small for the 2nd largest country in europe!

i knew from the moment i got off the bus that this visit would be more about taking in the atmosphere of the town rather than seeing heaps of sights...i walked all over, as is my usual mode of 'transportation' while traveling...
several of the sights listed on the map on tripadvisor aren't in those locations, argh...it does happen from time to time, but it's annoying...even so, i liked walking all over, seeing what the town is all about...
i found the WWII memorial, big as usual...a tank, several plaques, a statue of a guy, etc...

i made my way to the fortress, the entry fee was only 20 griven...just outside the fortress were a couple people selling souvenirs, most of which were magnets...it took me a while to find postcards, and those i did find were not very good...boooo...
after buying my entry ticket, i put it in my wallet, and went to the entry...there was a guard at the entry, who wanted to see the ticket i just bought...once inside i saw a few 'medieval' games to play...the middle of the fortress was basically a wide open area, with a few trees...there were staircases going up to the tops of the walls in a number of different places...

there were a lot of people walking along the tops of the walls, most of which were really narrow...there weren't any barricades or safety rails, it was a little scary when i was passing people going the other way...it wasn't possible to go all the way around without going down...
after seeing what i could, i left the fortress, and walked up the street...i found a small place for lunch, the menu said it served uzbek food...not that i know what qualifies as good uzbek food, but i liked it...i walked out of there completely stuffed...

after lunch i found two churches...one wasn't open, as it was under renovation and/or construction...the outside of it was giant, i bet the inside is impressive when you get to see it...i walked out through a different gate than the one i entered, so i got a bit lost, whoops...fortunately, i was able to figure it out, and get back to where i wanted to be...the second church was much smaller, and not as impressive on the inside...
that was it on my visit to bilhorod dnistrovsky...i walked back to the bus station, and caught the next bus back to odessa...easy :) ...i just wish i could have seen more of the sights listed on trip advisor...(if they had been mapped correctly, it would've happened during this visit!)

ukraine: izmail

the beginning of may is a time of holidays in ukraine, i get to travel a lot :)
for the 4 day weekend that included 1-2 may, i decided to go south...i booked train tickets to/from odessa, and made the effort to see a couple new towns around odessa...
my train into odessa arrived at 0500...it was nice to be walking out of the train station and watching the colours of the sky change as the sun came up...beautiful, and since it was so early, very quiet...
i had a hard time figuring out where to find a bus station from which to catch a bus to a town called izmail, but eventually i did figure it out...i was happy when a tram driver let me on the tram i needed to the right bus station (as opposed to the wrong bus station, which was close to the train station) even though i wasn't at the stop when he pulled away...

thankfully, once i got to the bus station, it was easy to hop on the best bus to izmail...it was a 3 hr ride, and really pretty...at several points i looked out the window and realized i was looking at a living ukrainian flag...blue skies, fields of yellow...beautiful...if only i'd been able to stop the bus to get out and take a couple photos...(one of the few reasons i'd love to have a car here in ukraine)...
the hotel in izmail wasn't anywhere near the city center, i felt like i was on the edge of nowhere! after dropping my bag, i headed back into the city...

izmail is a border town, there isn't much there...it once had a big protective fortress, but nothing remains...
while walking, i passed a park and decided to walk through...quiet and peaceful, with a memorial of some kind in the middle...on the other side of the park was a pretty church...
i continued walking, eventually making it to the city center...i found a big blue church that looked different from what i'm used to seeing...the main part of the church looked normal, but the front had a set of big columns...nifty :) ...i wish it had been open to visitors...

not far from that church was a the suvorov museum...a small place, with good displays, and quite a bit of information...some even in english :)...there were old uniforms on display, maps of battles fought, paintings of people important in the history of the area, etc...in a money/energy saving effort, the lights in each room are only turned on when someone walks into the room...
as i continued walking, i found a statue of lenin...this surprised me, as i know most statues of lenin which used to be in ukraine have been torn down since the madness of maidan...then again, this is in the south, which has always been closer to russia...

the WWII memorial in izmail is different than most...it's a ship...probably not quite full size, but it's plenty big...if i'd been able to get to the top of this memorial i probably would've been able to see the river, as it wasn't far away...
i got to the river and since it isn't big, i could see the other side...in other words, i was looking at romania...(if i had been able to figure out how to cross just to get the passport stamp, i would've done it...but now that romania is in the EU, it isn't quite that easy)...that being said, there are river cruises, or it looked that they were available...maybe i can go back?

i meandered back to my hotel, walking through another area of town...nothing exciting, just another area of a random town in ukraine...
izmail doesn't get many tourists, ukrainian or otherwise, since it isn't close to anywhere...
the next morning it was a bit of a challenge to figure out how to get to the bus station...i didn't know where it was, since i'd gotten off the bus the day before before it got to the bus station...it was fun to use the little bit of russian i know to get myself sorted...a couple locals helped me out, yay! ukrainians are friendly, it's awesome...