Journey through Western Ukraine
This is a story about a trip to Western Ukraine for the May holidays.
The purpose of the trip was to see the main sights of the South-West of Ukraine (Pochaev, Kamenetz, Chernivtsi, Khotyn). Access exclusively by public transport. Overnight in 3* hotels.
Transport and accommodation costs, including entrance tickets to fortresses and museums - 850 UAH. /person General expenses about 1500 UAH. /person The duration of the trip is 01.05-06.05.
Train tickets were bought in advance. Start from Kharkov 30.04, finish in the same place 07.05.
We left by night direct train Kharkov-Chernigov. Walks every other day on even days. We arrived in Chernihiv at 10.30. By the way, the railway station in Chernihiv is very beautiful.
Kholodin. We start looking for luggage storage. Luggage storage at the station is closed for a break!! ! It's good that the bus station is right there. There, the left-luggage office is open, storage for 3 UAH. for a thing. We rent and take a trolley bus to the center.
The main attraction of Chernihiv is the rampart. The main churches are concentrated on it.
In fact, the shaft is a park located on a mountain. The view from it is excellent. On the territory of this park there are several pretty and unusual churches. Mazepa's house is also located there.
Nobody in the park this morning. Cold. Rare excursions roam. Walking along the shaft brings extremely positive impressions. Then we move to the center, on the way visiting a souvenir kiosk and going into a small cafe. The cafe is weird. Positions itself as a pastry shop, but there is no choice of cakes.
We wandered around the square for a bit and decided to move towards Kyiv (as was envisaged by the trip plan). We drove to the market (there is also McDonald's). From there there are minibuses to Kyiv. 30 UAH We wandered around the market. Prices for some things are very good after Kharkov ones.
We go to the station for things. There is a minibus to Kyiv. How much? 25 UAH Sit down, let's go. Lunch of sandwiches with sausage, bought in a mini-market. The road to Kyiv is good. Dvuhstripka with dividing.
On the way we stop at the town of Kozyatyn.
Interesting town. It has several beautiful churches. We arrive in Kyiv from the side of Brovary to the station. subway, whose name I do not remember. We go to the station, we hand over things to the storage room. There's also a free toilet (for those with tickets).
Let's go for a walk around Kyiv. We walk to the Botanical Garden. Magnolias bloom. The beauty. There are a lot of people on the alley of magnolias. We take a few pictures and move to the Golden Gate. We pass the gate, we approach the monument to the Hedgehog in the fog. There is a queue of tourists around the monument. We go further past St. Sophia of Kyiv, we pass to the territory of the Mikhailovsky Monastery. Beautiful. We walked a little, took pictures, we leave. There is a question about dinner. We go to Puzata Hata on Bessarabka. Excellent and inexpensive fast food. We ate, went for a walk along Khreshchatyk. We decided to eat again. We went to the Celentano pizzeria. A good place. Inexpensive and tasty. Actually time to move to the station.
We go further by train Kyiv-Kovel. By the way, it is better to travel by Western trains in a compartment. There, a gypsy camp can easily fall into the reserved seat or a crowd of Ost-Arbeiters will go. Our path lies in Rivne. We arrive at 5 am. We decided to walk to the bus station. Distance 4 km. Nobody on the streets. Exactly makes a good impression.
At the bus station we take bus tickets to Pochaev. At 6.30. We arrive in Pochaev at 9 a. m. with a few kopecks. On the way we pass Dubno and Kremenets (interesting cities). In Pochaev, our goal was the Lavra. Laura lived up to expectations. Beauty, crowds of pilgrims. After looking at the crowd kissing the icons, it became scary what would happen if swine flu was brought here. We wandered around the Lavra, moved to the bus station. Our road lies on Ternopil. We got bus tickets. We reached Ternopil at 2 o'clock. We settled in a pre-booked hotel (Hotel Alligator, 3-bed room - 350 UAH).
The hotel is not bad, but walking with things to the 5th floor is IMHO a perversion.
Went to wander around Ternopil. There are several interesting Orthodox churches in Ternopil, a Dominican church, a castle (actually it looks more like a barn). The center of Ternopil is mostly pedestrian.
A giant lake was dug right in the center of the city. On its embankment and sit down to dine at the Shinok restaurant. The restaurant stands out for its gigantic portions (a portion of salad is 500 grams : )) and low prices. They cook quickly. Well refreshed, we move on. Walked around the lake. There is another park and a mini-zoo.
Then we get a call from friends who also went to the West. They talk about the chic city of Chortkiv. We decide to go there. Moreover, our path lies through this city. We go to the bus station, hand over the previously taken tickets to Chernivtsi and take them to Chortkiv. The cashier is extremely surprised by our behavior and asks stupid questions why we want to return the tickets.
We explain that we are tourists, we decided to take a walk. Doesn't seem to understand. But you can get tickets.
We spend the night at the hotel. In the morning we go to Chortkiv by bus at 8.25. We're going for a long time. We arrive there at 10 plus. There is no luggage storage, you have to carry your things. We indignantly reject the proposal to leave things in the driver's room.
We walk to the center. The city is dead. We realize that today is Sunday, people are in churches. The way it is. Churches in Chortkiv are very different, there is a chic church, wooden Orthodox churches, ordinary Orthodox churches. The city hall is also interesting. In general, the city is worth seeing. We walked on it for about 2 hours. We return, we are waiting for the bus to Chernivtsi. There is no direct, all passing. Tickets are not sold, we think with horror that we will have to go standing up. Didn't have to.
The bus takes a long time. At three o'clock we are in Chernivtsi. The Premium Hotel is located next to the bus station. Let's go, let's get settled. The hotel is good. New. Free WiFi.
Change clothes, wash, move to the center.
Chernivtsi is a very beautiful city, in which the historical center is practically untouched. Beautiful houses, streets, a lot of different churches: Orthodox, Armenian, Catholic. The park is right in the center of the city. The main attraction is the University. Impressive. Very interesting and beautiful building. The tour costs 10 UAH. / person, just entry - 5 UAH. /person With a tour they lead to the halls: assembly, academic council and blue. The halls are beautiful.
Let's look at the university, go to the railway station. Also a beautiful building, worth a look. Then we return to the center and walk around it. As I said, there are many beautiful buildings in the center. There is also a pedestrian street Kobylyanska. Cafes and souvenir shops are concentrated on it. We had dinner at a fast food cafe. Good, fast, tasty and inexpensive. We went to the hotel on foot (about half an hour). In the morning we went to inspect what we had not seen: the "drunken church", the wooden church, the synagogue.
Synagogue - none. They also found a public garden built for the 600th anniversary of Chernivtsi. Beautiful place.
We return to the hotel, pick up things and move on. Our path lies on Khotyn. There is a minibus right in front of the bus station. We go on it (15 UAH). The bus arrives at the bus station. It takes 40 minutes to walk from here to the fortress. We go by taxi for 10 UAH. There are also no lockers, so take your things with you.
We wander around the fortress, have lunch in a cafe near the fortress. Expensive and not to say very tasty. We think how to go further. There is a taxi driver next to the fortress. We ask, how far to Kamenets? 60 UAH Go. I drove to the hotel (Gala). The hotel is just great. Cleaned up, went for a walk. First we walked around the new city. There is nothing to see in the new city. True, there is an interesting park and a church, which are located near the entrance to the old city.
The old city is very interesting. A bridge leads to it through a canyon, probably 30 meters deep.
The bridge stands on tall stone bulls. We walked around the old city, had dinner at a fast food restaurant (very good), and decided to go to the fortress tomorrow. In the morning we went to the fortress. The fortress is beautiful. It is separated from the old city by a stone dam. We walked around the fortress for an hour and a half, went downstairs, looked at another wooden church.
We moved back, took our things and went to the bus station by taxi (8 UAH). There is also a bus to Khmelnitsky. We got tickets, let's go.
Khmelnytsky city...none. There is nothing to see there. We spent the night at the Aeneid Hotel. The rooms are terrible, the shower doesn't work properly. All this corresponds to the price of 165 UAH. The truth seems to be that this hotel has normal rooms. Since there is nothing to do in Khmelnitsky, we went to the cinema. Then we wandered along the pedestrian street, had dinner at the Vanilla restaurant and the fast food "Everyone eats". The next day, in the morning, we hand over our luggage to the storage room of the railway station and set off for Medzhybizh.
There is an old fortress in Medzhybizh. We go by bus Khmelnitsky-Vinnitsa. We land on the track and stomp on foot for about 2 km. The fortress is interesting and unusual. The truth is slowly falling apart. We climbed the fortress, took pictures, and returned to Khmelnitsky. In general, it was necessary to go to Vinnitsa, but we already had return tickets from Khmelnitsky, we didn’t think in short.
Train at 17.40, killing time. We wander through the park, a pedestrian street, went into a couple of shops, bought food at the Furshet supermarket.
We go to the station, pick up things, get on the train. We are in Kharkov at 10.30.
What can be said. In general, the trip was a success. We looked at everything that was planned. The places are beautiful. It is necessary to develop tourism, because the infrastructure is not developed, especially in small towns. The best way to visit these places is by car. Based in Kamenets or Chernivtsi and from there go to various beautiful places. And there are plenty of them.
The cost of such a trip is low and, unlike a trip to Europe, you do not need to bother with visas. We are thinking of going again, but already by car.
