Ukraine's far west, beyond the watershed, is a different, quieter world than the one that Kyiv dominates
the pleasant nationalist streets of Lviv are straight out of the 19th, Zakarpattya – Ukraine’s westernmost region – speaks of the long-term pattern of Eastern European past: of peoples who have come and stayed in a place where governments have come and gone.
Zakarpattya is located, as the name suggests, beyond the Carpathian watershed. The majority of the region is mountainous, with the most densely populated regions at the base of the hills where the Hungarian Plain starts. (From the Hungarian point of view, Zakarpattya is the beginning of the “Russian Hills.”) The region borders Romania to the south, Hungary to the southwest, and Slovakia to the west; during the last century it was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and of Czechoslovakia, and still has many Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian inhabitants.
A Distinct Feel
Uzhgorod, the region’s capital, has a central European feel to it that sets it apart from the Ukrainian regions across the rest of the Carpathians: The period of Czechoslovak control between the wars left the city with streets lined with fruit trees and small blocks of modernist-influenced apartments.
At the same time, the region has a southern European feel, too: Houses have red roofs and many of the population are dark-skinned and look more Mediterranean, if that’s possible, than Ukrainian or Russian.
Amazingly, the period of Soviet rule from 1945 until Ukrainian independence had a relatively small impact on the town; little was destroyed, and little was built. The most striking architectural expressions of power are the medieval Uzhgorod Castle, which dates from the 13th century, and a town hall built during the Czechoslovak occupation which would not look out of place in Italy. Even the town’s war memorial, situated on a hillside above the town, is unlike most other Soviet monuments: A long, narrow flight of steps leads up a hillside above the town to a reflective place; a pair of tanks beside the steps halfway up neither manages to take away from its tranquil feel nor makes it look like a typical Soviet memorial.
Uzhgorod centers on a pedestrian-filled street that’s full of people even during midweek business hours. In the evenings and afternoons, people walk along what is claimed to be Europe’s longest avenue of lime trees and often sit by the Uzh River, for which the city is named. Uzhgorod is a Ukrainian town where being “European” means more than just ginning up some anti-Russian symbolism: The region’s different peoples speak Russian freely and unselfconsciously when it’s convenient, and even the town’s statue of Shevchenko is located slightly out of the way, in front of the town hall but slightly off to one side, as if to downplay the poet’s influence in this culturally mixed area.
Next to the castle is the Zakarpattyan Museum of Folk Architecture and Life, where pretty wooden houses and churches were brought together by the Soviet authorities, presumably to show the region’s proletarians how dreadful life was before concrete. If you don’t have the time to visit all the corners and valleys of the region, the museum is a must.
High Points
If you do have more time, the mountains that make up the vast majority of the region’s territory are an obvious destination. There’s a typically Alpine combination of the dramatic and the intimate: mountains and forests and fast-flowing rivers and waterfalls, and friendly-looking meadows and pretty villages of wooden houses and churches.
It’s pointless to list the best views in the Carpathians, as anywhere you go you will see a pleasing or dramatic view. If you need somewhere to head for, venture to Lake Sinevir, almost a kilometer above sea level. Other popular destinations include Mount Hoverla, the highest peak in the Ukrainian Carpathians, and the Valley of the Narcissi.
The few passes which lead through the Carpathians have been important travel routes for centuries, and successive waves of barbarians – most recently fascists and communists – have no doubt enjoyed the mountain scenery as they passed backwards and forwards, trying to lay claim to this land as their own. The passes have also been major trade routes, and railways and heavy trucks wind their way through, as do a variety of Soviet-era pipelines, including the ironically named Druzhba pipeline, which brought Soviet oil to grateful Eastern European comrades.
However, public transport in the region is relatively difficult, particularly to any areas away from the main passes. In many cases it might be easier to hire a car and driver or take a taxi.
Accommodation can also be problematic. The region’s sanatoria are probably the best bet, with many located in pretty mountainous areas. Many offer a variety of rooms, from industrial Soviet-style arrangements to nicely renovated spots worthy of the surrounding landscapes.
The most noteworthy is the Carpathians Sanatorium, located 10 km. outside Mukachevo, in the beech wood forests at the foothills of the Carpathians. It was built on the grounds of a large manor which once belonged to the Austrian Schoenborn family, who were obsessed with calendars, time and geography. The house itself is said to have 365 windows and 52 rooms, and the grounds have a lake in the shape of the Hapsburg Empire of the time – though you’d have to be a real history buff to realize without being told. The sanatorium is also easily reached: Trains to Mukachevo stop at Sanatoria Karpaty station, just down the hill from the city center.
Accommodation:
Hotel Druzhba, well renovated, with good views.
Uzhgorod: Singles Hr 132, Doubles Hr 184.
Hotel Svitanok: Singles Hr 121, Doubles Hr 149.
Kvitka Poliny Sanatorium, Solochin village:
Single rooms in new building Hr 200, Doubles Hr 240.
Carpathians Sanatorium, tel. (03131) 2-10-88; www.karpaty.mk.uzhgorod.ua.
Getting there:
Reconstruction work has halted direct rail travel to Uzhgorod for 2004. Luckily, many trains from Kyiv stop at Chop (6 daily trains: 9:42 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 6:10 p.m., 9:16 p.m. and 11:48 p.m.) Round-trip first-class sleeper berths cost Hr 306. Call the Ukrzalizhnytsya information line at 223-1915 for complete details.
Ukraine, the Lesser-Known
Large areas of western Ukraine might be called “sleepover Ukraine,” by analogy with “flyover America.” Hardly anyone seems to stop en route from Kyiv and Lviv, and the most that most travelers in the region see of it is a station platform as they get off the train to buy beer for the rest of the journey.
However, if you’re traveling by car it’s worth taking a detour for a few hours, or stopping off for the night. You won’t have to veer far from your route, as distances in Western Ukraine are large, but not huge. Although Lviv feels a long way from Kyiv when you go by train, trains go very slowly in the country, making every distance seem far longer than it actually is.
Tempting Ternopil
Rafting on the Dneister in the south of Ternopil oblast must be one of the most restful experiences in Ukraine. The Dneister is a stodgy Western Ukrainian peasant of a river: You’re unlikely to be troubled by any rapids as you float your way downstream. In fact, you’re unlikely to be troubled by anything apart from the sound of frogs at night, and the vodka bottles floating down alongside you.
The most picturesque stretch of the river is a series of dramatic gorges in the south of Ternopil oblast, called the Dneister Canyon. Small villages are dotted every few miles along the river (how do they manage to get so many vodka bottles into the river?). Men and herons stand fishing on the banks, and occasionally you’ll see a wood-hewn canoe, which wouldn’t look out of place on the Amazon.
Travel agencies in Ternopil can arrange trips of between one day and a week – and even that much time won’t get river rafters out to the Black Sea. Night trips can be arranged for camping by the river, with shashlik to eat as well as fish fresh from the river, and varenyki from the nearest village, and probably some vodka too.
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| The Trinity Monastery in the village of Mezhirich. (Post photo by Kenneth Morton) |
If you’ve had enough of rivers, or fancy trying the life of an orthodox monk for a bit, the region’s limestone landscape is filled with caves. The longest, charmingly and inexplicably called Optimistic Cave, is said to be over 200 km. in length (though few will have quite enough time to find this out for certain).
In Ternopil’s city center, little remains from the damage done during WWII, but the city has a long history that’s firmly embedded in European history. Ternopil’s coat of arms bears the image of the fortified city over a Turkish crescent moon, testament to the successful defense of the city against Turkish invaders in the 16th and 17th centuries. Left standing after WWII are remnants of the castle that defended the city from the Turks, and two 17th-century churches: one Greek Catholic (the Church of the Immaculate Conception) and the other Roman Catholic (the Church of the Resurrection).
To the North
Rivne oblast is an enormous flat expanse, with nothing higher than a horse or the occasional tower block breaking the horizon. It’s also one of Ukraine’s most densely forested regions.
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Visitors to the Ukrburshteen amber mine’s amber museum in Rivne ogle the treasures on display. (Post photo by Kenneth Morton) |
As they have in most of western Ukraine, Cossack, Polish and Russian armies have passed backwards and forwards across Rivne oblast, occasionally meeting each other on the way. One of the largest battles of the Cossack-Polish war was fought at Berestechko in 1651 – Hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky was captured by the Poles, and the leaderless Cossacks fought off the Polish forces for ten days. There are no signs visible of the actual battle – the battlefield is a typical Rivne landscape of huge fields, dotted with groups of peasants working around carts or Ladas – but it’s commemorated by memorials, which show the wily Khmelnitsky to have been as successful at finding unlikely allies after his death as he was in life.
From the early years of the 20th century, there is a squat yet graceful church in central Rivne, built and painted in the mystic nationalist style of the period; from the Soviet period, a museum, full of nasty-looking but ideologically approved Cossack weapons; and from the post-independence period, a very large statue.
This region’s history of conflict has also left behind a number of fortresses, which are certainly worth a detour. The small towns of Dubno and Korets both have the remains of large Polish castles, each one perched above a river. The university town of Ostroh – where Ivan Fedorov printed the first Slavonic bible, known as the Ostroh Bible, in 1580 – also has a castle, in slightly better condition than the two others, with a small museum inside. It has a good collection of portraits of fierce, mustachioed Polish nobles.
If you’re passing through Rivne itself, the museum of the local amber mine is worth a visit to see enormous lumps of amber, and the amber mosaic of Libyan strongman Colonel Gaddafi.
Accommodation:
(In Ternopil)
Hotel Ternopil, cheap but not cheerful.
(0352) 53-35-95; [email protected]
www.hotel.te.ua
Doubles Hr 114; deluxe suites Hr 350.
(In Rivne)
Chervona Kalina Sanitorium, set in a forest by a lake and patronized by singer Alla Pugacheva.
(0362) 26-2883; [email protected].
Suites Hr 216; deluxe suites Hr 390.
www.chkalina.cjb.net.
Hotel Dubno, 53 Halytskoho, located in central Rivne.
Single rooms from Hr 120 per night.
Getting there:
There are daily trains to both Ternopil and Rivne. The Kyiv-Truskavets train leaves Kyiv at 11:42 p.m. and arrives in Ternopil at 7:25 a.m. One round-trip ticket in a first-class sleeper car costs Hr 200. The Kyiv-Lutsk train leaves Kyiv at 10:42 p.m. and arrives in Rivne at 7:12 a.m. One round-trip ticket in a second-class sleeper berth (no first-class berths available on this train) costs Hr 54.
