Going to Ukraine (Part Two)
Something a little different
I recently travelled with a friend to Ukraine for a specific purpose - to meet with and support a friend and colleague and his family. He is unable to leave the country so we decided to surprise him by visiting. My old journalism habits also kicked in, so I decided to write about the experience. In the last edition, I left us at visiting the famous mineral water springs in Truskavets.
The next morning on the advice of our host we hopped into the car to head for the historical site of Tustan (Satellite image), where a wooden fortress once existed on the northern end of the Carpathian mountains.
The 9th century fortress was originally built by the “Old Rus” or Kievan Rus State, around a stone outcrop - the evidence of its existence is within the holes, tunnels and graffiti throughout the site. And yes if you’re wondering - the words “Russia” and “Bela-rus” have their origins in parts of present-day Ukraine and the Kievan Rus state / Rus people - Rus being translated in Norse as “those who row”. The Vikings got everywhere, from modern-day Ukraine, to Canada, to Iceland and Ireland, to the Black Sea (though there is some dispute on who founded what)
We climbed the steps the summit, where you get a gorgeous view.
It was a fascinating walk and a part of European history I knew very little about. I recommend getting lost in Wikipedia to learn more.
Our next trip was to find some lunch. This brought us to an artificial lake where some fish were caught. The whole area is a sort of combined restaurant with catch-your-own fish very easily resort.
We had fish with fries and then made our way back to Truskavets, including a driving tour of the small town. This ended my time in Truskavets - after dinner that evening in the town centre.
After the invasion in February the town had become something of a refugee point for people from the east. The number of hotels meant that the town became very busy with people from out of town, but after the Battle of Kyiv which resulted in a Russian retreat many who were staying in Truskavets felt safe enough to return to the capital and surrounding areas that had subsequently been liberated, such as Irpin and Bucha.
It rained my last evening there - and the town was generally quiet.
My next stop was the regional capital Lviv which meant getting a train north. The history of this part of the world is… complicated. So I’ll just quote Wikipedia and hope for the best:
Lviv emerged as the centre of the historical regions of Red Ruthenia and Galicia in the 14th century, superseding Halych, Chełm, Belz and Przemyśl. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia[4] from 1272 to 1349, when it was conquered by King Casimir III the Great of Poland. From 1434, it was the regional capital of the Ruthenian Voivodeship in the Kingdom of Poland. In 1772, after the First Partition of Poland, the city became the capital of the Habsburg Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. In 1918, for a short time, it was the capital of the West Ukrainian People's Republic. Between the wars, the city was the centre of the Lwów Voivodeship in the Second Polish Republic. After the German-Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, Lviv became part of the Soviet Union, and in 1944–46 there was a population exchange between Poland and Soviet Ukraine. In 1991, it became part of the independent nation of Ukraine.
But perhaps of main note is that the region was a part of the Hapsburg Kingdom which later formed part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. (See previous editions 23-26 of this newsletter for two documentaries (in the documentary section) about the history of that empire, including Vienna itself). This means that much of the architectural heritage visible in Lviv has its origins in that empire. And it is what you notice in the city.
I caught one of the three trains that leave daily from Truskavets to Lviv, almost missing it by about 30 seconds, thanks to a hotel receptionist taking his time and wanting me to hang around while my room was checked to see if I had taken anything from the minibar. I hadn’t. As is often the case the first thing you notice are sunflowers:
You can buy your ticket on the train, and given the trip was going to take approximately three hours I was bracing for a fairly hefty fair but had been warned in advance that it would be inexpensive. I was still figuring out what the exchange rate was. The ticket inspector/salesman - a man in his early 20s approached me and asked in Ukrainian where I was going (or so I guessed). “Lviv,” I said, in my best Ukrainian. “One way or return,” he said (or so I also guessed), and I repeated the first one back to him. “80,” he said to me in English, realising I was definitely not a native speaker. That worked out at €2.20 for my three-hour trip. I paid quickly with a 100 UAH note.
The train was sparsely populated by a mixture of younger people and pensioners, on a cloudy and rainy day. Trains in Ukraine I’m told are free or cheaper for older and younger people, and most everyone else drives. The train I’m on takes a circuitous, slow path, first north to Drohobych where we stopped for a while. Then south and east, towards the town of Stryi.
In Stryi the train stopped for a while. I noticed a man in Ukrainian army fatigues hug and kiss a woman, standing in the light rain. He might have been on leave. They kissed goodbye and he made his way to board the train, waved at by an army colleague as he boarded. His partner hung around a while - clearly emotional - until the train began to leave. I was reminded of black and white scenes from World War II films.
We left Stryi and continued north, meandering slowly through the Ukrainian countryside. It can be a little like going back in time. I saw a cat in an overgrown back garden, stalking something in the bushes. Hens running around in gardens - and other scenes that reminded me of rural Ireland in the 1980s. Sometimes though you would also see fibre optic distribution points on telegraph poles - not dissimilar to ones you would see in present-day Ireland. Like us, a mixture of very rural and hyper modern. Occasionally we would pass bridges guarded by uniformed Ukrainian military, sitting or standing at sandbagged positions.
Eventually we pulled into the station at Lviv. It’s a beautiful station, but was the scene of large crowds early in the war as millions of people fled the country. It was relatively quiet at the platform but busy in the main lobby, and would remind you of any train station in central Europe.
My problem was I had no roaming, but the station did have free Wifi. I had to find my way to my hotel in central Lviv and had to decide how to get there. I strolled to the front entrance and checked my options on my phone (tram, trolley bus or walk). People milled about. As I checked, I noticed a platoon of fresh Ukrainian soldiers pass by, one after another, in full kit including sleeping gear. Perhaps they had arrived from Poland. I opted to make the trip walking for 30 minutes - a good way to see more of the city.