The Obvious Travel Blog (pt. 1 – Ukraine)

Five countries. Two and a half months. Not a single travel blog.

Oops.

Someone had commented on a recent Facebook status about my arrival to Southern Africa, and said how much they would enjoy reading a blog about my travels. I’ve often caused annoyance (and no small amount of disgust–many of my stories involve food poisoning) when I start sharing a story that begins with “once, in Africa” or ”this guy I met in Germany”. But you know what? This is my blog, and you all know what you’re getting yourself into. And thus, behold, the Travel Blog.

Ukraine (cities visited – Uzhgorod, Mukachevo, Kiev, Kamyanets-Podilsky, and Khmelnytsky)

Uzhgorod City Center

Before going to Ukraine, I had never had a particular affinity with any country or region of the world. I loved the challenges of Africa, the beauty of southern Thailand, the culture of western Europe…each place has its own special allure. I’m not saying that I want to give up traveling–or that I even think I should–but I got more attached to the people (and political change) of Ukraine than I ever have at any past destination. The land is beautiful, the people are even more so, and I even developed a crush (that I think is turning into a serious thing) on the language and it’s foreign alphabet. And there’s so much history! Being an American, I have very little frame of reference for just how old civilizations are in places like Europe. Sure, in Africa I’d visited a cave that held ancient bushman painting, but those were so primeval that I couldn’t even begin to fathom the artists of the art. Ukraine has a rich old and new history that is easily accessible as aided by portraits, books and lots and lots of castles.

The castle at Kamyanets-Podilsky.

 Growing up, adventure and fantasy stories were–not surprisingly–my favorite. I devoured Brian Jacques Redwall series and the only books more worn and torn from constant care than my metal-plated Bible are my paperback Lord of the Rings trilogy. Thus, I considered myself fairly familiar with “castles”. I was so wrong.

The first time you enter a castle, you try to find something familiar in it. Uh huh. This is kinda like a history museum. I told myself as I walked into Uzhgorod castle. It’s just a really old, really big house. That kind of thinking worked for that first castle, but then we did a whirl-wind castle-tour day-trip. The first castle–mere ruins, just a tower, at a nearby village–that we clambered around stunned me because I could see the roots of it and they were massive stones, perfectly placed and situated so as to still be standing hundreds of years later. How did this even get built? I wondered as I climbed a wall. From that point on, my day was spent in constant new amazement and admittance that castle are not simply large, old houses. I used to always scoff at fantasy writers who would take off to Europe to do “research” for their novels. It’s fantasy. Just make something up. I would think, snidely. Let me now apologize to all fantasy authors who feel the need to research by visiting Europe. I understand. There is no way to even begin to realistically explain a castle until you’ve stood in the shadow of one, until you’ve spent five hours exploring the passages of one, until you’ve climbed into the dungeons with only your little headlamp to light the dark labyrinth before you.

I also got the chance to take an overnight train (the kind that’s been featured in everything from the classic Anna Karenina to Susan Viets’ excellent Picnic at the Iron Curtain) from Uzhgorod to Ukraine’s capitol, Kiev.

View of Kiev from atop St. Sophia’s.

I’ve had romantic ideas of Kiev for as long as I could remember. Just the name–whether spelled Kyiv, Kiev or Київ–prompts ideas of storied history, passionate revolutions and exciting, West-meets-East culture. And as I religiously followed the protests in Maidan Square, I was ecstatic at the chance to visit the city for myself. In the end, Kiev was somewhat as I expected, but mostly not. Regardless, I became infatuated with the city and its people and before the train had even left the station to travel back west, I was daydreaming of future days spent living in Kiev. (Yes, I have already looked at apartments in the city. Yes, I have already devised a wild plan to live there and vacation in Uzhgorod. Yes, I’m aware that I’m incorrigible.)

The city itself was much more beautiful than I expected. It is filled with parks and green spaces, which provide a nice respite from the swells of humanity–especially after you claw your way into a subway that will be filled to bursting with what seems like every person in Ukraine. (On a sidenote, Kiev’s subway stations are the deepest in the world  and that makes even the mundane activity of riding an escalator dizzying and thrilling.) There were some great museums that we were able to visit, including one on Chernobyl and another on WWII (that one happened to be inside the Rodina-Mat or “Mother Motherland”, which charmed me as it reminded me of one of my favorite books, Les Miserables, and my favorite character Enjolras’ referring to France as his “mother”). Plus, Kiev holds what any American missing the States truly desires: American fast food. Dominos, McDonalds, KFC…Kiev has them all. It also has the only place to find real, American-style bacon, which is necessary to the care and keeping of any American expat in Ukraine.

But the place I know the best, and explored the most extensively, is little Uzhgorod. My home for the summer.

Traditional Transcarpathian wooden church in Uzhgorod’s folk culture and architecture museum.

Uzhgorod is small and welcoming and very European. It features a riverwalk, lots of sidewalk cafes, street food vendors, and a bevy of languages. (Ukrainian is the most spoken, but you will also hear Russian, Hungarian, Romani, Slovak, Polish, German and more.) Uzhgorod lies within three hours of at least three countries–Slovakia, Hungary and Romania–and thus has an international apeal that’s quite unexpected in such a small town, even as it is staunchly patriotic and pro-Ukraine. I for one, thoroughly enjoyed that part of Uzhgorod’s culture. Especially in the food, since the traditional Hungarian dish of bogracs is one of my favorite cuisinal discoveries made this summer.

So there you go! A self-indulgent travelblog (one of a planned three. Leave now!) that will hopefully make you consider Ukraine on your next tour of Europe. After all, there’s only violence in the far east.

• annotated post
• summer 2014
• travel
• ukraine