olha pryymak

Terrible roads are not the only obstacles to enjoying Ukrainian scenery with a car. We are the worst country when it comes to road police manners. Yesterday we all pulled out of the house just to be stopped by a cop to collect 40 hryvnyas into his pocket for the silliest thing. The day before the Rada or whoever implemented a new regulation that required a driver to carry with him a different number of stupid papers ( I am not talking about drivers license). So the happy cops harvest happily. Makes me think of another story on the topic: about a Ukrainian dude in the US trying to bribe a cop there for letting him go off the speeding ticket. The guy ended up in jail of course. Long way to go.

Beregynya annual festival in Lutsk, Volyn region featured lots of folklore, crafts, music and dancing, special church service and a parade. Locals poured on the streets to enjoy the sight, show themselves and check out others.

I saw a particularly good exhibit by 12-15-yr-olds and helped out my family to sell their mead. Mead is sth of a mix between cider and wine, made purely of honey, water and hops, 15 grad proof or so, served mostly chilled. It’s been around Europe ever since druids. If it was not so complicated to set up a small business in Ukraine, I would long ago embark into the family business of marking this drink. And even though receteering and petty crime has gone down in the past 15 years, the govermnment corruption has grown stronger. So we keep this treat exclusively to our family circle and some rare festival outings. Although if my readers would like to try some…

This is the closest to nature you get in fifteen minutes by car from the city.  Also, the fursest you get into the island, the closer to nature it looks .   I think you can even get there by footbridge from a metro stataion nearby.  Looks like heaven for bbq gurus,  bickers, joggers, 4×4 riders and other casual ramblers (with beer in hand is all right).

It’s too cold to get out to see anything new today, so this post is about a small town Ostrog in Rivnenska oblast that I visited last year. The main attraction there are the ruins of XV Century Ostrogski family castle and a Mezhyrich monastery on the outskirts. The castle includes Trinity church and several towers that still remain (New tower on the pic).

Also, there is a nationally renowned school in town – Ostrog Academy – situated on the grounds of XVIII Century Capuchin monastery. First published Bible in eastern orthodoxy came out here in XVI Century.

Mezhyrich monastery is also fortified with great walls around. It opens to the view across a pond, as you leave Ostrog on top of the hill, surrounded by a village. The monks there are pretty stickt, hold pieces of at cloth at the entrance for those harpless women, who fail to show up in long skirts and headscarfs to wrap you properly before entering the church.

Inside the church interior is touched by darkness and time. It holds a great chandalier and a wonderful icon with Mary and child in the right hand corner. Even if you try really hard to look as if you are visiting the church to pray, the monks spot a tourist in you right away and approach you with an appropriate lecture. They care less if you speak no Ukrainian (as it was in my husband’s case) and get their message across with menathing intonation and the length of speech.

This week I am sticking around my hometown meanwhile my parents decided to commission a painting on a very pertinent subject of beekeeping. So we came over to a studio of a local artist Svitlana Kostukevych with some home-made honey and all. And found a whole lot of artists’ studios, gallery, art supplies shop, antiques, plus a children’s art school – all crammed in the same building. How convenient!

Most of the artists represented here are of Lviv school ( vs. the Kyiv school). As per Kostukevych explanation, the Lviv trainees tend to express themselves more free, abstract and imaginative, while the Kyevites stick to traditional ways of laying a stroke. Below I am putting out some pictures of paintings snapped from a brochure to give you an idea of the choices available. Some of them I know ever since art school, others (like Yuriev) are new to me.

Yuryev

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Rusanovych

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Two days ago I took a flight from Milan to Kyiv and had some time to spare on observing my compatriots getting ready to board. First thing that stuck out in observation process was their shopping habits. Usually everybody gets stocked up while still in town. Therefore the over-sized suitcases at the check-in. And let’s not forget the shiny wrapping plastic film that help holding up those bursting suitcases.

Then come the duty-free shops. Desperation gets out at this stage and most exiting things get carried on the plane in the clear sealed plastic bags. And lastly, the duty free shopping from catalogue on the plane. I thought they are there for the in-flight entertainment. But no! As we were giggling about the items on the list, my neighbor promptly made a request to buy something from it.

Irony aside, I love to shop every time I am abroad. This time I was coming back with one more garment bag, securely wrapped at the airport in bright acid green plastic and our carry-on luggage full of duty-free food goodies. God save us from the catalogues.

A great aerial view from Wikimapia of Palanok gives an idea about the three-castles-in-one layout that it has. It is Mukachevo hosts a wonderful gem of a castle – Palanok. It stands on an antient dead vulcano in the middle of the plains, in Transcarpathia.

Inside the castle there is a local ethnographic museum and a church. Being so unreachable, it is one of the best preserved castles. (Another particular good castle is Olesk, but in total you can visit around 40 castles in western Ukraine).

Last week I took a day tour around the Carpathian mountains. It was my first time seeing its breathtaking views:

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It’s stunning, interesting, personal and magnificent. In spite of having very little to do with music and theater, I am drawn to this place extremely. The Opera House was opened in 1900, built in Austria, transported to Lviv by train and put together by pieces. The interior is full of gold, silver and marble details. It generally feels good to be inside. Besides, ballet and opera, other acts perform there periodically. The tickets on regular shows range from 10-70 hryvnias, a bit steeper then in Kyiv, actually. Because of that it’s easier to get a seat at the last minute. A nicely-designed site has the general information and contact info in English, but does not seem to have the bill translated just yet.

In the past fortnight, I visited Lviv twice and fell in love with it completely! In spite of temperamental weather(see London), lack of basic amenities (people get water here three hours a day) and general sad state, the place rocks! Seeing the old town alone makes up for all the inconveniences. The architecture carries the spirit of old Austro-Hungaria and Rech Pospolyta. The most common religious denomination is Greek-catholic, although a few roman-catholic orders represented here as well. (more…)