Ukraine For Travelers

27 July 2016
Редакція

It’s summer, the best time for traveling! Which means there are no excuses for staying home and wasting your precious time. Pack your bags, grab your friends, get positive and go! And if for any reason you can’t go abroad, no worries. Ukraine has a number of interesting sights ;) And this is what we will tell you about.

Tustan Fortress

Visit Lviv region. Here, in Urych village you can see a remarkable medieval monument. They say, it used to be a pagan sanctuary here before the village was established. Rock engravings and solar signs prove this.

This place might be of a special interest for scientists. The thing is that wooden buildings that were located on hillsides left grooves where they were attached to the rocks. It gives an idea of how Tustan used to look once.

Another special fact about this place is that a fest is annually held here. If you like representations of medieval battles, trades and entertainments, you should definitely visit this place.

Kamyana Mohyla

A scenic reserve in Zaporizhia region, close to Melitopol. Although people used to believe these were graves of our ancestors, the place was entirely created by nature. However, our ancestors found it a holy place indeed. Most of ancient tribes used to hold their ceremonies here. This actually is a kind of Greek Olympus in Ukraine. Those of you who like mysticism and mysteries will find ancient engravings, petroglyphs and sacral signs. The rock grave is considered older than Stonehenge and Egyptian pyramids.

Bakota

Another sanctuary of our ancestors. This time it’s located in Khmelnytskyi region, close to Kamianets-Podilskyi. Archeologists found a number of pagan temples and barrows. There is a legend (partially proved), that in this area on the ground of Smotrych river there is a rock trace of Buddha.

According to chronicles, Bakota used to be one of the major political centers in Podolia region. However, the town started collapsing in 1431 when the Polish severely attacked local citizens because of uprising against landowners. Bakota stopped existing in 1981 once and for all.

Government made a decision to build Dniester Hydroelectric Station on that place and to that end all the territory had to be flooded. Apart from natural reserves there are only remnants of the monastery destroyed by people and natural disasters. Nevertheless, the place is filled with unbelievable atmosphere.

Podilski Tovtry

National environmental park ‘Podilski Tovtry’ is situated in Horodockyi, Chemerovetskyi and Kamianets-Podilskyi districts of Khmelnytskyi region. It belongs to one of the seven natural wonders of Ukraine. This is a very picturesque area where Ukrainian Carpathians begin.

Hills are totally covered with verdure and trimmed with clear blue rivers and lakes of various shapes. There are several ways to explore the park: on foot, on horseback, by bike or by car. You can also conquer the Dniester in a canoe, catamaran or a motor ship, fly on a hang-glider or balloon. You can find attractions for anyone here.

Korets Castle

Those willing to visit this place, go to Rivne. The castle is located in town of Korets. Unfortunately, today one can only see ruins and small pieces that give an idea of what this majestic building used to look like. Yet this does not mean there is nothing to see there.

There are a few opinions as to who built this castle. Some say it was prince Ostrogski, others claim it was Dmitry I Starshy (Dmitrijus Algirdaitis), founder of Korets kin. Whoever the castle belonged to at that time, today no one needs it anymore. There was a fire in 1832 which damaged the building and it has not been reconstructed ever since.

Führerhauptquartier Werwolf

In Vinnytsia, close to the town of Stryzhavka, you can find an exciting site from the times of the World War II. This is where Hitler built his headquarters intended for supervision of military actions on the East front. They say, the German dictator visited this place three times and spent there 138 days in total, which the longest stay of all his headquarters.

In fact this was a smaller imitation of Hitler’s main headquarters in Prussia. It consisted of a ground part (multiple wooden houses) and an underground part (three bombproof shelters). In 1942 this site was revealed. Fleeing from Vinnytsia, the Germans destroyed their creation which remains a poorly researched place up till now.

House with Chimaeras

Don’t miss this place when you are in Kiev. In the center of the capital, on Bankivska street, there is a quaint building known as the ‘House with Chimaeras’. Sculptor Elio Salia used sketches by Vladislav Horodetskyi (who the building actually belonged to) and displayed various mythological scenes, animals and fairytale creatures on the walls of the building.

People say that Vladislav was very kin on hunting. Looks like this is what made him create such an odd dwelling. There are many talks and legends about the House with Chimaeras. According to one of them, there is a curse of Horodetskyi which can says that only their kin will live in harmony with the odd chimaeras and all the rest shall be doomed to misfortune.

Vylkove and Danube Biosphere Reserve

The town is located in Kiliya district of the Odessa Oblast, the place where Danube flows into the Black Sea. Locals call it "Ukrainian Venice" because the streets of the town are pierced by a great number of channels. So, if you have a car, better leave it at home and get yourself a boat. Not far from the town there is Danube Biosphere Reserve. Wild nature lovers will definitely like this place.

Odessa Catacombs

It turns out there is a network of underground tunnels. Their total length comprises around 2.5 thousand kilometers - which is one of the longest underground networks in the world. Most of them used to serve as sandstone multilevel mines, cellars and underground shelters. The rest are natural cavities.

The labyrinth emerged in the 19th century when Odessa started actively building up. Building materials were mined from these stone quarries. In war times this was a shelter for partisans to hide in. There were revealed drawings and inscriptions made by workers over a hundred years ago.

The places above is just a short list of places in Ukraine worth your attention. Explore your Homeland before exploring the world outside it ;)

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