On my last day "out West," another English Language Fellow and I took a marshrutka (cross between a small bus and a van commonly used for public transportation here in Ukraine) to the little village of Khotyn. A few kilometers outside of the village is a huge and quite picturesque fortress overlooking the Dniester River:
Built in 1325, the fortress originally inhabited the region which is now split between Moldova and Ukraine. The fortress and her protective outer walls (on which you can clamber all up and around) have seen quite a bit during their time here, from serving as a Rus, a Moldovian, and a Polish stronghold, to fighting off the Turks (among other intruders):
After our time exploring the fortress and surrounding grounds, we decided to take the short hike back into the village before catching another marshrutka back to Kamianets-Podilsky:
Some good hiking and a good does of sunshine (not to mention a surprisingly good meal at the Japanese-Thai-Ukrainianese (!) restaurant in KP) was just what we needed before hopping on the long night train back to Kiev (leg 1 of 2 for the journey back to Lugansk)!
Wow! You went to a strange snow-less land. What is that? My Hokkaido brain can't even begin to comprehend :)
ReplyDeleteAnyways, your travels look like fun!
Yeah, we really lucked out weather-wise out in Western Ukraine for this trip! Back on the far East in Lugansk, however, there is definitely no such think as a snow-less land! But, spring is in the air, so hopefully it'll all be melted away sooooooooon!
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