September 2019
The only reason we stopped in Chernivtsi is that it is the closest place to an overland border crossing to Romania and to get to it meant taking an overnight sleeper train that left Kyiv at 10 o'clock at night and got into Chernivtsi at 8 the next morning.
Meant for a longish day in Kyiv, not helped by the slightly crappy weather. Had a few fun and games when we were boarding the train as had to haul out bags down a couple of crowded stair cases to the platform and while doing so my (Richard) day pack was unzipped and rain coat extracted - didn't notice till was at far end of platform. Seeing as the train wasn't due to leave for 20 mins decided to head back upstairs on the off chance I could find it. Wasn't till I was heading back that I saw some one wearing it (obviously not the sharpest knife in the drawer). Stormed up, gave him a solid slap around the back of the head and made various loud remarks as to what I thought of him and his parentage and pulled jacket off him. Combination of no police about and train due to leave meant he and his mates got away scoot free - but I got my jacket back!
The train ride was reasonably comfortable and secure apart from the intermittent loud bangs as mismatched rails were hit.
It was in Chernivtsi where we first used the Moovit ap and realized how powerful it is for getting around in a foreign city. You specify where you want to go and it gives you routes, bus numbers and times for getting there by bus.
Chernivtsi is still quite a pretty little town with an old medieval heart and University to give it an extra bit of life. Thus was evident in the sheer proliferation of coffee shops/stalls (you may think NZ has a strong coffee culture but it ain't nothing compared to bits of eastern Europe).
In one if the squares stalls were being set up for some sort of fair and one caught our eye. Think the large lump of black stuff was some sort of black pudding and am sure the lump of whiteish stuff to the right of the scales was almost pure fat.
Stayed in a slightly odd hotel, felt like a bit of a throwback to the communist era, but have to say the breakfast buffet was stunning. Serious range of meat products and seven rounds of hard cheeses in interesting flavours i.e. mint, squid ink and lemon, tumeric, coriander etc...
Feeling like a change from Ukrainian cuisine we headed to a place called "Arsenal on Fire". The menu had three choices of meat, bbq ribs, bbq steak or bbq fish. When your food arrived the waiters drew a picture of your plate and cutlery on the paper table cloth and put a "tasteful" large wax lined paper bib round your neck. V tasty food and great fun but fine dining it wasn't.
The University is a UNESCO heritage place and the architectural style is in a class of it's own - think Hogwarts.
The Architect
About 100km from Chernivtsi is the town of Kamianets-Podilskyi which is famous for having the largest fortress in Europe. The fortress is reminiscent of every fairy tale castle ever written about.
On display was this replicaa medieval trick goblet.
As we visited on the weekend it was quite fun just sitting and people watching as the inside of the fortress was buzzing with locals and wedding photo shoots.
Walking back we passed through the main square where there is a great statue called "The Tourist" and a giant easter egg. Don't think Ukraine takes eater egg hunting seriously.
From Chernivtsi it was a case of taxiing to Vadul Siret train station where we, and five others, bordered the train to Romania. Once we had crossed the border and passports stamped an inspection crew came through and were popping the overhead lights in all of the compartments, looking for contraband we assume.
No comments:
Post a Comment