What Ukraine REALLY looks like

CuddleDuncan

I'm contemplating a trip to Ukraine. Not the areas in the news, but the rest of it. I don't know much about Ukraine but it's a big place so there must be some good bits. Turns out there are. (Feel free to post lovely pictures of Ukraine in this thread.)

So the vague idea at the moment is to fly to Romania, take a romantic train trip through the mountains and Dracula country, perhaps stop off for a couple of days, then cross into western Ukraine. Haven't quite figured out where to go yet but the dreaming spires of Chernivtsi sound good. I'd ski but it's a bit late for this year.

I'm thinking about this summer specifically, but even if that doesn't happen (don't hold your breath) it stands to reason they'll need some tourists after Putin, ahem, retires and the Russian army have gone home.

Is this romantic enough for you? (Kamianets-Podilskyi Fortress. The oldest surviving parts are 14th century.)

JohnR1972

@CuddleDuncan
Best wishes to you on your trip and I admire your willingness to look for the beauty in a place that is only making the news for other reasons. I have 2 daughters in their 20s and I always told them that people are great at finding what they are looking for. I traveled a lot in my career (12 countries on 4 continents) and everywhere I went I could find good and beautiful things. I am equally certain that if I had been looking for it, I could have found dark, sketchy and ugly things. I wish you safe and happy travels whenever you make your trip!

IggyJReilly55

You’re looking at the western Ukraine, which was part of the polish crown and Poland pre-ww2. I’m not sure what amenities you’re used to but those are some of the poorer and more wild areas of Romania and into the old areas I’d Eastern Europe.

CuddleDuncan

@CobaltRacer55 thanks for the heads up. I've been to some of the poorest places in Africa and Asia so the presence or absence of amenties won't bother me.

Midnight01

Lol, why the f would you go to Ukraine now…

CuddleDuncan

@Midnight01 it's the best time to go. I'll be the only tourist for twenty miles.

GreatHornedOwl

Hopefully, you won't be a dead tourist.

MCcuddles2

I once considered moving to kyiv as a digital nomad. I was into the startup
and data science scene and Kyiv was a major European tech hub.

My life went a different direction. Wish you the best on your trip!

UKGuy

If you get captured by Russian forces don't bet on your government coming to your rescue.
If you want to know what cities in Ukraine looked like before the war there are dozens of walking tours on Youtube.

deefine

Nothing like a romantic trip to a country being bombed by the 3rd largest military in the world. Maybe you can offer food and water to escaping refugees.

Gallowglass

"Winter of Fire". Be safe. Keep your eyes open.

Francisco108

If you do go to Ukraine, I wish you the best and hope you return safely.

It is a trip that many people would outright reject, so I congratulate your bravery,

Midnight01

I'd argue for bravery if it was a rescue mission or a humanitarian effort. But to see some old castles and romantic areas while the country is being bombed to oblivion by a madman. Na fam. But you do you. Send pics.

CuddleDuncan

Carpathian Biosphere Reserve

Absolutely no bravery involved, I wouldn't be going anywhere dangerous. I worked it out, Ukraine is about the size of New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio put together. I would be in Columbus and Cincinnati while the trouble is in New York and Boston.

No chance of being captured by Russians. Even in the places they have advanced the fastest they're averaging less the four miles a day. Hannibal went faster than that and he was taking elephants across the Alps.

More than anything, Ukraine needs hard currency. If I'm going to give them some I might as well take it in person.

Gallowglass

Things change fast. Keep your eyes open. Be safe.

Trigger warning: Extreme violence, trauma and death.
Winter On Fire - A Ukraine history

CuddleDuncan

Remember Mariupol? This is what it used to look like. World Vyshyvanka Day 2018.

This is what it looks like now:

UCpaaHVg6u0

I visited Kyiv in July 2021. It was bustling, friendly, often beautiful, and surprisingly hot and humid. Also it was not so flat as most of the country. The many monasteries reminded me of wedding cakes in their layers and trimmings. I hired a guide for one day. Right up to Feb 23 she assured me that Putin was bluffing. We had also talked about Yanukovich (back in July) and she defended that their economy was better under his rule (as Putin's puppet?). I chose not to press things and just keep it light. She's a refugee in Italy now. I would really like to return but so much is destroyed throughout the country that it would probably depress me. I know that the street around the Metro station nearest my hotel was heavily hit. I walked down Peremohy Avenue, and seeing pictures of T90 tanks moving down seemed surreal. How they pushed them out is still a mystery to me.

achetocuddle

@CuddleDuncan Have a satisfying, safe trip. I wouldn't do what you are doing, but I think you'll be fine. You are an intelligent person making a thoughtful, informed decision. Please spend a lot of money there, seriously. Even before I saw the pics here, I was under the impression that Ukraine had some beautiful spots.

Catloaf

I’ve dreamed about heading to Bukovina in western Ukraine, just to see where my great-great grandparents had fled in 1910. They discarded everything about their heritage when they landed in Canada, and did not even let their children have access to the culture. The family last name was Anglicized to sound British, in the 1940s.

To this day I am not entirely sure of who they were, what they spoke, their culture…that area of the country was battered by the Austro-Hungarian empire, and on the immigration documents my great great grandparents are described as Ruthenians who came from Roumania. But we were taught by my great grandfather that they were Ukrainians, who rejected that ethnonym.

And I’m still not sure what they could have been running from.

achetocuddle

@Catloaf I wish we knew your heritage. I just hate that people have to flee for their lives and basically abandon who they used to be.

People have taken picnic baskets to active battlefields for as long as there have been battles...

Hell if I can understand why.

CuddleDuncan

In view of the latest horrific news from Ukraine, here's a lovely picture of what it looks like in happier days.

Carpathian mountains, Ukraine. Freepik.com

CuddleDuncan

In Kharkiv the city council have put the municipal Christmas tree underground, where it will be relatively safe.

Kharkovskiye Izviestiya via DefenceU/Twitter and the New York Post

Minestrone101

Enjoy your trip.

MonkeyNeedsAHug

I’m probably an outlier in terms of my willingness to travel to war-torn and poverty-stricken parts of the world. But I have always felt this way. If someone tells me that one in ten visitors to (destination) will have firsthand negative repercussions as a result of (current event) struggles there, I’m usually like, I’m ok with those odds.

People forget that the vast majority of people living in these places are just actively going about their daily lives there. So, best wishes for a wonderful trip! And please send more pictures once you get there.

🐒

zerocantaloupe

Going to a war zone for a vacation discount…that’s a new one to me. Best of luck.

Jerardeins

Did you go?

CuddleDuncan

I haven't been, and it's not going to happen in the immediate future. But I would very much like to.

CuddleDuncan

Christmas Eve in Kherson. Pretty, isn't it?

via @ walter_report on Twitter

Except it's not pretty, it's white phosporous (WP). This is very nasty stuff, and armies aren't allowed to use it on other armies under international law. Here, the Russians are using it on a civilian area. (It is legal to use it to make a smokescreen.)

WP causes notoriously horrific burns. Water will put it out temporarily, but it spontaenously reignites in air when the water runs out. It also produces a vapour which gets into your lungs and burns you from the inside out.

Getting under cover will protect you temporarily from the lumps, but it won't protect you from the vapour and the lumps - which keep burning until they are gone, at over 800C - will set fire to the garden and burn the house down soon enough.