Day 8

Well, day 8 of my wonderful trip is about over, and it was yet another great day. We began the day in the wonderful city of Lwów, and have ended it in the also nice city of Yermecze, in the Carpathian Mountains. But, let’s start at the beginning.

We started the day again with śniadania–breakfast. Rolls and bread, sausage, cheese, butter and tomatoes, along with some tea. It was a good start to the day.

After a few false starts and a few stops for directions, we were on the way to our next stop, the historic town of Ivano-Frankivsk.

But along the way, we had a stop. We spied a castle or fortress of some sort way on top of a hill in the town of Galich (or maybe Halich in English or Halicz in Polish). Filip was sleeping, so Wojtek and I sought out the road to that high place. It was indeed a fortification of some sort from the 12th or 13th century, high atop a hill. I took plenty of pictures which I will post when I get back. Quite a view from hundreds of meters above the town.

In the town square, there was a celebration of some sort going on. Apparently, Ukrainian Independence Day is one of these days while we’re here, so they were remembering that. It’s a mixed bag of feelings for Polish people–a lot of what is now Ukraine was once Poland and/or Lithuania, and a lot of people were resettled after World War II, after a lot of violence that transpired to found the free Ukrainian state. That violence included some “ethnic cleansing” by a radical Ukrainian group, the UPA, as they sought to get rid of all the Poles. When the Communists took over after World War II (having been given basically free reign by the Allies), they did their version of ethnic cleansing–forced resettlement. And that included some of my family. But so also did the violence of ethnic cleansing touch us, a one family member was killed by the UPA, too. Sad.

Along the way we spied a few old Polish Catholic churces that were abandoned and in ruins, a testament to the previous presence (and in large areas, predominance) of the Poles, and a testament to the fact that there are few Poles left here.

Eventually we got to Ivano-Frankivsk. It is indeed very historic. We visited a number or churches there. They are all very beautiful, each in their own way. We went to the city museum (housed in a former church) but it was closed on Monday. And we walked around the ruined Potocki Palace, though the ruins are mostly blocked by a wall. Still, I found it to be a very vibrant city and full of life.

Eventually we were on the road again and headed for Jeremcze where we are staying tonight. Jeremcze is a city in the mountains, the Carpathian Mountains. It is absolutely beautiful here. The mountains are not so tall that they are snow covered and devoid of trees, yet are quite impressive. Jeremcze is in a valley and a river flows down that valley. We stopped and visited some impressive waterfalls/rapids along the river. There were even a few younger boys playing and swimming in the rapids. At first we saw three, but later there were only two. We’re not sure where the other one went! It was a beautiful day out, very warm, around 80 F, and there were a few people sunning on the rocks, too. It’s kind of touristy, with an area with vendors selling all their stuff. Interesting, for sure. And of course I took lots of pics.

After a while, we set of in search of lunch. Filip wanted pierogi with meat, but the first two places didn’t have that. They directed us to a third. When we asked, they said they didn’t have them either, but had pelmeni with meat. Duh! Pelmeni are basically small pieorgi.

The place where we ate dinner also has a few rooms for rent, so we are staying there tonight. They are beautiful rooms, each with their own bathroom, very new and modern. And they want somewhere in the rich area of US $40 a night, actually less. Amazing. So that’s where we are tonight. And each room has its own bathroom, and a fairly nice one at that!

After we ate and arranged our rooms, we took off again for some other scenery, along the river, in the valley between all the mountains. Among the things we came across is an Orthodox church–very beautiful–an cemetery. But at the front of the cemetery is a recent remembrance of the 72 local people who were Polish, killed in 1944-1945 by the Ukrainian insurgents, trying to form their own country. In this case, the monument to the 72 murders was erected in 2005 by a descendent. In Ukraine today, people are friendly to the Polish, partly because they hate the Russians more. Very interesting politics, I will say. There have been some recent attempts to at least acknowledge the atrocities of the past, though to this day, many Ukrainians see those people (bandits, murderers, terrorists, I may want to label them) as heroes who helped get Ukraine free and rid of the Polish, though at least this part of Ukraine was Polish for a long time.

We eventually made it back to the place we’re staying. No Internet, but so it goes. We had a few beers in the restaurant and that’s the end of our day. It’s been another great day and I sure am having a great time. Tomorrow we’ll move on, and we may even make it to Romania. Stay tuned!