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| Entering Ukraine |
Leaving Zamość, Poland we drove to the Ukraine
border. After waiting in a queue of cars for over 1 hour to exit Poland, we
swapped lanes into the bus queue in the hope that it would reduce our wait. It
worked, as after two buses we were waved on ahead of the cars!
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| Church- Zubra village |
The officials thoroughly searched Vanni, then
suddenly waved us out of Poland and on to Ukraine customs.
We managed a friendly reception from the first Ukraine
official who wanted our passports; a little more solemn from the next one who
thoroughly searched Vanni, asking us about the drugs in our first aid kit.
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| L’viv tram through wet windscreen |
Finding that no-one spoke any English at all, we prodigiously used (and quietly
blessed) our Google Translate phone app, to help him understand that our drugs
were antibiotics, and tablets to deal with various illnesses.
Marg helped through her excellent acting – she
mimed vomiting – it was an explicit mime and worked a treat as it ended the
search!
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| L’viv-Buhta Viking Camp |
That done, we headed to another office (for we know
not what), then to the last office to be greeted by an extremely curt man who
had ‘some’ English.
He also thoroughly searched Vanni and asked us if we were
sure we weren’t carrying drugs or narcotics.
We assured him that we weren’t and he steadily became friendlier, then
waved us on saying “welcome to Ukraine”.
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| Buhta Viking camp bus stop, Marg |
We had a short but picturesque drive to L’viv,
seeing some lovely villages, churches and rural activity.
However, our GPS didn’t like it when we wouldn’t
take an illegal left turn that she indicated, so she recalculated and took us
right through the L’viv old city instead of going around it – all in an
absolute torrent of rain.
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| L’viv-Rynok square, Marg |
We drove through narrow, steep and slippery cobbled
streets where we crawled along, followed unpassable trams, and held up traffic. We eventually came out on the other side of town rather shaken up.
After that drive and a demanding several hours at
customs, it was late, still pouring, and we were tired.
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| L’viv-Black Stone House, Leigh |
Looking for overnight parking, we found a place at
the local racecourse. A security guard waved us through without question, and
without cost. There was no electricity but we felt very secure there, and we
could even pick up the jockey’s wifi!
Next day, we headed out of town seeking Buhta
Viking Resort which advertised ‘camping’.
We found it easily and thought it an oasis, being
beautifully set in a forest around ponds, with walkways and picnic/BBQ places.
Breakfast was included in the price so instead of
our usual muesli and yoghurt we got Ukrainian food. We had a choice of blinis filled with minced
chicken (very yum), pork sausages, or chicken Kiev - with a really good cup of
coffee! We waddled out of there the first morning!
We were about 30 minutes out of L’viv so we caught
the local bus into the city (we later found that each Ukraine bus stop is
uniquely decorated). The bus was an experience in itself as it was quite
decrepit, dirty and very hot. Unfortunately, we got off at the wrong stop then
walked for ages before flagging down another bus
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| L’viv book market, Leigh |
A friendly man and his son, who spoke some English,
gave us advice on how to get to L’viv centre.
After input from all the men sitting in the front
who were very excited we were from New Zealand, we were directed out at another
stop and told what number bus to catch.
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| L’viv living |
We made it to the centre of the old town and were
greeted by the sight of attractive, grand but rather faded buildings.
The streets
arranged around the rynok square with the town hall in the middle and a
fountain in each corner; narrow, cobbled and interesting side streets, and
restaurants everywhere.
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| Relaxing at Buhta Viking Camp |
People were in variations of traditional dress with
embroidered shirts and blouses, and there were street vendors and stalls
everywhere, vying with local shops – all very colourful.
We stopped at a cute little restaurant right beside
the wall of the old armoury for a traditional Ukrainian lunch.
We found L’viv to be a vibrant and friendly city
and easy place to walk around. There is so much history here and we soaked it
up as we wandered about.
The weather started to look threatening so we
headed to where we thought we should catch our bus home. We waited and waited,
then the heavens opened so we decided to forgo the experience of another bus ride
and looked for a taxi instead. After a bit of bargaining we got a reasonable price
and headed back to Vanni in a Mercedes that had seen better days.
Parts of the road home were absolutely shocking and
cars were weaving their way across the road attempting to miss the worst of the
huge potholes, now full of water. If you had a business here in car springs and
shock absorbers you would do well!
The Buhta Viking Resort was a fascinating place to
stay while in L’viv. Each day we saw many families visiting for a picnic; dance
party; bike, buggy or horse ride, or just a stroll and chat. We were parked on the edge of the activity area but
had many families strolling past and looking at us very curiously. People were
very friendly and a few spoke some English.
While there, we had an evening meal at the resort
restaurant accompanied by a delicious bordeaux. We both had different cuts of
deer and they were both very tasty. We are finding that food is pretty cheap here
compared to home so we thought maybe we should eat out more while in Ukraine.
We are not sure if our waistlines would thank us for that though!
We spoke to Irina, who is in charge of the resort,
about the political situation and safety in the Ukraine capital Kiev - our
itinerary would see us in Kiev around the time of the Ukraine presidential
election. She assured us it was safe in western Ukraine (roughly, the regions
between L’viv and Kiev), but definitely not in eastern Ukraine. It was
reassuring to speak to a local about what’s happening and how it is affecting
Ukraine people.
She along with several other people have asked us
if we were scared coming to Ukraine at this time. We have told them that we are
being very cautious, following the news, and listening to travel warnings. They
are very impressed that we are here as tourists and are so proud of their
country and the fact that we think it is wonderful. Several recommended other
places within Ukraine that we might enjoy.
We have now decided to delay our arrival in Kiev
until after the elections. We are now off to visit some of the recommended
places instead.