Things to do in The Carpathians
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Chernivsti University
Chernivsti University is like a trip on LSD. This fantastic red-brick ensemble, with coloured tiles decorating its pseudo-Byzantine, pseudo-Moorish and pseudo-Hanseatic wings, is the last thing you'd expect to see here. The architect responsible was Czech Josef Hlavka, who was also behind Chernivtsi's Former Armenian Cathedral, as well as large chunks of Vienna.
To the left as you pass the gatehouse is the Seminarska Church, now used for concerts and ceremonies. Straight ahead stands the former main palace residence of the Metropolitans, housing two remarkable staircases and a fantastic, 1st-floor Marmurovy Zal (hall). Whether you'll be able to access them is uncertain,…
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Khotyn Fortress
While Kamyanets-Podilsky is awesome taken as a whole, its castle building is upstaged by Khotyn Fortress. Eastern European filmmakers love to use this massive fort overlooking the Dnister River as a location; recently refurbished, it served as Warsaw Castle in the recent Russian-language blockbuster movie Taras Bulba. With walls up to 40m high and 6m thick, today’s stone fortress was built in the 15th-century, replacing an earlier wooden building. Its location safeguarded river trade routes making it a sought-after prize. The defining moment in its history came in 1621, with a threatened Turkish invasion. The incumbent Poles enlisted the help of 40,000 Cossacks and…
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Europe's Geographical Centre
Ukraine contends that it holds Europe's Geographical Centre, just before the village of Dilove. Ukraine is not the only country to declare itself the continent's centre: Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia have all staked rival claims.
Furthermore, Austrian experts, quoted in the Wall Street Journal Europe in 2004, say the pillar erected by Austro-Hungarian geographers in 1887, in what is now back-country Ukraine, was never intended to mark Europe's middle; its Latin inscription of simple longitude and latitude was mistranslated. None of this has dented official Ukrainian aspirations to the honour, although some locals are more sceptical. Today, a Soviet-era spire has…
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Reflection
A completely atypical menu in such an unlikely city makes Reflection worth every extra kopeck. As if Waldorf and Caesar salads, vegetable fajitas, bruschetta, pesto with penne, teriyaki salad, lentil soup, pork with ripe mangoes etc weren’t sufficient reminders of the culinary world you thought you’d left behind when entering regional Ukraine, there are also freshly baked croissants or oatmeal at breakfast. The food is also usually well executed – our ‘fresh mango’ amazingly was.
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Museum of Forest Ecology
The Museum of Forest Ecology stands on the hill behind the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve headquarters building. This old-school museum of natural history is surprisingly informative, rich and colourful as well as slightly kitsch. So, in between chuckles at the odd moth-bitten, taxidermied sheep, you’ll learn a bit from the handy Carpathian Mountains relief map, and the dioramas of forest landscapes and Hutsul festivals – even without reading the signs.
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Palanok Castle
Mukacheve’s highlight is the hilltop Palanok Castle, which pops up from the surrounding plain as you approach Mukacheve from Uzhhorod, like something in a fairy-tale fantasy. Famous as the site where Croatian-Hungarian princess Ilona Zrini held off the Austrian Emperor’s army for three years before finally capitulating in 1688, the 14th-century castle includes one or two interesting exhibits with English explanations, and has some excellent views.
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Pysanky Museum
The freshly repainted Pysanky Museum showcases the colourful, hand-painted Easter eggs (pysanky) that are a Ukrainian tradition. Any visiting Australians will immediately rename this the ‘Big Egg’ as the two-storey museum is itself that shape – reminding one of the many ‘big things’ that infamously dot the landscape down under. Inside, there are hundreds of pysanky, decorated in various regional designs.
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Kalynivsky Market
With its own police station, first-aid point and dedicated bank branches, the 33 hectare Kalynivsky Market is like a town unto itself. As a conduit into Ukraine for goods from neighbouring countries, it attracts some 50,000 shoppers a day and is a frenetic, wonderful phenomenon. You might not want to buy anything in particular, although it is good for baseball caps and trainers, and it’s great for people-watching.
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St Nicholas Cathedral
The city’s most unusual church is St Nicholas Cathedral. It’s called the ‘drunken church’, because of the four twisted turrets surrounding its cupola. Painted blue with golden stars, these turrets create an optical illusion, much like an Escher sketch. The cathedral is a 1930s copy of a 14th-century royal church in Curtea de Arges (Romania).
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Museum of Hutsul Folk Art
Behind the Pysanky Museum, cut diagonally left towards the next street, to the Museum of Hutsul Folk Art. This well-curated exhibition is probably the best of its kind in Ukraine, with decorated stove tiles and other ceramics, musical instruments, carved wooden tools, boxes, furniture, traditional and embroidered folk dress and woven wall-hangings.
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Sorbonne
With its French pretensions writ large in dishes like ‘Mon Cher Ami’, ‘Tête a tête’ and ‘Déjà vu’, this is pretty upscale for the university district. However, the shaded terrace is a charming spot to cool off in summer and even if the grilled prawns (200uah) are out of your reach, sandwiches and salads remain affordable.
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Kafe Elina
This café behind the Museum of Hutsul Folk Art is a typical Hutsul, kolyba arrangement with tables and knick-knacks in a wooden hut serving salad and shashlyk. Many visitors, however, will be reminded of a German beer garden, and will plump for a bottle of tasty Chernihivske Bile.
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Hutsulshchyna
Quite understandably the backdrop to many souvenir photos, this ornate log cabin, with its central spire and faint sprinkling of Hutsul colour, serves pretty decent food. The menu includes river fish, forest mushrooms, polenta, pancakes and all sorts of other regional cuisine.
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Senor Pomidor
Senor Pomidor’s not so much a pizza joint as a local cult, much-loved for its truly delicious thick toppings and crispy, thick crusts. The results are easily some of the best pizzas in Ukraine, and the fact the place delivers, is striking for this part of the country.
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Dovbush Cliffs
The Dovbush Cliffs are actually a series of boulders, which were pushed off a cliff to form 'caves' that outlaws, such as Robin Hood, once hid in. With several looped trails around here, you could spend anything from half an hour to three hours walking.
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Carpathian Biosphere Reserve Headquarters
Some 5km southwest of Rakhiv the highway leads to the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve headquarters, which isn’t so much of interest for itself as for what’s surrounding it. The reserve is maintained quite well.
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Cafe Flora
The chic, white leather seats and black tables here seem strangely out of place in this otherwise run-down building with dodgy stairs. However, its coffees, salads and basic meals are a godsend for local campers and hikers.
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Knaus
Although its menu retains a solid Russian alignment, Knaus does now offer Bavarian bratwurst to accompany its range of German beers. The restaurant also rents an apartment on the same courtyard.
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Transcarpathian Hiking Trail
The Transcarpathian Hiking Trail heads south to the village of Kostylivka and is planned to eventually curve back north up the Chornohora ridge and further north towards Poland for 380km.
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Music and Drama Theatre
The Music and Drama Theatre was designed in the same style of De Stijl that also inspired the Viennese architects of Odesa’s Opera and Ballet Theatre.
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Serhiy Stepchuk
Serhiy Stepchuk is an expert in leading tourists and groups around the CNNP, even producing a 120-page book on Transcarpathia in German. Contact him in English for details.
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Khelen
This is a very laid-back local café with humble food that’s excellent value. Choose a Formica table near the counter, or head for one of the private booths.
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Former Synagogue
Chernivtsi’s former synagogue was once famous for its exotic African/Middle Eastern style, but was turned into a cinema in 1954.
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Former Armenian Cathedral
The architect responsible for the Former Armenian Cathedral is Czech Josef Hlavka.
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Former Jewish Cemetery
The Former Jewish Cemetery is a melancholic jumble of leaning, overgrown headstones.
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