Let's start traveling 2020. Khortitsa Island, Zaporozhye and Dnipro
The other day I received a notification that another flight was canceled. The unthinkable happened. For the first time in seven years, we have no air tickets on hand, no travel plans. In the past four months, nine trips have been canceled for my parents and me. Mom and dad just got into the taste. When employees ask me the usual “Where to next? ”, They receive the most unexpected answer: “We don’t know, all tickets have been cancelled. ” But now, finally, the long-awaited easing of quarantine has come. Now you can not only walk in the parks, but also travel around Ukraine, of course, in compliance with all the recommendations of the Ministry of Health.
And even air travel will soon begin to recover. As soon as the train tickets went on sale, we literally went on one of the first flights on the trip. The main thing is to minimize contacts. We took an isolated taxi to an empty train station. We gave the tickets to the conductor and locked ourselves in our private compartment. Now, of course, it is convenient: you buy two seats and the whole compartment is yours. We arrived in Zaporozhye, which, by Kiev standards, has practically no epidemic. According to the tradition that has already become, Dasha baked cheesecakes with her for many, many breakfasts. This is very convenient when traveling, because when breakfast is not included, then finding where to have breakfast can be a whole problem.
It was early in the morning, we drove into the apartment, had breakfast and started the route.
The first important point on the route was McDonald's. It happened - a big latte and a double muffin with pork and egg, how I have been waiting for this all quarantine! Oh, how wonderful it is! I think not many will share with me my joy of visiting McDonald's, but those who have tried a double muffin with pork will definitely understand me. Well, of course, I'm a fan of their lattes, even more than people are a fan of Starbucks) On the way to the poppy, we passed many parks and yards. The city itself liked the amount of vegetation.
Or maybe it's just our starved view of travel. The main target in Zaporozhye was the island of Khortitsa. And as it turned out, not in vain, the main thing is not to start your route with it. After that, you will no longer want to return to the city. Khortytsya is a huge island, on the routes on which you can safely lay several days. Unless, of course, you love tracking. We are very. The first thing worth visiting is the Zaporizhzhya Sich and be sure to take a tour.
To get there, you need to choose a greener path and hit the road with adventure. Along the way, you will come across interesting installations with ancient gods. Beautiful panoramic views, incredible cliffs. And a view of the dam. We balanced the route between cliffs and beaches.
When they went down to one of the beaches, Dasha and Misha climbed a high rock. I also thought that I would not climb, otherwise it would hurt to fall with my weight. Taking a step forward, I saw a long black snake in front of me. I didn't even know I could scream like that. We have already had meetings with snakes more than once, but we saw such a close and such a large one for the first time. For some reason I have a phobia of snakes.
I ended up on that stone at the speed of light, but the snake began to hiss and crawl away unhappy. During further meetings with snakes, I screamed less and less, at the end of the trip there was already a case when we were sitting in the Dnieper on the shore and a snake was swimming towards the meeting, which wanted to crawl out next to us, I just waved her hand to swim further by their own business. But this is what makes the Khortytsia routes so beautiful that you will study all the flora and fauna, carefully looking under your feet for the presence of snakes.
Thus, the details of the island are better remembered. In fact, this was a record number of snakes that we saw in a day. There was another funny incident when Dasha and I went into the thicket to see an old house, but when we wanted to return to Misha, a snake crawled between us and Misha in the bushes. I had to make a long detour to reunite the family. But by and large, this is their island, we are just guests here. In addition to snakes, we also saw marvelous birds and a wild fox. In general, there are a lot of living creatures on the island, so we always chose paths that look as exotic as possible, so there are more chances to meet someone. For such trips, I advise you to say in advance the algorithm of actions in case of a snake bite or any other living creature.
But in general, the algorithm is quite simple. The first is to take a picture or catch a snake, but it is better to take a picture. Second, call an ambulance. The first point is vital, especially in Asia, so that the doctor can determine what kind of antidote is needed and whether it is needed. But what a beautiful island. All these snakes are definitely worth it. It is as if the belts are changing on the island: now it is the steppe, then green and dense thickets, then tall trees that cover the sun and the sky, then low green tunnels. And the views and bridges are generally a separate beauty. The aforementioned Zaporozhian Sich is also interesting. We were able to feel how hard life was for the Cossacks, because the tour takes place in the heat in masks.
We had two days allocated in Zaporozhye, then the Dnieper. When we walked around Khortitsa, we were very worried about whether it was worth leaving this beauty. And this is a sign that the trip is really successful. Every evening we finished the route in a Georgian restaurant. This was the second item on the wishlist during the quarantine. And the prices here for Georgian cuisine are pleasantly pleasing. Of several restaurants, we have identified the most delicious for ourselves - "Mimino". Misha had chess tournaments in the evenings. So the gatherings in the evening in the restaurant were especially long. Misha even received a fourth rank in chess during the trip. This is a conditional category, which is assigned in chess schools.
The first sunny day ended with a powerful thunderstorm with beautiful lightning. From the island we fled as during the apocalypse. We started the second day with a visit to the Motor Sich Aviation Museum. The museum itself has a fairly high rating. But it didn't work for us personally. There are no guided tours for a small number of people, there are few exhibits and there is no interactivity. Apparently, we are simply spoiled by modern museums. Perhaps a tour could change everything. But in the courtyard in front of the museum there are a lot of different equipment where children can climb. Then we had a visit to Duboviy Gay park. There, in principle, they shot quite well at the shooting range, ate delicious ice cream. We even almost swam on a catamaran until we found out that half an hour costs 150 UAH. Either the zero in the price was superfluous, or these are anti-crisis measures. In general, this is not Khortytsia. Taxi, have a quick lunch and return back to the island. Today we took a taxi into such a wilderness that the taxi driver was worried about how he would leave back. This place is called “Khortytsky plavni”.
There are many islands that are connected by passages. And the return hiking route to civilization will take about half a day. Well, isn't it lovely? On the island, I highly recommend visiting all the marks that are on the maps. Sometimes really beautiful places and trails open up.
For example, “Lapidarium” got into the top places of the island. It is interesting that the photographs on the maps do not at all show the beauty of those places, perhaps restorations were carried out here. Even the plants here sometimes come across marvelous.
We used to see these in Cappadocia, but here is a surprise. Also, be sure to see the sunset on the island and hear the songs of hundreds of crickets. In general, the conclusion is this: Khortytsya is an excellent alternative to a trip abroad for a couple of days.
And the prices for the railway from Kyiv will give the feeling that you are buying plane tickets. Khortytsya Island receives from us a high rating and a strict recommendation for a visit to all travelers. And finally, advice: do not try to repair the toilet flush tank in a rented apartment in the middle of the night.
And we are going to the Dnieper! It's not far, it's an hour and a half to go by a transforming train.
Dnepr
The last time I was here was 13 years ago. Without a doubt, the best part of the city is the waterfront. And my opinion is that it has only gotten better over the years. You can spend a lot of time here, a lot. For example, not visiting the embankment in the evening is a pure crime. And of course, walking along the embankment, it is simply impossible to miss the monastery island, which also acquired a waterfall. Well, of course, you can’t walk past the glass ball on the embankment either. I was also impressed by the White Swan fountain, it is no worse than the famous Geneva one.
Despite the abundance of interesting tourist places on the waterfront, something, unfortunately, is no longer the same as before. Before the trip, I was looking forward to how we would ride the cable car against the backdrop of sunset. But Dasha said that no cable car was mentioned on the Internet. As it turned out later, it had been closed for many years. Nevertheless, it did not hurt us to climb in hanging trailers, it even had its own charm.
It’s a pity you can’t walk all the time and admire everything, you need to take breaks for meals. But with this in the Dnieper there is a specific problem. Prices in restaurants here are much higher than in Kiev. Moreover, if one could put up with the prices, then there was simply no normal food there - solid gazpachi, tartars and pique from a young woodpecker. Misha did not appreciate such an assortment at all, and we were too hungry to savor all sorts of incomprehensible delights. Nevertheless, not everything is so bad, in the center we were saved by “Baluvana Galya”. Usually I am not a big fan of such establishments, but then my opinion changed radically - very tasty Ukrainian and understandable food with a beautiful presentation, all sorts of snacks and spreads made us very happy.
If we discard the complex search for food, then the city certainly has a full offset. So many green areas. I remember very much the walk along the Tunnelnaya Balka tract. It is something between a park and a forest. Further on, we had a location on the way, which we could not master on foot. They just didn't calculate the strength. It was "Scythe on Victory". Somehow I didn't expect it to be this long. Again and again snakes))) The distances in the city are generally rather big, even despite our desire to go through everything and everywhere on foot, sometimes we called a taxi. Taxis here, by the way, are not as expensive as restaurants))) The last point of our visit was the Sich Yacht Club. We didn’t know what exactly awaits us there and why this place has such a high rating. But in fact it turned out to be just the most beautiful place in the city.
Here you have albino peacocks, marching detachments of geese and other living creatures. This place is made up of connected islands. People are resting on green juicy glades, the sun is warming, what else is needed for happiness. I could not even understand how to walk here indefinitely and not miss another evening on the embankment.
But hunger is not an aunt, I had to go to rest and have dinner. And the embankment is not far away. An interesting fact: when we were already walking along the night embankment, a bright red moon began to rise. I remembered that 13 years ago I was in this city also during the full moon.
Well, well, that's the end of the four-day trip. We highly recommend to all nature lovers to repeat our route, it was a great start to great journeys.
