Review of the trip "Royal Kamenetz" with Anga-Travel or all inclusive in Ukrainian
Of of course, many can reproach me for the fact that time has passed, but why haven’t I written for so long? etc. , but even though 2 years have passed since that trip, the impressions are still fresh, it is not forgotten. And our friends, who went on this tour a couple of months ago, remained in exactly the same “piggy” delight, since the tour was well run in. True, we were a little more fortunate. Then in this tour they also gave the cave "Crystal" in Kryvcha. But, apparently, having decided that the tour was "royal", they left only excursion objects without extreme sports.
So, the tour program includes: Kamenetz-Podolsky, Chernivtsi, Khotyn and Kryvche.
— At every step we hear “little Vienna”, and since by that time we had not yet reached the big Vienna, we really wanted to see at least a small one.
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The tour was planned in such a way that we left Kyiv at 22.00 by a Mercedes-sprinter minibus from the South Station on Thursday evening, and arrived at the first point of our program Kamenetz-Podolsky at 6 o'clock in the morning (the night crossing was transferred very easily). And this first impression of arriving in Kamenets will never be erased from memory: we, modern people, left Kyiv of the 21st century and suddenly, as if by a time machine, ended up in Kamenets of the 18th century. It's dark, it's foggy, we're crossing an old bridge,
Lonely lanterns are burning, there is not a soul on the streets and these paved pavements!
The only thing missing is the clatter of horse hooves! I can't tell you how impressed everyone was!
We got off the bus and gasped! Beauties! But, apparently, Kamenets decided to “finish us off” with his beauty, because they settled us in the center of the old city in the luxurious Cleopatra Hotel 4 stars (gold and silver plates from Olga Freimut’s The Government Inspector).
It didn’t even fit in my head that we could have such hotels!
The rooms are large, the ceilings are high, there are carpets everywhere, autonomous heating, air conditioning, a thermal shower, all toiletries, terry dressing gowns with embroidered monograms and disposable terry slippers. And you never want to get out of these beds. They are each double, with two pillows and monograms with the hotel logo. We still had 3 hours for a full sleep, but in this room we had a good rest. Breakfast in the morning is beyond praise! Turkey and Egypt need to learn from us what and how much to serve on the buffet. I will not list everything, but in our version there were even baked apples, smoked lard and pickles! In general, at this table it was possible to have breakfast, lunch and dinner in one sitting.
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Despite the cloudy and cool weather, there really is something to see besides the widely advertised fortress.
The city is located on the high banks of a granite canyon,
The Smotrich River has carved it for many centuries in a row. You understand what a scale it was, only going down closer to the river in the lowland. Now there are residential areas there, and the river has ceased to be as powerful as before, and the old city has retained its appearance to our times and has been declared a state historical and architectural reserve.
A city of extraordinary architecture, because all sorts of authorities and conquerors left their mark on it. Under whom he just was not! And under the Turks, and under the Germans, and under the Poles, and under the Russians!
In its entire history, not a single army has been able to take the fortress by siege,
Power changed only with the help of banal deception and military sabotage.
There is also a Catholic church in the city,
Once converted into a mosque, and now returned to the Catholic faith,
and German church,
and Orthodox churches of different patriarchates, and a Jewish synagogue, and an Armenian church. There is a church where Bogdan Khmelnitsky got married. And, of course, the fortress where Ustim Karmelyuk served his sentence.
True, legends are legends, but in truth he didn’t sit there so badly, because he was a popular man, partly for this he sat, but he didn’t feel lonely there either, since all the famous and not very ladies visited him and in the fortress. To be honest, the fortress also impresses not so much with its architecture as with the ability of people to equip everything, especially to get water in order to withstand a siege. The well in the fortress is 58 meters deep!
Our walking tour is completed on this day on the program Optional trip to Podolsk Tistra, but the guide honestly warns us that we will not see anything there in the fog, but they will not go down to the cave monastery there, so there is no point to go there. And we stay in Kamenets.
The cost of the tour includes lunches and dinners, "all inclusive". Having again thoroughly refreshed ourselves in the restaurant of our hotel, we go to explore the city on our own. We walk with pleasure, go to churches,
we visit a beautiful park with artificial cascading lakes and pairs of white and black swans.
But it's November and it's getting dark fast, we return to the old city and find on the street parallel to the hotel a stunning "Lviv" tavern with author's coffee recipes, delicious desserts and live music.
That's it, Kamenets, it was the last chord, you made us fall in love with you forever.
The pool, I must say, is noble: with hydromassage, all sorts of waves and is included in the price. Splashed there for an hour with one big company.
Bowling is also included in the price of the room, but we simply didn’t have enough strength for it.
Especially since dinner was waiting for us! After dinner, we run to see the fortress in the backlight with almost the entire group. In the evening illumination, the fortress resembles a fairy-tale castle from Walt Disney cartoons.
Second day - Chernivtsi.
* But, getting up early, before breakfast we run to the church to listen to the live organ.
There is a service in Polish, the organ is playing, and these sensations cannot be compared with anything.
So, Chernivtsi. The weather took pity and gave us 2 more sunny days, +15 in Chernivtsi. First we look at Chernivtsi University,
The biggest attraction of the city. Once it was the residence of the metropolitans.
We envy the students, because inside the corridors of the University they resemble Hogwarts from the Harry Potter films.
Teacher Mr. Vladimir, who leads excursions around the University, enchants us with his sense of humor, as well as the most interesting details from the history of the University, also takes us around the lecture halls
and be sure to visit the university church. Near the University there is a beautiful park with flower beds and alleys.
What do you think next? Lunch according to the schedule in one of the cafes in the city. Excellent Ukrainian cuisine will not leave a chance to lose weight! Well, after lunch, a sightseeing tour of the city. The city is really very "European",
The houses on the central streets have been restored, all of atypical architecture, a mixture of cultures is also noticeable at every step.
In general, it is worth going to Chernivtsi. It is more intimate compared to Lviv, but no less charming.
We drink coffee in an ordinary grocery store, but its taste is so good that I can’t stand it and honestly tell the saleswoman that in Italy I liked coffee much less. We can if we want!
On returning to Kamenets, we again run to look at the fortress in the backlight and walk around the beautifully lit old town until night.
The third day is the busiest: in the morning we leave for the village of Kryvche to the Khrustalnaya cave. I must say that we are not great experts in caves, but this one is radically different from the Crimean and Abkhazian caves we have seen before. Very unusual, the vaults of the cave hang quite low, you have to go bent over.
The path through the cave is not easy, more like a labyrinth with obstacles.
In the cave there are a lot of figures carved by nature (and the head of a dolphin, and a buffalo, and a crocodile's tail, and much more), bats rush over their heads.
And it is “Crystal” because it shimmers in the light and shines with small inclusions of some kind of mica, apparently.
Guys-guards in the cave joked - they turned off the light for us! At that moment, there was no time for laughter, because. we were still far from the exit, the “architecture” did not imply progress in the dark, it was possible to break heads, the children from our group began to squeak, fortunately, this did not last long, the light was quickly turned on.
And after the cave we have the last sightseeing object - the fortress in Khotyn.
Now that it's on TV every day, I'm proud to say, "We were there. " The fortress is well preserved, it is well maintained, there are interesting buildings on its territory, and around impregnable ditches and the bed of the Dniester River.
It is also interesting to look into the cellars of the fortress, if you are not afraid of steep steps, there is a collection of ancient weapons, and climb the galleries.
In general, the day was a success and the photos too.
On the way back, we stop in Kamenets again to pick up our things and, of course, have lunch “on the road”.
Our tour is over. We return home in a great mood. Of the additional expenses: coffee in a cavern in Kamenets, coffee in Chernivtsi and Ukrainian-style wooden beads for as much as 15 hryvnias. Sin not to buy! So many impressions! How many interesting and historical things we have in our country! How much we don't know! You need to travel more in your country so that you are not ashamed of not knowing your history.
