Weekend in Cherkasy and Kaniv
Why not go to Cherkassy for the weekend? Train tickets are inexpensive and take only 3 hours. Yes, and somehow it turns out strange, we have already visited the far corners of the earth, and the near Cherkassy is still without our story. Booked - everything, you can go. A couple of hours before departure, it turns out that we missed the hotel reservation a bit and now we have to live 100 km from Cherkasy with a reservation that cannot be canceled. We did not have such a mistake even in cities where the names of hotels and streets are with hieroglyphs. Something went wrong? Maybe we're getting old? But no! We are young, it was Booking that slipped “cool accommodation” into our filter, which turned out to be in the city center, though it’s different...
There are two technical support people in this world that are nice to deal with, knowing that your rights as a customer are protected. One of them is just at Booking. In a short time, the operator sorted everything out on his own and moved us to Cherkasy. Moreover, we were not deprived financially. We found only a few hotels in Cherkassy and, apparently, hotels do not experience competition among themselves, respectively, they do not worry much about the service. Although what a potential for business! It is possible to fix banal shortcomings in the form of a lack of shelves in the bathroom or the presence of liquid soap for a very small fee, and the hotel would have a high rating, competing with other hotels. But it is in me, apparently, that the notes of the Minister of Tourism are waking up again. In general, there is where to spend the night, and this is not a problem)
We started the morning rather unconventionally - we went to the puppet theater for a performance. I don’t seem to be into puppet theater, but I got an inner pleasure from watching the actors who control the puppets. On the one hand, these are adults and serious-looking people, some are too serious-looking, and in a second - bam! - and this stern uncle is now a cat! It is both cute and attractive at the same time.
Another cherry on the cake is a woman who announces the beginning of the play. The sight and slightly stern expression in me awakened memories of my school days. This woman clearly taught foreign literature or English. The woman looked around the hall, at some point our eyes met, and I was afraid that they would call me to the board or, even worse, they would immediately slap a deuce. So, calmly, this is just a puppet show, and now the host announces the start of the performance in a strict but friendly voice.
The tale was about a sunflower that got into a terrible story. Willy-nilly, he really began to worry about the life of a sunflower. Moreover, the actor, apparently, also got used to the role so much that after the performance he went outside for a smoke break. In general, I will not spoil how the dashing story of the sunflower ended, just go to the play about the cockerel and the sunflower.
Then it was necessary to take a breath, the best thing to do is with the cats in the Cats Cafe. I really love to cuddle cats, but the chance of catching lichen scares me so much that the only time I did cuddle an Istanbul cat, lichen attacked me and attacked me. But on the other hand, not ordinary, but such as, judging by history, Cleopatra herself had! But in the Cats Cafe, the cats are clean and live to be visited and loved.
You pay 70 UAH per hour and, in addition to the zone with cats, there are unlimited drinks, cakes and even ice cream. The cats there are noble, proud. For the whole hour, it felt like it was going to be so, they didn't mind having us next to them. Murkotiki!
Let's go for a walk along the embankment towards the Buddhist temple. The embankment from this side, to be honest, was nothing special, but now I understand where the phrase "Not every bird will fly to the middle of the Dnieper" came from. And our river can really surprise with its width. But the Buddhist temple impressed even more.
Dasha may not be like that, since she knew about his presence. And for me it was a surprise to see such a grand looking temple here in Cherkasy. True, for visiting they wanted a charitable contribution of 100 UAH per person and a tour of 2.5 hours in an hour and a half. In general, it is time consuming. We decided that from the outside we admired them to the fullest. Plus, it looks great from the outside. And the smell of incense sticks. . . we seemed to be in the coming fiftieth country for a moment.
But since we started to add internationality to the trip, then we will continue - to the Georgian restaurant Buba! It seems that something was added to the khinkali, the handle dragged on and on. I imagined with horror that we would leave and never see these khinkali again. However, the prospect of drinking coffee at McDonald's always warms me. Moreover, he is on our way.
Then we went by minibus to the river station. There should be a promising embankment with a peninsula. We got there in the late afternoon, when the sun was already beginning to be golden. As for me, this peninsula is a very romantic place in Ukraine. Especially when it's going downhill. Now, at the word Cherkassy, this part of the embankment immediately pops up. It will now be the hallmark of Cherkasy in our virtual museum. Yes, and Misha is in business, how many pebbles are there to throw into the water!
In one place on the shore there was a hefty fish, perhaps it’s better not to get close to the water)))) And one fisherman caught a big fish and immediately released it. The guy explained to us that this is too small a fish for him, that's not why he fishes here. Apparently, the actions of Moby Dick unfolded near the Cherkasskaya embankment. The most beautiful place for relaxing evening walks, we definitely recommend it!
We were apparently so impressed by the embankment that we got on a minibus and went in the wrong direction. But, in fact, not a problem, we got to the final one, stood with the driver and the conductor, then drove in the right direction. But now we can safely say that we saw Cherkasy in full)
At dusk, we walked around the territory of St. Michael's Cathedral. It is worth noting that even through the twilight this cathedral looks very, very impressive.
A very large structure is being built next to it, and, apparently, also a religious one. I wonder what will happen in the end?
For the finale of the evening, Dasha planned to attend a concert that was held in honor of the book festival. Before the concert, we significantly refreshed ourselves in the restaurant, at the exit Misha epicly collided with the waiter, so much so that the dishes flew in all directions! But everything is intact, except for the dishes)
It would seem that it is already evening, all the interesting things are over, now we are going to a concert of some unknown bands, just listening to music. But here was the most interesting. 2 groups were announced. The first played well, diluting the songs with poems by one of the participants. But the second group liked immediately. An uncle came out and said that his band basically does not rehearse before concerts, and they rarely play concerts themselves.
The musicians came out, everyone started playing something in the style of trance. The soloist took out the words and while he sang the song, at the same time he tried to figure out which sheet he needed. Then he threw out an unnecessary sheet, but, apparently, it was on that sheet that the words he needed were found. Since he then abruptly began to pick it up from the floor. Perhaps it was staged, but it looked very impressive.
The concert of this particular group lasted a long time, there were a lot of songs and, indeed, they fell pleasantly on the ear. The older generation began to slowly fall down, who are younger even ran to dance. As a child, we had an endless song "A tree behind a tree! ". So, even this song he made an absolute hit, I didn’t even know that that boring song could be beaten like that.
The concert was enchanting, but Misha, who always stood out for his skill to sleep at concerts, this time also had a sweet sleep.
Kanev
Once upon a time in our school years, we were taken to Kanev. But the most interesting, of course, is to go savage. Moreover, together with Dasha and Misha, we have not yet gone there. Kanev is located quite well, just a third of the way towards Kyiv. In the morning we arrived by minibus to the city. We wanted to eat a little, but we decided that there would obviously be restaurants on the way to the mountain. And now remember, travelers: before you go hiking to the mountain where Taras Shevchenko is buried, be sure to eat, the next opportunity will not be soon! But we, with full confidence about the imminent meal, set off on an hour-long walk. When they brought to Kanev by bus, the mountain seemed much closer in relation to Kiev than on foot from the center of Kanev.
There were indeed several restaurants along the way. In the reviews on Google to one of them it was written that the prices are expensive. As a result, you can get to the first restaurant for a meal only if you order it the day before, and then, apparently, it should be a banquet. And in the second restaurant, the word expensive is not very applicable. Based on the prices for a plate of pasta, the most skillful chefs of Italy are brought to this Kanev restaurant, who, in your presence, will harvest wheat only with a golden tint and sprinkle your pasta with gold of the highest standard. Moreover, a wedding was taking place in the restaurant at the same time. I dread to imagine how many cash vans it took to feed the guests. After all, a bank transfer of such amounts simply will not pass through financial monitoring.
On the way to the mountain, we passed near an old church, a record number of ladybugs flew around the church. We have never seen so much! They flew everywhere, my monotonous T-shirt immediately became decorated with cows.
In about an hour we reached and climbed to the very top. From childhood, we remember the views from the mountain as joyful. Now we can evaluate all these views from the point of view of experienced tourists. So, we officially declare that Taras really chose the most excellent views. But with "Shevchenko's Hut" it turned out to be a complete stranger. Dasha and I have already discussed more than once that he had a suspiciously many huts, this is how much real estate! But the looking girl explained that during the life of Taras, there was no house here at all. It was built later.
Admire the views - time back to the city.
In theory, it was possible to catch some kind of rare bus, but when and how it runs is not clear, we never met it on the way to the mountain. When we returned to the city center again, the adventure of finding food did not stop. There was simply no food in local restaurants. In the literal sense of the word. The restaurant is open, the staff is sitting, when asked if they can eat, the answer is: "But we do not work. " And they continue to sit. And this is not in one restaurant.
That is, Kanev can be conditionally divided into two types of restaurants that have staff, but it does not work, and the second type is the second one "with a Michelin star". But still, luck smiled at us and there was a cafe at the bus station itself near the shawarma - an oasis among closed cafes - cozy, tidy, where delicious pizza was prepared for hungry and tired travelers for 15 minutes.
This is how we had a mini-trip in Ukraine. We recommend this route, it’s just right to get out for a few days not far from Kyiv.
