Незабываемый карпатский сервис Unforgettable Carpathian service

TC Karpaty www. karpaty-slavsko. com. ua
Yesterday we returned from a "vacation" and decided to sit down for an opus, while memories are fresh ...
Why we decided to go specifically to the Karpaty tourist complex, none of the four of us can still understand. We went there separately: my parents were 2 days earlier, my husband and I caught up with them closer to the weekend. Snow this year really in Kyiv, we have not seen. In principle, I am indifferent to skiing, I just decided to go for a company, and at the same time unwind, change the situation, enjoy nature and breathe fresh air.

On the website of the shopping mall "Karpaty" it looked nice and very appetizing. On the photoshopped photos, the rooms did not look at all “Soviet-style”, they even promised some kind of Polish furniture, and most importantly, a huge mountain with a gorgeous ski slope right at the doorstep of the hotel, covered with a fluffy green forest and a white blanket of snow.

Let's put down the road, traffic cops and a thousand crazy drivers on the highway, who are not familiar with the rules of driving and professional solidarity, and smoothly approach the meeting with a miracle. The miracle was located in Slavske, which is located 22 kilometers from Skole. This last section of the road will remain in my memory for a long time, although we were probably much more comfortable jumping over bumps in the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport than our predecessors in the Toyota Prius.

I was surprised by the fact that the sign of our complex was located almost 50 meters before the entrance on the wall, completely plastered with advertising so that to see the necessary information, you need to know where to look for it. The second pleasant moment was the entrance to the "parking", that is, to the territory of the complex under construction. If we hadn't been prompted by our parents, who had already studied the infrastructure for a couple of days, we would probably have slipped through the "fashionable" entrance, without a single sign of asphalt, gates and front entrance.
We decided to stop at the entrance so that it would be convenient to unload our luggage, but after driving around the building, we were forced to return to the back entrance, because on the back side we were greeted only by a mini-market sign. It turned out that the back entrance for the last 3 days will be our main one. Again, not seeing any signs, no pointer and not a single identification mark, only guided by the prompts of our company, we entered the building, loaded with luggage. We had to overcome a lot of dark passages, strange doors, 4 floors of creepy stairs in order to find a semblance of a reception on the 4th floor and meet strange women without a uniform to make sure that we got to the long-awaited place of rest. Our comfort cost 60 bucks per night for two with breakfast. The room had two single wooden beds with Soviet striped mattresses and spiky wool army blankets. Each was also supposed to have 2 towels and two bedside tables.
For some reason, our room, unlike the neighboring one, was deprived of chairs. Although the layout of the room was new, it was somehow tasteless and not comfortable. It seems that the furniture was brought into the room and hastily arranged, even trying to depict the situation.


The most unusual was the water in the tap, enriched with minerals and God knows what else, which gave the water an unforgettable sulfuric aroma. So three days in a row I had to wash my face and brush my teeth, trying not to breathe. Probably, due to my illiteracy, I should consider this fact the dignity of the hotel and enjoy the free SPA procedure without leaving the washbasin, but still, it was unusual. The entire bathroom was about 2 meters in area, which included a staggering extreme toilet bowl, the aforementioned washbasin and a shower “cabin”, which is a tray and a curtain, and a rubber foot mat that has already turned black.
As soon as we put the bags in the room and washed our hands, we with great difficulty drove away the sharp desire to urgently break loose and get out of here with the help of a bottle of cognac and fruits with chocolate.

It was 11 o'clock on the clock and it was urgent to figure out what to do. Therefore, we dressed in ski equipment, walked along the staggering birch bark bridge towards the bazaar, and caught an UAZ standing in anticipation of another victim. 15 minutes of shame in shaking over bumps and gullies, and we were at the ski lift.

I thought that I would not survive the horror that I suffered, sitting on a rusty cold chair lift that staggered and creaked in unison with the wind, which crawled three kilometers to the top of the mountain for about fifteen minutes. We walked along the mountain, saw the remains of snow, rolled over the snowdrifts, rode on a sled, warmed up with cognac and trout baked in foil, and returned down. Taxi drivers were waiting at the foot.
In order to save money, cheerful students climbed into the open body of the ZIL, while we, shivering on the way back, loaded into the UAZ, which became a favorite at the resort, and waited another 15 minutes for two who would agree to load into the trunk. Such is the business! Terribly cold, we decided to warm ourselves in the sauna. The pool was with mineral water. But this is not because ...but because there was simply no other water in this hotel. After the sauna, there is a quiet evening hour, and then dinner in the room, consisting of your own edible stocks.
For the purpose of evening entertainment, it was decided to visit the bowling club in this village (8-097-433-20-55.8-066-351-88-20, Slavske, I. Franko street, 21). At first, it was difficult to get used to the rumble of balls over cardboard barriers and plywood tracks with parted joints. Then the silence was broken by a chic 90s disco-style music selection and the fervent screams of a company that soon joined the next track.

Two hours flew by quickly and my eyes began to stick together due to a sleepless night. So we hurried to Karpaty.
For a comfortable overnight stay, we had to move two beds together and plug the gap between the wooden frames with a blanket twisted into a bundle. Fell fast.

It rained all the next day. Therefore, after breakfast on coupons, which deserves special attention, we decided to try out the capabilities of the jeep and drove through the mountains, creating a couple of extreme situations.
Breakfast at the hotel did not start until 9 am. A sleepy waitress brought funny breakfasts, of which dumplings were especially surprising. On the first day we were lucky to taste instant coffee. On the second day the coffee was over, and on the third day we were told that it would not start. So, carefully brewed and prepared for the journey in a thermos, strong and aromatic coffee came in handy more than once.
During a walk along Slavske, we found a chic hotel complex, I'm not afraid of this word, the Zakhar Berkut complex ( http://www. zaharberkut. com. ua/index. htm? ru), where there was an excellent territory, a beautiful building with a beautiful entrance , reception desk, cozy stylish atmosphere and a restaurant with impeccable cuisine. After tasting the famous mushroom soup, pancakes with mushrooms, baked trout and flavoring it all with a bottle of dry white wine, we smoothly moved to the billiard room, where we had a battle over a cup of coffee brewed in Turkish. I didn’t want to leave the Zakhar Berkut, and my soul was very eager to move to a cozy room, which stealthily caught my eye through the maid’s half-open door. But, unfortunately, we had to return to our "hole", where we safely spent the evening playing backgammon. Closer to the night, the soul demanded a holiday, and we decided to try out the local billiards. The time was late, around midnight.
In the basement, a disco with music from the last century rumbled - it seems that modern musical trends have not touched the virgin Carpathian ears.


At the entrance to the restaurant there were two so widely advertised 9-foot billiard tables, carefully covered from prying eyes with green covers. After a lot of strange persuasion, for some reason the 20-year-old marker did not agree to open a VIP-room with a 12-foot table for us, arguing that it was impossible “for the supply manager to see it”, and also that this table no better than those two. We decided to be content with little and play here. This game was blasphemous, as the table obviously needed restoration, and the cues needed a complete replacement. Of course, there was no question of rubber tips and fresh heels, but there was plenty of chalk. After our favorite Kyiv billiard room, I felt like a barbarian, but professionalism took over and we finished off three games in an hour.
Having given a quarter to a strange marker who barely remembered us in the drunken stupor of the disco, we, tired and not satisfied, went to bed, making another notch in our minds: the best billiards in Slavsky are in Zakhar Berkut.

On Sunday, the last day of our stay, by a lucky chance, snow fell, and we, dressed in ski equipment, saddled our Zhuzha, hurried to the already beloved Zakhar Berkut, at the foot of which there was a chic two-seat lift. It was much more comfortable here, since it was possible to sit together, the harnesses, upholstered in thick rubber, rose during the absence of riders, so that they did not get wet in the snow or rain. The distance seemed to be twice as long, but the music pouring over the forest from loudspeakers mounted on poles along the route brightened up the melancholy.
We crossed the penultimate platform and moved to the very top, overcoming the howling icy wind and the desolate ice expanse, on which the only pair of extreme skiers, who seemed to be here by chance, were circling. Having reached the peak, each "skier" considered it his duty to salute a virtual honor, turn around and go down without leaving his seat. There was no point in staying at the top, since there was not a single living soul, except for the observer in the lift booth, because no one would have survived even a minute in the open space. Went down one level. Our skiers went to the ski lift and got carried away skiing, and we inspected the hut, tasting hot wine with cinnamon and cloves, barbecue and washing it all down with cognac from a flask. The soul warmed up and became more fearless. Now it was possible to join the skiers.
I even put on my skis and slid down the almost horizontal surface of the mountain a couple of times - for a photo. After some hour, snow fell, which created a complete illusion of the height of winter and gave additional joy to the riders.


The last day was not in vain! We repeated the lunch in our favorite place, practically without changing our choice on the menu. Bowling was repeated in the evening, because that was all entertainment. And for dinner, on the advice of experts, we agreed with a local resident - the owner of a trout farm about dinner for our company. By the time we arrived, his wife had fried one fish for each, but we were more pleased with the sincere informative conversation with the hospitable hosts, in which everyone found something interesting for themselves.
Speaking of comfort, I would like to add that due to the lack of chairs in our room, we had to sit on a bed that was not ready for such a distribution of weight per unit area, as a result of which the plywood base of the bed fell to the floor. So the last 24 hours were marked by the highest feeling of convenience and hospitality of the Karpaty shopping mall.
The main conclusion: not a foot in the Karpaty, everything is only in the Zakhar Berkut. And in Slavske on Monday, not a single service station was working and no one helped us, except for the driver of the UAZ, who borrowed the pump - the wheel of the Prius went down after 5 nights of standing in the “parking lot”. In general, there was a feeling that it is not worth coming to the resort at the end of February, since the Ukrainian mentality at the end of the season does not allow you to strain for the sake of four visiting capital tourists, unlike the above-mentioned ideal hotel, where everything is for you.
It sounds like an advertisement, but if we could transfer the money paid for Karpaty and move to Zakhar, we would be just happy!

I wrote all this in the questionnaire carefully left in the room, but after reading it all over again, I realized that the owner of the shopping mall "Karpaty" most likely would not read and understand it, and the good chatter-maids from the reception simply never saw and did not know what it was service, and nothing will change from my review. I left the questionnaire for myself as a keepsake in gratitude for the recipe for the Carpathian mushroom soup received on Monday morning.