Holiday of young wine in Uzhgorod
New Wine Festival in Uzhgorod
We are on the road again. Kyiv began to totally fall asleep with snow. The last warm days can still be caught somewhere in the west. November was especially cold this year. We had a great mission, 400 varieties of young wine were waiting for us at the Beaujolais festival. Moreover, the dates did not coincide with the trip intentionally. And in general, they initially thought to Lviv, but before buying tickets they decided to go even further west. We haven't been to Uzhhorod for 7 years already.
The road was long, but with music. One man apparently started the tasting in Kyiv. And on the train, he sang something all the time. When he was finally tamed, the conductor decided to put him on the shelf next to ours, moving him from the middle of the car. But since snoring is my old enemy, I tried to gently turn the disabled body on its side. The body abruptly turned on and sang. The whole carriage was immensely “thankful” to me. The most memorable hit was about something like “America, New York, Russia are far away…” An hour later, the man sat down in his place in the middle of the car and fell asleep while sitting, but did not snore. Waking up in the morning, the first thought that came to me was “My wife and a Mexican went to Houston! ”, The second thought clarified the first “America, New York…”. It's like the song got into my head. At the entrance to Chop, one woman decided to set up an underground factory for the production of Sony headphones. Her task was to shift the headphones from the market bag into branded bags. The rustle of bags did not let me sleep.
Uzhgorod
The city welcomed us with blue skies and 15-degree heat. I even took off my winter coat. After settling in, we went to the festival area. Folk groups were already starting to perform on the stage, and in the street food zone one could eat Transcarpathian yummy from the belly. On an empty stomach, starting a tasting is somehow not comme il faut. The festival itself began on Thursday evening. It was now Saturday and the crowd seemed to be growing. Wine tastings were held in the basement.
Entrance for the whole day cost 20 UAH. Moreover, you can leave and come as much as you want, for these 20 UAH you can already buy wine. The second option is to pay 95 UAH. You are given a branded glass, in which they will later pour wine for testing, and you will receive a liter of the wine you like as a gift.
We decided to test both options for ourselves. We still have two days here) At the entrance there was a sign calling to try the maximum number of wines. Winemakers also kindly invited to taste their masterpieces. One guy immediately poured me such a portion that I apparently could not try the others. And most importantly, the wines are really tasty. But I had to take a break) There was already a concert on the street, it was only 12 in the morning on the clock.
The city knows how to walk! You can wander forever along the cozy streets of Uzhgorod. It seems that there are not so many of them in the old city, but everything is very cozy. Among the walkers, people often came across with branded glasses of the festival in their hands. Near the castle of Uzhhorod there is an open-air museum. As if 7 years ago, at the dawn of our relationship, we walk again along the same streets of the museum, everything is so familiar.
For an evening meal, we went to the very outskirts to “Detsu at the Notary”. I really felt like I was gaining weight. But Ukrainian cuisine is worth it) Attempts to catch a return minibus to the city ended in failure. After 21:00 it turned out to be unrealistic on a day off.
Quarry
In the morning we went to the big quarry. Waiting for the minibus early in the morning ended in exactly the same failure. But the quarry, by Kiev standards, was not far at all. A half hour morning walk was just right. Before the quarry, we went to a local bottling shop to have a cup of tea. Disco music played behind the wall with plain lyrics. “Partymaker, shaker-shaker” While the kettle was boiling, the local partymaker completely drove the Mexican out of his head in Houston along with New York. We could not find the quarry itself for a long time and walked in circles, although we had a map with GPS. 7 years ago we arrived without any technology without wandering. The lake was, like last time, gorgeous.
2016
2009
Some people even took a bath. An hour flew by imperceptibly and extremely. Going around in a circle is not the safest idea, but we managed. On the way back, a difficult task awaited us. Two paths. If you go along one, you will get to the gypsy quarter, along the other, you will get on the minibus. Last time we solved the problem not in our favor, even at dusk. More luck this time. We dined at the "Cafe under the castle" continuing to eat excellent cuisine. For dessert we have traditional cellars with wine tastings. Today we were already with personal glasses, giving our two votes for the best winemakers. We ardently said goodbye to some guys, I wish each other victories and good luck. The wines were very, very tasty, but the body is physically limited in terms of containing liquids. Even as an evil, on the street they were selling the Czech drink Kofola, which in the Czech Republic was never tasted.
Over the past years, Uzhhorod has been filled with various mini-statues and Indians. And where the second came from is not at all clear to me. We tried to find the maximum number of mini-statues. Very interesting entertainment, especially since we had saved stories about each mini-statue on the tablet. The best was definitely Svobodka.
There are many photos of her in outfits on the Internet, people like to dress her up for the holidays.
In the meantime, the autumn sun began to pass to sunset. For us, this meant one thing - we had to return home, work was waiting. In the last hour, we managed to drop in for hot chocolate at the Lviv Chocolate Workshop and, of course, at the food court with street food to pick up goodies for the train. I did not want to leave cozy Uzhgorod.
When we were already on the train, it became clear to us that Transcarpathia was trying with all its might to keep us. A banner “Winter Wine Festival in Mukachevo” hung on the wall. It's like a challenge!
