Weekend in the Carpathians
Carpathians 2018
This journey was very important in our history. Our son Mishka travels exclusively to hotels with water slides and so that everything is inclusive. When he was less than two years old, he had already conquered Istanbul and the Carpathians a couple of times. But traveling on daddy’s shoulders is one thing, but on my own two it’s already the next level. We decided to connect him to active travel, and Misha is already waiting for a whole chain of flights. This trip was a practice before doing long and difficult routes.
Mukacheve
There is not enough vacation for all the ideas, so my first day was devoted to work. I took my laptop with me and at the reception I was able to organize a cozy working mini-office. In this, I am immensely grateful to my company for allowing me to work remotely. There is even more merit of our friendly team. Dasha and Misha had a cultural and entertainment program. First the caramel factory, then the unlimited pool.
Things didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. The laptop I borrowed turned out to be with a virus. Every 20 minutes the laptop tried to reset all information. Luckily, I had a rescue flash drive with me and quickly reinstalled everything. Near the hotel there was a Georgian restaurant "Khinkalnaya". At that moment, when we made an order, the waiter returned again and, so that we would not get bored, he began to show spectacular card tricks! And the tricks are really cool. After the end of the working day, I joined the unlimited pool.
This year, Misha has mastered swimming, and in the pool he practiced diving more intensively. In the evening we went to climb a small local mountain. This climb was very difficult, because after two visits to the pools in a day, the child had to be put to sleep, and not uphill. But the rise did take place, and it was successful. On the way back, the child was so tired that even the local concert did not catch on. Although there a musician with a fire on his head annealed.
Misha still remembers how they went to the restaurant to have dinner, but he doesn't remember how he ended up in the hotel. Another restaurant worker was afraid that the child must be ill. And it was all day on my feet + 2 pools + mountain.
Volovets
Usually we make routes deep into the Carpathians, but on this trip we need to minimize transport. So, we will train in Transcarpathia.
In about an hour we arrived on the morning train and by 08:30 we checked into the hotel. The first ascent was to Mount Sotka. The ascent was quite simple, but the total route took about 10 km. Then there was a general quiet hour, Misha fell asleep, Dasha fell asleep and I passed out. Woke up refreshed. The prospect that we will now climb somewhere else did not please Misha too much. We started a walking route up the neighboring mountain.
The route was quite picturesque. It was impossible to stop. Misha discovered the mountain echo for himself. Having carefully weighed our strength, we decided to make a full ascent to Mount Resurrection Top. At the fork, we took the wrong left route. The gentle ascent ended and the mountain began so steep that Misha and I walked like climbers in a chain. The steep part of the mountain lasted about forty minutes. To say it was hard is an understatement. It was like climbing Everest. But Misha was surprisingly cheerful. After a steep ascent, a reward awaited us - blueberry thickets.
For four previous trips, we never met blueberries. And then eat as much as you want. True, the sun will soon begin to set, and we still have to rise and return. The closer to the top, the more blueberries. Our route suffered a total slowdown. As if the mountain did not want to let us through. At first, she tried to interfere with a steep climb, now with delicious berries. Also unknown mushrooms with beautiful coloring. Misha has been studying a book on mushrooms for a long time. First, he told us the double name of the mushroom, then he also stated that they were edible. Dasha and I are well versed in mushrooms. By all indications, mushrooms had poisonous and inedible features. Now let's check. I drove Mishino's name into Google - Golden Scale, and voila, the child is still right. These are truly edible mushrooms. Yes, it was even cooler than the day when Misha told the taxi driver the history of Kiev trams by routes and numbers. Including what years, there were alternative routes.
In general, the rise was saturated. The bear was the first to reach the top, and we rejoiced endlessly. The test for the complexity of the routes successfully passed the height of 1225 m conquered! We did it! And even on Skype my mother was shown a panorama. We went down another path, which was clearly easier to climb. In total, during the day we climbed two mountains and walked about 20 kilometers on foot.
Volovets has a problem with food in the city. Although, it would seem, this is the Carpathians. But no, still not the Carpathians. There are about 5 restaurants open until 22:00. But the kitchen is closed until 10 am. Therefore, dumplings or dumplings can be cooked for you. In the afternoon, for some reason, again only dumplings or dumplings, and around 19:30 the kitchen is closed again and there is a choice of dumplings or dumplings. Well, at least we love dumplings. There is also a prestigious Verkhovyna restaurant, but there will be such a wedding there in the evening that they closed their restaurant in the morning. And no one was allowed in until the next day.
The next day we had a slightly different format. In the morning we went to ride the lift. Not far from the Shypit waterfall.
Misha appreciated the ski lift.
First cable car ride
And at the very waterfall, Misha set another record by flying 110 meters on a zipline. It flew so that at the very end it got so stuck that the instructor could not free the child for about 5 minutes. I thought, “Well, now Misha will say that there are no more flights. ” But the freed son immediately announced that he wanted to fly again. Then he wanted a third time, in general, they barely dragged him away.
The dinner was generally superb. They brought us about a kilogram of pancakes with cottage cheese and blueberry jam, a banosh with cheese and cracklings of such a size that I could not master it all, soup, a plate of dumplings with a special sauce of garlic, pepper and vinegar ordered by Misha. The final bill was 145 UAH. It was awesome!
Hitchhiking for 13 kilometers turned out to be an overwhelming task. Usually in the Carpathians, when trying to catch a car by hitchhiking, about every first one in a row stopped. There is about no one in an hour and a half of attempts. True, two did stop. In one, the uncle wanted UAH 210 for 13 km of the route, and the other uncle wanted UAH 240 for 13 km of the route. And the road is new. Despite the fact that another uncle assured us that we would not wait for the minibus, we did wait and left for 25 UAH for three. A couple of minutes before the minibus, an adequate local stopped and took away 6 people according to the principle “How much will you give”.
In the evening we were waiting for a dinner of dumplings. Well, like the kitchen doesn't work and all that.
And it's Monday again. And that means a working day! Once again, I made my own place. Now there was a window in front of the laptop with a view of the mountain.
View from the workplace
Misha was foolish with the children who lived next door. An attempt to dine with dumplings was doomed to failure. This time the kitchen worked, there was no wedding, but the cold water was turned off and the restaurants were just idle. But dumplings are always ready to cook. As soon as the working day ended, we managed to climb another small mountain and hurried to the train.
It was very important that we visited that high mountain the day before yesterday. She pleased us every day now, three eyes, in the sense of three by two eyes.
Volovets was just right for a training trip, but if you want to see all the beauty of the Carpathians, then definitely go deep into Verkhovyna. People are kinder, more open and dearer????
