I am 30 minutes into a 20 hour train ride to a city that I can passably pronounce. At least phonetically. Chișinău. The capitol of Moldova. A place I know nothing about other than what I gleaned from this YouTube video last year. The video doesn’t put it in the best of light but it is number 3 on the list of European countries I have not been to yet. The other 2 are Russia and Belarus. Neither are on anyone’s list to go to at the moment so Moldova it is.
It will be nice to have the 20 hours of downtime too. He says barely into his first hour of this trip. I have been in the Ukraine for the last week. Lviv specifically. Its in the far western edge of the Country. Far from the trouble as far as I can tell. It does still fall under the ‘Do Not Go” category put out by the US State Department. I am generally a coward about such things and don’t take such transgressions lightly. But I haven’t heard of any incidents in the news and it’s cheap.
I was in Lviv for a quick overnight back in the Spring of 2017. I have faded memory of walking down a street in its city center but that is all. I even called up my path on Google maps from that date and it didn’t bring up any memories. That was at the end of a long trip filled with old towns so I think they were all blending together by then.
I don’t think I’ll forget this visit. In my 7 days here I have crisscrossed the city on foot, multiple times, day and night. Contrary to its war ravaged image, it’s a quite nice. No craters or bullet holes. There was one air raid test when I first got their. I assume it was a test because people carried on as though it was a car alarm in a big city. Right afterwards, the mall loud speakers played the national anthem. Another assumption because I have no idea what the Ukrainian National anthem sounds like. People stopped, hand on heart and waited for it end. I think it was the DJ needs to pee version because it went on for several minutes. The churches have covered up their stained glass in the hopes of protecting them from shrapnel I think. I went into a few when I got there but an old woman in religious vestments scolded me in Ukrainian for something. I have had my WWJD hat on since and still can’t figure out what the offense was.
I was kind of surprised that English wasn’t more common. The younger folks speak it haltingly and with limited success. Still better than my Ukrainian. It’s a Cyrillic alphabet language so its hard to even get hint of its English translation. Sometimes the word sounds exactly like is english version once its sounded out. For example…. нотаріус. H=n, o=o, t=n, a=a, p=r, i=i, y=o, c=s. So Notaries . I chose that word because it’s everywhere. I don’t know what the big need for notary services in Ukraine are but you’re definitely covered.
Being in Poland for the previous two weeks and now Ukrainian, I pretty much quit reading, even signs in English. That is not a wise course of action in a war zone.
I know really nothing about Lviv. So I googled things to do. A top 10 list came back and I set out to to check them out. One of them is an ancient castle site high on a hill with great views of the city. I needed a good thigh burner to work off all the pierogies, pizza and kebabs I have been eating so I started up. The views on the way up we’re blocked by trees so I kept going. I turned the final corner and could see the viewing platform just over there. Right behind the fattest dog I have ever seen, like a black fireplug with short little legs and a VERY angry disposition. Good thing it was on a chain or I would have no legs below the knees. As I was trying to talk some sense into the devil dog. A soldier popped out from behind a camouflaged wall. He wasn’t as angry but with his finger on his kalishnikov”s trigger, a bit more worrisome. He was young and seemed less happy to be in the situation than I was. No English but his nod back towards the way I came was self explanatory. which I was more than happy to do. Back at the bottom, I Noticed the big bright black on yellow “ENTRANCE FORBIDDEN” sign in perfect English on my way down and the tire spike strip across the hilltop access road.
I limited my touring experience to cobblestone and angry nuns after that. There are plenty of both to fill a few days. Being as touristy as it is, there was a pleasant lack of chain stores cluttering up shop space in the old town like other European old towns.
The Lviv tourist board doesn’t seem to target solo English speaking old guys. The Ukrainian restaurant menus were rarely in English and usually didn’t have appetizing pictures if at all. As I did t want to point to something and end up with a roasted goat head staring back at me, I stuck with Pizza and Kebabs. The bar scene isn’t a social thing other than with the people you came with. That’s what the clubs are for. And I don’t club. Judging from the advertising and personal experience, clubs are for people far younger and better looking than I. Their target demo is expected to have more than one pair of pants and a shirt that isn’t quick dry. Definitely not me.
I think 4 days is plenty to see everything. I ended up staying 7 filling my time with idle walks and plenty of naps because this train only leaves a few times a week.
So here I sit. 20 hours is padded with about 5 hours of border crossing checks and waiting for the track to clear. It’s a pretty easy effgot. but a huge test of your patience. I will appreciate some non travel days when I get around to them.
A reminder that trip pictures are posted here as I go.