To the Carpathian Mountains--Day 1

During the two week temple closure the last of August we were able to travel within Ukraine.  We wanted to go somewhere cool and decided that the Carpathian mountains in the southwest part of the country would be a good place to spend our vacation.  We took an overnight train from Kyiv to Ivano-Frankivsk.  This is our train arriving, and our compartment with 4 beds.  We rented the entire compartment for privacy and used just the bottom seats that converted into beds.

Arriving in Ivano-Frankivsk Tuesday morning, we walked to the hotel (with a statue of the city's namesake, Ivan Franko, a writer) where we would pick up our rental car, a Lada

Then we were off to the south.  Here was our first view of mountains on the horizon

We drove to Pniv to see the remains of a 16th century Prykarpattian castle.  We were not the only ones there!  

From there we had a great view of the surrounding hills (Gorgany mountains) where we were headed.

We drove on to Yarmeche and had dinner at this picturesque restaurant and tourist area of the Hutsulschyna folk--a distinct ethnic group that has lived in the mountains, herding sheep.  We bought some souvenirs and enjoyed other displays.

Mostly, it was nice to be in mountains.  We see pine trees in the forests around Kyiv, but this photo shows a variety of evergreen trees including spruces and larch that I could easily identify along with other deciduous trees.  The weather was pleasant.  We look forward to more days....

Trip to Sofia, Bulgaria

To renew our year's visa in the Ukraine, missionaries are sent to Sofia, Bulgaria.  We left Tuesday morning (August 17), flying by Austrian Airlines to Vienna and then to Sofia.  Our airplane is in the center back and we took the bus (front right) there.  When we landed I felt like we had returned to the Wasatch front with a wide, relatively dry valley and mountains on the horizon.  The altitude is only 1,800 ft but we noticed the air was lighter, drier.  I oriented myself as if I were in Utah with higher mountains on the east.  When we were leaving early Thursday morning and the sun was coming up in the "west" I noticed my error!

Missionaries from Sofia picked us up at the airport. We stopped at the mission office/mission president's residence/church house.  This building was formerly an embassy building.

We walked to a restaurant for dinner and then were taken to our small but cozy hotel.  

The missionaries took our passports and visa paperwork.  They took care of getting the visas processed on Wednesday while we had that day for sightseeing.  We took a bus tour of the city on a double-decker bus which was very enjoyable.

Central to the city is the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.  It was built between 1904 and 1912. 

Close by is the National Assembly, the country's parliament building and square.  The road in that area is paved with golden bricks that were a gift.

This monument commemorates Alexander II of Russia who helped Bulgaria throw off the rule of the Ottoman Turks in 1878.  Bulgaria was a monarchy until after WW I when it was ruled by Communists but it was not a part of the USSR.  After 1990 multi-party elections were allowed and Bulgaria transitioned to democracy and a free-market economy.

These are buildings we drove by on the tour that I won't attempt to identify.

This church, St. Sofia, is one of the oldest, having been built on bases that date from the 4th century.  It was completed in the 6th century and  has been repaired or reconstructed several times.  Underneath are archeological excavations of tombs dating from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD!

The statute in the middle of the road (where work is being done on the subway) used to be one of Lenin, but is now a female Sofia.

This building is the National Palace of Culture, a large structure for conventions, exhibitions, shows, etc.  We were told it had as much steel in it as the Eiffel Tower.  Obviously McDonald's has a big presence in Bulgaria like it does in Ukraine.  But they do have Burger King, KFC, and Subway in Sofia.   

After the bus tour we walked past the Sofia University (of St Clement of Ohrid)

 

and the national library with a statue to Cyril and Methodius, brothers and missionaries from Thessalonika, Greece, who were sent to Bugaria, created an alphabet to write the slavic language and then began translated the Bible into Old Church Slavonic.  The Cyrillic alphabet descendants are still used in writing Russian, Ukrainian, and Bulgarian  

We enjoyed walking back to our hotel along clean tree-lined streets.  For dinner we walked around the corner from our hotel to this little restaurant to enjoy the local cuisine.  

In the cool of the evening, we passed the fence of the military academy, made of rifle barrels!

We arrived at the Serdika Mal to enjoy gelato.  Serdica is the name given Sofia in historical accounts of Roman military campaigns in 59 BC.  This mall has stores for every brand name you can think of.  Bulgaria is part of the European Union, though the economy hasn't been strong enough to join them financially with the Euro.  Their coinage is based on the leva which was exchanging at 1.34:1US$ when we were there.   

The Upper Old City

On Monday, June 20, Pavlina took us for a walking tour of the hills of the old city of Kyiv. (I continue to be grateful for information and pictures available at Wikipedia.org)



 

This old 1890's postcard picture on the left shows the rise of the land looking south from the lower river level.  The St. Michael's and St Andrew's churches (shown left and right) will define our area.  We began our walk on the upper level, behind both churches shown, at the  Zoloti Vorota--the "Golden Gate"  The photo on the right is how the former remains, excavated in 1832, were preserved into the 1970's.  It was one of three southern gates in the fortification of the upper city constructed by Yaraslov in 1037, which also included a moat on another side.  The walled city looking north is depicted in this illustration that we photographed inside the museum (unfortunately the camera flash distorts the picture).  

After a golden-domed church was constructed inside the wall that could be seen as one approached this gate, it became known as the Golden Gate and was the triumph arch of the city which was used through the 18th century for ceremonies.  In 1982, the gate was completely reconstructed for the 1500th anniversary of Kiev, although there is no solid evidence as to what the original gates looked like. This is what it looks like now:

JD and I toured there in November.  "Zoloti Vorota" is also the name of the nearby Metro stop.  I was excited because there is a selection from Mussorgsky's suite "Pictures at an Exhibition" that I have always loved, especially in the Ravel orchestral rendering.  "The Great Gate of Kiev" is the finale and grand to listen to in an acoustic hall with full orchestra, huge brass sounds and all of the percussion section playing, especially the chimes, timpani and cymbals.  So I thought I was looking at the gate that inspired the music.  Actually, the picture was a proposal for a Kiev city gate which never was built.  But I still think of the music every time we go to that place and it is a selection on my recently-acquired Mannheim Steamroller album "To Russia with Love".  


As we walked north from this area we went along a high street where side streets dropped down to the former moat level.  (Pavlina said this street was a favorite sledding place in winter days of her childhood.)

We came to the northern side of this upper hill and along the overlook of a ravine there is a pedestrian walkway with many imaginative artisitic benches and playgrounds.  Here are several photos:

We walked over to St. Andrew's Church.   The location of the church is attributed to the place where the Apostle Saint Andrew arrived and erected a cross in the first century A.D., where he prophesied the foundation of a great Christian city in what was then a sparsely inhabited area. His prediction later became true: the city of Kyiv arose and became a center of the Eastern Orthodox faith.  The church was built in the mid 1700's by a Russian empress who died before it's completion (same one who had the original  Mariyinsky Palace built at the same time).  It has no parish and has changed owners and been restored many times.  It sits at the slopping end of "tithing street" (named for a church built before 1000 by Vladimir with his tithing which was later destroyed).  Behind it an ancient road has been maintained heading down the Andriyivskyy descent.

From there we climbed up steps and a hill to overlook the city and the river.  In between the area where we had previously walked and this hill, in the ravine, some developer is building magnificently, but the buildings are largely unoccupied!

We walked back down and around the hill to the river side of town, then took the "Funicular" back up to the top of the hill.  (Refer to the extreme left of the beginning post card view)

I didn't know that funiclar is the generic term used for an inclined railway with two cars attached to a cable which are counterbalanced as they move up and down.  (That made me think of an old song "Funiculì, Funiculà".  I hadn't realized it was composed to commemorate the opening of the first funicular cable car on Mount Vesuvius. The 1880 cable car was later destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 1944. The lyrics refer to the ups and downs of life and love!)  Our walk was taking us up and down and up and down....


There we passed the back side of the St. Michael's cathedral with it's golden domes to the front.  We had toured this area previously.

Finally we walked back down to Independence Plaza, where we ate lunch.  We passed an overlook of the People's Friendship arch, constructed in 1982, dedicated to the unification between Russia and Ukraine.