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....