Chernobyl

---

It was an early start after a night of very little sleep. The walls of the hotel were paper thin and there were some noisy people partying during the night. I was tired, but it didn't dampen my excitement for visiting Chernobyl. The drive took about an hour and a half, maybe a bit longer and we stopped at a garage en route for some breakfast. I remember drinking a hot coffee and I think I had a sandwich of some sort. The drive wasn't very memorable and I don't recall seeing anything exciting. I did like that as we left the city and drove further into the countryside, it got a lot snowier. I love snowy landscapes, so I was happy to see this. We reached Dytyatky Checkpoint for entering Chernobyl and our guides went off to sort out the paperwork. Chernobyl has become a really popular place to visit in recent years, I think the TV series (which I still haven't watched and really want to) has increased its popularity. Chernobyl has become well known around the world due to a nuclear accident that occurred at reactor no. 4 on 26th April 1986. I was too young to remember the actual accident happening, but do remember hearing about it and seeing it on TV as I grew up. Since there were only a couple of other buses in front of us at the checkpoint, we didn't have to wait too long. One of the guides told us that in summer there would be a lot more buses and therefore a longer wait. After waiting a while on the bus, we had to get off, sign a form and were given receipts that we had to carry with us in the exclusion zone.

Once through the gates, we had entered the 30 kilometre exclusion zone, which is known as the zone of alienation. There wasn't too much difference from the drive we had just done. The forest seemed to be a bit denser as it had been left to grow freely for thirty years and the road was also very quiet. We soon stopped at the first place we would visit, an abandoned village, Zalissya Village. The village was hidden by the trees from the road. There was just a snow covered path and a rather dilapidated fence to indicate that there was something beyond. We also passed a memorial to the village. I was quite excited as we walked down the path. I love old abandoned buildings and with the snow covering everything it felt even more like the elements had taken over. The village was quite small, although I'm not sure how much we really go to see, so it could have been a bit bigger. We walked past a large rather fancy looking building that we were not allowed to go inside of, and what was left of an old abandoned car. We came to a smaller building, that I think had been a house. We were allowed to go in here and have a wander around. There were some books and stuff strewn around the place and some things set up like the small pair of shoes on the windowsill. We were talking about how some of the stuff has been staged inside of the Chernobyl site. Personally, I don't mind it as it does make things more photogenic and in today's society instagram appeal is very important. It's better that it has been staged and people don't go picking things up and moving them as it could expose them to radiation. I also think it is good that the site has been turned into a tourist area as it pumps money into the local economy and provides jobs, for example our guide had been born and lived for a short period of his life in one of the villages in the exclusion zone. Wandering further down a quieter, smaller path in the village lead me to what looked more like a farmhouse. I don't know why but the farmhouse felt more homely to me than the other house, maybe because there was more personal stuff lying around. On our way back through the village, we stopped at one more building that we were allowed to enter, a small shop. All that was left to show that it had been a shop was one of those old refrigerated cabinets with some tastefully arranged bottles on top of it.

Back on the bus, we drove further into the exclusion zone. We stopped at the Chernobyl Welcome sign to get some photos. We didn't need to worry about traffic as we it was so quiet. There were a couple of large buildings on either side of the road. I think they were factories and I couldn't tell if they had been abandoned or were still in use. We drove on and came to a small town. I think this town was built in the aftermath of the Chernobyl Disaster as the base for the clean up efforts, or was changed to that purpose, but I could be wrong. There were a few buildings around, some with lights on to show that they were inhabited. They didn't look very homely so I presume they were offices or administrative buildings. Some of the roads leading away from the village looked like they were leading to the middle of nowhere, just snow covered trees and no signs of life. In the centre of the village, there were a couple of memorials to the Chernobyl Disaster. The first one was the Third Angel Statue. The statue depicts a solitary angel blowing into a trumpet and was created by the Ukrainian artist, Anatoly Haidamaka, as a tribute to those who perished in the disaster. One of the guides told us an interesting little titbit about how the statue is named from a bible passage which also references wormwood and the death of many men. A theory spread that the bible had actually predicted the disaster as Chernobyl was named after the Ukrainian word for wormwood, however this has been debunked as the name actually means mugwort. From here we walked down a path that was flanked with all the names of the villages that had been abandoned in the exclusion zone. It must have been so hard for the people to leave and know that they could never return to their homes. At the end of the walk, we came to a statue of Lenin. I enjoyed the walk through the park and seeing the old buildings across the road. Whereas Zalissya Village felt like nature had really taken over, here it felt fresher as through people had left not long ago as things were still orderly looking.

Back on the bus, we drove to a different part of the exclusion zone. While Chernobyl is most famous for being home to the nuclear power plant and subsequent disaster, it is also home to Duga-1 radar, which was a Soviet built over the horizon radar for intercontinental ballistic missile launch detection. This was all done in secret and people did not know that it was in the area. Construction started on it in March 1972 and the first broadcast was read from the facility on the 4th July 1976. It was used until the nuclear disaster happened. I didn't know that this existed here so I was looking forward to seeing it as I had no ideas about it at all. We parked up and passed through some very military Soviet looking gates, they were painted green with sliver stars in the centre. There was also a bust of Lenin nearby that'h had its beard painted a blonde colour. It looked quite good. We headed through the gates and down the road before veering off to a small side path. We passed by a few buildings all in various states of decay. We wandered through some trees and came to the ICBM radar. I had no idea what it would look like. It was an utter beast. It was huge! It kind of looked like a giant electricity pylon. We had a bit of a wander around the base of it and then headed back. It was quite strange to see something so huge hidden away in forest, but it was the perfect hiding place for it.

We drove to our next stop, which was an abandoned kindergarten in Kopachi Village. An interesting fact about Kopachi is that after the village was evacuated the authorities tore down and buried almost all of the buildings as some kind of experiment, it was not the only village to have suffered this fate. Only the kindergarten and one other brick building survived. What the authorities didn't know was that by burying the buildings radioactive isotopes seeped into the water table as it drove the toxins deeper into the environment. As we headed into the kindergarten, there was another group just leaving. I liked that it was quiet enough for there not to be much overlap between the different tour groups. It was nice to have each place to ourselves. There was a statue of some famous Ukrainian in front of the kindergarten, I wasn't sure if he was a footballer player or a soldier, guess I'll never know. We had plenty of free time to explore inside the kindergarten and there was quite a lot to see. I wandered from room to room taking pictures. Some stuff was definitely stages like the dolls and teddy bears on the bunk beds that were devoid of mattresses, but had pillows and blankets in some places. I liked it as it made it seem a bit creepier/spookier. I did wonder about those kids, who went to kindergarten there and one day just never returned. I really enjoyed visiting the kindergarten.

The next stop was just a quick one on the roadside next to the Pripyat River. In the distance, we could see the sarcophagus that was covering reactor number 4. It was time for lunch, so we headed to one of the workers' canteens. As we got off the bus, we were greeted by some stray dogs that really took a liking for one of group members. They ignored everyone else, but were jumping up at her. They were just being playful, but as they live in the exclusion zone and probably have a higher amount of radiation than is healthy, so it wasn't a good idea to touch them. Before we could enter the canteen proper, we had to go through a detector to see if we were contaminated with radiation. We just had to stand on the machine with our hands on either side of it, and then since we were radiation free, we were able to enter and head upstairs for some food. I was quite shocked at how big the canteen was. I had expected it to be quite small, but it was large and busy with workers and tourists. The food was all plated up and we just had to grab a few plates each, apart from the vegetarians who had to ask and were given their plates by the canteen staff. On my tray were three different bowls and plates. One was a thin watery tomato looking soup with a couple of meatballs in it. Not being a big fan of soup, I didn't eat too much of it, but the meatballs were good. The next plate was a big lump of meat, I think it was a kind of steak, but it was pretty fatty, with some mashed potatoes. The last plate contained some bread, carrot salad, a cabbage salad, and a beetroot salad along with a slice of ham. There seemed to be quite a few princesses on the trip turning their nose up at the food, but I didn't find it that bad. It's not like you come to Chernobyl for its world renowned cuisine.

After lunch, we headed over to the Chernobyl Observation Desk. Here, we stood in front of a monument and were able to get a better look at the sarcophagus that was covering reactor no. 4. We had timed this pretty badly as there was at least other tour group there and we were only allowed to stand in a certain spot and only permitted to point our cameras in a certain direction. It reminded me of being in North Korea. It was a bit annoying and I wish we'd waited until the other group had left before having our turn. We drove to the Pripyat sign next. Pripyat was founded in 1970 and as a nuclear city, it was a closed city meaning that the general population didn't know about it or needed authorisation to enter. In 1976, it officially became a city and had a population of around 50,000 by the time it was evacuated in 1986. We just had to take photos of it from the bus as we didn't have time to get off. Luckily, my photos turned out fine. From here, we continued into Pripyat proper. We parked up and took a walk through the abandoned town. It was so cool to be some where that I have seen in so many photos. We walked past empty apartment buildings and tried to imagine what life had been like here, and different it would have felt with people walking around happy going about their daily business instead of the forlorn buildings left around me. We walked along the path until we came to the Pripyat Amusement Park. This place, especially its Ferris Wheel is one of the iconic images of Chernobyl. What is interesting is that the amusement park was never really used as it was due to have its grand opening on 1st May 1986 as it would coincide with the May Day celebrations. So while the amusement park was never officially opened, it is believed that it did open on 27th April to serve as a distraction from the nuclear disaster. It was pretty eerie walking around the amusement park. It is pretty small and I headed to a building that I think was the cashier's office or where you got tickets from. Then I wandered over to the dodgem cars. The thin layer of snow on them looked really nice. I walked over to some kind of ride, it looked a bit like an old school chairlift that you would find in the Alps. I waited until almost everyone had gone so that I could get some pictures of the Ferris Wheel with no people about. I enjoyed the walk around the amusement park. The only thing that surprised me was how small it was, i had thought it would have been bigger.

A short walk away was the abandoned football stadium, Avanhard Stadium, that had been home to FC Stroitel Pripyat. We took a walk around the ground floor of the stadium and then climbed the steps to get a better look over the area from the stands. It felt weird in the stands, as nature had reclaimed a lot of the area, so instead of looking out on a grassy pitch, you looked out on trees and concrete roads. We passed more abandoned apartment buildings as we made our way to the next two places that we would visit; a school and a swimming pool. Technically, you are not allowed to enter these buildings, but the powers that be just turn a blind eye, as the radiation levels aren't too high and it keeps the tourists happy. Our group split into two smaller groups and each group headed to one of the buildings. My group went to the school first. Entering former school no. 3 was eerie. As the afternoon was progressing, it was starting to get dark and all the trees surrounding the building helped to block the light, too. The darkness added to the atmosphere, but did make to hard to take decent photos. We were only allowed to walk around the ground floor of the school, but there was plenty to see. I wondered why all the windows were open in one corridor probably for effect as it looked good. There were quite a few tables in the large halls that were strewn with items such as records, books, bottles and cans of food. Part of the floor in one large room was covered with gas masks, that was definitely staged as why would all the gas masks have been dumped on the floor like that, surely the children would have been wearing them or they would have been in a storage locker of some sort. The doll sitting on the chair in the middle of all the gas masks was a creepy touch. The gas mask hanging from the ceiling felt a bit sinister. Also the shell of a TV on the table, which captured some of the gas masks on the floor was a very instagram worthy shot.

We headed over to the Azure Swimming Pool, which was just next door. I think we headed upstairs, but my memory is a bit hazy. The first room we entered was a basketball court and the floor was pretty rotten so we really had to be careful about where we placed our feet. Passing through this room, we made our way to the swimming pool, which is another iconic Chernobyl image. I enjoyed my wander around the pool and tried to imagine the pool filled with water and people splashing about. It was pretty eerie so it was hard to imagine it being full of fun and life. There were some good Soviet relics at the far side of the pool. There were also some beer bottles left on the diving blocks, I presume from some urban explorers. We made our way back outside and on to the bus that would take us to the final places we would see. We headed to the fire station first, although there wasn't much too see as it was just a large garage with the doors wide open. The last place we visited was the police station. It was really starting to get dark by now and that made walking around the police station really atmospheric. We wandered through the offices and the cells. I could imagine ghosts lurking here. The police station was pretty big, so we spent quite a while in there. There was a stretcher bed set up in one off the hallways and I could imagine someone strapped to it getting tortured, my imagination had gone into overdrive in the police station.

Before we left, we had a quick stop at a shop, where I got a coffee to warm me up and then we drove to a portakabin toilet block that was lacking both lights and flushing abilities. Finally, we went through another machine to check that we weren't contaminated with radiation, I don't know if this was for real or just for show a there were no staff around. I wonder if they would come rushing out if you did set the machine off. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Chernobyl and would love to go back to see more of the area. I would love to meet the people that moved back to the exclusion zone to find out why and more about their lives. The drive back to Kiev took longer than expected due to the snowy conditions. It wasn't snowing too heavily, but the driver drove a lot slower to be on the safe side and this cut down the amount of free time we had in Kiev before our night train. Since there wasn't going to be much time, we stopped at a gas station to fill up on stiff for the train. I grabbed a few thing and was glad that I'd eaten a lot of the hearty canteen lunch as that would tide me over. Back in Kiev, we grabbed our bags from the hotel and headed over to the train station. Kiev Train Station was really busy when we arrived and we waited awhile in the upper hall, although there was no where to sit before making our way down to the platform. Stepping onto the platform felt like stepping back in time as all the diesel smoke from the trains made the platform all smoky and it was really hard to see. I felt like I was in a black and white film. Once on the train, I got settled in as we made our way to Odessa.

---

Comments

[Arafen]

Excellent article
Last year I was also lucky enough to visit this interesting place. Pripyat generally carries such a powerful atmosphere and energy that you will not feel anywhere else in the world. But the information I took, alas, not from you, but on a specialized resource https://chernobyl.org.uk/. The presentation of information there, as for me, is a little more interesting, but I also read your article with pleasure.

[Zephyr]

Great!
I shall check out the link you posted :)