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Published: June 25th 2012
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We managed to cross the length of Ukraine without having to pay a traffic “fine”. This is a record - the traffic police here have a fearsome reputation. We did get stopped 3 times (for doing 70 km/hr in a 50 zone, for filtering over a solid white line, for making an incorrectly executed left turn) but each time the police were very friendly, pointed out our mistake and sent us on our way.
Due to the £300 Russian Visa burning a hole in our pockets we dashed straight through the Ukraine and didn't really give it the attention it deserves. Its beautiful countryside – tree lined roads passing through gently rolling hills covered by mile after mile after mile of wheat fields. The fields are enormous stretching away as far as the eye can see. Dotted in amongst the trees are incredibly colourful cemeteries, each grave decked out with a mass of rightly coloured plastic flowers.
We may be crunching the miles but we still get our culture fix: the historic centre of Lviv, Sofiyivka Park at Uman and the Nuclear Missile Museum in the middle of nowhere.
Picking a quiet Polish-Ukraine border
crossing worked in our favour, the procedure was quick & simple. However the road on the Ukrainian side was.. well non-existent, even the border guards said it was bad. Still it was full of smiling, waving people and it didn't take too long to work our way up to the main raid and into Lviv where a cold beer from the local brewery was waiting for us.
Lviv's historic centre is all cobbled streets, churches and a mix of rococo, baroque Renaissance and Gothic architecture with lots of coffee shops thrown in. A great place to just amble around and get lost. The churches and architecture keep me happy, the cake shops keep Edwin happy.
350 miles further east Sofiyivka Park in Uman is billed as Ukraine's answer to Versailles; a 400 acre park created in 1802 by Count Felix Pototsky for his beautiful young wife Sofia who had an affair with his son from his first marriage and broke the counts heart. It's not quite Versailles but is a great place for an evening stroll after a 350 mile ride. Lots of pools & lakes, shady glades with Greek statues and local taking
an evening promenade.
The absolute highlight of our few days was the Nuclear Missile Museum – an amazing place, well worth the 100mile detour. The guides spoke no English and we spoke no Ukrainian but they went out of their way to make sure we understood everything. After the museum tour you walk 1km underground to the tiniest ever Brezhnev era lift (breath in to fit 3 people in) that takes you down 12 stories to the tiniest ever living quarters with the control room above it. They are each 12 foot in diameter and 6 men spent 45days down here at a time – 3 in the control room and 3 in the living quarters, well claustrophobic. This command centre controlled 10 missiles all hidden in individual subterranean silos surrounded by electric fence that could zap intruders 6m away. In the area there were 8 command centres i.e.80 nuclear missiles. Back outside are several decommissioned intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) including a 75ft SS-18 Satan rocket. And they are sat in a field of wild flowers, the whole site is covered in wild flowers including a mass of poppies.
Our final stop in the
Ukraine is Donetsk, another 450 miles further east near the Russian border. Its main tourist attractions are the Dombass stadium (one of the host sites for Euro 2012) and the terrikory (slag heaps), the locals wax lyrical on how they change colour in the evening light!
So tomorrow we head into Russia and have 7 days there before we meet up with the group again.
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Clare
non-member comment
Good to have the updates back
Hi Lorraine, its great reading the blogs again, look forward to reading more as you get further off the beaten track, did you catch any football? C xx