June Update 14/6/08 Lacu Rosu, Romaina (6,536 km)
The Ukraine... bad roads, bad driving, cars with no working brake lights or no working lights at all! I wouldn't suggest driving at night here! Having said that, I personally think the driving in the Ukraine is better (marginally) than Poland. We didn't enjoy Poland much and found the drivers to be aggressive, impatient and angry... they are in the Ukraine too but the roads are so bad that they don't get much of a chance to overtake! Good points are: friendly people, wonderful scenery, no tourists crowding sights (not really any tourists anywhere!).
The Ukrainian language is written in Cyrillic script and you can buy road maps in either Latin or Cyrillic – we bought one of each! I had previously purchased “Ukrainian, Phrasebook and Dictionary” (available in almost no bookshops!) which had a literal translation of each Cyrillic letter to the equivalent Latin letter or letters. This was a life saver. I spent several minutes every morning translating the road maps into something I could compare with the infrequent and badly placed road signs. The book, however, did serve one other very important function... as a seemingly endless source of amusement. The navigator of the Mog has multitasks while we are going along: the obvious map reading and sign spotting, parking space finder, music and drinks co-ordinator and driver amusement provider. The book provided us with phrases which we would read out at certain critical points. “When should I take the medicine?”, “I would like to rent opera glasses” and “I am not familiar with this car” being some of my personal favourites!!
We arrived in Lviv after a long and protracted fight with the road system and gave up looking for a campsite after asking several people who all said “Hotel” in a confused manner that suggested that the country didn’t have campsites. As we felt like we’d been on the road for six solid days and not the 6 hours we’d actually been driving we did check into a motel and ended up staying there two nights.
Lviv was a delight. We caught the bus into town which reminded me why I disliked commuting in London so much and wandered about looking at the lovely architecture and just watching the world go by. We had a scrummy lunch at a cafe just off the main square. The waitress spoke a few words of English and we added to the confusion with the Ukrainian phrasebook ("Where is the coat check?", "Yes, I just love gherkins and pickled herring!")!! Oz ended up with a DIY chicken salad – he had all the ingredients on a table and a bowl with dressing in it and had to chop it all up and mix it himself! I had chicken with rice and figs which was a very odd mixture. Still it all went down rather well with some Ukrainian beer and came to a very reasonable £8 including two coffees.
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Oz's 'DIY' lunch! |
'The Black Mansion' - now the history museum, Lviv. |
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We ended up on a bench watching the world go by on the main promenade. Here everyone parades; it is the place to see and be seen. Old men compete in fearsome battles of chess or drafts, all the while big discussions and arguments surround them about each move that’s made and teeth are sucked before each piece is placed. Old ladies in head scarves trade the day’s stories whilst shaking their heads at the young girls tottering past in towering heels and tiny skirts.
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From Lviv we travelled south on slightly better roads to the 'Carpathian National Nature Park' as Oz wanted to climb Mount Hoverla. We found a good wild camp spot opposite a hotel and restaurant and asked the security guard if it was ok to stay, which he indicated it was. We had asked the local police earlier if there was a campsite and he made a sweeping gesture with his arm and said "all" so we assumed that wild camping was ok. Oz did climb Mt Hoverla but we didn't stay around the mountain long as the endless coaches filled with children who dropped litter everywhere and peed on every suitable bush or tree put us off.
I don't think the Ukraine has grasped the concept of environmental protection, pollution, litter or tourism yet! It has a long way to go on all these points, however, you can see it is getting better or rather wants to get better.
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Before travelling to the Ukraine we had heard a story of someone stopping at a petrol station and while they were paying someone slashed their tyres. They drove on and the tyres deflated but they managed to get to a garage and some help. While they were waiting for the tyres to be fixed, an unusual car pulled up, checked them out then drove off in a hurry. They remembered seeing it at the petrol station and it was obvious they had been set up to be robbed but, by chance, had made it to a garage instead.
I would like to say that despite getting lost, confused and confounded by the roads and their non-existent signs, being refused my visa card despite big signs saying they took visa, and not being understood a lot, we found people to be helpful, kind and very friendly. Not once did we feel threatened or in any way in danger the whole time in the Ukraine. I would recommend travelling through this fascinating country ... only bring a good phrase book!!
