The thermal mineral water spa; Radvanka Quarry

Thursday - Because my back was hurting so bad, my relatives took pity on me and took me to a thermal spring spa for therapeutic treatment. This is just one of the health spas and mineral springs nearby. People come from a thousand miles away to Zakarpattya for the mineral water spas. This spa had modern facilities, restaurants, hotels, hot water pools, cold water pools, natural jets of water for massage. It was wonderful! This spa would have fit right in at any resort in the Caribbean, Hawaii, or anywhere. In America, you would easily expect to spend at least $100 a day at a place like this. The price we paid? FOUR U.S. DOLLARS!!!!!

To get to the spa, we drove through Mukachevo. Because of the way we drove in, I got a new better view of the castle on the hill. Sasha told me that this was not a natural mountain, but was built by the people, by hand, hundreds of years ago, to provide defense from invaders.

Back at Bela's home for more food. Everyone was surprised that we don't have "kasha" (buckwheat) in America. (maybe we do, but I've never seen it). Kasha is a Ukrainian staple. Had another new soup, pea soup, very good. In America, we Rusyn-Americans really lost much of our heritage, especially when it comes to food. Just like Italian-Americans learned that there is a lot more to Italian food than spaghetti and tomato sauce, there is an whole world of Rusyn cuisine. All we know is the poverty food from the Depression that out grandparents cooked. There is far more to Rusyn food than haluski, holubki, and pirohi. Rusyn food is wonderful, with influences from Hungary, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, which are only a few miles away. And because of the peculiar micro-climate here, the people are living in a Garden of Eden. I could never have imagined the variety of fruits and vegetables that grow here.

Afterwards, Sasha and I went to the Radvanka Quarry. It's only minutes from Dravtsi, and unbelievably pretty. Crystal clear water. Nice scenery. It was a granite quarry in Soviet times, but one day it filled with water overnight. Sasha told me that there was a group of investors who were ready to invest $40 million US dollars to create a scuba and water park here, but because the local government is so corrupt, they backed out. The local government wanted bribe money to get the project going, and the investors refused. ( I'm pretty sure Sasha knows what he's talking about; he's plugged in and has some serious juice. He was a police Colonel, now with Customs, his best friends are judges and officials, he's good friends with the head of Zakarpatya Travel and Tourism Bureau. Remember I was joking about our family all being secret police?? I learned from Sasha that his father was a KGB Colonel!!!!!)
(Below: Zakarpattya scenic beauty:)

After swimming, we picked up Sasha's wife and daughter, and Bela, and headed to the "Detsa i Notarya" pub for a few beers, and some kind of delicious meat, I can't even describe.