Today we were going to go to the forest near Zolota Hora to pick mushrooms, with Klara, Marta, and Marta's son Misha, but our plans had to be cancelled - think Misha had to work. So I decided to take a bike ride, since the forecast was for rain the next few days. No destination in mind, just wanted to see how far I could get. I rode from Dravtsi to Barvinok (Periwinkle), from Barvinok to Pidhorb. No photos, since I've already been there. I chose that route to avoid a big hill on Highway M06. From Pidhorb I rode to Kholmtsi. Kholmtsi must have a large Hungarian population, because signs are in both languages. In Kholmtsi I couldn't help but be impressed both by the amount of flowers in October, and the pride people had in the homes. Everything was well kept.
I came to a schoolhouse in Kholmtsi, and saw some children playing outside, so I decided to take some photos.
Some of the teachers spotted me taking photos, so they came to the gate, curious, not suspicious. I started talking to them, told them about my background, and they could not have been friendlier. The teachers invited me into the school for a tour. They told me that this schoolhouse had four grades or classes, and about 35 students. (One teacher spoke English - my Ukrainian isn't good enough that I would have understood that!). All of the children were excited to see me and have their photos taken. I was told that I was the first American they had ever seen.
Below is a photo of the stove or oven, which heats the school in the winter:
And these are some flowers around the school:
Before I left, I got both the physical address of the school, and email address, so that I could send them copies of the photos. Below, the church in Kholmtsi:
From Kholmtsi I rode to Rus'ki Komaribtsi. I didn't take any photos there; I saw what looked like two churches, but they were at the top of a hill I didn't feel like climbing. So I continued on to Nizhne Solotvino. At Nizhne Solotvino I saw a church atop a big hill, but since it was along my way, I decided to stop and take some photos, even though I had to climb a steep stairway.
The bell tower was fairly short, so I was able to take photos of the bells:
View from the church, atop the hill:
It's fairly difficult to get decent shots of the churches, because of the way they're located. They are either on top of hills, or surrounded by trees, or buildings, and you usually can't get back far enough to get a shot of the entire church. Or the sun is in the wrong direction.
Continuing through Nizhne Solotvino, I saw a man getting his wine barrels ready; talked to him a little. He said that this wasn't a good year for grapes.
A little further along, I started noticing all these wine cellars which had been dug into the hillside. There were dozens and dozens of these wine cellars:
I found a set of tunnels which were in the process of having new facades built, and went inside to take photos. I have no idea how far into the hill these tunnels go; might be one hundred feet, or might be a mile; I never saw the end. But since I didn't have a flashlight, and more importantly, no one knew that I was there, I only took a chance on going in a short distance. I would have liked to have seen how far they went, but I couldn't take the chance of a cave-in when no-one knew I was even there.
Also saw one of the hay piles, and some kind of hay barn:
I would have liked to have learned more about the wine cellars dug into the hill; they must be part of commercial operations, to be that extensive.
It had only taken me about two and a half hours to reach Nizhne Solotvino, even with all the stops that I had made. But I was exhausted from the trip. I didn't see any chance of getting a taxi in Nizhne Solotvino, and Dravtsi was two and a half hours away. So I decided it would be a lot faster and easier just to push on to Serednie and get a taxi there. To avoid traffic, I got off of M06 and onto the old roadway; that might have been a mistake. From what I was able to see, M06 looked much smoother and more level. The old roadbed had two big hills that I had to climb. By the time I got to Serednie, I was completely worn out. I took some photos of the churches there, and then went to a cafe to rest.
I stopped in the cafe, and had a beer. Since Serednie is a larger town, I expected to see a few taxis about, looking for fares. Didn't see any. There were a few people passing out political literature. I went to a booth for Yulia Tymoshenko's "Batkivshchyna" (Fatherland) Party. I explained to the women there that I needed a ride for myself and bicycle from Serednie to Dravtsi. NO PROBLEM! One of the women made a phone call, told me I'd have a short wait, and sent me to a fishing supply shop next door to wait. The girl running the shop, Lyuda, was the daughter of one of the women at the Batkivshchyna booth. She gave me coffee (no charge) and told me all about the fishing around there. It seems there is a lake nearby, with lot of big fish - carp, and maybe sturgeon??? It turns out that the taxi driver the woman called was Lyuda's husband, Yura. Really nice guy. He even went out of his way to go and buy bungee cords at the magazine, so he could secure my bicycle.
Yura also went out of his way to take me to the ruins of the 13th century Knights Templar Castle, which had been built to protect the route from the salt mines in Zakarpattia.
Don't know if you can tell from the photos, but the castle walls are about ten feet thick. or more. Yura also took the photo of me.
Yura told me that one of his hobbies is fishing; the other is going to the mountains. He told me about a mountain he goes to not far from Uzhgorod which is very high, and cold on top. He said that the trees on top of the mountain are over two hundred years old, but because of the cold and the wind they are stunted, and look like bonsai trees.
The drive from Serednie to Dravtsi was about 14 miles. For that 14 mile drive, all Yura charged me was $8 USD. Keep in mind that he had to drive back 14 miles to Serednie without a fare.
I still cannot get over how friendly and willing to help someone, the Zakarpattian people are!! My English class students ran into the Zimbabwians, I've met Americans here. I also overheard a girl ask, in English, for a napkin to blow her nose. I asked if she was American - she said she was from Mexico, and doing an internship here. Without exception, EVERYONE commented on how friendly and how much they liked the Ukrainian people!!
Back home, Klara and Ivan were amazed that I rode so far. Klara and I picked walnuts. Ukrainian walnuts must be different from American walnuts. I remember my mother once picked American walnuts, and the green outside shells turned your hands black. These walnuts don't do that.
Klara also introduced me to her neighbor, how was cutting grass for his goats (or horse, I dunno). This guy had arms the size of my legs. ....Klara told me that he was 80 years old! This 80 year old man could work circles around me! He told me that the difference between Ukrainian (and especially Zakarpattians) was the work ethic. He said that Ukrainians work hard to better themselves and have a better life, while Russians just drink and rest. I haven't had any experience with Russians, but I can tell you that the part about the Ukrainian work ethic is certainly true!
While I was on my bike ride, Klara and a man she hired, Yura, picked sugar beets, for the pigs. Yura also told me that sugar beets make good samahon palinka (vodka).
I took a bath while I could, then went into Uzhgorod for an English School class. I had the little monsters again. Individually, they are really nice kids. But in a group, forget it!! Marina had them get into teams, and play a game. She would show them a picture of a fruit or vegetable, and the children would have to describe it in English while I tried to guess what it was. Only problem was, some children would shout out the answer in Ukrainian (which I was able to understand), so then I would have to pretend that I didn't know what the vegetable was. ....Tomorrow, at least I'll have teenagers.
After English class, went back to Dravtsi to get to choir practice at the church. I think I've got some nice recordings of singing, but it takes a long time to post audio, so that will have to wait. GOODNIGHT!!
I CANNOT IMAGINE A FRIENDLIER OR MORE HOSPITABLE PEOPLE THAN THE CARPATO-RUS!!!
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