Bukovyna Part II: The Land of Castles

Our second day in Chernivtsi, we got up bright and early to catch our bus to Khotyn, which is about an hour or so northeast of Chernivtsi. We disembarked in this small town, and asked around for directions to the fortress. Everyone pointed us in the same direction, but it was a long, cold, icy and treacherous walk through the town.

"Is that the fortress?" we joked.

Then, finally, we saw some signs.

Talia took this picture of us standing in front of the "Fortress" sign.
For some reason we all look really happy to be freezing!

After a bit more walking, we came to the crest of the hill where the fortress sits.

I believe that's St. Volodymyr guarding the entrance.

As Talia noted when she took this picture, Charitie and I got the posing sort of backwards. This little stray dog was our tour guide at Khotyn-- she followed us everywhere. Talia named her Jeanie.

"Khotyns'ka Fortetsya"

The main gate at the top of the hill.

Looking through the gate.

This landscape was so white that nearly all of us were snowblind by the time we returned. Not pleasant!

On the near side of the fortress, a church.

First view of the fortress. You can't see very well, but there are really neat whorl patterns in the brickwork.

Looking back at the entrance to the valley, a stunning view

 This is my "I'M AT A CASTLE!!!!" face :)

There was no one around, since we were the only people crazy enough to walk to this darn place in the depths of January. We paid the workers and then wandered around.

Inside the castle keep

The first tower we entered had torture instruments.

Talia stands in the Iron Maiden.

These signs had some great engrish. "Thorn could screw with the male screw and the victim of torture had to stand on the toe, till it had the force." XD

Then we went through the courtyard, and down into the dungeon.

Cool door.

Catapult, anyone?

Our faithful tour guide, Jeanie, followed us, even though these stairs were super steep and were taller than she was :)

During the spring and summer, this is apparently a cafe.

We spent quite a while at Khotyn, probably longer than we should have. Because of our time crunch (and also because of the really icy-dangerous roads) we hailed a taxi to take us back to the bus stop, where we jumped a bus for the hour-long trip to Kamyanets-Podilsky.

When we arrived in Kamyanets-Podilsky, we were all hungry and freezing. After taking a bus from the "new town" where we'd been dropped off to the "new town," we ducked into a cafe for some delicious Polish food. We didn't have much time before it would get dark, though, so we had to hurry on.

There were also some beautiful churches in Kamyanets-Podilsky.

Aside from L'viv, Kamyanets-Podilsky was probably the most magical place I've ever been. This entire city was built atop a fortress, many pieces of which can still be seen sticking up between buildings. The castle is high above the rest of the city, creating this uncanny sensation that you are stepping into a Van Helsing, or some other Dracula movie.

The fortress overlooks this valley city.

Beautiful church on the hill.

The other fun thing about Kamyanets-Podilsky is that you can climb all over the castle-- up in the turrets, along the battlements. AWESOME.

Talia told me to let down my hair, but it just wasn't long enough.
(also, this is possibly the coolest picture of all time.)

Along the battlements!

Through the arrow-slit window

Looking down over the valley from up on the battlements

Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend much time at the castle because it was getting dark and we didn't want to miss our bus. It is a place I definitely want to go back to, though, when the weather is warmer!

We made it back to the bus station only to learn that the next bus wouldn't be for another hour or more. So we went to a cafe beside the Avtovokzal (bus station) for a cup of tea. And this place was GREAT... they had a live chicken in a coop right inside the entrance. Probably the least sanitary thing. Ever.

Then our bus was late, and we had to wait in the freezing cold for about a half an hour. We were so cold and tired we started singing "if I had a hammer"...I really don't know why. Then when the bus finally came, we didn't get seats and had to stand for a while until enough people got off that we could sit down.

We finally got back to Chernivtsi around 8 or 9, then went out for some dinner. It had been a long day, and we needed some rest to get ready for our next adventure...