outline of our route so far (image courtesy of Scribble Maps)
This page is a partial gallery from my cycle tour of Ukraine (and surroundings) with my partner Nastia in Summer 2019.It was last updated on June 9th, 2020.
This project is currently on an Autumn/Winter/pandemic hiatus, and I’m stationed in Stryi. To be notified when it resumes, sign up for my newsletter — meanwhile, you’ll get notes and updates on my other ongoing projects.
PHOTO ALBUMS
Digests of my essays on select features from each administrative region of Ukraine we visited on tour, in reverse chronological order (click on the headings to get to the full-length versions):
A colorful linguistic map of Ukraine had been in my mind since my first visit to the country in 2017 — of special notice on the map is the historical region of Budzhak or Southern Bessarabia, as the segment between the Danube Delta and the Dniester Estuary is sometimes called:
image courtesy of Tovel and Spesh531, cropped and annotated to indicate languages, geographical locations and political borders (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Back in 2017, I went through Odesa and left the region oblivious to this ethnic kaleidoscope. The present tour seemed like an excellent opportunity to redeem that omission. Although that meant a bit of a detour from our ambition to eventually cross into the eastern side of the Dnieper, we took our time in Bessarabia, along the way documenting some of the various languages (broadly construed) used in Odesa at home, on the street, or at church.
Ukrainian, represented by Sasha (Bilhorod-Dnistrovs’kyi district)
Tajik, represented by Alik’s ceramic bowls (Sarata district)
Gagauz, represented by Maria, Anka, and Minka (Tarutyne district)
Bulgarian, represented by F’odor (Artsyz district)
Albanian, represented by Petro (Bolhrad district)
Moldovan, represented by Oleksandr (Reni district)
Russian, represented by Dmitriy (Izmail district)
Church Slavonic, represented by the Old Believers (Kiliya district)
Surzhyk, represented by Aunt Luda, Uncle Goge, and, dare i say, me (Tatarbunary district)
We spent four gruesome days riding up and down the steep Podolian Uplands’ valleys along the River until inconspicuously passing into the Odesa Region via the village of Bashtankiv (Kodyma district). From a riding perspective, the hills of Vinnytsia were the most unforgettable aspect of our time in the region — if I’d systematically captured them in some way, that’s what this essay would have been about.
No document, no essay — the next candidate was lingering Soviet symbols, the first I’d ever noticed on public display in Ukraine. I found them perplexing and fascinating at first, but then learned most of them are still legal, even after the Decommunization Laws of 2015.
That brought me back to the markers often found welcoming one’s arrival at a populated place — although most of the signs were not as monumental as I’d have expected, the whole process led me to learn a bunch about how nations are constructed and maintained.
Nastia’s plight out of one of the many valleys we had to cross in Vinnytsia (Khon’kivsti, Mohiliv-Podils’kyi district)
“Great Patriotic War” memorial in Nemiya (Mohiliv-Podils’kyi district) — the first hammer and sickle i ever noticed on public display in Ukraine
This was the first location marker i noticed in the region, on our way out of the village where we’d spent the night (Khon’kivtsi, Mohiliv-Podilskyi district)
Many of the few markers we noticed in the Mohiliv-Podilskyi district were either falling apart (Yaryshiv),
. . . or partially hidden by roadside vegetation (Nemiya, Mohiliv-Podilskyi district)
Our way into the district center (Mohiliv-Podilskyi district),
. . . and our way out of it (Mohiliv-Podilskyi district)
Another partially hidden sign — it says, “Welcome to the territorial community of Bronnytsia; settlements: Bronnytsia, Hryhorivka, Olenivka, Kryshtofivka, and Nova Hryhorivka; population: 2304; farms: 791” (Olenivka, Mohiliv-Podils’kyi district)
The exit to the “Territorial Community of Ivonivka” was more visibly marked — “Territorial communities” are a recent development in Ukraine — small communities within a district may now amalgamate and organize to elect a local council and mayor to manage their own budget (Ivonivka, Mohiliv-Podils’kyi district)
The last sign i noticed in the Mohiliv-Podils’kyi seemed like a good compromise between the Soviet excess of older signs and unappealing austerity of newer ones (Yaruha)
The location markers in the Mohiliv-Podils’kyi district were the least eventful — where they’re still the responsibility of the district administration, they don’t seem to be maintained — where they’re under the auspices of the (newly established) local governments, keeping up with Soviet extravagance doesn’t seem to be a priority — this was partially reflected on the border with the district of Yampil’
Location markers got more attention on the Yampil’ side of the border
Some were sculpted in stone, reflecting the area’s history and tradition (Busha, Yampil’ district),
The all followed a Cossack theme, with sculptures guarding the location entrance standing near or across the road from the markers (Myhaylivka, Yampil’ district)
Each marker and sculpture was unique (Bila, Yampil’ district)
Paradoxically, the location markers in the district center (Yampil’) didn’t have much to show,
. . . and a few of you might have noticed that the town name is spelled in Russian — another contrast to the patriotic connotation of the other markers in the district, and possibly what prompted whoever drew the Ukrainian flag on this one on our way out of Yampil’
Apparently, they really want you to know that you’re in Porohy, where a new marker was built right next to the old one — notice also the Cossack and the cross — this one was culturally overwhelming! (Yampil’)
In Kachkivka, the structure of the old sign was preserved, but redecorated with traditional Ukrainian embroidery patterns (Yampil’ district)
Sometimes there was also a well at the entrance of the village — this one says, “love nature; drink healthy cold water” — i thought the message was so cute that i was heartbroken when a couple of locals advised us against drinking from it because it’s far from the village itself, and therefore not reliably monitored or maintained (Kachkivka, Yampil’ district)
One last Cossack, overseeing the exit to Dovzhok — the last marker we saw in the Yampil’ district
Up yet another arduous slope, the next marker revealed itself gradually and momentously as i suffered the last pedal strokes of the climb from the previous valley, ominously announcing its end letter by letter, and the next photo shooting break — В — І — Л — Ь — Ш — Н — К — А (Vil’shanka, Kryzhopil’ district)
A blank slate across the road from the marker — what will the hammer & sickle be replaced with? (Vil’shanka, Kryzhopil’ district)
After that climatic marker, there is little left to say — this exercise cooled down and wrapped up in the Pishchanka district, where we noticed the last two markers in the region: Trybusivka,
. . . and Kukuly (Pishchanka district) — in this last one, i also made an attempt to capture what has been a reliable feature of Ukrainian countryside so far — dirt roads in parallel (and often preferred) to the old asphalt ones — locals told us these roads emerge spontaneously as people drive off-road to avoid the potholes
After leaving the city of Chernivtsi, we noticed that some bus stops in the villages were decorated with colorful mosaics. This prompted me to document bus stops along our way, and I stopped to photograph at least the ones on top of which the name of the village was shown.
Locals old enough to remember told us that they were made for the 1980 Summer Olympics, held in Moscow (then in the Soviet Union) — the road between Chernivtsi and Mamaliha (along the Ukrainian-Romanian-Moldovan border) was part of the Olympic torch relay route from Athens to Moscow.
I was surprised by how different the bus stops looked from one another, and the sentiments underlying how some of them are decorated. I hope you’ll enjoy the photos and notes/thoughts accompanying them — click on the photos to see them enlarged, and with their respective descriptions.
1980 Summer Olympics mosaics in Zelenyi Hai (Leușenii Tăutului in Romanian/Moldavian)
Marshyntsi (Marșenița) is where we first learned about the origins of the mosaics from the man selling the furniture — i forgot to ask how people feel about his using the bus stop to display his products though
Nastia thought that the photos would still look boring without her, even though the mosaics are all different (Tarasivtsi/Tărăsăuți)
in the historical region of Bucovina, most people’s mother tongue is Romanian/Moldavian, which is also how they often identify themselves rather than as Ukrainians — that is widely reflected in bilingual street signs, political campaign posters for the upcoming parliamentary elections, and the blue-yellow-red Romanian/Moldovan flag colors in public spaces (Kostichani/Costiceni)
the bus stop in Dranytsia was one of the few not to display the village’s Romanian/Moldavian name (Șendreni) — people riding their scooters without a helmet has been a prevalent feature of countryside Ukraine so far though
even newer bus stops, such as this one in Koshuliany (Coșuleni), might be adorned with the blue-yellow-red pattern from the Romanian/Moldovan flags
Mamaliha (Mămăligă) was the last 1980 Summer Olympics mosaic along our route — Mămăligă is also the name of a traditional Romanian/Moldovan dish, one of the many indicators of how national borders reflect (or not) local history and culture
outside the 1980 Summer Olympics torch route, bus stops were mostly bare, except for some job notices, posters of candidates to Ukraine’s upcoming parliamentary elections, and the occasional grafitti (Nesvoia/Nesfoaia)
some of the bus stops looked like they might not be used very often (Yarivka/Hajdeu de Sus)
others looked like a good enough place for a lunch break to cycle travelers unaware that it is also occasionally used as a toilet (Krutenky/Tulbureni)
at least one of them is someone’s temporary home (Dankivtsi/Dăncăuți)
Kaplivka (Capilauca) was the last one i noticed in the Khotyn Raion, where they all had the red caption panels
Krovka (Crovca) is in the Sokyriany Raion, where the caption panels changed to blue — this one also drew my attention for the symmetry
as you move further away from the historical region of Bucovina, Ukrainian gradually returns as the predominantly spoken language (at least judged by how people responded to our greetings), and the Romanian/Moldovan flag colors give way to the blue and yellow stripes of the Ukrainian flag
i don’t have that much more to say about these (Hrubna/Grubna)
Strumok (Strumoc)
this one in Romankivtsi (Romancăuți) also grabbed my attention mostly by the symmetry — i was also amused by the goat hanging out behind the bus stop, which you cannot see on the photo, so i’m writing about it
a design departure from all the bus stops i photographed in this exercise that must be very inconvenient under heavy rain, snow or wind (Lomachyntsi/Lomacineți) — the lighting break on the symmetry was fun to play with though!
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Note: I used this as a reference for Romanian/Moldavian names of the places in the photos that could not be ascertained on-site.
SUMMARY OF DISPATCHES
Everything I’ve written and shared along the tour so far, in reverse chronological order:
October 25th, 2019 – Encore: Water — Lots of photos and a few stories of our sources throughout the Odesa Region — springs, wells, people, bottles, cisterns, taps, and everything in between and around them 🙂
October 15th, 2019 – Still in Odesa — a real-time update rounding up the tour so far, entering a hiatus, and sharing my plan for this break.
October 8th, 2019 – Some languages used in Odesa — a slice of the region’s ethnic and linguistic variety — and yet a few more thoughts on identity.
September 25th, 2019 – Location markers in Vinnytsia — the second in the series inadvertently started with the bus stops of Chernivtsi, this time accounting for the monuments often announcing populated places along our route — plus further notes/thoughts on national identity.
July 19th, 2019 – Bus stops of the Chernivtsi Region — a document of bus stops along our route by bicycle in the Chernivtsi Region, with a few notes/thoughts on national borders and identity.
June 27th, 2019 – If only this were just an extended vacation — a reflection on my travel process, particularly on how it depends to some extent on the kindness of people i meet along my way, and how I may want to deal with it going forward.
June 21st, 2019 – Polishing it up! — a quick update from our first few days on the road after getting Nastia’s bicycle.
June 11th, 2019 – In the “Countrie” — Day #0 — my very first day back on the road, one day before than originally planned.
Unfortunately, I don’t have anything I could share in the same format about our time in the L’viv and Ivano-Frankivs’k regions earlier in the tour. And because of the pandemic, I don’t expect to have anything to show about other regions of Ukraine any time soon either.
To be notified when In a Countrie resumes and more content goes online, sign up for my weekly newsletter — meanwhile, you’ll get notes and updates on my other, no less exciting ongoing projects 😉
___ * The of this project is an intentionally mistaken translation of “у країні” (in a country), a play on words with “Україна” (Ukraine) — unfortunately, declensions in English and Ukrainian don’t quite map into each other, so I had to take some liberty — after experiencing some of its multitudes, challenges, and uncertainties, I also decided to relax the article from definite to indefinite ?
