TRIP TO UKRAINE - 1997

This is my personal diary of a visit to Ukraine by two friends and myself in July 1997. Those were relatively happy times there. It was a fine tour that, unfortunately, cannot be taken today. I have included links to some of the places we visited.

First Day:
We arrived at Kyiv in the early afternoon. The airport is still primitive. We were met by Tatiyana, daughter of our travel agent and excellent English speaking tour guide. She was very eager to assist and had a van with driver waiting. We went by van to the Hotel Rus, where we sorted our luggage and put some suitcases we didn't need in storage. Reluctantly, we had a small lunch in the hotel restaurant. Cost was $50 for cold cut and tomato snacks for three. This was a good lesson to avoid tourist hotel restaurants. Dimitri Shevchuk came and brought new issues of Arsenal. He led us on a strenuous hike over several steep hills past the office of the President of Ukraine. We asked him for some of his great military figures when we would return to Kyiv. Back at the hotel at 6 PM Tatiyana and Larissa Riazantseva briefed us on the details of the tour, and gave us all our train tickets. Then we went by van to the train station. As always, there was a huge crowd. Observing people at Ukrainian and Russian train stations can be fascinating. The railroads are critical to the economic system of both countries. Fortunately no matter what else deteriorates, the trains run like an independent government system,which they are. We were quite early. Victor showed up at the platform before we departed. He was much too busy to catch us during the afternoon.
The overnight train to Kamianets-Podilsky was comfortable, but a bit shaky as it passed over what must have been a rough roadbed. Passengers pay a couple dollars extra for bed linen and a few cents for hot tea. There was no problem sleeping. The train arrived right on time around 7:30 AM.

Second Day:

We were dismayed to find that the expected individual who was to meet us was not in evidence. After a short search we decided to take our chances with a volunteer taxi driver to get to the hotel. The distance being only a couple miles, the fare was only 5 dollars or so. At the hotel we found that the desk clerks were not expecting us either. A hasty call brought the hotel director (who actually is leasing the place in a free enterprise effort). He showed us his paperwork, which indicated that the Kyiv travel office had informed him of our coming some weeks before, but had not made the expected last minute confirmation. Not to worry, he was eager to take care of everything. Moreover, in the absence of our expected local guide the director himself volunteered to drive us everywhere, with his son as interpreter. The son, Maxim, is a political science major at a Kyiv university and speaks good English. So by 9:30 we were settled into two of the only hotel rooms with bathrooms (no hot water), and were on our way for a city tour. Bogdan and Maxim know Kamianets well. And they know about photography. The tour started with a drive clear into the country in order to get to a spot from which to take a panorama overview photo of the city. Then we circled round the old town, stopping at well-selected spots from which to take photos from all sides. Gradually our guides brought us closer and closer to the central old city fortifications. This continued until around 1 PM, when we stopped for lunch at an excellent restaurant recommended by Bogdan. What a difference from Kyiv. Here we had an excellent multi-course meal for five people for about $25.00 total. It turned out that the hotel had a special arrangement with this restaurant, since it lacked its own dining room.

After lunch we walked around the old city with Maxim as guide. He was well acquainted with the history of all the buildings and sections of the city. The entire central, old city is now an architectural preserve. Only about 5,000 people live in it and no new construction is allowed. For lack of funds the effort to restore remaining buildings to their medieval appearance is at a standstill. There are quite a few old churches and monasteries, some of which are again functioning. Large areas are simply cleared spaces where medieval buildings once stood. Several of the defensive towers and gates in the medieval fortifications are still intact. The old city occupies a very small space on a hill top surrounded on three sides and most of the fourth by a giant oxbow bend of the Smotrich River. The river canyon is quite deep and has left sheer cliffs on both sides all the way around. The narrow neck of land connecting this plateau to the rest of the countryside has been cut and a massive fortress was built to seal off that approach. This fortress is the main attraction now.
It being Saturday it seemed that there were weddings going on one after the other in several churches. Apparently it is a tradition for the wedding party to drive to the fortress for photographs. There was a steady stream of such traffic racing through the narrow streets all afternoon.We spent quite a long time in the fortress exploring the towers and walls. Beyond the medieval castle-like fort a more modern, Vauban-style, bastion fortification was built in the 17th century to conform to the requirements of artillery.
We had dinner in an Armenian restaurant located in one of the casement sections of the city defenses opposite the fortress. During the middle ages one of the early local princes hired 10,000 Armenian mercenary warriors to fight against the Turkic nomads. Many of these troops stayed on and brought families. This led to a thriving Armenian merchant community that took advantage of the location of the city on the major European trade routes. Until modern times as much as a third of the old city was occupied by the Armenian section. A meal consisting of delicious roasted lamb and other courses cost $33 for five people.
We had a quiet and restful night at the hotel.

Third Day:
On Sunday I walked across the bridge into the old city to attend Mass at the main Catholic Church. I was amazed to find out that the service was in Polish. The church was packed and toward the end of Mass a large group of Sunday School kids arrived with their teachers. The service was extra long. Apparently there was some ceremony of adult baptism or confirmation in the middle of Mass. I gave the sisters a bag of rosaries.
When George and Micha finally showed up over an hour late, I discovered that we had been forced to move from our rooms due to the preemption of the best rooms by the Ukrainian government for a visiting Chinese official delegation. This put us into the typical small rooms without baths for the remaining night. The only toilet was the typical 'eastern' style hole in the floor in a room at the end of the hall.
The hotel director was quite upset at this turn of events. He decided to drive us to Khotin himself for a half-day visit. Only the inner castle remains, but it is still quite impressive. The original castle built by prince Daniel was on a nearby hill and is now completely gone. The present structure is in a ravine where it meets the Dniester River. One can still make out the outlines of the earthen parapets and bastions built for the Polish army under the direction of the French engineer Seiur de Beauplan. These follow the ridge line that completely surrounds the fortress on the three land sides.
We drove back to the same restaurant for a combination lunch and dinner of stuffed peppers, fish in egg batter, large salad and cold cuts and desert, all for $34 for five people. I went to bed early and had a good night sleep. Micha walked around town for three hours visiting markets.

Fourth Day:
After a large breakfast, we again walked around the old city. At the Catholic church I learned that the Polish king Ludwig of Anjou asked Pope Gregory II in 1375 for a bishop for Kamianets. The original cathedral of which parts remain was dedicated in 1428 but has sections dating as late as 1830. The Bishop Leonard Slonczewski in 1547-1563 built several chapels to Mary and to the Holy Sacrament. There was a fire in 1616 and then the chapel of the Immaculate Conception was added along with a new roof. This changed the general appearance from Gothic to Renaissance style. The Turks held the city from 1672 to 1699 and converted the church into a mosque. They added a minaret and several interior pulpits etc. When the church was returned to the Poles, they decided to keep the minaret. In 1756 a gilded statue of the Blessed Virgin was placed on top. The Poles of course were thumbing their noses at the Turks. This is probably the only statue of the Blessed Virgin on top of a minaret in the world. In 1795 the diocese was canceled by Catherine II. It was restored by Paul in 1798 and again cancelled by Alexander II in 1866. Pope Benedict XV restored it in 1918. The church has been functioning again since 1990.
The city received the Magdeburg Law during the administration of Jan DeVitt. The impressive city hall remains. The Armenian church dates from 1398 and another one to St. Nicholas is next to it.
After another lunch with the hotel director we drove again toward Khotin with a local history professor and his wife. This time we went down a terrible dirt and stone path to a point on the opposite bank of the Dinister from which we could take photos of the fortress. After a fast drive back we arrived just in time to prepare to catch the night train back to Kyiv.

Fifth Day:
We were met at the station by Tatiyana with her van. She took us to the Rus hotel, where we retrieved the checked luggage and took our excellent rooms. After much appreciated hot showers, we were ready for another tour of Kyiv. This time we started at the main Historical Museum of Kyiv, which is located on the hill which formed the center of the most ancient kremlin part of the city. From there we visited St. Sophia monastery and the Golden Gate.
We had a wonderful family dinner with Victor, his wife, two children, mother, and Dmitri.

Sixth Day:
We toured the Pechora Lavra and then the outdoor military museum located next door. Later we had a special tour Victor arranged at the Caponier museum at the Gospitalniya fortress. This is being restored and made into a shrine to Ukrainian military history. In the Caponier there is a fine exhibition of military history featuring military miniatures made by Dmitri and paper soldiers from Victor.
We checked out of the hotel and went to the train station to take the night train to Sevastopol. This turned out to go through Nicholaiv and Kherson, crossing into Crimea over the Perekop isthmus, we crossed the Dnieper east of Kherson around 8 AM. The border of Crimea was marked by the tank ditch with a monument of a WWII SP gun. The region is very flat with many rice paddies and canals. The train was the usual comfortable 4 bunks to a room. We watched from windows as the train stopped at many towns where locals were assembled on the platform to sell local produce.

Seventh Day:
We were met at the Sevastopol station around 3 PM by Dr. Krestiyanikov and his staff. They drove us to the apartment which we were to rent for the week. It was owned by a naval captain and his wife. The hostess and the mother of our main guide, Pavel, took care of all things including cooking excellent meals for us. The afternoon was then spent discussing the program for the week.

Eighth Day:
After a big breakfast of eggs we began the tour at the Chersonesse historical preserve. As in 92 and 93 there was a large party of volunteers digging. After several hours there, we went to the Panorama Museum to meet Dr. Krestiyannikov and give him the items we had brought.
I then went to a local doctor to have an infected finger lanced and then to the bank to cash travelers checks. The clinic was so run down I was concerned about developing a worse infection. The doctor took less than 20 minutes, but the bank took over and hour. They required all sorts of forms and paperwork approved by a host of clerks. After that we returned to the museum and then toured several of the main bastions in the city defense system of 1854.

Ninth Day:
We were up at 5 AM to drive to the Alma and on to Evpatoria. The sun was up by the time we reached the Alma. We managed to take a few photos from the main Russian position, the Great Redoubt. Just south of Evpatoria we found the first of the several active archeological digs we visited. KaratebeThis was a Scythian and then Khazar fort that covered the strategic passageway between sea and lake. It controlled access to and from Evpatoria and the interior of Crimea. On the very same hill there were WWII concrete emplacements.
In Evpatoria we stopped at the local museum and found, among other interesting exhibits, a large one on the Kariates. Then we visited another archeological site in which the most ancient Greek city wall is being uncovered. Then we drove to a Kariate temple that is still in some use. We also visited the Mosque and the Orthodox church, both close to the shore. All the markets were packed with shoppers and stalls full of produce. Evpatoria has a population of about 110,000 people. Prior to peristroika and the decline of the Russian economy it would have at least a million summer visitors, but now this tourist traffic is practically ceased.
We drove west along the coast to several other Greek coastal cities being uncovered by archeological teams. Donislav and Kalos limanAlso we visited another Khazar hill fortress.
Late in the afternoon we drove back to the Alma battlefield and managed to get a few photos from the British side.
We had forgotten to tell the ladies what we wanted for supper, so were reduced to eating leftovers.

Tenth Day:
After a brief breakfast, Pavel took us on foot to a local collector's market. There we found many young men selling artifacts of the Crimean War that they or others had dug up on the battlefields or allied camp grounds. No one tries to keep any record of where the items are found. They include buttons, brass hat plates, bullets, and all manner of junk. Also for sale are modern military medals and postage stamps, used books, prints and miscellaneous things. I bought $150 worth of war relics for my friend.
After a very fine home-cooked lunch we drove in a military four wheel drive vehicle to Mangup, the 5th century Byzantine fortification that became the capital of Feodoro principality. We drove by way of Balaklava and were able to get a few photos of the battlefield.
Mangup is on top of a 475 meter high sheer cliff. The Byzantines built a narrow road that circles the plateau and snakes through several switchbacks. Over the centuries much of the road has turned into stream bed through erosion. The vehicle stalled several times and tilted 45 degrees one way and then the other. Finally we got out and hiked the last half of the climb. The driver later managed to get the vehicle to the top and we had a harrowing ride down.
Once on the plateau we were surprised to find about 50 young people busy in another archeology dig under the direction of a professor who has made this place his own for many years. He graciously showed us all over the square kilometer area, explaining the history and significance of the various parts. At one place the archaeologists were uncovering the construction site used by the Byzantines to build a major wall. In the ground, half uncovered, was a large amphora shaped bowl. This was used by the original architects to mix lime for mortar while constructing the wall.
Mangup preserved its independence as a Gothic-Alan center until the Ottoman Turks captured it along with the rest of Crimea in 1475. They brought heavy cannon up the slope and bombarded the defense walls while Janissaries stormed the top. By then they had already taken Constantinople and all the Genoese fortresses in Crimea.
After the drive down the mountain, we continued to Eski Kerman, another ancient hill top fortress. This one was even older than Mangup. It consisted mostly of cave shelters behind an impressive fortification blocking the narrow path up the only side that was not a straight up rock wall. There was the ruin of a church and dwellings in caves.
Then we drove back to Sevastopol, stopping at the Russian memorial cemetery on the north side of the bay and at the star "North Fort" that was built prior to the Crimean War. The fort is still occupied by an active naval installation, so entrance was impossible. The trip across the harbor at sunset on a car ferry was quite enjoyable. At the main dock there was a very large cruise ship that now calls at Sevastopol as part of a trip down the Dnieper and across the Black Sea. The downtown area was crowded with people at leisure. There are many clubs and restaurants. It is obvious that this is a naval port, party town.

Eleventh Day:
One of the main highlights of the trip was the visit to Balaklava, the city and battlefield. We started early and walked through the small port just after dawn. Most of the submarines are now gone and there are many small fishing boats tied to the quay. We visited the church that the English used. It is now being repaired and looks exactly like it did in paintings from the Crimean war period. We walked to the headland and viewed the narrow entrance to the bay. Then we drove to Kadikoi and on to Canrobert's hill - bastion 1 - in the British line of defenses. This was the first bastion captured by the Russians from its Turkish defenders in the morning of the Balaklava battle. The hill still has remnants of the ramparts and the remains of the later British camp of the 93rd Regiment - Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders - who occupied the position. We went to the site of the Cherneya River battle and saw the monument to the Russians killed. We stopped behind the position occupied by the Russian horse artillery that was attacked by the British Light Brigade. Then walked down the central causeway and visited redoubts 2 and 3 in the British line. Finally we visited Sapun Gor height and stood where Lord Raglan had stood during the battle.
We stopped at the restored memorial at the British cemetery and several other locations in the siege lines. We stopped for lunch at a modern quick food place called "BIG MAC" by its proprietor, who spent time in Brooklyn and created this wonder. The help were all young kids looking eager and anxious to keep their excellent jobs. The food was almost exactly that of an American fast food place.
In the afternoon we visited the Inkerman battlefield including Shell Hill and the British Sandbag battery position. The monastery under the Kalimita fortress on Inkerman hill is now in the hands of monks and is being restored.
We had a fine home cooked dinner at the apartment.

Twelfth Day:
This was a long day. We were up and on the road at 5 AM to drive clear across Crimea. First stop was Sudak, the Genoese fortress on a peak directly rising out of the sea. The general location and town was built in prehistoric days and was then Byzantine and Khazar. The region was under control of the Golden Horde in the 14th century. They allowed the Genoese to build an important trading post there starting around 1380. This was after they had started a larger one and town at Kaffa (modern Feodosia). When the Tatars in Crimea declared independence from the Golden Horde they allowed the Genoese to retain their trading posts and in fact relied on them to generate commerce (including in slaves) with the West. The castle has had many restorations and there is another active archeological dig going on.
From there we drove to a Turkish hill fortress being uncovered by a large archeological team. KutlukThen we drove further, to Feodosia, formerly KaffaThe driver didn't quite know his way around town, so it took some time to find the ruins of the Genoese city walls and citadel. Not much of the walls and towers remain, but we saw most of them. It was a very impressive place in the 14th century.
After the Ottoman Turks took the city in 1475-77, they let the Crimean Tatars use it also. It became one of the largest slave markets of the region to which the Tatars brought the thousands of Poles, Russians and others they captured in their annual raids deep into those countries.
On the drive back to Sevastopol we went through the village of Stari Krim, a former Crimean Tatar capital. Not much is there now, but there is a small mosque. All along the roads there were people selling all manner of fruit and vegetables.
Back at the apartment we had a wonderful dinner of beef Stroganoff.

Thirteenth Day:
This turned out to be something of a fiasco, but I managed to salvage the late afternoon. We found out the night before that we should have had our passports stamped by the city police department, even though we were staying in an apartment instead of a hotel. But when we went early in the morning to accomplish this we entered a Byzantine bureaucratic labyrinth. We were hoping to drive to Yalta and see the coast on both sides of that tourist haven. But we were sent from one office to another, round and round between the museum, two police stations and the city administration. We were official guests of the influential Panorama Museum whose director greatly assisted in this unprecedented for bureaucrats effort. We stood outside the local field office of the Internal Security Service (their FBI) while our guide from the Museum argued inside. We watched as a group of undercover agents waited their turns to make reports from the previous night's activities. We listened as they discussed us, not knowing that we understood Russian. There were numerous forms to fill out. We had to pay at the city offices a $12 occupancy tax in lieu of the tax we didn't pay at a hotel. The woman who stamps passports was not working that day, theoretically, but was finally persuaded her to condescend to use her stamp. We also visited the train station to be sure our tickets were changed from Odessa-Kiev to Simferopol-Kiev. By that time it was after 2 PM and too late to drive to Yalta. George decided to rest and Micha to walk around downtown.
As always we saw the city streets were full of people walking to work. The trolley buses were also jammed. The city is beautiful, but difficult to photograph. It is built on a series of very steep sided ridges that jut into the harbor with narrow bays and deep ravines between them. One can see only a small part of the city from any one spot.
I was happy that Pavel offered to drive me back to the Alma again so we could do a more detailed exploration of the entire battlefield and determine the location where various units and leaders were during this battle. At the Panorama Museum we picked up e-mail messages from home.
At the Alma we found the hill from which Lord Raglan observed the battle and the locations of all the Russian regiments. Then we drove to the sea shore end of the bluffs overlooking the Alma river. This was the section of the ridge that the French climbed to turn the Russian left flank. The Russian commander considered it impossible for troops to do this. But it seemed quite easy, especially for trained troops used to fighting in mountains in Algeria, as the French Zouaves were.
Right at the top of this bluff overlooking both the sea and the Alma river is the remains of a Scythian city and adjacent 4 hectare large cemetery. We found yet another archeological team digging up the graves and taking what artifacts they could find. They had half a dozen skeletons scythiapartially uncovered and awaiting removal later in the summer. Some of the Scythian catacombs were 40 and more feet deep.

Fourteenth Day:
We bid good by to our hostesses and then drove to Batchisarai, the Crimean Tatar capital. There we first walked up a canyon to see the Intercession monastery, built into the cliffs. This was the center of Christianity in Crimea during the Tatar rule and was left pretty much alone by them. After being a ruin for centuries, it is now back in church hands, like so many other places, and is being restored. It is on one wall of the Mariam valley, opposite the plateau that houses the ancient fortress, Chufut-kale. We decided not to walk up the steep slope, but rather to drive the long way around over a rutted track up the slopes to reach the top of this mesa.
There we found that the Kariates, the medieval, Turkic speaking, Jewish sect is back in control of the fortress. They allowed us inside, after our Russian historian guide announced we were Americans. We passed through two impressive fortified walls, the first dating from Byzantine times. We saw two Jewish knessa houses and several other buildings. Also there is the lovely tomb of Toktamish's daughter, Myriam. He was the great khan of the Golden Horde who successfully attacked Moscow but was defeated and driven out of the Volga region by Tamerlane in 1395.
We discussed Kariate history with an elder of the group who told us much about their situation world wide today. We had already visited the Kariate buildings in Evpatoria which is where the remainding members moved in the 19th century.
We drove directly to Simferopol and had another 'gamburger' in an American style fast food place. Then we caught the overnight train to Kiev. It was the fastest and best train we took during the entire visit to Ukraine. We arrived around 9 AM and were met by Tatyanna.

Fifteenth Day:
Tatiyana met us with her van and took us back to the same hotel Rus. Later in the morning we discussed the remaining program with Larissa. At 12 noon Dimitri arrived and went with us to the very interesting open air architectural museum on the southern outskirts of Kiev. They have assembled many buildings, including churches, wind and water mills, schools, peasant houses and others from all over Ukraine. The contrasts between the wooden buildings from Carpathia and the stucco ones from the steppe are quite striking. In the late afternoon Dimitri surprised us with a fine lunch at his apartment. We were pleased to be able to buy many of his excellent military miniatures. We were only limited by the number we could carry in hand baggage on the airplane. Then he escorted us back to the hotel.

Sixteenth Day:
Victor arranged for a special drive to and tour of Chernigiv. This was a fast drive over very bumpy main roads. We visited many churches including one of the oldest and most interesting cave monasteries in Ukraine. The city was contemporary with Kiev and ruled by a relative of the Kievan ruler. They were all descendants of Yaroslav the Wise. It was sacked by Batu Khan in 1239-40 like most of the rest of Rus. Then it was under Mongol-Tatar control until the Lithuanians defeated them and expanded their own domain in the late 14th century.
Victor surprised us again by arranging a very fine luncheon banquet in the executive dining room of a factory one of his friends manages. This being a Saturday, the manager and his assistants were using their day off to do this for us. On the drive back to Kyiv we had a typical example of Ukrainian and Russian police corruption. We were flagged down on the highway by a policeman standing in the road. He wanted a 'fine'. When our driver explained that the Ukrainian beside him in the front seat was an assistant to the President of Ukraine and the three men in back were official American guests, the policeman waved us on. But viewing out the rear window as we drove, I saw the policeman was stopping the next vehicle.

Seventeenth Day:
Victor came and brought more of his creations, Russian and French cartridge pouches of the 1812 model. Dmitri also brought more figures. Victor took us by subway for a tour of Kiev. We stopped at several flea markets and bought some books and souvenirs. Then we walked around the main downtown area watching the people enjoying their Independence Day holiday. We had the usual lunch at the McDonalds amid a huge crowd of Ukrainian young people eager to try these delicacies.
For our final evening Larissa organized a dinner party at the hotel restaurant. Victor brought his family and Dmitri attended as well. It was an enjoyable evening with much vodka drunk during numerous toasts. Then we watched the fireworks from our hotel windows.

Eighteenth Day:
We left the hotel around 11 to drive to the airport. Victor and Tatiyana made sure we made it through customs without problems. The agents did want to look at some of the military figures they saw in their x-ray machine. The Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt was excellent. There we took a taxi to the U.S. Air Force transient hotel adjacent to the field. We had wonderful 4 room suites for $20 each.
The tourist must plan for air connections. Flights from St. Petersburg and Moscow connect with flights from Frankfurt to Washington directly with only a brief delay. But flights from Kyiv do not, requiring an overnight stay.

Nineteenth Day:
We left the Air Force hotel unnecessarily early, which resulted in a long sit in the Frankfurt airport. Finally we were happy to get on the Lufthansa flight back to Dulles. There we were met and thankfully back home by 5 PM.