7 November, from Lviv to Ivano-Frankivsk
I spent the afternoon 5 November strolling around in Lviv. I entered an ortodox church and listen to the celestial music.
I also strolled in the enormous Bazaar they have in Lvov. There you can find anything and easily get lost as well.
In a previous posting I had a picture o two old ladies playing cards in the part. That looked nice. The reality of most older people is more grim. When communism collapsed they had very small pensions, as under the communist system housing was almost for free and food was very cheap, but now with market economy 50 Euro per month doesn' t allow them to survive. So in the end you see a lot of old people working and trying to make some money on whatever you can sell. Most of them are women. Already to begin with many males in that age died during the WWII and communist terror and in addition life expectancy for males is MUCH shorter than for females (with alcohol as the main reason...)
My last evening in Lviv, I spent on trying various Ukarainian and Molovan wines for 0.6 Euro per glass. The quality was accordingly.
The 6th I went by bike from Lviv to Rogatyn. The weather wasn't so nice as there was a drizzle most of the day. In addition there was a fog so the visibility was bad, down to 50-100 m at the worst.
It was a very lean day, I spent in total less than 4 Euro on food and 6 Euros on the room in the gues house. In the evening the restaurant couldn't serve any food at all, so I bought in a shop.
Today I progressed to Ivano Frankivsk as planned, and I am happy I hadn't planned a longer trip today, because I have had a very strong wind in my face the whole day and it has been quite cold. Then 65 km is just about enough.
The landscape has varied quite a lot. Close to Lviv it was a mosaic landscape with smaller fields
and quite some forest (but the fig prevented me from taking pictures).
Most farms look quite well managed, and what is really positive is that you see a lot of young men and middle aged men engaged in the farming. They plow with horses, the harvest etc. E.g. in Lithuania, if you see any horse in farming you can bet that the driver is a man or woman above sixty. So you really get an impression that people invest in farming here.
The house below was rather below average than above. The richer ones don't store straw alongs the walls like this. Just found it interesting, seen the same i Switzerland with firewood.
You see a lot of bird (fowl) here on the farms, geese, ducks, turkey and of course chicken. They tase very well as well.
A very common sight in the morning is the people leading one or two cows from the farms (which are all concentrated in the villages) to common grazing ground outside the village. So each farm has just a few cows but you see a herd of hundred or more.
This is the river Dnistr that I passed today. It is the second longest river in Ukaraine (I believe) after Dnepr. Perhaps you have not understood how big Ukraine is. It is the second largest country in Europe after Russia, substantially bigger than France and Sweden. It stretches more than 1000 km from East or West. Population around 50 million.
Food is still posing a challenge. I now know the name of about 10 dishes. One of the favourites is the Борщ (the famouse beetroot soup). This one is different in every bar, there seem to be little standardisation. They throw in anything they have I believe
This afternoon I was lucky to go into this bar, where they had a kind of buffet so I could point out the stuff I wanted.
I also strolled in the enormous Bazaar they have in Lvov. There you can find anything and easily get lost as well.
In a previous posting I had a picture o two old ladies playing cards in the part. That looked nice. The reality of most older people is more grim. When communism collapsed they had very small pensions, as under the communist system housing was almost for free and food was very cheap, but now with market economy 50 Euro per month doesn' t allow them to survive. So in the end you see a lot of old people working and trying to make some money on whatever you can sell. Most of them are women. Already to begin with many males in that age died during the WWII and communist terror and in addition life expectancy for males is MUCH shorter than for females (with alcohol as the main reason...)
My last evening in Lviv, I spent on trying various Ukarainian and Molovan wines for 0.6 Euro per glass. The quality was accordingly.
The 6th I went by bike from Lviv to Rogatyn. The weather wasn't so nice as there was a drizzle most of the day. In addition there was a fog so the visibility was bad, down to 50-100 m at the worst.
It was a very lean day, I spent in total less than 4 Euro on food and 6 Euros on the room in the gues house. In the evening the restaurant couldn't serve any food at all, so I bought in a shop.
Today I progressed to Ivano Frankivsk as planned, and I am happy I hadn't planned a longer trip today, because I have had a very strong wind in my face the whole day and it has been quite cold. Then 65 km is just about enough.
The landscape has varied quite a lot. Close to Lviv it was a mosaic landscape with smaller fields
and quite some forest (but the fig prevented me from taking pictures).
Most farms look quite well managed, and what is really positive is that you see a lot of young men and middle aged men engaged in the farming. They plow with horses, the harvest etc. E.g. in Lithuania, if you see any horse in farming you can bet that the driver is a man or woman above sixty. So you really get an impression that people invest in farming here.
The house below was rather below average than above. The richer ones don't store straw alongs the walls like this. Just found it interesting, seen the same i Switzerland with firewood.
You see a lot of bird (fowl) here on the farms, geese, ducks, turkey and of course chicken. They tase very well as well.
A very common sight in the morning is the people leading one or two cows from the farms (which are all concentrated in the villages) to common grazing ground outside the village. So each farm has just a few cows but you see a herd of hundred or more.
This is the river Dnistr that I passed today. It is the second longest river in Ukaraine (I believe) after Dnepr. Perhaps you have not understood how big Ukraine is. It is the second largest country in Europe after Russia, substantially bigger than France and Sweden. It stretches more than 1000 km from East or West. Population around 50 million.
Food is still posing a challenge. I now know the name of about 10 dishes. One of the favourites is the Борщ (the famouse beetroot soup). This one is different in every bar, there seem to be little standardisation. They throw in anything they have I believe
This afternoon I was lucky to go into this bar, where they had a kind of buffet so I could point out the stuff I wanted.
Kommentarer
Postat av: Olle
Kan upplysa om att rödbetssoppan uttalas Borsjtj, vilket kan vara svårt att se med de kyrilliska bokstäverna så vet nog de flesta vad det är.
Jättekul att titta på alla bilderna du lagt ut, det ger en kul bild av din färdväg.
Du måste ha en odrägligt bra kondis när du kommer hem. Jag överväger starkt att komma igång själv med lite mer exercising, så jag inte ligger helt i lä, utan orkar hänga med när du ska springa runt här när du kommer.
Postat av: Gunne
tyvarr kompliceras det hela av att ukrainska och ryska inte uttalar sakerna pa samma satt. Och inte blir det lattare av att manga pratar en salig salig blandning, vilket ar mycket forvirrande for mig. Det har ju gatt politik i det hela ocksa, bla sa valde man namnet pa den egna valutan hrynia, sa att den inte skulle ga att uttala for ryssar (som ar nastan halva befolkningen!!!).
Kondisen ar nog inte oavan - lycka till med traningen
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