When I lived in Ukraine some ten years ago, travelling was a major part of my job. Because I was working with credit unions all over Ukraine, I managed over three years to visit almost every nook and cranny of this wonderful country. In fact, I was able to visit every oblast, except for one, that being Sumy Oblast on the northern border with Russia. Coincidentally, that was the oblast where the then President of Ukraine, Yushchenko came from. Perhaps that was a foreshadowing for me of the unfortunate circumstances that were to come, but at the time, I thought little of it.
Each region of Ukraine had its own distinctive charms, and its own delightful mixture of landscape, history, culture and traditions. Above all, I met great people everywhere – intelligent, talented and patriotic Ukrainians. Even in the Russified east of the country in Donetsk and Luhansk, I found the descendants of the original Kozaks that had settled these lands many centuries past, but who still maintained their traditional identity and loyalty to the concept of a free and independent Ukraine. To be sure, there were folks everywhere too, whose motivations were less idealistic and more self-serving and materialistic. Nonetheless,
I was pretty confident that given the chance, Ukraine and Ukrainians would quickly evolve into a free and democratic nation state, with roots and values firmly planted in the western European world. It was a hopeful time to be in Ukraine, and I had little inkling that things would unravel as they eventually did.
However, that line of thought is fodder for another article. In this one, I am drawn to memories of the many trips I took during my time in Ukraine. One in particular, that I repeated often, was the trek from Brody to Chernivtsi. Brody was a starting point for many of my journeys, since that is the closest town of substance to my father’s village of Sokoliwka, which I visited many times, as I still have a large family there. From Brody, it is a short drive to Pidkamin, which readers of this column will readily recognize as the home of my cousin savant Hryts.
From Pidkamin, it is another pleasant short drive to Ternopil, one of the most charming cities in Western Ukraine. The city is built around a lake, and has been marvelously restored from the almost total destruction it suffered during the war. I recall many a pleasant stroll along the lakefront and many a fine evening spent in many of the open-air cafés that prevail in the historic center of the town.
A little south of Ternopil is the historic town of Terebovlya, one of the oldest in Western Ukraine. It was mentioned as early as 1097 in the Primary Chronicles. The town had a significant castle and fortifications in its heyday; regrettably, these are mostly in ruins today.
Proceeding still further south we come to the interestingly named town of Chortkiv, which translates roughly into “of the devil”. Although I heard many interesting stories during my visits there as to the origin of the name, the reality is that it was named after Jerzy Chortkowski, a Polish magnate to whom King Sigismund I of Poland granted ownership of town back in 1522. Until the Holocaust, Chortkiw was also a well-known center boasting a large population of Hassidic Jews.
From Chortkiv, I usually made a little western detour to the town of Horodenka, which is where my wife’s ancestors originally came from and which many of her cousins still call home. Horodenka is primarily known as being one of the major centers for sugar production in Ukraine, and it is surrounded by extensive sugar beet fields. It too, used to have a large Jewish population which did not survive the Second World War.
The last stop on one of these journeys is the scenic Bukovynian town of Chernivtsi, the highlight of which is one the architecturally most beautiful universities in the world. Located on the Prut River, the city is widely known as “Little Vienna”. Its history goes back to the Neolithic era and it was once a settlement of the ancient Trypillian culture. Currently it is a sizable regional center with a population of some 300,000. Because of its proximity to the Romanian border, it has a significant population of Romanians and Moldovans. The famous university was originally founded in 1875 by the Austrians and named the Franz Joseph University. Its distinctly beautiful architecture is such, that it has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Though, because of its recent history, not as developed for tourism as most European countries, the challenges of travelling through Ukraine are more than compensated for by both the interesting places one discovers almost everywhere, as well as the warmth of the people and their hospitality. I miss it a lot, and hope to return in the not too distant future.
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