Second: Just got back from an amazing weekend in the Western part of Ukraine, checking out a couple castles there but, most importantly, chilling out. Life, for a variety of reasons, hit a stress high point that ebbed away as the train left the station and I had nothing to do for two days but eat and explore. What follows today and in a blog tomorrow is an insane number of photos, and those were culled from the more than 200 I took:
Above and below are exterior shots of the fortress at Kominetz Podilsky. This area was battled over by the Poles, the Russians, the Cossacks and the Turks and this massive, five hundred year-old fortress helped secure the area.
Wooden church
Me and my Cossack brother
This wheel is used to draw up water, but now it lets me get in my hamster exercise.
What I love about Ukraine is that they let you climb on everything
Marina, whom I went with, is crazier than I am with free climbing. Since a lot of the wood had rotted away, we climbed up the inside of some turrets to get to higher floors.
Since this shot required climbing to get to, it's a view few have seen!
Marina being all cute and such. Since we're good friends and travel together, people assume we are together. The opposite was proven when we killed a bottle of vodka together Saturday night and slept in the same bed and nothing happened.
On the way into Kominets Podilsky itself. In this pic you can see a waterfall on the left and a climber on the right. I just found out they have bolted routes here, called up Jon and we'll probably come back in August, pitch a tent by that waterfall and climb all weekend.
Clash of cultures: It's a Catholic church that had an Islamic Minaret built onto it. After the Turks lost the city, a statue of Mary was placed on top.
A view
I love that the saint statues look like they are hitting on the Mary statue at a club
The city has a real "fallen from grace" feel to it. Many statues can be found in the surrounding parks, covered over in plants. Much of the town has a real wistful, romantic feel.
One last shot of the fortress