Khutoro-Chaplyne. What Are the Villages of the Synelnykove Area Like, and How Is Life There?

In the morning, on the way to the suburban train, there was a good omen, one that foretells luck. A rainbow band began from the dark clouds, curling into an arc, then became double and astonished me with its illusion of light for several minutes.

 

Bilokuzmynivka. Conquering the Cliffs in the "Kramatorskyi" and "Kleban-Byk" Landscape Parks

I never compare our stunning landscapes and astonishing, spectacular panoramas with foreign natural monuments. The fawning turns of phrase heard in every region of Ukraine towards foreign curiosities, with invented names like "Rivne Iceland", "Donetsk Maldives", "Ukrainian Venice", "Zhytomyr Switzerland", and the like, are surprising. Perhaps our picturesque mountains and cliffs, lakes and rivers have not won worldwide fame, but they arouse no less admiration and are quite well known to the Ukrainian traveller. So let us cherish and popularise the tourist gems of our own country — the unrepeatable landscapes with their own peculiarities, history, and national colour. Ukraine will always remain Ukraine, without obsequiousness or servility, and in every region there are exotic places, wondrous locations that one wants to tell about and to show to guests and travellers.

In Donetsk region, one of the most inspiring landscapes, where you can draw a reserve of energy, opens out across the steppe expanses 10 kilometres south-east of Kramatorsk and 13 kilometres east of Druzhkivka.

 

The "Kramatorskyi" Regional Landscape Park. The Bilokuzmynivka section

Sloviansk. The Salt Lakes. We Rest, We Admire, We Restore Our Strength

One of the most popular medicinal places in Ukraine, where people rest, restore their strength, and take the cure, can be considered the group of lakes in Sloviansk, Donetsk region. A priceless gift of nature — the only salt lakes of natural origin in Ukraine, located far from the sea's expanses, in the basin of the river Siverskyi Donets.

Glasswort. It Is Not as Simple as It Seems

It is not very well known, hardly ever used, grows underfoot, and has a simple name that defines its habitat — the glasswort. It has found its place in the sun where other plant species could not take hold, because of the high concentration of salt. It grows on salt marshes and sea shores, where the layer of humus is entirely absent.