Bakhmut. A tour of one of the oldest towns of Donetsk region on the eve of the war

Bakhmut, which in 2021 marked the 450th anniversary of its founding, is listed among the historic settlements of Ukraine. In a city with such epoch-spanning roots, tourists are frequent guests. At the sparkling wine factory off-site excursions are arranged regularly, with visits to the alabaster mines and a tasting of the sparkling drink, while spelunkers choose routes through the abandoned Ivanhrad gypsum adits. Connoisseurs of antiquity and of historic buildings will be surprised by the fact that Bakhmut boasts a far greater number of examples of civic architecture from the late 19th and early 20th centuries than other cities of the region.

 

Bakhmut. Nezalezhnosti Street, 60. The former Azov-Don Bank. 1902.

Barvinkove. A weekend trip, or the secret landmarks

For a hike along unknown tourist trails, a single day off or a few hours is enough. In small towns and villages there are hidden, unusual finds that can stir up all sorts of emotions - from delight to regret. Unpopular places are always close at hand; it is worth looking at a map and plotting a route. Barvinkove - a small town in the south of Kharkiv region - will mark the 370th anniversary of its founding in 2023. A town with a rich history and a Ukrainian name deserves tourist recognition. The tour begins at the railway station, opened in 1869 on the initiative of the novelist H. P. Danylevsky, a native of the Barvinkove area.

 

Barvinkove, Kharkiv region. The railway station

Yurivka, Varvarivka. People live in the backwaters too

It is traditionally held that travel means visiting popular tourist locations with famous landmarks. In connection with the latest events on a global scale, travelling pioneers devote themselves and their time to active recreation not in toxic zones, but in corners far from the crush of crowds. Journeys through the rural backcountry are an acquaintance with an unknown tourist space and with people who have changed the life of their region for the better. Arriving in the countryside, you see for yourself that everything depends on the activity of the local residents, and that it is not the place that graces a person, but the person the place. Hikes through the peripheries are special routes bound up with the natural surroundings, springs and ponds, single-storey buildings and places of worship, ethnographic museums and village clubs and, of course, sincere, hospitable people, always ready to give a traveller directions or to talk with him about everyday things.

Yurivka, Dnipropetrovsk region. The floodplain of the Mala Ternivka River