Polonyna Zalomysta. At a Rest Stop in Spring, Summer and Autumn

The village of Mykulychyn is the starting point for well-known tourist routes tackled by experienced peak-conquerors and novice travellers alike.

 

Polonyna Zalomysta. May

During an ascent of the Yavirnyk ridge along the eastern slope from the southern side of Mykulychyn, you can stop to rest on the Zalomysta mountain pasture.

 

This former mountain homestead sits at an altitude of 850 metres above sea level, and a road with a gentle gradient has been laid up to it by a logging truck.

Zalomysta means a bend in the river, a sharp change in the direction of the water's flow.

Polonyna Zalomysta. September

The osedok, as the Hutsuls call a Carpathian homestead in the old way, was founded beside a stream that swiftly carries its waters over the mountain debris to the freedom-loving Prut. Zalomysta is about 500 metres long from west to east. The Hutsul family used this space of lush grass as pasture and for haymaking, to feed their livestock — horses, cows, sheep. The hay was stacked in oboroky (haystack shelters).

 

Remoteness from the electricity grid, shopping centres and other achievements of civilisation probably forced the homestead's inhabitants to abandon the dwelling, of which a foundation remains in the form of several rows of flat stones. You can still see the remains of the spruce logs that made up the rectangular house, covered with wooden shingles (dranytsia).

 

On the northern side, a wild orchard surrounds the yard. On the sunny slope the trees, without any care, remain extraordinarily full of blossom in spring, and in autumn, right up to the frosts, the orphaned little apple trees treat passers-by to fragrant fruit. The branches have dropped gifts onto the grass for the hares and roe deer, and even under the snow the little animals find their vitamin stores.

Polonyna Zalomysta. November

The plot of the nearest neighbour was about 700 metres to the south-west. Perhaps the highlanders grazed sheep together and made budz and vurda cheeses according to traditional Hutsul recipes. Herbal Carpathian tea and bryndza would be fitting at a rest stop with a view of the mountains Khomiak, Yahidna and other Hutsul ridges.

Polonyna Zalomysta

Encounters with representatives of the fauna, which remind you who the real master is in the Carpathians, are guaranteed.

Polonyna Zalomysta. A slow worm

   Coordinates: 48°22'40"N   24°33'59"E

After publishing the essay about Zalomysta, I received a touching response from Vasylyna Kifiak. The text is preserved: 

«Yes, this is my native Zalomysta. My grandmother Maria was born and lived here. My great-grandmother had 24 children, some of whom died young and others at the front in 1944-45. Prosperous householders, the Onuchaks, lived there — they kept livestock, planted gardens and had a fine orchard.

They didn't keep many sheep, just for themselves, so there would be wool for socks, sweaters and woven blankets.

The road there was made with a tractor from the Pidlisniv forestry, back when the forester Yurii Yulianovych Boberskyi was in charge.

That is my native land, which I love very much.

Even earlier, in those years, we would mow the grass there, which we dried and carried down home.

Nowadays the road there is bad; the water has washed out the soil and it is dangerous to drive.

There is much more that could be written, but perhaps one day I will.

I sincerely thank you for the essay about Zalomysta. I am very glad that you liked Zalomysta.»

A further addition about the householders of Zalomysta: «Three householders lived in Zalomysta, there were 3 houses. Up on the hill lived Anna Onuchak, Mykhailo Motruk and Mykhailo Hryniuk» (Hadiia Kozmejchuk).