The Carpathians. A Hike to Yahidna and Along the Lisniv Ridge. Don't Deny Yourself a Reset

To the question "Why do people go to the mountains?", everyone who has climbed mountain ridges and slopes even once will answer: "To change your surroundings, to be alone with nature and your own thoughts, to have an active rest, to be inspired and recharged." So why deny yourself? In the Ukrainian Carpathians there are one-day routes that do not demand a great expenditure of strength and time, yet in feeling and perception are no worse than ascents of the record-breaking peaks.

Mount Lisniv in the Carpathians, Ivano-Frankivsk region

Komarno. The Lantskoronski Palace. What Do the Ruins Tell?

On the western outskirts of the town of Komarno in the Lviv region there is a place steeped in centuries of historical events, but the impression left by contemplating these man-made masterpieces is a depressing one.

Komarno, Lviv region. The Lantskoronski Palace before 1939

Vovkiv. The Museum-Estate of Mykola and Kornylo Ustyianovych — a Historical and Cultural Landmark of the Lviv Region

The list of Ukraine's museums includes not only large exhibition centres and galleries with masterpieces of world importance, but also small memorial house-estates, no less interesting and appealing to seekers of something new and little known. What makes rural museums special is the wish to preserve history, cultural heritage and information about a locality's distinguished natives. Museum collections in small settlements can be considered folk collections: they are created by the whole community and survive on their own.

 

Vovkiv, Lviv region. The Ustyianovych Art and Memorial Museum-Estate

Mykolaiv. The Pysanka Chapel. Along the Way of the Cross up Vysokyi Kamin

Every town or village has its own calling card, which stands out through the information it conveys about the place and is a part of its history. In Mykolaiv in the Lviv region, such a symbol appeared in 2002 — one that is known beyond the town and that tourists include in their routes. A chapel in the shape of a painted Easter egg stands on Mount Vysokyi Kamin and can be seen from several kilometres away.

 

Mykolaiv. Lviv region. The chapel in honour of the Nativity of Christ. The pysanka chapel

Watchmaker's Day. A Tour of Ukraine's Cities Viewing Wall, Street, Tower and Other Clocks

Our life is scheduled to the minute, and we constantly check the time by electronic, wrist and street clocks, and when we notice a fault in the clockwork we turn to the masters of time. Not everyone knows that on 3 November watchmakers celebrate their professional holiday together with jewellers, since specialists of these magical crafts are called masters of golden work, or masters with golden hands.

 

In the watchmaker's workshop