Pyrohiv. Wooden windmills

Over the steppe, above the valleys, the wind played with the feather grass,

and it came upon an old, abandoned windmill.

And the wind called out to it:

"For nigh on half a century now

you have stood here alone, as if enchanted forever."

(A song by Bohdan Kyik)

The windmills at the open-air museum in Pyrohiv are its most recognisable exhibits and the most popular subjects for romantic photo shoots.

Kyiv. Museum of Folk Architecture and Life. Pyrohiv. Wooden windmills

Kostiantynivka. The architectural symbols of a weary city

There are cities that grow weary of people and their activity. The era of development ends, and a stage of decay sets in — of enterprises, roads, buildings, historical and cultural treasures. In Kostiantynivka, in the Donetsk region, the depressed state of its industrial and social-amenity facilities was evident long before 2014.

Kostiantynivka. Oleksa Tykhy St. The city council

Chernivtsi. The pedestrian zone. Olha Kobylianska Street

Chernivtsi is an architectural pearl of Ukraine. A walk through the streets of a city where 706 sites have been granted the status of architectural landmark can be both an instructive excursion and a romantic promenade.

Chernivtsi. Olha Kobylianska Street. The pedestrian zone

Wells. Their significance in human life

Wells are artificial structures, in the form of a bore in the surface of the earth, that have served people for many centuries to provide water.

A well in the village of Marshyntsi, Novoselytsia district, Chernivtsi region

Lunka. Velykosillia. The churches of the Hertsa district

The sacred architecture of the Hertsa district of the Chernivtsi region has its own peculiarities and has survived in spite of time and events.

Velykosillia, Hertsa district, Chernivtsi region. The Church of the Nativity. 1762.

The Kytaiv Hermitage. The Kyiv Athos

The Kyiv Athos — this is the reverent name for the secluded monastery in the south-east of Ukraine's capital.

Kyiv. The Holy Trinity Kytaiv Hermitage

Avdiivka. Peace without war

Avdiivka awaiting peace. The town and its main enterprise — the Avdiivka Coke Chemical Plant — have been in the combat zone for a fourth year now.

Avdiivka. The coke chemical plant — one of the largest producers of coke for metallurgy in Europe

The railway stations of Ukraine

For a traveller journeying by rail, getting to know a city always begins at the railway station, the city's calling card. The station is the gateway to the city, the first and last impressions of a stay in it. A harbour for trains and passenger terminals with a waiting hall, ticket offices, a restaurant and shops — this is part of the history of cities and of the state. Let us look at some of them, the large and small stations of Ukraine. The station in Chernihiv can be considered a very striking landmark.

Chernihiv. The railway station. An architectural monument

Golubyne. A sketch by the roadside

The village of Golubyne, in the Svaliava district of the Zakarpattia region, stretches along the Perechyn — Svaliava road. Driving along the main street, Vesela, you can see from the signs that the house numbers reach 500 — something you do not often come across in the countryside. I had only half an hour, and I got off the bus to take a walk and see what this village was like, known since the 15th century and whose name is connected with the symbol of peace — the dove.

Novoselytsia. The railway station

For the passenger, the railway begins at the station. The railway station in Novoselytsia, in the Chernivtsi region, has already entered its second century.

Novoselytsia, Chernivtsi region. The railway station. 1905.