13-20 September, Ukraine again

This and the next several pix are of Lviv, buildings, facades and street life.  This part of the Ukraine is known as Galicia which at times has been independent or part of Poland, Hungary, Hapsburgh empire etc.  It was clearly very prosperous for a long time during its history.   

We visit northern  Ukraine on the way to Hungary from Russia.  Better roads than the central route we took on the way east in April/May.  We enjoyed it much more than the first time as we were able to wild camp several times in the knowledge that country is not full of robbers and highwaymen as some of the propogander would have us believe.  We had wanted to stay in Kiev the capital but failed to fnd a hotel on the outskirts so we pushed on.  Lviv in the west is a delightful place,  cafe culture, lots of great restaurants, slightly Bohemian feel to it.  On our last full day we had a run in with the police who got us for stopping the car in a no stopping zone.  This was the pretext to threaten a 50 Euro fine.  What they really wanted was a smaller sum to forget it.  We got out of it by talking friendly gibberish and giving no indication at understanding what they wanted.  They gave up in the end.  As usual we failed to get the picutres in the right order, but most are of Lviv.   

Lviv sleeping policeman

A lot of central Lviv was a bit like Covent Garden with street artists and motionless human sculpters in gold paint.  Mr Masoch the inventor of Masochism lived just round the corner - there is statue of him but we failed to get a pic. 

Northern Ukraine is a very religious on the sunday we were there we noticed crowds outside joining in the service unable to get in.  There are new churches like this one everywhere, and many of the old ones being done up. 

Still plenty of roadside monumental art around, we should have more of it in UK!

Spot the tab - Ukraine lorry park.  They were free with toilet facilities, much much better than those we had in central Ukraine on the way out east

One of  the benefits of the European cup being held in Polnd/Ukrainethis last summer was the road infrastructure was improved.  This brand new vehicle servicing ramp on thhe Kiev - Lviv highway was a real blessing and enabled Mike to check the transmission oil again in some comfort.  It has been leaking ever since the Siberian universal joint change in June.  Incidentally another UJ went in Ukraine which had to be replaced.

Giant footballs like this were scattered all along the road between Kieev and Lviv - from the 2012 European cup

We could see Kiev in the distance but we never got closer than the outskirts

One of our main complaints about Russia was that the road signs were completely inadequate.  So bad that for several towns we had to go through them 2-3 times to find the correct road out  In Ukraine we found very good signing.

Ukraine campsite beside a soya bean crop, we had wild boar tracks just outside the tab in the morning.

Lviv opera house, the next several pictures are also Lviv scenes.

The Carpathian mountains - we are going to come back here one day

Carpathian village houses, churches and scenes.

We buy lots more cep mushrooms (they were mostly full of maggots unfortunately) and blueberries.

The hay harvestin the Carpathians (and all the way east to Siberia) is late in August and September.  To assist drying in the short season  the hay, often cut by hand with scythes,  is heaped onto a wooden trellis and pole with branches. See bare tellis on left. 

27 August - 12 September, Altai, Russia to the Ukraine border

We leave the mountains of the Altai Republic and descend to the Siberian plain which continues to the



Whole villages are still full of quaint little cottages



Urals where we visit Ekaterinburg.  Like when we left Mongolia we felt we were just keeping ahead of the cold weather as leaves began to fall or change colour and we needed the extra blackets at night.   The Urals are not as high as we expected  and we are soon over them heading for the Ukraine which will be the subject of the next post.  The weeather got better the last couple of days in western Russia and in Urakraine the sun shone all day. 

This one has been visited by a double glazing salesman!

A disfiguring part of most villages is the gas pipes (painted yellow) which snake along every street rising up where vehicles are likely to pass under.  Presumably there is a good reason why they do not go underground.

We found quite large areas along the road where all the trees had died- possibly from lack of water during recent dry summers

Road surfaces in Siberia were very variable and often bad with broken surfaces and potholds

.... and badly rutted

You could buy most things for the ktchen along the way - mushrooms sellers were very plentiful - specialising in cep mushrooms.  Note that the sellers are well wrapped up for the cold.

In western Russia perhaps the main crop was sunflowers, probably for the oil.  Here a Klaas combine harvester (one of seven in this 500 acre field) gets to work on the crop.

Sunrise over the tab

Carol enjoys her birthday  lunch in the Urals - we had Black Woodpecker at this site. 

Horse and carts are still common in Russian villages, one even crossed the border into Ukraine with us.

Road through the Urals

There are more trucks on the roads in Siberia than private cars and tend to congregate around cafes at lunchtime

After mushroom sellers the next most common roadside vendors are honey sellers.

This guys just sold Carol about 6 lbs of honey - perhaps thats why he is smiling.

The only windmill in Siberia - possibly.

The next pictures were taken at the Novosibirsk raiway museum - they should be at the beginning of the post but blogging does not seem to be that easy.

The railway museum also included a lot of road and farm vehicles - here is there world reference collection of Ladas

Possibly the prettiest railcar ever

A typical camp site in Siberia.  We try always to get a few hundred yards of the road behind some trees so we are shielded for the road - see the truck in the background.  The grass is short because it has just been cut for hay.

Typical Siberia meadow in late August after the hay has been cut and put into small stacks all over the field.  In the more mechanised west hay and strraw was baled and stacked.

Two deer appear near the camp site (above)

Melons are very popular in early September

Sometimes we did not find suitable camp site and needed to pull into a cafe car park with a dozen large trucks for company

This the 'Church over the blood' in Ekaterinburg, at the spot where the Tsar and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks  

Attached to the church above is a small museum  of Tsarist artefacts.  Here Carol knocks out a popular number on the Tsars old joanna.  What is she wearing?  The headscarf was required becuase it was a religious site and the plastic booties were to protect the museum environment.  Strange that visitors were allowed to play this working piano.  Note the odd visual effect of the floor tiles 

Mike meets the Tsar

A cold day in Ekaterinburg

Downtown Ekaterinburg

Road side monument - there are lots tothe 1941-45 war and every village has a memorial like in England