Into Poland - Zamosc

The international bus from Lviv, Ukraine to Zamosc, Poland was painless although the border crossing was very slow ie 3 hrs, although we gained an hour with the timezone change, and the bus lane appeared to moving a lot faster than the car lane. Plus we had time to make friends with a few of our companions. After crossing the border it's only another 90 minutes to Zamosc.

Zamosc is picture perfect town in southeastern Poland with colorful Renaissance buildings lining the main square, and in fact the entire Old Town has barely a blemish with nary an out-of-place stone on the sidewalks and streets.

No man's land between Poland (left) and Ukraine (right) at the Rava-Ruska border crossing.


First order of business in Poland; hit the Pieorgi store.




Former Zamosc fortifications; now a museum.


Some shots of the Town Square.






The smaller Salt Square.


A former synagogue has been restored and is now a museum.




Our apartment.


And finally a few too many night shots. ;-) Some with an almost full moon.

We return to Lviv

Not only was returning to Lviv the right route for traveling into Poland, we thoroughly enjoyed our one full day. The highlight was scoring front row tickets to a concert in the Opera House. But of course there are no bad seats in an old European Opera house are there?

And we were more relaxed. We rode the tram with our bags from the train station to city center, strolled around town, revisited the Armenian Church, did some shopping, and ate like there was no tomorrow. ;-)

Drying our wet umbrellas on the train from Chernivtsi to Lviv.


The attendant's dinner. Nice!


Selfie in the corridor.


Taken by SL. By chance we had the whole compartment to ourselves for the entire 5 hours.


Lunch the next day at the Chas Poisti in Lviv.


The view from our hotel window into Rynok Square.


The Opera House.


The Bell Tower of the Armenian Church.


Music on the square.




Umbrellas.


Plenty of business at this McDonald's located several blocks south of the Old Town.


We walked over to the market and bought some fresh eggs.






These ladies in the market are making cherry dumplings.


Graffiti. That's "Lviv" in the Cyrillic alphabet ie "Львів".


Dinner with a beer.


It was Vyshyvanka (Embroidered Shirt) Day in Ukraine. Many folks were wearing traditional Ukrainian embroidered clothes like the woman at left.


And this guy with the white jacket.


The tourist office listed a free concert at 7:00 pm at the Opera House: European Music at the Ottoman Court. So we showed up at 6:50 and a polite young woman told me that all the tickets had been reserved. However, she continued, tickets could become "open" so check back with me at 7:00. And I did and she handed me 2 tickets, one in the front row and one directly behind in the 3rd row. And the show started right after we found our seats.

The concert was very good. The orchestra perfect, and the subject informative. Each of the pieces was introduced by the conductor, who also made the point of the long time existence of favorable relations between Turkey and Ukraine although they were often adversaries as well.











The Opera House in the late twilight after the concert.

Chervnitsi

Another 3-hour bus from KP to Chernivtsi on an old bus that slowly chugs uphill and gently brakes on the downhills. It's farming country again. We see the occasional horse cart, or farmer pulling his milk cow across the road.

We've been looking forward to visiting Chernivtsi for about 5 months now. The guide books say it's a lively university town. And they are right! We will spend only one night here before heading back to Lviv as the train schedule is favorable for daytime travel to Lviv only on alternate days.

Once again folks are very kind to us. On arrival in Chervnitsi, a young man helps us sort out the 3km, 20-minute, trolley bus ride from Central Bus Station to the city center where our "booked" hotel is located.

The bus from KP to Chernivtsi.


Lunch at Chas Poisti (Час поїсти), our new fav self_service restaurant. So long for now Puzata Hata. ;-)


Tsentralna Square Square and Town Hall.


Pedestrian Street.




Inside the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, the main Orthodox Church in Chervnitsi. There is some repair work on one of the domes.


The Catholic Church of the Heart Of Jesus, built in the 1890's, is being restored after being re-purposed in 1945 by the Soviets to be a government archive.




Near the medical school.


How about this Art Deco corner building?


The Armenian Church.


St Nicholas Church.


View point.


Building that resembles a ship.


The Art Nouveau Hotel Bristol.


One of the surviving synagogues has been converted to a cinema. The other supports an active Jewish community with a Kosher bistro on the ground floor.




Park.


And the same the next day - cooler and cloudy - from a different angle.


Social Realist telemons.


Brick building with flowers.


Dinner. That's a seaweed salad at bottom center.


Our hotel room.


Chernivtsi National University is a UNESCO Heritage site. This brick complex was designed by Czech architect Josef Hlávka and completed about 1875.






The Chapel exterior and interior.




Repaving the sidewalks and streets near the university.


Lunch.


In the market buying breads for the train to Lviv.


Out come the rain jackets and umbrellas as we stroll around town one last time before heading to the train station to catch our afternoon train to Lviv.


So we duck into a cozy cafe to have a coffee, a hot chocolate, and a big piece of Kiev Cake. Yummy!


And a few final shots of Chernivtsi Station after the sun came out.