This past weekend, Kate and I set off on another adventure, this time to Kamyanets-Podilsky (affectionately referred to as Kam-Pod from here on out) both to escape the city and the heat wave in Ukraine (especially in Kyiv). Kam-Pod is a small town in the west-southwest of Ukraine, near the Ukrainian border with both Romania and Moldova. We had heard and read that it was a cool place to go to with a super awesome castle and lots to do.
So Friday we set off on the train again. This time taking an “express” train, which only took 8 hours to get to our destination (which is very close to what it took to get to L’viv last week) and an afternoon/evening train instead of a night train…. Oh geez. Did I mention there’s a heat wave? Can you imagine being stuck on a train for that long when it’s crazy hot outside and the only windows on the train are 6 feet off the ground and only a foot tall? I’m not gonna lie, it wasn’t the most pleasant of train rides. Were we happy when we reached our final destination!
When we arrived at Kam-Pod it was about 11:45pm and had the option of taking a taxi to our “hotel” or walking the 10 minutes indicated on the directions we had. After sitting that long we opted for the walk as it appeared most people were heading the direction we needed to be heading.
The directions to the hostel we as follows:
“When you get out from the train station , turn to the left and go straight ahead till you get to the bus station , in the area of bus station turn to the Prospect Grushevskogo and just search the number of building 27 , and enter to the reception.”
Pretty simple, right? So, so wrong. We exited the station and went left. Slowly the crowd dissipated, think the road slightly left of the station going straight was a better option. But now is not the time to stray from the directions. We have no map because it is impossible to find one of Kam-Pod and therefore no real reference as to where we’re going, so we must follow the directions from the hostel. Besides, they aren’t too complicated. We follow the same road for about 10 minutes, into an area of town that seemed rather industrial and I saw what I thought may be a bus station, but who could tell. And if it were the bus station, where did we go from there? Then I remembered we had the phone number from the hostel booking- we could call and figure out where we were, although all we could tell them is that we were by a gas station with an orange sign. Kate called and to our dismay, the number called someone in L’viv… far far away in L’viv. Who had no idea of where we were and very unwilling to provide us with the number to our “hotel,” which wasn’t a big deal because apparently no one spoke English. AHHHHH. Are you serious???
After a quick consolation, Kate and I decided it best to hail a cab and just get to the “hotel.” This was easier said than done. Apparently every taxi in town was full or unwilling to stop for us. I thought a light on meant the taxi was empty- no. But those with a light off could also be full… no rhyme or reason. Finally we were able to get a taxi to stop. It was a rather old, small car driven by an older man. We showed him the name of the street we were trying to get to, as neither of us could pronounce it. He was just as stumped! He proceeded to pull out a book of maps and look it up (with a magnifying glass) and then ushered us into the car. Promising, right? No. Instead, he drove us to another street and indicated we should get out. Free of charge!!! Awesome. He kept telling us something, but we didn’t know what, so we got out and starting looking for our “hotel.” Not there. Apparently he was taking us to where other taxi drivers were so they may be able to find it for us. Not knowing this, we stepped into a small store to ask the woman there where our “hotel” was and it happened the man in the store was a taxi driver and knew, so he drove us to our final destination. Thank goodness!!!
We were staying at the Budget Hotel ‘Texas,’ and the thing is, when we got there, there were no signs about a hotel, but rather a huge neon sign that said “Texas Bar.” Continuing to follow the directions that thus far had terribly failed us, we entered, looking for reception, but reception was nowhere to be found. Down the stairs there was a billiards room and a bar with blaring music. Up the stairs were what appeared to be rooms, but no reception. So the best option was the bar, at least there were people there. We head downstairs and approach the bar and try to indicate that we had reservations. After asking if we spoke English, they brought over a guy and we thought we had someone to translate for us. No. Just a guy from Belgium who also did not speak Ukrainian/Russian. After much ado, some girl who spoke Ukrainian and Italian, but could read English came to help and somehow we got everything figured out and into our room, which was rather nice even though it didn’t have the promised refrigerator. After a snack and a drink everything was ok.
Another day in Ukraine, another cathedral to see
The next day we awoke to realize how terribly hot our room was. Then it hit, no AC, no fan, still crazy hot. Not a happy situation. We slowly prepared for the day, dreading the heat outside (which was the same inside). Setting off with the 1 pitiful map we had, we went in search of the old town and the castle. Unfortunately we had no idea what direction it was in and ended up getting another cab to drive us there. Turns out our driver spoke some English. He had lived in NYC for a while back in the 90’s, but didn’t like it because “of all the foreigners living in the city.”- Wasn’t he one of them? We got to the old city, which was only a 20 minute walk or so from our hotel (if we’d known) and explored. The old town was pretty, but small. The castle/fortress was cool, but within a few hours we were without anything to do. We slowly made our way back to our hot, hot hotel, rested for a bit then went out for dinner. Saturday evening we just hung out with our cold, wet towels and our drinks in the hope of finding some relief.
Sunday we had an even slower start to the day, with nothing planned and few options of what to do. Also, we had to kill time until 2am, when our train left. We actually negotiated a half night at the hotel, somehow, with a little note written based on what my Ukrainian phrasebook said. While getting ready, I took a look at the sorry map we had and started laughing. Our street was on it the whole time, just written in the Ukrainian name, not the Russian, which was given to us (there is a character which is an “h” in Ukrainian” and “g” in Russian). If only we could have figured it out sooner. In the afternoon we set off, with a new found sense of our surroundings, for this cathedral with blue domes (still not sure what it is). The heat didn’t seem as bad and we ended up on some “roads” along the river, which were more like two-tracks. It was a relaxed day of walking and exploring and hanging out until we had to head back to the train station. Turns out, we were rather close to the bus station when we stopped to find a cab, but there was no way we would have ever found our hotel based on the directions given.
Our train back as also an express, but this time we just had reclining chairs. Yay! Needless to say, after all my train experiences in the last couple of weeks, I am looking forward to staying in Kyiv this weekend. Kam-Pod was another adventure to say the least.
Sorry for the super long post, and dad sorry for taking extra years off your life making you worry about me!
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