Khmel’nyts’ka Oblast’

This morning we woke up in Vinnytsia at the very Soviet Podyllia hotel. There wasn’t much to pack up as we didn’t really have enough time to unpack anything much. The tap for the shower was shared with the sink and in spite of trying, I wasn’t able to get any hot water going. I think I warmed it up for Tyler though who had plenty of hot water.

Breakfast was not the best meal of the trip - instant coffee, tomatoes/meat/cheese and then rice with schnitzel (there has been some discussion and we are not sure if the schnitzel was chicken, pork, or fish). It was probably one of our more efficient load outs, time to hit the road for the second half of the journey from Kropyvnytski to Chernivtsi.

My main plan for the day was to sleep. Part way through the morning though, the people that wanted to play cards decided to set up right beside our seats at the front of the bus. I think some people didn’t really understand the unspoken rule that the front of the bus is quiet and the back of the bus is louder. I tolerated it for the morning but we have since established the general etiquette for the bus.

So the morning was spent trying to sleep but not succeeding much. I think Tyler played Mario Kart the entire bus ride. At one point, we had to turn back a few minutes because the other bus had a minor break down. Luckily it didn’t take very long to fix. We were about an hour behind schedule for lunch though. Our lunch stop was in Kamanets-Podillskyi which has a 14th century castle/fortress and the deepest gorge in Europe. Lunch wasn’t the favorite meal of the trip either but it was ok. Salad, soup with meatballs and a plate of stewed chicken and potatoes with a sweet and sour sauce. We took a short walk down to a vantage point for the castle to take photos and the hopped back on the bus for the last few hours of the travel day.

There was another bus breakdown after lunch. Again probably about half an hour of a pause. I was trying to watch Netflix but was sleepy so ended up napping. We arrived in Chernivtsi at 6 pm and checked in. Looking forward to our evening in Bukovyna!!!

BrookeRead more