The long, winding, and very bumpy road from Odessa to L'viv

Yuri here with some impressions of the late spring roads of Ukraine. Some input  as well from Marla and Lev. Captions by all.

Yesterday, Lev remarked about the amount of time it took to traverse a short distance in western Ukraine due to the terrible roads. This is because it was easier to drive on the shoulder rather than the “cratered” road surface, which locals describe as having “holes in holes”. 

Any bigger and these potholes would be sinkholes

And yet, between these “axle-breaking” sections, there are smooth paved sections, just long enough to let you know what you’re missing. I think it was Hohol (Gogol as is known in Russian) who said, “There are two things wrong with the Russian Empire, the idiots and the roads.” This still applies to Russia’s former colony of Ukraine. 

Pictured: one idiot, one road

Along the way we saw innumerable road crews  patching the potholes, although there seemed to be more men standing around than working. 

Two out of five ain't bad

It seems that all the roads will be patched just in time for winter so the frost can play havoc with them again. A never ending cycle.  (Of course if they completely rebuilt the roads these problems could be avoided but then there wouldn’t be the guaranteed seasonal work.) The roads are so bad that foreign truck drivers who experience these roads for the first time, refuse to ever drive in Ukraine again.

Luckily, the lakes that form in the potholes have become a local tourist attraction

What is amazing is how well Ukrainian drivers handle these roads.  At the really bad sections, many of which seem to be in the middle of the towns, you have a conga line of vehicles weaving back and forth between their own lanes and oncoming lanes, bobbing up and down as if bowing to each other; from tiny cars to massive transport trucks. 

Also the odd tractor

 While at slow speed this is almost elegant in its movement, it is not so pleasant when traveling at 80 km/hr and you’re swerving into oncoming traffic or braking hard to avoid a crater that has just appeared before you. It is no surprise that the most visible business signs across the country are tire mounting and repair service signs.

Hot stock tip: Buy shares in Ukrainian auto repair shops

We experienced just this problem when we tried to get from Odesa to Kamaniets-Podolskij (KP) . We were completely at the mercy of people our driver stopped along the way to ask for directions. He did this by flashing the car lights and slowing down; an oncoming vehicle would stop beside us to help with directions. Although everyone was always willing to try to help, not everyone knows the right answer.  

In this situation, the correct answer was: anywhere but here

This was the case at the end of our trip to KP where there was a detour sign due to an apparent problem with the bridge.  It was only after we had traveled one hour out of our way that the fourth person our driver spoke to said there was no problem getting to KP, the problem was probably with the bridge beyond KP.  Our driver Bohdan, turning around and at this point tired after driving 9 hours, with very few pit stops along the way, cursed under his breath, “It’s the Soviet Union!” 

One could say that after spending more than 24 hours on the road from Odessa through KP, and then Chernivtsi to L’viv, we’ve seen a lot of the country. Whether it’s speeding along at 130 km/hr on the autobahn out of Odessa, to slowly making our way through a surly herd of cows, or passing storks nesting on the tops of telephone poles, it hasn’t been boring.   

I call this work "Get out of the way, cows!"

 One excellent part of driving the roads of western Ukraine were some of the local eateries.

My baba's varenikes are better than your baba's varenikes

We even saw a flood when driving into L'viv during a thunderstorm! It seems the storm drains couldn't handle the amount of water on the newer asphalt roads on the outskirts. Interestingly, in the old city centre, there were hardly puddles at all, thanks to the cobblestone streets.

From the flat or gently rolling steppe (prairie) around Southern Ukraine to the beautiful rolling hills near L’viv, (which reminded me of the hills of Tuscany), there have always been cows, calves, horses, and goats tethered by the roadside munching on the grass and, in villages, flocks of chickens pecking in the roadside grass under the oversight of their rooster. 

Why the long face?

Another regular site was local farmers sitting along the roadside with small amounts of strawberries, cherries, or mushrooms for sale.

Do you want wild strawberries? I know just the place.

Another ubiquitous feature of our drive throughout western Ukraine, were the Soviet war memorials to those lost in the Second World War.
 

It would be extremely insensitive to remark that this statue looks like it commemorates the start of a footrace. So I won't.

All being said, despite our interesting adventure, in the future the overnight train will be my preferred mode of intercity travel. (Marla notes: From what I've heard, however, we might find that train trips will bring their own unique challenges!)

(PS: Lev here. I'll be partying studying in L'viv starting today so no more blog writing/caption creation for me. I'm sure M&Y will have it all in hand for the last couple of blog entries. -Tchüss, Lev)