Crossin' the Border - Part 1 of 2

For a myriad of reasons (the most pressing being visa-related), we made a quick trip across the border into Ukraine over the weekend. In the southern U.S. "across the border" likely brings to mind neon cacti, greasy tacos, and cheap margaritas, or for those of us who have frequented I-95 on the stretch between North and South Carolina, a sad, abandoned, politically incorrect rest stop.  For Poland, the comparison is similar in many ways, but better in most of them.

Our destination: Lviv, Ukraine.
Formerly "Lvov", the city was historically part of Poland (and also part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and also part of the Soviet Union - welcome to Eastern Europe!). Thriving as the modern-day cultural capital of Ukraine, the city is filled to the brim with beautiful, Old World architecture and exquisite churches of a wild mix of faiths. The travel websites all said "Go, go, go!" and our friends assured us that it was worthy of more than just the 6 hours we had allotted for our visit. So off we went! Our generous friends (fellow Fulbright family) John and Freda let us crash with them on Friday night in their farmhouse in Przemyśł, a southeastern Polish town close to a border crossing, to ease our passage into Ukraine on Saturday morning. We would not have gotten far (or, more importantly, back) in our adventure without their guidance and travel maps. 

Getting there: First by foot, then by bus. The next morning around 9, Freda dropped us off at the back of a mile-long line of cars waiting to cross at the checkpoint. We started hiking along the side of the highway, walking and walking past passengers sitting on hoods and lighting cigarettes, until we had almost reached the crossing. No, no one else was doing this. At this point we were shouted at by a Polish border guard directing traffic, who motioned us into a parking lot filled with hawkers selling goods out of soggy cardboard boxes and black duffel bags. A couple hundred yards behind them was the entrance to the Polish guardhouse, with only a short line inside. One mildly confused Polish border guard (Two Americans? One visa? Warsaw, eh?) and ten questions later, we sprinted across the barbed-wire trimmed 'no-man's land' and into the Ukranian guardhouse. A slightly more intimidating guard asked us more questions before stamping our passports and waving us through. Ukraine! 

We traded złoty for hryvnia with a middle-aged woman in a verrry unofficial looking closet and wound our way to the yellow and blue bus 70's-style van that goes to Львiв.

We saw a lot of this. Check out those gorgeous square Orthodox churches!

Two bumpy hours later - the bus winding and weaving at the whim of its driver to unmarked stops - we were dropped at the Lviv train station with twenty other passengers. So there is a city here, we thought gratefully. We made it!

Highlights
1) Super Saver: The Hryvnia. Bus ticket ($1.50). Viennese coffee ($1.15). 2L bottle of water ($0.30). And so on. We spent the equivalent of $26 on our entire trip.

2) Communicating: Cyrillic/Polish Hybrid Heaven

 We've heard from reliable sources that the make-up of the Ukrainian language is 60% Polish, 30% Russian, 10% Other. Fantastically for Emily, Ukrainian uses the Cyrillic alphabet. So, Emily read the words, translating into Russian when applicable, and Bryan translated into Polish. We both communicated with the Ukrainians we encountered in Polish, which worked like a charm. In fact, reception of our accented Polish has never been better than when communicating with accented Ukrainian-Polish!
N.B.: Emily was careful not to utter a word in Russian, under any circumstances. Travelers to Ukraine do so at their own peril...

3) Vienna of the East: Opera & Coffee

 Coffee "Surprise" with egg whites! Yum!

Tomorrow we'll finish up our Ukrainian tale with our unique and surprising dining and drinking choices, plus a return to Poland under the cover of darkness! Stay tuned!