Ukrainian Sub-Carpathians from Budapest

5 August - DAY TWO - THE PLAN

Day trip to Nevtske Castle: https://youtu.be/0Dr0ipFZciE?si=igz32Rfrv3DFDFpM, | then on to the village of Lumshory for the mineral baths. Outside on the riverbank they have large cast-iron cauldrons full of mineral water that is heated by a wood fire underneath. You boil for a few minutes then you dive in the cold river; then repeat. Sounds like fun and an interesting way to make new friends (?): https://youtu.be/CDcCs3RYAjU?si=tmJ27-S7k1VP0eG6. Route: https://maps.app.goo.gl/A2NZdHw5CJ31SMAV8

HOW IT WENT I uploaded photos if anyone is interested.

The guide came to the hotel at 09:30 and we started the tour. I think we took the back roads to Lumshory, but a beautiful drive through wonderful towns and villages. For people expecting scenes out of some stereotypical depiction of depressing Eastern European existence, its not here. If you are expecting WWII movie depections of Europe at war, its not here. This is young, healthy, vibrant; bright colors, style and dignity and families enjoying life, but with limited means and a dark cloud on the eastern horizon.

The baths were perfect. I will post some pictures maybe some will enjoy. A fun experience in a cast-iron cooking pot over a wood fire followed by a dip in very cold river water ... repeat. I could spend the day there. Even had a waitress bringing beer. Lumshor vats - Лумшорські чани: https://www.facebook.com/lumshori and https://lumshorski-chany.choiceqr.com/

Lunch was a local place owned by Rusyn- Lemko. Among the famous Rusyn- Lemko was Andrej Warhola.

Then to Nevtske Castle with beautiful views of the area. See tge video above.

The guide had me back to the hotel at 15:30 which was about right for this old guy. The guide was excellent. I would use him again in a heartbeat.

One of the most unexpected things today was the construction. Housing, retail and hotels going up all over the region.

I came here expecting a 7.5, so far its a 10.

I ended the day in the hotel bar. Sitting nearby is a somewhat well known American former politician, current paid talking head on news shows and blogger. Can't imagine why he's here. Probably for the baths. LOL. Most of the guests in the hotel are well to do (judging by dress) Slavic language speakers.

There are very nice 4 and 5 star resort hotels, in the forests outside of the city, but i chose this one because for this trip i wanted to see the city.

6 August - DAY THREE - THE PLAN

Another Day Trip. The first stop is Palanok Castle: https://youtu.be/xRAdErAYbV8?si=siAEE-BfQdAK-bnE. | Then St. Miklos “Castle” which is more of a fortified estate house: https://youtu.be/8D_cs2YJhjc?si=7XaAN9KOh4Nb8bdv. | Not far from St. Miklos I have spotted an Armenian restaurant. The guide may be forced to stop for lunch. https://maps.app.goo.gl/q9tNzhHafGbMsRFw9 . | The third stop is the Schönborn Palace. https://youtu.be/YvmbZMavVyE?si=omX8pIpxAI7xJh-7 Route: https://maps.app.goo.gl/1X947yNL5BXRtz6J6.

HOW IT WENT I uploaded photos if anyone is interested.

09:30 the guide, same guide as yrsterday, arrived and we took off on the journey to what they called Schönborn Palace, or some sources say Schönborn Castle. It's a country home belonging to the Austrian Schönborn dynasty. 366 windows, one of which is plastered over all but one day every 4 years, 12 entrances and 52 rooms. Architecturally the 18th century house is intact but everything in it had been looted by the russian "liberation" army. I didn't think it could be toured, but I was wrong. The architectural detail and plaster work, stained glass, and woodwork were in great shape and beautiful. For that and the botanical gardens that surround it, it was worth every second. Entry fee was about 3 euro equivelent ... cash per car.

St. Miklos Castle was much more a castle than research had let on. Still I think a fortified manner house is a better description. The hidden passages, the ability to see construction techniques and the history made it worth it. Some of the rooms were properly furnished and that was nice. The guide got us in for free but I left about 10 euro equivelent in the donation box.

Palanok Castle, as grand and complete a medieval castle as one can think of. Wow. Spent a lot of time here. Very well preserved and presented.

Good lunch in the basement and the waitress was part of the Hungarian minority so I got to practice a little Hungarian.

The guide got us in for free.

A great day arriving back at 15:30. Another 10 of 10 day.

Uzh Venezia Excellent food and service. https://uz-venezia.com/ https://maps.app.goo.gl/R1AYUvP525UG53Z 8A.

Y7 August - DAY FOUR - THE PLAN

Unplanned. I might just use the time looking around town. Both the Philharmonic Theater, originally the 19th century synagogue of the city, and the Performing Arts theater are doing tours to raise money for relief programs so that might also be an option. There are some good-looking restaurants in town, so maybe I will use the day to eat my way across the city.

HOW IT WENT

This will be short as most of the day was personal time/activities. Sorry, you will have to imagine.

A little rain today that cooled things down a bit and didn't slow down the life at all. The public squares get used here for dates, families, meeting friends to an extent i have never seen before. Its a true community.

Its about 6pm and its time for my personal good bye celebration. So I sit in Ukraine at an Irish Pub eating Italian pizza and drinking Czech beer while the air alert siren blares in harmony with Led Zephlen's Stairway to Heaven on the radio. G-d bless them and keep them safe.

Eagan Irish Pub: Good food and beer and Excellent service: https://share.google/CIyc3pa5lq6b4O477.

8 August - DAY FIVE - THE PLAN

A late morning door to door shared transfer back to Budapest. I should be home by 18:00.

HOW IT WENT

13:30 pickup in a full size Toyota van. Tge shorter wheelbase made the road conditions more evident. But still only 30 minutes to the border. 15 min on the Ukraine side but our driver just drove around all the traffic and to the front. Then to the Hungarian side. Tge driver was only able to drive around half tge waiting traffic, so I expect new will be here a while.

Wait, we just drove around more traffic. We are now just 5 cars from the insoection kiosk. Now I know how and why. There is a term in English that sounds the same in Ukrainian: "Diplomatic Passport". One of our passengers is "someone special". I want to thank her.

One thing you might not notice but 95% of those crossing the border are women or children.

Everyone running tge process on both sides very polite. The young lady with the 2 inch fingernails had trouble with the fingerprint machine but the guards smiled and worked on it till they goot what was needed.

Total time about 90 minutes to clear both checkpoints. Out diplomatic traveler said cross in the morning and avoid Friday through Monday. That makes sense as the last two crossings went fast but were midweek and early morning.

I expect other readers will also be curious what country this is, as your post doesn't mention that it's Ukraine, and while I think my knowledge of European geography is pretty good I had to google these towns to figure that out.

RESOURCES

Local insurance required for entry.
https://VisitUkraine.today.

To arrange the tours i used a travel agency. The tours are their stock tours but I think they will do most anything of interest. I modified the day 2 tour to ensure I could participate in the baths, not just see them.

Kamilla (contact name)
[email protected]
https://prokarpaty-tour.info/uk/

To reach Uzhhorod from Budapest i used
H2O Transport
https://www.h2o.net.ua/
WhatsApp +380 66 008 2999.

Hotel is Hotel Old Continent
https://www.hotel-oldcontinent.com/en/

Air Alert
https://visitukraine.today/blog/143/air-alert-app-that-notifies-about-danger-in-certain-region-in-your-smartphone?srsltid=AfmBOorg7q7QjTUnmg6M0MhS5_fea0y-L2qCbDzHMH7I5mXXE3Yr6895.

Language
Predominately Ukrainian, but Hungarian and Slovak are common. This area at one time or another was under the control of Kyvian Rus, Poland, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Hungary, Austria, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Imperial Russia, and Soviet Union.

Misc.
I have a number of acquaintances in Budapest that are from Uzhhorod. Coming to Budapest made sense for them because they are part of a fairly large Hungarian speaking ethnic minority in the trans-Carpathian region. So we had a lot of discussions of where to go and what to see, where to stay, etc.

I enjoyed this, thank you & cherry palinka noted. Which app are you using for the alerts?

I wonder if the cherry palinka is similar to what I had in Lviv. Homemade by Grandma would be the best, but if you can’t get that - and if it’s what I had in Lviv - then there’s the place in Budapest that also sells it (and I have seen in in a couple of other countries as well).

TexasTravelMom are you accusing my bartender of false representation? That is entirely ........... possible. But it came without charge so who am I to complain. This might be his grandmother: .... well, i was going to put a link to a picture of the bottle label, but better you Google it yourself.

The franchise П’яна Вишня is all over the world now. The first i saw was 10 years ago near Maidan, across the street from the hotel I stay at in Kyiv; and I have seen them in L'viv and Odesa and I just Googled and there is one in Uzhhorod as well. Oh, and yes, one about 5 blocks from my flat in Budapest.

Here is a related experience that was brought to my attention yesterday: https://davidboyne.substack.com/p/an-ignorant-american-wanders-around.

PARTING THOUGHTS

Toss out all the Eastern European stereotypes of despair and poverty and war and destruction. Its a vibrant and facinating side trip in Central Europe. I know people from most every corner of the Nation and they all share an amazing level of education, personal dignity and respect for what is important in life. I think you would be hard pressed to find a nation with a greater active participation in religion and that seems to come through in a lot of conversations.

Everything here could as easily exist in Hungary or Italy and except for language and artistic style you would not know the difference.

The quality of the historic sights is every bit equal and as interesting as rural sights and secondary (RS Backdoor) cities anywhere in the world. In some ways, because of a lack of over development and tourist crunch, maybe better than a lot of the more traditional locations. But that depends on your interests.

If you are fascinated with Italian and Austrian history and culture ... both came here, they both ruled and left their marks. As did Slovak, Polish, Hungarian.

When something is marketed as 4 star or 5 star it truly is and there is quite a bit. Prices are silly low, especially tourism costs. Including my bathouse experience and 3 castles I didn't spend $25 on entrance fees. The tours were not cheap as such but the guide knew his stuff in ridiculous detail. I suspect in the west of you were to hire private transfers just to drive the distances my guide travele it would cost as much as my full day tours. So im not complaining.

The trip from Budapest is a bit long, but if you were in eastern Slovakia, Kosice for instance, its faster.

Okay its crazy. They are at war. Technically its a Level 3 and thats not to be ignored. You should respect the situation and chose as your conscience directs. There were signs of the war. Troop and equipment movements, restricted views from one of the stops; and its hard to have a conversation where the war doesnt creep into the subject.

If possible,you will do better if you have a native speaker to translate and read Cyrillic. I did that the last day and it added a lot more depth to the trip.

If you decide to go you will be bringing a little calm of normalcy to a beautiful people. Several people thanked me for being there. Money cant affect people the same. Of course dumping as much money as possible isn't a bad idea.

UPDATE: My bank sent me an email this morning. Please give them a call as they are holding payment on suspicious charges. Sort of odd. Usually, they call.

I checked my account online and about 8 charges were on hold. All of them for goods and services in Ukraine. Yes, credit cards and the ATM worked flawlessly. The web page allowed me to approve payment, so I did. But since the email said to call, I did that too. The service agent almost used a bad word when he saw where the charges were and was confused why I would approve them … well … because I used my credit card there(?).

I thanked him for the bank watching my interest for me and was done.

I have the tour company working on a winter return trip. 🥳🥳

Interesting. When I went to Lviv in 2023, my Citi card charges went through just fine. And it was all I used - I never got cash. I even used it for a cup of coffee out of a machine at the Mukachevo bus station, where I was waiting on my van transfer. But I was at the end of Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia, then Budapest. So maybe it fit the pattern. 🤣

The didn't outright reject anything but they were holding them. The transfer van showed a bus company and the cast iron baths had a crazy strange name. The hotel was hitting me 8 to 10 dollars a day for the bar. I appreciate the way BoA handled it.

And I sure want to go back in December. Very special place. I think i like it more than Lviv. But Lviv at Christmas was magical in the old days.