Zaporizhzhya Botanical Garden

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The city of Zaporozhye, which is known throughout Ukraine for its polluted air, and beyond its borders for its Cossacks and the island of Khortitsa, conceals various attractions. One of them is the Children’s Botanical Garden, in the very center of the city, in the industrial district, on the dry Moskovska River.

The river itself is known to many locals for the deep red and orange colors it takes on downstream. Despite the fact that there should be mutant fish there, some people manage to fish there. And in fact, the dry Moskovska is dry… You can jump over it. But not everyone knows that a little upstream there is a botanical garden. I have fond childhood memories of it, and that’s why I visit it once or twice a year, sadly watching it fall into disrepair. Today I want to show it to you as well.

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Boryslav. This is where oil is born.

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A city that sits right on top of oil fields? Where oil was extracted when the rest of the world didn’t even know about it yet? Oil pumps right in a city park? A church that preserves one of the largest collections of holy relics? All this is a city that not even many people who live nearby know about. Meet Borislav.

The town, which is located near Drohobych, was founded in 1387, and already in the middle of the XIX century the town became a world-famous center of oil, gas and ozokerite production.

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Upper Khortytsya. The Mennonites lived here

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In Zaporozhye, where I was born and grew up, there is a lot of interesting things to see. And so one day, giving in to a marvelous desire, I went on a highly organized excursion from a local activist Roman Akbash on Upper Khortytsya, about which I will tell you now. The report will talk about the Zaporizhian Oak, places where Mennonites lived, Partisan Squirrel and other interesting things.

We met with other participants at the terminus of route 67 and went first to the Zaporozhye Oak. The road goes past the Church of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The temple was built in October 2004. For it were written unique icons using intarsia technique. Images of images consist of 200 kinds of wood. With the cross the height of the temple is 33 meters, which makes it the highest in Zaporozhye. At the top is a bell tower of 9 bells, the heaviest of which weighs 300 kilograms and is controlled by an electronic system.

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Tiraspol. Transnistria through my eyes. Moldova

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I love countries and territories with uncertain geopolitical status, dwarf countries, unrecognized states, and virtual ones. This is one of my weaknesses. My interest in the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic, an unrecognized state recognized only by the same unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia, arose after reading articles about this republic in the blog of puerrtto (in the world – Alexander Lapshin).

I was very interested in the fact that I could be arrested for taking a photo of a trolleybus 😂. So, being in Odessa at the end of August 2012, I woke up one fine morning in my hotel and decided to visit Transnistria. Having quickly found information on the Internet about how to get to Tiraspol from Odessa cheaply, I ran in for breakfast at Puzata Hata, after which I left my big bags for storage at the hotel, took my backpack, and went in search of adventure.

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Free nights in Istanbul from Turkish Airlines

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Personally, the leader among the airlines for me now is Turkish Airlines and whenever there is an opportunity, I fly with them. This is especially true for flights where there are few Russian tourists.

However, this is not about the company itself, but about one of its peculiarities. The thing is that if you have a connection in Istanbul (and 99% of international flights of “Turks” go through Istanbul) and it is long, you will be provided with a hotel and transfer to it free of charge. I would like to share with you some tips and tricks on how to make the most of your layover in Istanbul and spend the night in five-star hotels while waiting for your plane, instead of waiting on a bench somewhere in the airport. Agree, it is much more attractive!

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Soledar: The Salt Mines of Ukraine

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Ukraine is the largest country in Europe by area. Its rich history and diverse geography, including mountains, lakes, rivers, seas, and steppes, make it a fascinating subject of study. Unfortunately, this is often overlooked. I believe it is important to promote Ukraine’s unique features and increase awareness of its cultural and natural heritage. During a recent trip to the salt mines in Soledar, Donetsk region, I was reminded of this fact.

Soledar is a small mining town located in the Donetsk region. As of 2011, its population was only 11.8 thousand people, and it occupies an area of 14 km². It was granted city status in 1965.

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EURO 2012 semi-final in Donetsk

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This year I did not plan to attend Euro 2012. Or rather, there was a desire to watch the main soccer event in Europe, but when tickets were just starting to be sold by pre-order, the organizers made a mad rush, announcing that there would not be enough tickets for everyone, and they would be drawn by lot among all those who applied for them. As a result, millions of people from all over the world flocked to the UEFA website to order tickets for themselves and their wives, moms, dads, grandmothers and girlfriends, for the matches they wanted and the ones they didn’t give a damn about. So, in a few days the tickets were booked, a drawing was held, and most of the tickets were won by people who didn’t need them anymore. They won 5-6 tickets in different classes for one match. They started to be given away, and sometimes they were simply “dumped” – they didn’t pay for the reservation and forgot about them.

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What is Kwidoo

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Hello, dear visitors of the Kwidoo website. This site will be entirely dedicated to traveling. Mostly solo traveling. This can be anything from five-star luxury hotels to bike rides and hikes. Journey from civilized Europe to the wild savannahs of Africa. It doesn’t matter.

My goal is to make people aware that our world is huge, there are millions of places that we all just have to visit. And these are by no means impossible dreams, as some suspect. In fact, any resident of Ukraine, Russia or neighboring countries (and the main audience of this site is them, Russian-speaking Internet users), who has a job, can discover the unique places of this planet at least once a year. You don’t need tour operators who charge terrible prices and then rip you off. You don’t need a lot of money. You don’t need to be fluent in a hundred languages. That’s easy. And I’ll show you, I’ll tell you how.

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