Ukraine

So if yesterday was a bit hectic, today was even more crazy. We left Baia Mare at about 10 and headed for the border at Halmeu. This is a large border crossing and we thought it would be better. Hah. The Romanian side was easy. Touriste? Right this way. Done in 5 minutes. Then we tried to enter the Ukraine. Passports went fairly quickly, but customs, not so much. We think that the rental car was problematic. It took at least 30-45 minutes to get through.

Now we are faced with the Cyrillic alphabet and no GPS to help. Michael grabbed screen shots of the google maps from here to Vonihovo and these maps have the Cyrillic spelling, but we are working small scale and the signs are working 70 km away. Oops. The iPad is helpful, along with a map of the Ukraine and one for Romania. They all have the the same big towns, but different small ones.

We make one wrong turn very soon after the border, but I catch it in about 5 km. Rather than go back we take the connecting road. Aiiieeee. Talk about potholes. Some places there are more holes than road. We drove at about 15 kph for 5 km. OK, we won't do that again. The roads in the Ukraine are pretty bad.

We manage to get to the next large town. Go right- but about a km down the road I have second thoughts and we go back and take the other road, which seems to be the right one - M-23. Then I notice that we are traveling west - yes there is a bit of sun - and we want to be heading east. Oops. So back to town where we find a kiosk with a nice woman who speaks a little English and the woman in the kiosk has a MAP that will get us out of town on the right road. Yay. We even stop at a bank to get some cash to get lunch - which we never do manage to get. Oh well.

On to Khust. Another large town where we are not exactly sure where to go at a T intersection. Two women help us out and we are off to Bustyna. Fortunately this is what passes for a "main road" in the Ukraine. 2 lanes, but few potholes. Just stay on this road!

At Bustyna we make a left for Vonihove - former home of Michael's grandparents. We find the town, but the location of the cemetery is not obvious and it is now 5 PM. Rather than try to retrace our steps, we decide to head for the border crossing we checked out Tuesday night at Sighet. After a few queries, we manage to find it. We get special treatment when we show the US passports - a guard who speaks English! I neglected to mention that when we crossed at Halmeu, there was a very long line of cars waiting to cross into Romania - one of the reasons we decided to try Sighet. Fears of spending the night in line at the border. I now understand why some people told us this was only a pedestrian crossing. It's a one-lane bridge.

Rather than try to make it to Satu Mare, we ask the border guard for a hotel recommendation. So here we are at a very nice old hotel - the building is supposed to be over 100 years old. Nice dinner and a large room for 60 E, breakfast included. Whew. Michael has made a vow that we are not going to any more countries with a non-Western alphabet. (I think that lets out Israel)

Here's picture of a church in Sighet from Tuesday.

And below it a picture of a house for sale in the Ukraine.
Many of the houses are painted really wild colors - bright pink, orange, red, bright green. Today in the Ukraine, many of the houses had grape arbors over the front yard. Most have some sort of vegetable garden. Still struggling with wanting to photograph without feeling that I am exploiting these people.

Bicycles are a popular form of transport in this part of the world. Most of the cars are small and old. The Kia really sticks out.

An example of one of the wooden gates and a wrought iron fence next to it. Manyof these fences and walls are very ornate. But they are on narrow, 2-lane roads, which makes it hard to stop and photograph.

Between Bustyna and Salinta there is a stretch of road with a lot of very large - for this part of the world - houses. Many are still under contruction. They feel very strange, compared to what we have been used to seeing - small bungalows crammed together with front and back gardens. Some people have small stands where they sell the vegetables.

Here is a view of the mountains we crossed on Tuesday - see the clouds? That's fog on the other side. Reminds me of the Santa Cruz mountains that act as a barrier to the fog off the Pacific.