Знайомство з Вінницею: чи справді вона чудова? Купа вражень і драйву | Двоколісні хроніки (№186)
Trek presents Traveling family Around the world on a bicycle Life on the road World cultures People and their stories Local colors Two-wheeled Сhronicles Vinnytsia, Ukraine, June 2021 We keep getting to know Vinnytsia closer. Our new friends- cyclists: Vlad, Nastia, Ania and Ihor will help us. We gathered at Haharin Square and started our bike ride through the city from this point.
Personally, for me, this square is where the whole point of Vinnytsia is. Because earlier here were no trees or markings, the cars were driving at will and without giving advantage to public transport. Over there we can see the arch - it іs the main entrance to the park. There are stairs at this arch, which were built in Soviet times. It is impossible to climb these stairs for cyclists or people with disabilities.
However, in recent years, the trees, benches, landscaping were installed here, and now there is shade and ramps. As for me, Vinnytsia is all about making sure that people are happy, that people have a great life. And that's exactly what we have. In fact, Vinnytsia is the most comfortable city in Ukraine already for the sixth year in a row.
Which we are very proud of, and further I will tell you why. Vlad, please tell me, is it a typical Vinnytsia bicycle path? Or what is it? What are we riding now? Vinnytsia has very rich cycling infrastructure. And this path is not the best one; on the contrary, it is one of the worst.
But as it already is. In fact, there are 79 kilometers of bicycle paths in Vinnytsia. There are near 400 thousand citizens Vinnytsia. While in Kyiv there are more than 5 million citizens. However there are only 120 kilometers of bicycle paths in Kyiv. If we calculate the number of bicycle networks per person or 100 thousand people, Vinnytsia takes the honorable first place among all cities in Ukraine. Moreover, our mileage is verified and confirmed.
Every-person, a cyclist with or without children, on any bicycle can find and look at a free map with pictures of which bicycle path they are going to ride. On-line map of Vinnytsia bicycle paths It's really something we're proud of. Not all bicycle paths are perfect, but we are proud that there are so many of them and every year they are getting better and every year we add something new. For example, this crossing. This year a ramp and lowering were built here in order to make the ride more convenient for cyclists and other groups of people with limited mobility.
Cosmonauts Prospect - is one of the places that Vinnytsia is famous for. It is an architectural landmark of the city. This prospect was reconstructed and designed as much as possible for people. There is a pedestrian zone, green areas, very cool trees: planes, maples ...
There are some Vinnytsia streets with planted Canadian maples. From which maple syrup is extracted. It's actually a very green street. There is enough space for cars as well. The speed of the cars does not create much noise and allows you to relax. Cosmonauts Prospect joins two recreational areas of our city, namely Forest-park and park “Druzhby narodiv”.
The city authorities intended to combine these two areas for recreation with a single prospect. So that it could be possible to walk from one area to another or to ride by bicycle or e-scooters, etc. Now we are at an art object called "Solar system". Here we can find planets, for instance, Yaryna is on Mars, Vlad, that are making the photos, is on Earth.
According to Greek mythology, Atlas holds up the horizon. But in our case, Atlas holds up the sun. We usually say that our Atlas is always with us. It's like a spinal bone that connects the head to the spine and always supports us. He is our personal Atlas. I would like to say a few words about what the "Zen" of Vinnytsia is based on, and why we call Vinnytsia the most “Zen” city in Ukraine. There are three whales of Vinnytsia “Zen”. The first whale - “Osim Khaim”. This concept comes from Vinnytsia Yerusalymka.
This is the historic part of town where Jews used to live. By 1910, 47% of the citizens were Jews. They are the ones who left us this “Osim Khaim” concept. Literally, it means to enjoy life, to slow down, to slow your pace. The second whale – is Kotsiubynskyi, “Intermezzo”, the great sun worshipper, who described Podillia nature as a very meditative element in the lives of the local people. Finally, the third one - Hipanis. This is the Southern Bug river, but only its ancient name. That is how Greeks used to call this river before.
Hipanis translates as stormy. However, now, the Southern Bug river is very quiet in this area. Adepts of Vinnytsia “Zen” always wish each other the same day as the waters of the Hypanis River. In fact, on the contrary - a very "Zen", relaxed and peaceful day. We wish you the same - to be in a “Zen” state and slow down your pace.
After all, that's why people come to Vinnytsia. Later that afternoon, we got to the event, where we were invited as “Two-Wheeled Chronicles” and as a folk band “Folknery”. In the suburb of Vinnytsia in a very cozy location called "Sun Territory" where the "Weekend of Travelers" was held. This event was dedicated to hiking and cycling types of tourism.
Today is a big feast in Vinnytsia, especially for those who love to travel. This is the second time we are organizing "Weekend of Travelers". After the pandemic year, we had a lot of plans, and one of them was a concert by a folk band “Folknery”. Finally, we achieved that dream and dedicated this "Weekend of Travelers" to the launch of the “Way of St. James” cultural route. It is a thing that was planned before the pandemic, but even now it is still relevant.
In my opinion, traveling on foot, coming from the doorstep of your home is the best kind of tourism, weekend getaway, long vacation, or even downshifting. When you drop all your problems, with the goal of mind-clearing on your way to Santiago. The only thing is that you do it not in Spain, but Ukraine. This particular route from Vinnytsia to Kamianets-Podilskyi will pass through the city of Bar. And we're doing our first tests as part of the "Weekend of Travelers". We love this format and we love this place very much.
The "Sun Territory" is the territory of the former sanatorium named after Kotsiubynskyi. It's a unique place within the city and the forest. This is probably the most picturesque point of Vinnytsia itself, although it is already the suburbs. For the Vinnytsia citizens and for those who come here it is a very good point of the shift from the city to the nature, a kind of smooth gradation. That's the kind of event we organize here. And I'm really glad that so many people after the quarantined online activities came to the first offline meeting. And we saw a lot of great people that as a result became friends.
Vinnytsia is supposed to be a place where people from all over Ukraine can meet each other. Those who work with tourism, travel, and cycling. That's why it's "Sun Territory" and the "Weekend of Travelers", and that's great. In one program with many famous Ukrainian bloggers and travelers, we were also happy to tell Vinnytsia citizens about the “Two-Wheeled Chronicles”.
Meanwhile, we just had a lot of fun in between shows. We even do swimming here, don't we, Marko? Yes! Yaryna didn’t just spin something there, it's really “Folknery” and we're getting ready to perform at the "Weekend of Travelers". Evening at the "Sun Territory", we, as organizers, and I'm sure our headliners tonight are very happy to see you. Our awaited concert of the “Folknery” band in Vinnytsia, for the first time. Volodymyr Muliar and Yaryna Kvitka, a folk band “Folknery”. Please welcome them.
On the next day, Sunday, we had some dynamic activity. As part of the "Weekend of Travelers" program, the Vinnytsia bicycle club with the funny name "Bidniazhka" (Poor thing) organized a 30-kilometer bike ride along the Southern Bug to the Selyshche village. More than 30 of us gathered. And this ride, by the way, was also connected with the creation of the already mentioned new route Camino Podolico. My name is Andrii Rybachok and I am co-organizer of the tourist club "Bidniazhka". We organize not only various touristic, hiking and chilling trips all over Ukraine, but also dealing with active tourism in the Vinnytsia suburbs and on the territory of the Vinnytsia region. These are both bicycle trips and boat trips.
Now we are testing a part of a large pilgrimage route from Vinnytsia to Kamianets-Podilskyi with the Vinnytsia citizens. Today we are moving only to the Selyshche village. We had three options to choose from: walk, bike, or canoe.
Do you like it? Super! The hiking route, as, of course, and the water route passed another way. And at certain points it seemed to us that it was the bicycle version that was the most difficult of all three options. But we all enjoyed it for sure.
- Dad, can you go faster? - Yes. - Can you go any faster? - OK. I need to speed up. Only a few times we took short breaks to rest and tighten up the whole column. If there's no path there, we'll swim through. What a route "Poor thing" picked up for us.
Very interesting: up and down, through the swamp, brooks, nettles. In fact, it is cool and, based on their riding style; I would say that they are not "Poor thing" but "Cool thing". So we reached the final point of today's course - Selyshche village, where we visited the ruins of the Cherlenkivskyi castle.
Then we had a chance to go kayaking again. Marko, wait! Look! There is a man who will tell you all the instructions, please, listen to him. What is your name? Maksym. This is Maksym and he is responsible for the canoe. We have a lot of activities, a very full program. We had a little bike ride, and now we are going canoeing on the South Bug river.
Next we'll be back again, on bikes, to Vinnytsia. This Sunday day is beautiful. Active, active and active again. Before we had even made one lap, we realized that we would not make it back to shore dry.
What a wet adventure! We returned to Vinnytsia by a different route, but no less interesting. And in the evening we discovered the nicest cafe in Vinnytsia, whose founders are our new friends, Ania and Ihor. We're going to have a wonderful evening at “Amelie” cafe tonight.
I love this movie, and now I realize that I adore this cafe in the heart of Vinnytsia. Nastia couldn't wait and resist, she's already eating a pancake. Hello. How are you? Once we got an opportunity to open a little coffee shop with pancakes. Of course, these are French pancakes, but the original recipe was from a Ukrainian granny. This granny was our employee, who no longer works with us at the moment, but her recipe still remains.
Of course, we modified the recipe in our own way to capture the atmosphere of France. Being inspired by this film "Amelie", we made this little place. At a time when the movie was already very successful, Audrey Tautou was asked in her press conference about the reason for this fame.
For example, there are so many movies and some people love them, some people don't. However, this particular film is the one that everyone loves. She said that the reason for this, probably because this movie was a little miracle for everyone.
And we wanted to do that little miracle, which we think is so lacking in Vinnytsia. It's a little touch of people doing what they love. You can come and buy what is made with love. Like pancakes, coffee, lemonades. We are not just cooking, but we are trying to promote sustainable living. We use Eco cookware, not all of it yet, but we're trying to switch completely. And not just Eco cookware. We are using biodegradable cookware.
These are glasses that are made from plant-based plastic, these are straws made from rye. We tyrannically force all employees to wash all packaging and turn everything in for recycling. We are still on our way to eliminating products that are not eco-friendly. Although it's difficult. We're promoting, but we're still trying to move with people, step by step. After all, today, most people are not yet ready for this kind of vegan menu. But we're striving for it.
This is it, it's a small miracle for everyone. - Thank you! - Bon appetit! What a beauty, and tell me again how it is called? “Lucien with vegetables”. This is the character from the movie who helped with the vegetables. Together with Nastia we also visited the oldest monument in Vinnytsia with an interesting history.
We are next to the column installed in honor of Vinnytsia receiving the Magdeburg Rights in 1640. This right was granted by the Polish King Władysław IV. From that time the tradition of self-government started in Vinnytsia. In general, this column has experienced a whole detective story of its return to Vinnytsia. Today it is the oldest monument in Vinnytsia. It was made in 1914 in Hnivan city. There are several versions of why this column should have been installed. The first version is to celebrate the granting of Vinnytsia provincial status.
Then it was installed in Soviet times, and until 1970 was on the central square near the tower. But when the square was reconstructed, the column was moved. Recently, the column was found in the village Pavlivka, far from Vinnytsia. In social networks, there were photos with this column and with questions whether it was that Vinnytsia column. How did it get there? That's the question. It is a very interesting and mysterious story. First, the story was related to the events of World War II, although obviously, this column is from the pre-Soviet period. And it was in the park of this village.
Then it was brought back here, slightly reconstructed, and installed for Europe Day, two years ago. There is also a time capsule under the column here. Right here? Yes, right here under this rock. There's an inscription here, 2040.
That means it should be received in 2040, in honor of the 400th anniversary of the celebration of Magdeburg Law in Vinnytsia. Here is a letter to the future to Vinnytsia citizens. During the last day, together with Ania, and Ihor, we visited a nice kindergarten.
On Instagram I was often inspired by a girl - Maria. She has very beautiful photos, interesting stories. When we came to Vinnytsia, I thought that Masha is from Vinnytsia and that I would like to meet her. After getting acquainted with Ania and Ihor. Of course we already knew each other but we just didn't officially meet.
They told me about Masha and her kindergarten. I was interested to see this kindergarten "KoloDomu" (NearHome). Here you can feel such a special atmosphere. Then I was introduced to Masha and I realized that this is the same girl I follow on Instagram and am inspired by.
It's nice to be in this space. Hi, can I come in? My name is Masha, and this is our space, which is called "KoloDomu". We are a community organization. The original idea for this space was a kindergarten, which looks like a home.
So there is a wordplay with the name of this space "KoloDomu" (eng. NearHome). Thus, kids come in and feel like they're at home, near their moms, like they're in a big family. We have 20 children and we work with elements of Waldorf education and just with love and respect towards the children. We are already 1.5 years into this house and we are creating this space on our own for as long as we can.
We can already build benches, tables, shelves, we create toys and we just love kids a lot. Also, we grow a vegetable garden in the backyard. We teach children to live, to observe, to feel, to love, and to be grateful for what they have. Many years ago, this space also used to be a kindergarten. People passing by often ask what we have here. We answer that it is such a home kindergarten. They say: My mother attended this kindergarten.
My grandfather visited this kindergarten as well. He remembers how he used to sleep in the bed under the trees in the yard. And now, I feel like we are managing to create something so cozy, homey, maybe without sleeping in the yard, but with sleep for overnight stays in bags and tents. We built it all ourselves: tables, benches. And here outside we make jam, make tomato juice, and we brought a regular old meat grinder on purpose, so they could twist and feel everything themselves. These were the few days that made us truly fall in love with Vinnytsia. Now we have one more little dream: to come here again someday.
Music by FOLKNERY
2021-08-22 19:21
