Another day out to a castle town
Trip Start
Apr 08, 2007
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113
144
Trip End
Oct 01, 2007
Khotyn,
Ukraine
Monday, August 20, 2007
So today I caught a 9:10 mashrutka out to Khotyn, a small town close to the Dniester river and the border of Khmelnytsky oblast. The town itself is nothing special at all . . . mostly rundown, fairly poor and rather neglected by appearance. Were it not for it being the site of one of Ukraine's most famous castles, it wouldn't even show up on the tourist radar. But the castle is more than just another tourist sight. Almost fully intact and very much the classic image of a medieval fortress, it sits majestically on the edge of the Dniester river, commanding a strong position overlooking the quite flat left bank. It's such a characteristic castle that it regularly features in Eastern European films.
It just so happens that my visit coincided with yet another film project. The cranky woman at the ticket booth seemed to be trying to explain it to me in Russian, saying that I could visit the grounds, but not the interior (but I didn't quite follow why at first, which really irked her for some odd reason). When I ambled on down to the site, the place was bustling with people, many of whom were dressed up in medieval garb. The immediate front of the castle was a mess of engineers setting up film equipment, young men tying up their horses and numerous other people dawdling about waiting for the action to start. It turns out that I was able to get into the castle proper, although the walls themselves were off-limits unfortunately. Still, I was certainly able to see the vast majority of it, and the film crew didn't seem the least bit interested in a tourist wandering around the place. Maybe in a few days' time I'd have less luck, but I timed things perfectly today.
Like the castle at Soroca in Moldova, Khotyn fortress was first built by the Moldavians (under Alexandru cel Bun) and then refortified by Stefan cel Mare. Its history saw it occupied by a series of different powers, rather predictably given its location. First Moldavian, then Polish/Lithuanian, then Moldavian again, then once more the Poles took it, then the Turks, and then later still the Russians. The Tsarist Empire controlled it until the end of World War I, when the October Revolution saw many of the imperial holdings break free. Khotyn then joined Romania along with the rest of Bessarabia, remaining there until the Soviets marched in in 1940. After that, it was sectioned off as part of Chernivtsi oblast and given to Ukraine, where it's stayed ever since. The population now is almost entirely Ukrainian, which probably belies its once multi-ethnic character (a story generally applied to Chernivtsi oblast - i.e. Northern Bucovina - as a whole).
A fantastic sight and, honestly, one that even beats out Kamyanets-Podilsky in terms of the structure itself. It may not have taken long to visit - I only spent about two hours in Khotyn total - but it was well worth the trip. Better still, the cloudy weather broke up just before I arrived, which meant I got to see it under absolutely ideal conditions. The extra bonus then was that I was able to come back to Chernivtsi afterwards and spend the remaining afternoon hours seeing the pretty town under sunny skies. All in all, a great day.
Tomorrow I'm off to Lviv in the far west of Ukraine, my last stop in the country before Belarus. This time I've got a day train, so for once I'll actually get to see some of the scenery along the way. The part of the country I'll be going through is supposed to be some of Ukraine's most picturesque, so that's an added plus. Should be nice!
