But not rock climbing castles...
Last Sunday, I went on a day trip with some friends to Kam'yanets'-Podil's'kyi (don't ask me how to pronounce it.) This is a beautiful city with lots of history, a deep canyon with a massive bridge connecting the new town with the old town, and a well preserved medieval castle. While I did enjoy the beauty of the old town and I enjoyed flying my drone around the old castle, the main purpose of the trip was to go climb some rocks!
I woke up on Sunday around 8am. I had a text from my friend Yulia, one of the Americana teachers. She asked if I wanted to go rock climbing in a nearby city, "Oh and there is also a castle." I couldn't say yes fast enough. Rock climbing was something that I wanted to do during my trip to Ukraine. I even brought my La Sportiva Finale climbing shoes. The Finale is excellent for all-day comfort and reliable performance, the Finale is a lace-up rock shoe that is equally capable in the gym or the crag (please sponsor me La Sportiva.)
The plan was to leave Chernivtsi around 10:30, so I had about two hours to buy snacks and pack my bag. I packed my drone, my camera, some snacks, and my climbing shoes. Because I live in the opposite direction, we decided to meet up at a shopping center about 4km away from my apartment. No problem, there is direct route to get there by bus. I left my apartment at 10:00 and went looking for the bus stop.
This was my first solo trip on Ukrainian public transportation (besides the train from Kiev.) The first thing I did was ask if anyone on the bus spoke English. Everyone on the bus was silent as they just stared at me. Before I could confirm or deny that this was the correct bus, we started moving. I was really hoping that this was the right one. There was a bus employee that was giving out the tickets. I showed him my phone that had the shopping center destination on it and asked if the bus was going to this place. He replied back something and I interpreted it as a yes. So I payed my 5 Hryvnia and sat down. About 10 minutes later, he told me it was my stop and I got off the bus. I was relived when I looked across the street and saw the building that I was supposed to meet up at. So far so good.
I met up with Yulia and her husband, Andrew, and their younger daughter. Since we are doing English lessons online, I have only met Yulia through video chat. It is always interesting meeting people in real life for the first time that you previously know through video chat. After a brief conversation and a last minute snack run, we were on the road.
As soon as we left Chernivtsi, it quickly became agricultural land. We drove through some rolling hills as we cruised along the highway. I thought it was quite beautiful. As we drive through different small villages, the architecture changed from that seen in Chernivtsi. There are a lot of houses that look like little castles, with circular watch towers and other features that remind me of medieval times. Apparently this is a Moldovan influenced style architecture.
About 45 minutes into the drive, we stopped at a little fast food stall on the side of the road that sold chebureki and piroshki. I am familiar with this food from working at Alyonkas Russian Cusine in Boise, but I was super exited to try it in Ukraine. The woman at the stall didn't speak English, but luckily I'm fluent in ordering food. So I ordered a chebureki with meat and a piroshki with... well I don't really know what she said was in the piroshki. So maybe I'm not that fluent. But I got my food nonetheless, and it was fantastic. The chebureki was by far my favorite, and the piroshki with mystery filling was just ok. It might have been potato.
We continue driving through agricultural fields, but now there are more orchards. I was told there are a lot of apple trees that grow around Chernivtsi.
A little bit further down the road we stop at a gas station for a quick bathroom break. I was thirsty so I decided to try new a new drink. I chose a pine water with mint. It was very interesting and pretty tasty. I probably wont get it again but I'm glad I tried it.
I also needed to go to the bathroom. So I go around the corner and go into the door that say WC. I open the door and there were two women in there, so I quickly turn around, very embarrassed. One of the ladies says something to me in Ukrainian and I can only assume she was scolding me for trying to use the women's restroom. I ask Andrew if he could show me where the bathroom is. He walks me back to the same door and we walk in. It turns out that the bathroom shares the same handwashing area. There were two more doors in there; one for the men's and one for the women's bathrooms. So that was super weird and very European.
Fast forward 30 minutes and we make it to Kam'yanets'-Podil's'kyi. We drive through the newer and more modern part of the city until we reach the vast canyon. Then we drive across the bridge. On the other side of the bridge is the old part of the city that has historical buildings, old cathedrals, and the castle (the castle was not in view but I was told it was around the corner.) I felt like I was traveling back in time. It has a very European city feel to it.
We parked the car not too far from where the bridge ends, grabbed all of our gear, and walked down some stairs. At this point, I was getting super excited. This was my first weekend in Chernivtsi and I was already going on an adventure!
We reach the bottom of the stairs and walk by some houses. It is early spring so all of the trees and flowers are just barely starting to wake up. We walk down the path until we reach the river. There is a little bridge that we cross to get to the other side. Below is a little video that shows the little bridge and the big bridge. It was so beautiful.
We get to the wall and take a right. We walk past other groups of climbers that are also enjoying the lovely spring day. We walk for about 10 minutes until we come across the group of friends who were meeting up with. Not a lot of them spoke English, but luckily we all spoke rock climbing. I set my bag down and got ready to climb.
I brought my shoes but I didn't have room in my bag for my harness. Yulia was nice enough to let me borrow hers, so I put it on and tied into the rope. The first route I climbed was called рахуба which translates to "calculation". This is rated as 5c and was really fun.
After I finish the first climb, I just hung out for a little bit. I get out my camera and take some pictures and watch the other climbers go up the same route. There was also two more routes to the right that the group was climbing. These were a little bit more difficult. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. (For more info about climbing Kam'yanets'-Podil's'kyi)
The next route I climbed was called Темна справа. It means "dark business" or "the dark thing" or something like that. It is rated as a 6a, so a little bit harder but definitely manageable.
The only thing was there was no rope set up at the top. The group was using this route to lead climb. I have only ever climbed top rope so I asked what I should do. They all told me to go for it.
What is the difference between lead climbing and top roping? The following explanation is taken from Ascentionism blog.
The real distinction between top roping and lead climbing is the belay system used. For top roping, the rope is secured to an anchor above your head (hence the word ‘top’, because the rope is at the top of the route). For lead climbing you bring the rope up with you, clipping into pieces of protection as you go; you ‘lead’ the rope up the wall. When lead climbing, you can’t always rest of your rope, which makes it more dangerous — but also more rewarding.
I was a little nervous but I was definitely excited to try. What made me slightly more nervous was that the instructions on how to do this dangerous activity were given to me mostly in Ukrainian with some limited English. They pointed at the quickdraw when explaining the technique, "this wall, this rope". It almost made it easier because it was put into such simple ideas. They told me which side to attach to the wall and which side to attach to the rope. It is also important which direction the rope is attached to the quickdraws because if you attach it backwards, well then you can fall. It definitely helped that Yulia was a teacher at Americana and translated what they were saying, so I was confident that I understood what they said, but I was still nervous. I climbed slow and steady and eventually made it to the top. It was quite the adrenaline rush!
I was super excited when I finished the route. I was also a little exhausted. I am not in great climbing shape and I put a lot of effort in that climb because I didn't want to fall. I also wanted to visit the castle and fly my drone. This was a good time for me to take a little trip to see the town. I packed up my bag and walked around while the rest of the crew kept climbing.
Next to the big bridge, there was a really old staircase made from stone. I climbed up the steps to the top. There was a really cool public space there with some swans and ducks and a little space to walk around and sit on benches. It was cool. I flew the drone around here for a few minutes and took some pictures. Then, I continued on my quest for the castle.
I walked across the big bridge and into the old town. There are some really cool streets with nice buildings. There was a little park in the city and people eating ice cream and talking and laughing. I couldn't read any of the signs so I didn't know which direction the castle was, but I decided to follow the groups of people that were walking in the same direction. I passed a few older churches and some old buildings until I came across the toll booth for cars. Luckily there was no fee for pedestrians. So I walked until Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle came into view.
It was an awesome and medieval looking castle, straight out of a fantasy book. There was a spot where you could look at the castle from a distance, so I set up shop and took some pictures there. I waited until the big group of people left and then took out my drone. I flew my drone around and got some cool pictures and video. I will upload the video when I finished editing it. Unfortunately, the time of day that I was there wasn't very great for photographs, but I spent the first part of the day traveling and climbing. But in the end I think I took some pretty cool pictures. I flew the drone around until it ran out of battery.
There is farm fields behind the castle and I even saw a farmer in the distance with some animals. The castle was on a cliff that was carved from the river, creating a natural moat. There was one bridge that lead to the entrance of the castle. There was a little parking lot and another kiosk that you can buy tickets to enter the castle. I never went in because I spent all of my time flying the drone. It was a beautifully intact castle and very cool to see. It was interesting the contrast between modern buildings and the ancient fortress. There was also a beautiful blue cathedral in the back ground. I felt like I was back in time while ironically flying my drone around.
I met back up with the group around 6pm. We packed all of the gear and walked back to the cars. We drove down the road a little ways and stopped at a convenience store where we bought some ice cream. Then we all said goodbye and started the journey back to Chernivtsi. It was dark by the time we made it back to the city and I was exhausted. Andrew went out of his way to drop me off near my apartment so I didn't have to take the bus at night. It was about 9pm by the time I got home. I took a quick shower and then passed out. It was a good day.
Appears Kam'yanets'-Podil's'kyi might be a hard name to pronounce, but your incredible day there won't he hard to remember! Nice job on the lead climb. 😎