Dear Friends:
Months ago, now, I wrote that some time soon I’d write about a bazaar and a castle I had (at the time) recently gone to. Of course the word soon is relative, and I guess this is soon enough. To make up for my lack of punctuality – 5 months have passed since I went to the bazaar and the castle – I will even post pictures. You’re welcome.
Back in October, before the great white winter hit, when the sun still shone, Babushka Lito (Grandmother Summer) still made frequent visits, tomatoes were still affordable, and nobody had started their winter hibernation (though the canning season had begun in earnest), I took a trip to the Khmelnytsky Bazaar and the Medzhybizh Castle. I even deemed the trip worth of such a momentous honor as a blog post. Here’s hoping to accurate memory.
The trip started early in the morning. Too early for my taste; it was still dark when we left. Armed with a thermos of coffee and a sweatshirt as my pillow I settled into the backseat of the car and was immediately unconscious. I stayed in a semi-coherent state until the sun began its daily pilgrimage over the eastern part of continental Europe . I’m not sure why I find it necessary to say, here, but why would God, in His infinite wisdom, make something as beautiful as a sunrise so damn inaccessible? I’ll have to ask Him if I ever get there . . . put in a good word for me, please; I can use all the help I can get.
The sun coming up over central Ukraine
We started with the bazaar in Khmelnytsky. I recently reread my first impression of bazaars when I had just arrived in Ukraine Ukraine
Stairs at the Bazaar
The men bide their time
The bazaar was as bazaars usually are.[1] I’ve always been wonderfully descriptive, haven’t I? But, it should be apparent, that which I mean to say in that first sentence. It was lively, it was loud. My person was continuously jostled. I was yelled at. I watched people yelling at each other. I missed out on the plov (Central Asia rice pilaf), which was an absolute disappointment. I did, however, have a wonderful hotdog: Not the best, but pretty good – though my father wouldn’t approve of the generous dollop of ketchup that was added. Hell, I even made a purchase at the bazaar; it was an embroidered towel that is traditional for weddings. (It was a wedding present, but don’t worry, it wasn’t my wedding. Mom and Dad can’t sell me off that easily.)
[1] This sentence is so useless I couldn’t imagine deleting. I’m amazed by how unnecessary, and ambiguous it is.
The Hot Dog Man - one of my favorite things at the bazaar
As I’m not a big fan of bazaars I was ready to go after about two hours. It was, of course, not to be. We still had over three or four hours remaining. I spend the time wandering around. I stopped for a few watery coffees, but nothing quite struck my fancy. There were a few funny t-shirts with rude slogans, both in English and Ukrainian/Russian but I elected against the purchase of anything questionable. But, following the passage of a good chunk of time and an impressive number of purchases by my companions we made our way through this bastion of involuntary touching, loud yelling and cottage commerce to the exit – and not a minute too soon.
While we were driving home an important decision was made. We decided to make the most of the light, especially given the impending winter, and find something else to do. Kamyanets-Podilsky was too far; we’d only have an hour or so there of any sort of light. The conciliation, then, was a different castle. We went to the fortress at Medzhybizh. This was a bit more convenient, also, because it was not out of the way. The Medzhybizh Castle
Blue skies and the church; inside the castle walls
The castle is a testament to the history of the area and region. It was built as the seat of a noble Polish family, and built to its current size and grandeur to protect the surrounding expanse from marauding Turks. In fact, the castle survived, but was commandeered by the Turks at the end of the 17th century. The Turks were allied with the Ukrainian Cossacks and put the castle under siege during the Cossack uprising of 1648.[1] During Soviet times it was open as a museum (with the exception of the church), and now it has reopened as a museum, but the church works. Included in the castle complex is a museum honoring and remembering the victims of the Holodomor, which was the forced famine of 1932-33 during which Stalin starved Ukrainians (among other constituent republics) into submission.
[1] Cossack means “free man,” by definition. I’d compare the Cossacks to American colonists to a certain extent. The Cossack uprising was an attempt to create a free state in Ukraine Poland was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Trying not to look depressed leaving the Holodomor museum
The final thing we did at the castle was climb to the highest tower we were allowed to. We were provided a beautiful view of the confluence of the Southern Buh , and Buzhok rivers. It was also an interesting juxtaposition seeing the castle grounds on the one hand and looking past the walls at the typical Soviet infrastructure of a small town. (If you’ve been to or studied pictures of this part of the world you’ll know what that means.) I’d like to go back to the castle, to get some time to poke around all the nooks and crannies, and see what is there. It is not too far, so I may do that sometime in the near future. I also found, while looking up some facts on the castle that Medzhybizh, the town the castle anchors, is actually the birthplace of the Hasidic sect of Judaism. It sometimes seems that studying, or reading about this part of the world is like peeling an onion. I’m impressed by the number of different layers.
The chapel in the foreground framed by the castle walls. I'm not sure which river is in the background
Looking out from the tower and into the town. Don't miss the port-o-john to the left
But, that’s all I know for now. I’m focused on cleaning my bedroom today. Wish me luck on this arduous task.
Be good,
Pete
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