Catacombing

We've booked another great tour that should be a lot of fun - the Odessa Catacombs. Although we had the option to do 2 days in the catacombs (staying overnight in sleeping bags), my lower back gave me a big NO! when I even contemplated this.

BACKGROUND
The Odessa Catacombs labyrinth approximately 2500 kilmetres under the city and surrounding neighbourhoods. They developed over the last two hundred years, beginning as natural formations and completing with the addition of man-made tunnels. The major part of them are made up of former limestone mines used to build the city's 19thC homes, with the remainder being natural caivities and sewage tunnels. The full extent of the catacombs has not been mapped and is a primary reason a subway system was never built in Odessa.

The first stone mines appeared in the second half of the 19thC with building growth in the city. They were used as a source of cheap construction materials. During World War II, the catacombs served as a hiding place for Soviet partisans and their struggles were detailed in the book The Waves of the Black Sea by Valentin Kataev. Armies were able to house enough food and weaponry to keep them underground for almost six months at a time. In 1961, the Poisk Club was created to explore the history of the partisan movement in the catacombs and it expanded the catographical boundaries of the area.

By the 21stC limestone mines were discontinued in Odessa. Today, the catacombs are a great attraction for "extreme" tourists but you must go in with a guide.

(Some information from Wikipedia - Odessa Catacombs)
(Photo from Wikimedia Commons - Polyschuk Dennis Anatolyevycz)

The Gear for the Going!

I have decided on the camera gear I am taking to the Ukraine. Much of my decision was based on weight and versatility.
From left to right, Gitzo carbon fibre tripod and ball head, canon lenses; 14mm, 70-300mm, 50mm, 24-105mm, Canon 5D MKll body, spare battery, 40Gigs of memory, rocket air blower, cable release, LED flashlight. My polarizing filter may also make the trip. With this reduced load, I will be able to pack it all into my new Lowepro Classified 160 AW bag. Ready, set....!

Update: I was able to squeeze my 580EX Speedlite into the bag so it's coming too!

Wheat Free in the Bread Basket

One of my biggest challenges during the trip will have nothing to do with transportation, language, local customs, or photography. For two weeks, I will be traveling through the bread basket of Europe and I am what intolerant. Luckily it's different from celiac disease or I would be really in trouble - I can't have wheat, but with celiac you have to avoid all gluten which can even be found in vitamins.

Growing up in a Ukrainian family I'm already familiar with some local foods - although the dishes we eat in Canada are just the tip of the iceberg of traditional cuisine. Having been diagnosed with a food allergy later in life, I've learned to adapt and modify the recipes so that I don't have to give up my favourites, but I doubt that they have pyrohy made of rice flour in Kyiv.

One amazing resource that I have found to help me eat at the local establishments is an iTunes App for my iTouch called the Gluten Free Restaurant Card. Although aimed more towards those that have Celiac Disease, this app created by www.celiactravel.com contains 43 language translations of text that basically says "I am allergic to foods containing flour or grains of wheat, rye, barley and oats. Does this food contain these ingredients?" You choose the language you need and then you can show the translated card to your waiter to read. They don't have Ukrainian, but they have Russian which is close enough since many people speak it in the cities. I can see myself using this app on many trips to countries where I am not fluent in the local language.

There are a lot of great foods that I can look forward to while I'm in Ukraine, and some that I love that I'm going to have to avoid:

FOODS I'M GOING TO MISS OUT ON

• vushka - little mushroom-filled dumplings you get in borscht.
• pyrohy - the fried version of "pierogies" and often filled with fruit or poppy seed filling for dessert.
• varenyky - the boiled version of "pierogies" normally filled with potatoes, cabbage, cheese and topped with butter, sour cream, bacon, and onions
• nalisnyky - crepes that you can fill with cottage cheese, meat, caviar or fruit
• kotlety - minced meat or fish fritters rolled in breadcrumbs
• kanapky - black or white bread-based canapes topped with mayo or butter, caviar, smoked herring, cucumber/tomato slices and dill
• pampushky - fried sweet dough similar to doughnut hole, filled with sweet fillings.
• pyvo - beer
• kasha hrechana zi shkvarkamy - buckwheat cereal with chopped, fried bacon and onion
  

FOODS I CAN INDULGE IN

• ohirky - sour pickles
• kapusta - sauerkraut
• borscht - beet soup (with a dollop of sour cream)
• hrybivka - mushroom soup
• kapusniak - sauerkraut soup
• yushka - fish soup, usually carp
• holubtsi - cabbage rolls with rice and meat (avoiding the ones with buckwheat)
• syrnyky - cottage cheese fritters (sometimes with raisins - blech!)
• pechenya - roast meat
• kartoplia - potato with sour cream, butter and dill
• huliash - stew
• kovbasa - various smoked or bolied pork, beef or chicken sausage
• shashlyk - shish kebab of lamb and vegetables marinated in vinegar and grilled on skewers with white wine
• pliatsky - potato pancakes with sour cream
• sichenyky - minced beef with omelette and fried onions
• torte - cakes, frequently made without flour using instead ground walnuts or almonds

YOU CAN'T PAY ME TO EAT THESE

• salo - salted (or occasionally raw) unrendered pork lard similar to bacon but with a higher ration of fat to meat. Eaten as a snack. Also available as "chocolate covered".
• studynets - jellied fish or meat
• kvas - a sweet and sour sparkling beverage made from yeast, sugar and dried rye bread

It's going to be challenging navigating my way through what I can and cannot eat. But I figure that if I made it through 2 weeks in Italy, with their love of breads and wheat, then I will have no problem with the Ukrainian diet. I'm always up for an adventure.

Some food name and descriptions from Wikipedia - Ukrainian Food. Images from Wikimedia Commons.

Let's Play It By Ear - Sort Of

Two weeks to go before we fly out so we decided to meet and firm up our itinerary for the trip. We realized we needed to do the math on the train schedules, bus information, and distances to see if our ambitious plan would work.

As much as we want to see everything the country has to offer, we're realistic about only having 2 weeks on the road. Our main objective was always to get to Chernobyl for photography - and with that booked and in place, being able to get around the rest of the country and photograph Soviet-era structures, onion domed churches, historic Ukrainian architecture, and many other of Ukraine's forgotten and decaying structures is a wonderful extra.

Since we don't know just how much we'll see in the different locations we visit, we've decided to keep it loose. It's usually the way I like to travel anyway. The flexibility allows you to spend as much or as little time as you need in one place without the worry of having to make it to a reservation. I've traveled with people who need every single hour of every day scheduled out for them - I'm not really like that, doesn't leave room for those great detours in life. Luckily we both seem to be more into the adventure and not the schedule so I think we're going to travel quite well together.

So if it's a loose itinerary, do we even know where we're going now, you might ask? Sure:

Kyiv > Chernobyl > Kyiv > Odesa > Lviv > Kyiv

Where we go in between and how long we stay in the main cities is the adventure right now. As long as we're back in Kyiv to fly home on time, I'm happy flittering around the country and exploring, meeting people, adding stories and images to our project.


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Get Into The Zone

For those who don't know about Chernobyl's Alienation Zone, here's the quick and dirty version of where we're aiming to go for our photography excursion:

ZONE OF ALIENATION
The Zone was established after the disaster in 1986 in order to evacuate the local population and prevent people from entering the contaminated area. It is made up of 4 concentric circular zones with the closest in, about 30km from the site, being the most contaminated. Within the zones are hot spots of radiation where equipment has been buried and many of these remain unmapped - some committed to memory and some unknown. Authorities try to protect these spots not only from tourists but scrap hunters as well.

The Zone operates within its own civil rules, with its own police (the MVS) and State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, all administered by the Administration of the Alienation Zone. These branches work together to police the shift workers who come in to the nuclear site, tourists, visiting officials and dignitaries, and interlopers.

Interesting Facts

• The cloud of heavily polluted radioactive dust produced the Red Forest - a strand of highly-irradiated pine near the plant.
• Many species of wildlife have flourished due to the significant reduction of human impact - wolves, wild boar, red deer, moose, and beaver.
• Przewalski's Horses - a rare and endangered subspecies of wild horse native to the steppes of Central Asia - which were released in the area after the disaster are flourishing.
• Brown bear, which has not been seen in the area for several decades, has been reported as well as wild lynx.
• There are 800 known burial grounds for irradiated vehicles, hundreds of abandoned military vehicles & helicopters, and river ships and barges lie in the abandoned ports.

(photo: Entrance to Alienation Zone, Slawojar, Wikimedia Commons)
(With information from Wikipedia page Zone of Alienation)

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Here I am, and here we go! Almost a year ago, Olena and I had a chat at an art opening about Chernobyl and how we should go. A few meetings later, and a well written grant application, we are almost on our way! I have generally had a crazy year and have had very little time to prepare for this trip, but we do have a good framework for our itinerary and lots of room for spontaneity.

What has mostly been on my mind lately has been what to pack! Which lenses? How much clothes? Laptop? rolling luggage or backpack? Pepperettes?

I will probably try out a few different combinations and see what works best.

Right now though, I have a week at a cottage to pack for, and when I get back from that, we will be about 5 days from leaving!

First post, done!

Chernobylzone

After several weeks of back and forth emails with a contact in Ukraine, we've sent off our info to book a two day private tour of Chernobyl and Pripyat. The company is Chernobylzone - Journeys Into Chernobyl Alienation Area. It's been interesting communicating through email as their English is pretty good, but obviously not their mother tongue. Of course, I can always get additional information from their website - after I learn Russian. I speak/read Ukrainian so I can make out some of it, but it's not quite the same.

There's some additional items we could have for the tour (for a fee of course) and we thought it would be geeky/cool to have the dosimeters but I had to email them to explain the "IPE" gear. Turns out it's a slimming all-white one-piece outfit complete with hood for you to wear while exploring around the radiated area. The ultimate in geek chic. I wasn't going to go for it until I read the part about having to throw out the clothes you wear on the tour if you happen to get any soil/debris/etc. on them. IPE gear it is then.

Looking forward to seeing exactly what type of hotel we'll be staying at outside of the alienation zone overnight. Apparently it's nothing fancy but the only one in the area. For me, the chance to interact with the people who have lived in the area, within the shadow of the reactor and its effects, and to see how the area has changed in the 20+ years since the disaster more than makes up for a lumpy bed.

Fingers crossed that our dates get approved for the tour.