Crosscarpatia tour 2003r. [ trasa: Presov - Bardejov - Humenne - Michalovce - Użhorod - Mukaczewo - Czerniowce - Chocim - Kamieniec Podolski]
An excerpt from my travel journal:
Friday, September 5, 2003.
Michalovce. Overnight in "Hotel BREZA", that is in Hotel Bryza after ours. The facility is run by the local State Forests, located on the shores of the lagoon (by bus towards VINNE, about 15 minutes from the center, but definitely outside the city, about an hour's walk on foot). Room for one person for 280 sk. The price is quite low compared to the single fee at the DRUZBA Hotel in the center of Michalovice (1170 sq. Km). Quite a charming place, located on the VODNA ZEPLINSKA reservoir. A center for summer recreation, lots of summer houses, whole settlements of booths for rent, tennis courts - even used, because a few guests have just finished the game. In the north, from the horizon line behind the reservoir, quite substantial mountain ridges, covered with picturesque forests, jump up towards the sky. The map shows that there are highly picturesque lakes surrounded by forested mountain ridges. Around a lot of hiking and biking trails and hostels. The area is quite well developed for tourists. In the end it got warm too, I sat on a bench by the lagoon and started to bask in the sun. Peace and quiet around, a lazy splash of water, just a resort after the season. This phenomenon has always fascinated me. After returning to the hotel, I came across tennis players, I think they already had a lot of fun, because they invited me to their table and offered me Borovicka. Unfortunately, one of them even became too touchy and was only looking for a tease. He asked why I came here, if I was not afraid to ride alone, because something unpleasant can happen to me, even he can do it, and why I pretend that I do not understand what he says. Well, sometimes some compatriots in Poland are also difficult to understand after drinking a large dose of vodka.
I still have to get back to my journey from Bardejov (departure 7.35 am). The conductor on this Slovak railway is the person who actually takes care of passengers and manages the train during the journey. When I was checking tickets, when I asked if I really had a change at KAPUSANACH PRI PRESOVIE, a small railway stop where two lines converged, he confirmed this information to me and, especially before arriving at the station, informed me that I should get off. Despite several dozen passengers on his head, he remembered where I had a transfer and took care of it. In addition, they are social people, sit down with the locals, those who travel to work every day on the basis of a monthly ticket, and talk to each other about various matters, joke and laugh.
HUMENNE and MICHALOVCE are already laid out in an eastern way, it can be seen that there is no longer a clear geographical border between the city and the vast area around it. There is no classic market square, there is only a very elongated square with buildings from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and many modernist buildings in the interwar period. All surrounded by housing estates of blocks. Several dozen meters beyond them, now open fields, almost steppes. Such an impression was made by this space in the autumn rays of the setting sun. Railway stations on the eastern border of the country (Humenne and Michalovce) are newly renovated or under renovation. You can see that you have to show yourself in the border zone. The state must make its presence felt, also through the institution of railways. Even if the rail traffic is not too great, there is still investment in tiles and tiles, new white plastic windows, new benches that must not be occupied by the Gypsies. Well, the shop window must look impressive for a visitor from across the eastern border at the first meeting.
But in Michalovce, the SAD bus station is simply ugly. Feel the unlimited atmosphere of spatial and communication chaos. Railway, due to its linear character and unified rolling stock, is characterized by order, and bus traffic is characterized by a certain freedom, thanks to the multitude of different types of vehicles, differently marked, with inscriptions in different languages (using the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets), running in all directions. Torn posters hang from the walls of a tin shed covered with corrugated metal, pieces of which are carried by the wind all over the area. Pieces of paper, empty plastic bags, fly in the air. I feel a strange scratching inside somewhere. Is there any excitement about what is unknown, unknown, what is already close, at your fingertips, a two-hour bus ride? Crowds of people, often gypsy-looking, swarthy, walking slowly between the platforms with their hands full of all kinds of bags and nets. People dressed so poorly are walking around the station, you can see that they are strangers from the other side, shyly holding three packets of cigarettes for sale. Each of a different type and price. They shyly accost people, but more often they stand still in one place, waiting for people willing to buy smuggled goods. However, there is a certain anxiety in their movements, a willingness to run away at any moment, from sudden control. Well, smuggling and illegality create fear. Such a feature of the frontier zone. Yes, yes, sunrise and adventure are getting closer. Time to move towards them.
On the train from Presov, on the way to Michalovice, September 2003; scan from a color diapositive; camera: Pentax MG.
The bus that will take me to Uzhgorod, September 2003; scan from a color diapositive; camera: Pentax MG.
On the way to Uzhhorod, September 2003; scan from a color diapositive; camera: Pentax MG.
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