Sorry for any brief or partial entries as I have some catching up to do....
Wednesday, July 24- Rostov-on-Don, Russia to Volgograd,
Russia: currently staying the night and
hope to tour sights in the morning before departing towards Astrakhan to the
south. Had to skip Moscow for
practicality but will make the most of our new route….
Tuesday, July 23- Prymorsk, Ukraine to Rostov-on-Don,
Russia: Daily mileage: 212, Total mileage:
2874
We were very excited about getting to the Russian border following
two days in Ukraine but anticipated a long wait once we arrived at the crossing. Needless to say it was another early
start. Lisa admitted that she hadn’t
slept all that well, having stayed up well into the night keeping vigil armed with
a large rubber mallet. Morning revealed
that the strange sounds Lisa associated with some drunken, prowling stranger had
more likely emanated from our neighbor the cow, who had been foraging nearby all
night. There was a large spider in the
corner of the tent, something Lisa very calmly pointed out and then evicted as
we emptied the tent and packed up our belongings. A number of unwelcome ants made the job
somewhat more difficult than usual and I received several bites, but mercifully
we hadn’t pitched over an entire nest. We
worked in shifts crudely smashing them with our thumbs while rolling up
sleeping mats and stuffing sleeping bags.
It would seem we hadn’t done all that bad at selecting our first
free-range camping location, no small accomplishment in this particular country. Once we were back on the road there was one
last city for us to pass through, called Mariupol, and the Russian border lay
just beyond. Yet again, Ukraine did not
disappoint in its ability to consistently present the dustiest, dirtiest, most chaotic
and dilapidated arrangement of roads, bridges, houses, buildings, buses and streetcars
even in the easternmost of its southern cities.
Mariupol was the crown jewel, complete with a massive industrial complex
on the far side of town whose sole purpose seemed to be the production of
noxious fumes, rust, grit and broken glass for export to the rest of the
country. It must have been a proud sight
when it was new, and although it appeared to be fully operational it had clearly
not aged well. All teasing aside I did
feel there was more to Ukraine than what we had seen and experienced and
probably a heart-wrenching explanation as to its condition. I could very well be unfair in my assessment,
but as I was ignorant of such things I remained unmoved at that particular moment. And so, having passed through the country’s
lower digestive tract we finally approached the Russian frontier. To our amazement, it was pristine. The border crossing was the cleanest and most
modern we’d yet seen. The roads appeared
to be entirely normal. As the car’s
dedicated driver I felt a smile creeping across my face as I drove up to the
passport control area without steering wildly to avoid gaping holes or massive
bumps. Following a brief glance at the
contents of our trunk we were told there was some paperwork to fill out, and
the Russians were most particular as to how it was done. I filled mine out and Lisa hers, a guard
approached, inspected it gravely, shook his head and handed us another
form. After three attempts I finally
managed to complete a very simple, single page form to the satisfaction of the
border guard sporting the largest hat and the most stars on his epaulettes. Stamps were applied, our paperwork was handed
back and then redistributed to other guards and they waved us through without
so much as a passing glance. All told we
had spent just two hours leaving Ukraine and entering Russia. Before us lay an arrow-straight black ribbon
of the most luxuriously smooth pavement I’d seen since leaving the EU. It instantly reminded me of the U.S. and
again I found my expectations were entirely wrong. Russia was not the crumbling post-Soviet
dinosaur I had expected it to be. We
stopped first in Taganrog and as we approached the city center we found it to be
relatively clean and well maintained, which puzzled us. We were making a necessary stop in search of
a currency exchange, a quick meal and some wifi access and were bewildered
after finding all three in the space of an hour and a half. Up until now we had never accomplished so
much in so little time, and we therefore agreed that we both loved Russia. Driving further to Rostov-on-Don we stopped
once again for groceries, this time for another package of frozen shrimp which
we hoped to incorporate into our evening meal.
We’d actually tried this the day before from Malitopol and it worked
well enough. The roads snaking out of
the city ran through an industrial area and were more akin to those in Ukraine,
but eventually we were back on a well-travelled and well-maintained road. It took us north along the banks of the Don
River through what was an area of riverside resorts and restaurants, though
many were in various states of disrepair.
We noticed numerous pull-offs and roads leading into the woods, the traditional
method by which Russians must have enjoyed the outdoors. We’d noticed that signs marking campgrounds
had all but disappeared beyond Romania, which made sense considering the vastness
of Russia and the relative informality of the people. They needn’t bother with campgrounds as there
was an absurd abundance of countryside.
We picked one such road near several other cars and found a modest clearing
in the woods, the main road still in sight but obscured by trees. As we set up and began to cook a small
doe-colored dog wandered into camp, clearly very hungry and hoping for a
meal. We obliged and found him to be
very entertaining company. Being just a
pup he was at times overbearing and occasionally an outright nuisance, but we
noticed him guarding our campsite from the occasional interloper. Cars would often pull off the main road in search of a spot, and our new friend kept a close eye on them
in exchange for a portion of food. We
had time to build a fire, which also served as a sort of “occupied” notice, and
slept soundly through the night with the dog lounging right up against the
tent.
Monday, July 22- Odessa, Ukraine to Prymorsk, Ukraine. Daily mileage: 324, Total mileage: 2662
The roads leading eastward from the city improved only
slightly, with some occasional smooth patches and higher quality pavement
interrupting the usual mixture of holes and mounds of asphalt. In all honesty driving in Ukraine was still extremely
demanding due to numerous road hazards and uneven pavement. The further east we drove we would still
encounter dangerous patches full of deep holes and high ridges threatening to
burst tires or tear open the bottom of our car.
When we weren’t completely preoccupied dodging the aforementioned
obstacles, the countryside passing by the window consisted of near endless
sunflower fields and the occasional roadside stands selling honey or, more
often than not, watermelons. As we
passed one such stand we noticed the old Soviet flag flying and had a good
chuckle. It’s no wonder they reminisced about
the Soviet Union, as it appeared nothing in the entire country had been at all
maintained since at least 1990- around the time Ukraine gained its independence. It did
not appear that they had done anything of significance since, besides growing
copious amounts of sunflowers and watermelons.
We made a stop in Malitopol for groceries and found it to be an equally depressing
and disappointing destination. The
grocery store, however, was very nice and the young woman at the checkout was
all smiles and very helpful. Otherwise southern Ukraine
was turning out to be a complete disaster, very much to our surprise. We had expected an improvement from Romania
but were constantly faced with the opposite, realizing that this country
or at least the southern coast was far worse off than its western
neighbor. We drove as far as Prymorsk in
hopes on camping near the shores of the Sea of Azov, turned off the main road
and clumsily searched for the turn into the town proper. There didn’t appear to be any sense to the road
network leading in, nor were there any street signs to the center of town. I assumed we were there when we passed several
shops and then a square with a statue of Lenin, which I enthusiastically
pointed out. The town was a relic! A little ways further and we indeed made it
to a beach complete with patrons, but the public nature of the causeway road
leading to it and lack of private areas to camp forced us back inland in search
of a place to sleep. We passed by what
looked like run down and abandoned apartment blocks and then a soccer
field. This was another remnant of
Soviet times, as it was enclosed by a fence sporting a motif of the Olympic rings
and symbols of the 1980 Moscow Olympics (see picture below).
As we left town and headed back towards the main road to the north we saw a dirt track leading off the road next to a church graveyard. It seemed promising and looked passable for our car, so we turned off and explored it a bit further. As luck would have it, there was a private spot far removed and a nice, flat area for the tent and the car. We pitched up in this cow pasture in the company of one brown cow grazing nearby, parking next to a concrete wall that enclosed another field. We settled in, brought out the camp stove and cooked our dinner with relative ease. From that point on we heard nothing but the distant barking of a few neighborhood dogs, then dozens, then hundreds, then what sounded like every damn dog in all of southern Ukraine until about 3am.
As we left town and headed back towards the main road to the north we saw a dirt track leading off the road next to a church graveyard. It seemed promising and looked passable for our car, so we turned off and explored it a bit further. As luck would have it, there was a private spot far removed and a nice, flat area for the tent and the car. We pitched up in this cow pasture in the company of one brown cow grazing nearby, parking next to a concrete wall that enclosed another field. We settled in, brought out the camp stove and cooked our dinner with relative ease. From that point on we heard nothing but the distant barking of a few neighborhood dogs, then dozens, then hundreds, then what sounded like every damn dog in all of southern Ukraine until about 3am.
Sunday, July 21- Constanta, Romania to Odessa, Ukraine. Daily mileage: 344, Total mileage: 2338
Guys selling fish on the side of the road, the town of
gypsies on the banks of the Danube where everyone appears to be offering free
hugs, long 3.5 hours at Moldova and Ukraine borders, then shocked by the appalling
roads on way to Odessa. The first town
was Reni, a small, cramped and dusty community with streets in such poor
condition that they rivaled what you might expect on an active missile test
range. None were marked either, so
without our satellite navigation system we could well have wasted an hour just trying to find the
best route out of town. Headed for
Ismail and then followed signs to Odessa as they came up. Ran into another rally team on way, convoyed
for a bit and attempted to avoid the endless string of potholes, ruts and long
parallel ridges that comprised the majority of Ukrainian road surfaces. Shockingly they never really improved and
stayed more or less in the same state of disrepair all the way to Odessa. Didn’t make it before dark and so we again
fell back to the satnav to find a place to stay. It turned out to be a four star hotel and in
my haste I simply paid the $179 and took it as an acceptable expense. It frightened the other rally team off pretty
quickly as well.
Saturday, July 20- Constanta, Romania. Daily mileage: 7, Total mileage: 1994
Decided to take a break from the driving and enjoy
ourselves. Had mussels and grilled
mullet for lunch at La Pesta, walked around a little and saw the posh, clubby
areas to the south. Lounged on the
beach, swam in the Black Sea, did laundry, bought pork at the grocery store
from an extremely ill-tempered clerk and had a great dinner. Mission accomplished.
Friday, July 19- Sibiu, Romania to Constanta, Romania. Daily mileage: 354, Total mileage: 1987
Drove a few hours and stopped at a town to see about getting
the radiator fan checked out or buying a replacement that I could install later
on. Mechanic named Bobby helped us,
spoke perfect English. Romania got a lot
more interesting and far more beautiful as we crossed the Carpathians. They were far more imposing than either of us
anticipated, and in one town seemed to shoot straight up into the sky. Atop a peak there was a large cross,
presumably concrete, and we wondered what it took to put it there. Roads improved and we made better time,
finally seeing the coastline come into view around 7:30pm as we got to the
outskirts of Constanta. Arrived late at
Oha Beach but really at a normal time for us (8:30), great campsite but really
bad bathroom facilities.
Thursday, July 18- Mako, Hungary to Sibiu, Romania. Daily mileage: 230, Total mileage: 1633
The spotting of roadside prostitutes became a bit of sport
along the way, and they became increasingly common as we left the city and
proceeded into the countryside. Country
roads were very slow progress, and we were frequently behind innumerable trucks
which created a constant backup. Speeds
rarely exceeded 40mph. Stuck in a
traffic jam at one point, and shortly thereafter the car overheated and came
dangerously close to repeating the head gasket incident….
Wednesday, July 17- Magyarovar, Hungary to Mako,
Hungary. Daily mileage: 263, Total mileage:
1403
After a quiet night and some well-needed rest we
took our time packing up the next morning, having done a little laundry that
still needed to dry out. We had
everything down by around 9am but Lisa found herself searching for the car keys
and her debit card. As is often the case
when people misplace something of importance, the debit card was in her pocket
between the pages of her passport, and I spotted the car keys on the ground
just next to the car. Crisis averted, we
set off
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