Kamianets is the most beautiful city of Ukraine. If disagreed, one should come here for a couple of days in May, when everything is in full blossom mode here, and walk inside the Smotrych river canyon — the more, the better. The unique terrain here is the main thing, and it is beautiful. It has been here way before the city and the castle appeared — 20 million years versus 600 something.
When I saw the canyon for the first time in 2004, I was stunned and even lost interest in the city itself for that day. The city has added bridges, footbridges, paths, stairways and the castle to the already beautiful natural place.
This city stands in a natural park of worldwide importance, so obviously beautiful that it is hard to believe that it wasn't on the World heritage list some time ago. It is now. Plentiful paths, stairs, bridges, several streams flowing on granite bedrock, old hydro-technical objects make 30 thousand steps a day an easy (and obligatory) thing. It is definitely very pleasant for cyclists as well.
This old Ferris wheel is a thing that is strongly in contrast with the modern ways of entertainment here, such as expensive air balloon flights or yellow heavy-duty vehicle scenic routes. The ticket price is one part of that contrast, with the Ferris wheel being on the cheaper side of the price spectrum.
May is the month when this yellow plant blossoms here. It was adding so much beauty that I had to google its name. If I did not fail at it, the name is Basket of gold (Aurinia saxatilis). The Ukrainian Wikipedia says that the plant is a rare one in this country, which does not seem so when you are walking through Kamianets, where it seems to be abundant. Let it be even more of it!
Apart from the main bridges, Kamianets has many small footbridges crossing the tiny Smotrych river at the bottom of the canyon. One of them was already shown above. These bridges are old and new, wide and not so much, with some of them posing dangers of some level. They also make walks more interesting.
There are small bridges traversable by small cars, too. This one, for example, was made of metal sheets and had no handrails whatsoever.
It was on one of these bridges that the age of this beautiful stuff took their toll from me. An old wire rope that was also serving as a handrail on a shaky suspension footbridge had several wires broken due to the elements and the time. I cut my finger noticeably, and sacrificed some blood to the canyon. Not angry — the place is well worth getting a scratch or two.
Stairs were abundant, making walks even more entertaining. They looked nice, all undergoing some stages of decay.
One of these stairs led us to this place, proving that Kamianets indeed is the most beautiful city of Ukraine. Any objections?
Old news, but there's a medieval castle in Kamianets-Podilsky. Despite my full understanding of its fame and the amount of photos taken of it, I am still showing some of my photos with it visible. The castle serves well to the purpose of completing the already nice views. Here it is, not without another footbridge over Smotrych.
Please, have another view of the castle — this time, it is from the bedrock of Dibrukha stream riverbed near Karvasary street.
I've seen the castle from the outside,
and from the insides.
I have also witnessed the illuminated castle at night — a thing every Ukrainian has to do at least once.
It added a lot to this dirty path on the riverbank of Smotrych.
While making a small detour into the adjacent Smotrych village, we stumbled upon a water source (or just a faucet) of a brutal design. The water was running non-stop. Yes, I did drink it.
Now to the important piece of knowledge about Kamianets. Let's suppose that you somehow got bored by this city and this beauty does not touch you anymore. In such case, you can travel for just 20 kilometres using own transport or a bus like this one and get to the Ustia village.
What for? Because of the...
There it is, visible from the village bus stop.
The edge of the cliff can and should be walked on.
Lots of wild flowers on and along the path, if the time of year is proper.
One of paths will lead you to the Smotrych river mouth — one of many magnificent places of the canyon.
Old town from the viewpoint on the edge of Ruski filvarki.
A semi-random view from the castle in the direction of Polski filvarki.
Let me end this with someone's joke on a door in the city.
