10 Things to Do in Ruthenia and Galicia

As difficult it is to pick only a handful of recommendations, we have asked five intrepid travel bloggers and industry experts for their favourites.

1. The Old Market Square – it might not be the biggest (Krakow takes that cake), or the most picturesque (take your pick) market square in Europe, but this site of medieval fairs is now the centre of the capital’s cafe culture, both for the locals and the tourists [...]

2. Czernograd Zoo – [...] amongst the usual attractions of local and exotic fauna you will find in any respectable, mid-size zoological garden, this one also offers a unicorn and a rare Ruthenian basilisk [...]

3. Take a ride on the Puszki Express – [...] and it’s a misnomer, too, of sorts. This immaculately restored hundred-year-old steam train is in no hurry to take you from Czernograd all the way to the southern border resort of Puszki, the skiing capital of RiG. Yet for all its leisurely pace, the train arrives at its destination around 15 minutes earlier than its departure time [...]

4. Galician Museum of Natural History – […] while dragons have been sadly extinct for several hundred years now, this world-class institution possesses on display an almost complete dragon skeleton, originally preserved in the Abbey of St Luba. Missing are some of the tail bones, pilfered during the Middle Ages to make parts of the royal throne, subsequently lost in fire in the 19th century.

5. The Talking Tree of Rohacz – an old oak, said to occasionally speak to visitors, but only in Ruthenian, so you will need a translator. On the southern outskirts of Czernograd, 15-minute drive from the city centre [...]

6. See a vampire – you won’t have a problem with this one, even though most undead Ruthenian and Galicians are indistinguishable from all others – and they like to keep their privacy [...]

7. The Svaroslaw Festival – if you find yourself in the country in late August and with a day or two to spare, make sure you pay a visit to northern Galicia for this, one of the largest folk festivals now held throughout Eastern and Central Europe [...]

8. The Vanishing House of Spisz – just like the country itself, No 13 (yes, that’s right) Przeworska Street in this picturesque town south of Czernograd, seems to exist or not, depending on its whim. Sometimes you will find it between Numbers 11 and 15, other times these two houses will be touching each other with no space to insert a blade between the walls. Needless to say, No 13 is not currently inhabited and not open to visitors when it’s actually there.

9. The Kurewka River Cruise – […] enjoy the moody and haunted landscapes along the course, with frequent mists and ghost lights at night […] The highlight involves an encounter with the local mermaids called rusalki, who in summer months will participate in private swimming adventures with guests […]

10. Saint Miroslaw’s Waterrise – water always flows downwards, right? Well, not in this creek, about an hour’s drive north-west of Czernograd, where at one point water defies gravity and rushes up the rock wall, only the resume the flow of the creek down the other side of the outcrop [...]

“10 Things to Do in Ruthenia and Galicia”, Global Adviser, “Time”, 4 March 2018, p.45-6

Photo by Filbert Mangundap on Unsplash