to Vorokhta – 32 km
to Ivano-Frankivsk – 125 km

Description of the Verkhovyna ski resort

The village of Verkhovyna is a ski resort of the Carpathians, located at an altitude of 620 m above sea level, surrounded by mountains and one of the most high peaks Carpathian mountains Pop Ivan, height 2022 m above sea level, and on two banks of the Black Cheremosh river.

The Verkhovyna ski resort has a well-developed infrastructure and a blue-level piste (for amateurs).

Rest in the village of Verkhovyna is year-round.
Mineral springs, with different compositions of water, make it possible to heal people with various diseases in local sanatoriums. In the highlands you can find rare growing edelweiss. At the tops of the mountains there are coniferous forests, below there are high-mountain meadows, even lower there is a mixed forest, and a deciduous forest in the valley itself. Mushrooms, berries, medicinal plants in alpine meadows and honey plants.
In the river you can fish for trout and catfish.

In the village of Verkhovyna you should definitely visit:

- on the top of Mount Pop Ivan, the ancient Polish White Elephant Observatory,
- Museum of Ethnography, Hutsul Life and Musical Instruments of R. Kumlik,
— local history museum and the house-museum that was filmed in the film “House of Forgotten Ancestors.”

For me it became Verkhovyna - a village (5.9 thousand inhabitants) on the Black Cheremosh River, which fully justifies its name. There is clear air, a bright sun, and the mountains around are much higher and more inaccessible. Judging by topographic map, at the same time, Verkhovyna is slightly higher than Vorokhta - but its landscape is much more mountainous. However, there is a lot that is not as it seems: for example, beautiful name was given to the village only in 1962, and before that it was the village of Zhabie, once the largest (11 thousand inhabitants, twice the current size) in all of Austria-Hungary.
From Verkhovyna I went to Mount Pop-Ivan, and this hike took all my strength - so the story about Verkhovyna will be brief and incomplete. But - that is. I'll probably come back here someday.


There are only 30 kilometers between Vorokhta and Verkhovyna, but approximately halfway the minibus overcomes the Krivopolsky pass (969 meters) - the second highest in Ukrainian Carpathians after Yablunitsky. There are mountains here on all sides - on the right is Chornohora, on the left is the Pokuttsko-Bukovina ridge, between them are the valleys of the Prut and Cheremosh, and the pass is on the bridge of the watershed. From him beautiful views, but I was sitting at the wrong window and only photographed a stop with a beautiful name:

People in the mountains. Even though they have forgotten Bartka, Trembita and Molfars, they are still Hutsuls:

We descend from the pass. Numerous wooden chapels are also an integral feature of the Hutsul region:

Like other mountain villages, Verkhovyna stretches along the Cheremosh in a narrow strip for about 7 kilometers. And unlike Yaremcha and Vorokhta, which have something interesting along their entire length, Verkhovyna, in principle, is much poorer in attractions, and 5 out of 7 kilometers can be skipped with a clear conscience. And this is the view from the bridge in the center:

The Black Cheremosh is much cleaner compared to the Prut, and in general seemed to me the most beautiful of the Carpathian rivers. It also has a loud and quite recognizable splashing sound - I even saw a cafe along the road called “Noise of Cheremosh”. Behind the bridge is a bus station:

The road in the Hutsul region forms a ring: Kolomyia - Yaremcha - Vorokhta - Verkhovyna - Krivorovnya - Kosiv - Kolomyia, and to go clockwise (that is, back to Vorokhta and beyond) you need to take the Ivano-Frankivsk minibus, and to go counterclockwise - to Kolomyia. There is a bazaar adjacent to the bus station, so it is crowded, and you can come across quite folklore images. Notice, by the way, what kind of legs the old lady has - not at all senile, this is what it means to live in the mountains:

View along the Cheremosh in the other direction:

The other end of the bridge opens onto the main square:

I asked the taxi drivers in advance how long it would be to Dzembronya (the village from where they go to Pop Ivan) - they answered, 150 hryvnia. They say it’s divine - many take 250. The bus goes there once a day at 12 o’clock. Okay, I thought, after Kazakhstan we’ll break through here!

In the next alley there was a cafe-bar-hotel "Ukrainochka". The bartender girl is not only a waitress, but also a hotel administrator, so you can only check in here while the cafe is open, and in addition to the room key, you are also given a code for the external lock. There are only about a dozen rooms, but they are huge, cozy, with modern plumbing - really, one of the best where I have stayed... and for only 150 hryvnia, which is very cheap even for Western Ukraine. Moreover, the cafe, which looked absolutely ordinary, turned out to be quite worthy of the pretentious Yaremche restaurants, only 2-3 times cheaper: a varied Hutsul cuisine, and of excellent quality. In general, the Road has given me a good gift in recent days.

View from my room window:

Last shot from evening Verkhovyna:

I walked around the village only two nights after Pop Ivan. But here it is worth saying that I left the hotel completely broken - my body was tired from the 25-kilometer hike in the mountains, and my head was tired from an excess of beauty and impressions. In general, after wandering around Verkhovyna without much enthusiasm, I realized that I couldn’t do it anymore and that I only had enough strength to get to Kolomyia. Now, of course, I scold myself for this - I missed something in Verkhovyna itself, but more importantly, I didn’t go to Krivorovnya (which almost touches Verkhovyna), the local “museum village”, where there are 14 museums of all kinds. Now, of course, I really regret it, especially since I had plenty of time... but such laziness attacks me very rarely, not to say for the first time, and this is probably not without reason.

Opposite the department store, perhaps the best example of the “neo-Hutsul” style, there is the “Hutsulshchyna” museum in the building of a former school. I didn’t go inside, nor did I search around the villages for the museum of the film “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” in the very hut-town where Parajanov filmed many episodes.

But right behind the museum, a wooden Assumption Church of the 18th century was discovered, the largest in all of Western Ukraine - it clearly shows that Zhabye was the largest village in Austria-Hungary.

And as usual - metal with embossing on top of the boards:

Here is Stalin's district committee:

Behind which is a military monument:

The mountain in the background separates Verkhovyna and Krivorivnya:

Wooden stop:

Apparently a new church:

But in general, I was tired of walking, realized that I didn’t want anything anymore and turned back:

As for Pop-Ivan, even at the hotel they tried to dissuade me from going there - supposedly, the climb would take 12 hours one way, this is a hike for at least two days, and it’s not easy to get to Dzembronya. But as I understand it, they had in mind another route, probably more beautiful and difficult, but if you go to Pop-Ivan along the standard path, it’s just a day from morning to evening... if you get to Dzembronya in the morning. Well, I, upset, took a ticket to the gate to Hoverla, but at the gate to Dzembronya I realized - no, I will break through to Pop-Ivan!
This lapel itself in the village of Iltsy looks like this - the frame was taken on the way back:

“The scooter is not mine, I just posted an ad” (c), mainly for the sake of a note about barter for timber, which, I think, quite characterizes this mountainous region:

And as always, I was lucky, or rather, my intuition did not let me down. There was a minibus at the restaurant, and at the minibus there were tourists, and clearly not from a bourgeois country. I just walked up and asked: “Are you going to Pop Ivan? Take me with you!” The tourists sent me to the driver, the driver - to the instructor, the instructor again to the tourists - there was a free seat on the bus for me. The guys turned out to be from Kyiv, based in Yaremche. Got in touch since then ladna_kobieta , and even provided me with a couple of photos for the next part. Now, by the way, she is posting, where I never went.

Upstream the Cheremosh the target is already visible - those two mountains with squiggles on the tops. To the right - Uhaty stone with a rock (1898m):

To the left is Pop-Ivan himself (2021m) with the ruins of the observatory:

Finally - unidentified wooden church in the village of Krasnik halfway to Dzembronya:

And then the minibus drove for a long time along a narrow rocky road without asphalt - an almost vertical slope on the right, the noise of the Cheremosh on the left. Then I realized that 150 hryvnia for such a trip is quite an adequate price (especially in Ukraine, where gasoline, and therefore taxis, are more expensive compared to Russia). Along the road - some settlements, guest houses, an abandoned sawmill... And finally - a stop in the center of Dzembronya, which turned out to be an ordinary Hutsul village, freely scattered along the slopes (the shot was taken on the way back):

About the completion of the Path Up - the next two parts.

CARPATHIAN Rus'-2012
.
On the Galician plain
. Main station.
. Stryisky Park and touches to the center.


Ivano-Frankivsk region

VERKHOVINA- Urban-type settlement, administrative center Verkhovyna district, Ivano-Frankivsk region (Ukraine). Located at an altitude of 618 meters above sea level on the Black Cheremosh River (tributary of the Cheremosh), 150 km from Ivano-Frankivsk and 31 km from railway station Vorokhta. Verkhovyna in the Carpathians is called the most elevated areas of the terrain.

The village of Verkhovyna was called Zhabye until 1962. The first mentions of it date back to 1424. Beautiful Carpathian nature, surrounding peaks - Mount Pushkar (812 m), Magurka (1025 m), Sinitsy (1186 m), White Mare (1473 m), steep waves of the Cheremosh, original Hutsul culture, folk traditions attract numerous tourists to Verkhovyna. The village offers a picturesque view of Mountain peaks- the beginning of the Montenegrin ridge. Of great interest to tourists is Mount Pop-Ivan (2020 m) with the old Polish observatory on the top. From Verkhovyna to the beginning walking route can be reached by car.

Verkhovyna: recreation, accommodation, prices
It’s not difficult to find housing in Verkhovyna, but good accommodation It's better to order in advance. The village is very large, there are recreation centers, boarding houses, hotels, rural (green) tourism is well developed in Verkhovyna. Owners of private estates hospitably open their doors to travelers. The cost of a holiday in Verkhovyna in winter depends on the proximity to the ski lift and the comfort of your stay. And in the summer it’s mainly for comfort.

Holidays in Verkhovyna will be of interest to true connoisseurs of nature, as well as the long-standing traditions of the Hutsul region. Ancient folk customs and rituals, legends and fairy tales have been preserved here. To see this, just visit Verkhovyna at Christmas, Easter and other holidays. Every year, on January 9, the “Hutsul Carol” holiday is organized in Verkhovyna. At the festival you can hear carols, trembita music, and violins.

Winter holidays in Verkhovyna are mainly ski holiday, there are two ski lifts in the area, one of which is located directly in Verkhovyna (the slope of Mount Pushkar), and the second in the village. Iltsi (slope of Mount Zapidki), 5 km from Verkhovyna on the road to Vorokhta. Both ski slopes have a northern exposure, which allows snow cover to remain on them from the beginning of December to the end of March. There are several rental shops in the area ski equipment and a dozen qualified ski guides. Well, if you ski slopes seem too simple, then 52 km from Verkhovyna there is a famous ski resort"Bukovel".

In the spring in Verkhovyna one of the most popular types of tourism can be considered water (rafting) mountain river). The Verkhovyna region is interesting due to its complex rapids, mainly Black and partially White Cheremoshev. Water tourists have chosen the banks of these rivers back in the early seventies.

Summer recreation in Verkhovyna is mainly associated with “silent hunting”: picking berries, mushrooms, and medicinal herbs.

Verkhovyna Attractions
In Verkhovyna there is a private museum of Hutsul life and musical instruments of Roman Kumlyk. In a small rural house, a collection of violins, national household items, musical instruments and much more has been collected. And all this is supported by stories, playing instruments and jokes from the owner of the museum.

Directions
The best way to get to Verkhovyna is from Ivano-Frankivsk - by bus or minibus. Travel time is about three hours. You can get there from Chernivtsi (but transport runs less frequently), with a transfer through Kosiv.

To Ivano-Frankivsk- 135 km
Airport- No
Railway station- No
Bus station- There is
Radio taxi- No
To the ski lift- 2 km
Architectural monuments- There is
Bathing places, beaches:- Cheremosh River
Cafes, bars, restaurants- There is
Mineral water- No
Hiking in the mountains- There is

The urban-type settlement of Verkhovyna is located at an altitude of about 620 meters above sea level on the Black Cheremosh River and is the center of the Verkhovyna district of the Ivano-Frankivsk region. This village arose in the 15th century (in 1424 - the first mention), when it was donated by the Lithuanian prince Svidrigail to the Carpathian rich man Vlad Dragosimovich. Then Verkhovyna bore the name Zhabier. According to legend, this name comes from the first local settler, the Christian Zhabka. Although, according to an alternative version, on the site of the village there used to be a swamp with many toads. The renaming to Verkhovyna took place already in 1962.
Today the village has about 6 thousand residents, many of whom are employed in tourism infrastructure Verkhovyna and neighboring resorts.

Verkhovyna is one of the most beautiful Carpathian resorts, surrounded by picturesque mountains and rocky ridges. The village lies in the valley of the Black Cheremosh River, at an altitude of about 600 meters above sea level. The well-known Montenegrin ridge originates near Verkhovyna, and the village itself is surrounded by the mountains Mazurka, Sinitsa, Pushkar and others. Guests come to Verkhovyna from all over Ukraine and neighboring countries. And it’s not just the beautiful views that attract them here.
Verkhovyna healing springs, of which there are about a hundred in these places, are famous for the beneficial effects of their waters on the human body. The cleanest low-mountain climate is also ideal for improving health.
Ski slopes bring Verkhovyna popularity as a winter resort, and the protected surrounding lands, indented by dozens of tourist walking, equestrian and cycling routes, provide an influx of tourists in the summer months.
Sophisticated visitors will certainly be interested in the unique museums of Verkhovyna, such as the Museum of Folk Instruments and the House-Museum of the film “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors.”

The climate in Verkhovyna and the Verkhovyna region is temperate continental and is characterized by high humidity and a fairly high heat reserve. In many ways, on weather in this region is significantly influenced by the terrain of a particular area. So in Verkhovyna itself, located in the lowlands, the temperature in the warmest summer month of July reaches a maximum of +16°C, and the coldest in January: -6°C. And in the territory of medium altitudes, on the mountain slopes surrounding Verkhovyna, the air temperature is much lower: up to +12°C in summer, and up to -7°C in winter. In general, winters in the region are mild and snowy, creating ideal conditions for winter holiday: snow cover covers the ground already in October, and disappears only in late spring. And summer is freed from the heat of the day and filled with a pleasant atmosphere and coolness.

Depending on the altitude, the lands of the Verkhovyna region are divided into three main zones: forest, subalpine and alpine. The largest of them is the forest one. It occupies more than 90% of the entire region. This area is dominated by natural plantings of broad-leaved beech forests; there are also elm, maple, hornbeam, alder, birch and other deciduous tree species.
Higher up (up to 1350 m above sea level), the forest cover changes - spruce-beech and fir-spruce-beech species predominate. The most common shrubs are berries: raspberries, wolfberry, honeysuckle, rose hips and others. There are also patches of snowdrops and buntings at these heights.
In the Chornohory tract you can see unique Carpathian cedars - so local residents nicknamed the European cedar pine. This is a very rare species of tree, living up to 700 years and found only here and in the Alps.
Also on one of the peaks there you can find the famous Carpathian edelweiss - a rare beautiful mountain flower, sung in the songs and legends of the Hutsuls as a “silk braid”.

Verkhovyna is called the center of Hutsul culture. This region is rich in legends, natural and architectural attractions - there is something to admire and something to fantasize about! People come here not only for the beautiful landscapes and long walks along the steep path up the two-thousand-meter mountain, but also to hear local legends: about the treasures of Dovbush, hidden somewhere deep in the mountains, about the girl Marichka, who saved the village from enemies, about ancient sanctuaries and the gods who were worshiped there, about existing and forgotten traditions - the Verkhovyna region keeps many legends. Be sure to come and listen!

The large two-story building houses 3 exhibition and 2 exhibition halls: here you will see weaving looms and Hutsul clothing. The museum's collection is also proud of the newlywed couple - dolls in detailed traditional attire were donated to the museum after the Second World War. In the general exhibition hall, visitors can see a fragment of a meteorite from the Bystrets River, church register books for newborns of the 18th-19th centuries, periodicals for 1936, which contain interesting materials written in the Hutsul dialect, and much more.

Historical and local history museum of the Hutsul region, photo Judanec

However, the Hutsul Museum is interesting not only for the exhibits presented: initially it was supposed to become not just a place for storing objects cultural heritage, and the research base of the Hutsul region and the Eastern Carpathians. On the basis of the museum, since its opening in February 1938, scientists have even carried out astronomical research!

Written Stone is a geological natural landmark and simply a nice place. It got its name from petroglyphs - images on stone carved by ancestors. At the top of the massif there once existed a pagan temple: 9 round stone recesses have survived to this day.

photo Judanec

There is a marked route from Verkhovyna to the summit. Climbing time: 3-4 hours on foot, although the road allows you to get to the Written Stone by car. You can easily find the route to Pisany Kamen and more.

View from the Written Stone, photo Judanec

It's incredibly beautiful alpine lake is located, however, not in Verkhovyna, but much higher than it. To see Maricheyka, you can either do a one-day hike or go up to the lake with an overnight stay. According to legend, the reservoir is the tears of the shepherd Ivan, who, grieving for his dead loved one, cried the whole lake! However, the water in it is fresh, not salty. Around there is a quiet spruce forest and thickets of mountain pine, and the lake itself is often overgrown with sedge. An ideal place to spend the night or relax! The route to Maricheyka from Verkhovyna can be found.

Lake Maricheyka, photoAlexey Medvedev

Stone observatory on the town of Pop Ivan

From Maricheika, by the way, you can climb to Mount Pop Ivan Chernogorsky (2028 m). At the top of this two-thousand-meter mountain there is a huge stone observatory. By the way, this is the highest building on the territory of modern Ukraine, in which people constantly lived and worked.

Construction began back in 1936, but the observatory operated fully for only three years - from 1938 to 1941. The history of its creation is amazing: the builders brought the stone needed for construction to the top of the mountain on horseback, and sometimes on their own backs. The walls, insulated between the stones with a layer of tarred cork, reach 1.5 m in thickness. The five-story building had a huge copper dome, which was delivered to the top in parts, the largest of which weighed 950 kg!

Observatory Pop Ivan, photo Yaroslav Tyurmenko

Of the 43 rooms of the huge observatory, almost none has survived, but thick external walls rise behind them, behind which desperate tourists hide from the hurricane wind, which is not uncommon on the Montenegrin ridge.

Dovbushev's Comoros

On the town of Dovbushanka, not far from Verkhovyna, there is a natural rock corridor - the Hutsuls call it “days”. An old myth tells about mysterious otherworldly gates hidden somewhere here: for the ancient Giant People, one gorge served as an exit to This World, and another, in the depths of the caves, served as a gateway to That World.

Since ancient times, the top of Mount Dovbushanka was sacred to the Hutsuls. This place began to be called “Dovbush’s Comoros” much later: the legend says that the rebel leader Oleksa Dovbush hid his treasures in the local dungeon caves. There were plenty of gold seekers: some simply explored the caves in the hope of finding a cast iron pot with coins, and others, having seen the “sign”, dug deep holes in Dovbushanka. One of these cases ended tragically, so in 1938 the then local authority banned these dangerous random studies.

Now the route to Dovbushanka is an excellent option for a weekend walk. Just please don’t go into the caves alone: ​​myths are myths, but safety comes first!

House-museum of the film “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” and hut-grazhda

First, you need to differentiate something: the house-museum of the film “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” and the hut-grazhda are not the same thing. Both buildings are located in Verkhovyna, but the first is in the village of Glyfa, and the second is in the village of Zhabevsky Potok. In addition, the local hut-citizen has nothing to do with “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” - this is the house of Ivan Boychuk and Anna Laskuriychuk: the film “Annichka” was filmed here in 1968.

By the way, during the 1950-1960s, the Kiev Film Studio named after. A. Dovzhenko shot three films in the Verkhovyna region: the already mentioned “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” and “Annichka”, as well as “Olexa of Dovbush”.

The House-Museum of “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” was created in the early 2000s in the ancient hut of Maria and Vasily Khimchakov, Hutsuls who participated in the filming. The purpose of the museum is to study the history of the creation of the legendary film and, mainly, to participate in the filming local population, because it was the amateur actors who made the film so believable.

Hata-grazhda, photo by anderver

And the Hata-Grazhda, in which Parajanov filmed, is located in the village of Zarechye (village of Krivorivnya) - 8 km from Verkhovyna.

What is interesting about these locations? Without a guided tour, they may seem like a waste of time: in the absence of funding, huts-citizens, for example, look more like rotten storerooms than historical and architectural monuments. But a decent, detailed narrative can give meaning to each dusty exhibit.