Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Central Ukraine
POP 5.5 MILLION
Why Go?
Layered with dark fertile soil, Ukraine's breadbasket heartlands are split between forested
Polissya to the north and the endless agricultural flatlands of Podillya to the south. Bucolic
outdoor pleasures, some decidedly quirky museums and the show-stopping fortress town
of Kamyanets-Podilsky are the odd mix of highlights provided by this often overlooked
region.
Overlooked, that is, unless you are a Jewish pilgrim come to visit the tombs of Hasidic
masters that dot the region. This was the birthplace of Hasidism and of the Jewish
shtetl
(village), both of which flourished within the Jewish Pale of Settlement, a demarcation
line established by Catherine the Great in the 18th century to remove Jews from Russia
and define the area they were allowed to inhabit. The Nazis obliterated practically every
trace of Jewish culture here, with only the odd hauntingly abandoned Jewish cemetery re-
maining.
When to Go
Aug
Gaze in awe at central Ukraine's humungous sunflower fields in full bloom.
