Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(adult/child 20/10uah; 9am-8pm Tue-Sun, to 7pm Mon)
Built of wood in the 10th to 13th
centuries, then redesigned and rebuilt in stone by Italian military engineers in the 16th
century, K-P's fortress is a complete mishmash of styles. But the overall impression is
breathtaking, and if Ukraine ever gets its act together as a tourist destination, the view
from the
Turkish Bridge
leading to the fortress will become one of the country's iconic,
front-page vistas. The name of the bridge is slightly misleading, as it's essentially a me-
dieval structure whose arches were filled in and fortified by Turks in the 17th century.
The fortress is in the shape of a polygon, with nine towers of all shapes and sizes
linked by a sturdy wall. In the middle of it all is a vast courtyard. The
New East Tower
(1544) is directly to your right as you enter the fortress and contains a well and a huge
winch stretching 40m deep through the cliff to bring up water.
Just beyond the New East Tower, an unmarked white building houses a fantastic
mu-
seum
that romps through the history of K-P and Ukraine over the last century in a
jumble of nostalgia-inducing exhibits. Two revolutions bookend the collections, with the
blood-red silken flags of 1917 looking symbolically more potent than the limp orange
banners of 2004.
AND THERE'S MOREā¦
Most visitors content themselves with a stroll from the New Bridge to the fortress
and back, stopping off at a restaurant or cafe along the way. But if your legs are up
to the job, there's so much more to explore in Kamyanets-Podilsky's run-down
backstreets and lanes where forgotten chunks of the town's defences lurk.
Looking south from the New Bridge you can spot the 1583
Potters' Tower
OFFLINE MAP
GOOGLE MAP
,
so named because it was looked after by the
town's potters. Twelve of these towers once lined the bank of the gorge along the
perimeter of the island; seven or eight remain today.
At the northern edge of the Old Town is the still-functioning 16th-century
Vitry-
off in 1711. Connected to the gate is the seven-storey stone
Kushnir (Furriers')
Tower
, a defensive structure funded by artisans who lived nearby. From the tower,
Staroposhtovy uzviz turns southwest and descends steeply into the ravine down to
toric Polish section of the city, which was located on the other side of the river, built
around the hill dominated by the 19th-century Orthodox
Church of St George
OFFLINE MAP
GOOGLE MAP
,
with its five spires painted a brilliant azure.