Lviv & Western Ukraine - Ukraine - page 218

Odesa 120uah, 10 hours, three daily
Simferopol 280uah, 22 to 23 hours, three daily
Getting Around
Trolleybuses 5, 8 and 9 will get you from the bus station to the train station and the town
centre.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Pochayiv
03546 / POP 17,700
With its ornate golden domes rising up from the surrounding plain, Pochayiv Monastery
(Pochayivska Lavra; 612 18; grounds 24hr, excursion bureau 11am-4pm) is a beacon
of Ukrainian Orthodoxy (Moscow Patriarchate) on the edge of a largely Ukrainian Cath-
olic region. Indeed, it's the country's second-largest Orthodox complex after Kyiv's
Kyevo-Pecherska Lavra and was founded by monks fleeing that mothership when the
Mongols sacked Kyiv in 1240.
Visitors will find the monastery's ornate golden dome and church interiors beautiful
and its mystical aura intriguing. The atmosphere is much more devout than at the lavra
(senior monastery) in Kyiv.
Pochayiv is frequently packed, but tourists are still outnumbered by pilgrims visiting
the Mother of God icon (1597) or the 'footprint of the Virgin Mary'. The busiest reli-
gious festivals are the Feast of the Assumption on 28 August and the Feast of St Iov, a
17th-century Pochayiv abbot and the lavra 's most important monk, on 10 September.
Both of the monastery's famous religious relics are found in the baroque Uspensky
Cathedral (1771-83), whose entrance is straight ahead and to your left, on the crest of
the hill after you enter the main gate. The famed footprint of Mary, reportedly left after
the Virgin appeared to a local monk and a shepherd, has a holy spring with purportedly
healing waters. The Mother of God icon is imbued with the power to work any miracle.
Both are to the right of the central aisle.
The 65m-tall baroque bell tower (1861-71) is worth climbing for the view, if you can
sneak in with a tour group or monk. Its central knocker weighs over 315kg.
On the far side of the Uspensky Cathedral is a building with a door leading down to
the Cave Church . Pilgrims come here to pay their respects to the relics (ie remains) of St
Iov.