Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
here. The ever-reliable
www.karpaty.info
lists countless places to stay in and around the
'village', and if you read Russian/Ukrainian, check out the town's website at
Regular
marshrutka
and bus services run from Yaremche (one hour) and Verkhovyna
(30 minutes). The daily Ivano-Frankivsk-Rakhiv train also makes a halt here in both dir-
ections.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Kolomyya
03433 / POP 61,500
Despite being more than 50km east of the main part of the Chornohora range, pretty Ko-
lomyya is arguably the best base for foreigners looking to discover the Carpathians.
English-speaking assistance and good transport links to the rest of the region make get-
ting out into the forested peaks as easy as falling off a log. It's also a centre of Hutsul
culture, meaning lots of authentic souvenir material for low prices.
Spruced up in the early noughties, the town has a distinct central European flavour in
places, with streets of faded
fin-de-siècle
architecture. This, plus two very worthwhile
museums, including the famous Pysanky Museum housed in a monster Easter egg, and
Ukraine's best traveller digs (the On the Corner guesthouse) make Kolomyya an essential
halt on any tour of the west.
UKRAINE'S ROBIN HOOD
All around the Carpathians you'll discover cliffs, rocks, trees and caves bearing the
name 'Dovbush'. Legend has it that these are spots where the 'Robin Hood of the
Carpathians', Oleksa Dovbush, and his band of merry Hutsuls slept while on the
run.
Like his Sherwood Forest-dwelling counterpart, Dovbush robbed from wealthy
merchants, travellers and nobles and distributed the loot to the poor - in his case
Ruthenian peasants and poor Hutsul villagers. Born in 1700 near Kolomyya, he
joined and later led a band of opryshki(outlaws). Many other bandits operated in
the region, but Dovbush's particular generosity to the highlanders led to his le-
gendary status.
Despite the best efforts of a hapless Polish army, which sent thousands of troops
into the mountains after him, he was never captured. In the end it was his mistress
who betrayed him in 1741 to her husband, a Polish official. Arrested in the village of
