Unforgettable traveling in search of peace and joy. Ternopil region, Ukraine

I wanted to visit there for a long time. A world of hills, caves, forests and fields. A world where underground and above ground are equally interesting. My dream of visiting these caves was just beginning to come true. Because this world is much bigger than you can learn in one or two days.

Time and time again I felt like I was inside the famous professor's Middle-earth. After all, hobbits (inside the hills), and gnomes (in the caves), and elves (on the banks of the river and waterfall) could really live in Podillya.
Six people gathered, my old friends and new acquaintances, with whom we went in search of adventure. I invite you to join this wonderful world.

The beginning of the journey

The weather in those days was specific. It is gloomy and hot as if in a sauna. Somewhere above in the sky rain was born...

The first point for our stop is the beautiful and cozy city of Ternopil. We walked through its streets in search of a cafe to have breakfast. But it was quite early, around 10:00, so some establishments were still "sleeping".

Left to right, top to bottom. Monuments to writer Ivan Franko, archaeologist Ihor Gereta, singer Solomiya Krushelnytska; and also my friends in search of a cafe)))

So we found a nice Barbaresco restaurant, which attracted me with its design and coolness. Gray walls and colored sofas and interior details set a calm and positive mood. My friend and I successfully "overcame" pizza, and our friends ordered an American breakfast. The drinks were also delicious.

Verteba Cave, the secret place of life of Trypilians

I laid out the travel route in coordination with my friends. To be honest, my plans were Napoleonic and I didn't take into account some bad roads and the fact that one friend had a cold, and the other had claustrophobia (well, she didn't know about it herself!)

Caves were the main highlight of the trip! Maybe I was a dwarf in my past life, because I was simply in love with the underworld.

First on the list was the Verteba cave in the south of the Ternopil region. When we drove up on the navigator, we were surprised. Hey, it's just a flat field. Where are the caves? (Well, there is such an assосiation that caves should be on hills or in mountains!)

At the stand we can see pottery and iconic sculptures of ancient tribes.

And here is the entrance to the cave! The tour guide was already waiting for us. It was nice to dive into the coolness after this strange "greenhouse" outside.
The cave is one large hall, supported by stone columns, which seems to have outgrowths. The length of all passages is 9 km, but the cave has not yet been fully explored and excavations are ongoing. This is primarily a museum! Therefore, there is lighting here and you do not need to crawl or have special speleologist abilities.

Separate parts of the cave have an exposition with tools and clay products of the people of Tripil, who lived a long time ago (5400 - 2750 BC). They were among the first farmers on the planet. These people mainly used flint tools, but also had copper items.
They built beautiful ground dwellings. Apparently, the cave was needed for rituals. Fires were lit here and animals were sacrificed. Perhaps these tribes were also hiding from enemies here.

These people had a very difficult life! They did not yet know the potter's wheel, but they sculpted by hand wonderful dishes on which ornaments were applied. They were very dependent on nature, so among their charms there is a figure of a woman with her arms spread out to the sides as a symbol of fertility. A bull's head with horns is also common.

We were enchanted by the room with stones illuminated by multi-colored light. One of these stones is completely transparent. The walls of the cave are made of gypsum. I always thought gypsum is completely white, but in its raw state it can be yellow or brown or other colours.

We came out of the cave with the feeling that there are still a lot of questions in the study of Trypilians. For example, why did their culture suddenly disappear? It is also interesting whether they died en masse or simply assimilated with new, more powerful tribes.
But we should move forward!

On the way, we stopped for a moment in the town of Borschiv, because we liked the house with interesting domes which resembled a church.

The village of Kryvche. Ruins of the castle and the Kryshtaleva (Crystal) cave

The further we moved into the depths of the edge of the caves, the more beautiful the scenery was.

Sometimes we found ourselves at the bottom of valleys with fields or forests rose up around us. And in a few minutes, on the contrary, we were already at the top, and somewhere below we saw village houses. We noticed that the villages here are often located at the bottom, between the hills. This is very cool and refreshes the mind, these easy American slides of Podillia (that's the name of the entire region of the country).

Ternopil region has the most castles in Ukraine, but most of them are in ruins. Once upon a time, this region suffered the most from Tatar attacks. And time, world wars and native people completed the destruction. In the village of Kryvche there are such beautiful towers of the castle of the 16th century.
It is dangerous to go inside the towers. Unfortunatly...

Behind the castle we admired the magical scenery of the hills.

And so we reached the most interesting location of that day. Welcome. Crystal Cave. In general, there are a lot of caves in this area! From tiny to huge. The largest cave, Optimistychna, has 250 km of passages and is included in the Guinness Book of Records.

Kryshtaleva is average in size, it is about 25 km. Аnd only 3 km of them are open to tourists.

These are all karst caves. Once upon a time there was the Sarmatian Sea here and these rocks were formed on its bottom. Then the sea disappeared (20 million years ago). And underground waters gradually destroyed the monolithic rock and various cavities were formed. WARNING! This world of caves is not completely explored. There will be enough work for future generations. Fear and curiosity compel me to join in exploring the caves.

At first, we walked for a long time at a low tunnel. There is lighting here, but sometimes it disappeared for a moment and it was scary.
We had a guide and another group of young people who were having fun and thanks to them I understood that everything ahead was ok. After all, I like to go behind to take photos. Or a video...)

Exuse me. The quality is not very good. My hands are shaking a little because I don't go to the cave every day.

Later, the tunnel became wider and we found ourselves in a more spacious hall, which passed through the corridors into smaller halls. Here, stone blocks of various shapes hung from the ceiling, and therefore each hall has a symbolic name.

Gypsum crystals have different shapes here. Some look like snow or hoarfrost, and others look like ice or patterns of frost on a window. It's just a fairy tale to admire this glitter! Unfortunately, I am not a good enough photographer, but your imagination will help you.
That is why the cave is called Kryshtaleva, because of this brilliance.

A stone to check the waist)))

Above all, I liked the Hall of the Bull, because there really is a stone hanging from the ceiling that looks like a bull's head. And the patterns around are very cool.

My friend Julia is a flutist and she had the idea to make a video of her playing in a cave. It was a transfer to another reality, honestly! The flute added mystique to these already strange places. And it was also possible to fix a real... fox in the frame. The fox was not very pleased with such a guests. The guide explained that in fact there are several entrances to the cave and the fox has its personal one)))