Wednesday, September 8, 2010

From the Former USSR with Love

At Sigheta there is a new bridge across the Tiso to the Ukraine, former USSR. A little bit of paper work, a walk in the rain, and there you are...
Even before Sapanta, we noticed road signs in Russian as well as Romanian









We did not dare take pix of the border facilities, but you can
see the new bridge in this Ukraine billboard, at the crossing;
I think it says "Your capitalist wolves' taxes at work..."








From the bridge, Romania on the left, Ukraine on the right; River Tiso in the middle








So there we are, past the border station and its frowny-faced guards









Just like in Romania, unfinished buildings








Welcome to Slatina








The village church; note variety of construction materials









One or two very nice houses; most not so nice









There were exactly two stores open, both
very limited general merchandise, staples,
beer; nothing in the way of souvenirs or
trinkets, not even post-cards; not unlikely
we were the first Americanskis to venture
this way














OK, now we've been to the Ukraine; alas, not much to show
for it but stamps on our passports, but we did it


















































































































PS For those wondering why we did not venture further into this fascinating land, the Ruskies generally, in whatever their former-states, are not particularly welcoming of independent travelers, and especially of those in RVs; we have an acquaintance who did the Ukraine recently in an RV, but he was part of an organized caravan (convoy), that is, a tour. Next time. Or more likely, the time after that.

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