THIS TRAVEL GUIDE BOOK WAS CREATED BY THE ETWINNING TEAM OF "A JOURNEY TO DREAM OF" PROJECT

Places of Interest in Ukraine

Volyn Region, Ukraine

The Lutsk (or Lubart’s) Castle is the main historic monument of the capital of Volyn region. It is the only castle in Ukraine seen by nearly every Ukrainian, thanks to the fact that they hold its picture in their hand with every 200 hryvnas bill. The 28 meter-high Entrance Tower of Lutsk Castle was where the idea of a united Europe was voiced for the first time. And it happened in 1429. In the year 1000, when the city of Lutsk appeared, Prince Volodymyr the Great odered to build the castle, which stopped invaders many times.

The castle’s inhabitants not only engaged in war,

but also cultural leisure activities. At least we are sure they played chess: archaeologists found carved ivory figures. The castle was renovated in the 1340’s, at the time of the reign of Prince Lubart, Grand Duke of Lithuania. But construction was only completed in 1542. In 1392, Lutsk was transferred to Lithuanian Prince Vytautas the Great. In January of 1429 he invited European monarchs from 15 states to Lutsk. In total more than 15,000 guests came (members of royal families and servants not counted), while the population of Lutsk itself was only about 5,000 residents.

Three towers of the stronghold, Vladych, Lubart and Styr, still stand today hugged by 10 meter thick walls. In Vladych there is an armoury and a unique collection of bells. In Lubart’s Tower there is an exhibition of building ceramics. And the foundation stones show where the palace of Vytautas and the church of John Bogoslov stood. “Knights’ tournaments”, known as the “Sword of Lutsk Castle”, are held here annually. And the castle of Lubart still rises over the modern city. It was so in the 14th century, it is so now and let it be so for centuries to come.

A series of very important questions were raised at this “summit”, such as forming a coalition against the growing power of the Ottoman Empire (groundwork of the modern European Union!), equal rights for Catholic and Orthodox churches, and, among other things, the coronation of Vytautas. Legend also speaks of another owner of the castle, Prince Svidrigailo. Under Svidrigailo’s reign, Lutsk was said to be the unifying centre for all of Ukraine at the time. But after 1452, when Svidrigailo passed away, the history of the Volyn Principality ended. But it was not the end of the castle’s history.

Shatsk National Natural Park was established in 1983 and is located in northwest part of Ukraine, on the border with Poland and Belarus. Shatsk lake group is one of the biggest in Europe. On its territory there are more than thirty lakes of varying sizes. Their total area is almost 70 square kilometers. They constitute one of the biggest European groupings of lakes. Among them is Svitiaz, the deepest lake in Ukraine, with an area of 28 square kilometers and a depth of 58 metres.

It is rich in silver ions and glycerol. Due to this water in Svitiaz is extremely transparent, very clean and soft the bottom is visible at a depth of 5-8 meters. That is why it is a perfect place for diving in summer. Svitiaz is one of the best places to visit in Volyn region. Tourists from all over Ukraine and even abroad come here to save from summer heat in its waters.

Olyka Castle, located in Olyka, Volyn region was the principal seat of the Radziwill princely family from 1564 until the late 18th century. The founder of the castle was Prince Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł who gave Olyka to his youngest son Stanisław. The Olyka Castle was immensely influential as the first square fort with corner bastions and the prototype of many similar structures found in Eastern Europe. It was almost continuously under construction for eight decades and sustained numerous sieges between 1591 and 1648.

The Olyka Castle comprises four residential buildings of unequal height, forming a court in the middle and encircled by a moat. The towers of the original castle have crumbled to the ground, but the network of bastions is still in place. The main palace of three storeys, although originally built in the 16th century, is essentially the upshot of renovations carried out in the 17th and 18th centuries. The old city’s walls recall the awful fires of 1803 and 1823 and events of the war of 1812, when the palace was turned into a military hospital. Olyka, deprived of an attentive owner, began to decay and collapse.

But the Radziwills restored their family heirloom each time. Even today you can find the descendants of Janusz Radziwill, the last pre-communists high ranking representative authority in Olyka, who was arrested by the Bolsheviks in 1939.  His son Edmund and his wife opened a kindergarten, a hospital and a dairy farm here in the years between the two wars. In 1959 their son Stanislaw Albrecht Radziwill became a relative of John F. Kennedy himself by marrying Caroline Lee Bouvier (best known as Lee Radziwill), the younger sister of the late former First Lady Jacqueline (Bouvier) Kennedy Onassis.

Now the castle has new owners: Volyn’s Psychiatric Hospital No. 2 is now located here. Though you will not see a magnate’s palace inside, all are free to stroll across the castle’s flower-filled yard and view the three-storied palace with its gates, corner citadels and castle moats; all of which make the castle still an interesting sightseeing location.

The medieval town of Olyka in the Volyn region has always been renowned for its independent character. In the middle of the 16thcentury Olyka received the Magdeburg rights, and by the 19th century it had become one of Volyn’s richest cities. In the Olyka village there are several interesting objects, such as the castle and the Radziwill family Collegial Church of Holy Trinity. The castle is now used as a mental hospital.

Near the fortress is Volyn’s beautiful Holy Trinity Collegiate Roman Cathedral Church  (1635-40), built by Italian architects Benedetto Molli and Giovanni Maliverna. The church is richly decorated with sculptures of saints and engravings by the famous sculptor Ampeli from Lviv. It is in dreadful condition, but nevertheless worship services are still held there. From the outside the church looks great from any angle.

Museum of Agriculture in Volyn is a skansen, which is located on an area of over 170 thousand km 2 at Rokyni village (12 km from Lutsk). The museum was opened in 1979. Real treasure of Rokyni and Volyn region, famous museum Skansen, is visited by thousands of tourists every year. Museum is dedicated to the history of agriculture in Volyn, life and culture of our ancestors. This small settlement, which consists of several authentic houses (haty), fence (tyn), and of all other things, that reproduces true Western Ukrainian village. In the houses are museums. 

Some of them recreate the interior of the Ukrainian hatas (houses), some other museums tell us about the history and tools of our ancestors. Guests can take part in workshops: archery and making authentic toys: dolls, which are considered not only a toy, but also protection against evil. This dolls call Lyalky-motanky. Also the visitors can see Ukrainian national martial art - fighting hopak and theatrical Cossack fight.

Interesting and exciting exposition materials of seven halls of the museum tell about the origins of agriculture and stockbreeding in the Volyn region, improvement of agricultural implements, representing the history of agriculture development of Volyn from ancient times to the present, agricultural science, land features of the natural conditions for farming. The visitors can become familiar not only with the monuments of ancient residential, commercial, monumental and farm wooden building, but also immerse themselves in an interesting journey by protected paths of past centuries.

In the exposition the landmark occupies the monument to Cossack Mamay – warrior, defender, and the winner. Cossack village lives: you can not only visit the traditional buildings, but also learn how to embroider, weave, knead dough, ride on horseback, plow, spend the night in the fragrant hay, or by long tradition sing christmas carols or feel emotions of Kupala night, haymaking, reaping, Andrew vechornytsi.

Our Native Town - Novovolynsk

(Ukraine)

Novovolynsk is situated in Volyn region in the west of Ukraine. It is located among picturesque fields, meadows, forests and hills, 10 km from th Polish border.

Our town is neither large nor small with population of almost 60 thousand people. The town is rather young. It was founded in 1950 when the first mines appeared in this area. The word "Novovolynsk" is a morphological blend, meaning "a new town in the Volyn region".

25-30 years ago Novovolynsk was an industrial centre of Volyn region. The most important industry was coal-mining, there were 10 mines and different enterprises of light and heavy industry produced many goods nacessary for the population. But today the situation is quite different because of the economical situation in Ukraine. Almost all mines and factories are closed and do not produce anything.

Novovolynsk is clean and beautiful. As our town is young and modern, you cannot find here any buildings of historic and architectural interest. But there are some of them worth mentioning.

We like the Palace of Culture, the Art School, the Monument to Taras Shevchenko.

We enjoy our park, sdadium, new hotel.

We want our town to be attractive for tourists. Please come to us, and you will not regret of it!

Ukraine - Our Motherland

Ukraine is a sovereign state; its independence was proclaimed in 1991. Ukraine is situated in the east of Europe. The territory of Ukraine is 603 700 square kilometres. Ukraine borders on Russia, Belarus, Poland, Moldova, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. It’s washed by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and has very important ports. Ukraine is larger than France and Great Britain but considerably smaller than Russia. 5% of Ukraine’s territory is mountainous; the rest part of the Ukrainian area is flat. Ukraine has the Carpathians and the Crimean Mountains. The Carpathians is the natural mountainous boundary of Ukraine. They are covered with mixed forests of pine, fir, beech and oak trees.

The population of our country is about 46 million people. Besides Ukrainians the representatives of many other nationalities live there: Russians, Jews, Belarusians, Moldavians, Romanians, Greeks, Tatars, Poles, Armenians, Germans, Gypsies and other ethnic minorities. They contributed to Ukraine’s culture and history.

The biggest cities of Ukraine are Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Donetsk, Odessa, Mykolaiv and others.

Ukraine is developed industrial and agricultural country. It’s rich in iron ore, coal, natural gas, oil, salt and other mineral resources. Ukraine has such branches of industry as metallurgy, machine-building, power industry, chemical industry and agriculture. Scientists of Ukraine make their contributions of important discoveries and inventions to the world science.

Ukraine has a rich historical and cultural heritage. There are many higher educational establishments, theatres, libraries, museums, art galleries in Ukraine. It’s also famous for many outstanding writers, poets and musicians.

Ukraine is a member of the United Nation Organization and takes part in the work of many international organizations.

Our Home Town - Starokostiantyniv

(Ukraine)

Starokostyantyniv was founded in the 16th century when Konstanty Ostrogski built a fortress at the village of Kolishchentsi. The surviving Starokostiantyniv Castle was constructed by his son between 1561 and 1571. The village grew into a town which became known as "Old Constantine's Town" (Kostiantyniv Staryi) to prevent confusion with "New Constantine's Town" in the vicinity. 1648 saw the Battle of Starokostiantyniv.

This is the Memorial Complex. It includes Monument to Unknown Soldiers and an Eternal Flame.

You can see a marvellous Orthodox Church dated back to 1561 built by the founder of our town.

This is the main sight of our town. It is worth visiting one day.

This historical mill is located on the picturesque banks on the Slutch River built in 1905.

Our town has got many Orthodox churches, it is one of them.

It is the best school in our town. It is our Educational Complex.

Here you can see a Monument to Heroes

of the so called "A Sky Hundred".

We love our town. We would like to invite you to visit it.

  TURKEY

ANKARA

It is our capital city

ANITKABIR

Anitkabir Located in an imposing position in the Anittepe quarter of the city stands the Mausoleum of Kemal  Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic. Completed in 1953, it is an impressive fusion of ancient and modern architectural ideas and remains unsurpassed as an accomplishment of modern Turkish architecture. There is a museum housing writings, letters and items belonging to Ataturk as well as an exhibition of photographs recording important moments in his life.

ANATOLIAN  CIVILIZATIONS  MUSEUM

ANKARA ETHNOGRAPHY MUSEUM

ATATÜRK FOREST FARM

İSTANBUL

İstanbul is very important place in the world. The city is spread over an area of  7.500 km2  150 km long and 50 km wide. Istanbul became the biggest and the most crowded city of  Europe. Because, its location between Asia and Europe, the city always had a great geopolitical importance. The city’s population is estimate 12 to15 millions.

Around 2 millions  tourists visit İstanbul every year. They are see the historical and natural beauties of the city. The city has a lots of historical mosque, church and museums of Turkey.

İSTANBUL ATRACTIONS

                Dolmabahçe Palace

Built in the mid-19th century at the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the Dolmabahçe Palace is vast and located on Istanbul’s west shore of the Bosphorus. The palace is just a five-minute drive from the Conrad Istanbul hotel.

Now one of Istanbul’s leading museums, the Topkapi Palace was the imperial residence of the great Ottoman Empire for almost 400 years until the reign of Abdülmecid. Its spectacular museum is famed for its large collections of Chinese and Japanese porcelain. Within 15 minutes of the Conrad Istanbul hotel.

BASILICA CISTERN

In the Depths of History

One of the magnificent ancient buildings of İstanbul is the Basilica Cistern located in the southwest of Hagia Sofia. Constructed for Justinianus I, the Byzantium Emperor (527-565), this big underground water reservoir is called as “Yerebatan Cistern” among the public because of the underground marble columns. As there used to be a basilica in the place of the cistern, it is also called Basilica Cistern.

 The cistern is 140 m long, and 70 m wide, and covers a rectangular area as a giant structure. Accessible with 52-step staircase, the Cistern shelters 336 columns, each of which is 9 m high. Erected at 4.80 m intervals from one another the columns are composed of 12 rows, each has 28 columns. The case-bay of the cistern is conveyed by the columns through arches. Majority of the columns, most of which is understood to have been compiled from the ancient structures and sculpted of various kinds of marbles, is composed of a single part and one of it is composed of two parts. The head of these columns bear different features in parts. 98 of them reflect the Corinthian style and part of them reflect the Dorian style. The cistern has 4.80 m high brick walls, and the floor is covered by bricks, and plastered by a thick layer of brick dust mortar for water tightness. Covering 9,800 sqm area in total, the cistern has an estimated water storage capacity of 100,000 tons.

Hagia Sofia is a former Orthodox Patriarchal basilica, later a mosque and now a museum in İstanbul.

GALATA TOWER

                           GALATA TOWER

The Tower was built in 1349 by the Genoesians, as the main tower of the walls, which were surrounded Galata. There are many rumours about how it was built. At the beginning called the Jesus Tower, it was used as a dungeon and an observatory during tje Ottomon period. The building has been restored many times and after a lot of fires and storms, it was finally repaired in 1964, and now reopened for usage in 1967. The Galata district, seems like a history book, whose pages are waiting to be more frequently opened, and discovered overand over, everyday.

THE MAIDEN'S TOWER

                             THE MAIDEN'S TOWER

Kizkulesi is located off the coast of Salacak neighborhood in Üsküdar district, at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus. It literally means "Maiden's Tower" in Turkish. The name comes from a legend: the Byzantine emperor heard a prophecy telling him that his beloved daughter would die at the age of 18 by a snake. So he decided to put her in this tower built on a rock on the Bosphorus isolated from the land thus no snake could kill her. But she couldn't escape from her destiny after all, a snake hidden in a fruit basket brought from the city bit the princess and killed her.

           EDİRNE

Edirne is located at the south of Tekirdağ, the province between Turkey and Greece. The city had been the second capital of Ottoman Empire for years and in the 18th century had become one of the seven biggest cities of Europe.

As it was the capital city of the Ottoman Empire 100 years ago, there are numerous historical and architectural important structures in the province. Edirne is a living city – museum with its mosques, religious complexes, bridges, old bazaar places, caravanserais and palaces.

Districts : Enez, Havsa, İpsala, Keşan, Lalapaşa, Meriç, Süloğlu and Uzunköprü.

Edirne Sultan II. Beyazıt Külliyesi had been built in 1488

When Ottoman Empire had Edirne, they had rebuilt this as a hospital.

SELIMIYE MOSQUE

Mimar Sinan built it in 1575

Mimar Sina built this mosque for Sultan II. Selim

Edirne Synagogue built by Mimar France Depre in 1909

ANTALYA

—KALEİÇi (OLD CITY): In the center of Antalya, is a place that reflects the historic part of the city Old City.

Narrow streets in the bay where the house is located in historic Old City of Antalya mention of one of the first places that come to mind.

                       ANTALYA MUSEUM

The excellent Antalya Museum west of castle door is a must-see for anyone interested in the rich archeological history of Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

—The modern province of Antalya includes dozens and dozens of important ancient Hellenic, Hellenistic and Roman cities and towns, and other prime archeological sites, and the best artifacts from most of them have been brought here to form the museum's outstanding collection.

—

The museums treasure of artifacts ranges from the Old Stone Age through the Chalcolithic, Classical (ancient Greece and Rome), Byzantine, Seljuk Turkish, and Ottoman—in short, the full length of Anatolia's incredibly long history.

TERMESSOS HOT SPRING—

Medical Tourism or Medical Travel is traveling across international borders to obtain health care.—Throughout history, people have traveled for treatment or well-being. Today with emerging technologies, the development of transport facilities and globalization medical travel is a rising sector.—International healthcare accreditation which is the process of certifying a level of quality for healthcare providers and programs across multiple countries is a significant actor about raising the sector.

DUDEN WATERFALLS—

The word Duden means a hole that swallows water sources. Some of these potholes can be so big that they can engulf a whole river and lake. Starting at Dudenbasi the Duden stream diverges into many rivulets that finally flow into the Mediterranean from the eastern side of a more than 40 m high travertine forming a waterfall. Dudenbasi is not simply a waterfall. The cave you enter via a narrow staircase and the verdant environment will impress you.

     DUDEN WATERFALL

                                     SANDLAND—

This year the theme of the, Antalya Sand Sculpture Festival is the ''14 Wonders of the World&Mythology''. 

Sandland also incorporates a playful dimension with a space for sand sculpture activities, where each day, adults, teens and children may experience and show their creative abilities in this form of artistic expression. In the nights Led lightning system offers colourfull and magnificiant athmosphere to the exhibition area. Beside this visitors can watch the festival documentary dvd by the sinevision system during the night. Also visitors could watch video mapping show all night long

   SANDLAND

                     PERGE ANCIENT CITY—

St Paul and his companion St Barnabas visited Perge twice in 46 AD and St Paul also delivered a sermon here. During the reign of Constantine the Great, Perge became an important centre of Christianity and it remained so through to the 6th century. Major construction works were carried out in Perge during the Roman period and Perge grew into one of the most beautiful cities in Anatolia. The Romans built a stadium, a theatre and many other structures with the skill that the Romans are famous for. After an earthquake destroyed the city, it was abandoned.

          PERGE

         ANCIENT

             CITY

We are looking forward to seeing you in our country. We are sure that you will be pleased to come and visit our historic and touristic places.

Welcome to

ARMENIA!

Facts

Population: 3,033,000

Capital: Yerevan

Area: 29,743 square kilometers

Language:

Armenian, Russian

Religion:

Armenian Apostolic

Currency: Dram