Belhorod-Dnistrovsky Castle

One of the more "famous" sights near Odesa is the Belhorod-Dnistrovsky castle complex. With ruins that date back to at least the 9th century, it is a true architectural monument. In true local fashion, however, nothing is cordoned off and you can climb all over it. (In fairness much of it was renovated in the 80s and 90s so you're not actually climbing on the oldest portions. And the photo above is of the excavated 9th century ruins, which are still under active investigation. We climbed on the stuff inside the castle.) And so here we are, climbing all over it. Aaron got a lot of funny looks - first they don't use the Baby Bjorn method a lot and second, he's scaling the walls with a newborn. But we're used to being the topic of discussion. An unfortunate side effect of this trip was that for two weeks S would repeat "Someone pee-peed on the castle." This was true - she was poking around in the dungeon areas, yelling "Hello! I'm S!" and we told her not to touch a wall where someone had, well, not made it to the toilet.

Getting there has half the fun, as we often like to tease the GPS by trying tofind things near major tourist sights, largely since the damn thing doesn't actually have the site itself programmed in. (Don't get me started!) So we took this little spit of Soviet-constructed land across a giant harbor, through crumbling infrastucture intermixed with nouveau-riche mansions stlye homes, across an old railroad bridge, and into the thriving metropolis of Belhorod-Dnistrovsky. After teaching the kids some new swear words, we navigated the bomb-like potholes and asked some people at a bus station for directions to their castle. (I assumed they only had one.) So, marital crisis averted, we got to the castle, bought a painting, got to see the costumes and "armory" - for around $2 they let you shoot a crossbow or shoot the cannon. Aaron wanted to shoot the cannon until we realized that it was somehow electric and didn't really shoot a cannonball. Oh, well, I'm sure there's someplace here that let's you shoot off live rounds, we just have to keep looking!

So, getting home was the other half of the fun, since the old railroad bridge that we crossed on the way there was raised for a barge on the way back. The line of cars erupted into an impromptu dance party when the drunken folks 4 cars ahead got out and turned up the radio. I just enjoyed the chance to feed the baby, change diapers and run the kids out some more. You have to look on the bright side, right?