Challenge announcement

After conquering the highest mountain in Ukraine, I caught myself on a thought that traveling is really awesome and my weekends sucks.

Based on this one thought I decided to create a Weekend Travel Challenge for myself and for everybody who is spending their weekends browsing throughout the web chasing something new to discover.

Therefore, the challenge itself is quite simple – you pick a destination and just go. You don’t need to sleep in expensive hotels and eat in a restaurant but if this is your preference, stay with it. The main purpose here is to get out of the house and explore the world.

Besides, it’s not required to go to another country. Chances are you haven’t seen all of the beauty of your own place. I haven’t.

I live in Ukraine for 21 years and still haven’t seen everything in here, which is weird. That’s why I decided to change this. It will help to let go of my problems and focus on something more fascinating, exciting and new. Also I can meet new people and establish new connections that may help me someday.

On top of all that I’m going to fund my travels with Steem Dollars that I earned here on Steemit. It is unbelievable how many people this platform can help to achieve all sorts of dreams.

Weekend travel challenge #1

This weekend was kind of intense. It all started in Friday when my friends Dasha and Sasha decided to hang out after our periods. We had quite an amazing time exchanging lots of experiences we encountered during the summer. It was really lovely.

Then I mentioned that I’m going to travel this weekend to Zaporizhia and Askania Nova. Girls were thrilled and excited but unfortunately they couldn’t go with me so they offered me to go out on Saturday to one of the lakes that I haven’t been too, not too far from Kiev.

I agreed and that day was amazing. The water was quite clean and transparent, which I really adore. However I still had a train waiting for me to go to Zaporizhia that night.

Long story short, I remember rushing towards my train, praying it won’t leave without me. It was kind of novel experience because usually I came around 30 minutes earlier.

First stop – Khortitsa Island

When I stepped on Zaporizhia’s land, it was not that different from most of the cities that I’ve been in Ukraine. What I did notice is that air is really polluted; and the reason for that is Zaporizhstal, which is Ukraine's fourth largest steel maker.

After a while my body adjusted, and I was approaching Khortitsa Island that was my goal for this city. I left the bus impressed of the view that I was observing.

Both sides of the Island are entwined with wide and mighty Dnieper, surrounded by high cliffs, sandy beaches, covered with green forest and decorated with bright colors.

It took a while to make those images stick in my head because I love them so much. When I did however I headed towards Zaporizhian Sich. It is a reduced version of how real Cossacks were living. All of the buildings and weapons are the exact copies of what Ukrainian’s Cossacks used in 16th-18th centuries.

*Those are real Cossacks that residing on this territory

I’m not that great at history and was never interested in it but when you’re placed in such environment you’re accidently starting to feel how different cultures affect your worldview.

Khortitsa is really huge so I moved on. I found that by hiking alone you can release tons of useless trash from your head. It helps a lot, especially in times when you’re overwhelmed.

Nearby you can look at DniproHES (Dnieper Hydroelectric Station). The closer you get to it, the more awesome a view becomes.

I also was sitting on the edge of precipice. It was really freaking scary to look down but I did it.

Walking long hours make you feel tired so I decided to lay on the beach and swim in Dnieper for an hour or so. It was a way to restore my energy levels and I was good to go.

I hiked additional couple of hours and then came back to bus station and bought a ticket to Kherson.

Second stop – Askania Nova

My bus arrived in the middle of the night. I didn’t have any desire to go somewhere, so I stayed at bus station till the first bus in Askania Nova direction.

Why exactly Askania Nova?

Because it is one of the most famous resorts in Ukraine and changes are that in the world too (I’m not sure about that but it is pretty popular among foreigners). It has a huge territory of 333.08 sq km (129 sq mi).

It consists of zoological park, dendrological garden, and an open territory of virgin steppes. Unfortunately I haven’t attended steppes because there was no group available but I suppose I will in the next year.

Thus I started with zoological park, which amazed me instantaneously of the fabulous scenery and its size. There were lots of different animals that chances are you already heard of and seen in your life somewhere.

*Black swans

Crowned-Crane

*Asiatic Wild Ass - the funniest name I found there :)

*Grevy's zebra

Guanaco

*Gayal

Then I went to their park; it blew me away. For me it was really clean, green and dazzling. I was walking around it and thinking that I am in paradise (for that time it was).

That day I also learned quite valuable lesson – listen to your intuition. There reason why is because the latest bus from Askania Nova was scheduled at 4.45 p.m. I have no idea why but my gut told me to arrive 20 minutes earlier, which was exactly what I did.

When I got to the station, the bus was already staying and waiting for people to come on board. However it left the place not in 4.45 but in 4.30. If I refused to listen to my gut, I probably stayed at Askania for the whole night because it was the latest bus for the day.

Anyways, I hope you loved the story and photos that I took. I want everybody to create lots of memories during your travels and I challenge you to take at least 1 weekend per month to go and explore the unknown.

There is no reason for you not to travel :)

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Your friend, Dmitriy: @dmitriybtc