nice2beme

From the very beginning, when I arrived to Zaporizhya, I`ve noticed the lack of colors… Basically there were only dark-brown and gray colors everywhere, which makes me feel the presence of old Soviet Union times. But I had this strong feeling that those brown-grey heavy industrial buildings are not the only things to see in this big city. I started asking people what is interesting to see in Zaporizhya, where to go to fall in love with the city?  “We still have the statue of Lenin, you can make pictures with him…” – people answered. I`ve replied to this with the question, what is interesting about Lenin? I wanted to see the beauty of Ukrainian city! They answered:”Lenin is wearing a T-shirt of Ukrainian National football team… ” So let`s start with the 5 oases exploration in Zaporizhya. The reason why I`ve called the places to discover here – oases, cos here in Zaporizhya are so many of factories so basically people are breathing with the industrial fog… To find some nice 7 interesting places with piece of fresh air and bright colors is a real oasis here.

1st Oasis of Zaporizhya. The first thing which I`ve found out about the city is the monument of leader of the proletariat V.I. Lenin supporting the National football team:

This peaceful guy on the background of perfectly blue sky is a nice place to meet with friends. Behind this statue there is a nice view to Dneproges (water-power plant) which serves all the surroundings with electricity.

Zaporizhya is really big city and if to ask locals what is the nearest place to visit here, they would reply that everything is far here… It might takes more than 20 min of walk from one point to another. Here they have the longest avenue in the whole Europe (12,8 km), which will guide us from the main square to the monument of Lenin in yellow T-Shirt.

2nd Oasis. Second place to visit from my top-5 list is just behind this building which is the local “Petronas Twin Towers” in Kuala-Lumpur.  They are way more smaller, but they are in Zaporizhya 😉

So behind those Zaporizhya towers which is a business center there is a calm place to relax, especially in the warm part of the year. Locals say that normally people are not swimming there because of the factories in the neighborhood, but to have a picnic here is always a nice idea.

3rd Oasis. This one is my favourite and if you were not able to visit it don`t count that you`ve been to Zaporizhya. The famous Khortytsia Island which is national cultural preservation of Ukraine. If someone says that there is no nature in Zaporizhya – just come here. The variety of natural diversity is impressing here.

There is the highest point of the Khortytsia Island where you can observe all the beauty of surroundings.

When there were times of Cossacks they had their residency here on the Khortytsia Island called Zaporizhian Sich. We didn`t enter this historical museum, but I`ve peeped that there is a Church behind the fence of Sich. An interesting fact, that there just a few churches in Zaporizhya in comparison with the cities of Western and Northern Ukraine. The city is quite big and I just wonder if they have more than 5 churches there.

4th Oasis. Dneproges. May be someone will say that it’s just a water-power plant, but  it was my first time to see this huge artificial amount of water. I love everything connected to water so this is my sphere to relax and dreaming.

5 Oasis. People from Zaporizhya proudly say that they have forest in it`s industrial place. Wonderful aroma of pine trees are good for the health, so there is a place for healing in the city of factories.

When it’s warm part of the year its so romantic to have a walk through embankment of the Dneproges.

And the last but not the least are people of Zaporizhya! They are active, friendly and ready to show you around the city!

Here is a short video overview of Zaporizhya: