Zhytomyr

Georgian wine is plentiful, jolly good and cheap in Ukraine. 

Here are a few photos from my first trip. The town of Zhytomyr is pretty big but manageable. It has plenty of those unattractive apartment blocks but inside they're much more pleasant. So many of the official buildings remain with their austere Soviet style and there are also a few old cars from the bad old days there too!

The structure is an icon of the local ice cream factory!

An exception to the ugly architecture is the ornate and very much better-tended churches, of which there seem many.

The countryside is very similar to what I have here in the village - just bigger and with less human or animal life evident in it.

A lovely castle somewhere some distance east of Zhytomyr where monks make their own paper.

A real stork on a chimney pot!!

An attractive quarry on the outskirts of Zhytomyr. No health and safety warnings here!

The town is proud of its stone and rocks and here's an icon to mark when the place was first developed as a town proper.

The River Tetris provides something like a beach environment which gets very popular in summer.

Zhytomyr has two of its very own 'Eyes' with ancient mechanisms still driving them faithfully.

A beautiful monastery in the suburbs.