The oldest or not, but I read in Wikipedia that Belgorod-Dnistrovsky is the oldest city in Ukraine, one of the ten oldest cities in the world. The city is 2500 years old. A local taxi driver assured me that the city is much older than 2500 years. Of course, I definitely had to visit this place. When traveling, I am guided by the following principles: – It is better to go than to regret later. – It is better to go on a trip than not to go. – If there is a strong desire, a craving for a certain place, then you have to go. Violating these principles brings me grief. For example, I really wanted to go to Olbia and Berezan Island, but for various reasons I could not. Now the external conditions have changed and I do not know if I will ever get there. My sister and I are traveling from Odessa on the 560 minibus from the car market behind the railway station. We were traveling for over two hours. We were passing through Moldova in transit.
We crossed the Dniester. On the Moldovan side, the entire sky was covered with black smoke.
Large black pieces of ash were falling on all the cities and villages nearby. The passengers said that the reeds were burning. The straight line distance from Odessa to Belgorod-Dnistrovsky is a little more than 40 kilometers. Now the bridge is broken and everyone is going around. It turns out to be twice as long. We are approaching Belgorod-Dnistrovsky and almost all the passengers get off at a stop called Tira. This is the name of an ancient antique city founded on this site by the Greeks from Miletus!
On the site of the ancient city and, apparently, using its building materials, the Akkerman fortress was built. Excavations of the ancient city are visible in front of the fortress. A small part of the hill has been excavated. The hill stretches along the fortress and there is a part of the ancient antique city.
We take a taxi from the station to the fortress. Tickets cost 100 hryvnia. And here I am, finally, in Akkerman. The fortress impresses with its size, inaccessibility, and the most important impression is that it is integral. It has its own character, energy. It is good inside the fortress, a feeling of security, a separate light space, shifted into the past. We climbed the wall. A beautiful view of the estuary opened up from above. The thickness of the walls is approximately one meter. Four towers form the framework of the fortress.
One of the towers called Harem was open for excursions. It looks like a Turkish room inside. It is surprisingly well preserved or has been restored.
The Commandant’s Tower has a round platform inside and the sky is open. I did not go into the room with torture instruments.
I can’t, I feel sick afterwards. I did not expect to see such a large and well-preserved fortress. I was interested in another object in Belgorod-Dnestrovsky – this is an Armenian church and a grave, as Wikipedia writes, a grave of a Scythian, in other sources, a Sarmatian. We walked along the street parallel to the estuary.
Along the entire street on the wall is painted a fortress, ships, ladies and gentlemen. Very beautiful. The ancient city knows how to surprise. As soon as the wall with drawings ended, the fence of the Armenian church immediately appeared. But what is it? This is an ancient temple with columns and statues in front of it.
The entrance was closed. But through the fence I saw a dolmen or a Scythian burial. I saw very similar stone dolmens in Fethiye in Turkey, inherited from the Lycian kingdom. Having enjoyed the ancient buildings, we go back to the estuary. We learned that you can sail by boat through the estuary to Ovidiopol! I was surprised by the name of the village after the Roman poet. And then take a minibus to Odessa in one hour. That’s how it all turned out.
I didn’t have enough time for the fortress and I want to return again to the place where Greeks, Romans, Genoese, Armenians, Turks, Moldovans, Romans, Ukrainians lived layer by layer, century after century.
August 13, 2024
Belena Travel Blog 