"It's like Hogwarts!" That was the feedback my Ukrainian student helper gave me when I told him, I would go to Chernivtsi. His feedback swayed me neither this way nor that way. I was going to Suceava. And looking at the map, I noticed Czernivtsi as just being across the border, a mere 80km apart. So of course I was going.

Under the Austrians, both Suceava and Czernivtsi belonged to the same region: the Bukovina (Beech country). Czernivtsi was the capital. The population of Czernivtsi was a mix of Ukrainians, Romanians, Germans and Jewish. And probably more. Even on the fringes of the empire you find the usual template of an Austrian-Hungarian town. A theatre, a train station, squares, ... The Habsburg did a few things well.

On the outskirts of the historic town you find the Residence of Bukovinian & Dalmatian Metropolitans. Nowadays a university, it used to be the seat of the metropolitan, the bishop of the orthodox church of the Bukovina. In a way, it shows the religious tolerance of the Habsburg empire, as the emperor himself was a devout Catholic.

The ensemble combines multiple influences (local, Russian, Ottoman) using 19th century construction techniques. It's not yet an art deco building, but you can see the idea of what is to come in the colorful roof tiles, for me the best part.

When I visited, they had an open door day. There were plenty of tours running (albeit in Ukrainian) and I got to tag along to get a few impressions of the building and the garden. I have to say, though, that the hallways etc. failed to impress me, as these were quotes from previous ages using modern construction techniques. The tiles are the best part.

Getting There

There are trains and buses to all over Ukraine. To Lviv, there is one fast train in the morning and then several slow trains later that day. The train station is within walking distance of the town center.

The bus station, meanwhile, is on the Southern side of town. You should take a local bus to get there. Tickets are sold at the bus station. Time tables aren't always quite up to date, so best to check with them directly. Kamjanez-Podilskyj (T) can be done as day trip and comes recommended. I would concur with Juha, that most other European countries would have inscribed the site.

There is only one daily bus to Suceava on the Romanian side of the border. It runs in the morning and returns in the afternoon. Problem seems to be that the border crossing can take some time. Normally, it's due to cigarette smugglers. Nowadays, your covid status has to be checked. In rural Romania/Ukraine vaccinations are so uncommon that the border guard at first did not realize I was presenting my vaccination passport.

Instead of the direct bus in the afternoon, I went with an earlier bus to Siret, the border town on the Romanian side. From there I walked to the border and crossed on foot. Behind the border, I hitched a ride to Chernivtsi. I left with the early / fast train to Lviv.

While You are There

Kamjanez-Podilskyj and the churches on the Romanian side are not to be missed. The name Bukowina stems from beech, so it should come as no surpirise that several components of the endless primeval beech forests inscription in the area. In addition, several wooden tserkvas dot the landscape. I could not make the logistics work, though, as the area is very rural and connections not that frequent. The easiest to get to is the Tserkva in Kolomea, but getting out seemed next to impossible. For the forests, no idea how to get in and out again.

I think going to Lviv is a natural choice. Chernivtsi is the smaller and less spectacular town in comparison. Lviv is also in better preservation state. But Chernivtsi shows that Lviv is not accident, it's how the Habsburgs did things.

Personally, I was touched to find out that Paul Celan came from Chernivtsi. He was a Holocaust survivor, who continued to write in German after the war and who is considered one of the leading 20th century German lyricists.