This year we had the great opportunity to visit the home country of Andriy and a few members of AMEG: the beautiful Ukraine!
We flew to Lviv, where we met other research members from the local university. We became a group of 20 people who travelled together in a minivan for more than five hours until reaching the Kvasy village at the Carphathian Mountains. After such a long journey, we arrived at a cosy wooden hotel next to the Chorna Tysa River. In the dining room, a feast was waiting for us: a long table full of three different types of meat, rice, salads, bread, vegetables, and all sorts of beverages. We enjoyed tasting the local food and getting to know our Ukrainian colleagues from Lviv University. It was a beautiful cultural exchange and we ended up dancing together some traditional Ukrainian music.
The next morning, a truck drove us up to the base of the university biology station, where we started our hiking to the Petros Mountain, at 2020 m above sea level. The scenery along the hiking trail was a real treat for our eyes with literally endless sights of green hills, beautiful wild flowers, and herds of sheeps and cows. But there were difficult moments as well. Every time we had to climb a hill, we wondered if it would be the last one to reach the peak; what a disappointment to discover that there was always one more! It was indeed a very exhausting trail of around 20 km, although we all enjoyed the views and the company of our Ukrainian friends.
The last day, we drove back to Lviv and walked around the city with a local guide. We enjoyed admiring the varied architecture of the old town, the lively streets full of small cafés and restaurants, the ancient house of the Pharmacy Museum, and even an underground coffee mine! We closed our day (and trip) by climbing the 65 m high tower of the town hall, from where we had wonderful night views of Lviv.
