After my two border hikes I had some time left for a short visit into Ukraine in the late afternoon. You don't need a visa, so that makes it easy. I decided to go to Tiszabecs which is close to a small Ukrainian village called Vylok. 80% of the habitants are ethnic Hungarians. The car rental company didnt allow me to bring the into Ukrain so I had to cross the border as pedestrian. It became clear that this is a poor area. Everything you see is rusty, old and obsolete. Nevertheless, it was an experience to cross this border.
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Map The area of the border crossing Tiszabecs-Vylok.
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Boxes Close to the border I parked my rental car. There was a guarded area with parking spaces and also boxes. I wonder what people store in these boxes.
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Hungarian side Not that much traffic here. As you see, trucks are not allowed to cross the border here.
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Bridge Once you passed the customs, you enter the bridge over the valley of the Tisza. High fences prevent you from leaving no man's land.
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Border The border itself runs over the end of the bridge. Here a look at the Hungarian border marker, and on the background the Ukrainian copy and the customs' office.
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Ukrainian side The end of the bridge where you enter Ukraine and meet the Ukrainian customs. Unfortunately it was forbidden to take more pictures. Custom clearance went rather fast, the whole passage as pedestrian took about 15 minutes. I got a stamp in my passport.
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Steel construction Before leaving the area by the last barreer, I had to pass this strange steel construction. I have no clue what it was or should have been.
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Welcome in Ukraine It's claer where I am now. In Ukraine, in the oblast Zakarpatska.
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Just over the border A desolated place with old cars... The typical atmosphere of East-European borders.
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Insurrance Small offices where you can buy additional car insurrance in case your own insurrance company doesn't cover Ukraine.
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Turul Memorial I visitied the Turul bird monument not far from the border and the Tysza bridge. It was erected in memory of the first victorious battle of the Rákóczi's War of Independence. An obelisk was erected here first in 1906, when his remains was moved on in Hungary. In 1945 the memorial was destroyed by the Soviet troops. The Transcarpathian Hungarians set up a new monument only after the transition. Interactive map
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Turul Memorial Some old wreaths and flowers. A sad view however...
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Bridge over Tisza To reach Vylok, I had to cross the river Tisza by this old bridge. It was really old.
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Public transport You feel like going back in time many years... THis old bus is till in use.
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Main road through Vylok The main road through Vylok is damaged and dusty. Traffic, like this modern truck, only can run very slowly.
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Main road through Vylok Now I know why the car rental company didn't allow me to take the car into Ukraine...
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Lady on the bridge On my way back from the small village I saw this old lady on the bridge, carrying some wood on her bike. Poor people... |
| SK-UA | 187-202 | 225-235 | 236-246 | 247-256 | Vylok | RO-UA |