Roads & dialogues

The space around us should be regularly changed. This is the same necessity as brushing your teeth or regularly brewing fresh tea. Moving from city to city is the best way for such spatial hygiene. So today I'm in Ivano-Frankivsk.

The city is situated near the Carpathian Mountains. The distance from Kyiv to Frankivsk is 12 hours. To Lviv, for example, it takes only 10, and to Uzhhorod - 16. There are only 2 trains which go here from Kyiv: 43 "Prykarpattia" (“Subcarpathia”) and 143 “Galychyna” ("Galicia").

I’ve seen Ivano-Frankivsk in all seasons. Spring here was snowy, winter had warmth and sun, while summer and fall got confused with each other. I saw here almost all possible weather conditions except rain. However, judging by what is happening outside, this time I can fix this oversight, even if a new city branding talks about Frankivsk like a “warm city”.

Sitting near city hall (or Ratusha), drinking coffee, smoking the first morning cigarette, I hear sounds of music and tunes from the nearest cathedral. My “holy” morning is sponsored by the Greek Catholic Church. And it’s one of the reasons for my love of this part of Ukraine - the combination of the sinner and the righteous, the holy and the household.

If the city can have color or shape, my Frankivsk looks and feels like round wooden table of cafe “Govoryt’ Ivano-Frankivsk” (Ivano-Frankivsk Talks): with quotes, pictures, shadows, stains from cups and warmth of a running laptop. However, it could also be like cafe “Galka”, a favorite place of local journalists and writers. Words here are as strong as the coffee, and chatting is slow like a cloud of tobacco smoke.

Old name of the city is Stanislawiw, and the locals says that it’s a true name. The phenomenon of Stanislawiw is best known by its creations. Poets, musicians, journalists, civic activists – it’s impossible to imagine modern Ukraine without them. People who were born here take their places on my bookshelves and in my notebooks. Ideas born here have the ability to be implemented in unexpected, but always right, ways. If a city can be inspiring – this one is.

In Ivano-Frankivsk I was taught many things. I was taught that you can’t use "Franyk " as a city nickname, that the soul of the city is in the name Stanislawiw. That the best coffee is brewed in Govoryt’ Ivano-Frankivsk. That the center of the world is here, in the city with the outline of the port, even without sea. You can believe in it or not, but it’s impossible to forget.