Stories Behind One Cliff
Sunrises and sorrow
I love searching for secluded places and can find them even in big cities. Once I moved to Vinnytsia in 2014, I formed a list of some favorite places to visit. I don’t remember exactly where I learned about a low cliff above the fusion of two rivers, but it became one of my beloved spots.
The classic view from it is on the title photo and below, but it is in another season. The small river Vyshnia (on the right side) flows into Pivdennyi Buh.
This is a popular place among locals, but there are usually few people there. Also, it has specific surroundings, which I’ll describe below.
Another season and another angle: Vyshnia looks big from it.
The opposite bank of the river is inhabited. Significant rich houses rise above the water. I don’t like how they spoiled the landscape, but I should say that I envy views from their windows.
It’s possible to catch one of two ships that cruise along Pivdennyi Buh in the summer months.
For the whole picture, I need to show how the cliff looks from the ship. It seems very little from afar.
The photos above show three seasons except spring. Well, let the spring be here, too.
I could walk over Vyshnia on a narrow footpath. This river looks tiny and sick because so many ponds take its water on its entire length. Huts on the opposite bank seem attractive, but I guess they are not. I never walked there despite it being close enough.
It is superfluous to say that this place is especially magnificent when the sun rises.
It’s good to be a photo maniac and see how the sky changes (or not good — I still don’t know).
And the same scene when the sun appeared.
That was perfect: the river, the warm morning, nobody around, and a cat.
Cat? Yeap. I don’t know what she forgot on that desert cliff at 6am, but she came to me and decided we were friends.
She waited until I ran off to the nearest store and brought sausages. In her turn, she invited a pregnant companion who ate almost everything.
I don’t love selfies (and any photos of me), but I think this one turned out well.
I never met her again despite trying to find her a few times when left alone during the lockdown.
Another memorable sunrise I caught on one late October day.
This one was stunning thanks to the enigmatic fog, as it is only on beautiful autumn mornings.
From some perspectives, this place looked far from any civilization or even had mountains on the horizon.
This cliff would be less exclusive if not for its surroundings. If you turn away from rivers, you’ll see… a cemetery. The peculiar old cemetery is mostly “populated” by doctors and patients of a nearby mental hospital. This mental hospital is one of the oldest in Ukraine (founded in 1897), with appropriate old buildings with tunnels and scary stories.
Of course, most of these stories are fiction — unfortunately, not all. There is a separate large grave with probably more people than in all the cemetery: there were buried patients killed during the nazi occupation. Nazis considered all mental patients as those who didn’t deserve to live.
They didn’t kill them personally but forced a head doctor to do this. So, not all doctors of this clinic deserve honor. This one went down in history as a scoundrel. Also, it was usual for the Soviet Union to close completely healthy dissidents in mental hospitals. If so, they were killed here, too.
The cemetery is closed, but new graves appear sometimes. Recently, here were buried two doctors killed by a Russian air strike on Vinnytsia on July 14, 2022. They hit a crowded square and several buildings, including a private neurological clinic. Shitty times returned quicker than we expected, were not they?
Another thing near the cliff is a military hospital. Its territory includes many sculptures, like these giant pysanky — eggs traditionally painted for Easter celebrations.
They are the only sculptures I can name adequate. All the others are… whaaat? I have no assumptions other than the mental clinic patients created them.
How about an orthodox pyramid and this nice sphinx?
I took the photos from the territory before 2022; now, it’s closed because of martial law. The main road to the cliff through the military hospital is also closed. I found a bypass footpath, but I don’t risk using it in the early mornings. Presence here in such hours would be suspicious. The war stole my sunrises.
One more place I cannot ignore is a park behind the hospitals. Despite it being old and neglected, it is stunning in different seasons.
New buildings surround it, and it looks like developers are not opposed to building it all. At least to bite off some parts. Oaks Alley was cut because of the “critical condition.” Сoincidentally, they interfered with the new houses. There is one place in different years in the photos below. I want this planet to go to hell ASAP when I see things like this.
But now everything goes on as usual in the old park. A jay is looking suspicious and skeptical.
Somewhen in the past, I could meet a lot of squirrels stocking up for the winter. Perhaps let’s finish this story with their cuteness.
If you don’t want to miss out on my new stories, you can subscribe to updates on my blog. If you appreciate my photos or stories, you can buy me a coffee.
