Chernobyl Zone - a trip to the most extreme place in Europe.

I first heard of ZONE a few years ago and my dream to one day go was born. But it was a long to achieve. There just wasn’t enough time or money and normal life got in the way. Additionally, Karolina was opposed to this idea. She was concerned about the radiation and feared for my health. Fortunately my brother Tomek had visited the Zone in 2011 and learned that there is currently no big danger, and eventually talked my prettier half into giving me permission to go.

So in mid-2012, I found the tourist office offer bis-pol from Kraków, who organizes such trips for a pretty reasonable price And so at the end of September 2012 I took the morning train from Warsaw heading to the former capital, and from there in the afternoon bus took me and the rest of the trip to Kiev in the Ukraine. When we arrived at the second day we had chance to explore interesting places in the Ukrainian capital city. At first, we went to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. In addition to the exhibits strictly military (tanks, planes, cars), there is also huge - 62 meters high - statue of the Motherland (much bigger than our statue of Christ in Świebodzin - 36 meters), as well as a large cauldron of eternal fire (in Kiev lit only the most important celebrations 😃).

Then we went to a nearby Pechersk Lavra Monastery, founded in 1051 year, which is one of the oldest, if not the oldest religious building in the lands of Ukraine. We went through underground corridors where important persons from area of Ukraine are buried.

Returning to the bus we passed the Memorial of Ukrainian killed during the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in 1979-1989.

After lunch in the city center we went to a museum commemorating the Chernobyl disaster. In front of the museum there were vehicles used during the evacuation of Zone.

In the evening we went for a stroll around the city. We've gone to the main square of Kiev by subway, and we saw things like monument of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, Saint Sophia Cathedral, and near our hostel monument to Mikhail Bulgakov, and Church of St. Andrew.

Afterwards, we decided to check out local beer. Fortunately and unfortunately I found it extremely tasty, which led to some problems waking up the next day. So D-Day, visiting ZONE. Quick washing in the morning. I drove in the clothings that was going to be left in Ukraine forever. Fast breakfast and ran to the bus who drives us to our goal. The closer the ZONE were, land begins to be more and more abandoned, blood pressure went up slowly, waiting until we saw the gate control.

Now Zone is a military area, so not everyone can just go straight there. Allowed are only employees and scientific trips, which we ere apparently 😃. Quick check and go, we still have two controls. Along the way we see the never finished construction of the fifth and sixth reactor.

Then we pass power plant to which we return later, and now we go to Pripyat. Latest goal and we stop in the middle of blocks of flats, which differs from the Polish that are a lot more wild plants, and of course the state of the buildings not renovated since 1986. In the seventies, Pripyat was a model city, well equipped, with all the comforts available in the Soviet Union, everyone wanted to live there, but as it was a city of the power plant's workers and their families, getting in was not easy. Sightseeing planand visited places varies depending on tour - we were able to see the pool, school, amusement park, the main square and the Cafe Pripyat near river harbor.

For start - pool: Guide recalls at the outset that we are forbidden to walk on any plants, especially the moss, due to the large absorption of radiation by them. Moments later we pass a grassy path to building the swimming pool 😃. Destruction can be seen with the naked eye, glass is virtually everywhere, ceilings crashing down, generally a tragedy.

School We are unable to see building from path, almost everywhere around are trees and shrubs, even the entrance was coming to wade through a veritable wilderness. Again we that the time has taken its toll. Besides, since you can visit the Zone civilly, various types of photographers have rearranged things in order to achieve the perfect shot and the effects of their activities can be found today. We managed to get to the roof, where we could seepanorama of the city, although much of it was obscured by trees.

Amusement park. We headed to some at least from name more enjoyable place. On the way we pass several residential buildings typical for thatperiod of time.

Then we saw for our own eyes things that I wasfamiliar with from many pictures - amusement park. To be honest I expected a little more from this place, and it turned out that it only consists of four things. Visible from afar Ferris wheel, from which top people viewed the accident and exposed themselves to high radiation. Equally dangerous point is cars that look like from computer game - Fallout. And between them carousel.

The main square of town. The central place of the city, where all major parades and shows took place. I have memories of playing STALKER, where it was presented, and it was pretty well mapped. We pass Polissyahotel going forward, and headed to the last place in Pripyat that we will watch.

Cafe Pripyat and river marina. At first, there are no hints to what we see, buildings are barely visible between the plants. Even close, nothing betrays the purpose of it - the only thing that helped is neon lying on the ground with the words CAFE. Outside, there were still a legend of socialism - saturator. You can also see the stairs to the pier. Exterior and surrounding cafes indicates that once had to be a pretty nice place. We go down to the harbor, which turns out to be a concrete bridge, on the one endsubmerged - partially collapsed, but it also shows that the water level is raised. In the distance, a ship wreck can be seen, which took part in the evacuation of the population.

We are going back more or less the same route - but I noticed on the way two interesting things communism symbols on a lamppost and the building, which purpose I do not know, but little sign of nuclear power suggests it.

Leaving Pripyat we stopped at the monument welcoming in the city. By the way, it turned out that close is place called red forest, the place where dropped the biggest fallout, all the trees died and became red. You can not see at the moment with the naked eye nothing extraordinary - the forest was completely destroyed by bulldozers and buried underground. Currently, only by the signs indicating the contamination, it was possible to recognize this.

The next and most important point is the power plant. The bus stops about 300 meters from the sarcophagus, the guide rushed us and alerts about higher level of radiation. Being in the site of largest nuclear disaster and surrounded by invisible killer - gamma radation is an unforgettable experience. Definitely Ifelt a little fear, especially after how much I've read about the effects of radiation, but dosimeter readings helped - we found that a dose of 2.42 micro sivert per hour, which is only several times higher than in Warsaw (0.15usv / h) and still quite safe - the dose, followed by radiation sickness is about 1 Sv / h or 40,000 times higher. For example, dose You will get by flying in the aircraft is 6usv / h.

Then we went to lunch in the power plant cafeteria. Along the way-the mandatory check dosimeter. The meal had not taste the best, but awareness of the place influences quite positive.

After leaving the cafeteria we rode a bus to the other side of the power plant to feed the catfish from the railway bridge. What you can see in the photo are quite large specimens, and they are swimming in the canals of inflow of water required to operate the generators at the power plant. The guide told us an interesting story about these fishes. It was an experiment that was designed to show the effects of continuous radiation on living organisms. As you can see the fish are in pretty good condition, but they were fed to marten. Then, after some time, martens were killed, and the study found that their fur was very high quality, but their bones were like sponges, soft and full of holes.

Slowly finishing the quest, we are heading to the town of Chernobyl. Along the way, in the far distance is the Moscow Eye, the giant beyond the horizontal radar, which was designed to detect the launch of ballistic missiles in the United States. It's total size is about 500 meters long and more than 100 high. After a power plant failure the radar can't be used due to high level of radiation.

We stopped also near the presentation of vehicles involved in neutralizing the effects of the accident. A lot of people think that the Soviet Union immediately sent people to work, but at first they tried to use a remote-controlled machines - unfortunately electronics couldn't stand contamination and unfortunately someone had to do this job.

Another point is the graveyard of ships, which were used to transport materials for the construction of the sarcophagus.

The end, the city of Chernobyl. About 2.5 thousand people lives there temporarily, mostly required staff and researchers. The city center is the path of boards representing 92 towns and villages displaced after the accident.

And that ends the adventure in the Zone, passing through check points, last dosimeter check and a trip to Kiev. In the hostel mandatory cleaning - you need to get rid of dust and dirt from the restricted zone. And now only trip to Poland... It was an amazing trip for me, almost trip of a lifetime. It is a journey for anyone who wants to experience something extraordinary, a little dangerous. Any stories about mutants (which is rather obvious) and the invisible death you can put in fairy tale, but some unique things you can see. My only regret was, that I did not saw everything in the zone. I even had the idea to go there again, but in the world there are still so many places to see 😃.