Belaya Skala (White Rock) is the rock in the Crimea, located near the village of Belaya Skala (up to 1948 – Aq Qaya), Belogorskiy area. The vertical white rocky wall rises over the valley of the river Biyuk-Karasu. The altitude is 325 meters, elevation between the valley and the top of the rock – 100 meters.

The name translates to Crimean Tatar language as Aq Qaya (aq – white, qaya – rock). In 1981 it received the status of monument of regional importance. Photos by Dmitry Mordolff.

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Tags: Crimea Republic

Karabi is a mountain karst plateau located in the Crimea, where on a relatively small area hundreds of caves can be found. The average height of the plateau is about 1000 meters above the sea level; the highest point is Mount Tai-Koba (1262 meters).

The plateau has an abundance of different types of karst cavities – caves, mines, and tunnels. Because of this the area is very popular among cavers.

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Tags: Crimea Republic

National dendrological park “Sofiyivka” is a park and research institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, located in the northern part of Uman city in Cherkassy oblast, on the banks of Kamenka River.

Today it is a place of rest annually visited by about 500,000 people. Total area of the park is 179.2 hectares.

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Tags: Cherkassy oblast · Uman city

Sergey Brandt is Ukrainian artist painting in watercolor and oil techniques. He was born in Zhitomir in 1963. Sergey Brandt graduated from National Assembly of fine art and architecture in 1990 and started painting professionally in 1991.

His works can be found in deferent cities all over the world. Exhibitions: Wroclaw (Poland), Prague (Czech Republic), Kiev (Ukraine). More information about the paintings on the site of the author.

Tags: Kiev city

Pripyat was home for people working at one of the largest in Europe nuclear power plants – Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The city was built close to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. The distance is about 100 km.

The population of the city was about 49,400 before the disaster (April 26, 1986). After the disaster Pripyat was abandoned, all the residents were evacuated. Today it attracts tourists and scientists from all over the world.

Let’s see how Pripyat looks today in freezing weather and covered in snow. Photos by Sergei Nagorny.

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Tags: abandoned · Chernobyl · Pripyat city

The chocolate factory located in the historic center of Lviv (Serbskaya Str., 3) is one of the attractions of the city. Through the glass walls you can see how the chocolate is transformed into candies, different figures, figurines, etc.

The candies have very interesting and fancy names: “Cherry Agrafka”, “Gratulyatsiya”, “Frau Zimmer Black”, “Walnut Bandzoh”, “Sweet Patsorki”, “Strawberry Tsemka”. The chocolate shop offers 39 varieties of candies. You can buy them individually and in sets. On the walls you can see large pictures of all the candies with a detailed description of the chocolate and fillings.

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Tags: Lviv city