KOLOCHAVA (Колочава)

We have parked just in the middle of the village Kolochava in Synevyr National Park in the Transcarpathian region, just next to a little pub (beer 0,5 l / 25 UAH). The village is located in the Tereblyanskaya Valley between the mountain ranges surrounded by the peaks of Strym, Rose, Krasna, Barvinok, Darvayka. The river Tereblya and its tributaries flow through Kolochava. The first mention of Kolochava dates back to the 15th century. For a long history, Kolochava has repeatedly passed from one host to another, has been part of different countries, so today the local dialect includes Hungarian, Czech, Romanian, German words. Czech tourists often visit the village because of the Czech novel by Ivan Olbracht about the bandit – Nikola Šuhaj loupežník. The novel writes two separate stories – the legend of Nikola and his real-life – that blend together. The book is an allegory for legitimate justice and people’s desire for freedom. So, there are still some Czech classes in the local school, statue, and museum of Ivan Olbracht and grave of Nikola Šuhaj and his wife Eržika. We have got very bad weather, it was raining, so we could not really hike around. We just had dinner in the evening at the famous restaurant “Četnická stanice” – don’t really understand, why it’s so popular, because it is serving not really tasty simple food (at reasonable prices, beer 0,5 l / 35 UAH). The next half-day we spent around Stare Selo Museum (entrance 90 UAH). It’s the first open-air museum of folk architecture in the Transcarpathian region, it displays the collection of about 20 dwellings and outbuildings, equipped with everyday items and artworks of the locals, dated back to the 19 and 20th centuries. There is also part of the narrow-gauge railway of Borzhava with a steam locomotive and some carriages.

Parking location – Kolochava: 48.426233N 23.698202E (🚻)