Thread by @PaliparanDotCom

Time for a new trip - starting again at Bucharest Gara de Nord. This will be quite an adventure looking at sheer distances alone. If all goes to plan I'll travel 5,200km by train (3,230 miles) - roughly the distance from London to Novosibirsk (Siberia, Russia) or Lagos (Nigeria).

I'm in the night train to Sighetu Marmaţiei in the far northern, remote Romanian province of Maramureş. Or well, these are through carriages attached to the main Baia Mara/Cluj-Napoca train, from which we'll split off at Beclean pe Someş in the wee hours of morning.

A look into my private sleeper compartment..

And this is how it looks like in pictures. Old-school, but comfortable. The heater is finally kicking in - about time as I'm freezing in here.

I've last been in Maramureş and the city of Sighetu Marmaţiei on a trip in autumn. Fabulous region. Check out the full thread/Twitter travel report below in case you might have missed it.

https://twitter.com/PaliparanDotCom/status/1449084268358025220?s=20

Tonight's train snack. Jumări (pork cracklings), cheese and some hummus with za'atar. And two Indian Pale Ales from Hop Hooligans, of course.

Mountain stations in the Carpathians (Sinaia, Azuga). The amount of people boarding our train here can be counted on one hand.

Braşov station. Finished my nightcap, so it's about time for me to go to sleep in my compartment which thankfully heated up quite a bit by now!

Waking up to this after a good night of sleep. Wonderful!

This might very well be my favourite train line in Romania as it runs high above the valley, often over a series of viaducts. The views are 10 out of 10!

Scenery around Iza station..

The valley is getting a bit wider as we approach Vişeu de Jos station. What a morning!

Arrival at Vişeu de Jos as seen from my compartment..

Vişeu de Jos is just a few miles from Vişeu de Sus, which is famous for its highly scenic Mocaniţa narrow-gauge forest railway line on which I travelled last autumn.

https://twitter.com/PaliparanDotCom/status/1450393551938985984?t=PqgeCOs0TOmR7DF6oxfgOQ&s=19

Winter landscapes of Maramureş..

I love how the sunrise somehow sets the clouds on fire. The colours of the sky are even more fantastic in real - this video doesn't do it proper justice.

Scenery around Leordina station.. all Romanian stations still have a station chief to wave off departing trains.

Along the Bistra River..

Maramureş is authentic and rural - and you can see that by the cute villages, with many houses still made out of wood. To me, it's Romania's most picturesque region.

Travel as it should be. In remote regions, at a leisurely pace, through all kinds of sleepy villages in some gorgeous landscapes.

The line to Sighetu Marmației is one that keeps on surprising with its scenery. The last hour, the railway line goes through a narrow valley along the Bistra River.

The station names here are bilingual, with also the Ukrainian name added. Some towns in this part of Romania have an Ukrainian minority or can even be fully Ukrainian. In other parts of the country you might find the same with Hungarian names on signs. Bonus pic of station dog!

And out of the beautiful gorge into a much wider valley.. about an hour to go until the end of the line!

At Valea Vişeului, the train reverses and heads course towards Sighetu Marmației.

The last few miles is relatively boring in comparison to all the beauty before.

Arrival into Sighetu Marmației. What a fun train ride this was!

Sighetu Marmației station..

From the train station, the border with Ukraine is only a short walk away.

The bridge over the river Tisza marks the border between Romania and Ukraine here.

Border formalities took a while as the Ukrainians insisted to go through my entire rucksack (downside of a Dutch passport - the eternal "marihuana?" comments and suspicion). But here we are, Solotvyno, Ukraine!

Solotvyno is actually a decent transit hub as it has a few good restaurants and pubs. Plus it has its own Ştefan cel Mare statue - which you don't often see outside of Romania/Moldova.

The local railway station has night trains to both Lviv and Kiev, as well as an 'elektrichka' (slow commuter train) to Khust.

I'm however walking to the bus station on the main road, from where I take a bus to Rakhiv. It smells godawful in this particular bus - like half the people have been travelling on it for a year without washing. Given how slow buses are in Ukraine it could very well be true.

Fortunately the views are a bit better from the dirty bus window. The Ukrainian Carpathians look impressive.

Hotel Europa in Rakhiv, home for tonight for just 12 euro/room.

After warming up a bit with some coffee and cake, it's time to explore Rakhiv a bit.

Unfortunately the local museum about the Hutsuls (a small ethnic group living in this part of Zakarpattia in Ukraine as well as in Maramureş in Romania) seemed completely shut. Sweet cat at the grounds made however up for it!

The town is located in a valley on both banks of the River Tisza, a tributary of the Danube.

In the town centre I suddenly came across a large funeral procession. I so hope this won't be a common sight for Ukraine (or Russia, fwiw) in the coming months and that cooler minds and common sense will eventually triumph when it comes to the current political crisis.

The city centre of Rakhiv. Bought a local SIM card and 25gb data for the grand price of 3 euro. No passport of paperwork needed. So much easier than the last 2 times I bought one in Russia and Egypt!

In the centre you can find the Hungarian Catholic church and Ukrainian Orthodox church right next to each other.

The riverside views are wonderful. There is even a spot for people brave enough to dive into the freezing waters!

The riverside park and the obligatory monument of Taras Shevchenko.

Next to Rakhiv's train station happens to be a great little craft beer bar with lots of wonderful locally brewed beers and homemade cheeses. Score!

I don't want to dive into geopolitics and current affairs (yet) but it's weird that this seems to get unnoticed in Dutch press. These ships left Baltiysk a few days ago and seem to be on their way to the Black Sea. Could ofc be a smokescreen, but still.

https://twitter.com/The_Lookout_N/status/1483842683550547976?t=pkspjNsLBOdrsD3CtexS8g&s=19

If you are interested in the finer details behind the Russian army buildup and have an hour to spare, this talk and Q&A with @KofmanMichael is highly interesting. Eye-opener as to how much is underestimated & how some things are exaggerated in the media.

Anyhow, back to my own trip. Another recommendation in Rakhiv is Veranda, a nice bar and restaurant in the centre. Yummy borsch and trout (regional speciality). The only thing bad - as always when travelling this region - is the dill everywhere. Why??!

Nightcap and fun chat with the barkeep at Tsypa about life in Rakhiv and Ukraine (always a good source of info!) and back to the hotel for an early night in. Tomorrow will be a *very* long day in the train as I continue my journey deeper into Ukraine..

A proper breakfast to get this long train travel day started. Ukraine is amazing value for travellers, especially outside of Kiev/Odessa. Excellent coffee in this café costs for example just 0.50 euro, while the pancakes are just 3 euro.

Walking to Rakhiv's railway station, but not before picking up supplies at the local supermarket and craft beer store (which also stocks some local, homemade delicacies such as cheese, chocolate, bread).

Rakhiv's railway and bus station.

The ticket office and departure board. Only a daily elektrichka to Ivano Frankivsk it seems, plus trains to Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkiv and Mariupol.

I'm on train 006Л to Mariupol, via Ivano Frankivsk, Lviv, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhian. It travels through 12 regions and covers 1,806km in total, making it Ukraine's longest train connection. To put into perspective: This is the same distance as Warsaw-Athens or Amsterdam-Lisbon!

Little bit of photography on the platform before I board my train. The older Ukrainian train opposite mine is the train to Odessa.

Time to board my train to Mariupol and check out my accommodation for the next 29 hours. I'm booked in Spalny Vagon (1st class) for this trip. Fresh and new-looking compartment!

My comparment. Fully airconditioned/heated (you can adjust temperature and airflow yourself) and there are both power sockets and USB charging ports. It might lack the old-school Soviet charm but it's very comfortable.

Departure from Rakhiv!

This has all the ingredients for yet another superb winter journey through the Carpathians.

View from the Rakhiv-Mariupol train as it crosses the Ukrainian Carpathians..

On this wonderful journey across Ukraine I'm accompanied by an interesting book from @MarkGaleotti (A short History of Russia - From the Pagans to Putin). Unfortunately, Ukrzaliznytsia still serves tea in throwaway cups. I want my proper podstakannik back!

Some more Carpathian scenery..

Deer running along the train! I'm probably way more excited by this than I should be, but awesome sight really!

Approaching Yasynya station..

Around Yasynya, the valley widens out, making way to a high mountain plateau.

I love railway curves like these where you can see the front of the train sneaking ahead over the tracks (or here, a bridge over the valley).

Scenery between Yasynya and Vorokhta stations..

Between Vorokhta and Tatarov-Bukovel (one of Ukraine's best known skiing resorts) it is time for a little snack and some beers. No dining cars on Ukrainian night trains like these, so it's all self-catering!

On the way from Tatariv-Bukovel to Yaremche. We're slowly leaving the highest peaks behind and descend down again at the other side of the Carpathians..

Yaremche station. After here, its goodbye to the Carpathians (for today) as we continue to Ivano-Frankivsk, one of the major cities along the route on this train.

From the mountains to the plain..

Ivano-Frankivsk station..

On the way to Lviv as the sun is slowly setting..

Sunset over western Ukraine..

A 40-minute stop is planned at Lviv's beautiful station. Will I manage to leave the station, hop to a pizza place across the road recommended by @AndyBTravels, and get back to my train in time?

With my pizza in hand it's back to platform 2..

And I made it - with quite some time to spare even!

Even though the pizza from the @AndyBTravels pizza place is great and my bottle of Georgian red hits the spot, I still prefer a proper @_DiningCar! However, I'm certainly enjoying this 29-hour ride across Ukraine to the fullest. What a beautiful trip it is so far!

One great thing about this
Ukrzaliznytsia train is the innovative climate control and other buttons. You can see by the green/red lights in your compartment when toilets at both ends of the carriage are free/occupied! The only downside so far is the lousy amenity kit.

Before I go to sleep, I want to write a little appreciation post to chechil, the smoked, brined & braided Armenian cheese snack found all over the former Soviet Union (and my very favourite one). I so love this stuff! Take away all the dill and this region is a culinary delight!

Lights out! Next station: Dnipropetrovsk tomorrow somewhere at 9am.

Good morning from Dnipro, Ukraine! A 20-minute stop here, which is a good opportunity to stretch my legs a bit. Still quite some hours to go on my journey east.

Just after departure from Dnipropetrovsk's station, we cross the frozen Dniepr river.

It's snowing a lot today in eastern Ukraine. This is Zaporizhzhia-1 station, our last major stop before Mariupol.

Here, the railway line runs straight along the eastern bank of the Dnieper, which is here rather more like an extremely wide reservoir as the river has been dammed at multiple places.

If Russia invades and wants to take the western part of Ukraine as well, it would have to cross this mighty river somewhere, something they are however very well capable of (amphibious assault/special op to take intact bridge). Still it's an impressive natural barrier!

However, with Russian troops now stationed in Belarus they could easily outflank Ukrainian positions on the Dnieper by invading from there, as they'd then already be on the western bank, directly threatening Kiev. For now all is peaceful fortunately. Many ice fishers!

Not the most exciting of landscapes here, endless fields and the occasional village. But you get a great sense of Ukraine and the sheer size of the country.

At Fedorivka station on the main north-south line from Zaporizhzhia to Melitopol, the train reverses course as we take the branch line to the east.

Arrival at Kamysh-Zorya station..

Arrival at Volnovakha station in the Donbas. The frontline between the government occupied areas of Donetsk Oblast and rebel-held areas is just ~15-20 kilometres away.

The train reverses direction and gets a new locomotive here. We're now ready for the final stretch down to Mariupol.

29 hours after departure from Rakhiv I'm finally in Mariupol at 5.26pm on the dot!

Mariupol at night.. there is a distinct smell in the air, probably from the iron and steelworks based here in this city (Azovstal, the largest in Ukraine). You can see the flames and fumes from it as you approach by train!

First order of business: Georgian food! Damn tasty, like always.

Some more impressions of Mariupol at night. Seems like a pleasant enough city. Quite some people out on the streets and frequenting the many appealing pubs and restaurants, as well as local youths hanging around outside with some beers.

Today is a busy day, so expect fewer posts than normal. However, I couldn't resist posting these snaps from Mariupol's lovely market hall.

A few more snaps. This place is basically for all your meat and dairy products, as well as wedding and gala dresses from the stores on the first floor. Winning combination!

Couldn't resist posting this for all my railway friends here on Twitter: Trains at the beach in Mariupol.