It was an early start after a night of very little sleep. The walls of the hotel were paper thin and there were some noisy people partying during the night. I was tired, but it didnt dampen my excitement for visiting Chernobyl. The drive took about an hour and a half, maybe a bit longer and we stopped at a garage en route for some breakfast. I remember drinking a hot coffee and I think I had a sandwich of some sort. The drive wasnt very memorable and I dont recall seeing anything exciting. I did like that as we left the city and drove further into the countryside, it got a lot snowier. I love snowy landscapes, so I was happy to see this. We reached Dytyatky Checkpoint for entering Chernobyl and our guides went off to sort out the paperwork. Chernobyl has a really popular place to visit in recent years, I think the TV series (which I still havent watched and really want to) has increased its popularity. Chernobyl has well known around the world due to a nuclear accident that occurred at reactor no. 4 on 26th April 1986. I was too young to remember
the actual accident happening, but do remember hearing about it and seeing it on TV as I grew up. Since there were only a couple of other buses in front of us at the checkpoint, we didnt have to wait too long. One of the guides told us that in summer there would be a lot more buses and therefore a longer wait. After waiting a while on the bus, we had to get off, sign a form and were given receipts that we had to carry with us in the exclusion zone.
Once through the gates, we had entered the 30 kilometre exclusion zone, which is known as the zone of alienation. There wasnt too much difference from the drive we had just done. The forest seemed to be a bit denser as it had been left to grow freely for thirty years and the road was also very quiet. We soon stopped at the first place we would visit, an abandoned village, Zalissya Village. The village was hidden by the trees from the road. There was just a snow covered path and a rather dilapidated fence to indicate that there was something beyond. We also passed a
memorial to the village. I was quite excited as we walked down the path. I love old abandoned buildings and with the snow covering everything it felt even more like the elements had taken over. The village was quite small, although Im not sure how much we really go to see, so it could have been a bit bigger. We walked past a large rather fancy looking building that we were not allowed to go inside of, and what was left of an old abandoned car. We came to a smaller building, that I think had been a house. We were allowed to go in here and have a wander around. There were some books and stuff strewn around the place and some things set up like the small pair of shoes on the windowsill. We were talking about how some of the stuff has been staged inside of the Chernobyl site. Personally, I dont mind it as it does make things more photogenic and in todays society instagram appeal is very important. Its better that it has been staged and people dont go picking things up and moving them as it could expose them to radiation. I also think
it is good that the site has been turned into a tourist area as it pumps money into the local economy and provides jobs, for example our guide had been born and lived for a short period of his life in one of the villages in the exclusion zone. Wandering further down a quieter, smaller path in the village lead me to what looked more like a farmhouse. I dont know why but the farmhouse felt more homely to me than the other house, maybe because there was more personal stuff lying around. On our way back through the village, we stopped at one more building that we were allowed to enter, a small shop. All that was left to show that it had been a shop was one of those old refrigerated cabinets with some tastefully arranged bottles on top of it.
Back on the bus, we drove further into the exclusion zone. We stopped at the Chernobyl sign to get some photos.
