On 26 April 1986 an explosion at Chernobyl’s reactor No. 4 caused the world’s worst nuclear disaster. It wasn’t until a couple of days later when the increased radiation levels were detected at a nuclear power plant in Sweden that the Soviets admitted there had been a radiation leak.

More than half a million workers were involved in the containment and clean up job, many of them later dying of radiation sickness or cancer. Most of them were never officially acknowledged as casualties of the disaster. They built a giant concrete sarcophagus over the top of the reactor. Some of the workers had to clear contaminated material off the reactor roof. They hand-sewed lead onto their clothing to help protect them against the radiation. They were only allowed to work on the roof for 45 seconds, before another worker would run out to take their place. At the end of the job, they got a certificate and the equivalent of about $100.

I had assumed the remaining reactors were switched off after the disaster, but they remained in use until 2000.

Welcome to Chernobyl.

Some people have returned to live within the 30km exclusion zone.

There are stricter rules within the 10km zone. No one is allowed to live there. Within the zone, you’re not allowed to touch anything or put cameras or bags on the ground. The background radiation level is less than what you would be exposed to on an international flight, the danger comes from particles of radioactive materials that you don’t want to get on your clothes.

Abandoned houses in Chernobyl town.

We also stopped at  an abandoned kindergarten.

You know it’s time to leave when your gnome’s eyes start glowing green.

Then we approached the reactor itself. I was surprised at how close you can get to it – about 300 metres away from reactor 4. The sarcophagus was designed to last 30 years, until 2016. Work is underway on building a new dome to completely encase the old sarcophagus. It is scheduled to be finished in 2016.

And then it was on to Pripyat, the satellite city created when the reactor was built in 1970. It had been home to around 50,000 people. The inhabitants of Pripyat were evacuated the day after the explosion and the town has been abandoned ever since.

We had a walk down the main street, looked at a hotel, supermarket, the palace of culture and the amusement park, with the iconic abandoned ferris wheel and dodgem cars. You’re not allowed to go inside any of the buildings, as the floor of one of the buildings collapsed in 2012, injuring several tourists.

When you’re leaving the zone, you have to pass through compulsory radiation checks. This involved putting your hands on machines that looked like metal detectors. The tour guide said about twice a year, radiation is detected on someone. Usually their shoes, which have to be decontaminated.

Fortunately everyone in our group got to keep their shoes.

The exclusion zone is a strange and sad place. One of the most fascinating places I’ve visited.

(Where are all these countries Here’s a map)

Lonely Planet books tend to exaggerate, and the chapter on Ukraine is particularly prone to extolling the country’s wonders in terms that aren’t warranted.  It’s unfair to compare countries, but after visiting Russia, I was disappointed with Ukraine.

Kiev has a lot of nice churches, but I found it a difficult city to navigate and not a particularly friendly city.

Ukraine and Belarus bore the brunt of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.  Approximately 6% of Ukraine remains contaminated and the continuing cleanup action still consumes about 5% of Ukraine’s annual budget.

It’s possible to do day tours of Chernobyl from Kiev.  The tour companies assure people that even though they visit areas that have higher than normal levels of radiation, it’s completely safe.  I was tempted, but the tours are very expensive and they didn’t have tours running the day I enquired.

I did visit the Chernobyl Museum.  There was little information in English, but they did have some interesting looking mannequins.

Kiev also has some colourful tanks left over from the war.

Most people In the east of Ukraine speak Russian and in the west most people speak Ukrainian.  Although the languages are similar there are lots of differences.  For example, Kiev is the Russian name of the capital.  In Ukrainian it’s Kyiv.

Lviv in the west of Ukraine is regarded as the country’s cultural and artistic capital.  It’s further away from Russia than Kiev and Ukrainian writers and artists went there because they had more freedom.  In Lviv you can buy t-shirts that read in Ukrainian, “Thank God I’m not a Muscovite.”

The hostel I stayed in had an old portrait of Lenin that had been redecorated.

I went to an underground bar that had a bouncer in a uniform holding a pretend machine gun.  To gain entry you had to tell him the password (Glory to Ukraine in Ukrainian) .

I also visited Kamyanets-Podilsky, a small town that has an impressive castle.

There were some interesting warning signs around the castle.

I didn’t think they were half so funny when I was climbing up a set of wooden stairs leading up the tower and realised how badly maintained the steps were.

The signs got even more dramatic.

Odessa is in the south of Ukraine.  It’s one of those places that most people don’t know much about, but it has a cool sounding name.  It sometimes turns up in book and movie titles (The Odessa File, Little Odessa) and its a vibrant city with a culture different from the rest of Ukraine.  Odessa reminded me a bit of the different feel Osaka has from Tokyo.

Odessa doesn’t have many tourist sights, but the so-called Potemkin steps are a popular place to visit.  They feature in the much-imitated scene from the Battleship Potemkin movie.

Have fun,

Aidan.