Resort corners of the former USSR are still appreciated by tourists at a very high level, and it is understandable. After all, in childhood everyone went on vacation with their parents to the famous Black Sea resorts, enjoyed the beauty of the mountains from the balconies of Caucasian resorts and looked into the harsh seaside distance, standing on the Baltic beach. These memories have stayed with us for the rest of our lives, and in pursuit of them we are ready to sacrifice the popular resorts of the Middle East, which have already become quite boring.
One of the reserved tourist places is the territory of the Carpathian Ukraine. The elegance of sculptural forms of Lvov, the stunning nature of the foothills, and for more advanced people it is also a cozy town with a caressing name — Truskavets.
People know Truskavets, of course, as a place of sanatorium-resort recreation. In the city there are many earth and underground mineral springs, so different in their chemical composition that there is probably no disease (apart from incurable), from which people would not come here to be treated.
The most famous of the local mineral waters of Truskavets — «Naftusya» has, by the way, worldwide fame. The name of the water has a somewhat petroleum connotation for a reason: its composition is quite high in organic substances that are part of the «black gold».
Other local mineral waters include «Maria», «Sofia» (very useful in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases), «Bronislava» (water indispensable in the general treatment of upper respiratory tract) and «Juzya» (excellent skin cleanser).
Incidentally, it is here that the mineral salt spring «Barbara» is located, which gave the world a unique salt. By its composition and combination of healing properties «Barbara» is rightly considered a serious competitor of the famous Karlovy Vary salts. Its use stimulates the work of biliary organs, helps in the treatment of such diseases as pancreatitis, hepatitis, diabetes, arthritis, arthrosis and some others.
The spa and health facilities in Truskavets include two mineral water canteens, two large balneological clinics, a cursal, an inhalatorium, a spa diagnostic center with two polyclinics, and about forty well-known sanatoriums and resorts.
Truskavets, however, is not only one big medical and preventive zone with a lot of boarding houses for people coming to be treated. There are also sights in the town that are not connected with the unique natural features of the protected place (or connected with them indirectly).
Thus, in the very center of the city there is a large park Adamovka (it is also called simply Resort Park), in which there is Central bouvet of city mineral waters. From it, strolling alleys fan out, running through the hills, past monuments at every step, to three other mineral springs and the oldest pavilion built for receiving healing waters. In addition to the mineral springs, the spa park is famous for its unique collection of exotic plants and trees: boxwoods, weymouth pines and silver maples. It will not be difficult to find the park — to paraphrase a famous proverb, all roads in Truskavets lead to it, but for reference you should remember the name of Torosevich Boulevard — the main avenue cutting through the park.
Fans of church architecture can enjoy the view and interior of the Greek Catholic Church of St. Nicholas, built in the second half of the XIX century (located at the corner of S. Bandera Street and Stebnitska Street). Built on the site of an older church, the church was in disrepair in the 1920s, but in 1938 it was reconstructed according to the project of architect Lev Shelevich, and today it is a unique example of Western Ukrainian Catholic architecture.
The sights of Truskavets are by no means limited to this. Fans of historical and geographical knowledge can visit the city museum «History of Truskavets», located in a very original and eclectic in architecture building of the city villa Sariush (on the square of Sichy Sagittarians). Within the walls of the museum you can learn a lot of interesting things about the history of Truskavets — from its beginnings in the XV century as a small village to the present day.
And the history of Truskavets is really interesting and remarkable. For the first time in official sources the town is mentioned in the XV century, although today archaeologists find some household items from earlier periods, which suggests that, most likely, people began to live permanently in the place of modern Truskavets from the XІ-XІІ centuries. Already in the Middle Ages Truskavets was known in Europe as a place with many healthy mineral springs. In 1827 in Truskavets was built a room with eight healing baths — this date can be considered the official date of Truskavets recognition as a resort. At that time the town was in the possession of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and after being recognized as a resort it began to develop rapidly — thousands of tourists from all over the world came here for treatment.
The tragic events of the XX century did not pass Truskavets by — the townspeople experienced a lot of things during the Great Patriotic War. Already in 1950, restored by Soviet builders, Truskavets officially received the status of a city, two years later it was recognized as an «all-union health resort», and since then it has been actively developing and getting better with each city.
Thus, we can say that vacation in Truskavets — is not just a trip to the resort and sanatorium reserve in order to treat various ailments. If you wish, a trip to this ancient Ukrainian town in Lviv region can be turned into a fascinating and informative tour during holiday in the Carpathians, during which the sights of Ukraine characteristic of the western regions will open up for you from a completely new side.