In the midst of dense ancient forests covered with picturesque mountain peaks, in the beautiful valley of the river Riki is one of the most famous villages of Ukraine — Mezhgorye. This small town-type village became famous due to the incredible atmosphere of unity with nature, the purest air, healing mineral springs and unique natural attractions.
The village of Mezhgorie, named so because of its location between mountain massifs, was called Volovoye until 1953. It has been known since 1415, when it was first mentioned in written sources. Its inhabitants were mainly engaged in logging, but the wonderful climate also allowed them to grow grapes, work in apiaries and collect the best honey in the whole Transcarpathian region. Until the XX century, together with the rest of Transcarpathia Mezhgorje was a part of Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia, but this did not affect its identity. Every guest here can hear a lot of interesting tales, legends and legends from the old residents.
One of the local legends tells about an incredible love and is connected with the famous sight of Mezhigorie — the largest mountain lake in Ukraine, Synevir. According to the legend, this lake appeared because of the shed tears of a girl named Sin
— a count’s daughter who fell in love with the shepherd Vir. Her father ordered his death, the atrocity was committed on the spot where the island now rises above the blue waters. The girl could not survive the death of her beloved and shed so many tears that a lake was formed in which she herself disappeared, and people began to call it by the names of the lovers.
Sinevir Lake, located in the national natural park of the same name, is far from being the only natural attraction of Mezhigorie, but stories about its beauty are passed from mouth to mouth and attract many tourists here.
Among other stunning beauties of this area is the largest in Transcarpathia Shipot waterfall, also surrounded by dense ancient, as if fairy-tale forests, Wild Lake (Ozirce), whose clear waters are home to trout, the breathtaking Sinevir Pass due to the gorges and cliffs, the huge, seemingly boundless Tereble-Rikskoe Reservoir.
Mezhgorie is a land of extraordinary natural beauty. Here the peaks of polonina Borzhava and Krasnaya, the highest mountains of Strimba, Kamenka and the Ovechiy Verkh ridge soar into the sky and go far beyond the clouds. Covered with green forests and dissected by narrow valleys of blue rivers, they create a landscape of unearthly, paradisiacal beauty. Because of these impressive natural pictures Mezhgorie is often called a paradise on earth, and this comparison is not exaggerated at all — all guests of the marvelous region are convinced of it.
Besides excursions to picturesque places, Mezhgorye can offer tourists a visit to unusual museums, the most famous of which is Muzej-lesosplava — the only one of its kind in the world. The museum building is an amazing hydraulic structure of the XIX century standing on the water, where one could learn a lot of interesting things about the life of timber rafters, see their household items, clothes, tools and many other unique exhibits. After an unprecedented flood in 2001, the museum building was almost destroyed and all surviving museum exhibits were moved to national nature park «Sinevir» in the Museum of Timber Rafting and Local History. The doors of several historical and cultural museums, the Museum of writer I. Olbracht, who created a novel about the local hero Nikola Shugai, are open for everyone. There are also old architectural sights in Mezhigorie: St. Nicholas Church made of wood in 1785 in the village of Podobovets and Pokrovsky Church in the village of Synevirskaya Polyana, built in the XVIII century.
Comfortable sanatoriums, healing mineral springs, invigorating mountain air, local landscapes of dizzying beauty — and this is not all that Mezhgorie will surprise its guests with. Today it is also a skiing center of Ukraine, where people even from other countries come.
Incredible atmosphere and coziness of this attraction of Ukraine leave the most pleasant impressions. Mezhgorje gives an invaluable opportunity to plunge into the magical world of the purest, virgin in its beauty nature, to see the magnificent natural sights of Transcarpathia, to relax from the dust and bustle of big cities, to recover and gain invigorating energy that only such amazing places can give.