Ukraine: Stryi
Next town in the exploration list – Stryi. This 14th century town was one of the major settlement in the Carpathian foothills and boasts several historical buildings and attractions, including the stunning 16th century Stryi Cathedral with a beautiful bell tower and adorned with several weathered gargoyles. Stryi is also famous for being the hometown of Stepan Bandera – a controversial figure in Ukrainian history. He was the leader of the nationalist UPA movement in the 40s that conducted terrorist acts against the Soviet rule and then aligned itself with Nazi germany during WWII. To many in Ukraine – he is a National hero that fought for Ukraine’s independence against everybody else (even Nazi imprisoned him for a while). For others – he is a Nazi collaborator and a war criminal, bearing some responsibility for Holocaust in western Ukraine. As with everything these days – the truth is probably somewhere in between… Also, Stryi was the first Town in Ukraine to raise the blue-yellow Ukrainian independence flag in 1990.
