Cossacks

Today we visited the industrial city of Zaporozhye (try saying that one).  We took a city tour and then went to a Cossack museum and show.  The Ukrainian Cossacks were composed of peasants who were fleeing the serf act that would tie them to the land as farmers.  They formed independent fighting groups and turned to robbing, stealing, and eventually to fighting as mercenaries.  They were active here until Catherine the Great disbanded them in the Ukraine (they persisted elsewhere a bit longer though).  The museum displayed artificats dating from the earliest days (about the year 400 BC or so) until now.  Most of the items on display were from the Cossacks.  The show was a good display of horsemanship.  It was a lot like one we had seen in Hungary a few years ago.  When we got back there was a tea party on board.  They served a variety of different sweets (15 in all) - but we were too full to try them all.  Tom came down with a summer cold/flu a few days ago -- I am afraid that I am getting it now.

Zaporozhye is mainly an industrial city.  The world's largest hydro dam was here until China built the Three Gorges Dam.

A statue of Lenin still sits in the park.  They have removed all of the other soviet statues but the city felt this one held too much historic significance to remove (it was placed here to mark the dedication of the dam).

There were some singers playing a traditional Ukrainian instrument at the museum.

This is the armor worn by the last Cossack leader.  He was exiled to the norht of Russia (near Siberia) by Catherine the Great.  He became a monk and lived there until he was 112.

A good display of horsemanship.

I had to go and meet the Cossacks and their horses!