The "crystal" cave in the bowels of Ukrainian land

You can live your whole life in Ukraine and do not know what hides from us the Ukrainian earth in its bosom, for millions of years. As it turned out, the Ternopil region is famous not only for its rich historical heritage, beautiful nature and genuine hospitality of the local population, but also one of the largest (maybe the largest) in the world area of karst caves. Long caves in the area up to 250 kilometers.






Cave of crystal — at the moment one of the few open caves for tourists — is located in the village of Kryvche, Borshchiv district, Ternopil region.

The road to the cave is right outside the exit that leads through the village Kryvche – it turns sharply to the left. It's somewhere in the region of 1 — 2 km after a nice fortress. Hanging on the tree is very narrow, with the inscription "crystal Cave 1.5 km."

The entrance to the cave is located on a steep slope of the valley. By the way, if you climb a little above the entrance, lovely views of Ternopil landscape.

Crystal cave is a washed groundwater 20 million years ago, extensive plaster system of tunnels with a total length of 23 km, of which tour route is about 2500 meters.

The walls of the cave galleries are covered with white and painted in different colours with crystals of gypsum, which in turn was the name of the cave — crystal.





The average annual temperature in the cave is 12 C and a humidity of 95%. The feature of the Crystal cave is that it has all the conditions necessary for the treatment of asthma, chronic bronchitis, hypertension: stable

microclimate in any season, absolute silence, enhanced ionization, the almost complete absence of pathogens. By the way, is why the Christmas tree in the cave change only once in ten years.

In our time in the cave tours. The route is equipped and fully electrified. Tours are led by experienced guides as groups of applicants. Journey through Crystal cave takes more than an hour. First route is through a narrow corridor of about 500 m, and then the stone steps down, almost in complete darkness... and you "crush" the stone 40 m height. Then begins the mysterious circular stroll through the halls of the cave with patterned ceilings, crystals and... bats. Throughout the route, you will find amazing stories about hanging crystals everywhere, many of which have their own name.





For example, you can see a Buffalo, a snake, a human hand, and more. Almost all flora to fauna can be found in the cave. The main attraction of the cave actually gave it a name — the Crystal corridor where steep walls covered with a carpet of gypsum crystals: pink, cream, beige, amber.

This is a real stone flower garden, which the eyes do not get tired to admire. From here a winding path leads to the first hall of the cave — Fabulous. Intricate play of light and shadow can develop imagination: someone sees





polished in dark brown and Burgundy crystals stone monsters, some ghostly chimeras, some magical animals. At the next corner — hall of heads Buffalo: is slightly to stretch the imagination — and you will see looking at you from above the Buffalo's head with one eye. In one of the rooms lives the owner of the cave (dark, with a square chin and a long mustache), next his servant, thin and hook-nosed "lad". The owner of the cave convenes other servants lupa fist in the stone drum. However, any visitor to the caves can also cause the sound of stone "TomTom": the stone resonates with the cavity in the wall, making a hollow, far-heard sounds. By the way, each cave has its own host — this is known to all cavers...Who loves the exotic, you may enjoy the heavy tread of a stone elephant in the room blocks and pass on "the ridge of a crocodile" — the winding path, resembling the spine of a prehistoric reptile.

Then you get in the Festive hall, which received its name because of the extraordinary nature of design: its walls are painted like crystal patterns, and it seems that everything is covered in marvelous palm branches, foliage of ferns or thin amber mosaics. It is necessary to leave quickly, because the path of any Explorer Crystal corridors lies between "dragon's teeth" that could bite the unwary, so before the entrance to the maze is recommended to Pat the muzzle of a stone Dolphin. And already a good tradition there's a place where you can make a wish, the stone with a bow, don't miss. And there's a stone-analgin enough to make it to the head — and all the headache passes. In General, a lot of interesting things, bored during the tour, just do not have. And finally, be careful when moving in the cave — don't Wake the bats thrive in the ecosystem of karst caves, and in the company of tourists who daily pass them.



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