Even though Ostriv itself is not a feast for the eyes for a building game, it captivates with charm and detailswhich only a few titles of this kind can boast. While our small town in 18th century Ukraine slowly awakens from its winter slumber by the thawing river, we enjoy a sightseeing flight with you.
We quickly leave the village centre behind us and pass several farms and stables from which workers stream out to cultivate the fields or drive the animals out to the fallow pastures. Last year, Wheat, potatoes, hemp and sunflowersThis year, that area needs a break – and the animals are happy to help. Sowing is taking place right next door this spring. Two oxen are already pulling a plough, scratching through the dense earth.
The gardens around the houses are still unplanted. In our imagination, the last snow still runs in small streams under the fence, before disappearing from view down the hill. But soon families everywhere will be together Carrots, onions, lettuce and more for the care of loved ones – and beyond that, the community.
We fly on. And before we know it, chimneys of modest factories that produce glass, ash and soap appear in front of us. A little further on, a small village awaits at the foot of a hill, with a dark tunnel leading into it. Carts with iron ore out of here.
On the way back, our eyes are drawn to the shiny white facades: the settlement across the river near our previous home on the peninsula still looks like little, but the innovative architecture impresses with its uniqueness. Multi-storey buildings are already attracting the first citizens hungry for something new: This is where the future is being built, a city far away from the low country houses, with its own gardens around it, apartments for the employees and their families of tomorrow.
As you can see, there is a lot to discover in the world of Ostriv, where the Middle Ages can still be seen in niches, but people’s everyday lives have long since arrived in the modern age.
