High in the Ukrainian Carpathians, in the valley of the Black Tisa, the village of Yasinia stretches along the river beneath steep spruce-clad slopes. On a rise near its centre stands a small wooden church, the Church of the Ascension, sometimes called the Strukivska church, built in the early nineteenth century by Hutsul craftsmen without nails. Its stepped roofs, covered in wooden shingles, and its small domes give it a cosy, fairytale shape, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine.
The Hutsuls are the highlanders of these mountains, known for their colourful embroidery, woodcarving, music and the long wooden trembita horns that once carried messages across the valleys. Yasinia is surrounded by some of the finest mountain scenery in Ukraine. To the east rises the Chornohora ridge with Hoverla, the country's highest peak at just over two thousand metres, and to the west the Svydovets range, both partly protected in the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve with ancient beech forests also on the UNESCO list. In summer the high pastures, the polonyny, are dotted with shepherds' huts and the smell of wood smoke and cheese.
The road through Yasinia climbs over the Yablunytsia pass towards Ivano-Frankivsk, with long bends through forest and open views towards the peaks. The surface ranges from new asphalt to deep potholes, and logging trucks, livestock and horse-drawn carts are all part of the traffic. Weather in the mountains can change quickly, with heavy rain and fog in summer and deep snow in winter.
Ukraine has been at war since the full-scale Russian invasion of 2022, and all of the country is under travel warnings from most governments, so check the current situation, entry rules and insurance carefully before considering a visit. Yasinia, with several thousand residents, has fuel, shops and small cafés, though supplies can be irregular. Hutsul cuisine includes banosh, a rich cornmeal porridge cooked with sour cream and topped with brynza cheese and crackling, as well as mushrooms and berries picked from the surrounding forests.