We went with David on a visit to Chernobyl. It was one of the saddest and most thought provoking visits I have ever been made...........the awfulness of the disaster itself I remember as I was pregnant with Jonathan at the time. But the scale and impact on the people in the area, and the huge number of 'heroes' who did what they could in the days and weeks and months after, really were incomprehensible living in the UK, even though there were significant implications for farmers after the radioactive cloud moved over Europe including Scotland.
Pripyat was a new city with state of the art facilities for the employees who worked at the Chernobyl Power Plant. Some of what we saw had hardly ever been used, and it will never be habitable again as so much of it has high levels of radioactive soil. In some places topsoil has been removed and levels are not so much higher than anywhere else in Europe and safe for visitors, but in other places my Geiger counter showed the levels increasing!!
The devastation and abandoned places were really staggering to see!
Three good things
1. A lovely sunny day which made a difference to the sad scenes we saw.
2. A really super guide who told the stories well and answered our questions
3. Learning more about people and places.....always makes a difference and helps us not to take what we have for granted!
So interesting....I didn't realise you could visit this place.......sounds like they gave you Geiger counters as standard wear. I remember it so well also...such a terrible thing to happen locally but also repurcutions all over Europe in the farming world. The big wheel looks rather frivolous in such a serious place!
