Everyone knows Chernobyl as the worst Nuclear disaster in the history of the world.  Chernobyl is not where 50000 of the workers lived rather they lived in a town called Pripyat, which is a larger city close to the power plant.

Remember before you go to visit here, you have to have government approval.  There are 5 tour companies to date that do them.  It will cost you a pretty penny, but I feel it was well worth it.

The event happened in 1986.  Many of the workers and families fled the area, never to return again.  Walking through the town of Pripyet almost engulfed by the forest now, you get an eerie feeling of a town trapped in time.  The abandoned Ferris Wheel is what most people think about when Chernobyl comes to mind, however i preferred to concentrate on looking at the Soviet Era facades that encompassed this once bustling city.

We then went to the awe inspiring Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor.  It is now a shelled up in a sarcophagus for any radioactive material that may be leaking out.  Plans are in the next few years to have a company build a better sarcophagus in order to better keep it from leaking anymore.  We saw some cat fish which were probably some of the biggest fish I have ever seen.  No it was not because of the radiation but rather it was because they have no predators around so they are growing as big as they want….

Before our way out back to Kiev and through the 2 radiation checkpoints, we had lunch in the small town that is starting to become inhabited again.  They had many memorials here, an Orthodox Church, and signs of populations returning to the area….