Chernivtsi Ranked as Best City in Ukraine

I always knew Chernivtsi was special, but Focus magazine has just ranked the city the best city in all of Ukraine, ahead of the capital Kiev which came in second.

The Ukrainian Journal has part of the story.

The editorial staff of the magazine, jointly with the experts, rated participants according to 15 criteria, in particular: the development of infrastructure, the level of criminality, the ecological situation, tourism and investment attractiveness, and the average salary.

Chernivtsi ranked first due to high points on all criteria. The highest marks were given to the city for its business activity.

Just from my time in the city and some of the surrounding communities including Lviv which is three times the size, it looks like Chernivtsi has as much if not more business activity. It's become a city of entrepreneurs and small businesspeople.

And while secular magazines may not notice, we shouldn't miss the fact that Chernivtsi and the region around it is the Bible Belt of Ukraine. Divine blessings play a major role in the life of believers and that area has a bigger percentage of born-again Christians than other parts of the country.

On that subject here's a video from a 2004 Christmas musical at what we refer to as First Baptist Church in Chernivtsi. It was just posted online last week by "bodanik", the soloist in the video who now lives in Portland.