Bakota Bay, Water inlet on Dniester River, Ukraine.
Bakota Bay is a water inlet along the Dniester River, set within Podilski Tovtry National Nature Park in western Ukraine, bordered by limestone cliffs and rocky shores. The bay sits in a deep river valley where the water meets steep rock faces on both sides.
The bay was created in 1981 when the Dniester Hydroelectric Station flooded the river valley, submerging the old village of Bakota along with its medieval fortifications. Before the flood, the site had been settled for centuries, and traces of that earlier life now lie beneath the water.
Near the bay, White Mountain holds a cave monastery with frescoes painted between the 12th and 14th centuries, still visible on the rock walls today. People visit the site to see how monks lived and worked in this part of Ukraine during the medieval period.
The bay is most easily reached from Kamianets-Podilskyi, which has good road connections to the area. Once there, marked paths follow the shoreline, but the ground is rocky in many places, so sturdy footwear makes walking much more comfortable.
When the water level drops during dry periods, the outlines of the old village of Bakota can sometimes be seen beneath the surface. This makes the bay one of the rare places where a submerged settlement becomes briefly visible to the naked eye.
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