Some people spend their honeymoon in Paris, others in Venice. Hawaii is also said to be very popular. Anna and I chose Iziaslav (Izyaslav), a small town in the Volyn region of Ukraine. What is there? Two monasteries, a palace, a fortress, the ruins of a Polish church, two Jewish cemeteries, two synagogues, two Jewish study houses. Fun fact: the ancestors of Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr Spock in Star Trek, came from Iziaslav.

When Anna and I made our way from Ternopil to Iziaslav on 21 January, we had a marathon of wedding events behind us. The wedding itself, a dinner for friends in Cologne, another one in Lviv, one for Anna’s relatives and our friends in Ternopil. It was lovely and we were so happy about every one of our wonderful guests, but it was also exhausting. Now we can travel. Anna’s mum Olga joined us and our mutual friend Tanya, who was our maid of honour in Cologne, is also with us. Tanya lived in Iziaslav for two years and knows her way around. Pan Mykola is driving us from Ternopil, as he has done on previous trips.

Our journey has been quiet so far. In Lviv and Ternopil, we only rarely had air alarms. But the war is omnipresent. At the airport in Rzeszów, Poland, and at the border crossings, we had seen the incessant supplies for the front. There are masses of soldiers at the railway stations. They are on their way to the front or returning from there. The trains are travelling to Kherson, Dnipro, Zaporizhia – places we all know from the news by now. The friends we talk to are tired of the war. Nobody had expected three years of terror and horrific news. Some fear the threat of conscription, others can’t sleep because of the nightly air raids. And yet they not only look after themselves and their families, but also try to help others – as best they can. However, the daily stress, fatigue and worry about the uncertain future are palpable. The political events of recent weeks have not helped to calm them down.

Long walks are exhausting for Anna’s mum Olga. We therefore decide to visit the two Jewish cemeteries on the first day. They are outside Iziaslav and we still have Pan Mykola and his car. The weather is grey and foggy and will remain so for the next few days, but it remains dry and we don’t have to walk around in the rain. Not ideal for taking photos, but it could be worse.

Both cemeteries are easy to locate, but access to the Old Jewish Cemetery proves difficult. Someone has built a house where a path should take us to the entrance. After some searching, we make it anyway. The cemetery is situated on a hill with a beautiful view. Only a few gravestones remain, but someone is obviously looking after the site. The grass is short and we don’t see any rubbish.

We pass an old Christian cemetery and the ruins of a Polish church – Anna’s favorite photo objects.

The condition of the New Jewish Cemetery is saddening. Everything is densely overgrown. Now, in winter, you can squeeze through the undergrowth, but in summer there is certainly no way through. The door of the Bet Tahara, the pre-burial house, is open and there is rubbish inside. It’s obviously been a long time since anyone was buried here.

The next morning we start our walk through the city with the Sangushky Prince Palace in the new part of Iziaslav. The town was destroyed twice, once by Khmelnytsky’s Cossacks and once by the Tatars. The ruins we see certainly don’t date from that time. Even Tanya doesn’t know when the palace was destroyed or when its decline began. Directly opposite the castle is a large baroque monastery. At least parts of it have been restored with the help of the Polish Ministry of Culture. The work still seems to be ongoing, the church is closed.

We find the Maidan Beit Midrash in the city’s market district. It now serves as a workshop and has obviously seen better days. The beit midrash in the new town and the nearby synagogue are also easy to find. The synagogue was so heavily altered under Soviet rule that its original purpose is barely recognisable.

The Great Synagogue in the Old Town is easy to find, but access is blocked from all sides. This may also be because the building is no longer safe. In winter, the paths are muddy and icy and we give up trying to get closer to the synagogue. Above the synagogue is a former Jewish neighbourhood along a street. It ends in front of a huge monastery complex. The Soviets turned it into a prison; today it is a Ukrainian state prison. But there are other buildings that attract our attention. One building could have been a Jewish school or a beit midrash, while Tanya says that another one was a school that was somehow connected to the Jewish community. At least that’s what she’s been told.

In the afternoon, we are invited to Tanya’s mother-in-law’s house for dinner. The table is laden with pickled vegetables, meat, fish and other delicacies. The highlight turns out to be boiled cabbage with wild mushrooms. The hospitality is overwhelming and after a few glasses of Horilka, the mood lifts. Tanya’s mother-in-law and Anna’s mother discover their shared passion for cabbage growing and exchange views.

I sit at the table and think about the journey to Iziaslav and what we found there. As is so often the case, the question arises as to whether the glass is half full or half empty. Most of the historical heritage is in poor condition – often just ruins. But it is still there and perhaps has a future as a tourist attraction after the war. It would be desirable for the place. One thing will remain of Iziaslav in any case: Thanks to the descendants of Iziaslav Jews, the blessing of the Cohanim has made it into international pop culture – even if hardly anyone recognises it in the Vulcans’ greeting in Star Trek. It is therefore worth taking a look at an interview with Leonard Nimoy on YouTube.

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