What the pictureos landscapes are here! Forests, hills, the river like a snake... This river was a border for two countries during many decades. The Zbruch is 244 km long. Not so big. But its role in Ukrainian history is much bigger.

 Across the river is the Khmelnytskyi region, but here it is still Temopil territory. Today, this is the ghost of a border marking two administrative areas in modern Ukraine. But years ago the river Zbruch marked the dividing line between die empire of the Romanovs to the cast and that of the Habsburgs to the west.
This fortress on its high white rock was built in 16I5 by the Herburt grandees. The village, located on the Bessarabian border along the bloody Tatar-Wallachian rail, begged for a castle. Tatars raided the region throughout the 16th century, while the Wallachians greedily eyed the rich Podillian soil.
The shape of the fortress was determined by the terrain itself. It is built in a four-square plan with three huge corner towers and stone walls a meter and a half thick. The battlements were suited to both crossfire and flank attacks. Protected by the steep canyon of the Zbruch the eastern side was virtually impregnable.

Alas, the fortress failed to live up to its heroic demeanor. In the summer of 1648, the Kossacks under Maksim Kryvonis helped an uprising of villagers drive away the Polish garrison. In 1672 Turks seized the fortress - and again in 1694. Meanwhile, the rapid development of artillery meant that the castle walls and towers were a convenient target for cannon practice.

The tourists who climb Mount Strilka under the watchful eyes of numerous lizards may never find the fairytale treasure. But the real treasure of Kudryntsi is a rendezvous in these romantic ruins among the gentle Podillian hills and pine forests. For the really observant visitor, nature even offers a little surprise: if you look where you put your feet, you will see. between the grass and the wildflowers, the gleam of white, fragile marble.