Pictures of Lekarovce from my trips in 1998 and 2000

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 The river Ung separates splits the little village of Lekarovce. This os a picture from the bridge that now spans the river. The Greek Catholic church tower can be seen on the left. Steve Sogan lived near the river as a boy and remembers sneaking down to the river as a boy to listen to the drunk men who gathered on the banks. To get to church the right bank residents would pull themselves across on a ferry using a cable streched across the river. The river swells in spring with runoff from the Carpathian mountains to the north.
The Greek Catholic Church on the west bank of the Ung river. The Sogans lived on the east bank but attended this church. I was told in was 300 to 400 years old but some records indicate it was built in ~1800

Interior of the GK Church. The iconoclast or altar screen is very beautiful

 
The GK Church alter
The very old Virgin & Child icon is decorated for May.
The Roman Catholic Church in Lekarovce were some of my grandmothers attended.
The right bank cemetary.
Lt. Col. Milan Sogan (left) and I visit the Slovakia-Ukrania boarder at the edge of town. Behind us is the Ukranian city of Uzhorod and the Carpathian Mountains.
This is me with my daughters Amy and Stacey at the boarder during our 2000 visit. This time we were told we should not get too close.
Stevan Sogan's house, the first one in from the old (now closed) road to Uzhorod.
Further west was the house were Milan was born. I understand most of these houses were built after WWII since the town was destroyed in the war. Many of the houses on this street belonged to our closer relatives (this one once belonged to my father's 1st cousin) so it is likely this area was once my great grandfather's farm. The lots are long narrow strips with the house, barns/sheds, gardens, orchards and wheat fields.
My cousin Julius, his sister, Anna and his wife Maria during my 1998 visit.
Julius and Maria with my mother-in-law Dorothy in the center during my 2000 visit. Our interpretor "Zelinsky" is on the left and Milan is on the right.
Lekarovce is a farming town. We met some good looking cattle while driving down the main street.
The area is one of the largest stork nesting areas in the world.
I was told that this was a very old house and was known as the "castle" because it was so much grander than the typical farm mud hut when it was built several hundred years ago. It turns out that the real castle was several hundred meters away but looked identical. Sogans occupied it for a long time.
On the way out of town we stopped in Zelinsky's favorite bar in Bajany. Zelinsky enjoyed being our translator (Hungarian) since he got to ride in the back of my rental car with my mother-in-law and two daughters.