Kiev – The City of Golden Copulas

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Everything in Kiev is Grand

Our start in Kiev wasn’t the best we could hope for. We did not get the overnight express we counted on and we had to settle down for a different, less 'luxurious' one. Later on we learnt that train number can tell a lot. Any small number, preferably with double zero in front is the best. The one we wanted was 092N so not bad at all and we came to Kiev on the 134 one. It was not bad at all as for 3rd class, we slept through out the night with no problems at all. The only negative point about this train was that it arrived in the afternoon and we had to hang around until we were able to head to our Couch Surfing place for the next two nights.

The baggage lockers at the train station are great – very modern and not expensive at all (15 UAH each, 1,2£) and you can leave your stuff there for 48h. However lack of understanding Ukrainian in writing caused a little misunderstanding in the way we used it. We locked it in a wrong way and we had to pay double to get assistance in unlocking it in the evening. Ow well – not the first time in Ukraine we learnt that you have to double ask about pretty much everything when it comes to price. Same problem occurred at the train station in Lviv when we paid for 'the nice lounge' and we were not told that it is a fee per hour. After 3h we were yelled at for not leaving and not willing to pay. I still believe we were being conned cause we cannot read Cyrillic and the guard was trying to get some extra money. I will call police he said and we said Ok please do, it was your fault as you did not advise us properly. And to pay triple price for sitting on the floor?? I was not willing to do that and maybe unnecessary raised my voice as well. When he saw we are not afraid of the police and we additionally asked to speak to his manager, he let us go without paying. So was he right? I don’t know but being sceptical as I am, I really doubt it!!!

Anyhow, we had half day to kill in Lviv so we headed to the metro station that Val - our CS hostess - told us to go. It was supposed to be the centre of the city. We had no maps as Lonely Planet guide was only in PDF on our netbook and we were counting on some tourist information to be around the station. We could not have been more wrong. There is no information centre around all town and there is no way you can get some advise from locals. Kiev being closer to Russia is further to Poland in the same time, hence lack of understanding of our native language almost at all. At least all young generation could not understand what we are saying to them, nor spoke any English. We had to rely on older people as they seem to have comprehended what we were saying. We knew from LP that we have to look for Maydan Nezalezhnosti which is like a main square in the city and that is where we were heading. We had some breakfast on the go – some delicious pancakes with chicken and sausages (15 UAH = 1,2£ each) and once we got to the square we could already see some stunning golden churches. Wish we had known what they were though!!! So I decided to just walk in to the near by 5* hotel and ask for the map. What are they going to say? NO? Of course not and 2 minutes later I was equipped in the tourist version of the map. This was easy from now on.

We were planning to stay in Kiev for 2 nights/3 days and catch overnight train to Moscow. So this afternoon we hoped to walk around all beautiful churches that were listed on the map. They all seemed to be in walking distance between each other and the weather could not have been more perfect!!! Tomek was so happy with the sun as this gave him an amazing light for the photos. I just could not stop looking at the majestic views of the churches and gold contrasting so perfectly with clear blue sky. So we walked through the St. Michael’s Gold-Domed Monastery (admission free), looked inside at the amazing golden interior of the place and we headed down the hill to the old part of Kiev where more churches where to be found. It took us probably around 3-4h of walking to circle the city centre (a lot of it was up the hill) and we ended up at the most famous St.Sophia Cathedral. We walked in and saw admission fee of 43UAH and we thought it was just not worth it. Especially when the St. Michael’s Monastery is a mirror reflection of it standing at the opposite side of the street and it was for free. Only two days later we learnt that the 43UAH was for museum and bell tower as well. Just to look around the complex was only 3 UAH (0.25 £) so we did visit it after all.

It took us quite a lot to find some supermarket as we wanted to cook dinner for our hosts that night. We had no problems reaching Val and Sasha's place and we had amazing time with them talking long hours about Ukrainian culture, life work etc. They made us dinner that night and we had some nice Ukrainian vodka. We had some really delicious Green Borsh made of spinach and schav so make sure you try it when in Ukraine (we do have this dish in Poland as well but it is called differently). They have this most adorable dog – Ucha – and that only reminded us that we already miss our Athos;-( They advised us on the next day excursion, lend us very nice and informative guidebook and we were ready for the great Lavra Monastery.

We spent the whole day walking around southern part of the city (day before we visited Northern), starting from the Pl. Slavy (war memorial) and remains of Lavra Fortress. It was not quite easy as the map showed but we managed to finally find the entrance to the Upper Lavra (it is a newer part with museum and the only side you pay admission fee of 25 UAH – 2£ each). Again astonishing architecture and amazing interiors of the Dormition Cathedral but the part we were most looking forward to was the old Monastery part of Lavra with caves and tombs from XII century. It is only a short walk from the upper Lavra area and girls be prepared to have some scarf to put at your head, with respect to their customs. There two cave corridors in the complex and they have tombs of around 100 monks inside (some of the bodies are mummified with showed-cased limbs) together with hand curved chapels and preying rooms. No photography is allowed. It was quite something for us and we really enjoyed it.

Next we decided to have a break at the entrance of the Great Patriotic War Museum and we ordered cold beer and sat down. Incredible how cheap drinking is in this place. Bottle of good Ukrainian vodka will cost you around 35 UAH (2,5£) and beer between 5-7UAH (0.7£). Despite the fact that it was only maybe 5C, sun was very strong and it was really pleasurable. We had a great stroll through the open War Musuem with amazing bronze sculptures and miilitary tanks to see, down to the Dnipro riverside to see the Monument of the founders of Kiev. Not as amazing as we thought it would be, we quickly passed through it and continued walking in the direction of the main square. There is a beautiful Tsar palace on the way – Marlinsky Palac - however it seems to have been in renovation since 2007 ( they even wiped out the project end date on the info board as it takes so long hahha). Shame as some photos we have seen looked amazing and we could only look throught the big metal gates ;-( We still had some time untill we could head home so we hang out in the Main Square shopping mall and had some nice Ukrainian Borsh (traditional red soup made of beetroot).

We have used CS for the first time in Kiev and even though the idea seemed somehow 'weird' to us we really enjoyed it. There is no comparison you could have with hotels/hostels. Great and comfy bed, nice company and hadny information given about the place, cooking possibilities – all great ;-) We will see how it is going to be in Moscow.

Next day we walked really little and we spent most of our time in the shopping mall useing free Wi-Fi and enjoying some nice food. After really busy 5 days we really needed it. Overall we were really impressed with Kiev. Big metropolia, the capital of Ukraine and yet somehow quiet and enjoyable. Plenty to see and enjoy around and not too big distances between those things. Transport system is really good as well. We mostly used Marshrutkas (2.5 UAH – 0.15£ each ride) or underground (2UAH each). We did not expect to find this place so charming at all.

One strinking observation from our side was that everything was so big. Grand churches, monuments, statues (like the liberty one needed to be higher than the one in New York), houses, government buildings and parks - truly Tsar like place – A must see!!!

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Photos

St. Andrew
beautiful scenery on the hill around historical Andriivsky Uzviz street

St. Sophia's Cathedral
from inside the gates

feeding homeless dogs...
we donated a kilogram of sausage meet to them ;-(

Zoloti Vorota
called Golden Gate even though it is mostly wooden....

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Simply excellent photos
Love the shots of the monastery and the church's. Love your descriptions of all you are encountering. Happy travels

[Beata and Tomek]

thanks
We are glad you liked it ;-) Tomek is exercising his photography skills every day;-) We hope you enjoyed Morocco, great photos too;-) cheers

[Cessna152]

Brings back memories of my trip to Kiev last year. Happy travels!