Ukraine North - South

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Ukraine is a quite poor nation, but at the same time is a beautiful place that deserves a trip, expecially if you like to visit locations that are different compared with Western Europe. My trip started in Kiev, where I arrived by plane from Milan, it continued in the Crimean peninsula and ended in the sunny and rowdy Odessa.

Kiev

Kiev is the capital of Ukraine and is setted in the North of the country, quite near to the border with Belarus. In my opinion, Kiev is a wonderful city, absolutely a must-see place if you're going to Ukraine. My stay in Kiev lasted three days, completely adequate to visit with calm all the interesting places and to enjoy one of the main attractions of the city, the beautiful gardens of Kiev.

One of the locations that you can't miss is the Kievo Pecherska Lavra, a historic Orthodox Christian monastery that rises on the hills that sorround the river Dnieper. Missing the wonderful golden cupolas and the striking sightseeing in the caves where rest mummified monks would be a big error. The most strange thing of the sightseeing in the crypt, enlightened only by little candles, was the sight of many head-veiled women kissing the coffins during a prayer. Another unmissable places are Andriyivski Uzviz, a folkloristic, uneven road where is located the home of M. Bulgakov and where you can find any type of sovietic souvenir, and Kreschatik Street, the main road of the town with his characteristic buildings in stalinist-style.

Accomodation and food I booked two nights at the TIU Kreschatik (8/b, Kreschatik Street, apartment 11), a hostel whit fantastic staff and quite cheap (abuot 10 €/night in a double-room with shared bathroom). Who likes ukrainian food has absolutely to try Puzhada Khata, a self-service restaurant close to the underground-station Kreschatik (cheap but good), and the restaurant Krim in maydan Nezalezhnosti, where are served Crimean dishes at low prices.

Trasport From Boryspil airport to the town you can take the polit 322. The best way to move rapidly in Kiev is by underground: it's cheap and you can go everywhere. It's interesting to know that the Arsenal'na station is the deepest underground-station in the world (105 m in the ground!). Reaching Kiev is very easy beacuse it's well linked with a good raylway-system with the others Ukrainian cities.

Yalta

My staying in Yalta was a sort of delusion, because it's nothing more than a seaside resort attended by russian people. I think that an entire day is completely enough to see all the interesting places, namely the seafront, the A. Cechov's house whit his beautiful garden, the Pushkin's boulevard and Livadia Palace, that was the location of the Yalta Conference, that is thirty-minutes-far from Yalta.

Food Absolutely to try the stolavaja named Pelmennaya (8, vul. Sverdlova), where you can eat fantastic russian dishes spending little money.

Transport In Crimea the main means of transport is the bus and all the places are linked by buses. I reached Yalta from Simferopol (that I reached from Kiev by train) by a trolley bus. Maybe you don't know, but the trolley bus line that links Simferopol and Yalta is the longest in the world!

Sevastopol

I liked very much Sevastopol because it isn't a turistic place and because it still preserves his sovietic look. The city, that hosts the most important military harbour of the Ukrainian Navy, is nestled between mountains and sea and deserves a one-day sightseeing.

Accomodation and food You can find a good place to sleep at cheap price at Funny Dolphin Hostel (5, vul. Kychera, apartment 2). It isn't a royal palace but is nice. About the food, I found a wonderful and cheap restaurant called Pobadya (10, Nakhimova street). It's a soviet-style hash house with soviet-time poster and waitress dressed like in the Sixties.

Simferopol

My last stage in Crimea was Simferopol, tha main railway station of the peninsula, where I spent few hours waiting for the train to Odessa. Simferopol is the biggest city in Crimea and is not an unmissable location. By the way, if you pass there, go to eat an amazing dish of Crimean cooking at low prices at Kafe Marakand (17, vul. Vorovskogo) and then take a walk at Yuri Gagarin's Park

Transport Simferopol is reachable by train from all the main Ukrainian cities and by bus form all the Crimean towns.

Odessa

If you like nightlife, Odessa is your place. By the way, two days in Odessa are a must also if clubbing isn't your cup of tea. You can't miss the Staircase made famous by the "Battleship Potemkin" movie, the beautiful Preobrazenskij Street with the nearby area and, most of all, the amazing Pryvoz market, the biggest fruit and vegetables market of the former Soviet Union, an exceptional point of view on the Ucrainian daily life. Besides, Odessa lies on the sea and has got wonderful beaches and seasides.

Accomodation and food I booked a couple of night at TIU Front Page hostel at 42, Koblevskaja Street (12€/night for each person for a double-room with shared bathroom). Fantastic staff and really good location. In the city centre eating is quite expensive, because of the oligarchs, and the only place where I ate Ukrainian food at low prices was Puzhada Khata in Preobrazenskij Street.

Transport Odessa is well linked by railway with lots of other cities and as an airport at only 15 minutes by car from the city centre.

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