Blogs from Kyiv, Ukraine, Europe

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Europe » Ukraine » Kyiv August 23rd 2021

Ich wollte zu den Höhlenklöstern, lt Reiseführer DIE Attraktionen in der Stadt. An der Rezeption erfuhr ich: 16 Stationen mit Bus 25 a, fährt am Bahnhof ab. Ticket im Bus kaufen. Hat fast gestimmt, nur war es Bus 25 und Tickets gab es nirgends zu kaufen. Der erste Busfahrer war nicht kooperativ, ließ mich einfach stehen. Der nächste Bus kam nach einer Ewigkeit aber der Fahrer war prima. Er nahm meine 10 Cent, wischte einen Holzschemel neben sich ab und wir fuhren los, Tür blieb auf, wegen Corona oder der Hitze? Dann kamen Kontrolleure. Es gab ein längeres Gespräch und dann war alles gut. Nur die Bustüre war fortan zu. In den Kirchen wurde überall geputzt, so dass ich gleich ein schlechtes Gewissen bekam. Der nächste Tag war nämlich ein Festtag, der Nationalfeiertag. In den Kirchen ... read more
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Europe » Ukraine » Kyiv February 19th 2020

Imagine that a person who had never been to Kiev before came to visit you. It is not for long in the capital of Ukraine, so you are faced with a rather difficult task: to show the guest the most important thing so that he has a clear idea of ​​what the city of Kiev is like. To make your life easier, we compiled a list of 10 sights of Kiev that you need to show guests. 1. Since acquaintance with a person often begins with the exchange of business cards, we also suggest that you begin acquaintance with Kiev with the capital's “business card” - Khreschatyk. On weekends, traffic is blocked here, due to which the holiday atmosphere always reigns on the main street of Kiev. Street musicians also contribute to this, which are always ... read more

Europe » Ukraine » Kyiv December 28th 2019

I sorted out all my stuff and got ready to check out after my breakfast. I love the hidden storage space in this small apartment hostel. The manager/receptionist just lifted up the mattress on his day bed and I left my bag in there. While researching Kiev, I came across an Urbex tour that looked really interesting. I was looking into booking it, when some of the others on my multi-day tour mentioned that they were going to do it, so I decided to go with those. The tour we booked was an underground one, exploring the underground tunnel system and a former cold war bunker. I made my way to the subway station that we were meeting at, and since I got there a bit early, decided to go for a little walk around. It ... read more
Fishing Market
Tunnel Entrance
Underground Tunnel

Europe » Ukraine » Kyiv December 27th 2019

I had decided to do a walking tour that morning. The one I had chosen went to Lavra Hills, a part of Kiev that I hadn't visited the previous day. I headed down to Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti), which is where the tour started and was a short way away from my hostel. The square is a central point in Kiev and has undergone many names changes over the years. It used to be surrounded by the buildings of the city council but now it is surrounded by shops, offices, cafes and restaurants. The square got its current name in 1991, in the aftermath the Ukrainian Declaration of Independence and the collapse of the Soviet Union. The square is a popular place for political rallies to be held. I stopped for a coffee at one of ... read more
Hotel Salute
Monument to Ivan Mazepa
Monument to Ivan Mazepa

Europe » Ukraine » Kyiv December 26th 2019

I was going to do a Kiev walking tour, but after having a pretty terrible night's sleep. It was a struggle to get out of bed. I decided to just take it easy and have a wander around the city instead. After filling myself up with a late breakfast, I headed out to have a look around Kiev. I knew roughly the direction that I needed to go in. First, I headed up to the pedestrainised area that I had took a walk through the previous evening. It was a lot quieter as most of the stalls were closed and there were few people about. I walked along to the end of the street as there were some things to see there. The first was the Princess Olga Monument. In the tenth century, she took over ... read more
St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery
St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery
Saint Sofia's Cathedral

Europe » Ukraine » Kyiv October 19th 2019

It's our last day in Kiev but our flight isn't until evening, so there's time for one last outing. We take the metro into town and then the funicular between its 100 year old art deco stations to Kiev's blue and gold domed skyline with St Sofia's cathedral, St Michael's Monastery and Saint Andrew's church. We round off our visit in style with lunch at 100 Rokiv Tomu Vpered (100 Years Ago in the Future), a restaurant run by the winner of Ukranian Masterchef. The food is a modern twist on traditional Ukranian dishes. There are some whacky things on the menu; I skip the edible bees and the celery with ash and order the chicken with beetroot kvass (bread made with fermented black bread). The chicken is served naked, whilst the waiter brandishes a blown ... read more
View from Kyiv Funicular
Kyiv Funicular
St Michael's Monastery

Europe » Ukraine » Kyiv October 18th 2019

Our train to Kiev is at 11.26 so we depart the hotel in plenty of time to walk to the station via Lviv’s main sights. Our train is a sleeper train in day formation. A carriage contains 10 compartments each of 4 berths. Our seats are numbers 44 and 45. This means that when we reach the end of the carriage, the numbers have only reached 40. We stand outside the toilet a bit perplexed, then sit in some random seats, only to be moved on by their owners. We take another look and discover that each compartment has two extra numbers for day time when 6 people share the bottom 2 bunks. It’s a 6 hour journey to Kiev. This train has no trolley service so we are unprepared. It’s quite dull, chugging through trees ... read more
Town hall
Arsenal
Arsenal

Europe » Ukraine » Kyiv October 14th 2019

Our flight to Kiev is at 1.30 pm but due to the old man’s ineptitude with time zones, the hire car has to be dropped at 9 am. So today consists mostly of sitting in Minsk airport. There are worse places; there are plenty of old aircraft and bison sculptures dotted around to keep me entertained. Ironically, the car hire desk doesn’t open until 10 am anyway, which makes returning a car quite complicated – especially as there is no drop off point. Apparently (we finally learn) you park in the general car park and the Europcar employee rides up and down on a scooter looking for his cars. Parking is not easy. The car park is full and it’s difficult to drive round because so many cars are parked in places other than parking bays. ... read more
Minsk airport
Descending into Kyiv
Sunset on the Dnipro




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