A day in Kiev

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We had a hostal pre-booked in Kiev. It was about 3kms from the station and as we had no hyrvni, we walked. Kiev is a pleasant city and surprisingly hilly. Still we found it straight away and thoroughly enjoyed our first shower for a couple of days. Good food and beer followed (We found our hryvnia in a hole in the wall).

Our train for Moscow left at 9:30pm so we had a full day in Kiev. We explored monastery - Kiev Pechersk Lavra, and the open air musuem commemorating the 1941 - 45 war. (historical note; 1939 to 1941 the USSR supported Hitler whilst dividing up Poland between them). I tried Ukranian borsch for lunch and was so impressed I took a before and after photo. We had plenty of time to make our way back into town for pizza and beer in nice bar before collecting our backpacks and settling in on the night train to Moscow.

Overall Kiev is a pleasant city witth a relaxed atmosphere and probably the deepest underground system in the world. I’d like to go back.

The night train was crowded and showed the importance of the link between Russia and the Ukraine. Even the border crossing was streamlined. None of the usual 4 hour wait for nothing much. Everything was checked while the train was moving, and we were through and across the border without any noticeable delay - most shocking of all, the guards even smiled, and wished us luck!

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Photos

The Great Patriotic War
1941 - 1945

Comments

[Pam Roth]

Kiev
When I visited Kiev a very long time ago, we were taken to see the Eternal Flame. 'Oh dear,'said our guide, 'the Eternal Flame is not on today.' We kept our faces straight.