To the east! Looking for some different travel experiences than I had so far with a relatively small cost I travelled with a group of friends to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. Such a different world, just one border away! After living in Poland in some aspects it seemed to be so familiar, and yet so exotic. I haven't been in east Europe, so the experience was new and unique for me.
We managed to rent a flat within a reasonable walking distance from the centre. It was in a typical 4-storey residential building in a typical residential neighbourhood. However, as you'll see street artists took care of the public spaces and adding up some colour to them. From here all our days began:
A simple walk through a few different neighbourhoods was like a time warp. At first blocks of flats, then modern office buildings straight outta XXIth century, then historical streets straight outta XIXth century, then city centre straight outta XXth century. With church domes popping out here and there - only in traditional shapes.
Kreschatyk Street is a wide and super-representative avenue that leads up with Maidan Nezalezhnosti (the independence square) as well as the People's Friendship arch. The current heart of Kiev.
Soc-real 10-storey buildings with matching detailing gave a super-monumental feeling to the area, but in a Russian way. All the large stone rusticating, collumnades, slight art-deco vibe but with a soviet touch. Made me think of similar architecture of Warsaw from this period, however I frankly admit that Kiev's was bigger, better. Bursting with life, tourists wandering around and locals rushing somewhere or trying to make sales with tourists. The latter was quite annoying, if you weren't careful there was a high risk of being a victim of a tourist scam.
A very cool thing was that on certain times this street was turned into a fully pedestrian zone. Like walking in the middle of a 10m wide street is really something. Lots of things to do around, restaurants, pubs, shisha bars, i think it was an only street that had some life 24/7 (on week nights, can't tell on the weekends).
Yeah, once I am in that subject, we got an impression that the city deserted completely at night. We are used to a european fiestas that start to rise only after 11 p.m. to go on all night in the streets. Or just people hanging out in bars, pubs, you know. Here, once we felt like enjoying a cold beer in a bar we had trouble finding any venue that was open and not a tourist-scam, and we also noticed that we were often the only people on the streets. Felt... strange for a capital.
There is one stall with absolutely delicious waffles for merely 30 UAH. We went there 4 times.
The independence square is a significant place in Ukrainian culture. This has been a place of numeorous political rallies since the independence movements started in 1990 - students protests, orange revolution, Euromaidan. Split in two by Kreschatyk Street on one side there is a spacious plaza with a central collumn-statue of Berehynia (independance monument), and on the other side there are a few characteristic buildings surrounding fountrains and green areas.
A few steps away, just by a high scarp that's overlooking Dniepr river stands tall another symbol of Kiev - People's Friendship arch. It is pretty cool.
After enjoying the views we walked up the scarp and enjoyed some more sights hidden in the parks.
Actually, the experience of grocery shopping was pretty interesting. Like I said before, some elements in Ukraine reminded us of Poland abour 20 years ago, and a supermarket which was the closest to our appartment was totally one of them. Its building was a brutalistic or modernistic rotunda, that also added up to the feeling.
We did some church-hopping. One of the most famous ones is Saint Sophia Cathedral - or actually the whole temple complex. That's the one on the photo bellow. We did not go in. Why? They had a stupid rule that if you wanted to take photos you needed to pay an additional entry fee. I don't really remember how much was it, but we were outraged. With a group od 4 photographers we instantly decided to boycott this one.
Luckily, just in the close vicinity we entered another monastry, a little further to the scarp. It is Saint Michael golden-domed monastry. To be fair, after entering its premises and by entering the monastry itself i don't even feel sorry about not seeing the other one. Painted in sky-blue on the exterior and decorated with golden ornaments it made a true impression on me.
Down by Dnipro there are a few cool things as well, for example the Kyiv River Port - an old warehouse converted into an a gallery of contemporary art. Tip - there's a nice lounge in the back!
Next - we walked around the area of Kontraktova Ploshcha.
Have I mentioned the metro stations of Kiev?
Yeah, they have that russian-monumental-feel but they are worth having a look. Zoloti Vorota, Teatralna, Posztowa Plosza and many many more beautiful stations that can be considered as an attraction as well. Most stations on the west side of the city are very deep, actually Arsenalna is the deepest station in the world.
Next day, next direction. We started off from the vicinity of Pecherst Lavra monastry.
The next sight of the day was the Motherland Monument.
Mother Russia, i mean. It was a very strange feeling, looking at a statue that still carries the symbol Museum of Ukraine during the II World War (or the Great Patriotic War), so that explains why this relict of the past still stands tall. We did not enter the museum but saw a few other monumental statues of soldiers, tanks, helicopters.
Yes, I think this is a must-see place once you are in Kiev.
Bazar Lisova is the biggest marketplace in the city, so we had a quick look-around.
After we got back to the centre in the evening we discovered that the fountians in Maidan are offering amazing shows with synchronised music and lights. Even in the rain.
On our last day the weather was beautiful, so we enjoyed some time at a nice beach by the Dnipro. The area is called Hydropark and is located on an island. Normally it is a vibrant urban beach with cafes, bars and restaurants. However on that day it was pretty empty, so we enjoyed some privacy and basically walked around the whole island.
I loved it that in the middle of the island there were wild, fully-grown forests.
And at the end we had a craving to see some typical residential areas, with a special interest in massive blocks of flats. We rode the metro far to the east.
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