Towards Kiev

by Hanna Yanovska

Posted to WritersAndGenres on 2004-03-04 22:59:00

Parent message is 614391
Hi there. I’ve done some thinking what can be interesting here for you from Prague. In 2001 I’ve spent in your city ’bout 3 happy and crazy days living mostly off beer and landscapes 🙂 – and really like this place.
So, if you are going TO Kiev (you might also find it as ‘Kyiv’ – in not Soviet, but Ukrainian transcription), then you can:

Have a metro trip – Kyiv metro is not similar to Prague one, it’s in some places more deep underground, has a bit less stations and is much decorated (Zoloti Vorota st. with a lot of mosaics, e.g; my man’s favourite station is Slavutych (if you too, like hi-tech, you’d like it too) – that’s on the green line), Dnipro station is a platform above the Dnieper, and a serious part of the line (red one, it must be) the train goes above the ground, so you can see much of the river and islands on it. Nobody here really calls the lines blue, red and green, but traditionally they got such colours on the maps. I just don’t remember the lines’ names in Kyiv :-).

Get lost in the territory of the Pechersk orthodox monastery. It’s territory is about the size of your Gradchany. You go out on Arsenalna metro station and go down the street called Sichnevoho Povstannya (the way looks like this: you pass a large piece of street, then you see a grenade-like hotel on the left and pass it, then you got a lot of park on your left, and after the park and one block there’s the territory). There are: a very high bell-tower you can climb and see a lot of Kyiv at a time, monastery caves (crypts: you buy a candle instead of a ticket (as I remember, smth could have changed) and light your way). There are also a lot of museums and exhibitions on the territory. They got very good folk art museum, an exhibition of microminiatures (like portraits on rice seeds or shod flee), the museum of books and something else you can find out on the spot. When you enter an orthodox church, be sure to take off your hat (or anything else on your head) if you’re a man or put it on if you’re a woman (as far as I remember, Catholics don’t get too bothered with such things, but the orthodoxies take this tradition seriously).

Another route, popular but still interesting (and a rather long way), is to go up on Zoloti Vorota (metro, green line). Here you can see the restored version of Kyiv Golden Gate (the real ancient walls are inside the building). Then, go down Volodymyrska street so that the gate and a fountain are on your left. After a while you’ll have Sophia cathedral on your left (it also is worth seeing and is really ancient inside – 12th century, as far as I remember). Then there’s Bohdan Khmelnytsky sq. with his monument. Then be sure to do down Volodymyrska vulytsia (street), NOT V-sky provulok, they are rather close but lead to different places. Where Volodymyrska ends, there’ll be Andriyivky uzviz (a slopy street) to the left. There are a lot of small museums, galleries and other interesting things to see on it and nearby. Here you can also buy some souvenirs. To get to the metro, turn left where the uzviz ends – it’s Kostyantynivska str., and turn right to the second street after you see the fountain with lion on your right (Spasska str.). The station is Contractova Ploscha (blue line). The uzviz is mostly walking zone, but where it ends there is some other transport too.

There are many other things, but those are the most essential among the popular ones. It’d be good to get a map.

The prices on tickets to the theatre or concerts are mostly smaller (sometimes – MUCH smaller) than in Prague. Though, in Kyiv everything is more expensive than in other places. As to food – in Kyiv it’s about the price in Prague, in other cities you can find it cheaper.

If you are going TOWARDS, but not really to Kyiv, then I can give you some advice if I know the way you travel.

Then, there’s a train from Kyiv to Kharkiv (Soviet: Kharkov) which goes a night. Kharkiv is very much like a scientific hallucination, and I and my man will try to show you it if you get here.

Hanna


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