olechko

Every time an expat gets visitors, he instantly takes them to the Lavra. It’s top three holy christian orthodox places (another one is Pochayiv in West Ukraine and a place somewhere in Russia). We started with lunch at a place Kupol, it’s located on Sichovyh Strilciv st., around the corner to the right of the main entrance to the Lavra and the passage to the caves.

You got to buy tix for seeing the host of churches on top, and once inside, get extra tix (look for “Kasa” sign) to get into the museum of scythian gold, which is very nice. The prettiest church in my mind one can see from the street - the Nadbramna - above the main entrance - a perfect example of Ukrainian Baroque. Then one can wind down the back of the churches past the beautiful arcade following the signs to the caves. Ladies, bring your scarves to wear inside the caves and churches or else they made you buy their own ugly ones. And finally, the descent/ascent to the caves is pretty steep and slippery.

Btw, apparently another restaurant nearby is the CCCP with its of soviet paraphernalia. It’s a bit pricey, but a great choice to impress the visitors. If you go next weekend, you can combine the reverence with the fun of lounging in the park during the rock-folk festival going on right next to the Lavra.

Lavra, open every day, 10-17, Sichovyh Strilciv St.

I am thinking of making it my permanent home for the last month of this summer. I can not belive we are still stuck here in Kyiv. Right, so are the best and the brightest of Lviv, but that’s because this is where the money is, and hot water in the tab, and regular flights to Europe. But we will be to pass on all that for a month easily I am thinking as I will be happily blogging about my current favoarite city of all times!

The new discoveries of this visit - several solid coffee places:

Svit Kavy

Pid Synyou Plyashkoyu - it was there that we really dug our heels into the groud and said - we are going to be back! Most solid looking 5-table establishment, predominantly a coffee and drinks place, ask for their honey liquer specialty - not as good as my dad’s stuff but really great!

Rooftop cafe at the shopping mall that used to be the old Univermag - very low key, almost fast food place, but with amazing views of the city!

Kilikiya - very beautiful side alley off Virmenska St., it’s quite easy to find by its sign. They serve regular Ukrainian food fare as well as the best hot chocolate and mostly coffee. Their furniture is hade of the heaviest steel, but it’s “ironmonged” very stylishly.

and the regular tourist-heavy Videnska Kavyarnia and the Italiysky Dvoryk

and restaurants:

Opera - the Terrase on top of the Opera hotel across the street from the opera house - very fancy, perfect for dessert, decent wine list also their dinner tasted very good too. Check out the automatic shoe cleaner in the hotel lobby - classic! The views are really hard to beat - you are up there, soaring with the sculptures on top of the opera, checking out the city center rooftops.

For sughtseeing, we went up the City Hall tower, which also provided the best view! Get into the city hall lobby, ride up to 4th floor and follow the signs to “vezha”. After paying your 3 hryvnyas you will have to climb 17 floors on rickety wooden stairs and appreciate the exposed bell tower clock. The view is worth all the trouble. To be continued…

Yesterday I got stuck in maddening traffic jam on the way to the city center, and most of the cars were trying to get out! My taxi driver gave a substantial reasonsing list (he had the time in traffic to think it up) end of year graduation, Rada’s last meeting for the year, end of business quarter, beginning of four-day weekend! Poor coppers were waving their stripy sticks in wane and people climbing on top of each others’ car ignoring the traffic lights, driving on opposite and on pedestrian lanes. Never seen so many bored Ukrainian faces at once.

Little Miss Moi also had a say about this on her blog.

June 28-29 (info from Kyivpost:) Tavriyski Ihry (Tavria Games) is the 16th International Ukrainian music festival and is considered to be one of the biggest music festivals in Europe. The festival will include 13 hours of music in different styles, with about 30 musicians performing and a great fireworks display at the end of the festival. This is the first time Ukrainian musicians will perform on a giant, 52-meter-long onstage in Kyiv. Among the artists to be seen and heard at Tavriyski Ihry are K-Maro, Verka Serdyuchka, Mad Heads, Tartak, Druha Rika, Gudimov and Boombox. It’s on Friday 29th June, and Saturday 30th, NSC Olimpiyskiy at 4 pm (55 Chervonoarmiyska). 4 p.m. Tickets Hr 25.

30 June, festival Return to Music, festival by Tokio, Boombox, Zdob Si Zdub, Mad Heads XL, ТНМК n Kontraktova square in Podil. Starts at 6 pm.

July 7 - 8 Definitely going to this one: next weekend Krayina Mriy (site is in English) It’s out in the park behind the Lavra, lots of food, folksy stuff for sale and most important- good music on a summer night. Wanna join?

I have been dabbing in paint for a past couple of months along with several lovely ladies from International Women’s Club in Kyiv proudly calling Yuri Solomko - our teacher ( he represented Ukraine in 2001 Venice bienalle). The highlights of the exhibition at Tychyna Museum that came out from this group are the Ukrainian dolls by Nathalie Bobrynska and amazing painstakingly detailed copies of Ukrainian old masters by Marisol Franks, and of course two of my beauties The art will be on show at the museum for another week.

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Tychyna Muzeum, 5 Tereshchenkivska St. , apt. 1,3

Stopped by there this week, greeted by this fine Roitburt at the door . The rest of the exhibit were funky sculptures made of glass and neon, little buddas, bunnies, snowman, etc. lit up from inside and out. Looked like a collective of several artists’ work. I always like to come back to Zeh, feels so exclusive going into an obscure gate with ironmonger’s’ shops and the gallery way in the back. This time I was greeted with this wonderful pieces, I am sure set out as an installation. Also found a new graffiti on a garbage can right there - a great addition to my collection.

Illiynska 16, Podil open 11ish t0 17

Along with the charitable concert, Elton “Serovich” John has brought his photography collection, for Pinchuk’s money of course, which is all for the better. The artists list is very impressive, Ryan Mcginley being my favoarite. His pictures gracing Vice magazine cover breathe with the same youth ease and beauty. The first day opening of the exhibit brought in the cool young but not yet famous (since the pre-opening happened the day before) crowd.

Lviv is one of my top three favorite cities to live in, although it’s more like visit because all the lvivites I meet cautiously talk of short supply of water and other inconveniences. Given I never stayed there longer then a week, these things we are yet to explore.

The usual architectural landmarks to see there are the Lutheran cathedral and the Campians’ chapel, the Armenian church and the streets nearby, the Rynok square, the arts market and the Opera. Since we arrived mid-week, opera was closed and we ended up dozing off in the cool of Zaknovetska theater with school kids on matinée.

The old and tried Dzyga gallery had the Yellow-themed exhibit of many local artists.The cool yard nearby the roman-catholic church got gated off, preserving the stunning graffiti from getting “corrected”. A new great find is Slyvka gallery around the corner from the art market, full of original trinkets at realistic prices. This girl particularly looked interesting. Another fun new gallery is on Virmenska St. called The Green Sofa exhibited paintings from plain-air at the Mediterranean.

Yesterday I went down to Berestechko to check on lots of ethnic wear, singing and alas, political talk. The talk part was the most confusing. I never saw so many different and colorful party flags, Lutvyn and Lutsenko giving instructions on rebelling against the corrupt, etc, etc.

I much more enjoyed taking in the historic sights: the church, the cossack burial catacomb and the monument. A grand cossack against poles battle of Berestechko took place here under the lead of Khmelnytskyi. The place all looked different since the …teen yeas when I went there on a school trip.

The highlight of the festival was Taras Chubay’s performance of Shevchenko verses. Plus all the young people that came for the concert part - pleasant to see their new way of wearing embroidered shirts and taking the Ukrainian pride their own way…

Berestechko, Volyn region, 50 km from Lutsk

Terrible roads are not the only obstacles to enjoying Ukrainian scenery with a car. We are the worst country when it comes to road police manners. Yesterday we all pulled out of the house just to be stopped by a cop to collect 40 hryvnyas into his pocket for the silliest thing. The day before the Rada or whoever implemented a new regulation that required a driver to carry with him a different number of stupid papers ( I am not talking about drivers license). So the happy cops harvest happily. Makes me think of another story on the topic: about a Ukrainian dude in the US trying to bribe a cop there for letting him go off the speeding ticket. The guy ended up in jail of course. Long way to go.