olha pryymak

We were this close to moving to Lviv; even the internet is reliable there now – the lovely People.net provider covers the city center pretty well; he transport to and from Kyiv is comparatively fine – the “Stolychyi express” train takes you there in six hours; there are plenty of restaurants and bazaars to get decent food – in short I found all the research necessary. Except one biggie- the housing expense (even out in West) makes it almost unaffordable :/, no matter how dilapidated and run down the apartments in mind are. This is the wonderful paradox of modern Ukrainian life: how can people afford to live in such poverty on such highly-price property? Something else must be going on here…

Anyway, besides the heavy thoughts of raising thousands ( in cash) for making our dream of living in Lviv come true, the lovely scenery inspired lots of sketching and doodling. I am particularly proud of these two:

Best refreshing way of spending an afternoon/evening – by one of the antique Kyiv fountains with some green tea (or cold beer). The prettiest one is by the Golden Gates. There is a bit hidden one on the mall between St. Sophia and Mykhailivska church (next to Hyatt). Most of these beauties date back pre-revolution times and are surrounded by seasonal bar/cafes. The only stand-alone fountains I can think of are at the Mariyinsky. Can you suggest any others?

Look at this post on Little Miss Moi’s Nezalezhnosti blog to go nuts over the beauty of this museum under open sky on the outskirts of Kyiv.

This guy wrote an exhaustive guite to Pirogovo in Russian (map of the place provided there on top, which can be very handy). I am linking it here on top as well.

It’s best to bring your own food. No bbq but plenty of picnic tables around. Locally done bbq is too fried or too expensive (if you go to Yarivec’ restaurant on the grounds. It boasts a great terrase in secluded woods and Kyiv prices).

To get there, find the museum on the map – it’s on the road to Odessa. Opean 10-17 daily. Btw, this weekend on July 6, between 17:20-22:00 there will be Ivana Kupala celebration with staged traditional folk rites.

Later on I did a scetch of this wooden church:

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…

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

It’s too cold to get out to see anything new today, so this post is about a small town Ostrog in Rivnenska oblast that I visited last year. The main attraction there are the ruins of XV Century Ostrogski family castle and a Mezhyrich monastery on the outskirts. The castle includes Trinity church and several towers that still remain (New tower on the pic).

Also, there is a nationally renowned school in town – Ostrog Academy – situated on the grounds of XVIII Century Capuchin monastery. First published Bible in eastern orthodoxy came out here in XVI Century.

Mezhyrich monastery is also fortified with great walls around. It opens to the view across a pond, as you leave Ostrog on top of the hill, surrounded by a village. The monks there are pretty stickt, hold pieces of at cloth at the entrance for those harpless women, who fail to show up in long skirts and headscarfs to wrap you properly before entering the church.

Inside the church interior is touched by darkness and time. It holds a great chandalier and a wonderful icon with Mary and child in the right hand corner. Even if you try really hard to look as if you are visiting the church to pray, the monks spot a tourist in you right away and approach you with an appropriate lecture. They care less if you speak no Ukrainian (as it was in my husband’s case) and get their message across with menathing intonation and the length of speech.

A great aerial view from Wikimapia of Palanok gives an idea about the three-castles-in-one layout that it has. It is Mukachevo hosts a wonderful gem of a castle – Palanok. It stands on an antient dead vulcano in the middle of the plains, in Transcarpathia.

Inside the castle there is a local ethnographic museum and a church. Being so unreachable, it is one of the best preserved castles. (Another particular good castle is Olesk, but in total you can visit around 40 castles in western Ukraine).

It’s stunning, interesting, personal and magnificent. In spite of having very little to do with music and theater, I am drawn to this place extremely. The Opera House was opened in 1900, built in Austria, transported to Lviv by train and put together by pieces. The interior is full of gold, silver and marble details. It generally feels good to be inside. Besides, ballet and opera, other acts perform there periodically. The tickets on regular shows range from 10-70 hryvnias, a bit steeper then in Kyiv, actually. Because of that it’s easier to get a seat at the last minute. A nicely-designed site has the general information and contact info in English, but does not seem to have the bill translated just yet.