Ukraine Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

The formation of the square was initiated in the late 1960s concurrently with the construction of the Kursk-Kharkiv-Azov railroad. Now, with the majestic buildings, fountains, flower-beds gladdening our eyes, we can hardly believe that once there was a permanently wet swamp (the so-called Archbishop Levada) there. It was here that the architect A. Ton built one of the first Kharkiv railway stations in 1869. However, in the course of time there emerged a necessity of recon...

Last day in Kiev. I woke up with a start at 8 a.m. thinking that it was much later, when someone opened the apartment door.  I got up, showered and dressed quickly. Turned out that Michal had been up since 6 and had already been out and about • to have a coffee and read a newspaper.  He had to settle for another coffee when we were ready • at the same place we had been to before called “софе хоУз” • Coffee House! There were a few final things we wanted to see befo...

This morning we walked around the Lavra Monastery complex in Kiev. The complex is huge, encompassing many Churches, squares, museums and two catacombs. It once housed over a thousand monks, now there are 120 monks (but with an average age of 35, it is not the remnants of a dying community, unlike western European religious centres). The complex was started in 1051 by Saints Antony and Feodosiy during the reign of the Kievian Rus. The catacombs are the oldest part of the complex, with h...

Walking down the streets of beautiful Kiev, I was shocked to come across the VD-One store.  (For my EFL readers, in English VD is short for Venereal Disease or one of the many diseases a person can get by partaking in risky sexual practices.) At first I consider the possibility that the store owner misspelled what he or she wanted to call his/her store, as "VD-Won" would make more sense than "VD-One".  Then, I thought, "Now there is store where people just get VD and cut out the mid...

How i love waking up in the middle of the night (NOT! as Borat would say) Anyways i was at least getting payed from when i left my home so hey i'll live:) I got to work in plenty of time waiting for the guy i was traveling with to Kiev and this was work related so those of you who know what i do for work knows what its about. I was sitting there waiting when the phone rang at the front desk at work and it was the officer i was waiting for telling me that he was delayed at 04:30 in the morni...

First stop crazy Kiev! After a very early start, we headed to Kiev, with an 8 hour stopover in Milan, where we just headed into town and just about melted in the heat, had a wander around town, ate lots of icecream and of course a beer. We finally got our flight to Kiev, (1 hour delayed, don’t fly with Alitalia, they are rubbish!) and arrived at 2am, to a very grumpy driver, who spoke no English at all who was taking us at our apartment in Kiev.  He drove like a madman, 160km...

I first came to Ukraine hundred years ago. When trees were higher, grass was greener, sun was brighter, photocameras were smaller and without changing lenses. Well, actually it wasn't that long ago. Less than 4 years past and it feels like a century. Today I got nostalgic and decided to look at some old pictures.So... it was october and it was a real golden fall. We never get these things here in Tallinn. Trees are green one day and another some storm comes, with rain and snow and blows every...

People i met here who contributed to, and improved my trip: Stale (Norway) my axe throwing brother! Rather than hang around in Budapest any longer i decided to jump straight onto the overnight train to Lviv in the Ukraine. I'd wanted to visit last time i was in Eastern Europe, but unfortunately at that time i'd needed a visa. This restriction was lifted only 6 months ago so off i trotted on my merry way. In my train compartment, there was a Ukranian government offici...

Ich habe die erste Nacht gut im Zug geschlafen, den darauffolgenden Tag habe ich damit verbracht, beim Fenster rauszuschauen und mir Hörbuecher anzuhören. Mittags sind wir zur Grenze nach Chop gekommen - 4 Stunden Aufenthalt und erstes Mal Uhr umstellen - eine Stunde Zeitunterschied nach Hause. In Chop war ich ja vor einigen Jahren bereits, damals war alles voll von Bettlern, diesmal war nur eine einzige Bettlerin da, hab ihr 2 Dollar gegeben und sie war happy. Das Ehepaar ist ausgestiegen ...

This Saturday had been declared an official working day to compensate for an extra holiday in another two weeks. Since I wouldn't be around anymore for the extra holiday, I didn't feel obliged to make it a full working day for me and left the office around 15:00h and walked over to Andriyivsky Uzviz. Until now I hadn't seen many tourists; I guess that's because apparently they were all hiding at Andrews descent.  I was coming from the "wrong" side and made it Andrews ascent. Tons ...

Kiev is an impressive European City, and very comfortable for westerners. The architecture is impressive, the city is large, and the people are warm. Be sure to spend time in local restaurants and bars, and make a little effort to speak Russian (or better yet, Ukrainian).

Experiences in Ukraine   I have now officially been in Ukraine for a week. South Africa seems very far away and, indeed, it is. One of the other secondees here was asked by a little boy upon the little boy first catching sight of him “Why aren’t you black?”   Pretty much everything is far removed from Ukraine. Until the early 1990’s, Ukrainians were not permitted to travel outside the socialist countries, being pretty much confined to the Eastern Eurpoean countries. Ukra...

Sleeping sitting up in the train station at Donetsk.  Next train in a few hours.  I'm not alone.  More homeless people in this country than I ever imagined.  I really stand out with my backpack.  I must be the only Westerner stupid enough to be here. 

So I have been to many countries around the world. They have included such well developed Western countries as Finland, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, not to mention London, England. However, I was never impressed with any of them. They all seemed like major big cities that you could find in the U.S., all be it with very pretty buildings. Anyways, while in college I decided to do research on a country called Ukraine. My parents are Ukrainian, and I was raised to know my Ukrainian culture,...

it's crimean capital but actually there's nothing to do and it's just a point you can go from to any place in crimea