My holiday trip to Kiev - Memories from a trip to Ukraine
Kiev - My memories from the Eastern Europe
I've already posted it in Polish, there : #polish. -> Here
[Source - BBC- Travel]
I came up with an idea to visit Kiev at the beggining of vacation. The main reasons for doing this were ; desire to visit Chernobyl [which is located about 100 km from Kiev] and student-friendly prices. [UAH is really cheap now, so as a poor Polish student, I could afford it]
In the article I'd like to present you a part of culture, delicious local food and the most famous monuments that I've seen during my 6-days long stay. I'm also planning to make an article about Chernobyl in the future, beacause I had great fun there too.
Introduction - a bit of general knowledge and geography
[Source - wikipedia.org]
- Ukraine is one of the biggest countries in Europe, with an area of 603.000 km² [only Russia has more territory than Ukraine]
- Kiev is an enormous city, its' area is roughly 835 km² [Simillar to Berlin and way bigger than Warsaw]
- The population of Kiev is officially 3 million but it's said unofficially that it's easily 5 million.
- The city lies on the river Dnieper which flows through Russia and Belarus too.
- Kiev used to be the third biggest city of USSR, right after Moscow and Petersburg.
- Kiev's underground is the deepest [sic!] on earth. Station "Arsenalna" lies 105.5 metres under the ground!
From Cracow to Kiev
As a transportation I've chosen BlaBlaCar, which is a community in Europe, that allows you to invite people to go with you with a car and share the fuel cost. It turned out to be way cheaper than going by bus or train. Also going by plane is a whole lot more expensive.
My choice turned out to be ideal, beacause I've met Ukrainians and they gave me all the information a tourist needs.
In the end it took us 16 hours to get to Kiev. During that time I've managed to learn the Ukrainian alphabet. It's way different than any latin alphabet. Luckily the language itself sounds quite simillar to Polish.
This is how the alphabet looks:
[Source : Omniglot]
Tasty local food
Ukrainian cuisine is famous for its' soups. That's why I've tried Solyanka and various types of Borscht:
- Solyanka is a soup with a ton of meat, usually 4 types of it, cabbage, olives and a lot of cream. It's delicious. Even better with a few slices of bread.
- Green Borscht is a soup made of Sorrel, with an addition of a boiled egg and obviously cream. I've personally tried a vegeterian version, but it's often made with meat.
- Red Borscht is a world famous soup with origins in Slavic countries. Its' main ingredient is beetroot.
[Solyanka, Green Borscht, Red Borscht]
I've also tried Ukrainian vereniki - dumplings with meat. They are very popular in Poland, so I had to try it in Ukraine. They were great too. Unfortunately I haven't taken a photo, so I'll just post a photo found in the network.
[Source : bearskitchen.com]
Must-see places in Kiev
Khreshchatyk - It's an avenue in the center of Kiev. It's a huge street surrounded by beautiful tall buildings. The most popular monuments of Kiev are located near Khreschchatyk.
[Source : TripAdvisor]Independence Square - Maidan Nezalezhnosti - Is a Square located near Khreshchatyk. Since it's the symbol of independence, all the protests are organised there.
[Source : Askideas.com]The Motherland Monument - Rodimy Mat - Is a statue of a symobollic mother of Ukraine, who protects the country with her shield and fights for it with the sword. For me, it looks a bit like the statue of Liberty in New York.
Cultural difference
Yellow Buses in Kiev - Marshutka - It's a public transportation, but it's different from usual Buses. In Marshutka you don't have timetable. They will go only when they are full. I'd call it a mix of taxi and bus. In order to ride, you don't buy a ticket, but you have to pay the driver. They also look quite funny.
Toilets - I was quite surprised when I entered the bathroom in the museum. It's basically a hole in the floor. It's still popular in Turkey too.
Summary
Kiev was a great place to visit. It's beautiful and clean.
It's definietly one of my favorite capitals of Europe I've visited. Ukrainians are friendly and helpful for tourists. Also the prices are affordable even for students. I'll surely come back!
BONUS :
Near Khreshchatyk avenue I've found something for us - cryptomaniacs :
Have you been to Kiev?
Tell me in comments if you want me to make a post about Chernobyl in the future
@catchup
!steemitworldmap 50.431782 lat 30.516382 long Kiev, Ukraine D3SCR
Nie zagłosuję na ten post z dwóch powodów - boty oraz brak języka polskiego w #polish. A spam stworzyłeś straszny.
Masz racje, przepraszam za umieszczenie postu niepolskiego na #polish. Zrobilem to, bo myslalem ze ludzie z tego hashtagu mnie sledza, ale po glebszym przemysleniu, bylo to bezsensowne. A boty to taki eksperyment bardziej. Pozdrawiam.
Congratulations! You had nice weekend in Ukraine! Thanks for such good post!
Thanks you should visit it too. Or have you been there?
No I hadn`t visit this city yet! But maybe in future I do it with my family!
I love Kiev..So many beautiful ladies..Awesome post... , delighted to UPVOTE and FOLLOW...check me out..and if you like my posts or videos, delighted if you can return the compliment.
See my videos here :-
Thanks. Yea the ladies dressed so elegant there, I loved it.
Sam artykuł fajny i głosik odemnie :) Za to w komentarzach festiwal botów. W sumie spoko, bo pierwszy raz zrobiłem solidne czyszczenie opcją 'Mute'.
Miałem zamiar wypromować post do "trending", ale nie udało się niestety. Wybacz za boty :D
Ładnie Ci poszło oby tak dalej :D
Thanks
Seems like you had a great trip. Nice post! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks man, appreciate. I'm planning to write about Chernobyl now.
Awesome! I will keep an eye out. Thanks for letting me know.
Did you carry your geiger counter or hazmat suit when you visited Chernobyl?
We had the geigers, but we didn't use suits. The radioactivity there isn't high at all, so it's not required. The radiation level is roughly 3x higher than in big cities.
Świetny artykuł. Zapraszam na mój profil który niebawem uzupełnie 👍
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