Ukraine - August 2021

 On Saturday, 7 August I flew from Vienna, Austria into Lviv, Ukraine.  I caught a taxi from the airport to my hotel, The Leopolis.  I was surprised to find that I didn't have a reservation for Saturday night at the Leopolis, but in fact I had a reservation for the next night.  I had made the classic mistake of booking a room for 8/7 instead of 7/8.   I am not sure quite how that happened but perhaps my Hotels.com site was last used in the UK and so had the day before the month when I was expecting the American format of month before the day.  Fortunately that wasn't a problem as they had rooms available for the Saturday night.

I walked around the main avenue and park of the old part of town for a while before stopping in a restaurant for some refreshment.  After the splendor of Vienna it was very evident that Ukraine and Lviv were not quite as splendid, not quite so affluent and perhaps a little shabby.  Not only did Lviv suffer in WWI and WWII but it also suffered under the USSR.  It is dragging itself up but it is so far behind Western Europe.

The Lviv Opera House

At one end of the main central avenue and park is the rather grand Opera House - the Solomiya Krushelnytska Lviv Theatre of Opera & Ballet to be precise.  I am sure in it's day it was quite grand but today it looks a bit shabby and run down.   It was a sunny Saturday afternoon and the park was full of people enjoying the fine weather.  There were hardly any masked people however, save for me.

Schevchenko Statue, Lviv

Also in the same park area is an impressive statue of Taras Shevchenko, the Ukrainian poet, artist and nationalist.  Interestingly there was a miniature version of the statue next to the main one with braille lettering so that the blind could appreciate the statue.

I walked on following a Walking Tour Route in the Lonely Planet guide book.  This took me past some nice older churches - both Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches.  It also took me past a small playground where previously houses had stood.  Apparently during the Russian invasion of 1956 the vibration from the Russian Tanks caused the houses to fall down.

View from Castle Hill

I walked up from the old town to the top of Castle Hill which according to the map is called the Union of Lubin Mound.  It was quite a trek up the hill and I was working hard and seriously sweating at the top of the hill.  The view of the city below was nice but there is not really any significant landmark to see anywhere around.   On the way down I took a short cut which didn't turn out so well for me as I ended up bushwhacking through all sorts of undergrowth to get back to the city streets. 

Ivan Federov Statue

At the bottom of the hill in front of the Royal Arsenal is a statue of Ivan Federov. Ivan Federov was born in Moscow in 1510 but later came to Lviv where he worked as one of the first printers.  It is only appropriate that the square below the statue is now a gathering place for booksellers.  Just across the street from the statue is the Church and Monastery of the Discalced Carmelites.  What a Discalced Carmelite is I had no idea but Wikipedia does.

That evening I dined on the patio of the hotel while crowds of people walked by in the street.  It was very lively and busy with people milling around everywhere and sadly there were very few masks to be seen.

Church of the Transfiguration

The next morning I walked around more of the city.  The first visit was the Church of the Transfiguration (such impressive church names here), a Russian Orthodox Church with a very grand and ornate interior.

Church of the Transfiguration interior

Church of the Transfiguration interior

Next was the Church of the Holy Eucharist, another beautiful church with a magnificent interior.

Church of the Holy Eucharist

Interior of Church of the Holy Eucharist

The Dormition Church, Korniakt Tower

Somehow I always kept coming back to the church below, the Dormition Church.  It is just below the statue of Ivan Federov.  Note the old yellow trolley cars that run around the city.  They are certainly quite old and look very Soviet engineered - i.e. built like tanks.

King Danylo Monument

In one of the squares near the center is a statue of King Danylo on horseback.  King Danylo was around in the 1200's and ruled this area of Ukraine which, I believe, was called Galicia back then.  He ruled under the Mongol overlords and appeared to do a good job of coexisting with them.  

The Lychakiv Cemetery

I set off next for the long walk out to the Lychakiv Cemetery.  This is a huge cemetery created in 1787 on the then outskirts of the city.  It is referred to as the Pere LaChaise of Lviv.  I spent an hour or so wandering around the beautiful old gravestones and mausoleums.  Unlike Pere LaChaise I recognized no notable names though I am sure there are many notable Russians and Ukrainians buried there.

St George's Cathedral

In the afternoon I set out to walk in the opposite direction (to the West) towards the railway station.  On the way I passed by St George's Cathedral.  Another wonderful church with a beautiful interior.  Whilst I was walking around the interior a wedding was going on - no one seemed to mind me intruding.  

Lviv Railway Station

The Railway Station is quite impressive.  I had a ticket on the overnight sleeper to Odessa for the next night but I was feeling like I had seen everything that I needed to see in Lviv so I decided to fly to Odessa the next morning and spend more time there.

Street Market

Down the road from the railway station there was a makeshift market where people were spreading out their wares on the pavement.  For the most part it was rather pathetic collections of secondhand clothes and shoes.  Obviously there are people seriously in need over there.

While many parts of the city are quite smart and well maintained, there are many areas where things don't look so good.  There are a lot of decaying buildings that were obviously once quite splendid but no need more than a little repair.

On Monday morning I had time for a little walk around the city center before heading out to the airport and my flight to Odessa (on the new airline SkyUp).  I arrived in Odessa and took a cab to my hotel, the Bristol.  I had stayed in the Bristol in Vienna and it was rather nice.  There were signs that the Bristol in Odessa was at one time quite nice but today not so much.  Nevertheless it was still a beautiful building.

The Hotel Bristol - Odessa

In the evening I walked down to the port of Odessa and along the coastal road eventually arriving at the bottom of the Potemkin Stairs.  This long and wide stairway leads from the edge of the Black Sea up to the center of the city which sits on top of a plateau.  The stairs were made famous in Eisenstein's film Battleship Potemkin.  There is a funicular up one side of the stairway if you don't feel like climbing up. 

The Potemkin Stairs

The Funicular alongside the Potemkin Stairs

The next morning, Tuesday, I set off early to explore the town.  There is a beautiful Opera House - every city seems to have the most extravagant Opera House.

Odessa Opera House

Catherine the Great Statue

Nearby the top of the Potemkin Stairs is a statue to Catherine the Great of Russia.  It was Catherine the Great who founded Odessa in 1794.

The Tiger Frigate Cannon

In the Crimean War Odessa was shelled by the British Navy.  In the battle one of the English Frigates, Tiger, was sunk.  The cannon from the ship is now on display outside the Odessa Archaeological Museum.

In order to return to the UK I had to get a clear Covid test so I found a clinic that could provide the results and a test certificate.  It was a relatively simple process in a very professional looking clinic - a bit of paperwork, a swab of the nose, a 15 minute wait and for around $50 I had my negative result.  Of course there is always a bit of concern about what could happen if I was positive.

Vorontsov Statue

Walking back towards the center of town from the clinic there were a couple of interesting places to visit.  The statue of Mikhail Vorontsov, a Russian military commander in the Russian Napoleonic War  who later became the governor of the Southern States of the Russian Empire (while in Odessa his wife had an affair with Pushkin - both Vorontsov and Pushkin have statues in Odessa now).

Interior of the Transfiguration Cathedral

Adjacent to the Vorontsov statue is the Spaso-Preobrazhensky or Transfiguration Cathedral where Vorontsov is buried.  The cathedral was destroyed by Stalin but has been rebuilt and it has a wonderful interior.

Shopping Arcade

Just across the road from Vorontsov's statue is the an arcade of shops that is simply stunning.  I am not sure what period it is from (late 1800's or early 1900;s I would imagine) but it is a true work of art.

Carving above one of the Arcade Shops

On my wanderings around the city there were many interesting and beautiful buildings including the Falz-Fein House in the picture below which has a wonderful supporting structure for the balcony above.

Falz-Fein House

On my final day in Odessa, Wednesday 11 August, I decided to walk out to the park near the railway station.  The park, Kulykove Pole, was the site of protests against the European leanings of the Ukraine back in 2014.  It was the site of the Trades Union Building where some 42 people (mainly pro-Russian) died in a fire during this time of unrest.  The park, the Trades Union Building and the station were nothing remarkable but there were some nice onion domes on a nearby orthodox church.  There was a small makeshift memorial to those who died in the fire by the fence around the Trades Union Building.

Orthodox Church near the Railway Station

I made my way back to the hotel to check out and take an Uber out to the airport for my flight back to the UK.  The Polish Airlines (LOT) flight to Heathrow with a change in Warsaw.

There are more photos of Lviv and Odesssa here.