Before I arrived in the Ukraine, I was ignorant (at best) to the political and socioeconomic struggles they were facing. I had heard briefly of the riots and the unrest caused by not signing fair trade agreements with the European Union, but I had no idea how much this unrest had cost Ukrainians. The Ukraine has endured a fair amount of corruption and a lot of injustice, from the times they spent in the Soviet Union until now. Their previous president is currently seeking asylum in Russia, for the murder (by sniper) of hundreds of Ukrainian's during 2014's Euromaidan. It is a country, despite it's current difficulties and it's troubled past, remains vibrant and full to the brim with culture and pride.
The architecture is very baroque, with lots of ornate decorations and details in every major building. The gold domed churches, which house jeweled crucifixes and chalices, among other over the top, blinged out decor. The government buildings built during Soviet Union times are gigantic, which I was told was done intentionally to remind the Ukrainian's of how tiny they were compared to the people in power. As I stood in front of the gigantic pillars, I couldn't help but feel for the people who were crushed by these "leaders" for many years.
The culture in Ukraine is evident in everything, from the decor, to the food, to the way they dress. Many women wore modern versions of the traditional clothing, in silk maxi-dresses with classic Ukrainian embroidered details, or lovely A-line skirts adorned with needle point flowers. Scarves in the traditional blue and gold, and floral headbands, inspired by the ones we often see in Ukrainian dance. They have many hand-made shops, where you can find jams, preserves, sauces, socks, toys and many paintings and jewelry, each item a reminder of Ukrainian culture. When you walk into shops, or down the main streets, there is always someone playing Ukrainian music, and very often it is live.
The food was amazing, "perogies", which I found out are actually called "varenyky". Perogies are Polish and similar, but once you have tasted a varenyky, you will not confuse the two. Varenyky can be filled with cherries, apples, cheese, potato or ground meats. Chicken Kiev of course, and a wide variety of sausages. There was of course 20 different cabbage and beat salads and 3 different kinds of borscht, green borscht, red borscht and cold borscht, all of which are delicious. The bread is light and sweet, and the assortment of cakes felt like it was endless. I could have eaten for months. They also serve a drink called "compote" which is a delicious sweet and sour plum juice, as well as many different delicious ciders. The food prices there, are what really caught me off guard. A dinner, with drinks never cost me more than fifteen Canadian dollars. You could get a three course meal for as little as four dollars. Another traveler I met likened the food prices to Thailand's food prices.
The hardest part of my time in Kiev, was the language barrier, I only found 2 restaurants that had an English menu or staff that spoke English. Even the staff at my hotel didn't really speak English, except the basics "good-morning" and "room number". The rest was a giant game of charades, that left me wondering what was going to come of my requests. The alphabet was Cyrillic which also added to my language barrier, because I couldn't even try to interpret what I was looking at.
Overall, I had a great time taking in the sites and culture in Kiev, and would like to return to see Lviv one day, but for this trip, the time I had there was more than enough, because of the political tension and unease I felt being downtown.
The architecture is very baroque, with lots of ornate decorations and details in every major building. The gold domed churches, which house jeweled crucifixes and chalices, among other over the top, blinged out decor. The government buildings built during Soviet Union times are gigantic, which I was told was done intentionally to remind the Ukrainian's of how tiny they were compared to the people in power. As I stood in front of the gigantic pillars, I couldn't help but feel for the people who were crushed by these "leaders" for many years.
The culture in Ukraine is evident in everything, from the decor, to the food, to the way they dress. Many women wore modern versions of the traditional clothing, in silk maxi-dresses with classic Ukrainian embroidered details, or lovely A-line skirts adorned with needle point flowers. Scarves in the traditional blue and gold, and floral headbands, inspired by the ones we often see in Ukrainian dance. They have many hand-made shops, where you can find jams, preserves, sauces, socks, toys and many paintings and jewelry, each item a reminder of Ukrainian culture. When you walk into shops, or down the main streets, there is always someone playing Ukrainian music, and very often it is live.
The food was amazing, "perogies", which I found out are actually called "varenyky". Perogies are Polish and similar, but once you have tasted a varenyky, you will not confuse the two. Varenyky can be filled with cherries, apples, cheese, potato or ground meats. Chicken Kiev of course, and a wide variety of sausages. There was of course 20 different cabbage and beat salads and 3 different kinds of borscht, green borscht, red borscht and cold borscht, all of which are delicious. The bread is light and sweet, and the assortment of cakes felt like it was endless. I could have eaten for months. They also serve a drink called "compote" which is a delicious sweet and sour plum juice, as well as many different delicious ciders. The food prices there, are what really caught me off guard. A dinner, with drinks never cost me more than fifteen Canadian dollars. You could get a three course meal for as little as four dollars. Another traveler I met likened the food prices to Thailand's food prices.
The hardest part of my time in Kiev, was the language barrier, I only found 2 restaurants that had an English menu or staff that spoke English. Even the staff at my hotel didn't really speak English, except the basics "good-morning" and "room number". The rest was a giant game of charades, that left me wondering what was going to come of my requests. The alphabet was Cyrillic which also added to my language barrier, because I couldn't even try to interpret what I was looking at.
Overall, I had a great time taking in the sites and culture in Kiev, and would like to return to see Lviv one day, but for this trip, the time I had there was more than enough, because of the political tension and unease I felt being downtown.
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