Kiev - Surprising beast in the east

Before I flew to Kiev I didn`t know that much about that city. Honestly, I wanted to go there because of "the worlds most bizarre day trip" (says Lonely Planet) to nearby Tchernobyl. And I needed a target from where I wanted to travel back home to Munich through Eastern europe.

In my imagination Kiev was an draggy, grey city with slab constructed tower blocks. However, meanwhile I could even imagine living there for a while.

Kiev lies along river Dnjepr. This River is amazingly wide (estimated 1 km) and you can see several islands with tiny beaches in the middle of the stream. Thats not all, because along the riverside with the citycentre is a huge park area, with old churches, Soviet monuments, the Dynamo stadium and nice lookout points. Actually the park and the city overlook the river about 50 or more meters.
Take your time, grab a beer (Pilsener Urquell = 0, 30 €) relax, and it`s a fun to watch the people.
As a capital with a good university, people are wealthier, fashionably dressed and prouder than many parts of the emerging nation. Before you can see young ladies arriving, you can already hear them. Click, Clack, the sound of high heels. I`ve never seen that many, in that average of altitude. In consequence, that means, Ukrainien woman seem to have problems to walk without them. Which looks rather funny, if you you catch them out wearing Flip-Flops. Together with their preference for posing in front of cameras (girls learn this really early..) this may explain the legend of the beautiful woman in the Ukraine. The peak level of posing is reaches on the day of wedding. We were able to watch quite a few weddings in front of one of the most beautiful churches I`ve ever seen St. Andrew.

As mentioned above I was amazed by the old Soviet war monuments.
One is called the "Motherland statue", 62 m tall with the overall structure measuring 102 m and weighing 530 tons. That means there is a statue, 10m higher than the "statue of liberty" in New York or 50m taller than the Christo statue in Rio de Janeiro. I have never heard of it. The monument is completed by an huge arch that stands on a hill next to the Dnjepr with giant proportions.











Another thing I didn`t know, that Kiev is called the "Rome of the orthodox church". Honestly I even didn`t know much about the orthodox belief, until we crashed into a mass celebration. These masses are known to last over several hours and people come and go when they think it`s time to. After Stalin and the Soviet Union supressed religion, it more or less survived in the rural parts and came back to the cities within the last years e.g. in form of astonishing new churches like that blue one on the left.



Compared to Munich life in Kiev is definitly cheap. We found a self service Ukrainian Food chain, where you can have a decent meal with a drink for reasonable 3 €.


Sometimes of course, you feel immediatly that you`re not in Germany.
To see feral wild dogs are a common picture in streets and parks beside the city. First I was little scared when I saw a full pride of German shepherddog like animals. But I never saw them attacking humans or even eating out of garbage bins. During the day they seem to sleep. Due to the fact that I haven`t seen a rat or mice, I even reckon they clear up the streets from it somehow. Luckily, they aren`t that smart than their relatives in Moskow. Dogs in Moscow have learned to use the metro, drive to the city centre, get food there and drive back with the metro.

If I find the time in the next days, I try to write something about Tchernobyl and the Krim peninsula. Now it`s time to go hiking and planning the first Wiesn weekend.

Nasdrovje