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            Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love,
            live in or have just visited - are what make this guide.
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                <title>St Andrew's church</title>
                
                <link>http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5680</link>
                
                <description><![CDATA[At the bidding of Catherine the Great, Rastrelli, the Italian architect famous not least for the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, built this church in honour of Kiev’s most famous saint. Quite what he did wrong, I can’t imagine, but upon seeing the finished article she sacked him. Most visitors however seem to regard this as one of Kiev’s finest sights though inside it’s a museum, not a working church any longer.]]></description>
                
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                <title>Podil</title>
                
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                <description><![CDATA[Down the hill from the city centre towards the river is the quarter known as Podil which, roughly translated, means ‘skirt’. Historically, this was the tradesmen’s quarter and is now where you’ll get the best impression of what the rest of the city used to look like. There are one or two nice churches here and the architecture is much gentler than the Soviet sweep of the streets above. This is now becoming a desirable residential area, if you can afford it, being far handier for the city than the tower blocks across the river.]]></description>
                
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                <title>Khreschatyk</title>
                
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                <description><![CDATA[Riding along Kiev’s main street in a bus or coach is the best way to get an initial impression of the Soviet architecture that dominates it. Unfortunately, the original street was booby trapped by retreating Soviet troops as a gift to the advancing Nazis in WW2. The replacement buildings are impressive, but a little too grand for some tastes. The focal point is Independence Square, which now looks more like a shrine to capitalism with its large neon signs and shopping centres. This was where we saw the politicians making their speeches on TV during the recent ‘Orange Revolution’ in front of the protesting crowds.]]></description>
                
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                <title>St Mikhayil’s Monastery</title>
                
                <link>http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3416</link>
                
                <description><![CDATA[If you can possibly arrange it, approach this church from around the corner on a sunny autumn morning, so that your first sight of it is full and glorious. Being mainly almost powder blue and with sparkling golden domes, it’s one of those sights that makes people produce noises usually reserved for firework displays. As you go through the entrance archway the blueness just keeps coming at you until you enter the church which is somewhat more conventional, in a Ukrainian Orthodox way. It was only rebuilt in 2001 after the ravages of the Stalin era, but you’d never know. Truly a feast for the eyes.]]></description>
                
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                <title>Pecherska Lavra</title>
                
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                <description><![CDATA[This monastery was begun in the 11th century by St Anthony who started it off by living in a cave on the hilly banks of the Dneiper river. He was soon joined by other monks who burrowed a complex of tunnels above which became the site of the fully blown monastery. <br><br>The spectacular and colourful architecture (Ukrainian Baroque) now make it a pilgrimage for tourists as well as Orthodox worshippers who can also see Saint Anthony and his chums in remarkably well-preserved mummified form, still lying in their beloved caves whose atmosphere is said to be responsible for their lack of decomposition. It is known in English, somewhat unsurprisingly, as the Caves Monastery and also affords excellent views of the river.]]></description>
                
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