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Salieri is a new but wonderfully placed art-cafe in the heart of Odessa. An inconspicuous entrance opposite the Mozart hotel, the back opens up to a beautiful old courtyard recently renovated at the back entrance to the Odessa opera house. Meals are very good and reasonable prices - main courses for under £5. As always in Odessa, 75% of the menu is dedicated to alcohol! Just a wonderful place to go and relax.
Langeronoskay str. Odessa
or walk round the back from the left side of the opera house.
This is the original immigrant quarter of Odessa (in past days mainly people from Moldova aka Bessarabia). Issac Babel set many of his famous stories here. It's about a 20 minute walk from downtown.
Hotels and apartments in Simferopol, vacation rentals by the sea and in the countryside, interpreter service, guided tours.
Visiting here now puts one in mind of the heyday of the typical English seaside resort. It’s the tiny patch of beach next to the harbour that all the locals crowd together on (there’s ample beach further afield); it’s the promenade along which everyone walks eyeing each other up and down; above all it’s the ‘comical characters’ painted on boards that have holes for you to stick your head through and have your photo taken. On a fine day, though, it’s all very pleasant, with the sun, the sea air and a harbour sporting some fine looking boats; it has a pervasive air of enjoyment that can’t fail to put you in a good mood.
Just head down towards the harbour
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.
Andreyevsky Spusk
Built in the 19th century, this white-walled church is not of the golden onion-dome variety, but its Byzantine style is still quite pleasing to the eye. During WW2 Sevastopol suffered heavy damage and if you look carefully you can see the bullet holes that still remain on the sides of the building.
Towards the Chersonesus area along Pozharova, about 10 minutes from the centre;
www.chersonesos.org/?p=ct_map21&l=eng
The hotel is on a corner across from the statue to the Virgin Mary.
It was inexpensive - around 18 euros for a double room - clean, and they let me park my Honda Goldwing in the foyer.
In the central area of Lviv. On the corner opposite the statue
This is a purpose built structure to house the famous Sevastopol panorama, which depicts the siege of Sevastopol in the Crimean War. On the inside of the circular wall, a 360 degree canvas is mounted showing the battlefield from the top of a hill. Spectators walk around this interior as though they are standing on the hill observing the action.
It’s all well presented and gives a very good impression of what mid 19th-century warfare must have looked like. On the lower floor is a museum and the surrounding park includes some artillery installations that point out over the adjacent valley.
Istorichesky
IIf you’re looking for some good local beer, then try this bar – the name means ‘good beer’. It also serves other drinks of course, and very reasonably priced food. There are plenty of seats and it usually has a lively atmosphere, as it is populated by enthusiastic locals.
Jukovskoho 23
Kulikovo Pole is a square and park just near the station. It is dominated by a 10 metre high statue of Lenin and still attracts communist demonstrations and many war veterans gather here on May 9 (Victory Day). The view down the tree-lined route towards the station is dramatic, taking in both Lenin and the silver domes of the Andryvska Podvore orthodox church. At the bottom end of the square, in Lenin Park, is a second hand book market where you will find Russian versions of classic novels mixed in with dusty copies of books with titles like: “Tungsten Bearing Manufacture in the Soviet Union - a Guide for Schools”.
Kulikovo Pole Square, near central station; www.essentialukraine.com
If you are a fan of Bulgakov's cult classic novel, The Master and Margarita, then this is an essential visit when in Kiev. Bulgakov's house has been preserved as this small museum. However, true to the spirit of his writing, not all is as it seems...
Andriyisky Uzviz 13; open: 10am-5pm;
www.essentialukraine.com/Kiev.htm
The story of the Potemkin steps is told in Eisenstein’s famous 1925 film, Battleship Potemkin. The film depicts the 1905 revolution when the sailors of the battleship mutinied and sailed into Odessa to join a worker’s strike. The leader of the mutiny had been killed and his body was laid at the foot of the steps. As crowds gathered to pay their respects, tsarist troops rushed down and opened fire, killing some 2,000 people.
This sequence in the film is famous for its innovative editing technique and has ensured that the steps are Odessa’s main historic attraction. The view of the port from the top makes it worth climbing all 192 of them.
The steps climb from the seaport area to Primorsky at the top
The street in question is Andreyevsky Spusk (Andrew’s descent) which connects the upper and lower parts of the city and is one of the oldest in Kiev.
The museum was only opened in 1991, but the idea was to gather together as many items as possible from the houses in the street through the ages and to build displays from the past, ranging from writing desks to complete room interiors and shop fronts.
It’s a small, but fascinating museum, which is certainly very popular with tourists. The staff also conduct walking tours of Kiev, so it’s a good place to start if you’re in need of a little guidance.
Andreyevsky Spusk 2b; www.artukraine.com/sites_museums/street_1.htm
St Sophia’s is a popular attraction in Kiev, especially to native visitors as it was built in 1037 by Prince Yaroslav, one of Kiev’s most celebrated leaders. The remains of the prince lie in the main church which is no longer used for religious purposes, the whole site now being a museum complex. The church also houses some very impressive and beautiful frescoes and mosaics, some of which are still in the process of being uncovered from behind subsequent layers of plaster. It’s an opportunity to have a good poke around a historic orthodox church without fear of being interrupted by a service.
Sofiyska Square
This outdoor museum, about 30 minutes drive south of Kiev near the village of Pirogov, is a delight that you could easily spend the whole day exploring. They’ve gathered original houses, farm buildings and a church – among other structures - from all over the country and constructed a small village for each of the traditional regions of Ukraine. Obviously this covers quite a large area and it’s fun wandering from village to village – in between there are picnic areas and places to buy drinks and snacks.The insides of the buildings are the way they would have looked when in use. There are often people wandering around in period clothing, which helps to add to the authenticity of the experience. Organised trips are available.
Near Pirogov - take the 27 bus from Libidska metro.
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.
The Podil quarter can most easily be reached by using the funicular behind St Mikhayil’s monastery.
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.
City centre
A huge titanium arch, built to commemorate friendship between the Ukrainian and Russian people – it may have outstayed its welcome. Beneath it stand two beefy looking statues representing each country. It’s in Khreschatyk Park, on top of a hill which has excellent panoramic views across the city that certainly make the walk worthwhile.
Khreschatyk Park
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.
Mikhayilovska Square
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.
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.
Pechersk district
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