Kiev

I had a 7:00 am flight to Kiev, so I had to get a taxi at 5:30 am.  There was a little confusion when I arrived at the pickup spot since there were 5 taxis there & no drivers that spoke English.  It took a few minutes to figure which taxi was the right one.  The one hour flight was fairly smooth, but I had to kill some time at the airport since couldn't check into my apartment until 1:00 pm.

The apartment was on the 8th floor of an old Soviet style high rise with a nice view of the main square of the city.  The apartment was very basic, but it was clean & in a great location.  Kiev is the capital of Ukraine & has over 3 million people.  I spent first day just walking around town & checking out some nearby cathedrals.

Maidan square, the main square of Kiev.  A few blocks from my apartment.

Olympic stadium, home of the Kiev Dynamo soccer team.

On my second day in Kiev, I took a day trip to Chernobyl which I will detail in a separate post.

The following day I visited the Motherland statue which is similar to the Statue of Liberty.  They had a viewing platform near the base of the monument & I purchased a $2 ticket to take some photos from there.  I go to the entrance area & am greeted by an older woman (who spoke no English) that motioned for me to take a seat.  She calls someone on a rotary dial phone & 5 minutes later a man appears to take me to the viewing platform.  We go in a tiny elevator to the 3rd level & climb a few sets of stairs to get there.  There were some views from there of the city.  We then go back down & he signs a big logbook after exiting.

Motherland Statue

War memorial near the statue.

A few photos from the viewing platform.

My next stop was a large church complex & also some cave monasteries in the same area.  Here are a few photos from the complex called Pecherska Larva.

I also visited a few more cathedrals before heading back home to go out to dinner.

I had my cheapest dinner of my whole trip.  It was $1.50 for some dumplings, a salad, & a fruit drink at a local chain called Puzata Khata.  On the final day in Kiev, I met with a guy from the Chernobyl tour & two of his friends to visit the former President's mansion.  The place was on the outskirts of town, so we met up at the last subway stop & took a taxi from there.  We were lucky to have an American woman with us that spent 18 months in Russia teaching English, she was able to explain to the taxi guy where we wanted to go & were able to get there for $1 each.

In 2014 there was a revolution in Ukraine & the president who had close ties with Russia was forced out of office.  He fled the country with a lot of money obtained illegally & is hiding somewhere in Russia.  He left behind this huge mansion with a golf course, a zoo, a cafe, a large lake, & other luxuries.  The mansion & the grounds are now a tourist site ($2 entry fee).  Here are some photos from my visit.

Golf course

Private zoo, I think the more exotic animals have been moved to another location.

After spending a few hours there, we decided to head back to town.  We took a nicer taxi back to the central part of the city.  Unfortunately it broke down halfway back to town, the driver was able to get vehicle restarted after 15 minutes & we eventually got back to town for lunch at a cafeteria style place.  

I took a walking tour at 4:00 pm with 3 other travelers.  There was a political rally going on in Madian square when we walked by.

The tour guide talked about the 2014 revolution & the 100 people that lost their lives during that time.

Memorial to the lives lost in 2014.

We toured a nearby park & some government buildings also.  The tour was good, but the guide had a heavy accent so she was hard to understand at times.  Here are a few more photos from the walking tour.

Helicopter pad for the former President to commute to work

Old Soviet government building

Tour guide Marina

"Friendship" statue from the Soviet era.

Kiev has some nice cathedrals & waterfront area along the river.  It was the cheapest city that I visited, but I can't say that it was one of my favorite places from my trip.  It just felt too crowded & I didn't find it as interesting as most of the other places on my trip.  I have to take a 4:45 am taxi for a 7:00 am flight back to the Vienna & then a flight to New York City.  I am flying on Austrian Airlines which is an excellent airline & my ticket is only $52 since I am flying on Frequent Flyer miles.  It is hard to believe that I have been on the road for 7 weeks & only have 5 days left on my trip.