Kyiv, Ukraine

Kyiv, Ukraine

Kyiv (Kiev, Київ) was our first stop in Ukraine. Due to the pandemic, we had to cancel our trip in 2020 and decided to make the trip in 2021.  Also, after visiting South Africa we could not travel directly to Turkey our final destination on this trip. We needed to spend 10-days somewhere before Turkey due to covid travel restrictions. Therefore, visiting Ukraine now made sense and we could do the trip that was canceled in 2020.

Upon arrival at Boryspil airport in Kyiv, we cleared customs easily with no language issues (we don’t speak Russian or Ukrainian). The staff were friendly and verified that we had all of our required items such as travel health insurance (Ukrainian-based insurance company), negative covid tests, visas, etc.

Early Arrival in Kyiv

Our flight from Istanbul arrived at around 9 AM, it was too early to check into the apartment. The host said she could meet us around 1 PM at the apartment. However, the Uber driver dropped us off at about 10:30 AM.  Since our journey started in Cape Town the previous day and we had been traveling about 18 hours we needed fresh air. Therefore, we decided to stretch our legs and grab some breakfast and caffeine.

Luckily there was an open cafe just around the corner from the apartment. We could sit outside and have fresh air along with our energy boost. We had an excellent breakfast and received a message from the host at about noon that she was at the apartment. Great news, I will pay and we can be there in less than 5 minutes. Unfortunately, that didn’t go smoothly as we had some issues with our credit cards and ATM cards not working. Check out my previous post about those issues and more gotchas we encountered.

Checking out the surroundings

We were staying in a great area not far from Independence Square and between St Sophia and St Michaels two of the beautiful cathedrals in Kyiv. After settling into the apartment, we went for a walk around the area and down to Independence Square.  While we were at St. Michael’s Cathedral, it started to rain quite heavily. Once the rain eased up we headed back to the apartment for a little while to relax and to wait for better weather.

I Need What?

We had a tour scheduled the next day for Chernobyl and had only just realized that you have to wear long sleeves. I only had a winter jacket which would have been way too warm for a full day walking in the heat. I only had a short time to find a thin jacket or long sleeve shirt to cover my arms.  We walked around for a few hours looking at all the stores for something cheap just to meet the requirements. As with most searches like this, we ended up back at one of the first stores to get a windbreaker for about $25.

Dinner

After returning to the apartment with my new snazzy attire, we decided to go out for some dinner before calling it a night. While we were having breakfast at the cafe, we saw a Georgian restaurant across the street.  I have been wanting to try Georgian food, so we decided to visit that restaurant since it was close.

This was some of the best food I have ever had, all the key ingredients meat, cheese, and bread. We shared a Khachapuri that was absolutely sinful. Nothing should taste that good.  I also ordered Odzhahuri, which was some of the best stew ever made. The waitress returned to the table and offered us some free homemade raspberry ice cream. At that point, I wasn’t sure I could move without a nap but agreed to have some ice cream anyway. You don’t want to offend the locals on day 1.

Khachapuri

Odzhahuri

Odzhahuri and Khachapuri

Raspberry Ice Cream

When the bill arrived I thought it had to be wrong. There is no way we just ate all this food and it was only $10 for both of us. In Ukraine, they typically have food and drinks on separate bills. The drink bill came and it was $4. We were flabbergasted at how affordable a good sit-down dinner was at a nice restaurant in Kyiv.

After waddling out of the restaurant, we did a short walk around the block to work off some of the food. Since our tour driver would be there at about 7:30 AM the next morning, we needed a good night’s sleep. Therefore, we headed back to the apartment to call it a night.

Chernobyl

Our trip to Chernobyl was a full day of touring inside the exclusion zone. Check out my videos from Chernobyl on YouTube. Chernobyl is better seen in a video than through words, so the videos on YouTube will give you a better idea. Our tour guide from SoloEast did an excellent job and I would highly recommend them if you plan on visiting Chernobyl.

After returning from Chernobyl, I booked a rental car for us to drive to Odesa. Everything was set and ready to go, we had a plan to drive south in a couple of days.

Speedbump in Ukraine

I woke up, checked emails, social media, etc. Then I remembered that for our 2020 trip that was canceled, I had to get an international driver’s license. Was it for Ukraine or one of the other countries? Well, as expected it turned out to be for Ukraine. There went our plans to drive to Odesa as I did not have it with me. So I canceled the rental car and went into panic mode.

Our tour guide to Chernobyl mentioned that we might like Lviv in western Ukraine. Since there are regular trains between Kyiv and Lviv it was a good option. In addition, there was a night train from Lviv to Odesa. So we booked train tickets and a place to stay for both Lviv and Odesa. After all the drama and panic attacks were over, it was time to get out and see Kyiv.

Walk Around Kyiv

Our day of walking started near the apartment at St. Andrew’s Cathedral and through the Alley of Artists over to Klychko‘s Bridge (a glass-bottom bridge) and the Friendship of Nations Arch.  After that, we headed down to Khreschatyk Street as we were in search of a restaurant called Pervak that is in a lot of YouTube videos of Kyiv.

There were a few things I wanted to see in Kyiv before we left for Lviv. One of these items was the deepest metro station in the world. The station is called Arsenalna and it is 346 feet deep (105.5 meters). After grabbing lunch at the restaurant we headed towards the metro station.  Within a few minutes, it started to rain so we continued as far as we could before having to call it off. It was raining too hard and my feet were killing me. So, we decided to grab an Uber back to the apartment to relax for a short while.  If we have time, maybe we could make it to the station before we left Kyiv. Unfortunately, that did not happen due to the weather. Does that mean another trip to Kyiv in the future? Who knows?

Kyiv has the feel of a western European city so it felt very familiar other than the language. The main shopping street (Khreschatyk Street) could have been in Paris along the Champs-Élysées.

Time to Leave Kyiv

Our bags were packed, we had our train tickets, and it was almost time to check out. The host was coming shortly to pick up the payment for the apartment and we had scheduled an Uber to take us to the station. We didn’t want to risk missing our train by walking and possibly getting lost. Not to mention I was feeling a bit lazy.

There was a small glitch at the station. We didn’t know which track the train would be leaving from since all of the departure boards were in Ukrainian or Russian. I went to the information desk, they didn’t speak English. I had a screenshot of my ticket to show them and they were able to guide me in the right direction, I hoped. Time for a pre-trip snack.

Luckily, there was a small cafe in the station, it looked like a good place for a snack before the 5+ hour train ride. Again, the language or lack of our knowledge of the Ukrainian or Russian languages was an issue. Unfortunately, they didn’t speak any English at the cafe. Luckily, a lady was standing at the counter that did. She helped us order and answered several questions for us. After our little snack, we headed to the track for our train.  We then realized that there were signs in English outside the main entrance hall.

Language Barrier

The language barrier was not with the locals, it was with us. We ran across several people that helped us when there was an issue with language skills (or lack thereof) on our part.  We did download a translation app for our phones and it helped a lot. However, the app relied on mobile internet which was not always available.

Final Thoughts

Kyiv should be on your travel destination bucket list. We did encounter a few issues, problems, and points of frustration while in Kyiv. However, that is what happens when you travel outside your comfort zone. I would go back to Kyiv in the future without a doubt.  However, I would be better prepared for the issues we ran into on this trip. Chernobyl was our primary reason for visiting Kyiv, it should not be the only reason. Kyiv and Ukraine are hidden gems that too many people don’t consider a travel destination.