St. Michael’s Monastery
Accommodation:
The metro line over the River Dnieper
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rom Kyiv’s Boryspil airport there are shuttle buses to the city for 25 hryvnya ($3), or an abundance of taxis that usually charge around 250 hryvnya ($30) for the 40-minute trip. Once in the centre of the city, visitors can get around by using the metro, trams and buses, which are cheap and very efficient. The four neighbourhoods in the centre of Kyiv each offer insights into a different part of Ukrainian life: the history of Arsenalna, the style of Khreshchatyk, the beauty of the Golden Gates and Podil’s places to eat.
ARSENALNA: LOVE AND THE LAVRA The Arsenalna district is covered by sweetsmelling chestnut trees and punctuated with dozens of landmarks. The most celebrated of these is the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (the Kyiv Cave Monastery), Ukraine’s most well-known symbol of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. It was built in the eleventh century during the rule of Prince Volodymyr, when Kyiv was the centre of the Kievan Rus’ Empire. Volodymyr’s sons later moved east to expand Rus’, until it became what we now call “Russia”.
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Behind the Pechersk Lavra stands the Rodina - Mat’ (Motherland) statue. The giant silver statue, of a woman defiantly clutching a sword and shield, dominates the banks of the Dnieper River. She represents Kyiv’s contribution to a more recent empire: the museum beneath her is dedicated to those who lost their lives defending the Soviet Union during the World War II. It makes a solemn but fascinating detour, especially if you climb up the statue’s feet to take in the panoramic view of the city’s left bank. Ukraine’s modern ambitions also thrive in Arsenalna. The ten minute walk from its metro station (the deepest in Europe) to the Lavra monastery takes you past international restaurants, as well as the tiny café Alfredo - with room for only two people and a De Beers boutique. Further along Ivan Mazepa street (named after the seventeenth century Cossack leader) is Park Slavy (Victory Park), where couples enjoy picnics in the evenings. The view from Victory Park stretches from the light blue metro trains that slide over the river, to the thin yellow strip of beach at Hydropark, to the new office buildings and apartment blocks of Livoberezhna, to the hazy outline of Lisova bazaar on the horizon - the very easternmost edge of the city. On one day every January, to celebrate an Orthodox holiday, many people in Kyiv brave the ice and sub-zero temperatures to take a dip in the Dnieper. Another of Arsenalna’s attractive parks is Mariinsky Park, beside Mariinsky Palace, where there are also impressive views over the city. Every other weekend, football fans can peek down through the trees to watch Dynamo Kyiv play at the Lobanovsky Stadium – although with tickets costing just 20 hryvnya ($2.50) it is just as easy to go to the stadium itself, to feel the fans’ energy up close.
In summer 2012 Ukraine will host several matches of the European football championships. In expectation of the many thousands of fans that will arrive for the event, several new hotels are being built in Kyiv, and its existing ones have been improved. The city has accommodation to suit all tastes and budgets, from the luxury Intercontinental Hotel on Velyka Zhytomirska street to the cheap but comfortable Uavoyage Hostel on Pushkinska street. The Arsenalna district is home to one of Kyiv’s best hotels, the Salyut (Ivan Mazepa street).
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