A morning in Kiev

The overnight train from Odessa arrived on time (!). However, we were not very organised and did not have enough cash to put the suitcases into left-luggage so MF had to walk 3 kms to find an ATM as the ones at the station didn’t work and they also had warnings about the machines being scammed (which we knew was possible from my notes). I then found 100 UAHs in my wallet when he was gone! Arrrgh! I didn’t know I had it... When he came back I had the luggage stored!😁

Next up was to find the Skybus terminal to the airport - for later. I have never seen such a HUGE station. And there were dozens of touts offering taxi services.

Once we’d checked that out, we walked to the Metro located alongside the main station. Well, in ALL my days I have seen nothing like it!

This is a very different city to Odessa - 6 million people. The CRUSH of people entering the Metro and lining up to buy coupons was unbelievable. We bought three each to save any hassles later (8 UAH =$A0.50 for six tokens !!!). We were worried about pickpockets as we were jostled about in the mass of people ‘queued’ at the cashier windows and on the elevators where it was every man/woman for him/herself.

The Metro is underground and accessed by super long escalators. At Arsenalna station where we got out, there were two super long steep escalators to reach street level. I found out later that this is the deepest station in the world, at 105.5 m.

It is hot today. Even by mid-morning it was 28 deg C. 

At this point we were sort of ‘flying by the seat of our pants’. We finally worked out the bus system with the help of some locals (using sign language) and a lot of dyakuyu (=Thank you; or дякую in Cyrillic if you MUST know!) which mostly works if they understand what I am saying (!) - it usually gets a smile😀. Certainly when they understood what we wanted, they have been generous and friendly with their assistance. However, the first bus we tried, we backed off quickly when several people on board shook their heads and said ‘nyet’ very definitely. I haven’t heard nyet (it means ‘no’) since 1978 - in Russia (when we heard it all the time, usually in the context of ‘no, you can’t go there’ or ‘no, you can’t do that’).

At first, the locals seemed dour and perhaps reluctant to help but I think it is the language barrier. So few speak English. But one woman we talked to on a bus who spoke perfect English, said this was improving and she said she was very pleased we were visiting the country. She pointed out many of the sights as we went along Khreschatyk Boulevard and was generally a fountain of information. 

The city boasts a vibrant energy through its politics, art and culture - it’s a place where Soviet grandeur is mixed in with medieval architecture and religious monuments. 

We aimed for Maidan Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) - also known as Independence Square - where evidence of the recent historic events (like the 2014 revolution) are still visible. The conductress on the bus told us where to get out - using sign language.

In late February 2014, following three months of demonstrations, then-President Victor Yanukovych fled the Ukrainian capital. The protests were sparked by the Ukrainian government's decision to suspend the signing of an association agreement with the European Union, instead choosing closer ties to Russia. Tensions escalated, violent riots took place.

We stopped at a little cafe selling Cuban coffee (!) and had a lovely coffee and cake (the Ukraine is not short of coffee outlets whether they be carts, cafes, kiosks) and then took a second bus back to the Lavra Movastery (Kiev Pechersk Lavra) overlooking the Dnieper River which we didn’t see (the river that is) as all we had time for was a quick look at the outside. The exterior of the ‘Monastery of the Caves’ is visually stunning, with tiered frescos of Saints and towers topped by bright gold domes that glisten in the sun. It is an historic Orthodox Christian monastery with over 100 monks in residence; it dates from 1106 and the monks created a labyrinth of underground caves and catacombs.  

Time was running out. It was a quick race back by bus, Metro to the main train station (Pivdennyi), pick up luggage and tear through to the other side of Pivdennyi station to the Skybus.

So here we are now travelling the 35 km trip to Boryspil/Borispol Airport. It is a good service along excellent road.

The airport too is very satisfactory - probably one of the more pleasant airports I have come across.

I have successfully passed through passport control. My visa papers were examined but appeared to pass muster. As MF kept saying “no-one will want you to stay anyway”. Not sure what to think about that ...

Our plane is delayed. We had not had breakfast so we enjoyed a nice lunch at the airport, using up the last of our UAHs. It could be a long day ...