Ukraine travel guide

Underneath several gold-domed churches are two monastery caves, upper Lavra and lower Lavra. Each is an underground pathway with several niches where coffins and mummified monks are on display for public curiosity and worship. It is a strange religious tourist attraction where candle sellers also boast kitsch souvenirs like plastic icons. The passageways are pitch dark so you need to buy a candle to light your way, which can seem a bit dangerous when the tunnels get jam-packed with pilgrims. Though some visitors just come for the novelty factor, most consider it holy and a place for miracles. They cross themselves, kneel down for a short prayer and some might even kiss the glass cases containing a dressed corpse of a deceased monk. Photographing in the caves is not allowed, as you would have guessed from the above ground picture.

The site for the 1986 nuclear disaster is a rather dark place, both historical and to visit. It is possible to get as close as 200 metres from the melted reactor as well as visiting the ghost town of Pripyat. A city that used to house the plant's workers and their families, a total of 50,000 inhabitants. Between the ghost town's structures are a school, an amusement park, high rising apartment blocks and an indoor swimming pool.
Chernobyl and Pripyat can not be visited independently, but plenty of companies arrange day trips from Kyiv to the site. It is not cheap, but it is a must-see site for anyone with an interest in dark tourism or Soviet history.

On two islands in the Dnieper river, overlooking the Lavras (caves monastery), is Hydropark. It is an open-air playground including a fairground with bouncy castle and everything. Other odd options for entertainment are the bodybuilding gym with machines built from scrap metal, the sea of table tennis tables, and dance floor under shady trees. There are beer and shawarma stalls everywhere, fueling all the merry visitors. In summertime the river banks are enterprisingly turned into city beaches, which on sunny days can become ridiculously crowded with big babushkas in flower-printed swimming suits, vodka drinking macho men in speedos, and of course long-legged girls in skimpy bikinis - this is first class people-watching area.

The metro system in Kiev was the third built in the USSR (after Moscow and St. Petersburg metros) and opened in 1960 with 5 stations. Today, there are 49 stations and the system moves about 1.4 million people daily. As with its bigger brother in Moscow, some metro stations are elaborately decorated in Stalinist style with lavish marble, giant chandeliers, and huge pieces of mosaic. The Arsenalna station, which was one of the original stations, is apparently the deepest metro station in the world, a frightening 105 metres under ground which takes about 5 minutes to travel on the escalator - which must also be one of the longest in the world.

A visit to nearly any former Soviet city will reveal an architectural style of unimaginative, grey monolithic pillars which pass as building. This can make the places seem dull and lifeless. But Odessa is not one of these places. The once mighty port on the Ukrainian seaside most certainly has an international colonial feel to it. With the downtown area looking more French or Italian, the brilliant pastels and unique architectural details are simply not common for the former USSR. Pedestrian thoroughfares are lined with overflowing cafes as the young, hip and modern Odessa youth strut their latest fashions in a real life cat-walk. As the sun sets, Odessa does not sleep as an endless array of bars and clubs thump-thump their way in the early morn. Odessa is alive.

Ukraine fashion is heavily influenced by the fashion in Russia and the rest of the Eastern Bloc, which thankfully still is a world of bling, synthetic materials and high heels. The men's fashion has recently moved away from the ever-so-popular tracksuit for a brave combo of bleached white pants, pointy shoes and super-tight t-shirts. The girls' fashion is remarkably still based on the concept of "lesser is better". Skimpy skirts, tight jeans, bare bellies, and the never-out-of-fashion stilettos are the main things - no matter weather or occasion. How can you not love people-watching in Kiev!

When young couples get wedded in Kiev, it is a tradition that they go to various places to have their photos taken. Along with friends and family, they arrive to monuments like the Fallen Heroes Tomb in Dnieper Park in their wedding clothes with a very equipped hired photographer in tow to capture every movement. The panoramic view over Dnieper River seems particularly popular as a backdrop for those cheesy shots. On busy wedding days, there can even be a line of wedded couples waiting to have their photo taken here.