{"id":3426,"date":"2019-05-10T13:00:25","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T13:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/?p=3426"},"modified":"2022-08-30T08:45:19","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T08:45:19","slug":"the-next-steppes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/ukraine\/the-next-steppes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Next Steppes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something funny\u2019s going on, out in Ukraine (and it\u2019s not just the president).\u00a0 As <\/strong>JOHN GIMLETTE discovers, both Lviv and Kiev have become perceptibly cool, and a little outrageous.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every day in Lviv there\u2019s a little revolution, and it\u2019s mostly fun.\u00a0 Counter-culture now rules, or at least inspires.\u00a0 Take the restaurants, for example.\u00a0 One of the latest, \u2018Ukrainian Food Art\u2019, has a see-through piano that plays itself, and a shark-tank that rises up through several floors.\u00a0 Another, called \u2018The Masonic\u2019, has a secret entrance that leads through a grungy bedsit into a magnificent brasserie with a car suspended from its ceiling.<\/p>\n

Each night Lviv goes to bed a little less Soviet, and the city gets younger and younger.\u00a0 Colour is returning to the hotels, and the shops are now full of exotica like drones and iPods and fancy knickers.\u00a0 Even the city\u2019s police look like teenagers in their European cars and spiffy new outfits.\u00a0 \u2018We got rid of the old fatties,\u2019 said our guide, Tymor, \u2018in the 2014 uprising.\u00a0 Too corrupt, too pro-Russian.\u2019<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most quirky place of all is Livy Bereh (or \u2018Left Bank\u2019) which was once an underground river.\u00a0 With its whitewashed antiques, it\u2019s now the haunt of The Beautiful People.\u00a0 The cocktails are served in fire-extinguishers, and the barman wears a white leather mask.\u00a0 \u2018Ukrainians have become a bit anarchic,\u2019 admitted Tymor, \u2018We\u2019re re-writing the rules.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s metamorphosis isn\u2019t always so obvious.\u00a0 Our week-long family trip began with the overnight sleeper from Kiev.\u00a0 The aging train was like the Soviet Union itself: ponderous, orderly and prim.\u00a0 We slept on starched white sheets, and an attendant in a quilted greatcoat brought us glasses of tea.\u00a0 Outside, the snowy black steppes flickered past, and then, at dawn, a film-set appeared.\u00a0 It was the grand old station of Lemburg \u2013 or Lviv \u2013 circa 1900.<\/p>\n

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Waiting for the Kiev train at Lviv station<\/p><\/div>\n

In today\u2019s Lviv, everything\u2019s possible, and anything goes.\u00a0 I\u2019d often see the same angel flying round the city on her roller skates.\u00a0 In the giddy Noughties, all the big brands arrived, along with onesies, Private Clubs, and Armani dog-coats.\u00a0 We even found a cat caf\u00e9, with a retinue of twenty moggies. But strangest of all was a network of beerhalls deep beneath the cobbles, known as \u2018The Bunker\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0 You need a password to get in (\u2018Glory to Ukraine!\u2019) and all the staff are dressed as guerrillas.\u00a0 But it\u2019s cheap and raucous, and there\u2019s a Vladimir Putin punchbag.<\/p>\n

In this revolution, time sometimes goes backwards, and a beautiful city has reappeared.\u00a0 With its cobbled streets and luminous classical facades, I half-expected to see Habsburgs again.\u00a0 They\u2019ve left so much of themselves behind: kiosks, palatial caf\u00e9s, titanic statues, parks, and a twinkling opera house.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the chocolate\u2019s as good as ever, although, these days, it comes in all shapes and sizes, from a pair of boobs to an AK47.<\/p>\n

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The coloured streets of Old Habsburg, Lviv<\/p><\/div>\n

Of course, not everyone\u2019s out, enjoying cocktails.\u00a0 Twice we made trips into the country.\u00a0 I loved the castles, particularly Olesko (with its giant canvas, \u2018The Battle of Vienna, 1682\u2019).\u00a0 We also met a jolly herder, with a pet eagle on his arm.\u00a0 But elsewhere, the villages could look uncomfortably medieval.\u00a0 It was a reminder that Ukrainians are the poorest people in Europe, with almost a quarter on their uppers.<\/p>\n

Our journey back to Kiev was full of surprises.\u00a0 The station felt like a film again, with all those soldiers heading back to the front (Ukraine is now in the fifth year of its low-grade conflict, far off in the Donbass).\u00a0 But then our train arrived, now looking sleek and futuristic.\u00a0 On board, we ate quinoa salads, and the conductress wore a miniskirt and boots as if it were a starship.\u00a0 Five hours later, we were swooping into the capital.<\/p>\n

Initially, Kiev was only as strange as I\u2019d expected.\u00a0 Fishermen potter around on its great frozen river, and the outer suburbs \u2013 pulverised in 1941 \u2013 now look like distant plateaus of concrete.\u00a0 In places, it seems only the monasteries survived, with their gigantic onions of gold.\u00a0 Our favourite was Kyevo-Pecherska Lavra, or the Monastery of Caves, a sprawling complex of tunnels and mummies.\u00a0 In the eleventh century, hermits often had themselves entombed here \u2013 alive<\/em> \u2013 foregoing forever human company and the light of day.<\/p>\n

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Fishermen of the frozen river Dnipro, Kiev<\/p><\/div>\n

What I\u2019d not expected was the sheer audacity of the new Kiev.\u00a0 Everywhere there were bright designs and flashy cars.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to believe it was ever Soviet.\u00a0 Even Stalin\u2019s great masterpiece, Kreschatky Street \u2013 once overbearing \u2013 is now discernibly hip.\u00a0 It\u2019s the same with Tsum, the old state emporium.\u00a0 Once famously drab, it\u2019s now a sort of Harrods, except bolder and brasher.\u00a0 But then \u2013 here \u2013 exuberance is freedom, and everyone\u2019s flaunting what few can afford.<\/p>\n

The overthrow of tyranny is a popular theme, even in restaurants.\u00a0 Some are fabulously chic (and yet we seldom paid more than \u00a312 a head).\u00a0 My favourite was Ostannya Barykada, or \u2018The Last Barricade\u2019, a glorious underground lair of chrome, polished concrete and local produce (even the cheddar).\u00a0 Then there\u2019s Veterano Pizza, run by ex-soldiers, and Spotykach, which gently mocks the Soviet era.\u00a0 Surprisingly, its food is inspired, if slightly surreal.\u00a0 I had \u2018herring \u00e9clairs\u2019 and borscht served \u2013 cosmonaut-style \u2013 in a squeezy tube.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard not to be swept up in the excitement.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never known change so passionate and rapid.\u00a0 Kiev even has its own new \u2018Latin quarter\u2019, called Vozdvizhenska.\u00a0 With its grand eateries and funky turrets, it\u2019s hard to know what you call this style.\u00a0 Baroque, perhaps, with a dash of Lego.\u00a0 But for many, it\u2019s not just about oysters and art.\u00a0 Only a few yards from Tsum is a shop for \u2018Volunteers\u2019.\u00a0 Here you can buy a steel helmet (\u00a33) and a gasmask (\u00a315), and everything you\u2019d need to go to war.<\/p>\n

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The new baroque of Vozdvizhenska, Kiev<\/p><\/div>\n

At the heart of this great cultural revolt is Maydan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square).\u00a0 We often found ourselves here, amongst its pedlars and buskers.\u00a0 In 2014, half the city turned up, to rail at a president seen as Putin\u2019s puppet.\u00a0 Around the square you can still see pictures of their tented camp and the burning barricades.\u00a0 Over 100 were killed, and 15,000 injured. A tiny museum has recently opened, to commemorate their sacrifice (and we were the first to sign its remembrance wall).<\/p>\n

Before leaving, we visited another two unforgettable museums.\u00a0 The first was a complex of 16 halls beneath the gigantic Motherland Monument.\u00a0 Here, brilliantly displayed, is a terrible century.\u00a0 Over 8 million Ukrainians died in WW2, leaving behind a gruelling residue of hardware, including guns, a guillotine and a mill for crushing bones.<\/p>\n

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Bullet-riddled ambulance at the War Museum, Kiev<\/p><\/div>\n

Equally poignant is the Chernobyl Museum.\u00a0 Thousands perished in the clean-up, and all that remains of them are snapshots and watches, and their pitiful medals.\u00a0 Seeing all this, you understand Ukraine a little better, its anger and its passion.<\/p>\n

Our last night, we ate at Zhizn Zamechatelnykh Lyudey (\u2018Lives of the Great\u2019).\u00a0 Dominated by a gorgeous wall of books, it was indefinably cool (think Shoreditch and Tudor, all rolled into one).\u00a0 The locals \u2013 mostly young and techie \u2013 were in party mood, but were puzzled by Brexit.\u00a0 Why were we leaving?\u00a0 For them, the EU\u2019s banner is a rallying point, a rebel flag.<\/p>\n

But we did at least promise to return.\u00a0 Who knows what the next few years will bring.\u00a0 Weekenders, perhaps?\u00a0 Less poverty and ever more ingenuity?\u00a0 Meanwhile, I have my souvenirs, a curiously quirky haul: some Carpathian honey, a little tank made of bullets, a roll of Putin loo-paper, and a bottle of delicious lemon vodka, otherwise known as \u2018Hand Grenade\u2019.<\/p>\n

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A Soviet-nostalgia cafe, Kiev<\/p><\/div>\n

ESSENTIALS<\/strong><\/p>\n

John Gimlette travelled as a guest of Baltic Travel Company (0208 233 2875; www.baltictravelcompany.com<\/a>). They offer a 7-day escorted tour of Kiev and Lviv from \u00a3895 pp based on two sharing. Price includes international flights; private transfers; guides; and hotels.<\/p>\n

When to go<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s like New York: hot summers and chilly winters.\u00a0 But don\u2019t let the cold put you off; the cities are bustling, and the nights alive.<\/p>\n

Did you know? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Kiev\u2019s palatial metro opened in 1960, and is the world\u2019s second deepest (after Pyongyang).\u00a0 Tickets cost about 30p.<\/p>\n

John Gimlette is the author of \u2018Elephant Complex; Travels in Sri Lanka\u2019<\/em> (Riverrun \u00a39.99)<\/strong><\/p>\n

If this story inspired you, learn more about the Eastern European holidays<\/a> we have, and find your next travel destination. All rights to Baltic Travel Company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something funny\u2019s going on, out in Ukraine (and it\u2019s not just the president).\u00a0 As JOHN GIMLETTE discovers, both Lviv and Kiev have become perceptibly cool, and a little outrageous. Every day in Lviv there\u2019s a little revolution, and it\u2019s mostly fun.\u00a0 Counter-culture now rules, or at least inspires.\u00a0 Take the restaurants, for example.\u00a0 One of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eastern-europe","category-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3426"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4317,"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3426\/revisions\/4317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}