The Random Wanderer

So this week marks a year since I visited Kyiv for the first time. If I’m honest I’ve been avoiding writing about my time in Ukraine and Russia, put simply I have had no idea what to say or how to say how I feel properly, and I probably still don’t. Anyway, I thought that speaking about Kyiv on the year anniversary of my visit would be quite appropriate.

I mentioned in a previous blog that Kyiv is in my top few places to visit in the world, in reality, it’s my favourite city in the world. It’s really difficult for me to explain why. Does it have the most iconic attractions in the world? No. Does it have great natural scenery? Not particularly. But it is the one place that in this last year travelling I wanted to return to as soon as I left, and I did within 2 months.

I remember distinctly being in Warsaw Train Station, a sort of dark underground communist-era structure waiting to get on the train to Gdansk to see the Europa League Final when I got a message from Alex, a school friend who was doing his year abroad in Kyiv. I can’t remember the exact message but he essentially suggested I just turn up in Kyiv. And about a week and a half later, in the first of my many impulsive decisions this year I was on a flight to Ukraine. I arrived at Boryspil airport, subsequently standing for what seemed like an age in the passport control line, where frankly the officers seemed only interested in whether I had health insurance from a Ukrainian company which I’ve always found a strange quirk. I then got ripped off in my taxi to my hostel, but I’m lazy so there we go and that is all my criticisms of the city

My obscenely expensive taxi took about 15 minutes to reach the outskirts of Kyiv on the left bank of the Dnieper. The vast Soviet-era blocks immediately reminded me of the constructions of north St. Petersburg where I had stayed during a school exchange in 2017. As a self-confessed Soviet geek in all aspects, I love them. There is something strange about these buildings which makes me feel at home, I don’t know exactly what but I really do feel it.

Eventually, I arrived at my hostel, which was called Globerunner Hostel, situated fairly close to the Golden Gate. The hostel itself was a medium-sized fairly new place. The dorm rooms themselves were great, exactly what you want from a hostel, curtains on the beds, large lockers and non-noisy beds. I can’t say it was the most social of hostels when I was there but I much preferred it to DREAM Hostel in Podil where I stayed on my second visit in September.

After simply dropping my bags at the hostel I immediately went to a bar to meet Alex, my friend who’d mentioned for me to consider coming whilst I was in Warsaw, not very cultured I know. I met him and his friends in a Squat17b in the courtyard of a building just off Taras Shevchenko Park opposite the striking bright red Kyiv University building. The bar itself is one of my favourite bars, possibly in the world, sitting on old car seats placed in the courtyard drinking melon cider and vodka whilst not being able to communicate at all (except my monologue on the Trans-Siberian railway I’d recently learnt for my university Russian module – not useful information). That being said, I loved this night and look back on it so fondly and cannot wait for the day I can return for just one more melon cider.

The next few days of my trip I spent wandering around the city. From the numerous golden cathedrals at the top of the hill to the Mother of the Nation statue in the south. The statue and the surrounding park commemorating the Second World War is probably the place I spent more time than anywhere else in the city, mainly through my own incompetence. I have visited the park 3 times over my two visits all with the intention of visiting the World War Two museum which is supposedly situated there. However, I’m seemingly a bit stupid and I’m yet to find the entrance, hopefully, it’ll be fourth time lucky one day. What I did manage to find though is the museum directly under the statue, a museum documenting the history of the Ukrainian nation. Anyone I’ve spoken to about this museum will know that at the time I found this museum fairly uncomfortable. I found it to apply a selective history in order to tell a narrative. I’m not sure my position has changed entirely, but I think I have begun to understand why. The museum told the history in great detail of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people from the time of the Vikings on the Dnieper, to Yaroslav the Wise, to King Danylo, to the Cossack Hetmanate and the modern Ukrainian state. This was very interesting, and a thing I’d largely never studied, however, I felt there was a complete void left when referring to the time when the majority of the country was under the rule of the Russian Empire and subsequently the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, following the Russian Invasion of Ukraine this year I have begun to understand why a museum about the history of the Ukrainian nation would want to create a clear distinction between Russian and Ukrainian history. However, I still feel that a complete and accurate description of history is always for the best in the long run.

Despite this slightly uncomfortable feeling I got in the museum, one thing from that museum which I thought little of at the time but have recently thought much more about is the giant map of Ukraine which contains soil from every region of the country. When I saw the map last year I found it slightly strange, however, now it makes sense to me, the fact that the soil of the entire state can be found in the museum of the Ukrainian nation seems apt to me and can perhaps provide a sense of home to those who can no longer return to the occupied regions.

It is not only this museum which I have thought about recently, on Instytutska Street a memorial to the victims of the violence during the 2014 revolution can be seen alongside preserved barricades from that winter. When I was there, I saw these barricades very much in the historical context and to demonstrate the bravery of what occurred in 2014. However when I saw in the news images of real barricades on Maidan when the Russian invading forces were in the vicinity of Kyiv, it made me realise that these pictures plate not a demonstration of a past struggle, but a struggle of the present.

This along with stories from people I know who were hiding from the missile strikes in corridors, escaping the city, and having to start lives in new countries has definitely changed my perception of a lot of things. As a student of Eastern European History and Politics, I think I always viewed many of the post-Soviet conflicts as a game of politics, which in many ways they are. However, when studying in a classroom in London you are completely immune from the human impact of these decisions. Knowing people in Ukraine, and being in Moscow on the 24th February, I felt a combination of worry, shame and stupidity watching what was happening. The greatest gift travelling has given me is the human perspective, the perspective that the people in Kyiv or in Kutaisi or other places that have suffered recent conflicts are the same as me, it could so easily be me. I think that whatever I decide to do in the future what I have experienced, seen and heard about so far this year will very much determine how I conduct myself.

These people I met when I was in Ukraine, in Kyiv and Lviv, or Ukrainians I’ve met elsewhere are some of the people I have the fondest memories of, they are probably the people I have more people I can genuinely call friends than from any other country. I will never forget my time in Kyiv, from losing in 6 moves in chess in a cafe courtyard to playing a fairly brutal 5-aside football to playing stupid but incredible games in the middle of the night in the middle of the city. It was all memorable in such a great way. I’ll always remember my final night the first time I was in Kyiv, Alex invited me to some bar, which I think was on a Podil crossroad, where a DJ was playing outside with a saxophone player at his side, a quirk I always loved. This is the place I had my infamous enormous green Kiwi cider, a stupid memory but a great one. I remember speaking to the guy on my left-hand side in a sort of Russian-English. Perhaps we couldn’t communicate perfectly but I’ll never forget the kindness of the people I met there. I remember playing Durak for the first-ever time and the girl sat next to me teaching me to play which I appreciate greatly, even more so because I won my first ever game, no idea how, I just remember asking “what do I do? I have no cards” and subsequently being informed of my victory. That same evening despite a planned trip to Chernobyl at 5 am the following morning I took up the offer of another girl I’d just met to go to a nightclub elsewhere in Kyiv (my first one post COVID!), I remember being explained the extremely fast dance seen in a lot of Kyiv clubs and I’m fairly sure I knocked over someone’s drink, so sorry, I do that a lot. All in all, it was one of those nights I will always remember fondly and so hopefully I can do something similar again one day soon.

Shockingly despite that night, I made it to my Chernobyl trip. The trip is not cheap, and you are unlikely to see anything you haven’t already seen if you have watched the HBO series or any other documentaries. That being said I thoroughly recommend visiting it when it becomes possible again. The famous theme park and Duga are definitely great to see but personally, the old relics of the Soviet times and the places where nature has reclaimed Pripyat are the true highlights. I think seeing places, where the consequences of certain decisions can be seen so vividly, is always good to see and certainly make you think.

If you’re in a slightly different mood you could visit the slightly bizarre toilet museum or the equally strangely situated jellyfish museum on Maidan. If I’m completely honest I learnt more about things I really should have known about anyway at the toilet museum than I ever thought possible. I think it is these things in Kyiv all put together that makes me love the city. There are the beautiful, the interesting, the kind and the simply insane elements. All this but together combined with the people I met makes me love this city more than any other. I crave to go back one day and I really hope everyone who wants to will also be able to return to their homes and lives there as soon as possible.

If I’m honest there are parts of this blog where I’ve not really known what to say. I think it’s quite difficult for me to fully grasp what’s happened over the last few months and I’m far from the worst affected. I just hope that you people can read this and try and understand why I love the city and hopefully one day soon will be able to experience it themselves.

Thank You, Kyiv

Accommodation and Things to do

Once it is again possible to go to Kyiv again I will update this section with the best places to stay, do and eat once it’s clear what is open.