The Story of Ukraine (part 1)

24 May – 3 June 2018

The day started very early on Thursday. At 4:30am my alarm rung and I had to prepare for the bus ride to Ukraine. First I would go to Uzhhorod, a Ukrainian city just past the border from Slovakia. The bus ride was around three hours, but it was the border control that took the most time. In total we spent an hour at the border. All the passports were collected from the passengers and then we had to wait for quite a while. After every passport was checked, we continued to Uzhorod, which was only a few minutes further.

From the first moment I noticed just how different everything is here. The roads and pavements were in bad condition, with holes in the asphalt and lots of missing stones in the pavement. The buses I saw were very old and smaller than normal city buses. My father later told me that The Netherlands also used to have such buses in the 70’s. Maybe they went to Ukraine after we changed to newer buses. People pay the driver directly in cash. What I found really interesting is that people who enter from the back of the bus give their money to the people in front of them, and they all pass it on to the driver. I saw a lot of cadets around the train station, maybe they went all home for the long weekend. I entered the station and searched for any updates on my train to Lviv, later that day. Everything was written in Cyrillic, and I couldn’t make much sense of it. I asked someone at the station, but he also couldn’t help me much further. Cyrillic is very different from our alphabet, which is why this might have been the first time that I was truly at a loss (whether it’s French, German or Italian, usually you can sort of guess the meaning). I tried to find the information office, which was quite a feat in itself. The man there was able to tell me that I needed to be at platform 1 at the indicated time. Ok, great! That means I still have around four hours left to explore the town. I brought my heavy backpack to a locker for safekeeping. As I left the station, a military chopper soared over my head. That was the moment that I really thought to myself: welcome to Ukraine!

That afternoon I strolled around the markets, that sold basically everything. There was a lot of fresh produce, like fruits and vegetables. It was interesting to walk around and watch the people and the stuff they were selling. I also entered a supermarket and I was amazed by the prices. Everything was so cheap! I bought some buns, a dessert, chocolate and some liquor for just three euros! I had to refrain from the urge to buy half the shop. After my shopping I found a nice place to have a drink and I started reading the book that I had bought in Slovakia (a book by Paulo Coelho, a very interesting and intriguing writer). Before I knew it, it was time to go back to the station and get on the train.

When I booked my ticket for the train back in Slovakia, I got very lucky since they only had one more seat available on the whole train. This seat turned out to be first class, but since it’s Ukraine it was quite affordable. So I got on the sleeper train and I was walking down the corridor until I found my cabin: a room with two beds, a small table and a tv. My “roommate” was an American who was on his way to a conference with some of his colleagues, who were in the next cabin. He actually spent most of the time with his colleagues in the other cabin, so I had my own private cabin. First I took a nap and then I ate the food that I had bought at the supermarket. My ticket also included several drinks, so I ordered some tea. Meanwhile I watched the amazing landscape slide past me and as the sun was setting, the moon started to appear above the forests. It was beautiful. Once it was dark I ordered some coffee and I mixed it with the liquor I bought. I tried to really enjoy the moment. I say tried, because the coffee was horrible. So one little piece of advice when you find yourself onboard an Ukrainian train: for your own health, don’t order coffee (or whatever the mixture it is that they give you)! It was a smooth but long ride of six hours.

When I arrived at the main train station of Lviv, I was greeted by Olga. She is a very friendly girl, who lives with her cat at a nice apartment 20 minutes from the center. Besides her cat, she also has several “cute” spiders and some cockroaches, as she describes them. Maybe my definition of cute is slightly different, but they don’t bother me as long as they’re safe in a box. Since I arrived later in the night and I was a little tired, we didn’t go out that night. Instead we drank some tea and talked about our lives. The next morning Olga went to her work and I went to visit the old town. I walked around the city and found a nice place to have some coffee. Then Olga texted me and invited me to come to her office, from where we could to take walk. She told me that the city is known for its coffee and chocolate (not a bad combination) and she introduced me to the new concept of coffee mines. The idea started with some guys who found some barrels that contained coffee in a cellar and they decided to start a coffee mine. We visited one of them and it was amazing. We walked down the stairs into the basement. A man gave us those typical helmets that mineworkers use and you really get the feeling that you are walking through real mine shafts. There were mine carts with coffee beans and coffee beans glued to the stone walls with a pickaxe next to it. At some places there were some chairs and tables with a bar that sold coffee. The whole experience was really well done! After we left the coffee mines, Olga took me to a place that was full of chocolate. On the first floor were some chocolate artworks, that looked pretty cool. The bar was also selling liquid chocolate, which was very tasty. It reminded me of my childhood when my grandfather used to work at a sweets factory and would sometimes bring us liquid chocolate that I really loved. After our little tour Olga went back to work and I  joined a free cultural walking tour through the city, to get to know it better.

Lviv is a pretty city and was mostly untouched by the Soviets, who didn’t stay in that area for a long time. Instead, a lot of the buildings in the city resemble the Austrian architecture, since Lviv was once part of the Austrian empire. Around the main square you can also see buildings that were built by Italian architects. I would definitely recommend visiting the the city of coffee and chocolate with the Austrian and Italian architecture. There are also some Soviet buildings in the city, but not as many as you would find elsewhere in the country. The streets are very cosy with lots of bars and restaurants. A very popular local drink is the renowned cherry liquor that you can find at Pyana Vyshnya (drunk cherry). This place has grown out to a phenomenon and last year they also opened a bar in Kyiv. A lot of people visit the place to chat with friends while standing at the round tables, while enjoying a glass of cherry liquor. The drinks come with some actual cherries. But besides bars and restaurants, there are also many interesting buildings and monuments in the city. Throughout the city you can find many Orthodox and Catholic churches. Ukraine is quite a religious country, where 70 percent of the people claim themselves as believers, with most of the people (65 percent) being a form of Orthodox.

During my visit it was the last day of school, which is seen as a national holiday. Dressed up teenagers can be seen everywhere, they either wear fancy clothes or the traditional clothing of Hungary. I saw a similar event in Slovakia, where groups of students were walking on the streets and asking people for money (which they use to buy their drinks). It’s a tradition. So when Olga and I visited Castle Hill, a beautiful lookout point over the city, there were lots of students who took photos of themselves with the city and the setting sun in the background. I introduced Olga to a game that I and my friends in Budapest used to play at the spa. You try to guess people’s nationality by their looks and language. Once you’ve both guessed, one goes up to that person or group to actually ask them. It can be quite interesting and fun. Because when checking their nationality, you can sometimes start a nice and interesting conversation. After our visit to the Castle Hill, we went for a beer in the city center, at a famous place called Pravda Beer Theatre. Here you can find very special home brewed beer, like the Putin Huilo (golden ale), Trump beer (Mexican-style lager) and Obama Hope (American-style stout). It is a large and popular place and often has live-music. Tonight was also my last night in Lviv. The next day I left Lviv around 8 pm and I went on the ten-hour journey to the capital of Ukraine: Kyiv.