This morning as we were leaving the hotel we decided to take a different route and discovered Peizazhna Alley, a hidden walk behind one of the main streets, full of whimsical street art. It looks a bit like a disturbed child's playground, but it seemed to be more for adults than kids!
Another UNESCO World Heritage Site is Saint Sophia, designed to rival Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. We saw the bell tower but did not go in the church or around the inside of the gate because there were too many people and we had our fill of churches after yesterday's walk through the Lavra.
Here's a better shot of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building not far from our hotel:
We had not gone through the south part of Independence Square yet so we headed for a walk around the neighborhood. One of the most impressive buildings, a few blocks behind the square, is the old Ukraine National Bank.
Here are a couple of more shots from our walk this afternoon. There are so many places high up on the hills to get shots of the lower districts. One of our favorites was a pedestrian bridge that links one of the parks to Saint Vladimir Hill.
A view from one of the cathedrals overlooking the Podil neighborhood:
Remember I said there was a big push for murals this past decade? They are everywhere. There's a wonderful app on iPhone called Kyiv Murals and it provides an interactive map of all the murals, with information about the art and the artists.
One thing that was odd in Kyiv is that any place you walk past and think "this is probably a tourist trap" didn't actually seem to have any tourists. October is a little out of season but just about every place we went appeared to have mostly locals. I had read online before the trip that for many here, tourist means Ukrainians from a different part of Ukraine. I definitely got that feeling in Kyiv!
The only exception for a touristy restaurant was Korchma Taras Bulba, a restaurant completely decked out in Ukrainian decor. It did appear to have mostly tourists, and from all over the world. The restaurant is so worth the visit because the food was excellent and the servers were super friendly.
I ordered bograch, a beef sirloin stew baked in a small pot and with a Georgian wine.
Jay ordered the vareniki, dumplings filled with meat and topped with lots of sour cream. Yummy!
After dinner we walked around for a bit and visited a couple of bookstores and shops. Then we headed back to the hotel because we have to head out tomorrow for Kolomyya.
Go to Day 4: Kolomyya
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