Kyiv, Ukraine

We were up early to catch a taxi to the meeting point for our Chernobyl tour. We were supposed to be there by 7:30am, but got there a few minutes early.

Chatted with some of the other people on the tour, mostly solo and pairs of independent travelers from western countries. Unfortunately for us, there was a mix up between the tour agency we booked through and the operator agency, and we weren’t on the list. They had extra seats (the tour bus fit about 16), but the tour enters the Chernobyl exclusion zone, which is still heavily militarized. If you’re not on the list sent to the military, then you don’t get in.

We decided to grab breakfast at McDonalds and figure out what to do next. I used the free wifi to email the tour agency. By the time we had finished our McMuffins, we were rescheduled for a couple days out (luckily we were in Kyiv for three days and this was our first day).

So it was 8am and we were ready for touristing, the earliest start we’d had in weeks. It was good to catch the cooler morning air as there was a heat wave in Kyiv, with a highs in the low 30s the whole time we were here. Plus we were half way to Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, one of the sites we wanted to see.

We walked over to the site, caught up in the rush of office workers walking to their offices. We looked distinctly non-local with our hiking shoes, sun hats, and day packs, with everyone else in office attire.

Bought our tickets to Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, which included climbing the bell tower and a camera pass ($10 CAD) (although no one asked to see the camera pass throughout the day).

The bell tower wasn’t yet open, so we checked out the main church. The interior was as amazing as the outside. There was a mass (?) going on in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the singing / intonations added to the whole atmosphere.

Next up we climbed the bell tower, which helped us get oriented. It’s a little different seeing larger sites without a guide book! There was a map at the entrance (we took a pic), but it didn’t really tell us what the highlights were out of the 60+ items listed at the site.

Walked around the structures near the bell tower. They were all quite amazing. We were only maybe 30% of the way through the entire Kyiv Pechersk Lavra complex and already it had blown us away. I didn’t even know the place existed!

We walked over to the lower caves, about a ten minute walk. It was tiring in the heat and sun. Took us a while to figure things out, there wasn’t much signage in English.

The caves are old burial spots where people come to pray. The only lighting comes from candles people carry through to place at selected burial spots. It was also super bright outside in the sun, so my eyes didn’t adjust very quickly. At one point, a monk (?) dressed in a black robe, sitting in the corner, pointed the way. The only thing I could really see was his hand and face in the darkness. It was very eerie.

By the time we got to the upper cave section of the complex, it was about two hours in and we were losing steam.

We took a taxi back to the hotel (instead of walking one hour in the hot sun), washed up a bit, and then looked for a place for lunch.

We ended up at an Italian restaurant near the Golden Gate. It was quite good. Their double espressos were large, almost like quadruple espressos, and they had very refreshing sorbets.

We had enough energy to see one more thing, so walked over to St. Sophia's Cathedral for our 2nd UNESCO site for the day (Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is also a UNESCO site).

The Cathedral grounds consist of a bell tower guarding the entrance, with the cathedral itself inside the walls. Bought tickets for both the bell tower and the cathedral interior. The cathedral was 5 CAD, which seemed a bit steep compared to other ticket prices, but more on that later.

The bell tower was tall. I was out of breath when I reached the top. (Maybe also a reflection on my fitness). There were a few wooden beams that cut over the stairs, about head height. Obviously there were different building codes back in the 11th century.

Anyways there were great views at the top, especially of St. Andrew's Church. (Actually, the pics of St. Andrew's were better from the first viewing level cause at the lower levels the buildings behind the church are hidden from the frame).

Then on to the cathedral. Inside was amazing, with mosaics and paintings preserved from the 11th century. You’re even allowed up to the 2nd floor for better views. We now understood the pricing and why some blogs said it would take two hours to visit!

So not a bad day at all of touristing, with two UNESCO sites that we didn’t know about that were amazing.

We got home, pretty tired from the long day and the heat. We just decided to have dinner at the hotel; we had no get-up-and-go to look for anything else. Dinner was excellent.