Kharkiv Off The Beaten Path

4 more images

Our hotel was located a little out of the very centre of the city, on Moskovskiy Avenue. This is a long artery road leading east out of Kharkiv. Nearer the centre it may have some grand buildings but around the Mirax Boutique Hotel and Ploshcha Povstannya Metro station it is a not especially (on the whole) attractive residential district. But if a few short days staying here I found that it was not without its charm. One thing that struck us all was the mix of fairly drab apartment blocks and older-looking more traditional small houses. Gradually we realised that there were many more of the latter tucked away behind the taller blocks. It is as if the city planners bull-dozed this wide avenue through an older district but left most of it still standing, though hidden by the newer builds. A few remain on the main road (photos two and three were taken there) but most are invisible to the casual passer-by. But peer through the open gateways that are interspersed among the blocks, or if staying in the Mirax look down from your room or the breakfast room terrace, and you will see them – well worth hunting out.

It was the short stretch of the road between hotel and Metro station that we walked several times a day during our short visit. But before we explore any further, there are some practical challenges to deal with, starting with the Cyrillic alphabet