Kiev Favorites

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Fondest memory: Visiting the Cave Monastery is a must for many locals, pilgrims and tourists here. We call that monastery Kiev Pechersk Laura (in Russian sounds as lavra).
Pechersk is the Ukrainian name fo Cave District of Kiev.
Laura means an outstanding and merited monastery.
The monastery is located on the elevated bank of the Dnipro in the area known as Upper Kiev.
Kiev Pechersk Laura (Kiev Cave Monastery) was founded in the 11th century.
It’s a complex of cathedrals and churches, the belfry being 96.5 m high, the highest structure in the city until the statue of Motherland was erected in 1982. The statue is 102 m high.
The monastery is one of the eight men’s monasteries in Kiev and is a place of pilgrimage of many Orthodox Christians in Ukraine.
Its churches belong to the Russian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate.

Fondest memory: The cyrillic alphabet is hard to understand for foreigners.

А = a
Б = b
В = v
Г = g
Д = d
Е = je
Ё = jø
Ж = zh
З = z
И = i
Й = j
К = k
Л = l
М = m
Н = n
О = o
П = p
Р = r
С = s
Т = t
У = u
Ф = f
Х = h
Ц = ts
Ч = tsj
Ш = sj
Щ = sjtsj
Ъ = _
Ы = y
Ь = '
Э = e
Ю = ju
Я = ja

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Fondest memory: The street police in Kiev downtown are friendly and respond positive on questions from tourists. Their clothes and behavior reminds more of a villager than policemen on the beat in a big city. They are shuffling around the streets with their spacious uniforms. It looks funny. Anyway, the police in Kiev are tough enough to handle the increasing crime in the city.

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Favorite thing: Frequenting Friendship Park located on the high bank of the River Dnipro and enjoying the views of the Friendship Arch and the river with the opposite flat bank (left bank).
There's a bistro, an amphitheater and an observation platform there.
All in all it's a quiet place. They say, it is a very nice place for sweethearts.
The locals say it's their Sweethearts Park.

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Favorite thing: Enjoying the views from my hotel window at Tourist Hotel.
This is the new district on the left bank called "Darnitsa".
You can also see the famous Metro Bridge with a metro train on it.
The high building to the right of the avenue is "Tourist" hotel.

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Favorite thing: If you get to the Cave Monastery located in Hrushevsky Street on the elevated bank of the Dnipro, you can have a nice view of the new city districts located at the opposite bank.
This district on the left bank is called "Darnitsa" and it consists of dozens of multi-storeyed apartment houses.
You can also see several bridges standing there in the area of the new cathedral of the Cave Monastery.

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Favorite thing: Enjoying the wonderful views of the River Dnipro from the observation platform of Friendship Park located next to European Square.
You can see the Friendship Arch dedicated in 1983 as a symbol of the Ukrainian-Russian friendship.
There is an amphitheater next to the arch where you can see concerts on holidays.

Fondest memory: Walking downtown and admiring the beautiful architecture, statues and avenues.

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Favorite thing: Sauntering and window shopping in "Globe" Undeground Complex.

Fondest memory: You can visit this huge underground trade and fun center under Inpendence Square.
It's an ambitious expensive project with high prices now.
You can either have lunch or dinner at one of the high-end cafes or go shopping at its very expensive stores.