The Lavra

A trip to Kiev is not complete without a visit to the Lavra. This is a Christian Monastery, founded in 1051, as a cave monastery and still active today. The site includes a state museum and various churches. The most famous attraction is the cave burial site where you can wander through the cave tunnels with a candle. Along the narrow underground corridors are sarcophagi housing the remains of various Monks and religious people. We walked along behind a tour group holding out the candle as our only light. The remains are covered by cloths inside the glass topped coffins. It's an incredibly atmospheric experience, and only a little bit creepy. The Lavra is a UNESCO world heritage site, visited by thousands of people every year. The churches are spectacular, but having spent the past three weeks walking among spirituality through Siberia, we suffered church fatigue when we arrived in the Lavra. After experiencing the catacombs, we were ready to make our way back to the city centre. An unfortunate side effect to slow, over-land travel is that the landscape, culture and history of each place doesn't massively change. The first Church we encountered in Listvyanka, after two years of temples, was a breath of fresh air for me. But by the time we reached the Lavra and our 27th house of God, I was happy to forgo entering any more than one building. This is no reflection on the architecture or history here, purely the fatigue of this train weary traveller! 

A lovely evening

I've been having trouble lately attaching photos to posts, and instead of investigating the problem and finding a solution, I've been lazy.

But tonight, I had a lovely walk along the south bank in London, just me, my music and my camera. It has invigorated me and prompted me to get back to blogging! Since I don't have my camera cord with me, while I live in London working for this month, I've posted a few sneek peek pictures taken with my iPhone. And I solemnly swear to get back to blogging at the end of January!

Exploring Kyiv

Initially Kiev was only on the list of cities we were visiting because it was a way to take the trip across Europe to London bypassing Belarus where a visa (even for a straight through transit) costs £100. While doing research and planning for our trip I noted down a post on Travel belles with a recommended tour for the city. After reading this I was more enthusiastic about our visit. Our first day didn't pan out too well, after our train arrived very early in the morning I followed the hostel directions, which were at first very good. Until we couldn't find the correct road to turn down, and then walked past the hostel entrance at least 3 times ('You'll see our sign' - no we won't because it's incredibly small!) The rest of our first day had terrible weather so this gave us time to relax and catch up on reading, sleeping and blogging. 

Day two was a lot more productive. We followed the travel belles advice, but in reverse as we were staying on Andrew's Decent. In Kiev we saw so many weddings! Every place we visited (even the War Memorial) had bridal parties taking photos. At one place there were four weddings all next to each other! We could have seen this as a sign, but then we're both single so no wedding bells for us in the near future!

Image by: Wolfgang Woessner/MAK

During the Travel Belles tour we made a stop, as suggested, at the Pinchuk Art Gallery (we also had some lunch here which was delicious!) The main exhibitor when we visited was Anish Kapoor. I have since discovered he is the artist/architect behind the big Bean in Chicago and the ugly construction outside the Olympic Stadium in Stratford. His show in Kiev was weird. The piece that most affected me was called 'Shooting into a Corner' and was a whole room, filled mostly with a huge cannon that has shot out vibrant red thick paint (which looks like blood) The image here doesn't show exactly what we saw as we were in a small room with a low ceiling so the paint was closer and more splattered. Most of Anish Kapoor's pieces were a little too wacky for me. But further into the gallery were other displays from various artists. Our very own Damien Hirst made an appearance and his was quite thought provoking. A balloon floating over a fan above sharp knives 'A History of Pain'. The last sculpture I can remember (As I write this three months after visiting) were (bordering on pornographic) sculptures from Japanese Artist; Takashi Murakami (Image Below). Overall Pinchuk was a worthwhile visit. It was free and whether you enjoy the art on display or not, it certainly makes you think and leave a lasting impression.

Takashi Murakami

Damien Hirst. Images from: Pinchuk Art Gallery

 Kiev city was a great place to walk around, easily accessible on foot (although there are a few hills and lots of steps). Andrew's Decent and the surrounding streets have some great stalls, I bought some of my favourite souvenirs from Kiev (a photo of St Andrew's Church from an elderly man standing away from the rest of the stalls and wearing milk bottle glasses and an etching of Lenin in London). The hostel -Dream House Hostel and Bar- was great; perfectly set up for backpackers - just look out for a small sign on A4 paper. It was not somewhere I was desperate to visit, but it is now on my list of cities (and countries) to re-visit!

St Andrew's Church

This was only the second couple we saw at our first destination of the day; Andrew's Decent.

The entrance to St Michael's Cathedral

St Michael's Cathedral. You can buy Cherry Honey Mead outside, but I wouldn't recommend it!

St Sophia's Church

Hundreds of steps to the top of St Sophia's Bell Tower.

Kiev University

And our video with all the weddings;

Eating and Drinking in Eastern Europe

When I'm travelling I'm constantly taking pictures of what I'm eating. When my meal is put in front of me my first instinct is always that I want to remember it. Now I'm home, I cook most nights for my family and I'm really enjoying being able to cook again; my kitchen in Korea was so tiny and it was difficult going shopping as a lot of ingredients either weren't available, or were really expensive. 

I've really enjoyed putting this post together, and remembering all the wonderful food I ate while making my way home through Europe. Looking at these pictures, I am transported to the city I was in, the moment Mary and I had sat down to eat, and usually took in our surroundings to people watch and just enjoy the limited time we had to experience each place. Food in Eastern Europe was really good, and generally pretty cheap, and for me so fantastic to get back to European flavours and dishes. Definitely a gastronomic good time!

Prawn Tacos. Warsaw, Poland.

Breakfast Omelette. Kiev, Ukraine. 

Hot Chocolate in Russia is so amazingly thick you need a spoon to eat it!

Bread and Dips at Pinchuk Art Gallery. Kiev, Ukraine.

Cheesy, Buttery, Georgian Bread. Moscow, Russia.

AhMAzing Almond Macaroons. Kiev, Ukraine.

Ice Cream in the City Square. Warsaw, Poland.

Meat dumplings with dill. St Petersburg, Russia.

Grilled Fish. St Petersburg, Russia.

Beef Ribs. Warsaw, Poland.

The Best Drink I've ever had; Non-Alcoholic Strawberry Mojito. @Pinchuk Art Gallery, Kiev, Ukraine.

Sushi Takeout. St Petersburg, Russia.

Our entire hoard at the Hot Chocolate Cafe. Kiev, Ukraine.

Smoked Salmon Bagel. Warsaw, Poland.

Chicken Pancake, Potato Rosti and meringue. A breakfast of Champions in St Petersburg, Russia,

Simply Delicious, Even if I don't remember what this dessert was... Pinchuk Art Gallery, Kiev, Ukraine.

Pear Soda. St Petersburg, Russia.

Mexican Fare at Frida's. Warsaw, Poland.

Some more lush Georgian Bread. St Petersburg, Russia.

Orange Hot Chocolate. Kiev, Ukraine.

Cheesecake and Iced Tea. Warsaw, Poland.

Russian Tea. St Petersburg, Russia.

Radioactive looking Apple Juice. Kiev, Ukraine.

Cheese Toastie and Tea. Warsaw, Poland.

Garlicy Chicken Kiev. St Petersburg, Russia.

This way home! Warsaw, Poland.