Writing about my beloved city Lviv in Belarusian for Belarusian friends is pretty useless. Firstly, the only thing that they would read is «OMG, I love this city so much!!!» Secondly, everybody is a bit tired of 100500 pictures from Lviv (well, I’m not the greatest photographer ever and almost every second Belarusian has been there and taken the same photos). So I decided to share my love of this fairy Ukrainian city with friends from Romania and many other countries :).
I’m gonna be highly subjective with no attempts to appear otherwise.
A bit of cultural investigation.
So the title of the post is a slogan, and the city truly presents a chance to get in touch with Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, Austro-Hungarian and even Armenian cultures at a single location.
During the XXth century, Lviv was the center of Ukrainian struggling for independency and self-identity under the Polish and Soviet rule. Hence, many of you have probably heard about the «nationalistic» Lviv. In the USSR, the country where all the nations were equal but one amongst those [Russian] was more equal than the others, everything showing any signs of national identity was considered nationalist. And it is one thing crucial to know to understand the city’s mythology AKA brand as there are a lot of souvenirs related to the Ukrainian struggle against the Soviets, with Ukrainian symbols from different eras. At times, it turns out to be self-irony.
Amongst other city’s brands, there are coffee and chocolate. Non-EU citizens may also be attracted by a chance to try absinthe, as it is often prohibited elsewhere.
During the last ten years, Lviv’s citizens began to discover other historical cultures of the city — Polish, Austrian, Jewish, Armenian and some other.
Amongst other city’s brands, there are coffee and chocolate. Non-EU citizens may also be attracted by a chance to try absinthe, as it is often prohibited elsewhere.
During the last ten years, Lviv’s citizens began to discover other historical cultures of the city — Polish, Austrian, Jewish, Armenian and some other.
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| In Armenian Church |
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| In Armenian Church |
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| Armenian Church |
Gradually, Lviv accomplished the one thing that made me fall in love with it: multiculturalism became one of the city’s brands too.
A bit of history.
Actually, there is a Wiki article about Lviv.
Some subjective remarks about Lviv:
• Lviv aka Lemberg is a home town of my favorite Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber, who wrote a lot about mystical Judaism. And I am pretty sure that his spirit is still walking around the city’s ex-Jewish places.
• Lviv is totally Baroque. Even if you notice some buildings constructed in Classicism, Rococo or Modern, do not believe your eyes — I’ m talking about the city’s soul here. Baroque is when you drink alcohol, cry crazy songs, meet new friends while being aware the life is short and we all shall die on some not very sunny day. And Lviv’s perfect architecture is like a monument to this fucking memento mori. Have fun and don’t be surprised at how many churches there are in the city.
• And one more word about memento mori. The most magnificent cemetery that I have ever visited is Lviv’s Lychakivsky cemetery.
• Lviv is a very tourist-friendly place so it is very easy to find city guides in English. Most of the facilities in the city center — hostels, hotels, and coffeehouses — are adopted for English speakers. It isn’t so true for museums though. I went to the Ethnographical museum in Lviv once, and the museum keeper asked me to be a translator between him — he only spoke Ukrainian — and the lady from NYC — she was of some Ukrainian origin but could only speak English. Well, it was no great challenge for a strong independent woman from Belarus, because Belarusian and Ukrainian are similar to each other, sort of like Romanian and Italian or Italian and Spanish. But yeah, at certain places, things may get a little difficult without any Slavic linguistic background or the knowledge of the basic Cyrillic ABC or АБВ). According to my observations, the ladies, who work at the Lviv’s railway station, are not into English that much. But the positive thing is that you can always find some youngsters who will, for sure. manage to help you cu placere.
• Some words about reality and politics. You may probably know about the war in the East of Ukraine. In Lviv, there is a military hospital. So you will see quite a lot of men wearing military uniforms — people who receive treatment in the hospital, come to visit their families or are going back... to the war. For me, it was heartbreaking to see a military man with a child and a woman who went in the direction of the railway station. But yes, it is also should be mentioned.
How to get to Lviv
Getting to Lviv from Romania is easy as EU-citizens do not need any visa (it is not Belarus, use this opportunity to discover one of the Eastern Slavic countries). But keep in mind that you can’t go there with ID card, you need a passport.
The greatest obstacle is that there is no direct transport connection. You can always search for a plane, but IMHO, it’s much cheaper and easier to go by train.
In the days of Austro-Hungary, there was a single railway system between the West-North of Romania and the West of Ukraine. So the past is making the whole journey easier.
You can cross the border from Sighetu-Marmatei on foot, it takes no longer than 40 minutes. My friend and I crossed the border on Saturday and it only took 20 minutes for two border checkpoints. The natural border between the countries is Tisa river. Near the Ukrainian border, there is a town called Solotvino.
In the days of Austro-Hungary, there was a single railway system between the West-North of Romania and the West of Ukraine. So the past is making the whole journey easier.
You can cross the border from Sighetu-Marmatei on foot, it takes no longer than 40 minutes. My friend and I crossed the border on Saturday and it only took 20 minutes for two border checkpoints. The natural border between the countries is Tisa river. Near the Ukrainian border, there is a town called Solotvino.
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| That the Tisa, natural border |
Solotvino is the town in Zakarpattia region of Ukraine. This town is multicultural and three languages are spoken there — Ukrainian, Romanian and Hungarian (anyway, administrative titles are in three languages).
On the way from the border to Solotvino-1 station, there are some banks (banks are not working on Saturday and Sunday) where you can exchange lei to grivnas — the currency exchange rate is 1:6, and one 1 euro is around 29 Ukrainian grivnas. If there are no working banks, you can always exchange the currency at any local shop, it is not entirely legal, but it is a tip for emergencies.
There are some bars and coffeehouses where you can find people who speak
Romanian and can show you how to get to Solotvino-1 station.
It takes around seven minutes to get to the railway station from the
border. It is the end or the beginning of the up-to-date Lviv railway
system. The station building is horrible, there is no Wi-fi, no plugs, but you can still catch some Romanian Vodofone signals there). Also there is no WC. And do not expect politeness from the lady who is working at the station.
So the train to Lviv departures at 17:25 (the time zone is the same as in Romania) and arrives around 6:20. The train goes every day. One ticket costs around 3 Euros, but if you buy two tickets you can get a discount. There are three types of carriages — I recommend you to take «platskart» — it is pretty much the same as the 2nd class sleeping carriage. You should remember to also get bed clothing and tea (it is a true pleasure to drink tea in those old carriages, just trust me). Their price will be included into the ticket cost.
Anyway, the cost of Ukrainian train tickets is cheap and you can buy «kupe» that is a bit more expensive — 5 Euros. But you will loose a part of authentic pleasure of travelling using old trains).
Also, at Solotvino-1 station you can buy a return ticket «Lviv — Solotvino-1». The train departures from Lviv at 20:40 and arrives to Solotvino-1 the next day around 9:00.
Also, at Solotvino-1 station you can buy a return ticket «Lviv — Solotvino-1». The train departures from Lviv at 20:40 and arrives to Solotvino-1 the next day around 9:00.
My pictures were taken in Lviv in 2010, 2012, 2016, in Solotvino - 2015, 2016.
Have fun!
[Thanks a lot of to Irale for editing this post]
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