Kiev Off the Beaten Path Tips by hunterV

Visiting the Museum of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45 located next to Kiev-Pechersk Laura (cave monastery) you will see this statue called "To the Fallen" at the entrance to your left. The statue depicts a dying soldier and is the memorial to all the soldiers who did not come back from the front. The statue of the dying soldier at the entrance to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War is located on a small hill and is one of the most modern monuments to the heroes of that war.
"Nobody is forgotten,
nothing is forgotten!" -
this famous motto from Soviet times lives on till now, too, and lots of people come to this place especially on Victory Day, May 9 every year.
Another famous monument of that museum is the huge monument to the Motherland built in 1981.
There is a three-storey war history museum in its pedestal.
The monument to Motherland is very impressive and can be seen from afar. This monument dominates the right-bank hill of the Dnipro. It can be seen from the trains coming to the capital from the east.
The National Museum of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 occupies a huge area – over 10 hectares on the high bank of the Dnipro. It was dedicated on May 9, 1981 and is visited by lots of people every year.
There is a three-storey war museum in the basement of the Motherland sculpture.
You can also see memorials:
Hero-Cities Alley,
sculptural composition “Forcing the Dnipro”,
the eternal flame called “The Flame of Glory”.
There is an outdoor exhibition of war equipment and weapons,
“Tragedy and Valor of Agfhanistan» and “At Other Wars” exhibitions.
The address is 44 Ivan Mazepa Street (the end stop of trolleybus #20),
the museum is open from 10 a.m. till 5 p.m. daily;
the tickets to the exhibition are 8 UAH,
excursion tickets are 10 UAH.

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Phone: 225 94 52

Another chance of seeing Kiev sites is to take a two-hour guided tour of the city.
The tour starts from the square of the railway station.
The first tour starts at 9.15 a.m.
The booking office is located just opposite the railway station next to McDonald's.
The bus has 14 (or more) seats and the tour will cost you 20 or 25 UAH ($4 or $5).
You can also take your luggage with you and put it into the luggage compartment of the bus.
During the tour you can see several sites such as:
St.Volodymyr Cathedral,
Golden Gates,
St.Sophia Cathedral,
the cave monastery,
etc.
Visiting St.Florus women's monastery in Podil (Lower Kiev) is a part of the tour.
You can leave the bus and walk around the monastery complex visiting the church and drinking wonder-working water from the well. They say this water heals every pain and helps get rid of the trouble.
Mind you do not be late for your bus when you go out siteseeing!

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Phone: 235 21 61
Website: http://www.go2kiev.com/
Other Contact: 220 03 54

St.Sophia architectural and historical state reserve is a monument of the 11th century architecture and monumental art. It consists of several buildings. This one is the 11th century cathedral.
You can see parts of the wall with fragments of the ancient one.
The reserve includes further the 18th century belfry, rectory, seminary, fraternity building, metropolitan residence, consistory, etc. There is a souvenir kiosk.
You can walk along the paths admiring the 18th century architecture and visit the cathedral itself where you can see ancient mosaics, frescoes and murals.
The main entrance to the complex is from St.Volodymyr Street ( not far from Khmelnitsky Square and the monument to Bohdan Khmelnitsky).

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Website: http://www.go2kiev.com/

Kiev railway station was reconditioned and rebuilt in 2001 to the tenth anniversary of the country’s independence.
It was originally built in 1932.
Now it includes a new building called Southern Station, new platforms and escalators leading to them.
There are several bars and kiosks inside the station.
If you pay $3 or $4, you can sit in the comfortable waiting area on the second floor (do not take the escalator, but walk up the steps to your left as you enter the station).

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Taking a picture of one of the most impressive city monuments - the equestrian statue of Nickolay Shchors, a Civil War hero (Shevchenko Boulevard on the way from the railway station to the city center) - is also a must on your way to the railway station.

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If you'd like to see the 19th century Kiev, why not walk along Petro Sahaydachny Street in the Old Town.
The street connects Post Square and Contract Square and can be reached by the metro ("Post Square" station or "Conrtact Square" station).
There are lots of stores, cafes and restaurant, a casino, a night club and what not there.
The street is also famous for its "Impressa" hotel, one of the most expensive in the city.
At the beginning of the street you can see the monument to Petro Sahaydachny, a 17th century Cossack leader who was a field marshal and an elected ruler (Hetman) of the Cossack Republic.

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This old fountain known since 1840 was very famous in the then Kiev as a place of meeting in Contract Square that used to be the heart of the business life of the city.
Now it's one of the cites of the capital.
You can take the metro directly to Contract square from wherever you stay in kiev.
Enjoy the view and don't forget to drop in at "Corsaire" cafe to have a bite!

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This is one of the European style hotels called “Impressa” that is located in Sahaydachny Street not far from “Post Square” metro station.
My American friend Michael stayed there, so I often visited this hotel during my stay in Kiev.
By the way, there are/were projects of turning Sahaydachny Street into the second pedestrian presinct in the Ukrainian capital.
The hotel has a German restaurant called “Edelweiss”.
The hotel is at 21 Sahaydachny St., 04070 Kiev.

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Phone: 239 29 39
Website: www.impressa.com.ua

You can see two other beautiful churches in Contract Square in Podil (Lower Kiev).
This one is called St.Nickolas Church.
It's on the way to Flor Monastery, a well-known women's monastery in Ukraine.
The Church of Assumption of the Most Holy Virgin only looks old, but was built, or to be more precise, restored, in 1995 at the place of the ancient church of the Assumption of the Most Holy Godmother that was built in 1135 and ruthlessly destroyed in 1935 during the Bolshevik inspired atheist campagne.
(Contract Square, next to the Embassy of Holland).

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Another church in Contract Square:
Church of the Annunciation of the Mother of God.
This is the dome of the church of the women’s monastery in Podil (Lower Kiev).
The domes of Ukrainian Orthodox churches are pear-shaped and the domes of Russian Orthodox churches in Ukraine are said to be onion-shaped. To which church does this one belong: to Ukrainian or Russian one? Can you see the difference? I can’t.

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The Afghan War memorial is located between the Cave Monastery and the Museum of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 (Second World War memorial).
This impressive monument is dedicated to all those residents of Ukraine who perished in that stupid war.
I was impressed by the figures of the soldiers and the memorial itself.
It contains the names of all fallen soldiers and officers who left for the war from different regions of Ukraine
It represents the figure of a soldier and an officer who fought in Afghanistan in 1979-1989.
The statues are surrounded by tombstones with the names of the fallen soldiers and officers and the figures 1979 and 1989 at the entrance.
The memorial was dedicated in 1999 to the tenth anniversary of the withdrawal of the Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
This place is included into most of the city tours in Kiev.

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This is one of the streets in Old Kiev not far from the Golden Gate. it is called Yaroslaviv Vahl in Ukrainian.
You can see the reconditioned apartment houses dating back to the beginning of the last century.
The ancient Golden Gate represents a fortified wall that used to surround Upper Kiev where the nobility, generals and rich merchants used to live in the 11th century. Rank-and-file people lived in Lower City located on the same bank of the Dnipro.
Golden Gate used to be the main ceremonial gate of ancient Kiev in the 11th century. It was first mentioned in 1037.
The wall served as a protective barrier to defend the city from nomadic tribes that often invaded the country. It was built in 1037 in the reign of Prince Yaroslav the Wise. The gate was called “golden” because all visitors had to pay a tribute passing it. The place was restored in 1983 and dedicated as a national historical museum.
Golden Gate is located just outside “Zoloti Vorota” metro station in Yaroslav Rampart Street.
The street itself is called in UKrainian "Yaroslaviv Vahl"

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You can see construction sites almost everywhere in Kiev now. Even in the Old City brand new apartment houses are being built and put into operation.
I wouldn’t call these apartments very cheap. This construction site is near Bessarabian Square at the end of Khreshchatyk, the central street.
Now there is a real underground city under this square, it's called "Metrograd".

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Bessarabian Square is an old city square located between several streets: Khreshchatyk, Basseyna Street, Velyka Vassylkivska Street, Shevchenko Boulevard and Steep Descent.
There was a post station in this square two hundred years ago. The square was called Bessarabian because many farmers from southern Black Sea provinces used to trade at the market located here.
The present market building is one of the oldest in the city. It was built in 1912.

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There are lots of modern and ultramodern buildings in the Ukrainian capital now, both office buildings and apartment houses.
This is the view of newly built apartment houses in Pechersk district of Kiev.
You can see the perfect harmony of the buildings of different styles.
Lots of such ultramodern apartment houses are being built now in many districts of the city.

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The view of Kiev from the 20th floor of 'Tourist' hotel where I stayed for a night. You can see the new districts, the metro and the flat area of the Left-bank part of Kiev.
'Tourist' hotel on the left bank of Kiev ('Left Bank' metro station) is a 25-storey building with reconditioned rooms on the 20th and other floors.
You can have a beautiful panorama of the city from its windows.
Another view of Kiev from above. 'Tourist' hotel, the 20th floor, suite.
You can see the sloping bank of Kiev on the horizon. To the right is the metro line.
You can get downtown very quickly from the nearest "Left Bank" underground station (the fare is 50 kopecks: 10c).

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