Category: Ukraine

Travel, Ukraine4 Comments

Babi Yar

Kongo

In a quiet park near the Dorohozhychi metro station in Kiev lies a ravine named Babi Yar.  In places the ditch is filled in by streets, apartment buildings and and spoil from construction of the nearby underground subway.  In 1941 this ravine was well outside the city limits of Kiev and there was no urban development.  The ravine ran for miles.  Along the park paths today mothers walk their babies in strollers and lovers sit on benches holding hands.  But during the period between 1941 – 1943 as many as 150,000 Jews, Soviet POWs, communists, and gypsies were brought to the site and massacred by Nazis.   Continue reading “Babi Yar”

Travel, Ukraine6 Comments

St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery

Kongo

The picture above shows Kiev’s St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery overlooking the Dnieper River at night.  Like the complex at Pechersk Lavra, St. Michael’s is a functioning monastery.  Originally built in the Middle Ages  in the  Byzantine style, it received a Ukrainian Baroque facelift in the 18th century.  The Soviets demolished the original cathedral in the 1930s but it was reconstructed following independence in the 1990s and reopened in 1999.

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Monkeys Don’t Eat Fatback!

Kongo

Kongo paid a quick visit to the Besarabsky Rynok food market in Kiev.  It is the most famous indoor food market in Kiev and if you’re used to shopping at your local Safeway or Vons in the USA, this will be a treat for you.  The market has all kinds of meats, fish, caviar, sausages, fresh vegetables, and fruit.  It’s a cornucopia of enticing smells and eye raising opportunities.  If you go to Kiev you have to put this on your must see list of things to do to truly experience Kiev. Continue reading “Monkeys Don’t Eat Fatback!”

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Andrew’s Descent and Chasing Rabbits

Kongo

Known as the “Montmartre of Kiev” this famous street connects the Upper Town with the commercial Podil neighborhood.  It is a steep street filled with quaint shops, cafes, museums, and spectacular views.  The neighborhood attracts artists and writers and is a very fashionable place to live in Kiev.  The area draws its name from the dramatic and very baroque St. Andrew’s Church that was built by the Russian Tsaress Elizabeth Petrovna in 1754. Continue reading “Andrew’s Descent and Chasing Rabbits”

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Pechersk Lavra (Cave Monastery)

Kongo

Ukraine is a religious country, surprisingly so since under communist rule hundreds of churches and cathedrals were destroyed.  The holiest site in Kiev is the Pechersk Lavra which is also known as the Monastery of the Caves was founded in 1051.  This center of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as a national sanctuary.  It is also a working and active monastery where hundreds of monks and nuns reside and is visited by hundreds of pilgrims every day.   Continue reading “Pechersk Lavra (Cave Monastery)”