It took me 4 years to get here but I made it.
For an Australian, getting to Ukraine requires one of those pain-in-the-ass-kinda-expensive-visa’s.
Depending on which consulate you deal with, depends on which authorized travel operator they deal with, decides on how much your ‘official’ invitation will be, after communicating in anything but English.
Last time I was in the Balkans, the closest Ukraine Embassy was Budapest and I just couldn’t swing it, this time coming from Moscow I was more organized and the procedure was a bit less painful.
Though a friend still had to translate every part of the process.
But an overnight train, a double take on the passport, and here I am.
A small gallery of whats up so far..
Independence Square
Camera: Lomo LCA
Film: Agfa Vista 400 (Expired 2006)
Location: Kiev – Ukraine.
Photoshop: Minor density corrections
Tourist Shit
Icicles
There is so much ice and sludge here, England cripples at the first sign of snow fall, Ukrainians just mash through it like a summers day drifting around every corner.
As jovial as it gets.
Picked up some sweet etchings from the local artist market.
Melbourne, we’ve got it good.
Like the rest of the Soviet empire, Kiev thought instead of setting up pedestrian lights to cross roads, they’ll just build these massive monolithic underpasses for the people and cars to travel freely.
They’re really just a pain in the ass, and a warm place for bums to hang out.
I was told to get to the industrial island to take photos, the bridge seemed permanently out of commission though and this was as close as I got.
Happy people do exist here somewhere.
Ditch summer and come here.
And for the record, there is actually alot of chicken Kiev’s getting about here, but Russia claims they masterminded it.
WOW! Great photos mate. ALthough, it’s definitley still got that grey ‘communist’ look about it hasn’t it. Looks bloddy cold as well. Did you experience any good bars or nightlife while you were there? and how were the hotels? customer service?
“comment now and you’ll get a huge volume of click-throughs” haha. You look cold. That subway looks like the kind of place you’d get your kidneys stolen.
Hey! Great post. I had a similar pain in the ass experience entering Istanbul via Greece with a Canadian passport. Those experiences add to the adventure…doesn’t feel like it at the time but…
I noticed that Canada is not on your list of places visited. You plan on coming here soon?
We share some Lonely Planet work relation my friend. Get back in touch when you can. Ciao.
Jim.
All looks cold and depressing, save the snowman. Do they have any coffee shops? What are the people like?
You are right – too much depression all around. heh coffee shops? Do you know what is real coffee – I mean not americano but real coffee? They know it. Mae be I will discover a great secret – but you will find here most brands you used to see or get. People like? Like humans – head, 2 hands and legs…. but how you think they could be while living in deppressed cities?
Randomly found this site… your descriptions of things are just as crass as how I would have done it. Love it!
too cold for me. and, does any smile there? I guess I can understand why…too cold, harsh.
cool photos
I feel like I’ve been on a bit of a trip. Those icicles scared me….xo
this emphasis just keeps getting stronger and stronger
I am happy to eat chicken in Kiev
Berrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….cool cool cool…:-D
LOMO love your shots! Though must agree the place looks dreary… sure hope you found a mug of hot chocolate somewhere 🙂
Kiev fascinates me! not as dark as edinburgh! looks like many dreams were dreamt and lost!
Is it LOMO?
Kiev great city. You priezayte summer.
fuck desktop vacationers complaining about the cold.
place looks amazing.
I live in Kyiv! In general it is nothing like that!!!
Any town can have good and bad sides. Why shoot the dirtiest and assert that it’s all what we have???
And stop calling us “rest of the Soviet empire”!
And Київ in english written Kyiv!!!
Hey, I like it here, and I’m not asserting anything, but I am choosing to show that side at the moment.
Most people follow my blog as a journey, they understand that the complete picture unfolds over time.
It IS a cold grim place for a tourist right now, so if I feel like conveying it that way, I will.
Hopefully before I leave, I’ll get to show how great the cafe’s and bars are, how kool the galleries are, and how convenient Puzata Khata is!
Kiev / Kyiv – fight with wikipedia about it.
heh – puzata hata 🙂 did you really like it and ukrainian food in general?
One I want to specify – it wasnt cold winter this year – last years here we havent cold winters – it just 10 C below zero in average. You are welcome in Lviv in summer – I promise it will impress you!!!
I’m in Lviv right now, 2 days and I love it already!
🙂 center of Lviv is total tourist route. Just walk around, look, communicate and make photos. Its really European city. I would like to advise you to visit 3 cafes – Kryjivka, Synya plashka (Blue bottle) and Dukat. It will impress you. Especially Blue bottle – there time is really absent – just you and your thoughts. Bee cool.
Waiting for photos
smoked.
YOU BEAUTTTTTY
You really get a flavour of the post-Orange Revolution blues of contemporary Kyiv. Nice shots, and how fitting that these are taken with expired film….
thanks for sharing this. i like the pictures a lot and to me, it doesn’t look like some grim deserted place, but more like a city with many undiscovered places and mysteries to find. it’s winter and big cities everywhere seem to look grey then, not just this one. and i think your photos clearly show, that behind that ice there are looks of things to discover. i hope you’ll share some more of your experiences there soon.
Are you a Melbournite too? What motivated you to go to Kiev? Thanks for the interesting photo essay
Thought you were chasing warmer weather. Where to next????? Email us ???
Looks so cold.
The photo of the snowman is killer. Well done.
When I will going to Kiev Ukraine? Really interesting and snow…snow ..so cool..huh. I like your photo, nice and interest photo!
Great to read that people are interested to visit Ukraine. Was it expensive there? I just have to say that it much better ther in summer 🙂
These pictures are fantastic.. I also love your theme!
I lived in Moscow for a summer and thank God I never had to survive the winter in that part of the world. A friend had a Russian language teacher from Kiev and he ended up with a different accent when speaking Russian. You did a lovely job with the photos!
Thank you so much for the “winter view.”
I have distant reason for exploring Kiev/Kyiv and am only able to do so electronically. Tourist promotion views are not what I want.
I am a visitor from Scandinavia (pardon any poor english!). I just returned from Kiev. liked the city, and therefore was attracted to your blog. I admire your writing skills, but to me you come across as cultivating some prejudices about Eastern Europe. For instance, calling The Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev for ‘tourist shit’ may work with friendly readers, but don’t be suprised if Ukrainians (or historians!) react. As a Western European I too have been traveling the former East Bloc looking for «that Soviet look». But at one point I decided to grow up. Ukraine is a nation in its own right, and deserves to be treated as such.
I was just in Kiev not long ago. It can be a wonderful place. Your photos showcase typical Ukraine! Very cold, and dirty, and gray with lots of Communist remnants. In two weeks there, we had sunshine for about four hours one day, but that was all.
That old world architecture is unreal. That picture where you called it “tourist shit”..like two down, that blue building..look at the friggin detail on that. Nowadays everything is so bla.
It seems like Winter steals the world of light and happiness regardless of location. Maybe it’s a good thing. That way, people will have to look within themselves for light.
This town looks so interesting!
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🙂 center of Lviv is total tourist route. Just walk around, look, communicate and make photos. Its really European city. I would like to advise you to visit 3 cafes – Kryjivka, Synya plashka (Blue bottle) and Dukat. It will impress you. Especially Blue bottle – there time is really absent – just you and your thoughts. Bee cool.
Waiting for photos
Just happened to stumble over this site but glad i did. its a cool lil blog, very interesting and great to see real tourist pics. Im going to zaporozhye at the end of this month and was just looking for some general over view of ukrainian life. your blog just gets my feet itching. i just need to get there and check it out for myself now. if anyone knows of anywhere else i can find real peoples views of ukraine, especially zaporozhye it would be much appreciated.
like the pics