UKRAINE

CARPATHIAN RUTHENIA
Bukovets
Sights & Sites
●Church of Presentation of Blessed Virgin – tiny wooden church at which public may attend services; coarsely-hewn, wooden columns, partly painted white and topped with gold-haloed icons.

Izky
Sights & Sites
●Church of St. Nicholas – wooden church; altar decorated with painted wooden icons.

Novoselytsia
Sights & Sites
●Church of Dormition of Blessed Virgin – wooden church; spectacular icons and murals.



KIEV
Bars & Nightclubs
●Arena – 2A Basseynaya Street; 011-380-44-492-0000; arena-kiev.com; vast, techno spot.
●BarSky – 1/3-2, Block A, Velyka Vasylkivska; 011-380-44-590-0858; pinchukartcentre.org; contemporary art center’s chic nightclub; “Clockwork Orange” motif with great city views.
●Patipa – 10 Muzeyniy Pereulok; 011-380-44-252-0150; patipa.com; hip-hop club.

Hotels
●Opera Hotel – 53 B. Khmelnitskogo Street; 011-380-44-581-7070; opera-hotel.com; boutique; elegant, theatrically-themed rooms.
●Premier Palace Hotel – 5-7/29 T. Shevchenka Boulevard; 011-380-44-244-1201; premier-palace.com; Kiev’s grand hotel; recently renovated to preserve Art Nouveau charm and Russian-Ukrainian art collection.

Restaurants
●Arbequina – 4 Grinchenko Street; 011-380-44-223-9618; Cuban-Ukrainian; great breakfasts (pancakes, pastries, etc.); try mint tea with honey and lemon.
●SkyArtCafe – 1/3-2, Block A, Velyka Vasylkivska; 011-380-44-590-0858; pinchukartcentre.org; contemporary art center’s restaurant; “Clockwork Orange” motif with great city views.
●Tsarske Selo – 42/1 Ivan Mazepa Street; 011-380-44-288-9775; tsarske.kiev.ua; kitschy atmosphere but great food; hearty Ukrainian fare; try chicken Kiev.
Shopping
●Besarabsky Rynok – 2 Besarabska Ploscha; venerable central food market; built in 1912; looks like Victorian train station.
●Sanahunt – 8/16 Grushevskogo Street; 011-380-44-270-7128; sanahunt.com; high-end department store in early 19^th Century building.

Sights & Sites
●Independence Square – city center; city’s traditional “nerve center”; architecture includes Beaux-Arts, Czarist, and Stalinist.
●Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra – 9 Lavrska Street; 011-380-44-280-3071; kplavra.kiev.ua or symeon-anthony.info; dress respectfully to visit this UNESCO World Heritage site (monastery); make sure to see Dormition Cathedral while there.
●Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) – city’s main square; closed to cars on weekends.
●Mariyinski Palace (Presidential Palace) – 5 Grushevskogo Street (Mariyinski Park, near Dnieper River); president.gov.ua/en; designed by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, lavish Baroque palace built between 1744-52 for Empress Elizabeth; in late 18^th-early 19^th Centuries, Ukraine’s governors-generals’ residence; was used as imperial family’s Kyiv residence until 1917; in 1870, after devastating fire, façade decorated with new details & interiors renewed, then renamed after reigning Empress Maria; large park laid out off southern side in 1874; antique furniture, chandeliers, paintings & murals.
●Museum of Microminiatures – 21 Ivan Mazepa Street; 011-380-44-290-1396; microart.kiev.ua; full chess set on pinhead, sand-grain-sized, working mechanical engine, flea wearing golden shoes.
●Mystetskyi Arsenal – 10-12 Lavrska Street; 011-380-44-288-5153; artarsenal.in.ua; beautiful, historic military arsenal building in Kiev’s heart.
●National Museum of History of Great Patriotic War – 24 Lavrska Street; 011-380-44-285-9452; warmuseum.kiev.ua; museum galleries circle base of 203' tall stainless steel “Motherland” statue.
●Pinchuk Art Center – 1/3-2, Block A, Velyka Vasylkivska; 011-380-44-590-0858; pinchukartcentre.org; contemporary art center; perhaps most provocative installation is 5^th-floor bathroom (neon-lighted funhouse with mirrors and windows); onsite bar (BarSky) and restaurant (SkyArtCafe).
●St. Andrew’s Church – 23 Andriivski Descent; 011-380-44-599-0005; andriyivska-tserkva.kiev.ua; major Baroque church built in 1747-54; design by Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli; overlooks historic Podil neighborhood.
●St. Sophia Cathedral – 24 Vladimirskaya Street; 011-380-228-2083; whc.unesco.org/en/list/527; bulbous green and gold domes tower above old town and dominate Kiev’s skyline; dates from 11^th Century.
●Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music of Ukraine (Kiev Conservatory) – 1-3 Horodetsky Street; 011-380-44-279-0792; knmau.com.ua; founded November 3, 1913; spearheaded by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Glazunov & Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; 1^st directors were V. Pukhalsky (1913) and Reinhold Glière (1914-1920); in 1925, junior classes separated from conservatory to form Music College, while senior classes merged into formerly private Music & Drama Institute of Mykola Lysenko (today, Kiev National University of Theater, Cinema & Television of Karpenko-Karyi); Viktor Kosenko taught at both institutions; conservatory revived when Kiev once again Ukraine capitol in 1934; Music & Drama Institute of Mykola Lysenko dissolved & music department merged back with Music College, while drama department served as basis for Kiev State Theater Institute of Les Kurbas; in 1938, conservatory received Order of Lenin award; in 1940, named after Tchaikovsky; in 1995, Ukraine President renamed it Petro Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine; occupies 1890s Hotel Continental building, partially destroyed during WWII, but rebuilt in 1955, at which point concert hall added.
●Trukhanov Island – below Parkovy pedestrian bridge; lovely beach and fine city views.
●Vladimirskaya Street – Kiev’s Montmartre; narrow & steep, it ascends to St. Andrew’s Church; lined by artists’ stalls & street vendors.



LVIV
Shopping
●Lviv Chocolate Workshop – 3 Serbs’ka Street; chocolate.lviv.ua; worth special trip; café in basement.



RIVNENS’KA
Sights & Sights
●Tunnel of Love – Klevan; 3 km railway section that leads to fiberboard factory; train goes 3 times daily; trees make startling green corridor.