Day 8: Lviving la vida loca

Groan, first I'll start out by apologising for the title - not only is it a terrible pun on a tired old song, but my day in Lviv could not by any stretch of the imagination be described as 'la vida loca'. I'll also say sorry for the fact that the blog post below is very "and then... and then...", I wrote it fresh off the train this morning when I was a bit braindead. Since I still haven't slept and I was out all day, I'm still a bit braindead, but hey ho.


Another scrappy day of not doing much. I still had no access to cash, which definitely helped from a budget point of view! I ate as much as I could fit in for breakfast at the hotel (free) and then checked out and walked up to St. George's Cathedral, the centre of the 'Greek Catholic Church', a kind of odd arrangement where they are under the Pope, but the service is basically Eastern Orthodox. Anyway, there was a service going on when I got there, so I just took a couple of hopefully discreet snaps from the doorway and in the courtyard and that was that. My guidebook said there were wonderful views from up there, but if there were I couldn't find them, too many trees.


St George Cathedral


A building in the cathedral grounds

Some things I saw on my way to and from the cathedral:

A building I liked the look of


There was no plaque, but according to my guidebook, this was the birthplace of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, for whom 'masochism' is named. It now seems to be a lawyers' office - some would say that's more sadism than masochism, hi-oh! (I kid, literally my best friend is a lawyer, although she's no longer practising, so she might agree!)


Statue of St. George killing the dragon


Some interesting statues


The Lviv Inventors' Club


Statues around the doorway of the Lviv Inventors' Club


Me in front of the university


After that, I walked back into town and went to the Boim Chapel, the exterior of which I already put a photo up of. (Sorry for that terribly-constructed sentence, by the way.) Anyway, my guidebook didn't say anything about the inside, but I decided to check it out anyway. Wow! No idea why it doesn't tell you to go in, it's amazing! All of one wall and the ceiling is totally covered with incredibly detailed stone carvings. The great thing is, because it's so small you can really see everything if you take your time and really look at the thing. Even then, you get the feeling there's always more to discover.

Some of my million and one photos of the Boim Chapel:







I was trying to look like I wasn't taking a photo of myself in case the attendant came to investigate and told me off for sticking my camera on this wooden thing

I think after that I took a quick look at the Bernadine Cathedral, another Greek Catholic affair, and then I went up the tower of the town hall in the middle of Rynok Square. It was a bit of a hike up there, but well worth it. The views were even better when you were right in the middle of the old town and could really pick out all the different churches and cathedrals and other points of interest.

Views from the tower:


View of one side of Rynok Square

Rynok Square and the Dominican Cathedral

The Latin Cathedral from the tower

View of the Dominican church

View of the square with the statue of Shevchenko

Another side of Rynok Square

My next stop was the Museum of Religion, less because I was super eager to learn about the different religions practiced in Ukraine and more because I was hoping to see some cool old icons. Anyway, the museum was pretty hilarious. Most exhibits came from the 19th or 20th century, and many of them were just reproductions or even photocopies! However, sometimes the crappiest museums can be the best, and there were enough amusing things that I actually had a pretty good time looking at bizarre paintings or awkward use of Ukrenglish labels. There was an entire room dedicated to Pope John Paul II, I think based on this museum his visit to Lviv was the most exciting thing that ever happened in the city. I enjoyed that there were dozens of photos of him, and in most of them this young priest was hanging around next to him, with this permanent huge grin on his face, quite sweet. It would have been nice if I could read more of the information which maybe would have given some context on the actual history of the religions, and how the different denominations and faiths interacted and how they fared under communism. The museum used to be a museum of atheism in the Soviet period, so it's already a bit of a statement turning it into a museum of religion instead, and there was one exhibit of a Soviet propaganda poster saying “1 pound of church treasures = 25 pounds of bread = 5 starving people saved” and the label said something like “Communist propaganda lies in order to steal from and suppress the church” - don't be shy about it now...


A prehistoric grave of a man and woman embracing. I don't know how they ended up like that, but I thought it was quite sweet.


A bizarre painting in the Museum of Religion, captioned 'Boleslaw the Brave punishes the wives of noblemen, whose husbands returned from the Rus campaign'. I'm left with so many questions - why were they punished? Why were they punished by having to breastfeed small creatures while their babies were suckled by animals? How does that make Boleslaw brave? Answers on the back of an envelope please.


Painting in the Museum of Religion of the Last Judgement

Anyway, I popped into the Church of the Assumption, an Orthodox church, and then went and had some cake and a glass of wine (Georgian again, a bit rough) for afternoon tea, since I hadn't had anything since breakfast.

It was hard to pass up a favourite dainty from childhood, but I did manage to resist the weightiness scum

Then basically I just chilled out reading on a bench for ages, killing time since I had checked out of the hotel and my train wasn't till 11 pm. I had dinner at a self-service Ukrainian fast-food type, and then it was finally time to get to the train station.


Lviv train station

This leg was in 2nd class, and I was a bit nervous about whether my suitcase would fit and how it would be. The top bunk is really really high up, and really narrow, so I was a bit nervous about staying up there and/or getting up and down.


I don't know if you can really see from this photo, but it's high and scary up there!

When we started off though, the bottom bunk was empty, so I decided to just claim it. Mistake – at 1.30 in the morning, a couple of hours after we got going, I was woken up by someone else coming in and had to strip the bed and remake the top bunk and try to get back to sleep. It was pretty hot and someone was snoring, plus the bed wasn't ultra comfortable and the train had a tendency to make these huge jerks and crashing sounds like it was shunting things out of its way, but all things considered, not too bad.

Got to Chernivtsi at about 8.15 in the morning, managed to find the hostel (no sign!) and get some money out, and now I'm just waiting to take a day trip out to Kamyanets-Podilsky, a medieval fortress town. Pretty stoked that the hostel is doing an organised trip so I don't have to try and deal with it myself, I had my doubts about whether I even wanted to tackle it after a night of not much sleep, but this was the entire reason for me making a detour here, so I'm glad to be doing it.

Day 7: Wasting time in Lviv

So I spent all morning trying to deal with the bank issue. First port of call, the local bank that's associated with my bank - no-one there spoke English, and the first woman I talked to made me go to a different window to speak Russian. Uh yeah, because my high-faluting "I have problem. ATM say no money, but is money." Russian is bound to be incomprehensible to anyone who's not 100% fluent in Russian... The second lady spoke far too quickly (they're up there with the French in not understanding that saying difficult things very fast to someone who clearly speaks the language at a very basic level is not the way forward) but I gathered that she was somehow magically able to give me money at a 3% commission, but couldn't help me with anything to do with my card.

So, back to the hotel where I asked them how best to phone France. The receptionist assured me that using the phone in my room would be no dearer than anywhere else, which I doubted, but I thought at least I would have a quiet spot to make the call from, which is important when dealing with French On The Phone, so I went up to my room to try. Rotary phone. Tried about 5 different numbers for the bank, most of which trapped me in a "press 1 for information about your account, press 2..." hell, and didn't even have the grace to put you through to a real person if you pressed nothing, just went through the menu 3 times then hung up on you. French customer service people love hanging up on you so much that they even build the feature in to their automated systems. The other two numbers, where I miraculously got straight through to real people, just wouldn't help me, telling me that I was on the wrong line. I tried to explain to one woman who wanted to give me the international number that I'd already rung it and couldn't get anywhere, but this was one of these situations where I honestly think the fault wasn't that I wasn't communicating well, it was that they just damn well weren't trying. Okay, I didn't know the word for 'rotary phone' but she could have figured it out when I said "I'm on an old telephone without keys, when it asks me to press 1 I can't press 1" but she was all like "you can't call us? But you're talking to me right now". Biatch. So I went to the trouble of purchasing Skype credit - first woman said I needed a different number and hung up before I could reply, second time round I waited for 10 minutes, used most of my credit, and then got hung up on instantly because I don't think she could hear me.

By this stage, I was pretty fricking sick of these issues. I tried emailing my consultant, at first there was a system problem and it wouldn't send, eventually it did get through but I decided knowing the French and their emails I probably couldn't rely on them dealing with it in a timely fashion, which was a good call since the system shows it hasn't even been read yet, let alone replied to. So went down to reception and told them my problem with the phone, they dialed for me from their phone, but she must have been doing something wrong, because it went through to some Ukrainian dude three times. Finally, she suggested I try calling from an internet cafe, possibly to get rid of me since I was pretty teary by this stage. Once I found the place, I told the guy I only had 100 hrivna, about 8 euros, and he said no problem. I waited on the line for another 10 minutes, and then just after I got through to someone, the call cut off. I thought at this stage that I'd spent all the money I had, and burst into tears in the phone booth (which smelt so bad by the way, how sweaty can you get making phone calls?). I went to pay and was astounded when the guy told me I owed only 7 hrivna. Turns out the system just reset for some reason and cut me off. So back I went into the booth, waited another 10 minutes, and then amazingly got through to someone who was efficient, easy to understand, and dealt with the problem right away. Turns out my card is blocked for withdrawing 500 euros in a week, which is the limit. This seriously never even crossed my mind, you would think in this day and age they could send an automated email to tell you that, but that would be asking too much, right? Honestly though, I'm too relieved that no-one nicked my money and I still have access to my account to really worry. The bad news is, I have to wait till Wednesday before the limit gets raised, and that's IF it gets done properly. The good news is, I can use my card in shops (well, most places I want to spend my money like cafes or kiosks or whatever are cash-only, but still) and was able to pay for the hotel. Plus I was able to draw out a small amount which should see me to Wednesday with no problems. Today I managed to spend only the equivalent of about 5.50 euros, which included dining out for lunch and dinner, the phone calls, buying several bottles of water, and visiting a cathedral (although I have yet to find out how much the calls from my room are going to set me back, boo). Obviously I've been watching my expenditure, but it definitely seems cheaper here than Kiev, plus I haven't really been going into tourist sites, mostly just wandering around the place admiring the buildings and churches. Paying for my accommodation in Chernivtsi might be a problem though, if I can't access my cash first thing on Wednesday, because I'm pretty sure they don't take cards and will want payment upfront since I'm only there overnight.

Sorry to go on about that for so long, but I don't think a brief account would have shown how bloody difficult it was and how long it took to sort out! By the time I was done, it was already about 1.30, so I had some lunch (borsch and varenniki - dumplings, stuffed in this case with mashed potato, yum!) for about 2 euros and then I walked up to the 'old castle' on a hill overlooking Lviv. There is no longer any trace of the castle whatsoever, but the steep climb in hot, humid weather was worth it for the great 360 degree views. Turns out Lviv isn't one of those really stunning cities from above - I stick to my assertion that a city needs a significant body of water to look good from on high - but it was still a great view.

My amazingly professional video of the view from the top:


Views of Lviv:



Me on the hill. Okay, you can't actually see anything of the view, but still...

After that, I walked back to the city and checked out the Armenian cathedral, which has some very striking frescoes, very different. Not sure if it was the specific artist or an Armenian thing, but they are a mix of the sort of thing you would find in an illustrated edition of the Lord of the Rings and some really intense-looking figures.

Inside the Armenian church


The nave? I think? Not up on church vocab. The altar bit anyway


The ceiling

Some of the frescoes:

I think that dude in the middle is "the sexy priest"


Details of the frescoes. See what I mean about intense?

So yeah, that's about all I did today, other than have dinner, again for about 2.50. I tried Moldovan red wine, which I actually liked, pity it came in the smallest serving size known to man, looked like someone had already drunk 3/4 of my glass. Can't really complain when it costs about 60 centimes though, if I'd known it cost so little I would have ordered some more. Dining out alone is probably my least favourite thing about travelling by myself, and it is even more riddled with pitfalls in Ukraine. Understanding the menus - they are often only in Ukrainian, even in very touristy areas (most tourists that I have seen seem to be Russian or possibly from other parts of the Ukraine, or I suppose Poland in this part of the country) - and then reading the items out are the least of my worries. You're often expected to build your meal yourself, so to speak, especially in the low-end places - so if it says 'chicken', it's JUST chicken. You want chips, salad, bread, even sauce? Order it separately. And then there's the whole thing of selling things by the gram. Half the time, they'll quote a price per 100g, or some other quantity that takes their fancy, but they don't tell you approximately how many grams they're going to give you, so what at first seems very reasonably priced could end up way more than you bargained for, especially after adding on all the aforementioned extras. It's not just meat they do this with either, I've had the aforementioned varenniki, cake, and even icecream by the gram. Oh and this evening I compounded my gaucherie by managing to stick my arm in a pot of sour cream while ordering. Ohhhhh manus :(

Day 6: Lovely Lviv

I got to the train station 3 hours early yesterday, which was, admittedly, excessive, but I was nervous about something going wrong and disaster ensuing. Anyway, the hostel helped me get a taxi and it was pretty cheap, so I whiled away the time sitting around outside, went in about an hour early and I think the platform was announced about 40 minutes in advance, so that was good. Everything went very smoothly getting to the train, which I had been really worried about, so all good. I had a 'luxury' compartment, which usually sleeps two, all to myself, so that was great. It was fine, the beds are small and close together though and the hollow compartment under the bed wasn't big enough to fit my suitcase in, which is not a problem for now, but makes me nervous for when I'm going to be in the 2nd-class 4-bed compartments, which I know will be at least 3/4 full since I couldn't get a lower bunk. That also means I won't be able to sleep on my valuables, although I suppose in the top bunk if I have them about my person they'll be pretty hard to steal anyway. Not really looking forward to the heat and noise and all the rest of it though, maybe I should have gone 1st class all the way.

Anyway, I thought I slept okay, but then I was exhausted this morning, so maybe not. Got in at 6.30 am and took a taxi to the hotel, where I elected to leave my bags until 10 rather than paying extra for an early check-in. Turns out nothing is open in Lviv at 7 on a Sunday morning, so I just wandered around the old town, particularly the central Rynok Square until after 8 when I found somewhere for breakfast. After ending up there later in the day, I was pretty pleased that things worked out so that I had the place more or less to myself - it's pretty touristy come midday, but very quiet at that time in the morning, so I could take photos to my heart's content.

Lviv is simply gorgeous, it seems like almost every building is an elegant, refined Belle Epoque townhouse or ornate Baroque creation, and there are all sorts of little architectural quirks to discover, particularly the many lions that feature everywhere, Lviv being derived from the word for lion. It's very different from Kiev, very classical, reminiscent of Prague in places and Vienna in others, since it was part of Poland and then the Hapsburg empire and Poland again, I think right up until the Nazi-Soviet pact which handed it to Stalin. So onion domes are in short supply, and the city even has a different feel about it, with much fewer stalls with random people selling random things, beggars etc. and nicely laid-out, well-labelled streets. I haven't drifted too far from the centre as yet, but it is definitely much more of a walking city than Kiev - smaller, of course, but also much less confusing.

Just before heading back to the hotel to check in, I tried my card in the ATM of the Ukrainian affiliate of my French bank, and was perturbed to get the message that I had insufficient funds in my account. I thought maybe that, since the interface was automatically in French and units weren't given, I was accidentally asking for 1000 euros, not 1000 hryvnia, and (even though I have more than that in my account) I had hit some sort of limit. So I tried lesser amounts, down to 100, when the transaction went through and 100 hryvnia popped out, the equivalent of about 5 euro. I was getting worried, and tried my card in another machine, which also rejected it. By this stage, I was really starting to fret, and went straight back to the hotel to check my bank on the internet. The good news is that it doesn't look like it's been touched (and also all my cheques to the agency for my new apartment have gone through, so at least in the I-really-hope-not event that someone has cleared out my account, I don't have to worry about those bouncing on top of it). However, it's a Sunday, and balances can be slow in updating, so I'm still nervous that tomorrow it will show up as empty. I'm trying to convince myself that it usually does show that a transaction is pending, even if it takes a while for the details to come through, so it should be okay. I'm hoping that what has happened is they've blocked my card, although then that doesn't really square with my being able to take a small amount of money out... If they have blocked it, obviously I'll be relieved to have my money still, but pissed off since I went to the bank and personally told them I was coming here and not to block me. The girl was all "oh it'll be fine" and I suspect she didn't make a note of it. Well, my first port of call tomorrow will be the bank here, who I hope can help me, because otherwise it will be a nightmare trying to deal with this over the phone to France. At least the last time I was stranded without cash or cards in a foreign country, I could deal with people in English. On the bright side though, I lost my whole wallet that time (although no money off my cards or accounts), so I really was penniless and trying to get from Prague to Russia within the next week or so! Trying not to worry too much right now, although it is in the back of my mind that my account could be getting even more cleaned out as we speak. I only used my card at a couple of ATMs, which looked legit, there were even pictures of what the card slot should look like, and nothing unusual happened while I was using them, so I don't really know what it could be other than bank error (fingers crossed, and that it gets sorted quickly).

Anyway, back to the rest of my day, I had a shower, then I have a little bit of money left, so I went and had some cake at a Viennese-style coffee house, which was very nice although perhaps ill-advised with the money sitch. I just felt tired and like I didn't want to do anything though, so it helped a bit. Then I had a nap, which I felt a bit bad about, but then I was out and about for 3 hours first thing, when I might otherwise have been sleeping, so it evens out. After my nap, I went back out to explore the city, mostly just wandering around, looking in a few churches and touring the opera house (only 90 cents!). Still feeling pretty tired, let's hope the bank goes okay and stuff gets sorted tomorrow, then I don't have any special plans, so will just see what the day brings me.

Luxury on the trains


My hotel, Hotel George, which has this amazing history - it was established in 1793, and guests have included Balzac, Sartre, Strauss, Liszt, Emperor Franz Josef I and Yuri Gargarin. And me! It's costing about 35 euros a night, so not much but a relative splurge, but who could resist?


Hotel lobby

Rynok Square:



The Black Mansion in Rynok Square

The Boim Chapel:


Detail of the façade

The Church of the Transfiguration:








The Kornyakt Tower/Church of the Assumption, a Ukranian Autocephalous Church, say that 3 times quickly...


The opera house:


Opera house interior

One of the halls in the opera house


May have gone slightly overboard with photos of myself at the opera house




I like this one mainly because it's taken in a mirror but it doesn't look mirror-ish somehow


Some nice buildings:

Statue of everyone's favourite Ukranian (or Ukranians' favourite Ukranian, at any rate) Taras Shevchenko, described in my guidebook as "Ukraine's national hero and eternal poet laureate"


The town hall in Rynok Square at night


Rynok Square at night


Rynok Square again


The Kornyak tower at night


Dominican Church at night