Famous Places of Ukraine

The White Elephant, a once famous Polish observatory in the Carpathians, is as close to the stars as it only could be. Just look at the ruins and try to imagine that the complex erected on top of the Chornohora, or the Mount Black, is located more than two kilometres above the sea level! The initial construction, the Marshal Jozef Pilsudski Astronomical and Meteorological Observatory, was established back in 1938, when Western Ukraine was still a part of Poland. No one really knows why it was baptized as the “White Elephant” - could it be due to its unusual L-shape, or because of the grand amount of time, effort, and money its design and construction consumed?

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• The city of Lviv is located in the western part of Ukraine, at the shores of the Poltava river, 80 kilometres away from the border of Poland. Currently, its population is about 735,000 people, most of whom are ethnic Ukrainians speaking the Ukrainian language.

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Kamyanets-Podilsky is an extremely beautiful ancient town of Ukraine, “a stone flower on the rock”, as the famous Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrayinka described it in the beginning of the 20th century.” Stare Misto”, a majestic stone fortress with numerous fortifications and intricate architectural decorations, which dates back to the beginning of the 12th century, is the heart of this medieval place. The fortress, built on a rocky island near the River Smotrych, is just one jewel of Kamyanets-Podilsky. Among other ancient attractions, there are a two millennia old Roman bridge, a Gothic city hall, and a unique minaret featuring the statue of the Virgin Mary. Besides being a military fortress, ancient Kamyanets-Podilsky was also a stronghold of Christianity. In the 17th century, the town had about 15 different churches of Orthodox, Catholic, and Armenian Christian confessions, many of which still stand and continue to marvel tourists.

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The end of summer is usually the season for big sales, and how appropriate! It’s just the time to get a new wardrobe, and why not do it without breaking the bank? Yet there are also places that always sell clothes at a considerable discount – outlet stores. And while regular boutiques are likely to lower prices on their spring and (more…)

“A Day Without a Mexican”

I don’t know if it should be considered a conspiracy or coincidence, but the fact that the two movies showing in English on Ukraine’s wide screens this week both deal with Mexicans is hard to overlook. (more…)

You have to approach a restaurant named “Exotica” with slightly raised eyebrows. Making my way to Pier 6, off Naberezhno-Khreshchatytska, images flashed through my mind of sushi served on the recumbent bodies of naked women or a smoky Kyiv cabaret. (more…)

FILM
FRIDAY 25
Premiere: “Lady in the Water”
Indian-born writer and director M. Night Shyamalan, known for his mystical stories with unexpected endings such as “The Sixth Sense” and “The Village,” presents his new film. It stars Bryce Dallas Howard, who skillfully portrayed the blind girl in “The Village” (more…)

I heard it quite a few times before and I assume it’s true – one of the things that strike a newcomer to Ukraine as exotic are the outdoor markets. Of course, there are similar things in the West as well – flea markets for instance. However, in the former Soviet countries (more…)

FILMS

“Breakfast on Pluto”

“Strange boy” Cillian Murphy stars as the much stranger character Patrik “Kitten” Braden in a movie by Irish director Neil Jordan whose most famous work to day is “Interview with the Vampire. (more…)

Don’t be fooled by the bare wide parking lot as you approach Spasska pier, to which Khutorok is moored. (You can also arrive on foot, walking along the Dnipro from Poshtova Ploscha metro station, as we did, or along Skovorody street from Kontraktova Ploscha.) As soon as you descend toward the restaurant, you enter another world. (more…)