Ukraine 2018 - Day 4: Exploring Kiev

Before starting my journey to Kiev I had planned a route on google maps for me to walk. As I have mentioned in a previous post before I also used maps.me and turn my GPS location on if I do take a wrong turn finding myself somewhere unfamiliar. The first stop I took was St. Volodymyr's Cathedral. Wikipedia describes this as 'mother cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church'

St. Volodymyr's cathedral

A short walk around the corner took me to the Golden gate. This is a replica of an 11th century medieval gate to the city of Kiev. 

Golden Gate replica

Another brief walk and I found myself at Saint Sophia's Cathedral. This is one of Kiev's best known landmarks and one of the first to be a UNESCO heritage site in all of Ukraine. On the day that I visited there was lots of hand painted Easter eggs outside. 

Saint Sophia's Cathedral from the outside

In the distance I could see St Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery so that is where i went next. The original cathedral was demolished by the Soviet Union in the 1930s, but was rebuilt and opened again in 1999 following Ukraine's independence in 1991. 

St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery

I then went to Sofiyivska Square and just across the road was Independence square where the The Founders of Kyiv Monument is. I walked back up the hill through a road I used earlier and headed towards Andriivs'kyi descent. Here there lots of different artwork been sold as you walk down the hill. Just on the hill itself is St.Andrew's Church which was constructed in the middle of the 18th century.

St.Andrew's Church

After reaching the bottom of the hill I realised today was the Kiev half marathon. I had to take a slight detour to get to where I wanted to go next but it was only 5-10 minutes extra. I also took this opportunity to get some lunch which was at Domino’s pizza. A small margherita only cost 80UAH/£2.50 which is great value for money. I found myself near the waterfront area looking out onto the Dnieper River. 

Continuing on in the afternoon I walked past Dynamo Kiev football stadium. There was actually a game on at 2pm and the ticket office queue was quite short but I decided not to make a spontaneous purchase. Just up the road was Mariinskiy park, where I could see down into the football stadium from here though the view is blocked by trees and several security guards had been deployed to stop people watching the game for free. Also in Mariinskiy park was Mariinskiy palace, which is the official residence of the Ukrainian president.

View into Dynamo Kiev stadium from Mariinskiy park

Mariinskiy Palace

Further up the road was Arsenalna. This is the deepest subway station in the world. I didn't go in yet as I planned to deliberately use this subway to get home at the end of the day. Coming towards the end of my pre-planned route next was Kiev Pechersk Lavra. This monastery is also a UNESCO heritage site and is a huge part of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Eastern Europe.

Kiev Pechersk Lavra

The final stop of the day was the Motherland monument. I felt this tall structure on top of the hill was the perfect way to end a long day of walking and accomplish the pre-planned route I had made. The structure is over 60metres(200ft) tall and is a memorial to Ukraine's history in World War 2.
As I was heading back to the hostel there were some old tanks and various other vehicles to take photos of.

Motherland Monument

I had to backtrack on my route slightly to get back to Arsenalna station as there wasn't really a subway near me. Upon reaching the subway I bought a 5UAH/20p ticket for a single journey and went down the escalator. It took me over 4 minutes to reach the bottom across 2 separate very long escalators. I arrived back near the hostel, grabbed some food and called it a day. 

Video of this day can be found here:

The next post will be a final wrap up of my journey in Ukraine as I make my way home.