I had decided to do a walking tour that morning. The one I had chosen went to Lavra Hills, a part of Kiev that I hadnt visited the previous day. I headed down to Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti), which is where the tour started and was a short way away from my hostel. The square is a central point in Kiev and has undergone many names changes over the years. It used to be surrounded by the buildings of the city council but now it is surrounded by shops, offices, cafes and restaurants. The square got its current name in 1991, in the aftermath the Ukrainian Declaration of Independence and the collapse of the Soviet Union. The square is a popular place for political rallies to be held. I stopped for a coffee at one of the small cafes on the edge of the square and then made my way over to the meeting point. When I got to the meeting point, there was no one there as it was still quite early, so I went for a little wander. I made my way through the subway/underground shopping mall to the other side of the road. Independence Square continues here and
contains the Founders of Kyiv Monument and the Independence Monument. According to local legend, Kyiv was founded by three brothers, Kyi, Shchek and Khorvy, and their sister Lybid. The Independence Monument was built in 2001 the tenth anniversary of Ukraines independence. The monument is a victory column with Berehynia on the top. Berehynia is the female spirit in Slavic mythology and is believed to be the source of life and death. While I was admiring the monuments, I was approached by some touts/scam artists that had some kind of birds on chains on their arms. I immediately rebuffed them and they said the birds arent scary. I was thinking its not the birds I am scared of, I just dont want to be scammed. The guide on the tour mentioned later that these people were scammers.
I made my way back to the meeting point and there were a few people there, along with the guide. After waiting a few more minutes, we set off. Since the Lavra Hills are a little far away, we took the subway one stop. The Kiev metro system is pretty impressive. It is dirt cheap, the trains run very frequently and
the stations have a bit of an air of grandeur to them. The stations are also deep, deep underground and the escalators going down take a while to reach the platforms, it reminded me of the Moscow metro. We alighted after one stop at Arsenalna Station, which is the deepest subway station in the world at 105.5 metres. As we exited the station, we came to the Arsenal Plant Workers Monument. The Arsenal Factory is one of the most famous and oldest factories in Kiev having been established in 1764. The the 1918 January Uprising that was organised by the Bolsheviks to sabotage the ongoing elections to the Ukrainian Constituent Assembly and to support the Red Army.
From the station, we headed down the street and the guide pointed out some restaurants that were good and the Roshen chocolate shop. I had bought some Roshen chocolate at the store the previous day and had really enjoyed it. The guide told us a bit about the owner of the Ukrainian confectionery manufacturing giant. The name from the owners name, Petro Poroshenko, and more interestingly he was the Ukraines fifth president, serving from Further down the
street, we passed the Salute Hotel. The hotel has a rather unusual shape and appears to be perched up in the air. It kind of looks like a cross between a boat and a UFO. As we continued our walk we came to the Monument to Ivan Mazepa, which was erected in 2010. Mazepa was a political figure and patron of the arts. During Soviet rule, he was alienated from Ukrainian history, but after independence his image has been somewhat rehabilitated, yet he remains a controversial figure. The monument is really beautiful. It is in the form of a globe with a bird perched on top spreading its wings. There are also traditional out of the globe adding to the 3D effect.
