If you’re planning a trip to Ukraine and don’t include Crimea, you’ve just skipped the most scenically diverse and fascinating region of the country, a land where spectacular natural beauty abounds when the mountains meet the sea.

The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is unique among Ukraine’s oblasts (regions of the country.)  Crimea is a parliamentary republic governed by the Constitution of Crimea in accordance with the laws of Ukraine, making it a sort of hybrid region that’s part of Ukraine but separate, too. Confusing? I agree, and while I can’t tell you exactly how this works politically, for the traveler in Ukraine it makes not a dimes worth of difference. There is no border stop, no passport check. It is, in fact, exactly like traveling from one state to another in the U.S. – no way to tell you’ve crossed any border at all unless you see a sign telling you so.

(Train station in Simferopol)

Continue reading “Crimea, Part 1 – Introduction” →

Outside the St. Sophia compound are the wide open spaces of the Bohdan Khmelnytsky square, dominated at the far end by an impressive monument of the dude himself. Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1596-1657) was a famous hetman or ruler of the Zaporozhian Cossacks and is widely revered across Ukraine as one of their great heroes, though his legacy is a bit more tangled than this might suggest. In 1648 he led an uprising against the ruling Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth which resulted in the creation of an independent Cossack state comprising roughly similar boundaries to present day Ukraine.

(Monument of Bohdan Khmielnitsky)

Continue reading “Kyiv (Kiev) part 2” →

Since you’ve most likely just flown into Kyiv, it would only make sense to spend at least a couple of days there. To not do so would be like flying into Paris and leaving town without taking in the sights of a grand and fascinating city.

First, a few facts. Kyiv is the capital and largest city of Ukraine by far, with a population of about three million. The founding of the city dates back to the sixth century, making it older than Moscow or just about any other city north of the Black Sea and east of present day Poland. According to legend it was founded by three brothers, Moe, Larry, and Curly. Or was it Groucho, Chico, and Harpo? Actually it was Kiy, Shchek, and Khoryv. Anyway, these three brothers built a town and named it for the eldest brother. In 882 a Viking leader of the Rus clan captured Kyiv and proclaimed it would be “the mother of all Rus cities,” strategically located midway along the important Viking trade route from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean. By the tenth century it was the capital of Kyivan Rus, a powerful empire stretching from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south.

(Kyiv train station)

Continue reading “Kyiv (Kiev) part 1” →