Kyiv in Your Pocket, № 56 (March-May), 2014
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Maps Events Restaurants Cafés Nightlife Sightseeing Shopping Hotels Kyiv March - May 2014 Orthodox Easter Ukrainian traditions Parks & Gardens The best places to experience the amazing springtime inyourpocket.com N°56 Contents ESSENTIAL CITY GUIDES Arrival & Getting around 6 Getting to the city, car rentals and transport The Basics 8 All you’d better know while in Kyiv History 11 A short overview of a rich Ukrainian history Orthodox Easter 12 Ukrainian taditions Culture & Events 14 Classical music, concerts and exhibitions schedules Where to stay 18 Kviv accommodation options Quick Picks 27 Kyiv on one page Peyzazhna Alley Wonderland Restaurants 28 The selection of the best restaurants in the city Cafes 38 Our choice from dozens of cafes Drink & Party 39 City’s best bars, pubs & clubs What to see 42 Essential sights, museums, and famous churches Parks & Gardens 50 The best place to expirience the amazing springtime Shopping 52 Where to spend some money Directory 54 Medical tourism, lifestyle and business connections Maps & Index Street register 56 City centre map 57 City map 58 A time machine at Pyrohovo open-air museum Country map 59 facebook.com/KyivInYourPocket March - May 2014 3 Foreword Spring in Kyiv usually comes late, so the beginning of March does not mean warm weather, shining sun and blossoming flowers. Kyiv residents could not be happier that spring is coming, as this past winter lasted too long. Snow fell right on schedule in December and only the last days of Febru- Publisher ary gave us some hope when we saw the snow thawing. Neolitas-KIS Ltd. With that in mind, if a burly Ukrainian sits next to you on Nyzhnioyurkivs’ka 3, 25, Kyiv 04080 Ukraine, a park bench and takes off his shirt, don’t be alarmed…he tel./fax (+380) 44 467 78 20 / (+380) 67 977 44 16 just needs to soak in some rays to get over the cabin fever. [email protected] As usual, spring brings us a lot of expectations to see na- Registration No. KB 7467 ture as the city recovers from its long sleep. First we wait Published 4 times per year. 60,000 copies annualy. for the apricot trees to start blossoming, then we wait for Editorial the first tulips and most of all Kyiv residents wait for the Editors & Writers Mike Voehringher, Natasha Martisova magnolia and lilac blossoming at the Botanical Gardens. Research Kyiv In Your Pocket team April-May is as usual chock - full of holidays, and Ukrain- Layout & Design KIS Ltd. ians always find a way to put their busy lives on hold Photos © Kyiv In Your Pocket and celebrate to the full. Locals add their own unique Cover photo depositphotos.com twists to April Fools’Day (1st April). International Work- Sales & Circulation ers Day is celebrated on the 1st and 2nd of May. Easter Director Andrii Cherniavskyi this year falls on the 5th of May. Victory Day is on the 9th Kyiv Natasha Martisova, (+380) 67 977 44 16 of May. We’re not sure by now if there will be a parade Lviv Yuliya Kanyuka, Solomiya Hnativ on Khreschatyk street, but just in case if you want to see Odesa Liubov Rogatinska the Ukrainian military in its full might – be somewhere around Kyiv’s main street on the morning of Victory Day. Copyright notice And be sure not to miss the nights beautiful fireworks Text, maps and photos copyright Neolitas-KIS Ltd 2003-2014. display. Also, start getting used to the fact that most of Maps copyright cartographer. All rights reserved. No part of Ukrainian companies will be on a holiday from the 1st to this publication may be reproduced in any form, except brief the 9th of May. The cherry on top of all holidays is Kyiv extracts for the purpose of review, without written permission from the publisher and copyright owner. The brand name In Day! It is scheduled this year on 26th May and is one of Your Pocket is used under license from UAB In Your Pocket (Ber- the rockin’est celebrations of the year. nardinu 9-4, Vilnius, Lithuania tel. (+370-5) 212 29 76). You couldn’t have chosen a better time to visit Ukraine’s Maps capital. Kyiv is at its glorious best in springtime, so find a © DNVP “Kartographiya”, 2014 bench in the sunshine, take a deep breath, and just let go. © Kyiv In Your Pocket, 2014 Nasolodzhuisia! Enjoy! ABOUT IYP It’s now 22 years since we published the first In Your Pocket guide - to Vilnius ESTONIA in Lithuania - in which time we have LATVIA RUSSIA grown to become the largest publisher NORTHERN LITHUANIA of locally produced city guides in Eu- IRELAND IRELAND BELARUS rope. We now cover more than 100 cities NETHERLANDS POLAND across the continent (with Gudauri, in GERMANY UKRAINE Georgia, the latest city to be pocketed) BELGIUM CZECH REPUBLIC and the number of concise, witty, well- AUSTRIA HUNGARY written and downright indispensable In SWITZERLAND ROMANIA GEORGIA SLOVENIACROATIA Your Pocket guides published each year ITALY BOSNIA SERBIA is approaching five million. We will be BULGARIA MONTENEGRO expanding even further this year, with FYR MACEDONIA ALBANIA the publication of a guide to Johannes- GREECE burg: our first outside of Europe. To keep up to date with all that’s new at SOUTH In Your Pocket, like us on Facebook (face- AFRICA book.com/inyourpocket) or follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/inyourpocket). 4 Kyiv In Your Pocket kyiv.inyourpocket.com Foreword COVER STORY IN YOUR POCKET MOBILE Kyiv In Your Pocket is proud to In Your Pocket is now available on all smartphones give its readers a brand new de- via our responsive mobile platform, found at sign. For this first new issue we m.inyourpocket.com. Featuring more than 100 cities have chosen a great photograph across Europe, In Your Pocket Mobile is an invaluable of Kyiv pechersk Lavra. This mon- resource which puts our unrivalled content together astery made Kyiv the “Rome” of with the technical capabilities of today’s smartphones. Orthodox Christianity and con- In Your Pocket Mobile allows you to view all venues in a tinues to attract pilgrims from city on a map, quickly showing which are the closest around the world. Its territory of to your current location. Smart filters can be used to 28ha contains not only churches, towers and an under- ensure that only those places which matter to you are ground cave system, but also some of Kyiv’s most in- displayed. You can also leave comments about venues, teresting museums. Landscape park below Lavra is one as well as rate them, right in the mobile platform. You of the most beautiful area in the city for spring strolls. can even share your comments with your friends via the most popular social networks. Point your phone’s web browser to m.inyourpocket.com now. THE NEW IN YOUR POCKET Regular readers would have no doubt noticed that this issue of In Your Pocket is sporting something of a new look. Designed entirely with our readers in mind, we have taken on board hundreds of comments we have received over the past few years to come up with a new format for our guides to make them more dynamic, streamlined and easier on the eye than ever before. With far less clutter than in past editions, we now emphasise the very best a city has to offer, while still ensuring that we point your way to all of those quirky, off-the-beaten track places you will not find in ONE OF THE BEST any other, lesser city guides. While we of course hope that the changes are met with approval by all our read- ers, do please get in touch if you have any feedback at all about our makeover: we welcome all opinions, be they good or bad or indifferent. Only by listening to our readers can we make In Your Pocket even better. Send your thoughts about all things Pocket to the email ad- dress [email protected], and follow us on both Twitter (twitter.com/inyourpocket) and Facebook (face- The UK newspaper The Independent recently published book.com/inyourpocket) to keep up with all the latest a list of the best 50 travel websites on the internet: in- developments at In Your Pocket. yourpocket.com was the third name on that list. This is what the newspaper had to say about us: “Entertaining and honest (at times devastatingly so), the In Your Pocket city guides make their rivals seem tame by comparison. More than 100 European cities have been given the In Your Pocket treatment, and all the key content from the print editions has been collated on this well-organised and userfriendly web- site. It also includes a series of YouTube vignettes.” For about 3 months, St Michael’s Cathedral was a home, a hospital, and a store for protesters facebook.com/KyivInYourPocket March - May 2014 5 Arriving & Getting Around BY PLANE BY TRAIN BORYSPIL STATE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Both international and local trains arrive at Kyiv-Pasazhyr- All international flights arrive at Terminal D, the Airport’s larg- skyi train station. The refurbished Central Railway Station est and newest Terminal. The arrival hall is located on the (центральний вокзал) has now been joined by a futuristic- ground floor. Upon exiting the gates, there is an informa- looking Southern Railway Station (південний вокзал), with tion point, public telephones, Avis Car Rental and Meeting the platforms located between the two. A new waiting Point Cafe. Currency exchange windows with competitive lounge up the stairs to the left from the central main hall rates are to the left of the gates, first aid is to the right.