June 19-21
Hello everyone!
Ukraine has been suffering from a fever since we arrived.
Not a bad ailment, though. Football fever!
Kyiv will be hosting the final of Euro 2012 on July 1st,
so interest in the city will be maintained long after Ukraine’s exit from the
tournament. It means that the city can show off its many attractions to a wider
audience, and persuade them that the Ukraine is a place worth visiting.
As aforementioned, the city has a distinctly European feel.
With colourful cathedrals dotted along cobbled causeways, Kyiv has an aura of
history and importance. It was one of the most important strongholds in Europe
in the 11th and 12th centuries, until it was ransacked by
the Mongols in 1240. Many of the buildings, whilst not nearly as old as this
period, possess an identity that suggests there are many stories to be told
from within their vibrant and well-preserved walls.
Of course, the Ukraine’s more recent history has not been
quite so triumphant. The country was assimilated into the Soviet Union in 1921,
and Kyiv became an important industrial city during the Great Patriotic War of
1941-1945 – the USSR didn’t officially get involved straight away after signing
the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Many sculptures adorn parts of the city showing the
courage and bravery of the soldiers and workers who protected this land.
More recently, tragedy struck the country and affected the
north of her landscape in 1986, when an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear
power plant sent powerful doses of radiation as far as Scandinavia. I would
have liked to visit the site and the nearby town of Pirayat, and it is possible
to go on a (rather expensive) tour, but not booking in time means that I
contented myself with the museum that remembers the people who worked at the
plant and prevented the explosion from being much, much worse. There is a
poignant memorial in the middle of the museum, a simple wooden cot filled with
stuffed toys, to the children of Chernobyl whose lives were changed before they
had a chance to grow up.
Though these memorials serve a timely reminder to the
country’s past, Ukraine is moving forward and modernising at quite a pace. This
can be seen in the various Western influences that proliferate the capital.
From McDonald’s to Marks & Spencer, everyone now seems to want to be
involved in Kyiv’s development into a major international city.
Why you would buy a Big Mac here, however, is beyond me. One
lasting Russian influence is the food. Borsch, the purple soup, is a national
symbol of pride, as are vareniki. The latter are parcels of meat wrapped inside
dough, though you can have fillings as diverse as cherry or cabbage. A chain of restaurants called Puzata Khata serves up some wonderful Ukrainian and
international food in the style of a canteen for very cheap prices. We didn’t
need three meals a day – instead, we ate here late in the afternoons and never
needed food for the rest of the day.
On one such sunny day we headed to Kyiv’s flavour of the
month – the fanzone. It was filling up nicely as we gently meandered through
the crowds. The population were awash with blue and yellow. Not of Ukraine,
however. Of Sweden. Stockholm seemed to have taken a vacation to the Ukraine
for the football; tens of thousands of them waltzed along the streets. There
were plenty of locals too, hoping for an upset victory over England. The
possibility of this happening wasn’t that remote, resulting in a huge number of
people descending on the fanzone to watch that game.
We weren’t there, though. Ukraine were playing in Donetsk,
but at the same time that Swedish army of fans were marching to support their
team against France in the Olympiiska stadium that will be the centre of the
footballing universe in a couple of weeks. I was going too – tickets were
available for e30, which is a steal for this quality of competition.
Consequently we walked to this large bowl that can hold 70,000 screaming fans,
situated brilliantly in the centre of the city to add to the atmosphere.
There were a few French fans there, but unfortunately for
them it seemed like a home game for Sweden. I would love to be a footballer and
see that many people vehemently cheering for me in a far-off land. The fans
must have inspired their team, as Sweden produced a determined and impressive
display to see off an off-colour Les
Bleus 2-0.
Football fever has been one of many highlights of Kyiv. I
have really enjoyed this city, even though it seems to have more steps and
churches as the whole of Kazakhstan. We will take this optimism and good cheer
now onto a five-hour train to stop two on our Eastern European excursion: Lviv.
I don’t know how to say it either.
Love you all
Matt
