Prior to my visit to Kyiv, I imagined 3 days in this beautiful city would be sufficient. It was not. With a limited travel itinerary for the Ukraine, I am happy I included Kyiv but sad to be leaving it. I need to return. Though smaller than London, Paris and Istanbul, the city of…
Saint Sophia’s Cathedral: As one looks towards this cathedral it’s outward beauty is clearly visible but its real beauty lay hidden in its scars. If walls could talk, these hold a novel filled with stories. I struggle to find words adequate enough to describe both the outward beauty of Saint Sophia’s Cathedral and the spiritual…
The highlight of my visit to Kyiv is Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra. After leaving the Park of Eternal Glory on the hillside bank of the Dnieper River, the shining golden domed monastery site, Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra. beckoned to us. Upon stepping through the gate, one could almost feel the quiet presence of all the saints that walked…
Daniel 2:21, “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;” By turning left outside the hotel-apartment in Kyiv and walking two blocks I found myself in the center of Ukraine’s bustling government and commerce area. Khreshchaty (translated “cross or…
Though numerous trains travel in every direction across the Ukraine, only one new, and very fast train travels directly from L’viv to Kyiv in the daytime, without stopping along the way. Desiring to see more of this area but discovering that driving on local roads marked only with occasional signs in Ukrainian was nearly impossible….
It was Saturday, my last full day in L’viv. I bemoaned the fact that I’d be on a train Sunday morning instead of enjoying one of the church services in L’viv. Earlier, the tour guide spoke of his attendance at a particular church service; the hotel reception person told of another. Many Ukrainians attend church services…
The town of Berezhany began around 1540 when this Austrian castle was built upon an island (some say made of gold) along the Zolota Niper River. Something so big and grand, was left to crumble and deteriorate back into the land in which it began. How many peasants lost their lives for the sake of…
I’m here. If alive, my grandmother would be crying tears of joy that I valued her life and her family lineage so much that I traveled thousands of miles to learn more them. Though Berezhany (a town of less than 20,000) began almost a thousand years ago, life today isn’t too different. A local market…
When choosing L’Viv to begin a quest to discover my ancestry in the Ukraine, I failed to comprehend the difficulty in traveling less than 100 km (approximately 62 miles) to the small town of Berezhany. On a map, it looked relatively close to L’viv and easy to drive to. I didn’t anticipate the lack of…
Less than 24 hours in L’viv and I’m beginning to understand what it really means to be Ukrainian. Though my family talked about the Czars, Cossacks, Revolutions and Russia stripping away their identity as a nation, I didn’t grow up in this environment. Listening to a few of its citizens, I heard sadness and distress…
