 |
 |
UKRAINE
Besides Russia, Ukraine is the largest country of Europe, boasting cities of cultural interest such as Kiev, Odessa, and Lviv, and the resort area of the Crimea located on the Black Sea with its unique attractions.
 |
Kiev, serving as the capital of Ukraine for a millennium and considered the mother city for all Eastern Slavic peoples, has its store of historical sights:
Christendom's greatest church from 548 to 1453, St Sophia's Cathedral, included on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
St Andrew's Church, baroque masterpiece of Italian architect Rastrelli
Bohemian old-town district of Podil
The 53m Motherland WWII Victory Statue and Museum of the Great Patriotic War
The Caves Monastery, with its unique array of gold-domed churches and underground labyrinths lined with mummified monks
|
| A cathedral of the Caves Monastery, the single most fascinating and extensive sight of Kiev |
Odessa is Ukraine's biggest port city on the Black Sea, a crossroads of cultures, languages and trades, built to a Baroque splendor under the patronage of Czaress Catherine the Great. City is known for its grand opera house, and its famous waterfront 192 steps. Ferry service to/from Istanbul.
|
 |
In the vicinity of Odessa is the Museum of Partisan Glory, a network of catacombs which shel-tered a group of partisans in WWII. |
 |
Crimea, Uspensky Monastery, founded by Byzantine monks in the 9th century. Church and cells built into the face of a limestone rock. |
 |
The Livadia Palace near Yalta, a summer palace built for Russia's last tsar, Nicholas II. Site of the 1945 Yalta Conference between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill |
TRANSPORT (train tickets)
TRANSPORT (train tickets)
St Petersburg - Kiev: $104 2nd $165 1st
Kiev - Odessa: $56 2nd $95 1st
St Petersburg - Odessa: $114 2nd $192 1st
Odessa - Simferopol (Yalta): $75 2nd
Moscow - Kiev: $113 2nd $178 1st
Moscow - Odessa: $137 2nd $195 1st
Ferry tickets: Odessa - Istanbul: from $200 - $450
|
|
