Sunday, May 19th
We slept well and finally awoke for good around 9:00. Breakfast was included with our hotel but it is always a challenge for us to eat breakfast for the first couple of days. Even though we'd slept well, it felt like it was 2AM. It was a nice buffet and we sipped our coffee, and ate what we could.
After breakfast we went to the Golden Gate, a restored city gate dating back to medieval Kyiv.
It was a part of the city's fortifications, and a ceremonial entry gate. A church was built on the top of the complex.
This is a side view of the church, and below is a picture from inside the entryway. We had time for a quick tour inside. It was expensive - maybe $2 per ticket.
The current structure had been rebuilt over its ruins, and most of what you see here was not original. There is obviously some debate over whether the design is historically correct.
The picture to the right shows some of the original stone walls that have survived to the present day.
Then we continued on towards St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral. Some nice buildings along the way.
Interesting - yellow exterior, and blue domes instead of gold.
We went inside for a bit. No photos allowed. I think many-times-great grandpa Volodymyr wouldn't have really minded, but the folks keeping watch inside probably would have!
The cathedral faces Bulvar Tarasa Shevchenko, a nice divided street with a tree-lined center.
We crossed over and had another view of the cathedral. You can see the blue roof better in this picture, and if you enlarge it, you can see the gold stars on the roof as well.
There was time for a quick jaunt through parts of the botanical gardens nearby. It was too big to try to see it all, though. Onward.
We came back near the Golden Gate to grab a coffee from one of the numerous little coffee shacks which are on every street.
This time, I had the opportunity to pose alone with dear old great-great-grandpa Jaroslaw.
We wandered in the direction of St. Sophia's cathedral. Along the way there is a monument to the border guards.
St. Sophia’s is a big museum complex, which you have to pay to enter. At the doorway there was a guy dressed in a bear costume. He hammed it up with us for a small fee, of course...
The first order of business was to climb the bell tower for an overview of the complex. From below, this looks a little bit rickety!
But soon we forgot about that. The views were great today! Beautiful sky and a view that kept on going. Here we are looking at Sofiyivska Square, with a view down Volodymyrs'kyi Passage and in the distance, St. Michael's golden-domed monastery.
On the other side, the museum complex. Here is St. Sophia's cathedral.
Construction was begun in or around 1011 by Volodymyr, and it was completed by Jaroslaw about 20 years later.
A couple of jet-lagged tourists.
This is a close-up of St. Michael's golden-domed monastery. We were in that square last night before dinner.
We climbed down from the bell tower and made our way over to the cathedral.
The church is spectacular and it looks like it was based on Hagia Sofia in Istanbul. That's because it probably was. Volodymyr's envoys were quite impressed by the beauty of Hagia Sofia.
The decorations in Eastern churches always seems to make the interior seem so much darker to me.
Even though there's a lot of gold, it's all very dark and heavy inside.
It would be cool to climb up into the dome like you can in other cathedrals. Not here, though.
This is a model of the original cathedral design. It was nearly destroyed in 1240 when Kiev was sacked by the Mongol Tatars, and sat in disrepair for hundreds of years. It was rebuilt in its current Baroque style in the late 1600s-1700s.
There is a second level to go up to, though. More views, and some artwork. I enjoyed that part.
This is a modern painting intended to represent Anna of Kyiv and her husband, the French King Henri I (Henri Capet). Anna was Jaroslaw's daughter, and my tie to this family.
This was a great piece of art! It's an entire wall covered with pysanky (Ukrainian Easter Eggs), arranged in a mosaic to form this mural.
The interior seems a little brighter from the second floor vantage point.
Jaroslaw was buried in the cathedral. This is his sarcophagus.
This was probably my favorite painting. It depicts Volodymyr as the prominent guy front and center, holding a cross-shaped staff and sword. Jaroslaw is the boy in front of him. Jaroslaw's mother Rogneda is at the far left, holding a candle.
History is a messy thing. Volodymyr is revered as a Catholic saint because he converted Kyivan Rus to christianity in 988. However, I am not convinced that his intentions were so altruistic.
Over the course of his life he had numerous wives and hundreds of concubines. He was married to Rogneda prior to becoming a Christian; she was a pagan princess of Polotsk. From the history I've read, his initial offer of marriage was refused, so she was taken by force after Volodymyr deposed her father as ruler of Polotsk. Not so saintly.
Volodymyr sent envoys to study the world's major religions prior to converting to Christianity. It was a very calculated decision; for instance he rejected Islam because of the prohibition on alcohol, and he knew that would never fly in his culture (Rus was heavily influenced by the Vikings). One of the major reasons he chose Eastern Orthodox Christianity was so that he could marry the Emperor Basil's sister, Anna. This created an important political alliance between Kyivan Rus and Constantinople, which probably benefited both of them.
However, there was no way that Anna was going to be married to a pagan, regardless of the need for an alliance. So Volodymyr converted, divorced Rogneda and sent her to a convent, then married Anna. And now you understand why, in this painting, Rogneda is off to the side, covered in a dark robe and hood, holding a candle. The more prominent woman in white robes and a crown is Anna Porphyrogenita (of Constantinople). Not the Anna who's related to me - that Anna was Jaroslaw's daughter, Anna Jaroslavna.
All that history makes me tired, so we headed back to the hotel to catch a break and plan our next steps.
We went back towards the golden-domed monastery, which was gleaming in the bright sunshine.
From here we walked towards the river to see the view from Volodymyr Descent.
There is a prominent statue of St. Volodymyr on his namesake hill.
I like the saintly glow in this picture. The sun was in a perfect location for this shot!
From the statue, we climbed all the way down to the bank of the Dnieper River. I hope we don't have to climb all the way back up!
We grabbed a lunch snack at a place along the waterfront called Kompot. The outdoor tables were full but it was pleasant enough inside.
Nice meat patties with buckwheat for me, and varenyky (peirogy) with potatoes and fried onions for Chris. Food is crazy cheap here - these two plates, plus drinks, was about $13.
After lunch there was time for some wandering around the waterfront. The weather is incredible!
Then we got lazy, and took the funicular back up the hill instead of walking. Two tokens only cost 16₴ - less than a dollar.
We visited St. Andrew’s church, which is closed but has a nice viewing platform where you can see the whole riverfront. It's a long way down from here! We were glad for the funicular.
The building in the middle with a pointy spire on the side tower is called Richard Lionheart Castle. It has / had nothing to do with him, however.
The church itself was pretty in the afternoon sunshine. And there were a lot of steps to climb so we weren't complete slugs for taking the funicular.
Nearby were the ruins of the Tithe Church. This was also built by Volodymyr in the late 900s and was finished prior to his death. It was destroyed in 1240 when the Mongol Tatars sacked Kyiv; legend has it that the last defenders of the city took refuge here and were killed.
Only a foundation marks the site, and it's not clear that the foundation looks anything like the original.
We decided to visit the nearby Museum of the History of Ukraine.
Old farm equipment, and more statues of Volodymyr.
It was a nice museum, which started with stone-age artifacts and went through to modern times. The whole visit took up about 2 hours. There was some English but Chris had plenty of translating work to do.
We went back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. The restaurant was in the same area as last night so we knew the way. We detoured to Maydan Square for a quick look.
We got to the restaurant, Musafir, right on time though it was a little tricky to find. It was tucked into a square off the street, and not well-marked.
Their specialty was Crimean food, which we knew nothing about but we were game to try it.
The food was delicious and crazy cheap, but service was a pain. It took forever to place our orders, but then the food came fast. Well, at least the appetizer and Chris’s dish. She had samsa - ground beef wrapped in a dough and baked.
My main course arrived a bit later, and it was also delicious. It's called a Cheburek, and it was a light fried dough that could be filled with numerous options. I got beef with mint, lamb, and brinza cheese for my 3 choices.
It took almost a half hour to order more drinks. We skipped dessert and headed home, having spent a grand total of $16.50 for food and drink.
We weren’t as tired tonight, so we slept less soundly, as is often the case on our second night in Europe. It's just too hard to go to bed when your body clock thinks that it's still early afternoon. I dozed on and off most of the night until we finally gave up and got up at 7:45.
We slept well and finally awoke for good around 9:00. Breakfast was included with our hotel but it is always a challenge for us to eat breakfast for the first couple of days. Even though we'd slept well, it felt like it was 2AM. It was a nice buffet and we sipped our coffee, and ate what we could.After breakfast we went to the Golden Gate, a restored city gate dating back to medieval Kyiv.
It was a part of the city's fortifications, and a ceremonial entry gate. A church was built on the top of the complex.
This is a side view of the church, and below is a picture from inside the entryway. We had time for a quick tour inside. It was expensive - maybe $2 per ticket.
The current structure had been rebuilt over its ruins, and most of what you see here was not original. There is obviously some debate over whether the design is historically correct.
The picture to the right shows some of the original stone walls that have survived to the present day.
Then we continued on towards St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral. Some nice buildings along the way.
Interesting - yellow exterior, and blue domes instead of gold.
We went inside for a bit. No photos allowed. I think many-times-great grandpa Volodymyr wouldn't have really minded, but the folks keeping watch inside probably would have!
The cathedral faces Bulvar Tarasa Shevchenko, a nice divided street with a tree-lined center.
We crossed over and had another view of the cathedral. You can see the blue roof better in this picture, and if you enlarge it, you can see the gold stars on the roof as well.
There was time for a quick jaunt through parts of the botanical gardens nearby. It was too big to try to see it all, though. Onward.
We came back near the Golden Gate to grab a coffee from one of the numerous little coffee shacks which are on every street.
 |
| Only 35 generations apart |
This time, I had the opportunity to pose alone with dear old great-great-grandpa Jaroslaw.
We wandered in the direction of St. Sophia's cathedral. Along the way there is a monument to the border guards.
St. Sophia’s is a big museum complex, which you have to pay to enter. At the doorway there was a guy dressed in a bear costume. He hammed it up with us for a small fee, of course...
The first order of business was to climb the bell tower for an overview of the complex. From below, this looks a little bit rickety!
But soon we forgot about that. The views were great today! Beautiful sky and a view that kept on going. Here we are looking at Sofiyivska Square, with a view down Volodymyrs'kyi Passage and in the distance, St. Michael's golden-domed monastery.
On the other side, the museum complex. Here is St. Sophia's cathedral.
Construction was begun in or around 1011 by Volodymyr, and it was completed by Jaroslaw about 20 years later.
A couple of jet-lagged tourists.
This is a close-up of St. Michael's golden-domed monastery. We were in that square last night before dinner.
We climbed down from the bell tower and made our way over to the cathedral.
The church is spectacular and it looks like it was based on Hagia Sofia in Istanbul. That's because it probably was. Volodymyr's envoys were quite impressed by the beauty of Hagia Sofia.
The decorations in Eastern churches always seems to make the interior seem so much darker to me.
Even though there's a lot of gold, it's all very dark and heavy inside.
It would be cool to climb up into the dome like you can in other cathedrals. Not here, though.
This is a model of the original cathedral design. It was nearly destroyed in 1240 when Kiev was sacked by the Mongol Tatars, and sat in disrepair for hundreds of years. It was rebuilt in its current Baroque style in the late 1600s-1700s.
There is a second level to go up to, though. More views, and some artwork. I enjoyed that part.
This is a modern painting intended to represent Anna of Kyiv and her husband, the French King Henri I (Henri Capet). Anna was Jaroslaw's daughter, and my tie to this family.
This was a great piece of art! It's an entire wall covered with pysanky (Ukrainian Easter Eggs), arranged in a mosaic to form this mural.
The interior seems a little brighter from the second floor vantage point.
Jaroslaw was buried in the cathedral. This is his sarcophagus.
This was probably my favorite painting. It depicts Volodymyr as the prominent guy front and center, holding a cross-shaped staff and sword. Jaroslaw is the boy in front of him. Jaroslaw's mother Rogneda is at the far left, holding a candle.
History is a messy thing. Volodymyr is revered as a Catholic saint because he converted Kyivan Rus to christianity in 988. However, I am not convinced that his intentions were so altruistic.
Over the course of his life he had numerous wives and hundreds of concubines. He was married to Rogneda prior to becoming a Christian; she was a pagan princess of Polotsk. From the history I've read, his initial offer of marriage was refused, so she was taken by force after Volodymyr deposed her father as ruler of Polotsk. Not so saintly.
Volodymyr sent envoys to study the world's major religions prior to converting to Christianity. It was a very calculated decision; for instance he rejected Islam because of the prohibition on alcohol, and he knew that would never fly in his culture (Rus was heavily influenced by the Vikings). One of the major reasons he chose Eastern Orthodox Christianity was so that he could marry the Emperor Basil's sister, Anna. This created an important political alliance between Kyivan Rus and Constantinople, which probably benefited both of them.
However, there was no way that Anna was going to be married to a pagan, regardless of the need for an alliance. So Volodymyr converted, divorced Rogneda and sent her to a convent, then married Anna. And now you understand why, in this painting, Rogneda is off to the side, covered in a dark robe and hood, holding a candle. The more prominent woman in white robes and a crown is Anna Porphyrogenita (of Constantinople). Not the Anna who's related to me - that Anna was Jaroslaw's daughter, Anna Jaroslavna.
 |
| St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, Kyiv |
We went back towards the golden-domed monastery, which was gleaming in the bright sunshine.
 |
| Volodymyrska Hill, Kyiv |
From here we walked towards the river to see the view from Volodymyr Descent.
There is a prominent statue of St. Volodymyr on his namesake hill.
I like the saintly glow in this picture. The sun was in a perfect location for this shot!
From the statue, we climbed all the way down to the bank of the Dnieper River. I hope we don't have to climb all the way back up!
We grabbed a lunch snack at a place along the waterfront called Kompot. The outdoor tables were full but it was pleasant enough inside.
Nice meat patties with buckwheat for me, and varenyky (peirogy) with potatoes and fried onions for Chris. Food is crazy cheap here - these two plates, plus drinks, was about $13.
After lunch there was time for some wandering around the waterfront. The weather is incredible!
Then we got lazy, and took the funicular back up the hill instead of walking. Two tokens only cost 16₴ - less than a dollar.
We visited St. Andrew’s church, which is closed but has a nice viewing platform where you can see the whole riverfront. It's a long way down from here! We were glad for the funicular.
The building in the middle with a pointy spire on the side tower is called Richard Lionheart Castle. It has / had nothing to do with him, however.
The church itself was pretty in the afternoon sunshine. And there were a lot of steps to climb so we weren't complete slugs for taking the funicular.
Nearby were the ruins of the Tithe Church. This was also built by Volodymyr in the late 900s and was finished prior to his death. It was destroyed in 1240 when the Mongol Tatars sacked Kyiv; legend has it that the last defenders of the city took refuge here and were killed.
Only a foundation marks the site, and it's not clear that the foundation looks anything like the original.
We decided to visit the nearby Museum of the History of Ukraine.
Old farm equipment, and more statues of Volodymyr.
It was a nice museum, which started with stone-age artifacts and went through to modern times. The whole visit took up about 2 hours. There was some English but Chris had plenty of translating work to do.
We went back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. The restaurant was in the same area as last night so we knew the way. We detoured to Maydan Square for a quick look.
We got to the restaurant, Musafir, right on time though it was a little tricky to find. It was tucked into a square off the street, and not well-marked.
Their specialty was Crimean food, which we knew nothing about but we were game to try it.
The food was delicious and crazy cheap, but service was a pain. It took forever to place our orders, but then the food came fast. Well, at least the appetizer and Chris’s dish. She had samsa - ground beef wrapped in a dough and baked.
It took almost a half hour to order more drinks. We skipped dessert and headed home, having spent a grand total of $16.50 for food and drink.
We weren’t as tired tonight, so we slept less soundly, as is often the case on our second night in Europe. It's just too hard to go to bed when your body clock thinks that it's still early afternoon. I dozed on and off most of the night until we finally gave up and got up at 7:45.
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