Top 5 tourist attractions in Kiev

What is worth visiting in Kiev

I had four days to spend in Kiev and I can say that it was enough to visit the city. Spread along the Dnieper river, with a tall bank where the old city is and all the touristic attractions and a flat bank, uninhibited for a long time because it would always get flooded. Nowadays it only consists of neighborhoods. Kiev is known to be a big capital. Large boulevards, old and imposing building, churches, hundred years old monasteries and has some main ideas: religion, World War 2, Russia and the fight of the Ukrainians for independence, also known as the Orange Revolution. It is obviously also more than this ideas, but these are the favorite themes of an old Soviet city that found its purpose as the capital of a country. I stopped at five tourist attractions that represent Kiev, it is the kievpass I used. For a day, two or three, it provides access to most touristic attractions, many that will not be below, discounts for many locations plus a few subway tickets.

The Independence Square or The Maidan

It is the center of Kiev and it can be found in the heart of the most important boulevard – Kreshchatyk. A large boulevard with buildings on both sides, that I really liked, even though they were built in the Soviet period. It gives off the impression of an important city and the first floors of the buildings have a pure rock base, which gives off power. A large section of the boulevard is closed for traffic on weekends and it becomes a meeting spot for locals. Coffee shops, restaurants, protests, or a simple visit at the shopping mall, a visit to Globus.

The Independence Square, the place where the Orange Revolution of Ukraine happened, is mainly dominated by a huge column that symbolizes the independence of Ukraine. On the opposite side there is the statue of Saint Michael. At the base of the column there is a museum of the Orange Revolution with different images of people who died in those days, and below on the right side of the footway there are images with some of the participants, with lit candles and flowers for each of them, plus the never-falling bracelet in blue and yellow, symbolizing the flag of Ukraine. This is what is found because the confrontation between the population and the system was extremely violent. A revolution that looks like this…

…And that ended like this

…not leading up anywhere…

Apart from the revolution, today, the Euromaidan is a peaceful place, with a shopping mall underneath, large, interesting to visit and imposing. It is worth a visit walking along the boulevard hosting it.

The Highland with the Saint Sofia Monastery and the Saint Michael Cathedral

From Independence Square, on the left side of Saint Michael’s statue, you can go up the street for 5 minutes and you reach the highland with the Saint Sofia Monastery and across from it, the Cathedral of Saint Michael – the spiritual patron of the city. If the first one is visited with a fee, having a weird ticketing system (for each attraction inside you buy a different ticket), the second one is free to visit and right next to it there is a cable car that can take you to the port. The port from where you can go on a cruise ship. You will read more about that later.

Saint Sofia Monastery was built in the 19th century and is a UNESCO patrimony. The Saint Michael Cathedral was demolished by Communists in the 1930s and it was rebuilt after 1990 when URSS stopped having control over the country. Both have golden domes but if I had to choose which one is more beautiful I would say Saint Michael Cathedral is. In the square separating them there are some statue ensembles representing the former leaders of Ukraine from old history.

Cruise on Dnieper

From the top, at Saint Michael Cathedral, as I was telling you, there is a cable car for 8 grivnas that takes you straight to the port at the bottom. The Dnieper, navigable, is at your disposal with different offers for cruises. You can find cruises lasting from one hour to a day. It is up to what you want to do.

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The Monastery Complex Lavra

Kiev was the religious center of Russia for a long time. This is where the Christening of Russians started and the Lavra Monastery, built in 105, the oldest monastery from this side of the world, had a really important role. It is a complex of churches, monasteries and administrative buildings. What is most interesting is that under the ground there is a connection of tunnels that can be visited and hold coffins of priests or monks from the past. The entrance of the complex requires a fee, but the entrance in the tunnels is free. It is easy to reach this place from the subway station Arsenal. A place for pilgrimage and a tourist attraction, it cannot miss from your list of places to visit!

The most interesting and intense experience here was the visit in the tunnel. I was not ready for it. An underground connection that hosts coffins with bodies of old priests and monks, that are kissed by grown up men and women. I do not intend to criticize anyone’s faith and I am also not mocking the Saints but such a behavior in the 21st century is a bit over what I can understand. But…faith is huge and it is not my duty nor do I have the competence to criticize it or describe it. I took it as it is and now I am showing it to you. Each to their own…

WW2 Museum and the huge statue The Mother of the People

For anyone who is fascinated by WW2, a visit here is mandatory. The statue called the Mother of the People is huge. 90 meters and a bit more than that. It is on the corner of the river, on a high hill and it essentially dominates the area. There is no way you will not see it. It is huge! It was built in the 1980s and it is a symbol of Communism in the style of the People’s Palace. “We are not proud of it but we accept that it is there”. You can go up on it for two floors until the base at the feet or until the upper part to the hand that holds the shield.

As a fun fact, you will find the statue as a souvenir having the emblem of Ukraine on the shield. The real one has the Communist sign. The statue is down from the WW2 Museum. Spread on two floors, it gives a chronological description of the war. In fact, the statue and the museum, as well as the expositions outside form a huge complex in a public park. From the Lavra complex you keep going straight and in 15 minutes you can get to this other complex. This tourist attraction is one that can not be crossed off the list. You will like not only the landscape in this place, but you will also notice the Soviet pride of the winners of the world war. The largest one.

The museum and the statue have a visiting fee, as well as the outside expositions and the Afghanistan Museum right next to the statue.