Ukraine

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Ukraine

Postby gnaruki » Wed Feb 06, 2013 3:04 am

In May for two weeks. So far I have Lviv and Kiev on the list....probably somewhere in the Carpathians, too.

Anyone who has been there have suggestions for other spots to go? I don't know if the coast will be worthwhile in May.
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Re: Ukraine

Postby ktrout » Fri Feb 08, 2013 9:57 pm

Maybe Sevastopol? Since you're in the neighborhood you should go see Krakow and Oświęcim/Auschwitz-Birkenau. I stayed in an apartment inside the old city walls of Krakow which was really nice. It's one of the places I didn't get to spend enough time in. I really liked Poland, actually. Especially after having spent three months crossing Russia and the Ukraine. There's more to see in L'viv than Kiev because Kiev got flattened in the Great Patriotic War.
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Re: Ukraine

Postby ktrout » Sat Feb 09, 2013 1:43 am

Having crossed both Poland and the Ukraine on a bicycle, I can speak emphatically that the former has their shit together a lot better. Poland is pretty much like the rest of northern Europe. Better than Italy, I think.
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Re: Ukraine

Postby ReptilianKittenEater » Sat Feb 09, 2013 3:38 am

I second Krakow, a great city that at least 15 years ago was relatively tourist free (not sure what it is like now).
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Re: Ukraine

Postby Freyja » Sun Feb 10, 2013 4:31 pm

I would have to say Sevastopol. I've never been there personally, but I have a guy-friend that lives there. He says that it is a very nice place to visit and live. I think Nat Geo did an article about Crimea a while back. You might want to check that out.
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Re: Ukraine

Postby gnaruki » Sun Feb 10, 2013 6:05 pm

Krakow, good idea. I have a flight booked to Lviv but no ticket out yet. Sevastopol looks interesting, the submarine base would be fun to see.
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Re: Ukraine

Postby St John Smythe » Sun Feb 10, 2013 7:08 pm

One could do worse than waggle at the old Soviet Black Sea fleet and say "Hello Sailor, old chap!"
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Re: Ukraine

Postby gnaruki » Mon Feb 11, 2013 7:04 pm

St John Smythe wrote:One could do worse than waggle at the old Soviet Black Sea fleet and say "Hello Sailor, old chap!"


I don't know if I'm sure what that means.
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Re: Ukraine

Postby ktrout » Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:57 am

ReptilianKittenEater wrote:I second Krakow, a great city that at least 15 years ago was relatively tourist free (not sure what it is like now).

The historic center is well developed but not crowded.
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Re: Ukraine

Postby gnaruki » Wed Feb 13, 2013 12:14 am

ktrout wrote:
ReptilianKittenEater wrote:I second Krakow, a great city that at least 15 years ago was relatively tourist free (not sure what it is like now).

The historic center is well developed but not crowded.


It looks like Prague minus the tourist horde. My plans have developed as far as they will probably go....considering i booked a flight out from krakow.

Still unsure about heading to Crimea, that's a long train ride.
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Re: Ukraine

Postby ReptilianKittenEater » Wed Feb 13, 2013 3:45 am

gnaruki wrote:
ktrout wrote:
ReptilianKittenEater wrote:I second Krakow, a great city that at least 15 years ago was relatively tourist free (not sure what it is like now).

The historic center is well developed but not crowded.


It looks like Prague minus the tourist horde. My plans have developed as far as they will probably go....considering i booked a flight out from krakow.

Still unsure about heading to Crimea, that's a long train ride.


Yeah kinda like Prague but smaller, whereas Prague had 5 historic neighbourhoods Krakow has a couple...but when I went to both plaes in 1997 Prague was drowning in tourists while Krakow had few.
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Re: Ukraine

Postby ktrout » Wed Feb 13, 2013 3:53 am

ReptilianKittenEater wrote:Yeah kinda like Prague but smaller, whereas Prague had 5 historic neighbourhoods Krakow has a couple...but when I went to both places in 1997 Prague was drowning in tourists while Krakow had few.

Oh, yes, but Prague is amazing. I stayed in a nice apartment within a stone's throw of Karl's Bridge. But, yeah, it's elbow to elbow with other tourists.
If you have two weeks in Europe, L'viv to Prague and back by train would be awesome. I wonder if routes pass through Krakow and Brno.
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Re: Ukraine

Postby gnaruki » Thu Feb 14, 2013 4:53 pm

I'm assuming Krakow has a decent load of tourists considering easyjet and ryanair both fly there.

Brno looks cool. I've been to Prague before, it might be worth a revisit.

ktrout, did you spend any time in Slovakia?
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Re: Ukraine

Postby ktrout » Thu Feb 14, 2013 9:14 pm

gnaruki wrote:I'm assuming Krakow has a decent load of tourists considering easyjet and ryanair both fly there.

They're there, but not elbow to elbow like in Prague.
Brno looks cool. I've been to Prague before, it might be worth a revisit.

ktrout, did you spend any time in Slovakia?

I didn't. I bicycled from Beijing to Amsterdam, and passed through Krakow, Gliwice, Nysa, and Kwodzko. I probably should have taken a left at Gliwice and hit Olemuoc and Brno but went farther north instead.
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Re: Ukraine

Postby gnaruki » Fri Feb 15, 2013 1:59 am

Something to think about. I'm either going to do a loop through western ukraine ending up in krakow or just start meandering west then backtrack to krakow.
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