Mida öelda Kiievi/Ukraina kohta üldiselt? Kui alustada algusest, siis turvavööd pole seal ilmselt kohustuslikud. Sellest andis aimu meie esimene Uber, milleks oli Dacia (etteruttavalt võin öelda, et meie kogemuse põhjal on 75% Uberitest Ukrainas Daciad: 3/4) ning kus olid küll turvavööd, aga mitte...pesasid...kuhu...neid...panna.
Minu jaoks meeldivalt nostalgilisena oli autopark kohati nõuka, südant soojendasid taksosiltidega Ladad - ikka teenivad ja saavad hakkama. Kiirusepiirangud on pigem soovitused, sest tihti juhtus, et kellelgi oli vaja kuskile kiiresti jõuda.
Metroosõit maksis 5 UAH (0,16 EUR), trollisõit 4 UAH (0,13 EUR). Kiievis kasutasime peamiselt trolli ja metrood. Trollibussides olid jätkuvalt kontrolörid, kellelt oli võimalik pilet osta ja vanamoodsalt komposteerida (või nagu nemad ütlesid, valideerida). Kui kontrolöri polnud, siis sai pileti osta ka trollijuhilt. Trollide väljumisaegadel pole tallinlasele tuttavat ajatablood, selleks oli antud vaid väga lakooniline vahemik - troll tuleb selles ajavahemikus x intervalli jooksul (näiteks hommikul ajavahemikul 6-10 on intervall 13-29 minutit). Positiivse üllatusena oli trollides ka WiFi ning kõlas ka inglise keeles peale loetud tekst, mis selgitas, kuidas piletit osta jm kasulikku.
Kindlasti tuleb ära mainida ka kerjused. Ausalt ei osanud arvata, et Ukrainas neid nii palju on. Kõige šokeerivamaks olid minu jaoks naised, kes suure kõhuga seisid suvalisel tänavanurgal, käsi ees. Nad nägid välja nagu tavalised naised, aga ometi seisid nad seal nii raha küsides. Ma ei mäleta, et oleksin kuskil midagi sellist näinud. Samas pole ma viimasel ajal meeletult palju reisinud ning võib-olla on ajad muutunud.
Kiievis on populaarsed väiksed aiad ja piirded - kõikvõimalikud asjad on metalse äärega ümbristatud. Väga tavaline on ka see, et need on värvitud lipuvärvidesse sinine ja kollane.
Hindadest. Bensiinihind oli linnas 30 UAH kandis, mis teeb liitri hinnaks umbes euro. Linnast väljas nägin silte 26 UAH. Suvalises supermarketis esimene odavam viin maksis 80 UAH ehk 2,59 EUR. Vana Tallinn on end murdnud Ukrainasse ning asub vähemalt ühes baariketis kenasti shottide menüüs. Samuti leiab seda poest ning seal on Vana Tallinna kreemlikööri hinnaks 200 UAH ehk 6,49 EUR. Suitsud maksavad keskmiselt 31 UAH, ehk samuti umbes euro (kõige odavamad olid 21 UAH ~ 0,68 EUR). Ilmselt oleks pilt veelgi teisem mõnes linnaäärses supermarketis, aga sinna me paraku ei sattunud.
Väljas söömine - kui tahad väga odavalt hakkama saada, on see võimalik. Kuna meie kasutasime toidukohtade soovitusteks Foursquare'i, siis seal võisid osad olla veidi kallimad kui tavapärased odavamad söökla-tüüpi kohad. Minu vene keele oskus on suht algeline, enam-vähem saan lihtsast vestlusest aru, kuid ukraina keeles olevad menüüd tekitasid vahepeal tõsiseid küsimusi: "Mis asi see nüüd on". Õnneks on ka seal võimalik kindla peale välja minna, kui tunned vähemalt söögi kategooria ning ühe koostisosa ära. Samuti leidus kohti, kus menüüd olid piltidega, mis tegi asja veel lihtsamaks.
Kuld/hõbeehted: tavalised ketipoed seal erilisest soodukast ei rõkka. Väiksemad kohad müüavad asju odavamalt ning mõned hõbeehted leidsid sealt ka tee minuga koju.
Kuna kogu reisi vältel käisime läbi päris palju kohti, siis seekord proovin juttu/selgitust kirjutada pigem piltide vahele ning jaotada postitused enam-vähem mingi loogika järgi mitmesse osasse.
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We landed at Kiev airport on the 28th of June and Ubered to our airbnb home which was near the Pecherska subway station. In the evening we had our first local meal at Bestia pub - dedicated to one of UK's football players. We also had a small walk around the city center and the sunset photos you see are the first ones I took in Ukraine.
What to say about Kiev/Ukraine? From the very first Uber ride (which was a Dacia and since 3 out of 4 Ubers we took were Dacias, I can safely say that 75% of Ukraine's Ubers are Dacias) we realized that seat belts are not obligatory in this country - they are there, but no one is using them. In our Dacia we couldn't even attach them to anything, there were no slots for them.
Overall, the cars had a wide variety of fancy "I don't even know what that is" to "yes, good old Soviet machinery at work". It was cool to see Lada taxis still working and I wish we had taken one up for a ride. Speed limits are recommendations at best.
Metro ticket was 5 UAH (0,16 EUR), trolley 4 UAH (0,13 EUR). We mostly used trolleys and the subway in Kiev. They still have (mostly) ladies selling tickets on the trolleys and old-time ticket punching machines. You can also buy a ticket from the driver, in case the lady is currently off work. Transport in Tallinn has a timetable and specific times for the line. In Kiev, that was not the case: i.e in a timeframe of 6-10 AM you could expect to catch a trolley in a 13-29 minute interval. As a positive surprise, the trolleys were equipped with free Wifi and the station announcements (plus other useful information) was played out in English as well.
One thing I can't get over is the amount of beggars on the streets. I saw couple of pregnant women, just standing in the street with their hand reached ahead. To be honest, I don't think I've ever seen something like this before, they looked just like normal people with normal looking clothes and yet here they were. Maybe times have changed and it's common in other parts of Europe as well, I don't know.
Barriers and fences are very popular in Kiev, there are metal barriers guarding pretty much everything. And many of them are in yellow-blue combinations, which are the colors of the flag of Ukraine. As a matter of fact, you could see a lot of nationalistic elements and sense how proud they are of that.
About prices. Petrol was about 30 UAH (roughly 1 EUR), in the countryside I saw it even for 26 UAH. Just a basic supermarket vodka sold for 80 UAH (2,59 EUR). Cream liqueur Vana Tallinn is in the menu of a pub in Kiev and it's also an ingredient of couple of shots. But it's also available in the store for 200 UAH (6,49 EUR). Cigarettes are 31 UAH (~1 EUR) and the cheapest I saw were 21 UAH (0,68 EUR). I believe the prices would go even lower outside of city center in a bigger shopping mall, but we just didn't have time to go there.
Eating out. It's possible to go cheap there as well. We used Foursquare, which tends to have a bit more trendy and pricier places, but we still managed to find some quite affordable ones as well. If you'd skip Foursquare, I believe you wouldn't spend that much on food at all. My knowledge of Russian is pretty basic - I can understand a simple conversation so-so. Menus in Ukrainian on the other hand, made me scratch my head sometimes. But I think you're still good to go, if you recognize the category of the food and at least one ingredient. Some places had pictures of the food as well, so that made it really easy.
Silver/gold: the bigger chain-type stores didn't really wow me with their discounts or prices, but some smaller places actually had some nice pieces with a good price.
Since we visited many areas and places during this trip, I'm going to write between the photos to explain some things and hopefully divide the photos and posts in a somewhat logical way.
Jõel toimuvad paadisõidud ning ühest sellisest võtsime osa järgneval päeval. Sõit kestab umbes tunni, mille jooksul jõutakse algpunktist Emake Ukraina monumendiga enam-vähem kohakuti ning seejärel sõidetakse tagasi. Sõidu ajal on alumiselt korruselt võimalik osta jäätist ja õlut (võimalik, et veel midagi, kuigi suuremaid sööke ei näinud kedagi söömas) ning samuti on seal ka WC. Sõit ise maksab ligikaudu 200 UAH, tahaks öelda, et 180, kuid mälu hetkel streigib. Võrreldes Peterburi paadituuridega, mis viivad linna südames olevatel kanalitel läbi huvitavate piirkondade ning sildade alt läbi, ei saa just öelda, et siin sama elamuse saab. Paadisõitu Kiievis tasub võtta pigem siis, kui päev on palav ja tahaks tunnikese varjus mõnusat tuuleiili nautida
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There are boat rides which take you along the Dnieper river roughly near the Motherland Monument and then the boat turns back. The whole cruise takes about an hour and costs...maybe something near 200 UAH. We went on a ride the next day. You can also buy beer and ice cream on board and they have a toilet as well. Compared to the boat tours of St Petersburg which go through the canals in the heart of the city, I can't say you'd get the same experience here. It's worth it on a hot day, when you just want to feel the warm breeze whilst having a roof which protects you from the sun.
Loomulikult pidin pilti tegema (suvalisest) metroost, kuigi ilusamad alad - ootesaalid, kaunistused, laed jms jäid pildistamata. Metroos tundus olevat tipptund õhtul 19-20 vahel ning ühel korral sain ka tunda seda hirmu, mis tähendab kahe küünega ainsast ligipääsetavast nurgast kinni hoidmine.
Maailma kõige sügavamast metroost, Aresanalna, pole samuti pilti, sest paraku poleks pildilt see sügavus kuidagi välja tulnud. Nimelt oli tegemist kaheosalise eskalaatoriga ning seetõttu see täiesti lõputu sõiduna ei tundunudki.
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I naturally had to take a photo of the subway which is actually quite nice, I just didn't take any photos of the beautiful waiting areas, ceilings or decorations. The evening rush hour seems to be between 7-8 PM and I got to experience the fear of only being able to hold myself with two nails grabbing into some door detail.
I'm also missing a photo of the deepest subway station in the world, Arsenalna. The escalator ride was split up and thus it didn't really give the impression of an endless escalator.
Siin on sissepääs funikulööri, mis meil proovimata jäi. Paar pilti hiljem on näha veidi ka selle sisemust. Kui ma ei eksi, siis paariminutiline sõit maksis 80 UAH - aga võin eksida
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Entrance to the funicular, which we decided not to try. Couple of photos later you can see a bit more of the inside. If I'm not mistaken, this ride was about 80 UAH.
Maidanile jõudes oli kell juba veidi hiline ning seetõttu polnud valgusoludega kiita. Mõned udused/säbrulised kaadrid olen sellest olulisest kohast siiski välja toonud
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We arrived at Maidan about 10 PM and that meant limited light was available. Still, I decided to add some blurry/grainy shots of this important place
Sissepääs kalmistule, kus valvavad kassid - vähemasti selline mulje jäi, sest kokku oli neid seal umbes 5.
Mõned pildid ka surnuaiast endast. Käisime seal tegelikult otsimas ühte konkreetset esivanemate hauda, mille lõpuks ka leidsime. Tegemist ei ole ehk tavalise "turisti visiidiga", kuid alati on huvitav näha ka selliseid kohti ning seda, kuidas nö surnuaiakultuur erineb Eesti omast. Praeguse kogemuse põhjal võib öelda, et ukrainlastel on suured kivid ja uhked struktuurid kalmude peal. Paljudel olid kivide peal ka fotod nendest, kes sinna mulda olid sängitatud. Eestis on seevastu kivid väiksemad ja graveeritud pilte on pigem puudest, lindudest, ristidest jms. Vähestel on portreed inimestest. Loomulikult on praegu tegemist ainult ühe kogemusega, sest isegi väikses Eestis on surnuaiad põhjas ja lõunas erineva välimusega.
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Entrance of the cemetery that is guarded by cats - at least that's what it looked like because more and more kept showing up.
Some photos of the cemetery as well. We actually went to search for a specific relative's grave, which we luckily found. Although it's not your typical "tourist visit", it's always interesting to see how these places look in other countries and how the "cemetery-culture" differs. From this experience, I could see many very posh memorial stones and structures, many had photos of the people who laid there. In Estonia the headstones are smaller and have pictures of trees, crosses, birds etc engraved on them. Few have portraits of the deceased. But of course, this is just a small sample size. Even in Estonia there is a difference between cemeteries in the north vs in the south.
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