Ukraine An Unexpected Surprise

This isn't going to be an in depth article about Ukraine. This is just going to be a general overview.  I want to let readers know why I was surprised by Ukraine.

When you think of former Soviet locations you probably think of Soviet block type architecture. The same apartment buildings all over with no soul. You think of obsolete factories with huge smokestacks spewing out black death upon the people. You think of large mean men in long black leather coats that go by Boris and are probably part of the Pravda. You also probably think the whole place looks run down and the sky a constant grey.

I even lived in a place in China that this is pretty accurate. I referred to the place as Post-apocalyptic Soviet. These kind of places do exist. Ukraine though was not like this.

To be fair their certainly were parts of Ukraine that had a run down look. There were clear signs of the communist rule like other parts Eastern Europe. Ukraine did not get stuck in the Soviet era and only break down from there. Ukraine has being building.

I had read that the freeways were terrible before I arrived. While they were not as nice as many of the well maintained European freeways they were far from what I was expecting. This should have been my first clue that perhaps things were not what I thought they would be.

Driving through Ukraine was similar to driving through nearby areas of Europe. You would go by beautiful woodlands. Occasionally you would go by farmland. You would see some streams, lakes, and rivers. There were also many small storybook villages with an Eastern European feel. The Orthodox churches always offering a pretty surprise when you neared a small town. Some of the Eastern European countries that were part of the E.U. looked worse.

All I heard about the people was they were not welcoming and hard to get to know. I did not find that to be the case. Everyone I interacted was very friendly. I was interacting mostly with young adults but  even when I was able to interact with older residents I found them to be helpful. The biggest problem was the language barrier. You could get some idea of what things were like the Cyrillic word for bank looks similar to ours. However few people speak English well. Your best bet is to find young adults if you need help and can't speak Russian or Ukrainian. The language barrier is probably the biggest barrier to having positive interactions with locals. Even when you can't communicate with words if you need something most people were wiling to try to help you out even if it means an extemporaneous game of charades.

Ukraine was very reasonably priced. They even had some great deals for what you got. For instance a ticket to the Bolshoi ballet are $100 for the cheap tickets. But you can get tickets to the Kiev ballet for under $1. While the Bolshoi is one of the best in the world it is not 100x the quality.


                                                                (Photo Liz West)

The food was also a surprise. Like the rest of Europe it was delicious. I did get a chance to try Borscht and I can only recommend you try it once to say you had it but beyond that it is not worth having again. There are plenty of other foods from popular local foods like pirogi (varenyky in Russian) to foods that were not Ukrainian specialties like random breads they had. There were also foods that you will not have heard about at home but are well known local foods that will surprise you.

I had heard negative things about Ukraine. The roads were said to be terrible. The people were said to be as cold as the weather. The land ugly as the hearts of the people. Before going though I knew from experience that you really don't know about a place until you have been. Knowing people who have been can help but you really need to experience things for yourself. I was happy to find that Ukraine was a nice place to visit.

My only reservation in recommending it to other travelers is it can be difficult for some to deal with because of the language barrier. I would not recommend you visit Ukraine if you have never visited a country where English is not the native language or spoken by a majority of the citizens. For some it can be a little to adventurous.

If this is not a problem for you though I recommend Ukraine. I hope to return again some day myself and see more of the country.

What about you? Have you been to Ukraine? Do you want to go? Let us know below.