This post is divided in more “episodes” and in concomitance with the last one will be available a photographic gallery of these interesting days passed in Kiev. Let us start the adventure:
Most common question that people asked me each time I told I was going to Kiev, Ukraine, was “why are you ending up over there?” followed by an unfailing “pay attention”. The answer is just in the curiosity that follows me since I was born. Ukraine sadly come up again under the mass media lights because of the Maydan clashes and later on because of the Russian military intervention in Crimea. A military intervention sufficient to bring the Ukrainian economy to its knees and to sink the tourism even in areas where there is no peril. The question that was going around my mind was how it is to live in Kiev during this hard time, is the reality the one shown by the mass media? So I started taking information and I discovered a city with ancient roots. I discovered that my old friend Riccardo, also blogger but about modern art, was wondering with the same thoughts about Ukraine. Even if a bit worried about some news coming from the south east of Ukraine we decided to go. The Italian Foreign Minister web page was clear: “there is no particular danger in Kiev”. As soon as we got to Malpensa Airport we realized that, more than encountering just few tourists, we would have encountered none. On the flight to Kiev I can tell quite surely that we were the only non-Ukrainian on board.
Reaching Kiev was an adventure, a travel not given for granted, a new experience. A city with an ancient history, birthplace of a big part of the Slavic culture, with many sites under UNESCO protection. A vivacious city during daytime, with the world deepest undergrounds, “moving” bars on the roads, many traditional restaurants with very delicious dishes. There are so many museums and so many historical sites that few days are not enough. Among the possibilities there are many museums and monuments that remember the hard times Ukraine has been through and that, as it seems, it is still facing.
Indeed, Ukraine is alive history, is a Country that ended up in between the interests of USA, Europe and Russia. Bad mix. Bringing all of us to see a situation of other times. To talk about other times, in the contemporary world, is quite relative and maybe misleading considering that, once out of the quite areas of the world, the rest is still facing many awful situations. A recent Italian movie directed by Olmi ends with a quote of Toni Lunardi, a shepherd, “war is a bad beast that goes around the world and never stops”.
Don’t miss the next post, just click here to read it!
© Franconiphotos – All rights reserved.