The downtown area is under heavy Polish influence. And it is not too hard to tell this place was at least at one time a fairly wealthy town. All the roads in the downtown are reddish cobblestone roads. Street signs and light poles are much more European style, or perhaps Polish style. There are definitely more churches than coffee shops. And they look wealthy churches too. It was a Sunday when we visited (or I think, it is always difficult keeping track of day being a tourist for some reason). All the Churches are loaded with people. There are as many Polish Catholic churches as Ukrainian Orthodox. And apparently the Ukrainian Orthodox is slightly different than the Russian ones.
I ran into a young couple of Chinese. And they are the only Chinese speaking people I ran into during my entire stay in Ukraine, other than Sergei and myself. Yeah, Sergei speaks Chinese. That itself deserves its own blog post. But for me, it was a unique experience being special and being Chinese at the same time. :-)
The only thing touring with a hiker like Sergei is, you must walk. Thus we did, from the train station. We started to see the city of Lviv now. It was 6 am.
Still, edge of the city.
A Catholic church. The top is always sharper than the dome-ish Orthodox ones.
Long live Ukraine. First sign of nationalism as I was stepping into the city.
Stepan Bandera, an interesting figure, a nationalist. His whole life had been dedicated to bringing Ukraine to independence, against German and Russian occupation. He was assassined by KGB in 1961 in Munich. There has been many lies the Soviets made up upon him. Perhaps partially because of that, he is a rather very disputable figure in Ukraine today. His popularity widely vary across different region of the country. In Lviv and the region, he is a hero. This statue was build in 2007.
Not to say Lviv lacks anything, but it certainly has plenty, I repeat, plenty of churches. They are all of the most attractive architecture, undoubtedly.
Some random flat.
It is not that no one lives in the city. I guess people usually don't get out to the street 6 am in the morning on Sundays.
This is huge and nice and rich Polish Catholic church.
The bell tower of the same church.
Heart of the downtown. Niiiiice.
Oh wait, this is that huge, and nice and rich Polish Catholic church. There are actually a lot more, Polish or not Polish.
Back side of the church.
Some random alley. See the cobblestone road.
Even the back street is stylish.
This is chapel this owned by some rich guy. The interior is very elaborate.
This is a corner of an Armenian Church. I can't find a better picture of it, and I refuse to believe I didn't take any.
That was the only Armenian church we saw, among 10 dozen of others. The exterior was more or less Byzantium-ish, where as the interior was much simpler and less, much less, lavish than any of the other churches. It was very different. Armenia was the first Christian state, back in the 4th century. And my understand was that they forked out from the Christianity early on and retained better than all of the later branches. Wikipedia says, Armenian Christians are predominantly Armenian Apostolic Church, a form of Oriental Orthodox, ritualistic and conservative.
Time for food. It was like 10 am, so must be brunch. The restaurant was small, but really nice.
With flash it turned a bit better in details, but took some life from it. But luckily it didn't take away the beauty of it.
Silverware in a shoe. I hope it hasn't been worn.
A shot from in front of the restaurant, with stomach stuffed.
How is it living in a flat of 1700s?
Let's go get a feel of it.
Stairway, looking up. I did have a good eyefull of the setting, though regretfully no more pics. The condition is not bad at all for a 300 year old building. I wish I could look like that when I get to that age. But I find that ceilings in the hall and in the stairway were low, barely enough for me, if that. I might have been a tall dude perhaps if I was born 300 years earlier. Another thing makes me regret for coming to this world too late.
Post Office. In operation, it is just that we started our day too early for these guys for a Sunday.
It couldn't have been a poor city back in the days in the 1700s.
Walked into a flat complex.
A peek into real life. This is grocery store. It actually kind of like Safeway, has got everything in it. But it is in door market style, many vendors, each own or rent their own space, and sell their stuffs. I did prove it, but it certainly looks this way. This is another thing that reminded a lot of China. What they sell, the way the food is prepared, and the sales style. The only difference is no one calls out for customers attentions here.
Back road to another Church that we were about to visit.
It was said that Mozart's son had his first piano performance here.
This was someone's home. Forgot his name.
This is very common, that a statue of St. Mary would be some where in the middle of a street, or a corner of a back alley. And there would always be many who stop by, pray, and some drop flowers.
It was early afternoon some time. We went around and back to the downtown. A lot more people on the square. It looked much more touristy now.
An opera house.
Opera house.
This is certainly an Orthodox church, and it is a Russian Orthodox church, because it doesn't have benches. People stand. I was luck with this one. In most cases in Lviv where we were there, the churches were all heavily attended. I feared that taking pictures might be offensive to some who were communicating with God. This one, I saw someone taking pictures first, I just went along.
It was definitely a beautiful church.
Baptizing a crying baby.
A candy girl, sweet one.
I have never been rejected when asking to take a picture, even when she is this beautiful.
Not sure which of the 3 is the luck one.
The unrecorded story was, a gust of wind came by, and blew up the trim of the beautiful bride's beautiful dress. The guy next to her was helping put down the skirt. I did wait until that awkward moment passed before snapping the shot. But guy may not know the timing, so he was saying something to me, with a smile, as you can see. Looked like he was humoring me with something, unfortunately I couldn't get it.
It was soooo lovely seeing the little cutie walking closer in a traditional dress. So lovely...
No idea what time it was, but the sausages and beer was good. Of course the beer is good, it is Ukraine.
There is a castle on the hill. We were on our way searching for it.
Forgot the name of the fruit. Sergei told me it is bitter. Bitterness usually doesn't bother me. So took one of these cute looking things and put in my mouth. And that would be the last time in my life to do that. I didn't spit it out. But the taste of it wasn't exactly good. It wasn't just bitter, it was someone stinky, more or less like rotten eggs, or natto (my wife's favorite, so maybe I should have brought some home for her, regret).
The castle. She looks a good climber.
Inspired by the little girl, Sergei went up this way.
The top of the castle.
Lviv
Lviv
I think I took shot all around. But I would know what direction this is.
Beer and snack shop. The owner is the lady in white. The senior gentleman, on the right, walked in, talking to her, "you are going to feed me again today. You can't let me go to bed hungry, right?" She went into with him into the shop, and picked something. I didn't turn back and see what they got. But I have no doubt he got beer too. Or it wouldn't be Ukraine. It smelt neighorly love, and I adored it.
A grave yard. It was massive. We couldn't see how large it is.
This marks the end of tour in Lviv.
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