PEOPLEnet has the largest 3G coverage in Ukraine at the moment and is new mobile operator in Ukraine launched commercially in February 2007.

If you’re in Lviv i advise you to go to People.net shop right in front of the Latin Cathedral of St. Maria on the way from Svobody Avenue to Rynok Square. Turn first right coming from Svobody, the People.net shop is the 3rd door if I’m not wrong. Look at the sign. Try to get Vladislav as he speaks very good English and is a very nice guy that will help you installing your modem in your PC.

This modem costs 145 UAH + 60 UAH for some on-line time. When you’re done with the 60 UAH you can recharge you account. Just take your SIM card number with you. 60 UAH should give you for intense 1 week of connection or 1 month 1 or 2 hours per day connection. depends on you.

You can also get other USB connected modems, just ask for the possibilities and prices.

This is the HUAWEI EC360 3G PC Modem from Peoplenet in Ukraine, Wireless Internet Ukraine

There is a large selection of food in self-service style going through great food and asking what we want. There are many things typical of the Ukraine, meat, cereals, soups, desserts, all in weight and small portions so basically you eat and pay for what you ask for.

The restaurant is right on the corner of Sichovykh Stril’tsiv Street and Kostiushka Street. It is just about 30 meters from the Hostel Kosmonaut – the youth hostel Lviv where he stayed 2 nights before getting a house. It’s located only 4-5 minutes from the main square Rynok so it’s in the center and very practical for someone who’s sightseeing to walk by if you need a place to eat cheap and well located. There are many restaurants around the city so finding somewhere to eat will not be difficult, so it’s easy to find a restaurant in Lviv.

The front door of the restaurant in Sichovykh Stril’tsiv Street center Lviv, Ukraine

I’m vegetarian, so I make a short list of prices in the restaurant, but nothing has meat sorry, but this list gives you a small idea of prices in the restaurant.

Restaurant in Lviv

• Traditional Beet Soup (Bortch) = 5.40 UAH
• Portion of pasta with sauce = 4.80 UAH
• Portion of Smetana (cream) = 3.30 UAH
• Portion of baked potatoes = 5.30 UAH
• Portion of Kasha (grain buckwheat) = 3.80 UAH
• Portion of varied salad with tomatoes, olives, zucchini and cheese = 6.70 UAH
• Portion of sautéed mushrooms = 7.50 UAH
• Glass of traditional natural juice “compot” = 3.60 UAH
• 2 cheese cakes with raisins and Smetana = 10.20 UAH

Restaurant Puzata Hata

Street Sichovykh Stril’tsiv No. 12 Lviv Ukraine

My normal food tray in Restaurant Puzata Hata, Restaurant in Lviv, Ukraine

Driving in Ukraine is easy but expect some crazy driver time to time, also some drunk drivers speed up in the evening also inside the cities.

On this page I try to give a small list of road distances in Ukraine between these 3 cities: Kiev, Odessa and Lviv. With time I will make this page a bit more completed with more distances between other cities around the country.

Distances in Ukraine

From Kiev (the capital)
Lviv = 544km
Odessa = 480km

From Odessa (in the south)
Lviv = 793km
Kiev = 480km

From Lviv (on the east)
Kiev = 544km
Odessa = 793km

Meanwhile you can check out this more completed page with more destinations and distances in Ukraine.

Vinnikovskiy Market (Винниковский рынок – Vynnykovskyy Market) is located on Lychakivs’ka Street and the entrance to Solodova Street (Solodova connets north with Lysenka Street), after the Roman Catholic Church of St. Anthony of Padua.

To get there you can take Tram Number 2 from Rynok Square direction Lychakivs’ka Street (opposite direction of the Opera). Other possible trams are Number 7 and Number 8.

Front entrance of Vinnikovskiy Market on Lychakivs’ka Street in Lviv Ukraine

This is a small market with around 50 vendors where you can find basically everything from fresh eggs, to different kinds of vegetables and fruit, meat, bread, many types of cheese, and some small shops sell the normal packed stuff. There’s one bakery and many people selling their own vegetables on the floor.

Last Sunday I got to buy and try for the first time in my life a fruit called Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum). Maybe for many people these are normal fruits, but not for me. So I got half kilo. This Blackcurrant fruit has a very high vitamin C content of around 300% of the daily Value per 100g!!!, and offers good quantity of phosphorus, pantothenic acid (aka vitamin B5) iron and potassium. Sounds good hey?!

Inside view of vegetables vendors inside Vinnikovskiy Market in Lviv Ukraine

Prices in Vinnikovskiy Market

• 3 heads of fresh garlic = 3 UAH
• 4 medium onions = 4 UAH
• 1 kilo (2.2 pounds) of mushrooms = 18 UAH
• 1 kilo (2.2 pounds) of peaches = 14,3 UAH
• 300 grams (0.6 pounds) of green peas = 6 UAH
• 0.5 kilo (1.1 pounds) fresh cheese = 6 UAH
• 0.5 kilo (1.1 pounds) kg of blackcurrant = 10 UAH
• 1kg kilo (2.2 pounds) of blueberries = 14 UAH
• 1 mushroom pastry = 4 UAH
• 1 wooden spoon = 3 UAH

I now list all the UNESCO sites in Ukraine, but also all the sites submitted on the Tentative List, waiting to be approved by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. So this means, that apart from these main 4 sites, other 14 exist and are of great interest to visit while traveling in the country and are probably on the list of the best destinations to travel in Ukraine.

« A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site like a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city, that is on a list that is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. (…) Each World Heritage Site is the property of the state on whose territory the site is located, but it is considered in the interest of the international community to preserve each site. » in World Heritage Site

With time, and as I visit all these sites (yes i hope i can visit all of them of course, I’ll add photos to this post.

Ukraine World Heritage List – Cultural Sites

• Kiev: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (1990)

Designed to rival Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, Kiev’s Saint-Sophia Cathedral symbolizes the ‘new Constantinople’, capital of the Christian principality of Kiev, which was created in the 11th century in a region evangelized after the baptism of St Vladimir in 988.

• L’viv: the Ensemble of the Historic Centre (1998)

The city of L”viv, founded in the late Middle Ages, was a flourishing administrative, religious and commercial centre for several centuries.

View of some monuments in Lviv, a city in southwest Ukraine.

• Struve Geodetic Arc (2005)

The Struve Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through 10 countries and over 2,820 km. These are points of a survey, carried out between 1816 and 1855 by the astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve, which represented the first accurate measuring of a long segment of a meridian. This helped to establish the exact size and shape of the planet and marked an important step in the development of earth sciences and topographic mapping.

Ukraine World Heritage List – Natural Sites

• Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians (2007)

The Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathian, an outstanding example of undisturbed, complex temperate forests, constitute a transnational serial property of ten separate components along a 185 km axis from the Rakhiv Mountains and the Chornohirskyi Range in Ukraine, west along the Polonynian Ridge, to the Bukovské Vrchy and Vihorlat Mountains in Slovakia.

Ukraine World Heritage Tentative List Sites

• Historic Centre of Tchernigov, 9th -13th centuries (1989)

Historic Centre of Tchernigov , 9th -13th centuries (Borissoglebsky Cathedral, 12th century, Preobazhensky Cathedral, 11th century).

• Cultural Landscape of Canyon in Kamenets-Podilsk (1989)

Castle and Historic centre of Kamenets -Podolsk 11th -18th centuries.

• Ruins of Ancient City of Khersoness, 4th B.C. – 12th century (1989)

Ruins of Ancient City of Khersoness,4th B.C. -12th century.

• Tarass Shevtchenko Tomb and State Historical and Natural Museum – Reserve (1989)

Tarass Shevtchenko Tomb and State Historical and Natural Museum – Reserve.

• National Steppe Biosphere Reserve “Askaniya Nowa” (1989)

National Steppe Biosphere Reserve “Askaniya Nowa”.

• Dendrological Park “Sofijivka” (2000)

The dendrological park “Sofiyivka” of Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences is a research establishment of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; the park is of all-state significance. The construction of the park was started in 1796, the opening ceremony took place in May, 1802.

• Bagçesaray Palace of the Crimean Khans (2003)

The Bagçesaray Palace of the Crimean Khans is a compact architectural ensemble consisting of 17 buildings and 9 inner closed courtyards. The Bagçesaray Palace of the Crimean Khans was built in the third-fourth decades of the 16 century. The oldest dated construction of the initial ensemble bears the date of 1532, while the written records mention the Palace under 1539. The Palace built as the main residence of the Crimean Khans (the monarchs of the Crimean Khanate – the state of the Crimean Tatar people) kept this meaning during about 250 years – from the 1530s till the collapse of the Crimean Tatar statehood in 1783.

• Archaeological Site “Stone Tomb” (2006)

The central part of this property presents a mound like hill of 12 m in height and 2,5 ha in area. It is known under the name of “Stone Tomb”. This mound is made up of individual somatic sandstone clods or blocks, with a great number of caves and grottoes between them. On the grottoes’ stone walls; there are over 1000 petro — glyphs with symbolic, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images. The oldest of them – a mammoth – without any doubt could be referred to the Late Stone Age.

• Mykolayiv Astronomical Observatory (2007)

The Mykolayiv Astronomical Observatory is a cultural property of national level, the oldest naval observatory in south-eastern Europe. It was founded in 1821 by the Commander-in-chief of the Black Sea Fleet Admiral O.S. Greyg. The Observatory was built to the design of the Chief Architect of the Black Sea Admiralty F.I.Wunsch. Its ensemble consists of the Main Observatory Building built in the style of Classicism in 182 1-1 829, astronomic pavilions of the early 20-th c. where historic astronomic instruments and other museum exhibits are kept.

• Complex of the Sudak Fortress Monuments of the 6th – 16th c. (2007)

The Sudak Fortress is a unique complex of the monuments of medieval archaeology and architecture of the 6th – 16th centuries. The total area of the fortress is 27,9 ha. The overwhelming majority of the architectural monuments located on this territory are included into the State Cultural Heritage List. Towers, walls, complex of city gate and other defensive constructions, compose a unique, well-preserved fortification system, which skillfully harmonizes with a natural relief.

• The Residence of Bukovynian Metropolitans (2007)

The Residence of Bukovynian Metropolitans is a monument of national importance. The property presents an ensemble of buildings situated on Dominic hill. It was built to the design of Czech architect Josef Hlavka. The ensemble was being built in 1864-1 882. It consists of the Mytropolychy, Seminary and Monastyrsky buildings, Seminary Church and a park with park architecture.

• Astronomical Observatories of Ukraine (2008)

he history of these observatories is connected with two outstanding achievements in astronomy of the 19th-20th centuries. The first important achievement was a creation of the fundamental celestial coordinate system, which allows us to improve astronomical constants, to answer fundamental cosmological questions related with the origin and evolution of universe. Five fundamental catalogues of stars were created during 200 years as the result of combined efforts of many observatories all over the world.

• Historic Center of the Port City of Odessa (2009)

Odessa is the only city in Ukraine that has entirely preserved the urban structure of a multinational southern port town typical for the late 18th – 19th centuries. The port function of the town played a dominant role in determining urban system of Odessa, and plans for development of the port town were achieved in extremely short terms – just one hundred years, from 1794 to the late 19th century.

• Kyiv: Saint Sophia Cathedral with Related Monastic Buildings, St. Cyril’s and St. Andrew’s Churches, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (2009)

St. Cyril’s Church in Kyiv is an outstanding monument of world culture. It has preserved the 12th century architecture and 12th, 17th and 19th centuries monumental painting. It’s a unique East-Christian construction of Kyivan Rus with typical for the epoch of feudal wars peculiarities. The unassertive, firm, fundamental architecture reveals the second after sacral function of this structure – the function of the fortress.

I heard this expression a lot before I first came to the Ukraine: “Ukrainian girls are very easy”. Hum… this always came to my mind as a personal enigma and I was always curious to know it for sure.

First of all, what defines a girl of being easy or not? Is this bad? I mean, we all have the male conception of being easy. Majority of men by this definition are easy. But the “macho” idea all over the world for this concept still rules and even women are the first to say that probably.

What happens in some countries, and what I notice here in Ukraine, is that people are quite free of mind. So if a girl likes you, she will be the first to come on you and say that, and will be strongly willing to have sex with you, just because of her decision and not because you want to. They do it because THEY can decide to do it, or not.

I will quote another post I have about this issue:

« Something I notice is that women are quite free of mind (…), and freedom brings personal happiness, and in the Ukrainian case, it brings free of mind in doing whatever, dressing whatever, going whatever you have in your mind.

So this inner freedom is reflected on people’s eyes, and in terms of women, well, its a open door to the soul, and that soul is free and whiling to believe in themselves, and be independent and with strong character. »  in Ukrainian Women

By this I want to say and generally speaking of course, is that women in Ukraine rule their life and what they can do about it. Something good that came from the Soviet Communist times, is that women are not put apart of not being able to do something men only will. Women here are often seen driving buses, trams, taxis and doing jobs women that in some other countries might not be seen. Here, well, people just don’t really care much about what you do or about what kind of life you take.

Are Ukrainian women easy?

Yes and No.

Why?

There are all types of women everywhere in the world. Ukraine has plenty of girls wanting to go out of the country, so many women look for a foreign man to get a chance to go out of Ukraine. Pubs and nightclubs and full of this type of girls so if this is what you’re looking for, YES, women are easy and YES, easy. There are a lot of Prostitutes in Ukraine also, like in many other East European countries.

But, Ukraine is not the only country where this happens. After living almost 3 years in Morocco, well, conditions are the same so plenty of girls just want to marry a foreign man and go out of Africa. The only difference is the color of skin and the deep gorgeous dark eyes that only Arabic girls have.

Now, the point is:

If, you’re just looking for a normal girl that has her own life, like the ones back in your own country do right? Well, things can get hard as many of these girls know that most men come to the Ukraine searching for sex and searching for easy girls. And by this I say that there’s a specific type of girl that will definitely close her doors to any foreigner as they don’t want to be seen like one of these “easy girls” and by the reason that they will probably only go with a guy that want nothing but having fun with her. So, nothing much she couldn’t do with a Ukrainian guy.

But still, yes, love is in the air.

While having the opportunity of travelling around quite a few countries around Europe, I can notice that Ukrainian Women are on a different level of beauty and personal commitment to themselves in terms of taking care of their physical aspect.

I mean, I know beauty is on the eye of the beholder, and personally I prefer darkish skin / dark hair but I have to say that many woman here know how to take care of themselves.

Something I notice is that people here both men and women are quite free of mind (except on the country closed borders issue), and freedom brings personal happiness, and in the Ukrainian case, it brings free of mind in doing whatever, dressing whatever, going whatever you have in your mind. Ukrainian people are quite sharp in their minds so looks and mind seem to be a strong competitive character.

So this inner freedom is reflected on people’s eyes, and in terms of women, well, its a open door to the soul, and that soul is free and whiling to believe in themselves, and be independent and with strong character. Although the character here makes Ukrainian quite proud people, too much on my way of seeing live as if an Ukrainian knows something, well, he/she will “know it OK?”, and there’s no need to argue because “he/she knows!”.

Women in Ukraine are quite sensual, and its exactly about this inner sensuality I’m talking about that is unique and differs from many other countries. It’s not exactly the outside sexy looks (majority of them are also), but, a 50 year old woman will be as sexy and as sensual as many 20 year old girls around many countries in West Europe.

Going out on the streets puts you on the mood and make you walk with a smile, and this is an amazing feeling. People in general give extreme importance to looks, so men and women live and act for looks and appearance. That is a common worry in a Ukrainian head. Girls really paint themselves, and use that type of really provocative clothes. I know many Americans are really attracted to this type of girls, many of my friends in Portugal as I know, kinda prefer natural looks instead of “made” looks. So all depends on the point of view.

Every country have beautiful woman, that is for sure, but the point here is the quantity of gorgeous and good looking women per capita. So if some countries have 25% of pretty women inside the total women population, Ukraine might have around 75% which is by fact a huge discrepancy. Also interesting to notice is that, many men in East Europe are attracted for dark hair and dark skin women and many guys say that Italian, Spanish and Portuguese girls are all pretty! so it may really depend on your personal taste towards beauty.