Travelfood

It is maybe too easy to compare the capital of Ukraine, Kiev (or Kiyv as the locals write it), with St Petersburg or Moscow. There is a more western atmosphere about Kiev than in Moscow, but the dull concrete blocks of the suburbs and the muddy small markets by the metro stations soon remind of the Soviet era. There are nevertheless lots of information and signs in English in the Kiev metro and the city center, so maybe that can be interpreted as a tourism friendly direction? Or then it is the temporary aftermath campaign after the football cup 2012. The host combination Ukraine – Poland might indicate that Ukraine rather wants to look west than east?

When arriving you might feel that the Ukrainians smile more than the sour Russians. Nevertheless, all that is needed is a motionless, pale stare that just say ”I do not know” when asking a simple question in the ”wrong” language to make you feel not welcome. This stings especielly when you find out that even metro vendors succeed in turning locals into shopping-frenzy smilers! The unfriendliness towards tourists is especially underlined in the neighbouring country Belarus, where I changed plane and spent a few hours at the Minsk airport. It feels as if the sense of power drives people in these countries, and both subordinates and tourists are expected to submit in front of power. This is obvious also in the numerous queues, where everyone tries to exercise power by bullying themselves to the front of the line.

The Boryspil airport in Kiev was a mess in November 2012. My flight ticket indicated the wrong flight terminal and when finally arriving to the right one, the information desk was unable to answer whether the shops on the international side accepted Ukrainian hryvna currency or not. I tried to change the hryvnas to euros at the currency exchange booths, but none were able to do so at the moment, so I decided to use the hryvnas at the international side. To every travellers astonishment, there was no shop, tax free, cafeteria or kiosk or anything at the international side, so I had to leave Ukraine hungry and I probably looked as sour as the locals do!

I have tried Ukrainian food mainly elsewhere than in Ukraine. My favourite is breaded, garlic butter filled Kiev chicken. Another common Ukrainian ingredient, cabbage, is not my favorite. Once in Poland I had tasty meat rolls in horseradish sauce, and that was said to be Ukrainian. Otherwise the cuisine resemble of the Russian with pelmeni dumplings, bread and borsch soup.

Europe, food, travel, travel experiences, Ukraine