Geoff Brock & Bruce Gamble
         
     

Kiev (Київ)

 
 
 
 
   
After cruising overnight, we were scheduled to arrive in Kiev at 10:30 in the morning. The scenery changed quite a lot in the last couple of hours before our arrival. Suddenly there were a lot of expensive looking homes lining the river. Seeing Kiev getting closer and closer was quite exciting.
   
   Programme for 21st June 2008
Programme for 22nd June 2008   
     
   

Ken and Jessie chatting to Geoff
as we approached the city
   
   
   
Kiev is one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe and has preserved its charm over the centuries. During the life of Jaroslav the Wise (978-1054), magnificent palaces, churches and monasteries were situated in stark contrast to small timber houses. Nowadays, there are wide, traffic-congested roads and huge new housing estates adjacent to historically significant ruins. The city may have changed, but there are still numerous impressive buildings, and, of course, the mighty Dnieper River which remain familiar. The old town is on the right bank of the river. It was first mentioned in written works dating back to 559 and the region was densely populated as early as 9th century. The first major expansion of the city was in the reign of Vladimir I (980-1015) who introduced Christianity as the state religion in 988. The Mongols destroyed the town in 1240 and during the course of its history, is has also belonged to Lithuania and Poland, until being finally united with Russia in 1654.
 
   
   
   
   
Soon after we arrived, we were off again on the coaches. Same buses, same drivers, this was getting weird!
The Cave Monastery was founded at the beginning of the 11th century. Building above-ground began under the monastery's abbot, Fedossi. The caves then served as subterranean tombs for the monks. The monastery has been divided into two parts since that time. The Upper Lavra on the mountain and the Lower Lavra comprising the "Near" and "Far" caves. The Mongolian-Tartar attack did a lot to damage the monastery and a first attempt to rebuild it took place in the second half of the 15th century. The subterranean labyrinth of the Near Caves is more than 500m long and the single caves are connected through narrow passageways. The mummies of the monks are laid out in the passages.

It should come as no surprise to anybody that neither of us went into the caves, but many of our group did!
   
   



 
   
   
   
   
   

At end end of the guided tour, it was back to the ship for lunch and then we had the afternoon at leisure to go off and do our own thing! The first thing we did was take the funicular up from the riverside to the centre of town once again.

   
   
   
   
 
 
Oh no, not work... just as well it was the weekend!
   
Many of the streets in the city had been closed for various athletic activities, not that we saw too much evidence of these, except for a few runners and some javelins being thrown, but there was certainly a carnival atmosphere and we enjoyed walking down the centre of what might ordinarily have been some quite congested roads.
 
 
 
 
 
   
Later, we walked back to the ship and tried to make the most of our last evening. It had been such a lovely holiday and we didn't really want it to end.
 
 
Our last morning, time for a few last minute pictures around the ship and then the coach back to the airport.
 
 
 
©Geoff Brock and Bruce Gamble