Features Ukraine blog

Kachanivka Park Welcomes Romantics and the Spirits of Poets

A land owner of Greek descent, a chorister in the court of the Empress of Russia, with an unfortunate last name translated as “head of cabbage”, and an overstressed royal diplomat for Catherine the Great were among the 18th century proprietors of land that has since been transformed into Ukraine’s largest park.

Three Ukrainian Itineraries to Jump Start Your Travel Plans (Part 1)

Cramming an international vacation into two or three weeks can not only be difficult but exhausting, and can leave travelers feeling like the days zipped past. If you are strapped for a vacation but still want to experience all that Ukraine has to offer, why not take a look at the following itineraries to make the most of your time. Many other options exist, but these may just jump start your travel plans for 2008.

Three Ukrainian Itineraries to Jump Start Your Travel Plans (Part 2)

Three Ukrainian Itineraries to Jump Start Your Travel Plans (Part 1)

Option Three: Black Sea Mysteries

Odessa, a land of Greeks, Turks, and Catherine the Great’s fantasies, is cosmopolitan port city with a host of characters straight out of central casting. Immigrants from all over Europe continue to come to Odessa to either make their fortune or lose their lifesavings. Breeds apart from other parts of Ukraine, the residents of Odessa are stylish, cultured, funny, and a touch wild. Famous for the Potemkin Steps, Odessa’s beaches are famous for their carnival atmosphere as well as their polluted condition. Ukrainians vacation in Odessa where the climate is temperate and the nightlife outrageous.

Eastern Ukraine Offers Promise to Travelers Taking the Road Less Traveled

Crimea, Kyiv, Lvov, and the Carpathian Mountain regions of Ukraine steal the travel spotlight, but the eastern portion of the country, long identified with the Russian and Soviet Empire culturally, politically, and linguistically, is a discovery of its own for travelers wishing to swim against the tide.

Seed art may be an American hobby, but in Ukraine, straw art reigns

When the state fair rolls into town, especially in the American Midwest, tourists flock to see visages of Elvis, the current president, or farm animals made from multi-colored corn seeds. Seed art is both a skill and an artistic expression of the agricultural life. Making art from the earth’s grains is not simply a tradition in the United States, however. Ukrainians with an agricultural background or a proclivity for celebrating the fruits of the earth harvest the straw left behind after the grain is threshed and separated.

Ukraine’s Museum of Books and Book Printing

Read a novel on your PDA. Check out the next installment of a memoir online. Peruse the local bookshop for the latest bestsellers. Books in any form are an integral part of world culture, even if declarations surface each year about their impending demise. Imagine for a moment a world where books are not only printing one at a time but are read only by the powerful.