Kiev

[Zabo]

Anybody been and do you have any advice?

Cheapest way to get there. Places to stay/avoid.

I want to visit most of the literary haunts e.g. Bulgakov.

Is there anything else worth seeing besides the churches?

Thank You

 

[Jon-of-arc]

anywhere named after a breadcrumb covered piece of poultry, rolled around a garlic&herb enthused butter centre, needs to stop before its started.

lol

 

[smmudge]

You can take a day trip to Chernobyl, Pripyat and the exclusion zone. I've never been but I'd like to do that one day.

 

[not-bono-ever]

its cold atm

I just wandered around the pace and it wasnt that good- slightly more interesting ex Ebloc city.

There is a Cherynobl museum in Kiev, but its a bastard to find. I seem to recall an Afghan war museum also.

Hotels were shit, but have improved in the past handful of years.

the cops are utter bastards though - they will fleece you at every opportunity.

 

[phildwyer]

Bump. Anyone been to Kiev recently?

the cops are utter bastards though - they will fleece you at every opportunity.

Do you have to carry a passport, bribe money or what?

And: is this true of the customs people too?

 

[not-bono-ever]

Bump. Anyone been to Kiev recently?



Do you have to carry a passport, bribe money or what?

And: is this true of the customs people too?

was out late last year and didnt get any hassle surprisingly - but I wasnt out late and pissed ( not usual for me ). Always carry a passport or ID- I think things were cleaned up a bit for the football tourism

customs/ border formalities is staightforward if you enter at borisopol, but if you try a border crossing , like Moldova, then half expect to be taxed EUR10 or so - depends how busy/ quiet it is. I know I shouldnt do it, but a small tax gets you a personal walk though with no hassle

 

[TitanSound]

Xanadu worked there for a while.

 

[phildwyer]

was out late last year and didnt get any hassle surprisingly - but I wasnt out late and pissed ( not usual for me ). Always carry a passport or ID- I think things were cleaned up a bit for the football tourism

customs/ border formalities is staightforward if you enter at borisopol, but if you try a border crossing , like Moldova, then half expect to be taxed EUR10 or so - depends how busy/ quiet it is. I know I shouldnt do it, but a small tax gets you a personal walk though with no hassle

Ta. Will be entering at Borisopol, but willing to pay 10 quid or so if necessary either there or in town... never been to the FSU before, so it should be quite a revelation...

 

[not-bono-ever]

no issues with Boris - should be a breeze - just the land borders are taxation zones. When out and about, I now take a shitty wallet with a few dirty $10 and $1 bills in it as insurance - In Bishkek lst year, the coppers looked like they were going to tax me @ 2AM, but had a look at the pen marked blls and didnt bother - its still hard to get rid of non pristine dollars in many places.

 

[seventh bullet]

I've never had any trouble from bent coppers looking to supplement their meagre salaries in the FSU, KG included.

 

[phildwyer]

I've never had any trouble from bent coppers looking to supplement their meagre salaries in the FSU, KG included.

They can't be as bad as in Mexico anyway.

 

[not-bono-ever]

I've never had any trouble from bent coppers looking to supplement their meagre salaries in the FSU, KG included.

its not as bad now in the FSU - but my experiences have been late at night/ early in the mornings - invariably when im leathered, so not exactly a representative sample !

 

[Xanadu]

Bump. Anyone been to Kiev recently?



Do you have to carry a passport, bribe money or what?

And: is this true of the customs people too?

I was there for most of 2010 and some of 2011. Carry your passport. It makes life much much easier. I never had to bribe anyone.