Ukraine: Lviv for the gazillionth time

This was my seventh trip to Lviv in less than five years. Pretty good, right? Obviously, I really like the city. I'm totally comfortable there, and feel as though I know it pretty well for being a visitor. That being said, I'm able to find and see new areas each time I visit.

My train arrived just before 0800, which was after sunrise, but at the right time for morning sun photos. I wanted a photo of the train station with the fountain in front, of course there was one car right in the middle of what I wanted. Argh. 

I walked to my hotel, stopping at various points along the way when something caught my eye. Nothing specific, just views I thought might be interesting through a lens. (And I'm well aware that my idea of interesting is not the same as what everyone else thinks is interesting. 

I didn't want to pay the early check in fee at my hotel, (it almost doubled my price,) so I left my pack on a locked shelf in a locked room. 

I walked back to the train station, going a bit faster this time. I stopped at the suburban train station, but wasn't able to figure out if the train I wanted there would be leaving anytime soon.

Actually, I wasn't able to figure out where any train leaving from there was going. I wanted to go to a town called Sambir, but the train routes didn't list all the stops along the way; they only listed the end stop. Back in front of the train station I found a small lot of marshrutkas with destinations in their front windows, I hopped on the next one to Sambir. I love cheap, relatively efficient, public transport. Around two hours later I arrived in Sambir. 

The drop off in Sambir was in a lot across the street from the train station, not very busy. Sambir isn't a big town, so I wasn't expecting much. I was happy to know that when I went back to Lviv I would be able to find all of my transport options in one place. 

I could see the back side of a church from this park platz, so I headed that way. The property of the church was surrounded by a fence, I had to walk nearly the full way round to enter. As I made this walk I could see some construction happening. I wasn't able to figure out a way into the building, booo. 

I walked back out of the fenced area, and bought cookies from a little stall across the street. Maybe not the healthiest breakfast I've ever had but they were okay. I bought these particular cookies because they were called American cookies. I didn't realize america has a typical cookie? 

Not too much further up the street was another church, but it was closed as well. This was the church of St John the Baptist. It was a lot smaller than the first church I saw. 

My next sight was basically around a corner and up another street. It was formerly the palace of culture, or maybe it still is.

I arrived just in time to find out is just missed an organ concert. The guys standing around wouldn't even let me sneak in the back for the last five minutes, argh. As far as I could tell, that would've been my only chance to get inside the building, so I wish I hadn't dawdled so long around the churches and buying cookies. 

Then I found my third church. It too was closed. What is it with this town?
I found the city center, including city hall and the platz surrounding the building. It's rather cute, if that's a description that should be used about a city administration building. I watched people walking everywhere, going about their daily lives. Awesome. 

I moseyed around until I found other people, and found a typical daily/weekend market. It was larger than I first thought, with sections for dairy, meat, fruit (mostly apples,) etc...

More walking brought me to a statue of Bogdhan Khmelnytsky, a Ukrainian independence fighter from centuries ago. It was covered in copper, very bright and shiny. Or maybe the covering was something else, I just know it was shiny and metallic looking. 

My next intended sight wasn't where a travel app said it would be. I was disappointed (again) as the history museum sounded interesting. I've found local history museums in a lot of Ukrainian towns, both big and small, many of them are quite good. I don't know if the museum doesn't exist, or was/is in a different location. 

I wandered a bit more, and saw another church. There seemed to be construction going on, but there was a lower level open, I was able to peek in.

It was a small area, but I could still feel the power of faith. Even though there was construction going on, the outside still looked rather impressive, especially for the size of Sambir. 

Then I decided I'd had enough of a town that felt mostly closed. I made my way back toward the train/bus station.

Along the way I saw the WW2 memorial. It was big, as usual. As I've said in previous posts,  it's my own joke that you're not a real town in this country unless you have a WW2 memorial, and a big one.

I liked this one. There was also a large statue of Stepan Bandera, a very controversial person in Ukrainian history. 

Across the street was a memorial to the victims of communism. This one surprised me a bit more, for though the sentiment is felt nearly everywhere in the east bloc, it isn't so common to see a visual reminder of those years, and those governments, and those actions. 

I got lucky with timing when I arrived at the bus/train station. I found a train leaving in 15 minutes, yay. My train back to Lviv was slow, around two hours long. We stopped every 34 seconds, or so it felt to me. 

When I finally checked into my hotel in Lviv I was a bit disappointed. Though the room was cheap, it was so small I couldn't open the door completely. I also couldn't open the bathroom door very far, and it smelled kinda funny. Probably due to lack of circulation. It was cheap though, and a private room. 

The next morning I walked further along a street I hadn't previously. 

I don't know how I didn't know this previously, but there is a Holocaust memorial in Lviv. This was the first time I saw it. It is small, but still evokes strong emotion. This particular memorial is specific to the years of 1941-1943. I don't know why. 

On my way along this street I saw a small church I'm pretty sure I've seen before, but never paid attention to. Called St. Paraskaeva, it is actually part fortress. I wasn't able to back up far enough to get a photo that shows this.

I must've shown up not too far ahead of the beginning of a service, as people continually arrived. It's a small church, but colorful (inside) nonetheless. 

Continuing along the street I saw a house designated as an Austrian 'luxury' house. Remember that Lviv was once part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, so you occasionally see some of that architecture. 

I also saw an old mill (still in production, and looked big to me,) and an unknown castle looking building. This one didn't have a sign, despite the unique architecture, so I have no idea what it is. I also don't speak enough Ukrainian (or Russian) to knock on the door and ask for such information. 

I walked back to the city center, and found a restaurant with a buffet breakfast (a fancy buffet breakfast!!) for 90 griven. That's super cheap!! I ate breakfast, then went back to my accommodation to charge my phone, pack up, and clean up. I was able to leave my bag in the same locked room as the day before. 

Back in the city center I walked around until I found the entry to the Armenian church, which is relatively small and almost hidden, compared to the big, visible back end. You can peek into the cloister area through the back fence, but it appears that the public isn't allowed to walk through. It's pretty, I wish I could've wandered through the area. 

In the church itself I got lucky with lighting. I paid the photo fee (a whopping 5 griven,) as soon as I saw the light streaming in through the window in a visible way, if that makes sense. The interior of the church is pretty nifty any who. I will see it again, the next time I go to Lviv. 

Then I shopped for souvenirs, not that I needed any. I bought a mug, a magnet, and postcards. 

Next up was a sight I found on a travel app. The English name is the House of Scientists, thought it has never been such a thing. It was previously a casino!

The rooms are quite grand, including a sweeping staircase in the entry. A photographers dream, to say the least. That being said, it also takes a bit of patience to get a photo you like, as there are plenty of others who also want photos. I was only there 30 minutes, and saw two different sets of bridal photos being taken. I never know if I should take my quick photo, or try to stay out of the never ending photos of such productions. There was also a lady posing rather suggestively, her photographer was using an iPhone. 

I found the courtyard of a children's theater, super cute. The walls were decorated, and I couldn't help taking photos. 

Then I walked to Potocki Palace. I've walked past this place I don't know how many times, but never visited the interior. It turns out it's an art museum. There are two floors, though the first was closed for renovations during my visit. The palace was built in the 1880s, but might be more known because an American pilot crashed into it in 1918, while doing stunts over the city. There was a varied display of art, separated mostly by country. I liked some of it, but not all. 

I walked back into the city center, to a church I've seen many times, I call it the Soli Deo Gloria church, though that isn't the real name. Those words are on the front facade, quite large. 

Behind this church I followed the sidewalk and streets to the top of Castle Hill (which doesn't really have a castle,) for the start of sunset. I wasn't the only one up there, but it was still nice. 

After staying for a bit, I walked back down before it was completely dark, and headed to dinner. I took a while at dinner, because I needed to kill some time before walking to pick up my bag, then to the train station.

My train back to Kyiv was easy and convenient.