ukraine: nikolaev/mykolaiv

Nikolaev is in southern Ukraine, not too far from Odessa. Nikolaev is the capital of an oblast, and this area of the country is mostly Russian speaking. Nikolaev is the Russian name of the city, locals sometimes use Niko for short; Mykolayiv is the Ukrainian name, but it isn't used much. I'm using Nikolaev since it is the lingua franca in this area. The name on the train station is the Ukrainian name, but that's because the official language of the country is Ukrainian.

This city was the capital of shipbuilding in the former soviet empire, though most of that industry has left now. 

My night train from kyiv arrived just at sunrise, on a very gray day. The front of the train station is different from other train stations I've seen in this country, it was much more Soviet, as opposed to grand and airy. 

Across the platz was a 'square' but as far as I could tell it was just an area in front of a large apartment building with trees and walking paths. I walked along the street and came to a traffic circle, (which I like to call a roundy round,) in the middle of which was the first soviet monument I would see in this town. Tall, giant communist star, labeled with CCCP. 

Somewhere after this traffic circle I realized I was cold, and really wished I didn't have to take my gloves off to take photos. 

At the second traffic circle I found a market. I've seen heaps of these all over the country, sometimes I want to walk through and other times I don't. This time I did, thinking it would be a quick walk through. Somehow I ended up wandering around for over 30 minutes! It was a lot bigger than I expected. Most of the women selling meat were women, they were also doing the butchering, at least from what I could see.

I have no idea how people spend the entire day basically outside and don't lose feeling in fingers or toes. At this time of year there is no concern about food borne illness in any of the meat.
I also found the dry goods, dairy, fresh produce, and pickled veggie sections. I bought kimchi, yum!!

Eventually I got to my hotel, which wanted almost 200 griven extra to check in early, eeeek. The room price was 375 griven, it didn't seem worth it to add 50% to check in four hours early. Instead I left my bag behind the front desk and walked out to explore more.

I found a cafe just down the street and warmed up for a bit with tea. 

I kept walking, and passed a church, and those always catch my eye, no matter how many of them I see. I found an open gate and wandered in. Pretty, and I enjoyed the atmosphere, as usual. There was a big fancy gold iconostasis, but not much else in terms of decor in the entire church. 

This church happened to be on one corner of a big intersection. On another corner was another big monument. This one was a soviet soldier. The monument was technically located on Lenin Street, and I took photos, despite the bad lighting. 

I turned and followed Lenin Street until coming to 'European Square.' It was really a square, it was more of a median between two sides of the street, and there was a monument to Nebecna Sotni, (the Heavenly Hundred, those who died during the Maidan protests in Kyiv,) complete with flowers and yellow and blue ribbons and cloth. 

Eventually this street dead ended, surrounded by big buildings. The building that looked most interesting to me had crossed anchors in front. 

I took photos, then turned left, following another main-ish street. Along the way I came to a big platz. Part of the platz was filled with a WW2 memorial, one side had the city administration building, another side had the oblast administration building, and a couple other memorials as well. There was also a small church along one edge. I took my photos and moved on.

Several blocks up that street I finally got to the main museum of the city, the museum of shipbuilding and fleet. It is a one story building, and some cannons and such on the grounds, and busts of admirals and such, just outside the surrounding fence on the sidewalk. 

Inside the museum, the descriptions of all the exhibits were in Russian and Ukrainian, with general room descriptions in English. Each room was dedicated to a specific time in history, some of it going way back, to areas of the world not connected to Ukraine or Russia. There were more drawings and such with earlier periods in history, more items for the latter dates. The exhibits were well done, with plenty of information and aesthetic appeal. 

Not surprisingly, one of the biggest rooms was all about the so called Cold War era. Propaganda posters, and heaps more. I could've stayed in there for quite a while. 

After the museum I continued on this street, until it deadended as well. There was a photogenic building that looked as if it had once been official, but was now abandoned. (I found it photogenic, but I suppose that is all in the eye of the beholder.) It could've been an office building, or something to do with the shipbuilding industry that isn't nearly as big as it used to be.

I walked back toward the center of town, and turned on what used to be called Sovietska Street. The name is different now, (I don't remember the 'new' name,) at least officially, but locals still use the Russian name. A good portion of the street is a pedestrian zone, with the regular vendors. Random souvenirs, art, kitschy stuff, etc... 

At one corner of this street I found a big menorah. Really big. A couple of the 'candles' were lit, as it was the middle of Hanukkah. Given the general anti Semitic views in Ukraine I was surprised to see this, but I liked it. 

Further along the street I came to the big monument to shipbuilders. One of the travel apps I use has this located in a completely different place, I was glad to see it in the pedestrian area. Shaped like a globe, with statues of people all around. 

Not long after, I headed to a restaurant for dinner, then went back to my hotel and officially checked in. 

The next morning I had breakfast in my hotel, since it was included in the price. Eventually I got around to packing up and checking out, and I left my bag for the day. 

I headed to the front of another museum, called the Staroflotski Barracks. Another soviet looking building. I took a photo, then kept walking. 

I used a travel app map to find a church, inside which I found a baby screaming during a baptism/christening ceremony. The parents seemed embarrassed, but the priest was taking it in stride. Very cute. 

I found another sight not correctly marked on the travel app map, the palace of culture and something else. The building exterior wasn't very good looking, though there was a monument to women in front. The 'palace' was across the street from another WW2 memorial, which had photos of soldiers, and red poppies. 

Not too far away I found St John's Catholic Church, a polish church. I loved the way the light streamed in through the stained glass windows, which created a warm, friendly feeling. 

I decided to cross the bridge I'd seen the day before. Just before the bridge I found a small corner park, complete with murals along the edges of the park, and a statue of Pushkin in the middle. 

The bridge was easy to cross, it had pedestrian walkways on both sides. As I crossed to the other side, I could see the name of the city spelled out on a hill not to far away, the letters look like the famous Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. I remember wishing I'd had time to walk over to the letters/name, just to see it up close.

Across the bridge I crossed the road and found a park, with monuments and old tanks. One of the monuments was another CCCP monument, complete with big star. This park actually stretched over both sides of the highway, and is called Peremogy Park. There was an underpass to allow easy movement to both sides of the park, the walls of the underpass were painted with lovely murals. 

Eventually I went back across the bridge, and looked out at what remains of the old shipbuilding port. Another photogenic spot, at least for me. 

I went back to the barracks museum and this time I entered. After paying the entrance fee I found the souvenir shop, and bought postcards. This museum was two floors, with basically one or two giant rooms on each floor. It's a local history museum. It started with the geology and flora and fauna, but I skipped those sections, as they don't interest me so much. I prefer people history. My favorite display was of medals and buttons from the CCCP era. I also liked the displays of traditional and military clothing through the decades. 

I left the museum as the sun was setting and went to dinner. Then I picked up my bag from the hotel, and walked back to the train station. Goggle maps said it should take 86 minutes, I made it in an hour :)