ukraine: my 8th visit to Lviv (and a return to Zolochiv)

This is the story of yet another trip to Lviv. My original reason for booking this trip was to run a half marathon in Lviv. Howeva, when I didn't register for the race until just a couple weeks ahead of time. As I was going through the registration online, I decided to buy a race shirt. I don't need any of those, but I love them anywho. Unfortunately, they didn't have any more shirts in my size, so I decided not to register or run the race. This ended up being a good thing.

As with other recent trips to Lviv, I went somewhere else on Saturday, then walked Lviv on Sunday.

When I booked train tickets, I found one that arrived at 0405; this was a ridiculous time to arrive anywhere, but it was a third of the cost, less than $4. I stayed in the train station waiting room for an hour, paying the paltry fee of less than $.25 to do so.

I tried to doze off, but it didn't work very well since there were announcements nearly constantly. At one point I was fairly certain I heard an announcement for an electric train going to Zolochiv, but I couldn't find the electric train area of the station, darnit.

I walked to my accomodation, about a 20 minute walk. One of the reasons I'd booked this particular place was because it was supposed to have a 24 hour front desk. I didn't need to check into my room straightaway, but I did need a place to hang out for a few hours. The lady let me in, and I stayed in the kitchen for a few hours. While I was in there a few other guests came in, they were definitely surprised to see me, hee hee.

Around 0900, I decided it was reasonable to go into the city center, so I left my backpack at the front desk and walked out. I walked into the city center, annoyed by the rain and wind.

When I got to the city center I discovered the information office didn't open until 10am. I needed to kill about half an hour, so I found a cafe I liked, and ordered chocolate cake and tea. After eating and drinking I went back to the tourist information office, and asked how to get to the town of Zolochiv. The guy looked up the information, pulled out a city map, and told me where to go.

I followed his directions, hopping on a tram and riding it to the end of the line. Near there I found a marshrutka stop, and found Zolochiv listed on the signs. I waited around a bit, and a marshrutka pulled up. It waited there until it was full, then took off.

The first time I was in Zolochiv, I didn't see any of the town. My visit there was while I was on a castle tour with a friend. That tour took us to three castles in the area, but not the towns where those castles are located. I wanted to see the town.

I'd expected the ride to be a little over an hour. I don't know why, but it was nearly two hours later when we arrived in Zolochiv. I made a note of where the marshrutka stopped on the map, then started walking.

The first sight I went to was a church. It was a lot closer than I expected, less than two blocks away.

It was a Polish Catholic church, somewhat Baroque inside. Not too busy in decor, but definitely not plain or simple. I think the name was something like the Madonna Assumption Cathedral. I took photos of everything, including the ceiling. I also took a few moments to stand still and enjoy the quiet atmosphere.

Further down the street I came to another church. Unfortunately, the gates into the property were closed, so I wasn't able to get very close, let alone inside the church. While I was standing in front I watched a couple have wedding photos taken. Very cute. The lady must've been freezing, she was weraing a strapless dress!

I walked up a different street, winding my way through town. Zolochiv is not big, to say the least. I walked past several apartment buildings, and a couple playgrounds. Eventually I got to yet another church. This one was much smaller, and I wasn't the only visitor. When I first walked in, there were a bunch of kids inside. They all had notebooks of some kind, which were being checked one by one by a nun. I assume it was the end of a catechism (?) class, or whateva is the equivalent in the Orthodox church. This church had been part of the city fortress, and used to be Catholic.

Close to this church was a long park. Walking along this park I saw several large tree trunks that had been carved into faces. The carvings were done really well, and I loved them all.

I followed the street after the end of the park, it eventually brought me to the city cemetery. On one corner of the area was a WW2 momument/memorial. As usual, it was large-ish.

The cemetery was crowded with gravestones. A wide variety of course, some were large and fance, others much smaller. Some had individual fences, most did not. There were a couple that were really big, I'm guessing they were family mausoleums.

After wandering through part of the cemetery, I came to an intersection and changed streets. This street took me past an old hospital, and past a church still under construction. There was a large pile of construction material in front of the church, but no construction vehicles, so who knows if anything was going to be done anytime soon. One of the travel apps I use said this would eventually be the All Saints Church.

I followed this street around a corner, and kept going. Eventually it met up with another street, where I saw a monastery, the Basilian Monastery.

The monastery itself wasn't very exciting, but a couple photos turned out well because of the really dark clouds coming in fast. Unfortunately, the church of the monastery property wasn't open, I wish I'd been able to enter.

Further along the same street I found a Jewish memorial, next to a plain field. I'm not sure what it was memorializing, I didn't see a sign. (I hope there was a sign and I just missed it.) A couple blocks after that I found a Christian memorial.
Not long after that I arrived back at the area where I'd been dropped off earlier in the day. I boarded the next marshrutka to depart, I didn't have to wait long for it to get going.

Thankfully, the ride back to Lviv was a bit faster. I got back to Lviv, and rode the tram back toward the city center. I got off the tram before the city center, then walked my way to where I wanted to have dinner. It was a sushi place I've visited before, and was exactly what I expected.

From there I walked around the long platz in front of the opera building, just because I could. At night the building is lit up, and there are plenty of others strolling around, it's quite nice.

I walked because I still felt like moving for a little while. Then I walked to my hotel, and finally checked in properly. I ended up with what they called a triple room. There were three twin beds, spaced around a large room. I had a skylight too, which was nice.

The next morning I was awake early, as is normal for me. Unfortunately, when I woke up, I could hear rain coming down on the skylight. A lot of rain. Ugh. The one kind of weather I really don't like while traveling.

I started walking, back toward the city center. The comment I made earlier about not running the race being a good thing comes in now. As I was walking, I was passed by runners, the race had just started. This reminded me of the miserable race I'd run in Kyiv recently, I was more than happy to stay out of this one. I hate rain as it is, and had no desire to run another cold and wet race.

I arrived at a brunch place where I've eaten before to find a long line, argh. Not only was the line long, but it didn't move much. I stayed in the line, because I had my mind set on eating breakfast there. It's 100griven for a brunch, including a made to order omelette, drink, breads, salads, deli cut meats, and a few desserts. I ended up at a table with three ladies who were together. If I'd had to wait for a table for myself it might've been a lot longer. The omelette I ordered was not the omelette that was brought to me, but I was hungry and not very patient.

From there I walked to a souvenir store and bought a HUGE coffee mug (I'm pretty sure it holds 800mL) and postcards and a normal size mug. I didn't need to buy any of the stuff, but I couldn't help myself. The next time I go back to Lviv I have to find enough willpower not to spend money on souvenirs from the city.

I took everything back to my hotel where I cleaned up, packed up, and checked out. I left everything behind the front desk, and went back into town. It continued to rain all morning, sometimes more, sometimes less. Ugh.

When I got to the square at the city center I decided to go to a museum, something I've done very little of in Lviv. I found my way to the entry of the historical museum, on one side of the square. There was an entry fee, plus a photo fee, plus a fee to go into the Italian courtyard behind the building. Since none of the fees were very large, I paid for everything.

I started by walking toward the back, taking a look at the courtyard. It turned out to be three levels, with a few statues in various places. While I was on one of the balconies I saw a group of soldiers checking everything out from the ground level. I didn't find the area very interesting, I thought there must be a reason why there is an extra fee to see it, there must be some history I don't know. Oh well.

This building was originally built as a private residence, and when this area was part of Poland it became a royal residence for a Polish King Jan Sibelski (sp?) many years ago. The Royal Halls are what people come to see, they're lovely. Some of the original furniture and decor are still in the rooms, other pieces are just what would've been in use at the time. I really liked the wood floors, they were different in each room. There were several chandeliers to see too, very elegant.

After the history museum I walked to the corner of the square and went into another museum. This was the pharmacy museum. The front room is still a pharmacy, it has been active for a very long time. It turns out you pay your entry fee at the same place you would be buying medicine if that's why you are in the room!

After paying (just a simple entry fee, yay!) I went into the next room, which had displays of old school medicine, in old school containers. I didn't recognize any of the names, of course. I kept going and found a couple more rooms, with more displays of old medicine related stuff. Eventually I went down stairs into a storage room, to keep everything cool. To exit I had to go back up the stairs, and out the back of the building into a courtyard. Then you enter another building, go down stairs, and exit onto the street out of the front of that building. All in all, the pharmacy museum was much bigger and better than I expected.

By that point it was late afternoon, so I went to a cafe I like. It's a cafe specializing in waffles, yum! They have sweet and savoury choices on the menu, I always go for a sweet option. I had one with ice cream and raspberry sauce. I also had a salad, to pretend I was being healthy, hee hee.

After leaving the cafe I went to the Jewish quarter, and tried to take a look at the memorial the city has arranged there. There used to be a synagogue, but all you get to see now are the remains of the Golden Rose Synagogue. There is no ceiling, you just see a bit of the flooring.

There are signs describing the vibrant community that used to exist in Lviv, it's a shame that it has disappeared nearly entirely.

I continued walking, making my way toward a church I've always called the Soli Deo Gloria church, I don't know the actual name of the church. It says those words on the front of the church, and at night it is lit up with changing colours. The church is big, and I love the interior.

I started walking back toward my hotel, hanging out in the kitchen again for a couple more hours.

After that I walked to a nearby cafe, a scandinavian cafe. I couldn't decide what I wanted, so I had a hot chocolate, piece of strudel, and a piece of cheesecake. Sugar, yum!

When the cafe closed I walked to the train station, and found a seat in a waiting room I hadn't seen before. As I was sitting I looked at everything on the walls. There were schedules for electric trains, I knew I'd finally found the area to buy tickets for the electric trains.

When I come back to Lviv, now I know how to get to some of the day trip cities that interest me!!