Walking tour and a memorable evening.

I wanted to make the most of my last day in Lviv as tomorrow would just be a travelling day to Krakow to fly home. To really get under the skin of the city I had decided to follow a walking tour, not one of those for geriatric coach parties following a leader holding an umbrella aloft but one you follow yourself looking out for landmarks and sights along the way. I love doing these as they can be a challenge but are also very rewarding when you finish them.
I wasted an hour in the Lviv post office trying to post home two small bottles of Ukrainian vodka – it’s illegal apparently- and set off for my walking tour which began by the dominating Shevchenko monument in the central part of the city on Prospecto Svobody. Just by the monument was a small street market, I spied a book on a stall which was obviously quite old but appeared to have the actor Tom Cruise on the cover, none of the cyrillic text looked like his name so I sneaked a picture, anyone reading this please let me know what you think!
On the front The guidebook said it should be a two and a half hour walk, due to more utter bewilderment with the alphabet and a totally inadeqate and at a times completely inaccurate map it took nearer five. Once I followed a complete loop which unexpectedly dumped me almost back at the start of the route when I expected to be miles away. Halfway through the tour I had the option of a long tiring climb up a steep hill to The High Castle and promised spectacular views or bypassing it altogether and heading into the Old Town. Despite being very tired in the heat I did the climb and was glad I did. After a steep climb up a mountain path I saw that the real climb was still ahead via around 200 steps on a steep metal staircase to the very top. At the top of the staircase and almost delirious thought heat exhaustion and dehydration I approached someone walking towards me to ask the route to the very top. I just gesticulated wildly to the top as I could barely speak and assumed he was Ukrainian and was delighted to hear he was English. He said he was fairly sure of the way to the top so I followed him. He was a really nice bloke, his name was Thomas and he was from Nottingham and travelling independently through Europe just like I have done many times. We enjoyed the view from the top and he decided to join me on the concluding part of my walking tour.
After completing the tour, which I determined to do I suggested a beer and Thomas suggested going to a underground Ukrainian Nationalist bar called Kriyivka or ‘Bunker’ in Ukrainian. I had heard of this totally unique bar and had been planning to go there anyway so I readily agreed. This isn’t just any bar, to gain admission to the very hard to find cellar you have to give the password “ Slava Ukrainie” to an AK47 toting guard on the door. He then gives you a free shot of Ukrainian medivuka and you descend into the basement and to a truly brilliant place. We had a nice and very cheap dinner and several very nice local beers.
Along the wall by the bar were a few guns which customers were allowed to pick up for photos, so of course we couldn’t resist. It was great fun and I got some truly memorable photos. We changed seats in order to listen to and watch a traditional Ukrainian folk group perform some very nice atmospheric music. At the back of the room was a large group of people who cheered when they heard we were English. After a while we agreed to join them at their table and our already memorable evening got even better. They were half English, half Ukrainian and from the Midlands enjoying a week back in Ukraine with family. They kept jumping to their feet and singing traditional Patriotic Ukrainian songs very loudly complete with table thumping and endless supply of alcohol. They encouraged Thomas and me to help ourselves to whatever food and drink was on the table. I tried Pigs Ear and it was disgusting, I ended up throwing it under my chair when they weren’t looking! I asked if there were any songs they knew which a non Ukrainian speaker could at least try to join in with. Instantly they knew one and gave me and Thomas one word which we were to sing at the end of every line they sung. It really was great fun and a great experience, even though I had no idea what I was singing!
After the Ukrainian Brits had abruptly left, I would have bet anything on them staying all night, I decided to go back to the hostel as I had a relatively early start the following morning. It was an extremely memorable evening and one I’ll never forget.