Kiev to Odessa

Kiev-street market opposite camp, Marg

Heading for the Ukraine capital of Kiev, we were stopped by police three times. We’ve driven through many police checkpoints in Ukraine but not been stopped until heading to the capital. It was a bit daunting, but knowing that we had all of our papers in order gave us some confidence.

Street market opposite camp

The first policeman to stop us seemed to be trying to tell us that our insurance was not in order. We had read that this might happen, and that it would be a scam aimed at making us hand over cash. Then his superior came over and was really interested in Vanni. As we were steeling ourselves to get out of a dilemma, he looked at our TV and said “Sputnik?” Yes, said we, and he waved us on with a big smile!

Kiev buildings

At the other two police checks, they looked at our passports, Vanni’s passport and green card, and waved us on when they couldn’t communicate in English. One policeman seemed to find our New Zealand driving licence’s quite amusing but we don’t know why – the photos are not that bad!!!

Kiev-protestor barricades

Arriving at Kiev, we were surprised to see soldiers guarding the city boundary. As mentioned in the last blog, we’ve seen this, along with sandbagged fortifications, throughout our Ukraine route and understand that it’s due to the current revolution; but the entry to Kiev included lots of armed soldiers and a tank. We decided not to take photos of that!

Driving on, we joined the ring road system that seemed to have three or four lanes, but it was very hard to tell as there were no white lines! 

Kiev-Independence Square  demonstration

We survived and found our way to No. 1 Camping Kiev, located in an asphalted and fenced area at the expo centre. The area was very run down, but we decided to give it one night.

The next day we walked across the road to the hundreds of ‘Soviet style’ flats where we could see a street market.

It was a large and very haphazard affair and held daily. There were lots of people selling all sorts of produce in differing quantities, such as a few salads greens and maybe some strawberries or cherries, up to more commercial lots of veggies and clothes. 

Some sold their stuff using a fixed stall, and many used a box as a table. There were trucks and vans parked everywhere at the side of the road and they all seemed to be transferring something to someone!

Getting back to Vanni, we again patted ourselves on the back for buying a van with a shower and toilet because facilities at the camp were terrible. On the other hand, the camp was secure and also close to the metro to get into the city, and there were no guarantees that the other camps in Kiev were any better. So instead of moving on, we decided to stay longer.

Next day, we took the very efficient and cheap (2 Ukrainian Hryvnas each or 20c NZ) metro into the centre of Kiev. Kiev is a World Heritage Site and one of the oldest East-European cities. It is very big, with a population of around 6 million, and situated on the Dnieper (or Dnipro) River.

Independence Square uprising monument

We exited the metro to find streets lined with trees and lots of grand buildings, some tidier that others. We found our way to the main shopping street and wandered along to find ourselves looking at the barricades and tents erected during the EuroMaidan Revolution that chased ex-President Viktor Yanukovych to Russia in April. It was a daunting and stark reminder of what had gone on here, and what was still happening in eastern parts of Ukraine.

The barricades were made up of paving stones ripped up from the street, wood, tyres and anything that might act as a barrier.

We walked further and came to Mayden Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square). There were thousands of people about with many wearing ethnic style clothes, Ukraine flags everywhere, speeches going on, lots of monuments including a huge building that was burnt out, and more barricades.

A local English language newspaper suggested it was time for the barricades to be taken down, but there seemed to be divided opinion amongst people interviewed. Some thinking it was time to move on and others that it was too early in case changes did not occur as planned. There are great expectations and pressures on the new president to achieve a lot of things for this nation, especially with the ongoing threats from Russia.

Uman-Sophia Park, Leigh

We think it must be very hard to make a living from anything related to tourism in Ukraine at present as there certainly are not many tourists around. 

Odessa beach, Marg

We were the only people in the camping ground, we haven’t seen another campervan in Ukraine, and the camp owner’s main income seemed to be from the hire of bicycles, and selling ice-creams and drinks from the small shop at the camp entrance.

Our next stop was originally to have been Crimea, but because it is now under Russian occupation, it was off our itinerary. However, we also wanted to go to Odessa. 

Odessa park, Leigh

We heard there had been some fighting several weeks ago and so checked out the situation extensively using international media and websites, and through talking to local people. The feedback was that Odessa was now OK, so we decided to go there.

The very helpful Kiev camp owner, found us a safe camping ground to go to in Odessa and so we headed off. From Kiev to Odessa is a very long drive through the centre of Ukraine, so we stopped a night in Uman; about the half-way point.

Odessa City Gardens café

There were no camps in Uman, but we found an overnight spot in the car park at popular Sophivskyi Park (Sophia Park). We went for a lovely walk through the park and came back to relax for the night - but this was not to be!

The local café/bar turned up the volume on their music and the bass boomed around us. After a while this stopped and we began to relax - but then it began again and more people began to wander around the car park, which made us feel a little uneasy.

Odessa-Potemkin Stairs & view

Deciding to call it quits, we drove out to the main highway and parked in the truck stop of a big petrol station. Quieter than booming music but still a lot of traffic noise - on the other hand we felt a lot safer. The next morning we drove on over the endless motorway that crossed the rolling farmland of the steppes to Odessa.

We found our camp which is on the edge of the Black Sea, so we can now say that we have driven from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea!

Odessa-our lunch café

The surrounding buildings and facilities were again, rather tired and grotty, but it was a safe and secure place - our number one priority. The owner was very friendly, spoke some English and made us very welcome.

We went for a walk along the beach which is sandy but not terribly attractive as it has murky water and is lined with a lot of tired and scruffy looking buildings. Plenty of people were sunbathing and swimming.

The next morning we caught a bus – a small yellow, crowded and hot one! We weren’t exactly sure where to get off but a very kind woman who spoke some English told us when the city centre came up, and stopped the bus for us.

We found ourselves in an area with a lovely big park surrounding the Odessa Cathedral. The Cathedral was quite impressive inside with a lot of white and gold. This gave it a light and airy feel rather than the heavy and sombre feel we have experienced in so many other cathedrals/churches.

We then wandered down a main street that turned into a pedestrian area with lots of trees and cafés. Again the buildings were impressive and more here seemed to have been done up. We thought the Odessa Opera House was a grand building and we had a lovely time walking down Primorskiy Boulevard which was lined with pretty gardens.

Odessa is a major sea port and we walked up some long stairs called the Potemkin Stairs which provided a great view of the port area.

We enjoyed an interesting and traditional eat-as-much-as-can lunch at a lovely restaurant under the trees on the main street and enjoyed the variety of interesting buildings and sights, especially the many street trees and gardens that provided much needed shade (it was 35 degrees). It proved to be a lovely city and very easy to walk around.

We found our way back to the right street to catch our bus, and caught the right numbered one.  It was full of people (standing room only) and very hot and sticky. The next challenge was to find where to get off! We managed to recognise the correct street and then count the numbers down to our place. The driver obviously heard us talking in an unknown language but understood we were looking for our stop and responded quickly when we signalled. Much relief to be back in the right place!

After a few days, although we were pleased with our decision to go to Ukraine in the present political situation, we decided that it was time to move to another country.

We have really valued our time in Ukraine and are pleased that we carried on with our plans to be here. In particular, we have enjoyed: the friendliness of so many of the people; great food; people tilling and working their fields by hand; lots of people minding their one or two cows tethered at the side of the road; cows being milked in the field; horses and carts on the road alongside cars and trucks; beautiful churches; amazing castles and fortresses; elegant but slightly faded buildings; some seriously shocking roads with huge potholes and rugged cobblestones, and no other campervans on the road (we seem to be the only campervan in Ukraine at the moment). 

Next stop; Moldova.