Tuesday 17 March 2015

16th Feb

After the epic day we had yesterday, I managed a few hours rest at the lovely very modern Ibis Hotel which is in an excellent location just 5 mins from Sofia airport, this made getting to the airport for 4am not quite so daunting. A free transfer from the hotel, and I had time for a coffee and bite to eat before boarding the plane to Milan. Wizz Air were great, they are cheap and very comfortable, with a no seat reservation policy it made boarding and exiting the plane quicker than other companies I have flown with.



Landed at Milan approximately 7:05am and was through customs, claimed my bag and out by 07:20 amazing.. Milan airport is quite small but seems well organised as far as buses into Milan go.. no harassing taxi drivers trying to rip you off (like the ones I encountered in Sofia) which was a nice surprise, even though I wasn't actually leaving the airport, it was good to know for future trips.

Outside the main entrance/exit doors of the airport stood rows of busses ready to transfer people into the city. I wandered around for a quick nosey and thought about catching a bus for a look round to pass some time while waiting for my flight to Kiev at 14:00.

I went back inside to see about checking my bag in... hmm.. nothing is on the boards yet, think I will grab a coffee and one of the delicious looking pastries that are flowing out of each cafe in there before they are all gone. Damn.. I don't have any euro.. the kiosk to change money is closed with a note saying "back in half an hour"  I waited..

I can not tell you how much that was worth waiting for.. OMG! It was the best thing I've tasted for a long long time.. in fact, if I could afford to fly there just for one I would, it was that good.. brioche they call them, it was covered with dusted icing sugar, filled with creamy custard stuff and looked like a croissant.. wow.

Well I never got the bus ride because they didn't open the check in desk until 12:30, so I spent all day wandering up and down the airport..

On my way to Kiev now.. arriving at 17:30 and have arranged a transfer with the hotel Dnipro where I am staying. Having been to Kiev twice before I know how easy and cheap it is to get from the airport, but I didn't fancy attempting the underground with the huge case I have this time, plus I arrived at the Zhuliany (nearer airport as opposed to Borispil which is about an hour away).

Arriving at the Dnipro Hotel, it looked closed, the lighting was limited and only one door was being used, although once inside your eyes adjusted to the dim light. My room was at the back facing another building, I was disappointed because I was hoping for one at the front with balcony.. but when on a low budget we manage with what we get, and there was an interesting abandoned looking building in view which I will explore at a later date..

17th Feb


I feel so tired after the excitement and walking up mountains I've been doing over the last week, I feel like I need a day just wandering and planning what I am going to do in my time here.
Breakfast then out for a look around, and see if anything is happening around Maidan Nezalezhnosti commonly referred to as Independence Square.

As I approached Independence Square, men were working on erecting a huge stage similar to the one that was here last year, what it was for I had no idea, but took a few shots of them anyway.. I gathered it was something to do with the remembrance of the people who lost their lives this time last year, but exactly what they were preparing for was unknown.





I walked up Ulista Institutskaya the road where most of the people had died during the Euromaidan Revolution, and witnessed small shrines running the full length of the road up to the top where a large wooden cross stands in front of an old wooden built church. Here there were more shrines, each one contained a picture of the fallen hero, with an arrangement of articles such as their helmet, gas masks and protective shield.







There was a shrine for each person with a picture of them, their name, age and where they were from. There was just one that didn't have a picture, I guess either that person had no family or simply didn't have any photos of them.. It was extremely sad to see all of the faces and really upsetting to see the one without a picture at all.



The whole scene just moved me, thinking that just one year ago, these now referred to as the Heavenly One Hundred, although records have said that 110 people have been identified from the Kiev Euromaidan Revolution of 2014, and 8 police were also killed during the battle.

I walked around every memorial set out, almost on my own, the streets were empty as people would be at work today being a tuesday. It gave me time to take it all in and pay my respects to them even though I knew none of them personally, I felt as if I did.. The sun was shining and snow lay on the ground in parts it was freezing, but I wasn't feeling the cold as I stood in front of the 100 people who would never feel the sun on their faces again.



After spending literally hours in the area, I slowly walked back to the hotel with a constant reminder along the way of the 100 heavenly hero's everywhere I looked there was some kind of memorial. One of them was in the middle of the main road right outside the hotel near the Dynamo stadium entrance.


Kiev is unrecognisable to me, this time last year the road was closed off with barricades either side of the stadium entrance keeping the police out of the city, and Independence Square was a mass of army style tents, which had chimneys, and people cooking meals on a oil drum fires during the day.. The rioters had seized the City and were living on the streets, ready if the police opened fire on them. They seemed to be a close knit community, not soldiers just regular citizens who had the same politics and wanted the then president Viktor Yanukovych be removed from power because of his corruption.
During the fighting, it was reported that snipers shot at anti-goverment protesters from the roof of the Ukraine Hotel and a total of 21 people lost their lives that day the 20th Feb 2014, this is now the date for the memorial.
( pictures from when I was in Kiev 2014)


Protestors were there guarding their posts 24-7, fighting for their rights and future in the country they love, they joined together and were in control of the centre, with barricades on all roads in and out of Kiev. Before christmas 5 protestors had been killed during riots around the stadium area, I was informed by a local who spoke with me and explained the situation.








Hotel Dnipro is in the background.

Here are 2 images showing the same building one year apart..


last year this library building had been turned into a medical centre for injured protestors, and below how it looks today.


Kiev has had a massive clean up in the time since all the trouble one year ago, and there is very little evidence of having ever been any, other than one building which is under restoration and will be completed soon, and a bill board sign is all I saw, with any noticeable damage. 








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