This is Anna’s story, her visit to Ukraine and her experiences. We will be following Anna’s time in Ukraine, see the ‘Anna Kane in Ukraine’ button above, all her pieces will be there. And this is the first….. (Ed)
I arrived in Lviv last night after a long day of travel. It’s currently not possible to fly from the UK to Ukraine, so to get to Lviv I decided to fly to Poland then get a bus.
I left Wiltshire at 4:30 am to get to Luton in time for my 8:20 flight. On arriving in Krakow at about 11:30, I called an Uber to take me the bus station which was 30 minutes from the airport. When I apologised to the driver for the fact I can’t speak polish he replied ‘neither do I!’, informing me that like a lot of people in both Poland and Ukraine, he spoke in Russian. We had a great conversation during the ride where he provided me with snippets of information about Polish and Ukrainian culture.
It was when I reached the bus station that a language barrier became a problem. I wasn’t sure where I should go or which bus would be heading to Lviv (I was the one of the few Brits there), but after a while I managed to gather enough information to find the bus I was looking for. This was where I met Lesia, a Ukrainian woman who acted as a translator between me and the bus driver, who I got on with well. During the journey I also chatted to a resident of Lviv who seemed my age and was keen to know about my stay in the city.
The bus journey was 6 hours long, the majority of which was spent travelling through Poland. It was interesting to see how rural southern Poland is, as for most of the journey there was dense forest and arable land either side of the road. Customs didn’t take long, there were only around 12 of us, and the last hour of the journey was spent in Ukraine.
I noticed that my mobile data had stopped working and worried about how I wouldn’t be able to grab an uber or walk to my hotel using google maps. Lesia helped me with this, telling me how I’d need to get a Ukrainian sim card, and then invited me into her taxi where she dropped me at my hotel.
Aside from being put at ease by the friendliness of the people I’d come across so far, I was also comforted by how bustling Lviv seemed to be. Leisa told me that ‘Lviv’ means ‘city of lions’, and I could understand why from the city’s energy. Both by the bus station and in central Lviv, the streets were filled with people of all ages, and by music.
After I’d checked in, I explored my street and bought some dinner. I walked into a restaurant and asked what they recommended. I was served a beetroot-based soup called borscht which is apparently a Ukrainian favourite — I can see why!
I then headed back to my hotel and set an alarm for the next day. I discovered quite how exhausted I was from the long day of travel but looked forward to seeing Lviv by day.
Pewsey stabbing update – man charged and Police appeal for witnesses
