CHURCHES AND MORE IN LVIV

 30th - 31st Jul 2023

King Danylo (1205 - 1264). First ruler of Ukraine. Halytska Square.

As mentioned earlier, this city is inundated with cathedrals and churches of various Christian/Orthodox denominations, and maybe others. I read that there are about a hundred of them! I'm no church expert or enthusiast , but you can't not visit a few and many are very 'grand' indeed. I will show photos of a few of them below but forgive me if I have forgotten what some of them are called or where they are (most in and around the Old Town).

Left: St Nicholas 'Orthodox' Church. This is considered, by some, to be Lviv's oldest church, dating back to at least 1292. It looked in good nick! Many 'renovations' I suspect, including the brand new drainpipes.

Right: I went in and there was a Christening in progress. There were several 'guests' but nobody seemed to object to my presence. The vicar was chanting various things and 'anointing' the baby with holy water or somesuch. The baby rather objected to this and was making a hell of a bawling noise!

Left: St Michael's Church, near the Gunpowder Tower (see previous blog). 

Right: Inside it had the most striking 'trompe l'oeil' ceiling.

Left: Bernadine Church and Monastery.

There was a wedding going on here. I didn't stay for the Reception.

Left: ......and another one at another church nearby. 

Right: The Boyim 'burial' Chapel. A small chapel (built 1615) with an intricately carved interior which belonged to the Hungarian merchant Georgi Boyim and family. The biblical reliefs inside feature 'cameos' of the Boyim family. The outside was covered in scaffolding, and there was a rather good bar next door.

There were many more which I photographed but that will do for 'churches'. You get the idea!

Left: Haven't a clue. Probably some political activist or other. There are innumerable statues around the place.

Right: A 'second-hand' market, on the eastern side of Rynok Square, selling ancient LP records (some old Rolling Stones ones I noticed), books, watches, clothes and all sorts of tat. I met a young Ukrainian couple here. He was working for some US computer company. We got talking and went for a beer together at a local tavern. They were amusing company.

They then offered to take me to a museum (a Science one I think) near the Ivan Franko (him again) University but, being Sunday, it was closed. Instead we went into the impressive University building (left) which seemed open to the general public. Apart from the concierge  at the front door, it appeared deserted. It was very grand inside with a large sweeping marble double staircase and rows of (locked) classrooms, or whatever you call them at a University.

Right: A statue of the ubiquitous Ivan Franko in the Square opposite........

Left: ......which borders the large and pleasant Ivan Franko Park. There were a lot of dog walkers there. Dogs, mainly small ones on long leads, seemed popular about town.

Right: Plus a well used children's playground.

There are some lovely cafés. This one (left) is the Cabinet Café. Very stylish with a balconied upstairs and several little 'intimate' nooks and crannies off to the side. The coffee was good and served by pretty waitresses. The likes of Starbucks and Costa etc. are not prominent, although I'm sure they exist here somewhere. 

Right: Musicians of all varieties play on the streets, as per this duo.

Left: A tuneful guitarist/singer performing in the courtyard of a church.

Saxophone players were prominent for some reason. This chap (right) was serenading the customers in the café below. Rather loudly!

Left: An interesting 'bronze' customer at the back. There are several of these lifelike 'human' sculptures on benches and chairs at various street-side locations.

 

Right: The bars, restaurants and cafés in the streets of the Old Town were doing good business. I found many excellent restaurants, several serving delicious seafood (oysters, caviar and various fish dishes) at remarkably reasonable prices. All the bars/cafés had good WiFi. Everywhere had good WiFi; much more so than in UK.  My only gripe was that some only showed their menus by scanning a QR code on your phone. I've noticed this 'modern' tendency elsewhere and I'm not particularly fond of it. I like to look at a proper printed menu. At least all the menus of whatever variety had English versions. Indeed all the prices were very reasonable by British standards. The equivalent of a pint of beer/lager cost about 60 - 80 Hryvnia (£1.10p -£1.30p). Not bad!

Left: A typical street scene.

Right: I took this photo because I haven't before seen a girl with such lustrous long hair! As an aside, as per Kiev, Warsaw, Lisbon and Porto (recently visited), the young ladies here, that I saw, were almost exclusively slim, trim, well groomed, attractive and neatly, if informally, dressed. They obviously take care of their diet and a great pride in their appearance. Which is more than can be said for most of the lumbering flabby inhabitants in my home towns! 

I haven't finished in Lviv yet.....