A walk along Kiev’s main street Khreschatyk is not very long but it is eventful, there are expensive shops, gardens, street performers, and stalls. I saw some toilet paper with Putin’s face on it among the Soviet memorabilia – a good souvenir!

You will get to  Maidan Nezalezhnosti or Independence Square. It is known as a place for political rallies and has a memorial to the Euromaidan uprising .

In November 2013 there were protests when the president didn’t sign an EU association agreement. I remember seeing the burning tyres on news reports at the time.

Protests evolved into something I’m not too clear about but in  February 2014 violence and sniper shootings resulted in 26 deaths and over a thousand injuries to the protesters. it is hard to believe this happened in Europe so recently.

The underground shopping centre in the square (easy to find it looks like a subterranean green house) has good but expensive coffee.

At one end of Khreschatyk street is the indoor market , this is a different world, the traditional Ukraine.

Here the ladies, especially the ones at the meat counters, are very fierce. I almost bought some meat even though I couldn’t have cooked it .

The Friendship Arch is a steel rainbow made in 1983 to commemorate the unification of Russia and Ukraine in 1653.

Its a popular place with fairground  stalls and takeaway food stands but there are plans to replace it with something dedicated to Ukrainians.

You meet politics, well maybe just anti Russian feeling , everywhere in Kiev.

 

A short Metro ride takes you to the Golden Gate regarded as a symbol of Kiev.

The remains  of the 11th century gate have been reconstructed to look exactly as it did when it was built.