Visit to Chernobyl (yes that one)!

When we began reading about Ukraine, we discovered that it was possible to visit the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site. At first I wasn't sure I really wanted to go, but then decided to, because it was such a significant event in Ukraine.

The "exclusion zone" is the area 30 km around the failed power plant site. It can only be entered with prior permission and as part of a guided tour. You have to pass through two control points

The welcome sign to the town of Chernobyl. Chernobyl is still partially occupied, mostly by workers at the the power plant. They are finishing the new Safe Confinement on the destroyed reactor, as well as decommissioning the other reactors at the same site.

Duga was a radar system used as part of the Soviet anti-ballistic missile early-warning network. There were three separate sites and one of these was located close to Chernobyl. The tour made a stop here to see the huge antenna arrays.

View from our bus on the overgrown road to the Duga site.

At the main gate of Duga

Antenna arrays

Our next stop was the buried village of Kopachi. There were a number of villages in the immediate area of the disaster that were severely contaminated. As an experiment to deal with the radioactive material, almost all of the houses of Kopachi were torn down and buried.

The village kindergarten was one of the few buildings that survived and can be visited.

Kindergarten

Before having lunch at the canteen at the power plant site, we all had to screened for radioactive contamination. 

Canteen

Lunch - borscht, pickled vegetables, rice & mystery meat, a bun, and kompot juice.

At the site of No. 4 reactor, now covered by the new Safe Confinement.

From the reactor site we then went to the nearby deserted city of Prypyat. Almost 50,000 people lived here in 1986. A few days after the accident the whole city was evacuated over a 3 hour period. People were told that this was a 3 day evacuation, but it ended up to be permanent.

Sign at the edge of the city

Apartment building

Hotel

Civic centre

Amusement park

More apartments

Soviet style art

The main square

Kyiv, Ukraine

We were in Kyiv for 9 nights. During that time we took two walking tours, a trip to an open-air museum, and a day trip to the Chernobyl "exclusion zone". And the rest of the time we walked our legs off, of course!

Here are a few of the things we saw while in Kyiv:

Independence Square, the central square in Kyiv

One of many memorials to people killed during the 2014 Euromaidan protests in the square

At night there is a music and light show with the fountains.

Buildings along Khreshchatyk, the main boulevard of Kyiv

Dormition Cathedral, destroyed in WWII and rebuilt in 2000.

The Kiev Pechersk Lavra monastery

Saint Sophia's Cathedral

Saint Andrew's church

Former Communist Party headquarters, now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building. 

Soviet modernism style Hotel “Salyut”

Art Nouveau buildings

One of many parks

Besarabsky market hall, built in 1912

Statue in front of the Holodomor Museum, which is devoted to the famine created by the Soviet government that killed millions of Ukrainians in 1932 & 1933.
Wikipedia

A Ukrainian folk music group. 

Buskers playing the tradional Ukrainian bandura.

Kyiv has the deepest subway station (346 ft) in the world. It takes two very long steep escalator rides to get to the bottom.

Some of the stations are also quite fancy.

The founders of medieval Kiev

The Motherland Monument

Soviet style sculpture

A mural of more recent vintage

Funky children's playground

Visit to Pyrogovo Museum of Folk Architecture

We visited an open air museum located at the outskirts of Kyiv. We took the subway out and then walked approximately 5 km to the museum. Along the way we had to walk through the "Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy of Ukrainian SSR" built in 1958. The pavilions are suitably decorated with hammer & sickles and Soviet stars.

The open-air museum is located on 370 acres and exhibits traditional builds from different regions of Ukraine.

Typical interior

Wooden churches

Of course we had to stop for lunch.

Windmills

They even had an area devoted to 70s style homes.

Airbnb apartment in Kyiv, Ukraine

We flew from Vancouver to Frankfurt, and then to Kyiv. Our Airbnb host had arranged for a ride from the airport to the apartment which was located just off Independence Square, the main square in Kyiv.

The apartment was in the building with McDonald's.

That's our balcony.

Like a lot of apartment blocks in eastern Europe, the entryway and stairwells are a little rugged, but the apartment was alright.