Kiev-Pechersk Lavra - Caves Monastery

Kiev was a city where everything went wrong. I had somewhat of a list of things I wanted to do and the top 3 on my list failed. The first one was get my Turkmenistan transit visa. I was denied because I did not have a letter of invitation. In order for me to get a transit visa without a letter of invitation, I need to have the embassy mail my …

Jumping off the overnight train in Kyiv after another all-nighter, we take the metro to our centrally located accommodation where we stay for the next 2 nights. We're amazed by how central this hotel is ...it's actually the most centralised building right at Independence Square - fantastic! As it's the weekend all streets are barricaded off and …

At two in the morning, we entered the lock at Kaniv, the last lock. I tried so desperately to get out of bed so that I could at least say that I saw some of the town where my grandmother was born and lived for almost 14 years. I heard the noises of the lock--the creaks and the groans of the tackle that keeps the ship from banging into the …

The last stop of our last tour is here at Perchersk Lavra, the Monastery of the Caves and for those ending their cruise here in Kiev, it is the perfect end to the experience. The monastery property is divided into the Upper Lavra and the Lower Lavra, where the caves are. You will get a short tour of the Upper Lavra and then your guide will take …

Back where it all began in Kiev. Since I hightailed it out of here as soon as arrived back in June I thought I should spend a couple of days taking in the sights. Kiev is a pretty easy city to get around with 3 subway lines, which are the deepest subways in the world at over 100 meters in depth. I timed the descent on the escalator, which are also …

... in the afternoon and we walk through the city, up past the Parliament and Mariinsky Palace and on to the grounds of the golden-domed Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves). Further on, we come to the memorial to the victims of the famine of 1932-33, so ...

... a picnic, and just relax. They have concerts there and all kinds of events. But the coolest place we visited was the Pechersk Lavra (Kiev Monastery of the Caves). It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the center of the Orthodox religion, like the Vatican ...

... and get us onto the buses. Unlike our included tours in Odessa and Sevastopol, today's tour is actually going to take us inside both Saint Sophia's Cathedral and the Pechersk Lavra (Caves Monastery), two UNESCO World Heritage Sites--and I can't wait. ...

... that it contains the holiest of sites/churches to Eastern Orthodoxy and all Slavs (Russian, Ukrainian and Belarussian) at Kiev Pechersk Lavra, started in the 11th Century and containing way too many monuments, churches, towers, and the like.  But ...

... left. The frescos were amazing however, and it was a sight worth seeing. After this we went and walked around the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. Also known as the Kiev Monastery of the Caves, this place is a historic Orthodox Christian monastery in Kiev, Ukraine. ...

... deep underground, the escalator ride to the street takes more than 5 minutes) I headed for my first destination - Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Also known as the Caves Monastery Complex, Pechersk Lavra boasts mummified remains of Orthodox Christian monks in glass ...

... involves honoring the dead and decorating indoor spaces and graves with greenery. We walked to the Pechersk Lavra, the most holy place in Ukraine, and watched people of all ages dressed with head scarves have their greenery blessed. There were ...

... , including: the St. Nicholas Monastery, the Kiev Theological Academy and Seminary, and the Debosquette Wall. The Kiev Pechersk Lavra caverns are a very complex system of narrow underground corridors (about 1-1½ metres wide and 2-2½ metres high), ...