Where did you go on your holidays this year people ask me?
Spain, South of France, and Florida they may ask.
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| The Cyrillic reads 'Heroes never die'! |
For one I hate the word holiday and like to think of myself
as having little adventures here and there.
So when I answer by saying 'Oh I have just got back from Ukraine',
it raises an eyebrow.
Then when I mention that I visited Chernobyl their faces are
marked with horror!
Why? That is the question I am asked.
My answer is more complicated.
Many reasons why I suppose.
Curiosity, danger, intrigue but most of all because I only
know one person who has ever been.
One person and I only know two people who have been to Kiev
and that was for the Euro Championships in 2012.
Therefore when my mate Nick asked me in December if I wanted
to travel with him to Ukraine sometime this year and see Chernobyl I jumped at
the chance.
January and 2014 came and with that we booked some BA
flights and found a cheap hostel. We contacted a Chernobyl trip company as you
can only go through a registered trip (although I did later hear rumours about
a trip where you had to walk 40 kms to illegally get inside and then camp out).
We are all booked and ready to go.
We started looking at things to do and see in Kiev and were looking
forward to a trip that was months and months away.
Then suddenly Ukraine imploded. Maiden (Independence square)
erupted. Protests, riots and running battles erupted onto the streets.
Fires, tear gas and brutal shootings took place.
The world watched on as Ukraine resembled a war zone.
Protestors wanted the Ukraine to join with the EU but the
now former president Victor Yanukovych wanted to align more towards Moscow.
Battles erupted and soon they spread from Kiev. Crimea ended
up becoming part of Russia after a flawed and maybe not too free election.
Still to this day battles in the Eastern cities of Donetsk, Kharviv and Odessa.
Many people have sadly lost their lives.
Here is a little piece about Kiev and how we found it in June
after months of unrest.
We arrived in June. Still the country is in a state of
almost civil war.
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| A shrine containing home made mortars |
The day we arrived was completely coincidentally also the
day that the new President the chocolate billionaire Petro Prosenko was being inaugurated.
As we taxied in from Borispol airport towards the terminal I
looked through the portholes of the plane.
My eyes scanned the ageing Russianesque rusting planes
parked up and then I noticed a few planes with markings that I had not seen
before.
I saw a plane marked 'Government of Canada', in both English
and French. There was an Estonian government planes and a few others from
former soviet countries. Then I saw a rare sight. Flanked by men in black suits
and dark glasses was Air Force One.
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| Barricades at Maidan Square |
The presidential jet of the United States of America. Vice President
Joe Biden had attended the inauguration that was going on as we landed.
Therefore as we cleared customs where the silly border guard stamped over an
Arabic stamp I had we didn’t get to see any of the celebrations. We later found
out that there wasn’t any so we didn’t miss a thing.
And so Nick and I exited the lada taxi where the windows didn’t
open leaving you a sweaty mess and stepped out to drop our bags off at the
hostel and explore Kiev.
Now we should have found Kiev easy to navigate but instead
we were hopelessly lost and stumbled upon an Irish bar to peruse the map.
We asked the barmaid where we were and she had no idea on
the map. We had two maps in fact and she couldn’t point out. We knew the area
we were in but her finger hovered from one corner to the next and ten she gave
up.
Each person we asked over the next four days also had no
clue as to where they or we were.
The second reason why we got lost was that when we got the
map from the hostel we asked where the hostel was on the map. The girl at
reception marked an ex on the map. Sadly the hostel was off the map and
therefore as we were walking down the streets we were not actually on the streets
we thought we were on.
Finally the map was in English while the street signs were in Cyrillic!
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| Maidan square has become a tent city |
Eventually we rolled off the subway and ascended the stairs
into a war torn and flag embellished tent city that was Maiden square.
What was once the jewel in Kiev's crown was now what
resembled a refugee camp.
Old military green and camo tents lined the streets. Tires
where bundled up high and with bricks, wire and any old rubbish made up huge barricades
where fighting and massive fires had taken place.
Burnt out cars and abandoned water cannon and riot vehicles
lay graffitied and in one case when I open the door lived in.
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| Abandoned military vehicles are dotted around |
People who desperately needed a wash sat around on benches
smoking in rag tag military clothing, some had guns, others knives and many had
wooden clubs. None where military but where die hard revolutionaries who had
been here since the staring and were dammed if they were budging.
Shrines littered the place. Candles, pictures, portraits,
banners and even hearts made of bricks lined up on the floor were dotted all
over the square.
Faces on paper taped to canvas looked blankly back at me
when I stared at them. A small almost empty collection box was usually
underneath.
I put a few Hyuvnias in some before I ran out of change.
Some of the military clad people (most looked mean and hard
but where in sandals which defeated their image) seemed to have nothing to do
apart from smoke, drink and ten sit staring. Some would suddenly shout out something
inspirational or revolutionary and pump their fist in the air. Some others
would join in and then they sat sullen again.
A large stage had been set up and a woman played the violin.
It sounded haunting through the speakers and the sound travelled all over the
square.
Nick and I explored all of the square and the tent city.
We saw the discarded riot shields, the dented helmets, the
improvised mortars and even a canteen hat had been set up among the tents by
some entrepreneur.
As we explored the sun dropped and the tent city became livelier.
Long gone where the people like us walking around looking at it. The tent inhabitants
all clad in khaki and green emerged and got hammered on the street. Many of the
bars were not open, some had been torched or had barricades blocking the entrances.
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| This barricade has been made from ripping up the block paving |
So many enterprising people had bought kegs and set up bars
on the street selling very cheap and sometimes odd tasting beer.
One such bar had a man shouting outside and another a man
beat boxing. Military wannabes wandered up and down and many gave us strange
stares. In general the atmosphere was peaceful.
As we walked back we heard all the sounds of life from the
tent city; laughter, arguments, babies crying, conversation and also a few rather
shrill screams.
The next time we turned up at Maiden Square the atmosphere
was almost one of a carnival.
A band was playing on the stage, there was an accordion player
and the Russian orthodox priest with beards and mustaches that can only be described
as epic were out in force.
The sun shone and you could almost forget that all the brick
paving had been ripped up to make barricades or thrown at the police.
In the sunshine you can see the statues where flags have
been draped and memorials better. The sunlight seemed to make them stand out
and have more meaning, a deeper more ethereal meaning as they fluttered
silently in the breeze. Some up high others at waist height.
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| Me in front of what was once a fountain |
Somehow the sunshine allows you to walk through the camps
more freely. It felt relaxed and at ease. As if summer had massaged the
shoulders of the tense soldiers and had given a brief rest bite to those who
had been here enduring hardship for months.
It is a hard thought to imagine this place in the bitter cold
and snow where these dirty and half saved freedom fighters who refuse to go
home had to endure. My heart goes out to them when I think of the sub-zero
temperatures where they must have burned anything for warmth.
The Ukrainian sun beats down onto your shoulders and you
look at the tents and think how hard it must have been and how many of them
succumbed to the cold. Maybe right outside the Macdonalds that stand on the
square.
I left Maiden Square for the last time as I descended into
the metro Ii looked over my shoulder one last time. I saw a city that is
changing. One of old and new. Where die hard revolutionaries rub shoulders with
bankers and suit wearing high flyers. A place of intrigue and mystery and a
place where there was a definite under current of edginess.
As if at any moment especially at night something could
happen.
In all this I saw that Kiev was a truly remarkable and
beautiful city.
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| Candles and shrines are everywhere |
