altiva

All about borsch today...

Foreigners often call borsch a "beet root based soup". I could never

understand why. If any, it should be a "tomato soup" or something.

In fact, there are many kinds of borsch.

Hot and cold.

Among hot, there is a red borsch, green borsch, borsch with

mushrooms, borsch with Crucians (Crucian carps, a species of fish).

Green borsch is made always in spring. It's main ingredient is

sorrel. If you are in Ukraine in spring, it's a must to try it.

Gourmands describe green borsch as a "spring freshness which came to

your table". It also contains eggs.

On this photo, they used boiled eggs to add to the green borsch.

Frankly, raw eggs, beaten with the fork while the borsch is still

cooking is much more tasty. But, boiled eggs are more photogenic.

Here is a photo of a green borsch with beaten eggs in a bread. You

are supposed to eat your plate, also. The plate is a home-cooked

bread, with the soft core removed.

Home made green borsch. You eat it with sour cream, of course.

Ok, now I'm drooling, do they have those pancakes all year or just for a festival? Do you know of any good (not expensive) restaurants near the Radisson Blu hotel in Kiev, I think that's where they put us before the cruise.

hi silkismom,

Of course they are too eat and enjoy every day.

For every day eating, Puzata Hata (a potbellied house) and Two geese

are good. They are self-served restaurants, where you take a tray and

pick up the dishes as you proceed to the checkout. Puzata Hata is

better. They have all the Ukrainian dishes, and they taste home made,

and the prices are really low. They have one on the main street,

Khreshchatyk. Also, on the main square, called square of Independence

(Maidan Nezalezhnosty), you can see a glass dome, and an entrance to

the metro. If you go inside, instead of entering the metro, go the

other way down. They have an underground mall there, 3 or 4 stories.

There is Puzata Hata there as well, plus, on the last below (or would

it be first?) there is like 5 or 6 cafes, cafeterias and pizzerias

and what not. They have low prices also.

I don't know your budget, but you simply MUST go to Mamayev sloboda.

It's a Ukrainian medieval village in the centre of the city. They

have churches there, and their own vinery, and houses of a pot-maker,

a smith, houses of cossacks and a windmill and much much more.

Everyone is dressed in a national costume.

They have a tavern, called "A plait under a glass".

Here is a link to the virtual tour:

http://mamajeva-sloboda.ua/publ.php?category=204

It's on street 2 Mykoly Dontsya.

Their site has an English version, but they did not translate it all.

If you insert this link into a google translate and choose

"translate from Ukrainian to English" you can read the menu.

They have 350 authentic Ukrainian dishes and drinks.

http://mamajeva-sloboda.ua/posluhy.php?id=32

And you can see the photos there as well.

Here is an extract on pancakes only:

Pancakes with capons - 200 grams.

• Pancakes with good (liver with onions) - 200 grams.

• Pancakes with cabbage - 200 gms.

• Savory Pancakes (with cheese, garlic and green onions) - 200 grams.

• Pancakes with sour cream - 200 grams.

• Pancakes with caviar (Sturgeon caviar) - 200 hr./25 caviar

• Pancakes with mushrooms - 200 grams.

• Pancakes with poppy seeds - 200 gms.

• Pancakes with cheese - 200 grams.

• Pancakes with jam - 200 grams.

• Pancakes with honey - 200 grams.

And here is the map of the whole territory:

http://mamajeva-sloboda.ua/map.php

Hungry now?

Nalysnyky with raspberries.

Today is a start of Maslenytsya in Ukraine.

It's the last week before the great Easter fast, when people are not

supposed to eat dairy, fish and meat. Many Ukrainian restaurants will have

a fast menu added to accommodate people who are fasting.

Maslenytsya means "buttery". You are supposed to stuff yourself with

pancakes this week. And they are supposed to be fried on real butter.

Ukrainians love butter and add it to many dishes. Vareniky

(dumplings) must "swim" in butter, for example.

Here is a Ukrainian woman, making butter at home. You can buy real

home made butter on farmer's markets.

Ukrainian pancakes are called nalysnyky.

It's pancakes, stuffed with rice, meat, buckwheat, berries, cheese

(the cheese ones are sweet, they add sugar and raisins to them).

These are the ones with cheese. You eat them with sour cream.

Besides pancakes, people eat different sausages, salo (lard), meat,

paltry.

We go on this cruise April 20th! Can't wait. Just some general questions: Do we get food choices at dinner on the cruise? Does Viking provide some good soaps as occur on other non-river cruises? Are there refrigerators in the rooms? Is there a place on Viking site (I'm going to try and check) where you can see some of the meal selections? Thanks for this info, and Altiva, thanks for all of the great pix of the beautiful outfits, etc and thank you, Perigrina, for all of the bounty of information that you have provided to all of us, and also for your absolutely wonderful blog, which I plan to take with us on the cruise.

 

I haven't found anyone going on our cruise, but as Altiva said, it looks like only about 15% of cruisers go on this site.

 

Happy Birthday, Altiva! It was just mine last week, and SILKISMOM, we had Celebration Womans Day as well here in the USA last week!!!!! Thanks for being here, folks!I love this site!

Oh, you are a Pisces also. :)

I'll be on the September 22 cruise from Kiev to Odessa. I'll be arriving in Kiev on September 20th, for the pre-cruise extension. If you're in Kiev, we could meet on the 20th or 21st, or if you're in Odessa, I think the ship gets there on October 2 or 3, and then Silkismon and I fly out on October 4th.

So, we could meet in Kiev or Odessa or any place along the route.

 

I hope you have a happy birthday!

Sounds great, great time of the year, with lot of fruits and vegetables.

I'd love to meet. I don't have my schedule yet, and but when the time gets closer I'll see how to manage it better.

For those, coming on this cruise.

In Ukraine, there are officially established 7 wonders.

Seven wonders of Ukraine.

The seven wonders of Ukraine were determined by Ukrainian Internet

voters and by scientists, historians and experts in tourism industry.

There are:

1. Kamyanets-Podilsky fortress.

2. Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

3. Sofiyivka.

4. Sofia Kyivska.

5. Khersones Tavriysky.

6. Khotyn fortress.

7. Khortutsya.

Out of seven, those on this cruise can easily visit 4.

Kyiv-Pecherski lavra is in Kyiv.

Sofia Kyivska is a St Sophia church in Kyiv.

Khersones Tavriysky (Chersonesus Taurica) is in Crimea.

And Khortutsya in an island on the Dnieper.

It's not shabby, visiting four our of seven hottest spots.

Happy birthday, altiva -- and thanks for the wonderful pictures!

Thank you, Peregrina!

Just wondering if you are in Ukraine or will be there when I'm there Altiva,you have been so helpful maybe we could meet.

The river looks so beautiful,I'm so glad I'm doing the cruise instead of going to Ukraine and trying to see the sights on my own.

Hi Grandcruisevirgin,

when are you coming?

It's nice, isn't it? Wait till you try the food.

I still think you should come once again some time and do, for

example, Ukrainian castles route, in the west, with Carpathian

mountains. I am certain that once you come from your fist voyage of

discovery, with all the wonderful photos and stories, your all

commune will be dying to go there too, and you will become their

leader! Almost like Moses (a joke).

Autumn over the river Dnieper.

This is a Dnieper river embankment, with fountains.

More photos here:

These are called "the rocks of Hercules". You know the ancient Greek

hero, Hercules, with his 12 labours? He came to river Dnieper to perform his 9th labour.

The photo was taken in a foggy winter day, that's why it's a bit

gloomy.

A church over the river Dnieper:

The bridge over the river Dnieper:

OK, people, they are swimming, not drowining. :-)))

You may consider packing a swim suit, just, please, don't try to swim off your boat!!!

It's too large for that, and it's dangerous. Try beaches, both sea and river.

When you travel, you will visit an island, called Khortytsya. It's

the largest river island in Europe (length - 12 km, width - 2.5 km).

It's considered one of the seven wonders of Ukraine. Cossack

republic, called "Sich" was situated on this island.

Sailing on river Dnieper:

Today, March 9, is a birthday of Taras Shevchenko, a prominent Ukrainian writer, poet, painter. It's 199 years since he was born.

Taras Shevchenko is like Shakespeare for English, or Molière for French.

Taras was born into a peasant family, in 1814. Which means that he was born a serf, a slave to his lord and land owner. He had a very hard childhood. His family was poor. His mother died, his father remarried and then died, too. He worked since he was 10. He learned how to read and write from a local cantor. When Taras was 14, he became a page to his lord. He liked painting, and, at night, copied the paintings which were hang in the lord's dining room, for which he was severely beaten. Then his owner had an idea to educate Taras as a painter. He took Taras to Lithuania and St Petersburg, where Taras attended the universities. A skilled serf cost more money, you see. In St Petersburg, people noticed a bright Ukrainian painter and decided to set him free. The owner of Shevchenko asked for 2500 roubles!

Back then, a grown up man cost 250 roubles! At last, they managed to collect the money. Shevchenko was free! But not for long. He started writing poems and ballads in Ukrainian language.

If you were Ukrainian in 19 century and wrote Ukrainian verses, it was like committing a suicide. Sooner or later, Russians came and got you for good. A publisher friend read Shevchenko's poems and published them. In one of the poems, Shevchenko compared the Russian tzar's wife to a baked champignon. The poem was published. The Russian tzar read it and was furious.

Shevhenko was forced to serve as a soldier in a Russian army for 25 years, as a punishment. He was also forbidden to write or paint. He served in a Russian fortress Orenburg for ten years. Then, the tzar died and the new tzar pardoned him. So, he returned to Ukraine. Shevhenko died when he was 47. Thousands of people came to say "good bye". He was buried near Kaniv, because he dreamed about living near this Ukrainian city all his life, in "quietude and happiness".

When you travel by Dnieper river, you will see a huge monument to Taras Shevchenko near Kaniv.

That sounds like something we should have in the US!!

Hi silkmom, it's an international day, so you can celebrate it in your house/family as well.:)

Today is March 8, International Women's Day.

It's a holiday in Ukraine.

This day, men buy women flowers and presents and say how wonderful

the women are.

Wishing all the women all over the world a lot of health and

happiness.

Ukrainian love:

Today, google posted a new logo on their search engine, which looked

like this:

It is to commemorate the birthday of Volodymyr Dahno - one of the

most prominent cartoon makers in Ukraine.

His most celebrated cartoons is a series called "How cossacks..."

He tells us how cossacks played football, made kulish (porridge),

freed their fiancees, bought salt, became Olympians, helped the

musketeers, celebrated a wedding, met aliens, played hockey.

All of the cartoons have no speech. You understand what happens by

gestures and music. All the cartoons make fun of cultural

stereotypes.

Most interesting, that Dahno made his cartoons during the Russian

occupation of Ukraine. So, all the records are written in Russian (if

you did not do so, you could go to jail or you could get killed). But

all the signs, writings, labels in the cartoons are written in

Ukrainian language. It's hard to appreciate now, but back then it was

a sign of a huge bravery.

I wanted to post these cartoons here for a long time.

I think now is the day.

I decided to post "How cossack played football", mostly because of

Euro 2012.

Remember, you don't need to know Ukrainian language to understand

them.

Football - if you are an American, it's soccer.

A short summary:

Three cossacks, which are the main protagonists of the all stories,

returned from London. They saw a football game there. They saw a

queen giving out a golden cup as a prize. They were impressed and

decided to play football, too. At first, cossacks trained and it did

not end well, mostly because they refused to give up their guns.

Then, the cossack travel through Europe and play with German knights

(Teutonic knights), with French musketeers and finally, in London,

against London gentlemen.

When cossack play against the Teutonic knights, the knights use

Teutonic military tactics, called wedge (Panzerkeil) and swine

(Schweinkof).

The cartoon is here. It's quite short:

This will be the most exiting days of your life! And still, you won't

see it all. If you have any free time, try to go to Museum of

Historical Treasures of Ukraine. It's situated in Kyiv lavra. They

have the most amazing Scythian gold (the gold which people manage to

salvage from Russians, many more of it was stolen, sent to Russia and

will never be back) and old Jewish silver. The Scythian golden

pectoral is breathtaking, and it's in all the text books all over the

world.

Even if you are not a museum person, it's easy to look at

priceless ancient jewellery, and admire the craftsmanship.

Kyiv is a capital of Ukraine.

Kyiv was founded in 5-6 century A.D.

Kyiv is the largest city in Ukraine, and the seventh most largest in

Europe. Kyiv is lager than Paris.

After ancient Ukrainians were christened (988), writers of chronics

started comparing Kyiv to Rome. It's situated on seven

hills, like Rome. It has a river flowing through it, like Rome. But,

the name came mostly from the huge amount of churches and cathedrals,

built there. There is the legend that St Andrew came to Ukrainian

lands. He travelled up the river Dnieper. When he saw the seven

hills, he came out from the boat, and told his disciples: "See this

place? A grand and famous city will be built here". St Andrew

claimed the hills and prayed to God, so later on his prophecy became

true. Kyiv was, and still is, a very important place to come on

religious pilgrimage.

Many cities in Ukraine has a "favourite" tree. Kyiv's tree is chestnut.

They are many chestnut trees in Kyiv. They blossom in spring

with white and pink blossoms. The unofficial anthem of Kyiv is called "Kyiv's

waltz". It says: "Again, blossoms the chestnut trees. The Dnieper

waves move. Dear youth, you are my happiness." When there is a radio

announcement, or any broadcast from Kyiv, they start playing that

song.

Yet another song goes: "How not to love you, my Kyiv". So, look at

these photos, and tell us how not to.

This is Andriyiv descent, a very steep street, where people sell their art and souvenirs.

Thank you Altiva for all your cultural information, I'm saving everything to review closer to our cruise. Also thank you Peregrina for helping keep this thread from slipping to "lala land". I think that there are only a few of us on our cruise--but the ship is full. Wonder where everyone else is??

Hi silkismom, you are welcome. I read somewhere that statistic is -

only 15 per cent of cruise passengers are using Cruise critic. But,

of course, you know that there are lies, damned lies and statistics.

I guess they are just coming on a cruise, without bothering with

forums.

Odessa Opera House, all times and seasons.

More photos here:

http://odessainterpreters.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=30

Today is the birthday of Volodymyr Ivasiuk - Ukrainian composer, song

writer, poet. He was born March 4 1949. Graduated from a medical university.

In 1971, he went to Moscow with two of his friends with the song he

wrote. The song was called "Red ruta" ("Red rue"; rue is an evergreen

shrub). Normally, rue blossom is yellow, but Ukrainian legend says

that if you find a red blossom rue, you will be happy in love all

your life. The song won the first prize, and became the most popular

Ukrainian song. In 2012 people created a live chain to celebrate

united Ukraine, and they sang "Red ruta" song.

Next year, 1972, another song of Ivasiuk won the competition. He then

joined Lviv conservatory and studied to become a composer. One month

after his 30-ies birthday, Ivasiuk went out of his home and had not

been seen again. Later, his body was found hang in a little forest,

badly disguised as a suicide. Ivasiuk was hanged by Russian KGB for

simply writing songs in Ukrainian language, which became overly

popular. The Russian occupational regime didn't like that.

That was his only crime.

1971, a song competition in Moscow:

A 2011 version:

http://youtu.be/qp-BWZdC3hQ