A cat, a lion and the opera

Trip Start Aug 27, 2011
1
13
14
Trip End Sep 09, 2011


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow
Where I stayed
Dnister Hotel Lviv
Read my review - 4/5 stars
What I did
Rynok
Boyim Chapel
Roman Catholic Cathedral
Royal Arsenal
High Castle Hill

Flag of Ukraine  ,
Thursday, September 8, 2011

At the beginning of the day, after a delicious breakfast at Hotel Dnister, we came up with an ambitious plan - we wanted to follow at least 2 routes described in our guide, to see as much as interesting sights as possible. Though Lviv is so close to Krakow, that was our first time here and we were not sure when we would have another occasion to visit it. We started off at Prospekt Svobody, near Adam Mickiewicz monument and made our way through various districts of Lviv, among which the Armenian one, where we unfortunately failed to see the Armenian church, as it was closed for visitors. Later, on the local market, Agnieszka bought herself a nice traditional-ish t-shirt. On one of the squares we stopped for a little while, hunting for... a cat. Well, hunting for a photo to be precise. Surrounded by people coming from every way possible, the poor cat seemed so sleepy he was not moving. Perhaps he spent the whole night hunting?


We went for a walk along the fortifications, where we met some extremely nice lions (made of stone, but still cute) and finally decided to climb the High Castle hill
We're doing it together!
We're doing it together!
. The castle was not there anymore and the view was obstructed by the trees. It seemed that the trip was a bit of a waste of time and then... it become even more that, as it started raining... After all - we canceled our ambitious plans and decided to come back to the hotel (as we had tickets for the evening's opera in the Lviv Theater of Opera and Ballet), stopping for some shopping on our way. The place we wanted to visit was the chocolate factory in the center. I wanted a chocolate lion a lot, but then I got sad, knowing I would have to eat it anyway. At the end, we content ourselves with a pack of chocolate pralines, one for us and a few for friends and family. They are all eaten now... (in case you were curious if we still have any).


What we particularly liked as well was the fact the Euro 2012 was so widely advertised around the city. The signs were on the shop windows, on the flower beds in parks and on the squares, everywhere you looked you could feel that the championships are coming to town. That's sad... Krakow was not chosen to be a host of Euro 2012, which was a damn political choice and although some teams are going to train and prepare for the games there (like Holland, Italy and England), we can't feel it just yet...


We spent the evening, as I mentioned in the Opera, and let me say, it was the strangest opera, we'd been so far. You would imagine, that people coming to such place would dress nicely, wear shirts, suits or nice dresses - you couldn't be more mistaken. The Lviv Theater of Opera and Ballet is more like a cinema with regards to the dress code. What is more... it is not uncommon that a follow spectator will take our a cheese sandwich and eat it during the piece
As close to a lion as possible
As close to a lion as possible
. At the same time, the clerks were very strict with regards to taking photos... at least towards some of the guests. The performance itself - "Natalka Połtawka" was something that we actually were hoping for - traditional and local. While we did not understand much, it was obvious it was about love (or rather lack of love), marriage and common life of Ukrainian peasants. My observation was that Natalka was quite old, for a lady that was about to get married, but well... I'm not an opera critic.


When we went out of the opera... it was raining yet again...
Slideshow

Use this image in your site

Copy and paste this html: