Explore The Best of Ukraine and Georgia

A nation steeped in culture and tradition, Ukraine surprises travellers with a variety of experiences. Here’s a firsthand account by Sandeep Aggarwal who travelled to the country and came back charmed!

We started off our Ukraine expedition with 4 days in Kiev, the capital city teeming with a mix of European and Russian architecture.

With many interesting places to visit, Kiev wooed us with its Museum of Second World War, its charming vibe and relaxed attitude. Up on display at the museum were the various war memorabilia (where I also got to sit in a real MiG-21!).

Kiev to Chernobyl

Next up, we planned a day trip to Chernobyl, which is about 2 hours drive to the north from Kiev. Exploring the nearby towns, we actually went within 100m of the No. 4 light water graphite moderated reactor where the blast had occurred in April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. [Update: Currently, they are putting an aluminium roof over that reactor - the clean-up timetable extends for 50+ years.]

We also got to see a top-secret Soviet military town nearby, which we were told had to be abandoned after the accident. The town housed an early warning anti-missile system called Duga—a gigantic 200m X 80m metal structure which cost billions of roubles to build, to defend against a NATO attack. This is where the many plant employees lived. We saw gas masks in a primary school and at various other places too. Everyone here and other surrounding towns would have died within a few months—the radiation quantity would have been so horrifyingly high.

Read more: 4 Stunning Destinations in Eastern Europe Which You Must Explore

Kiev to Odessa

From Kiev, we drove south to spend a few days at Odessa, the largest port on the Black Sea. Known for its beaches and 19^th-century architecture, the city of Odessa packs quite a punch for all kinds of travellers—from Arcadia Beach and Odessa Opera House to Vorontsov Palace and Odessa Catacombs.

Odessa to Tbilisi

We then flew to Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, where walking down the lanes of old town makes for an immersive experience. We also stayed at Borjomi (in the mountains, with sulphur springs), Kutaisi (canyons and limestone caves) and Batumi (2^nd largest city, a port on the Black Sea) making road trips from one to another.

Read more: 10 Secret Places in Europe

It is fun to travel in ex-USSR and what we observed was that they quite like Indians. Top of the hat references we gathered from them quite often were of Raj Kapoor (of course the song 'Awara hoon'). The cities here are not very expensive; hence the value of rupee gets you more bang for your buck. We faced that language is an issue, hence hiring a local guide for city tours is recommended. Availability of vegetarian food is not abundant but not too scarce too! With easy connectivity from India, a visit to Ukraine is not as offbeat as we perceive it to be.

Book Your Flight to Kiev, Ukraine

Book Your Flight to Kiev, Ukraine