“LOVING” MIGHT BE OVERENTHUSIASTIC, but I can get behind “liking Lviv.” Six days is twice as long as the city warrants but staying in this World Heritage town makes as much sense as waiting in Kiev for our Belarus visas. This has been a meeting place for traders from the Baltics, central Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia for 1500 years. It has bounced back and forth from Polish to Ukrainian as the political climate of the region changed and didn't and it didn’t become Lviv until the 13th century.
Ryock Square
Just a stone’s throw from our hotel, the Old City centers on Rynock Square. Scores of restaurants, tour touts and itinerant musicians vie for the attention of tourists. As with other European countries, cafes abound and people watching over a cup of joe is a major sport. Around the corner gilded mimes entertain around the Opera fountain while young boys race in electric cars, barely avoiding the pedestrians.
Wedding, St. George Cathedral
We have been rationing our time to two or three hours a day, trying to make Lviv last, wandering the narrow cobbled streets soaking up the atmosphere. There isn’t any particular architectural style with Orthodox churches standing alongside art-nouveaux buildings. We’ve wandered as far as the Potocki Palace, the Austrian Tower and St. George Cathedral trying to get a feel for Lviv, deciding only that August is wedding season in Ukraine. We also spent a morning at the Lviv National Art Gallery, a pleasant place with works by artists who are — and will remain — unknown to us.
Lviv National Art Gallery
