Exploring Podil

Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014--Kiev

Podil is an older part of Kiev that was not bombed during WWII.  It is downhill near the Dnipro River from where I live and parts of it are popular with tourists because of the old architecture.  I spent 4 hours wandering there today covering only about 1/2 of the area--the westernmost part.

Most of the area I explored is NOT on the tourist trail.  Therefore, I passed many wonderful old buildings that are NOT restored.  It's a beehive of activity, though.  Some buildings have been restored and others are undergoing restoration at the present time.  It's an area full of apartments, schools, local shops and restaurants, etc.  And near the river, there are large buildings housing major companies such as Coca-Cola, Nestle, etc. 

Two of the highlights were the two markets I found in the area.  One is in a communist-built building intended to represent modernity with a swooping roof (also here), yet the building looks old and dilapidated.  It's a popular shopping area, though.  It was full of counters selling meats, fish, cheeses, dried fruits/herbs, vegetables, etc.  And the stalls stilled out onto the pavement around two sides of the building.  The second market was an outdoor one a few blocks away.  It was more like a farmer's market at home, although it did have some stalls with raw meats that aren't found at home.  What I looked for there were the bakery stalls where it was obvious that the woman manning the stall had actually baked the items herself.  At one of them, I bought a pastry that was much like a kolache; it was a disc about 15 cm (6 inches) in diameter of yeast dough that had two fillings in the indented center--a sweet cheese and a mixture of poppy seeds and ground nuts.  It was delicious, especially the seed/nut mixture, but it was too large!

I was surprised at one point while walking up and down the blocks to find an active synagogue.  There were people around it and even two men with paintings and photographs of the synagogue they had set up to the side of it and were selling.  Within the same compound was a new apartment building of several stories which I assume is for Jewish families.  And next door to that was a Jewish restaurant.  It's one of the few times on this trip that I have observed an ACTIVE Jewish community.  In most places the old synagogues still exist but are museums or commercial buildings or are just closed up now.

Returning home, I climbed the giant hill and paused at a park where I spent another hour reading from my current novel as I occasionally glanced at the tourists going down the hill to explore Podil, too.  Finally, I walked back to the apartment where I am relaxing this evening.

I will return to Podil another day to explore the remaining half (the eastern portion) of it.  It's an interesting area, and it was nice to feel like I was in a local neighborhood rather than in the center of the city.