From the very first steps, Lviv feels strangely familiar. Streets look like at home, my instinct tells me which way to go, even though I have never been there before. Strange. From the very first minutes Lviv gets me and to be honest, I could stay. This is how much I like it.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my grandpa’s sister lived in Lviv and my other grandpa lived nearby. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that not so long ago Lviv was Polish. Maybe it’s something totally different, but these walks around the city are very sentimental. The first day I spot my favorite building – the building of the Museum of Ethnography and Art Crafts – and it got me thinking, how it would all look like if we had lived in Lviv, not in Wrocław. After the 2nd World War, when borders of Poland changed, people from Lviv and around were moved to what is now Wrocław. So did my family. Btw, did you know that there’s a Statue of Liberty on this building? But the lady is sitting, they say she’s a bit lazy.
My second fave is the Lviv National Medical University. Just look at it. Even I could become a doctor if I had a chance to study in a building like this one:
We go to the Rynok Square. It’s so similar to the one in my hometown, that we’re laughing no one will ever believe us that it’s in Lviv. Just the town hall is different. And there’s a tram that goes through Rynok.
I could spend hours or even days walking up and down the Armenian Street and Lesya Ukrainka Street. From one cafe to another. Ok, maybe I can blame it on my love for Armenia. If you’d take the Armenian Cathedral from Lviv and place it on the top of the green hill in the middle of nowhere, you could forget that your in a big city. Btw, take a look at the Mehoffer’s mosaics and Rosen’s “St Odilon funeral”. It’s magic.
We sit on a bench on Prospekt Svobody and we just stare. At people, at buildings, at everything. Lviv is not a small town. It’s a big city with a beautiful architecture. It has this Austro-Hungarian feeling. The only thing missing is Schonbrunn palace. But they have Potocki Palace, quite a big one.
Next to the Potocki Palace, there is Kryva Lypa passage. It seems like that’s THE place to go in Lviv. The architecture, the modern feel, restaurants, bars and a huge curved linden tree which translates to Kryva Lypa.
The Opera in Lviv is spectacular. To be honest, it’s probably the center of the city, not the town hall. The opera, the fountain, Prospekt Svabody, Adam Mickiewicz statue, hotel George. What a walk! If I have lived in Lviv in the 20s and have stayed in the hotel George, I would walk to the Opera every evening.
On our way to the Lychakiv cemetery, we’re passing the Medical University I mentioned before and we’re finding another palace. Siemienski Palace. To me, it’s even prettier than the Potocki Palace. I could live there.
We spend the evenings in the coolest bar in the world – Beer Theater Pravda. Can I import it to Wrocław? It’s a hybrid of a bar, restaurant and… a concert hall! Every evening except Monday, there’s a concert at 7pm. People go crazy, there’s a regular party and it’s all in the price of beer. Or multiple beers. We found it by accident and returned there on purpose. Being in Lviv and not going there is like not being in Lviv at all.
So here you have it, my personal top of the top in Lviv. I could go on, but hey, I have to finish somewhere, right? This list should be longer, but don’t worry, I’ll get back to this.