烏克蘭玩樂指南

Kyiv, the capital, rises on the high west bank of the Dnieper, with the golden domes of the Pechersk Lavra monastery and the eleventh-century mosaics of Saint Sophia's Cathedral, both UNESCO-listed. The wide avenue of Khreshchatyk and the cobbled Andriyivskyi Descent show the city's modern and older faces.

Lviv, in the west, has a UNESCO-listed old town of baroque churches, coffeehouses and the Rynok market square. Odesa, on the Black Sea, is a port city of the Potemkin Stairs, the opera house and a seaside boulevard. Kharkiv in the east is a university city with a vast central square, and Cherkasy lies on the Dnieper in the centre of the country, in the same region as Kaniv, where the poet Taras Shevchenko is buried.

Borscht, varenyky dumplings with potato, cheese or cherry, and cabbage rolls are traditional home dishes, and honey and sunflower oil are local products. Spring brings blossom, summers are warm, and the Carpathians are snowy in winter.