CHERNOBYL: Trip (Part 2)

The Nitty, the Gritty and the Bitty

KLM + Ukrainian Airlines

Journey and Arrival:
The only hiccup of the whole trip was that our first flight (from Teesside) was delayed due to high winds in Amsterdam, this meant that 9 of us missed our connecting flight to Kiev and missed the other members of the collective (travelling from Manchester) whom we were supposed to be meeting on that flight. Therefore I then spent 2 hours in Schiphol Airport rearranging airport transfers – Aleksky from www.Chernobylwel.com  was amazing and above and beyond helpful, as was Arik from www.kievapts.com with the reorganising the collection of keys to our apartments in Kiev, due to the group’s arrivals being split with 5 hours difference. After this however, everything, organisationally, went very smoothly.

Kiev 2016

Kiev 2016

On arrival in Kiev, we met up and explored our huge apartments www.kievapts.com booked through airbnb, met Jon & Karen from Leeds (via Berlin) and all went out for dinner to a typical Ukrainian restaurant which served a free welcome drink of Horseradish flavour vodka, black bread and lard (as butter replacement) with gherkins. This was the most awful thing I think I have ever had. This was the first time the collective had all been together and a few of us were meeting for the first time – luckily we had those vodka’s! Overall though the meal was much better than expected and the barstools with integrated horsetails an unusual decorative feature.

First night with the barstools

First night with the barstools

The next day we all met for breakfast; espressos and pastries (for about 50p per person), in the very handy bakery below our apartment, and we were then picked up by our minibus driver Andre and our Chernobyl.wel.com guide Tania, then off on the two hour journey to Chernobyl watching one of the best Chernobyl documentaries, ‘The Battle of Chernobyl’.

3 days in Chernobyl:
We saw so much in Pripyat and Chernobyl and Chernobyl-2 (Duga) I don’t know where to start or in what order it all occurred, but these places are just a selection of what we visited; Kopachi Nursery, Cherevach Town Hall, the house of resettlers Ivan & Maria Ivanovitch (Parishev), Jupiter Factory, Hospital No.2, Pripyat Plaza, Polesie (Polissya) Hotel, Fish Farm, Docks, Palace of Culture etc. etc. if you want to know more please ask!
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My personal highlights included Chernobyl-2 military base where I made my video, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant tour, including the new sarcophagus in progress, all of which was so much more interesting and amazing than I expected and of course the whole of Pripyat.

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Inside CPP Control Room + the New Safe Containment

Desiatka Hotel:
Our hotel was actually inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone and very comfortable with everything you would need, it hosts tourists (on official guided tours), sometimes film crews as well as workers to the region. Food was typical Ukrainian fare and there was a bar serving 100ml measures of vodka for approx. 50p… unfortunately (or luckily) the bar closed about 10pm to set up the tables for breakfast.

Chernobyl Desiatka Hotel

Chernobyl Desiatka Hotel

Last Day in Kiev:
We arrived ‘home’ from Chernobyl back to our apartments, which we had booked for the whole week, on Thursday evening – day 4. Burgers were in order so we went out and got us some! Friday was spent on the Kiev Metro, ‘mooching’ around, the weather was great and we were strolling, and being relaxed all over the place, bumping into each other often, surprising in such an enormous city…

Day Tripping in Kiev

Day Tripping in Kiev

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