Ukraine: Kiev-Lviv sleeper train

Station in Ukrainian colours
Kiev railway station, Ukraine, December 2019

Having spent a day exploring around the city of Kiev and leaving with very mixed opinions on the city, we went to the railway station for our sleeper train onward to Lviv. The station was prettily lit up in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, pretty even in the rain that evening. 

Station interior
The very grand interior of Kiev railway station

The interior of the train station was very clearly Soviet-built, with all the grandeur thereof. It did seem very busy, though granted this was right at Christmas time. It was interesting looking at the departure board, though, with trains to places including Moscow, Warsaw, Budapest and Chisinau. 

Platform view
Kiev-Lviv train. Part of the train started its journey from Dnepropetrovsk. 

The sleeper accommodation followed the usual ex-USSR convention of 4-berth kupe and 2-berth spalny vagon compartments. I'd have chosen platskart open sleepers like in our Minsk-Kiev sleeper train journey earlier, but as this was Christmas time all of those were fully booked. Shame, as it would have cost less than £5 for the whole journey including overnight accommodation. Even these kupe tickets needed quite a bit of luck and hoping for extra tickets to be released, as the train seemed fully booked until seemingly an extra carriage was added to the train. But as a domestic ex-USSR journey, the tickets still only cost 745.67 UAH (~£24, €28) for a whole overnight journey. 

Bunks
Kupe sleeper compartment

Following the usual design convention of ex-USSR sleeper trains, the bottom bunks could be lifted up to reveal a space for luggage. Bedding was provided, though as with our previous sleeper train we had to make our beds ourselves. The bunks were actually quite comfortable. 

Tea glasses
The classic podstakanniki of the railways of the ex-USSR. 

Something that was quite nice was that the ticket included two glasses of tea, one in the evening and another in the morning. These were served in the tea glass-holders that are very traditional in the ex-USSR yet only ever found on trains. 

Snowy arrival
Lviv Railway Station

I slept very well overnight, though the 0600 arrival in Lviv was still a bit early for my tastes. Arrival in Lviv brought us to the city's mildly chaotic but architecturally impressive Art Nouveau station of 1904, built when the city was part of Habsburg Galicia. Incidentally, there's now a whole Slovakia between here and Vienna. 

After a couple of days in Lviv, I ended up leaving with very mixed takeaways about Ukraine in general and Lviv and Kiev in particular. But St George's cathedral in the city did have several cats playing around in the snow, which made me very happy whatever the state of the world might be. 

Cat.
Cat. 

Location: Kiev railway station, Kyiv, Ukraine, 02000

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