However, talking about Lviv today requires taking a step back – it does need some introduction. Lviv has a very particular place in Ukrainian hearts – ask anyone here what the most beautiful city in Ukraine is, and in 9 cases out of 10, the answer will be “Lviv”.

But. There is an important historical context to appreciate – Ukraine is a post-Soviet country, and the Soviet regime (combined with WWII and the tasteless and shaky years of independence), among all other things, was unkind towards urban planning and monument conservation in Ukrainian cities. Lviv, on the other hand, was part of Poland and, before that, the Austro-Hungarian Empire for a long while, so it managed to keep its Western European style – narrow streets, a compact city centre, preserved stunning architecture…

Coming to Lviv from the “West”, especially if one has already been to big cities in Poland (like Krakow or Wroclaw), won’t produce the same effect as when your everyday reality consists of big post-Soviet cities. Hence our general infatuation with Lviv. It’s a very brief and superficial description of why Lviv is so much loved, but enough to give an idea.

Ploshcha Rynok Façades 

Another important and most recent twist in Lviv’s role for us is the Russian full-scale war that started in 2022, which turned Lviv into a huge hub for internally displaced people, a major passage point and a centre of “kind of” normal life, unavailable in a big part of the country. As my last time in Lviv was in 2018 and Xavier’s one and only time was way back in 2012, we were both excited and anxious to come back and explore Lviv from a totally new perspective.

Fun fact: in 2018, I documented everything with a strong determination to make a blog post but never got around to doing it… Shame, as it would be a very interesting comparison point.

Although I have no older articles to present as proof, at its core Lviv is still largely the same – different history, different religion (mainly Catholic instead of Orthodox), forced Russification barely touched it, and you can feel it. However, Lviv was not spared by the spread of tourism, digitalisation, influencers and other attributes of our time: the Old Town underwent “Disneylandisation”. A lot of it is now targeting tourists rather than locals, with concept food places of various sorts, mirrors everywhere (sometimes with a queue for a selfie), souvenir shops and whatnot. It’s very different from the Lviv I knew back in the nineties, and I am happy to have experienced that old reality even at a young age.

Virmenska street

Another important feature of Lviv is that, once again, unlike the majority of Ukrainian cities, its current administration puts a lot of effort into making the city comfortable for its inhabitants. Pedestrian areas, public transport, cycling infrastructure, accessibility, public spaces and the general aesthetic value of the city – unfortunately, Ukraine is gravely lagging behind its European neighbours in this respect. But not Lviv. So for me personally, it was touching and motivating to discover the things we could be having if one day there is a political will for them.

Despite what I’ve said earlier about “no-war” life, it is not completely fair. Of course, coming from Kyiv (and as I write this post, it has been a month since Russian strikes intensified and life in Kyiv has become even more hellish than before…), Lviv does seem like a peace haven – I mean, only one air alert in four days, and not in forty minutes like in Kyiv! But mobilisation, human losses, winter blackouts, heavy social and economic strain – all of this is Lviv’s reality too. War isn’t far, it’s right here.

Even if we live in difficult and cruel times, I was still happy to go to Lviv and see all my favourite places in and outside the Old Town: Ploshcha Rynok (Market Square), the compact network of streets around it, Lviv Opera Theatre, the Dominican Cathedral, the Church of the Holy Eucharist, the Antique Book Market, and Lviv National Museum. This time, the latter had an amazing exhibition of Volodymyr Patyk, and it was so beautiful and inspiring that I went there twice in four days!

Lviv National Museum

Volodymyr Patyk

Kryva Lypa (Under the Crooked Lime Tree)

Ivan Franko Park

Since the early 2010s, Lviv has become a foodie destination for Ukrainians. Again, there is a historical context to it, with our post-Soviet realities, where “restaurants” were something for “rich” people and reserved for very solemn and pompous occasions. Lviv was the first city in Ukraine to break this vision and transform going out to eat into some sort of entertainment. Even if we outgrew “conceptual restaurants”, Lviv kept its reputation as a food destination, and oh dear – we enjoyed it fully.

Mind that the restaurant business is a movable thing, and probably by the end of the year half of these places won’t exist anymore, but here are our food / book places of this time in Lviv:

Food and coffee

• Sugar / Цукор – best breakfast!
• MOREFISH / Морериби – the most generous sushi of our lives
• Parajanov / Пара Джанов і Портвейн – Armenian cuisine
• Fayno – Modern Ukrainian cuisine
• Centaur – old-time classics
• Black Honey – coffee
• Vusa – excellent bar!
  

📚 Books

• Plekay / Плекай – a second-hand book shop
• Sens / Сенс

🎁 Souvenirs and beautiful things

• Dzyga / Дзиґа
• Shchos Tsikave / Щось цікаве

Our Airbnb building

Lviv Opera Theatre