Lviv Part 2

Lviv, the jewel of western Ukraine, suffered just like the rest of the country in both the USSR and the world wars. The Lonsky prison memorial museum is a testament to that fact. The prison, restored and holding an exhibition on it's history, shows you just how brutal and cruel political regimes can be. From on the spot executions, to padded sensory deprivation cells, it demonstrates the lengths people go to silence different voices and opinions. It's also a place to reflect on past history, and to show the warnings signs to spot to prevent it repeating.

These places are awful, but are so important to visit so we can learn from history. Places like this should be mandatory to visit by everyone.

On a lighter note, if you're needing a bit of calm to ease your mind, then the Vernissage flea market is a good place. I personally find wandering up and down lines of stalls therapeutic, even if I don't buy anything. Flea markets have a particular pull for me, as they are full of surprising little finds. It's usually the first thing I head to each time I visit a city, and I have gotten some amazing things from them. But remember, be prepared to haggle! If language is an issue, write your offer down on a bit of paper, the back of your hand, or even on the calculator app on your phone. You will thank me!

If you're someone who loves medieval weapons and warfare, or lots of shiny things, then the Arsenal Museum is for you! Rows upon rows of swords, antique guns, suits of armour and my personal favourite, CANNONS!

And finally, if you're looking for something a little less violent, but by no means less shiny, then the Andrey Sheptysky national museum (or perhaps more correctly, the city's main art gallery) is the place for you.

This was my favourite piece. Despite being dressed in golden robes, this maiden is just as dramatic than if she had been seen wearing a potato sack. The gallery holds some fascinating pieces, the medieval Ukrainian artwork in itself is worth the ticket price. But there's a slight catch. Like most galleries, you are asked to leave your bag at the cloakroom. But there's no lockers,you literally just hand your bag to a little old lady who was blinder than Stevie Wonder. Make sure you take all of your valuables out of your bag and keep them with you. She had real trouble finding my bag when I went to collect it, despite there only being a choice of three! Also, perhaps more confusingly, but also more charmingly, the museum has an incredibly confusing, but also very simple ticket system. Believe me, if you spend anytime in Ukraine, you'll know there is the Ukrainian way of doing something, and then everyone else's way of doing something.

Basically, you buy a single ticket for each exhibition or floor. So basically, to look around the entire museum, I ended up buying five tickets. One for each exhibition, and an extra one to take photos.
If you've not dealt with it before, and are not fluent in Ukrainian like I was, then the poor lady behind the desk with have trouble explaining it to you. But we got there in the end. In some way's, if you are coming to look at a particular exhibition, then buying a single ticket for that particular exhibition is very handy. You can look at however much or little as you like. Some museum's took it a little bit more serious than that. There was a museum in Kharkiv, that took it to a whole new extreme, and I ended up carrying around what felt like a notebook. But thats another story for another day!

Many people head from Poland (Particularly Krakow) to visit Lviv, and they are not disappointed. Best to visit soon before this charming town becomes too overrun with selfie sticks, tour guide umbrella's and t-shirts that say "I <3 Lviv" on them.

And if you're tall like me, there's very few selfie sticks being waved about, so the likelihood of concussion is currently at low risk. You can thank me later!