I'm not gonna lie, it was a drinking trip...
We gathered a small group (perfect size for one van) of 8 people and headed to Ukraine.
7 out of 8 people were from Projekt Arbus and this trip was a little reunion.
On the border between Poland and Ukraine, everyone has to go through a proper passport check, and sometimes you have to wait hours to get through. I don't remember how long we waited but we had a great time and it was for sure a couple of hours.
This trip was not about visiting museums but spending some time together and having fun.
On our first day, we had brunch/lunch at Kufer Cafe where everyone ordered some traditional food. From there we went to Coffee Manufacture, it's a place where you learn a bit about coffee but you can also drink and eat.
Later that day we went to Gas Lamp which holds the biggest collection of gas lamps in Europe and it's a pub with rock music.
We all ordered chemist's set with different types of liqueur/vodka, you get to mix different flavors together and test your palate. The evening ended with a nice long walk around the city and continuing the party back at the house we rented.
Second day we've decided to make this journey more diverse and see some culture.
Lucky for us the National Opera was open and a lovely lady wanted to show us around.
So we walked through that stunning building listening about its history and history of Lviv until we got hungry.
Forgot to mention that our guide around the city was Piotrek aka Kostek who was a part of Projekt Arbus vol.2 and who loves Lviv and visited this city many many times. He knew what's worth our time and where we can get delicious food and drinks.
So next on our daily plan was House of Legends where every floor is like from a different storybook and on the rooftop, you find a figure of chimney sweep with a hat where you can throw coins and bring happiness and success back to your home. There's also an old school car parked and the view of Lviv.
Being in Lviv you need to visit Baczerwski Restaurant which is considered a fancy place, mostly known from its food but also alcohol. You can get any type of liqueur you imagine. We decided to order a big box will lots of different flavors (miniature bottles of course) and had a little taste of everything.
Next was Kryivka. This place is probably the weirdest (in a good way) I've ever visited. First of all, you need to know about it and where it is, there's no banners or signs outside and it's not located right on the street. You go into a small corridor located in an old building and find a door which for me looked like a barn door, you knock on it and someone opens a small window and you have to say 'Slava Ukrainine' (have no idea how to write it but it means fame/honor for Ukraine). If you say what the guy behind the door wants to hear, he will let you in, he was holding a fake rifle (I hope it was fake), and give us shots of vodka, I think we had honey flavor.
So we went inside and ordered two types of vodkas and got waisted, at least it happened to me. To be honest I don't remember much from that place. I know they gave us salt and pepper in matchboxes.
From there two of our guys went to look for The Most Expensive Galician Restaurant and I went to look after them, we didn't stay there long. In the end all of us went to some random bar where we just chilled and tried to get sober (me!).
I remember from that evening one of the girls bought paper caterpillar which had a string and a rock or something attached, when you walked and pulled the string it crawled behind you, it made me laugh so much.
Our journey back to Poland was hilarious as always with this amazing crowd.
Unfortunately this was my last trip with them, I'm still hoping sometime in the future we can travel together again and make some new memories.
Below little video from this trip
