Arches, Beaches and Shipwrecks, from Greece to Malta

Problem
I saw a video of N a v a g i o Beach (Shipwreck Beach) and it looked crowded. What's it like visiting?

Answer
I thought the video might be a joke, a photoshop. The video starts with the classic picture of the beach from the cliff above, with the isolated shipwreck below, the way I aw it years ago on a press trip.

I tried Google, to get the history, then TripAdvisor to get updates. Yes, you can certainly visit it. After reading numerous reviews I found a few nuggets of vital information.

A trip to the shipwreck and nearby caves can take between one and four hours. That may leave you with anything from twenty minutes to an hour on the beach by the wreck.

Depending on what type of boat, and whether you want to see the caves as well and whether you shop around for a special deal the price can vary from £20 to £40.

Tips
You can go off season or early in the morning when it is quiet. Later in the day in high season it can be really busy.

You might not enter the cave unless you are prepared to swim. (I don't know how deep it is or whether you get any kind of life jacket or supervisor with life saving skills.)

More details from:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g7777607-d671779-Reviews-Navagio_Beach_Shipwreck_Beach-Anafonitria_Zakynthos_Ionian_Islands.html

Titanic wreck:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYNkpPVxMBE

Titanic Museum
http://titanicbelfast.com

Greek Tourist Board
http://www.visitgreece.gr

Malta Tourist Board
http://www.visitmalta.com

I must admit, having only seen it from a distance, I would be interested in going back, despite the crowds.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. See my previous posts on Greece, Malta, arches, shipwrecks, Titanic.

Ukraine, Kyiv (Kiev) Lviv, Chocolate and masochism: what's on my wish list,

UKRAINE
The tourist board's catchphrase is, it's all about you. In my case that's doubly true, U for Ukraine and U as a text word You for me personally, because my paternal ancestors came from Lviv. Four generations back the family name was Lemberger, meaning from Lemberg. Later the name was Anglicised. One day I decided to ask my father about family history and did some research and found that Lemberg was Lviv or Lvov. But what else has Ukraine got to offer you?

Ukraine For Tourists
Top of the tourist list would be Kiev, Odessa and Lviv. If you were coming from the west, the border town would be Lviv.

Unfortunately some of Ukraine is inaccessible or dangerous because it is a war zone. People tell me that the war is on the East, and Lviv is in the far west, far away from the war zone. How far? The country is the largest country in Europe, 603,500 square kilometers. The population is 45 million, less than the UK. Lots of forest.

Ukraine has the capital city of Kiev as well as Odessa. The capital of Ukraine is Kyiv.

Lviv and Kyiv (Kiev), evocative and romantic names. Before the pogroms and wars and the holocausts and nuclear disaster. But what can you see today? Museums, grand buildings, or what. Here is my research and wish list.

Odessa
Opera house said to be one of the top five most beautiful opera houses in the world.

Kiev
Motto: Everything starts in Kiev. The city is known as the city of golden domes.
Kiev has the deepest Metro (underground railway station) in the world. The station is called Arsenalna (after the nearby arsenal) and it is 105 metres deep. it was built in 1960.

If you look at the city map and map of the metro it will help you to learn the (cyrilic) alphabet. Metro is written as Metpo. So p is pronounced r. Andrew's Descent is Andriivskyi Uzviz. So v is W. Y is I as in Kyiv for Kiev.

• St Sophia Cathedral. Climb the belfry. See the bell tower's 20 bells. Gold domes and green rooftops. 
• St Michael's golden-domed monastery. Wishing fountain.
• St Andrew's Descent. Sloping street like Montmartre.
• Monastery with caves Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Carry candles in the cave labyrinth. 
• National Museum of History of the Great patriotic War. Huge museum to German-Russian conflict in WWII, 1941-5. Statue of the Motherland, like the Statue of Liberty, 62 metres high.
• Landscape Alley, sculpture park and 3D climb-on murals.
• Pharmacy Museum.
• National Museum of Literature.
• Kyiv Literary Memorial house-Museum of T Shevchenko. (In Shevchenko Lane.)
• Literary Memorial Museum of M Bulgakov (on St Andrew's descent)

You pay for entrance and again for a guided tour of St Sophia. But many other museums are free.
Watch out for museums being closed on Sunday or Monday and check times.

Lviv
I associate Lviv with Masoch, the man whose later books gave rise to the words masochism and sad-masochism. A cafe is associated with Masoch. However, equally interesting is the news that Lviv is known for chocolate and has 1500 cafes. You'll also find a brewery museum.

In addition to the expected National Gallery of art, a couple of places associated with puppets. In addition to the universities, a museum of ideas. In addition to the expected assorted historic churches, a museum to religion and a Jewish quarter.

Here's a three day tour put together by KIY Avia West. Their motto is KIY AVIA WEST is Ukraine's best.

• Bus tour.
• Opera house tour. (And see opera performance.)
• Hand made chocolate factory. Lviv chocolate factory. (See TripAdvisor.)
• Climb town hall tower.
• Tour Jewish quarter.
• Lviv Brewery Museum and restaurant.
• www.kawest.com.ua

me.gov.ua

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, researcher, author and speaker.