I was born in Lviv a long time ago, and i do come back to this town again and again. It changes a little bit, it changes a lot from one visit to another. It keeps well its austrian, polish, armenian, jewish - and even russian - heritage, and builds (a little) on it. Restoration slowly continues in the central square kilometer of the city, new banks, pharmacies and an assortment of hair saloons open every week (in that order of priority), nicely complementing the incredible number of cars that flood streets more each day. I even noticed some tourist maps this time - and hordes of tourists (mainly Polish) using them.
I have rather appreciated some details that made all the difference. Benches on the Rynok square, sponsored by L'vivs'ke beer, night lightning of a couple of churches (Dominican, Andrew's), sponsored by some lightning firm with imagination, and all the wonderful and oh, so good coffee shops around the city center - now there are so many more places to go to than the usual old Veronika or Tsykernia! Good coffee, my favorite latte or macciato, and pastries for many many kilos to somehow waste afterwards! Lviv is s l o w l y getting closer to its old master, Vienne, with good cooking before and after dessert time!
If not for the crowd in front of the Polish Consulate, and the 'suburbs' outside the tiny city center, and the rude bank and railway officers, and the bureaucracy with all and any given paperwork, and the delapidated state of many many other buildings, and, and, and...it would be a perfect little European town, like Brugges or Gent, sleepily awaiting tourists and stingily providing for its denizens.
No comments:
Post a Comment