train to lviv

From the Casbah furnishing to the static-y Soviet radios, to the conductresses in uniform, trains in the former Soviet Union are a real experience. We took an overnight train from Kyiv to Lviv and back.

Unfortunately, trains, like the rest of Ukrainian society, are suffering from post-Soviet infrastructure meltdowns and financial shortfalls. The toilets on the trains are quite vile--no flushing mechanism, just a hole in the ground--and the water on both trains was broken. This shows the objects we deemed essential for train travel in Ukraine: strong black tea, water, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer.



Delapidated collective farms and Soviet machinery viewed from the train window, Lviv region, Western Ukraine.