Hide from the city noise in the perfect park
As the summer draws nearer – and judging by the weather it’s already here – heat combined with the exhaust gases created by endless traffic jams make the air stuffy and heavy, which is not good for our health. Because of this, we often feel much more tired after a working day than usual. Personally, I am not a faithful follower of a healthy lifestyle, but sometimes everyone needs to move away from the city fuss and noise and spend some time surrounded by nature, communicating with your friends, or just sitting alone and meditating. And the best way to do it without actually going out of the city is to visit Kyiv’s parks. While hanging out with my friends in the warm weather, we checked out many of Kyiv’s parks until we finally found the one we liked best of all.
Taras Shevchenko park was one of the first parks I discovered, having to walk through it on my way back home from my English lessons when I was little. The park is situated in the center of Kyiv by Taras Shevchenko University and near Lva Tolstoho metro station. It is very cozy, provided with many benches and some cafes. But in the evenings, or during the weekend, it’s absolutely impossible to find a free bench to sit on because the park is crowded and they are all occupied. However, to my mind, the biggest problem with the park is that it’s surrounded by roads from all sides, and during rush hour, when traffic jams appear, the air fills with exhaust gases and loud noises, which makes the atmosphere in the park much less enjoyable.
Another Kyiv park I used to spend my free time in is the Central Park of Culture and Rest. It is located right by Yevropeyska Ploshcha. The park, situated on a high hill, has a great viewing ground where you can see the Dnipro river and look across it at all the buildings on the city’s left bank. A special feature of the park is the original monument, Druzhby Narodiv Arc. Unfortunately, some enterprising businessmen decided to take advantage of the popular spot and turn it into an amusement park as soon as the weather gets warm. As a result the park became much noisier, from the screams of people on the rides. Personally, I find them hard to endure.
Together with my friends, we used to hang out often at Park Slavy (Glory). This beautiful park is named in honor of the soldiers who died for our country during the Second World War. It consists of an upper part, filled with alleys, with a high monument and “Eternal” fire and a lower one – a big tract where my friends and I used to spend a lot of our free time. The upper part doesn’t have a special viewing ground, but the paths are made in such a way, that walking towards the lower part of the park you can contemplate a beautiful view of Kyiv, which is much wider than the one you can see from the viewing ground in the Cenral Park of Culture and Rest. However, the only thing which separates the lower part of the park from the road is a thin row of trees, so I soon grew tired of the sound of cars rushing by and decided to change the place of my weekend walks to Mariyinskiy park.
Mariyinskiy is one of the oldest parks in Kyiv. It accommodates many monuments and Mariyinskiy Palace, which was built in 1750-1755 by legendary architect Rastrelli. The park is beautifully designed with sinuous alleys and a viewing ground. For quite some time I liked taking walks there – until the time when the followers of Yanukovych and his coalition started to hold mass-meetings and pitched a tent camp there. Crowds of people screaming political slogans ruined my hopes of having a good time in Mariyinskiy park.
Thus, one day I realized there was no place left for me to spend an evening in peace, quiet and nature. But then, walking through Klovskiy Uzviz towards Klovska metro station, I ran into my old friends. They told me they were headed to Mykola Hryshko botanical gardens, which is situated in Pechersk, not far from Druzhby Narodiv metro. I accepted the invitation to join them and in half an hour we were already walking through the placid paths of the botanical gardens, enjoying the landscape and fresh air. This botanical gardens consists of many different parts that host flora of different regions Ukraine, middle Asia and the Far East. Despite the fact that you have to pay for the entrance – Hr 2 for children and Hr 5 for adults – this park is, without a doubt, the calmest and the most beautiful one in Kyiv.
Mykola Hryshko Botanical Gardens (1 Tymyryazivska, 285-4105). Open daily 8.30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
