Down by the Riverside

By Walter Kish

The past week finally convinced me that spring has arrived in Kyiv. A steady week of sun and temperatures in the upper teens has coaxed out tender buds on the chestnut trees lining Khreshchatyk Avenue, augurs of the iconic May blooms. The outdoor cafs and beer gardens have been setting out their patio tables and umbrellas for another season of outdoor socializing, and the cruise ships have started running again on the Dnipro River.

It was to these vessels that my wife and I gravitated to yesterday for our inaugural excursion down Kyiv’s historical and scenic waterway. Drifting leisurely down the river on a sunny afternoon is one of my favourite seasonal pastimes here. At peak season there are at least a half-dozen different crafts of various shapes, sizes, colours and character that depart from the river port down in Podil. There are cruises to fit whatever schedule one has in mind, from one hour to four hours or more. There are daytime picnic cruises, evening dinner cruises, and disco dancing cruises for the young and energetic. The prices are more than reasonable, ranging from 20 to 50 hryvnias (or  5 to 10 dollars Canadian) depending on the program and length.

For our first outing of this new season we opted for a shorter cruise lasting about an hour- -and-a-half.  Following our private ritual, we packed a scrumptious picnic, in an ample cooler bag, which included a chilled bottle of champagne, some pt, an assortment of cheeses and cold cuts, bread and crackers and a poppy seed roll for dessert. We leisurely nibbled away while we floating past Kyiv’s impressive waterside skyline, marveling at the numerous golden domes, historic buildings, riverbank parks, and the sandy beaches that border the large islands in the middle of the river. There is something about being on the water on a beautiful day, with the breeze blowing through your hair and the sun glinting off the ripples in the water that melts away whatever stresses may be burdening your mind and soul, and puts you in a mellow mood, at peace with the universe around you. Of course, a glass or two of good champagne can only help to enhance the atmosphere and one’s state of mind.

All along both sides of the river, countless fishermen spotted the shores, casting out their lines in the hopes of hooking a fish worth bragging about. Curiously, despite observing many of these hopeful anglers for various stretches of time, seldom have I seen any of them land anything at all. Somehow, though, I got the impression that lack of results did not seem to bother them much. The fishing experience, for most of them, seems to serve a therapeutic purpose more than anything else.

Upon completion of our mini-cruise, we ambled down the riverbank to the pedestrian bridge nearby that takes one over to one of the larger and more scenic islands on the river called Trukhaniv. This island is where many Kyivans come on summer weekends to picnic and swim. It has numerous sandy beaches, long and scenic trails through the wooded parkland that covers most of the island, with no shortage of little outdoor restaurants and cafs where one can partake of cold beer and freshly grilled shashlik.

On this particular day, my wife and I wandered over to the beach, spread out our jackets on the sand and watched the lazy fishermen and occasional intrepid swimmer on the shore. 

The water is still cold and far from what I would consider to be an adequate temperature for bathing, nonetheless, there seem to be no shortage of Kyivans who brave the plunge regardless of the season. While we sat there in our reveries, we noticed a slightly paunchy, middle-aged bicycling enthusiast in his skin-tight Spandex riding outfit wheel his bike down near the water’s edge, strip himself completely and take a brief and no doubt invigorating skinny-dip in the river. Emerging from the water, he dried himself off slowly with a small towel he had in his saddlebags, re-donned his cycling outfit and disappeared. As they say, there are a million stories in the naked city, and this was undoubtedly one of them!

After several leisurely hours enjoying the sun, the sand, and the water, we slowly made our way back across the pedestrian bridge to the right bank, retraced our steps to the river port, crossed the Poshtova Ploshcha (Postal Square) and took the 100-year-old funicular (inclined railway) up the escarpment to the top of Volodymyr’s hill. From there we made our way past the gleaming golden domes of St. Michael’s cathedral and back to our  apartment nearby. It is on days like this that I sometimes think that I am living in a bit of a fairy tale, and am ever so grateful for it.