Man. Things have been… weird.
I’ve been doing a whole lot of nothing lately. Waiting to reinstate? I guess? Coming up with contingency plans if I can’t? Maybe? I’ve been doing a lot of job searching, hoping to find something temporary like contact tracing or freelance reporting so I can bide my time until this all passes over and I can go back to Ukraine.
In the mean time, I just keep crying looking through old photos, talking to my host family, studying Ukrainian…
…pretending this will all be over soon.
I think this is the first Peace-Corps-but-post-Peace-Corps post I’ve written since our evacuation (parts one, two and three) happened. It’s been hard to really think too deeply about.
But, I digress. I wanted to take a second to share a few of my favorite places in Khmelnytskyi with you. Yunno. Just in case you ever find yourself in Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine.
Ideally, I would have had a lot more time to explore and ideally, this list would have been longer. I still have so many Google Maps pins saved and labeled “Want to Go” (like Spiegel) scattered across the city! Hopefully I’ll be able to reinstate soon so I can lengthen this list.
So, if you have something to suggest… odds are, it’s on my list! I just haven’t had a chance to get to it yet.
But, hopefully, when I reinstate…?
I also don’t have pictures for all of these places, and a lot of them don’t have websites, but Google Maps (or, a Khmelnytskyi resident) will help you out.
COFFEE SHOPS
I’m so lucky that Khmelnytskyi is a coffee shop city! There are TONS of coffee shops here! There’s even an entire downtown street — Proskurivs’koho Pidpillya — dedicated solely to coffee shops. There are also tons of little street-side coffee “shops,” which offer to-go service through windows. I could have spent two full years JUST exploring every cute coffee shop in this city!
New Feelin’ Good. There are two Feelin’ Good Coffee locations: One on Proskurivs’koho Pidpillya, and one across the street from Shevchenko Square. I went to the one across from Shevchenko Square a lot because it’s really spacious and was great for meeting with friends or planning club meetings.
Black Honey. This is a chain, but there’s a location downtown on Proskurivs’ka in Khmelnytskyi. Another modern and trendy coffee shop!
Barista Hub. This coffee shop (there are a few locations, I frequented the one by Office Center) was on my way from my neighborhood to downtown, so I stopped here every so often. It’s also modern and spacious.
Lviv Handmade Chocolates. This is a chain (obviously), but I’m so glad we have a location in Khmelnytskyi! It’s focused mostly on chocolates, but it does have a cute little coffee shop upstairs with, naturally, incredible hot chocolate.
Bilyy Krolyk Serf Kafe (White Rabbit Surf Cafe). This modern coffee shop is super cozy with a little wood-burning fireplace and a great location on the river.
RESTAURANTS
Ola Healthy Cafe. I was a REGULAR here. Ola was this cute little hybrid restaurant-slash-language school. The menu featured fairly healthy food, like salads and smoothies, and even though I didn’t end up taking Ukrainian lessons here, I did spend a lot of time studying, working, eating and meeting up with friends here.
Garden at the European. I wish I’d taken photos of the interior because this place was GORGEOUS. Exposed brick, skylights, chandeliers, a FULL-OUT GREENHOUSE. We went during Christmas and the decorations blew me away. This place legit felt like it belonged back in the Gold Coast of Chicago. It was stunning! And the food was delicious, too.
Lviv Croissants. Another chain we were lucky enough to have in downtown Khmelnytskyi. Lviv Croissants offers both sweet and savory croissant sandwiches.
Beef and Cake. This place cracked me up because the English menu was clearly run through Google Translate and printed, but the food was SO good! I went on a few instances with other PCVs and with my host sister, Ira.
Maman Khlib (Mum’s Bread). This is a chain coffee shop and bakery with a few locations around Khmelnytskyi.
Apriori Hastrolav. This was one of the super fancy restaurants in Khmelnytskyi. It feels weird to say “it was a generic fancy restaurant in Khmelnytskyi,” but that’s a pretty accurate description. Khmelnytskyi seemed to have a surplus of generic fancy restaurants.
Ketili Puri. Oksana introduced me to this little grab-and-go restaurant north of the river, close to Gymnasium No. 2, and my life was so much better for it. It serves Georgian food and Turkish food and it was SO incredible. I could have eaten here every. single. day.
Piccolino Trattoria. This was a cute little “Italian” (read: there was Ukrainian sushi on the menu) restaurant downtown. The interior was really cute and modern with a lot of plants, and I loved it.
Union Jack. This was a “British” (read: there was still Borshch on the menu) that served “British” food. It was located in a tucked-away corner in a downtown basement, and the reason I liked it so much is because it drew a lot of tourists, so I got to meet a lot of fun English-speakers every time I went.
SHOPPING
Khmelnytskyi Bazaar. The Khmelnytskyi Bazaar is the largest clothing bar in all of Eastern Europe! My host mom actually worked at the bazaar selling wedding decor. Tip: If you ever visit Khmelytskyi, do NOT go to the bazaar without an actual Ukrainian to help you navigate this bazaar. It’s a never-ending maze.
Episentr K. This is basically the Sears of Ukraine.
Oasis. Oasis was basically our city’s typical shopping mall.
Lybid. This was the downtown shopping mall of sorts.
Produkto Rynok. This was a downtown bazaar fulled mostly of food and spices, but it also had a few shops and vendor stalls.
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS
Proskurivs’ka Street. I wrote a little bit about downtown Khmelnytskyi in a post when I first got to my site, but downtown Khmelnytskyi centers around a pedestrian street full of coffee shops, restaurants and stores.
Dendropark. This park on the north side of town was really close to my school and my apartment, and I spent a good amount of time wandering around there during the fall.
Checkman’s Park. Another gorgeous park I spent a lot of time at: This one was alongside the Southern Bug and had a beautiful view of the north city skyline.
・・・
Well. If you need me, I’ll just be over here, missing my city, and crying.
Can I go back to Ukraine yet?
