From Ancient Rome to… Karl Marks — What city is the oldest in Germany? Certainly, not Berlin. Then, maybe, Munich, Frankfurt, or Cologne? Indeed, Cologne is over two millennia old, but a much lesser-known city is 4 centuries older! As a non-German guy, I have never heard of it before. And you? This city was founded in…

Majestic pre-First World War buildings in Germany and Ukraine — I used to live in Lviv for 5 years, and I’ve been living in Berlin for 1,5 years. It’s long enough to explore the beauty of both cities and fall in love with modern architecture. This article is a subjective mix of the most fascinating buildings I recommend staring at. …

Exploring 17–18th-century buildings in Lviv, Ukraine — So, Baroque… I always associated this style with the corrupt politicians’ perverted taste and billionaires’ villas with overwhelming golden decoration. Recently, I tried to understand Baroque again, and it turned out to be an eye-opening experience. Baroque flourished in the 17–18th centuries. It emerged owing to Catholic Church and served…

Figuring out ancient architectural styles “in the fields” — Tourists admire Lviv as a whole but rarely understand the value of each piece and rarely visit the oldest buildings, which are just a 10-minute walk from the crowded center. So, I decided to gather the most valuable sites and explain their connection with Ukrainian history. Byzantine and Romanesque Period 13th century — High…

Overlooked beauty of my native city — Cherkasy, the center-most city of Ukraine, was founded in the 13th century and had a wooden castle, but now the oldest surviving buildings date back to only the 1850s. Locals don’t perceive Cherkasy as a nice destination, but I’ll show you plenty of sites worth gazing at. Masterpieces of Horodecki The city’s most…

Our crazy trip to the western-most Ukrainian city — I’ve been to Uzhhorod just once before this trip, and it didn’t impress me, but the night setting can change everything. How did we get there so late? Well, it was a conscious yet crazy decision. My fiancée and I — both wild about exploring new places — wanted to…

River ports, factories, and weird “concrete balls” — Vintage industrial facilities always stand out from a modern cityscape: textured brick walls, slim tubes, themed sculptures, coats of arms, arched windows. So, this summer, I was exploring non-touristic parts of Berlin in pursuit of overlooked industrial beauty. 1. Westhafen (1914–1927) Google Maps, Wikipedia (in German) Westhafen, the biggest river port in the…

How I collected 16 old towers around the city, including a cemetery, a prison, and gas plants — Elevated tanks had served as water storages since ancient times but spread worldwide only in the 19th century when pipe technology became more robust and reliable. The beauty of a tower is that it supplies water even during an electricity outage — thank god for gravity! Many old towers are…

A day on Berlin’s magnificent Pfaueninsel — Berlin has 2500 parks, but tourists and locals often limit themselves to the most popular ones like Tiergarten or Charlottenburg. I don’t know about you, folks, but I got bored after two-three visits and decided to search for something new — and found Pfaueninsel. This journey started on the upper…