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Travel within Ukraine - Zaporozhye

Zaporozhye
Popoulation: 1 million

Zaporozhye is the capital city of the Zaporozhye region; a city of nearly a million people is located on the Dnipro River south of Kiev nearly 600 Km. The name Zaporozhye comes from the phrase - za porohamy - which means south of the rapids. The city of Zaporozhye has a very rich history, and a day spent seeing the sites of Zaporozhye will be well worth your time if you have nothing else to do.

Orientation
The city of Zaporozhye runs along the Dniper River for 20km. The main street of Zaporozhye, Prospect Lenina, runs the entire length of Zaporozhye, and is said to be the longest main street in Europe. There is no one city center in Zaporozhye, anywhere along Prospect Lenina is considered t be the center. Zaporozhye is know as one of the major industrial centers of Ukraine

Places To See
Visitors to Zaporozhye are very few and far between, but there are some interesting sites that can be seen. The famous Khortytsya Island, which was used by the Kozaks as their base camp against various invaders in the late 15th century. There is a museum on the island (Khortytsya Museum) dedicated to the Kozaks, and there are some ruins that can be seen near the museum that date from the Kozak period The museum is nice by Ukrainian standards, and contains many artifacts from the Kozaks. The museum is open from 9:00 am - 4:00pm Tuesday - Saturday costs 3 UAH to enter. The descriptions of the artifacts in the museum are written entirely in Russian, and a self-guided tour can easily be completed in 1 hour. Also from the museum, one has a great view of the largest hydroelectric dam in Ukraine as well as the mighty Dniper.
The only realistic way for visitors to see the museum is to take a taxi from the city center. Public transportation to the museum is confusing even for a native of Zaporozhye. The best place to get a taxi would be to get one near O'Brians Pub (169 Prospect Lenina); it should only cost around 8 -10 UAH to get to the museum, you might want to ask the taxi driver to wait for you, or you can have the museum employees call you a taxi when you want to leave the museum.
The rest of the island is covered by forest and a few sanitariums are scattered around the island. There is a horseback riding stable on the island where you can rent horses and ride the dirt trails scattered throughout the island. Also on the island a few times a year there a Kozak show, where one can see exactly how the Kozaks lived. To find out the times and locations of these shows you can contact the tourist information desk located on the first floor of the Intourist Hotel.

Spend an hour strollng down Prospect Lenina where Leninistic architecture lines both sides of the street, and the largest statue of Lenin in Ukraine is proudly situated at the very end of the prospect.

The famous Slavutich brewery is in Zaporozhye, and guided tours can be arranged. Other that these few sites the rest of the city is just like any other large Industrial Ukrainian city with hundreds of beautiful apartment blocks scattered around, and a refreshing layer of smog hovering over the city.

Places to Eat
Restaurants in Zaporozhye are better that average compared to other Ukrainian cities. There is an O'Brians Irish Pub in Zaporozhye comparable to the O'Brians in Kiev in food and prices.

Mustang, is a restaurant that contains hundreds of pictures and memorabilia from WWII, both Ukrainian and American;

There are numerous restaurants that serve excellent Ukrainian food at reasonable prices. The most famous restaurant in Zaporozhye is called the Sich Restaurant. The Sich Restaurant is a traditional Ukrainian restaurant with all the staff dressed in traditional cloths, and the decoration is all traditional Ukrainian. In the summer you can sit outside and cook your own shashlik over a traditional Ukrainian wood stove. With all these nice amenities also comes a price. Expect to pay for a membership upon entering the restarant (25UAH), and don't expect to get out of the restaurant with out paying 60-80 UAH per person for a nice meal.

Places to Stay
Hotels in Zaporozhye have much to be desired there is the typical Soviet leftover Intourist, which is the most expensive. but there are also other hotels on Prospect Lenina (Dniper Hotel and Hotel Zaporozhye) which are comparable in amenities, but go for a cheaper rate.