Ukraine–When you go there

According to LonleyPlanet.com’s Ukraine pages, while the Ukraine may have always have something to offer the independent traveler, since the 2004 “Orange Revolution” there has been a real political and cultural opening. While vestiges of Ukraine’s Soviet past remain, especially in the realm of its dense government bureaucracy, much of the nation is very consciously modernizing. Lonely Planet suggests you not miss a country that, in addition to being a fascinating mix of ancient and modern, difficult past and ambitious present, has “the awe-inspiring, monumental capital of Kyiv at its heart, irrepressible Odesa and striking Crimea on its southern shores, plus cosy central-European Lviv near rolling western hills.”