maydan Nezalezhnosti

Lonely Planet review

Fountain-filled maydan Nezalezhnosti is the city's most popular meeting place. This was made plain on worldwide TV at the end of 2004 when the square became ground zero for Ukraine's Orange Revolution and makeshift tent city.

The square has held protests since the Orange Revolution and will probably see many more. But 'Maydan' does not require political strife to affirm its place as Kyiv's loudly thumping heart. All streets in the centre seem to spill into maydan Nezalezhnosti, and with them spills a cross-section of Kyiv life: vendors selling food and souvenirs, teenagers carousing under the watchful gaze of winged angel statues, skate rats and snake charmers, lovers and bums.

Maydan Nezalezhnosti lies on vul Khreshchatyk, Kyiv's broad, 1.5km-long main street. During WWII the retreating Soviet army mined the buildings here, turning them into deadly booby traps for any German soldiers setting foot inside. Most places exploded or caught fire, which is why the rebuilt boulevard is in such an imposing Stalinist style.

Khreshchatyk is at its best on weekends, when it's closed to traffic and becomes a giant pedestrian zone. Getting gussied up and strolling Khreshchatyk is Kyivans' number one pastime. To truly get a feel for the city you should get out and join them for a few laps, pausing occasionally at one of the street-side cafés lining the boulevard.

Maydan and both ends of Khreshchatyk (pl Bessarabska to the south and pl Evropeyska to the north) host frequent free concerts in the summer, often involving big Ukrainian bands and sometimes big Western acts (Elton John played a free concert when we were there).