I lived in L’viv — the most beautiful city in Ukraine — for several months in 2006-2007.
L’viv is the far western part of Ukraine, near the Polish border:
Map of Ukraine. L'viv is on the far western side of the country.
The city was part of Poland (1349–1772), the Austrian Empire (1772–1918), and the Second Polish Republic (1918–1939). In 1939, it was incorporated into the USSR as part of Ukraine. Between July 1941 and July 1944 it was occupied by German forces of World War II, after which it again became part of Ukraine and the USSR.
You very rarely hear Russian spoken here (everyone speaks Ukrainian, and people might even get mad at you if you speak Russian), and it is generally regarded as the “most Ukrainian” and “least Russian” city in the country.
[Click any photo for a larger version]
The city in winter.
The city in winter, from the tallest bell tower.
Looking down on a square.
Beautiful churches.
An old, falling-apart church in a village outside of L'viv.
Church and cemetery.
Early-1800s tombstones (in Polish) at a village outside of L'viv.
An ugly modern church in the more Soviet (ugly) part of the city.
A house in a village.
Working in a village.
The L'viv opera house. I saw a couple ballets there.
Inside the opera house.
The ceiling of the opera house.
It got cold there in winter.
Typical winter park scene.
The walls of the old city.
An old church.
Panorama of the city.
A street in L'viv.