Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Tourist Information Office has comprehensive maps of the entire network (unthink-
able in other Ukrainian cities). A useful tram route is the No 7 which trundles from the
NTON Hotel to the Lychakivske Cemetery via vul Pidvalna and the Museum of Folk Ar-
chitecture and Life.
If you must travel by taxi, and Lviv's good public transport network means you can
probably avoid it, call
Vashe Taksi
(
063 854 8995)
.
There's a
bike-rental centre
(
067 675 6301;
www.bicyclerent.lviv.ua
;
pl Rynok 42;
per
hr/day 25/90uah)
right on pl Rynok. Take your passport or a 1500uah deposit.
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Zhovkva
03252 / POP 13,300
With your own wheels, the most impressive day trip from Lviv is probably Pochayiv
Monastery. However, it's too difficult to visit quickly on public transport, leaving the
fairly low-key historical town of Zhovkva at the top of the list. Its cluster of pastel-col-
oured buildings, handful of impressive churches and city-wall remnants will happily oc-
cupy you for an hour or two.
Built in the 16th century in an imitation of Italian-Renaissance style, Zhovkva was the
birthplace of legendary Cossack Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who reportedly led his men
through the 17th-century
Zvirynetska Gate
when liberating the town from the Poles in
1648. Ironically, however, the town's heyday was actually under the Poles, when it be-
came the preferred residence of 17th-century King Jan III Sobiesky. Today roughly a
dozen buildings - a monastery, lesser churches, a synagogue and a 'castle' that's not
really a castle - cluster around the market square.
Zhovkva is 28km north of Lviv and can be reached by virtually any bus or
marshrutka
leaving Bus Station No 2 (8uah, 45 minutes, several hourly).
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Olesko
03264 / POP 1800
Some 70km east of Lviv, Olesko boasts a French chateau-style hilltop castle visible for
miles around. The current castle dates back to the 18th century but it was built on the site
of a medieval fortress, destroyed by Tatar attacks in the 15th century. To get to Olesko,
