Lviv, Ukraine - What is it like?

[Yozhik]

Hi all,

I am interested in applying for a position in Ukraine, Lviv to be exact and would be interested in the opinions of board members that have visited there.

Naturally Google will get a workout but it is nice to hear firsthand opinions of the place from people who have been there.

Cheers,
Yozhik

[alantodd]

I have been there a couple of time.  I like it.  Reminds me of cities in Poland.  Different than rest of Ukraine to me.

English is very common there.  What type of city do you like to live in?

[Yozhik]

I'm pretty easily pleased to be honest, from a brief search on the web it looks like an interesting city.

Is Russian still spoken much now or mostly Ukrainian?

Cheers,
Yozhik

[Mir]

Lviv is a beautiful city that looks much more European then Russian.
A few years ago if someone spoke Russian in Lviv he/she got dirty looks, now things are more relaxed and I am sure many speak Russian.

[philb]

Ukrainian is definitely the language of choice in Lviv (it was the center of the most recent Ukrainian Nationalist Movement).  Several times while speaking Russian in shops and the like I have been told "You need to learn Ukranian" .  This was always done in a good natured way, but I always knew they were cutting me slack because I was a foreigner.  I would assume comments might be a little more pointed if I was a native say from Kharkiv.

It seems to me that I recall some guy getting killed over speaking Russian in a cafe in Lviv a couple of years ago.  Who knows though, it could have been just as much over what he said as the language he spoke.

Anyway, Lviv is a very nice city.  In addition to what the above posters have stated ther are a number of palaces in the area that are quite interesting to go and see.  Most of these date from the late 17th and 18th centuries when this area was part of Poland (If I remember correctly).  The other nice thing about Lviv is that it  survived the Great Patriotic War/WW2 relatively undamaged (at least physically).  Because of this there is some beautiful archetecture in the city center.

[Yozhik]

Thanks all for the replies.

Cheers,
Yozhik