Autor: HB

Pravda (Lviv): A theatre of beer

If you love the wild east, Lviv in Ukraine will surprise you – and so certainly will the local brewery „Pravda“ and its brilliant bar right next to the old town hall!

HB

Lviv in the very west of Ukraine was kind of a surprise to me: A beautiful, charming old city that offers a lot of history, especially of 19th century Habsburgian times. And, of course, you will find some nice beer-places in Lviv, too. My favourite: Pravda!

The brand „Правда“ („the truth“) runs both, a tap house in old town and the brewery itself, located in an abandoned factory building. Certainly the bar is where you go if you ain’t totally into suburbia.

But still, the original premesis of the brewery offer an insight to industrial Lviv, all poshed up and recreated with streat art and graffiti. The area does house a fancy rib-restaurant and some other hip start-ups. In spring, the Lviv Craft Beer festival „Craft and Vinyl“ is taking place here. However, outside festival times public transport is bad, a taxi for sure the better option. An open air bar does exist depending on weather conditions, but not permanently.

So maybe the tap house in old town is rather your choice. It is situated right next to the wonderful town hall of Lviv. Called „Theatre of beer“ („Театр Пива“), you can really enjoy a wide range of local Pravda-brews on tap in this spacy and fancy bar. And you can shop as much bottled beer and merchandise articles as you like.

To sum it up: Let Lviv be a surprise to you, too! And try some nice Pravda-beer in a beer lovers theatre!

Pravda brewery: Staroznesenska 24-26 Lviv

Pravda Beer Theatre: Rynok Square 32, Lviv

Want to read more? Have a look at my travel-report about Lviv (in German)

The Soviet Airport

The Soviet past of Latvia is all over at Spilve Airport: Although originally founded in the 1920s, it later became re-designed and packed with socialist iconography. Check here why you should not miss this lost place in Riga!

HB

Have you been to Riga yet? Well, then you probably arrived by car, by ferry or most likely by plane, entering the city at Riga’s modern and shiny new airport in the north of the city.

But if you want to dive deep into history, go to Spilves lidlauks (the airfield of Spilve) and have a look at the old Soviet airport. Originally built in the 1920s, the Soviet authorities rebuilt the airport after Latvia to became part of the USSR at the end of World War II. Spilve Airport was richly decorated with working class paintings and communist symbols. And, obviously, all the writings became bilingual, adding Russian next to Latvia.

Spilve Airport may nowadays be forgotten, but all the old symbols are still there and will throw you right out of time back to the socialist past in Latvia.

The future use of Spilve Airport in Riga is recently discussed. Sometimes art exhibitions take place here, sometimes the airfield is used for festivals. For the nearer future, the city is planning to open a museum of aircraft history. But who knows, the place might as well stay in its recent decaying sleep.

If you want to enjoy the full experience of this lost place in Riga, make sure you catch a day with the old terminal building open (for exhibition, i.e.), as it is normally closed. For transport: Bus No. 3 from the central station will bring you to Spilve. For your way back just have a walk and explore the other side of the river, Pardaugava, where Spilve Airport is located.

Address: Daugavgrivas iela 140, 1007 Riga