Lviv, Lwow, Lvov, Lemberg, Leopolis... it\\\'s a city of many faces. Mysterious, edgy and architecturally lovely, Lviv boasts that it’s Ukrain’s least Soviet city. It may have a point. The city’s Unesco World Heritage–listed centre was built like a rich layer-cake of neoclassical architecture in rococo, baroque, Renaissance and Gothic styles. There’s nary a concrete Soviet apartment block in sight (in the centre, at least), and it has a deep-rooted coffee-house culture that is oh-so-central European. Yet Lviv does retain a whiff of Sovietness that only broadens its appeal. Weathered babushkas sell pickled vegetables and honey at the city’s Krakivsky Market. There’s still the odd gastronom (food store), Volga and dodgy neon-lit slot-machine parlour scattered about. Opera tickets and tram rides are still priced for the people. This dreamy metropolis has been both the capital of Habsburg Galicia, and a key city in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Lviv, Lwow, Lvov, Lemberg, Leopolis... it\\\'s a city of many faces. Mysterious, edgy and architecturally lovely, Lviv boasts that it’s Ukrain’s least Soviet city. It may have a point. The city’s Unesco World Heritage–listed centre was built like a rich layer-cake of neoclassical architecture in rococo, baroque, Renaissance and Gothic styles. There’s nary a concrete Soviet apartment block in sight (in the centre, at least), and it has a deep-rooted coffee-house culture that is oh-so-central European. Yet Lviv does retain a whiff of Sovietness that only broadens its appeal. Weathered babushkas sell pickled vegetables and honey at the city’s Krakivsky Market. There’s still the odd gastronom (food store), Volga and dodgy neon-lit slot-machine parlour scattered about. Opera tickets and tram rides are still priced for the people. This dreamy metropolis has been both the capital of Habsburg Galicia, and a key city in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Today it\\\'s Ukraine\\\'s sweeping second city. The people are full of spirit, there\\\'s a banquet for culture vultures and the architecture can hardly fail to bowl you over.