Golden Gate, Kiev, Ukraine

• It costs UAH15, supposedly.
• It closes at 6pm, supposedly.
• It has an amazing view of Kiev, well, I guess we kind of saw it. 

Passing by the Golden Gate on our walk back to our hotel late one night, we were intercepted by the security guards. Waving their arms towards the Gate they asked in broken English if we’d like a visit. The guards persisted as we looked on at the imposing dimly lit structure. 

After pocketing our cash, the guards let us enter. Inside there were a couple of other people more distracted with each other than the oddity of being inside a supposedly closed national monument afterhours. We climbed the dark stairs to the top and looked out over the city of seven hills. It’s possible we saw St Sophia’s Cathedral, St Michael’s Monastry, and we knew the direction of Maidan Square – I need to look through our photos to confirm what we saw. What I remember was it being dark and aside from a few standout points we didn’t really see much.

Would I recommend a visit? Absolutely, just maybe stick with daytime hours so you can really appreciate the architecture of the Gate and view!