(Travel blog)

Last summer my family and I went to Lviv for the weekend. I have long wanted to visit this city again.

This time Lviv greeted me unkindly. At first we searched for our hostel for a long time with heavy suitcases in our hands. Maybe the city wanted to protect us like that, but it did not work out. After wandering around, we found a “great hostel with a convenient location,” as it was written on the site.

Hostel Vitan was really close to the center, because we managed to reach it on foot. And so I saw the right sign on an inconspicuous house. I was very happy, because soon I would be able to put a heavy bag and fall on the bed. In fact, a walk through the dark corridors with metal walls in search of the administration was waiting for us and only then we were taken to a booked room.

At first the room seemed pretty good to us. There were 3 clean beds, a comfortable closet, a bathroom with hot water and even a kitchen. There was a little dust on the shelves on the right, and there was some incomprehensible white substance in the kettle, as if the previous inhabitants had been cooking sausages in it, and the cleaner had forgotten to wash it, but that was a trifle. Moreover, the site said that this was the cheapest quality housing that could only be found in Lviv.

But there was a bigger problem. Five minutes after we entered our room, I started coughing heavily. Why would that be? I definitely couldn’t catch a cold anywhere, and I spent a month treating my lungs in a sanatorium. We got the answer as soon as we turned on the light in the hallway and looked at the wall – it was mold. A giant stain of mold on the wall.

Of course, we called the administration. A fat woman came and began to explain that it was nothing, they were not guilty and yesterday this huge stain of mold was not there. But the poor worker was unlucky. My dad works as a construction engineer and knows perfectly well how, under what conditions and for how long mold forms on the walls.

We quickly took our bags and went to the waiting room. There, under my mad cough, we were first persuaded to stay in the room when it didn’t work – to move for the same price for a room that should have been cheaper, but without mold. When we didn’t even accept such a crazy offer, my cough worsened and my parents started threatening to sue, they finally agreed to return the money for the room.

And while my parents were arguing with the administration, I was looking for a place to stay. I remembered that my female friend was vacationing with her family in Lviv a few months ago and said that they were renting an apartment. I explained the situation to her on Instagram and asked the landlady to contact me. So I found Vasilina’s number. When I wrote to her, it turned out that we were very lucky: a few hours ago the residents left the apartment, and the next ones come just when we need to go home.

Vasilina offered a spacious three-room apartment near the center of Lviv. When we got the apartment, it turned out to be really cozy and nice. In addition, it was located in a beautiful house, which was a real work of architectural art. Walking around Lviv, I always loved to see the ancient houses of the Austro-Hungarian period, but never thought that I would be able to stay in one of them. Ironically, this beautiful apartment was cheaper than that hostel room. Truth should be told: Lviv is a city of wonders.

So if you are in Lviv, you will never stay in the hotel-hostel Vitan. It is better to try to rent an apartment.