Enjoy the (whip) craic Bar(e) essentials The western Ukrainian city of Lviv looks like a slightly shabby Krakow or Prague. It inherited its central European looks from past Austrian and Polish regimes, and also counts the original masochist among its many legacies. Language: Ukrainian Currency: 1 = 12.5 hryvnia Bind date? Customers are shown the ropes, etc, at the Masoch Caf Gothic beauty: The city of Lviv sparkles when the sun goes down TRAVEL DEALS OF THE WEEK Intrepid Destination: Intrepid Travels Slowly Down The Ganges trip Details: 15 days ex Delhi, departing October 25 Price: Was 660, now 528 (plus local payment of 12,000 Rupees) Contact: Tel: (01) 524 0071. www.intrepidtravel.com/specials Malv Destination: Greece Details: Visit one of the oldest cities in the world, view the ancient ruins, museums and concert halls, and if shopping is a must on your getaway, there is a plethora of unique boutiques across the city, as well as national gardens and beaches on the Athens Riviera Price: Athens from 52 return plus 140.11 taxes and 5 service fee, totalling 197.11 Contact: www.malev.com Budget Travel Destination: Majorca, Salou, Costa Del Sol, Algarve Price: One week: 269; Two weeks: 329; children 229 Destination: Crete Price: One week: 289; children 279 Destination: Gran Canaria Price: One week: 309; children 279 Destination: Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Tenerife Price: One week: 329; two weeks 379; children 299 Destination: Corfu Price: Two weeks: 349; children: 249 Contact: Tel: (01) 631 1076. www.budgettravel.ie Lastminute.com Destination: Dublin Theatre Festival Details: Treat yourself with a trip to the theatre. With shows from The Three Sisters to The Manganiyar Seduction to Project Space, there is something for everyone. Running from September 25 to October 11, tickets are on sale now from just 20. Contact: www.lastminute.com metro extralife Toadvertise call(01)637 5979 18 metrolifeextra Tuesday, September 15, 2009 W eve spent the afternoon in a genteel, Viennese-style coffee house, consuming cake and sipping hot chocolate with whipped cream, but the time has come for an altogether different kind of whipping. Although the idea to visit the Masoch (as in masochism) Caf was mine, Im starting to get cold feet. When I volunteered to be publicly flogged at our next stop, Id thought it might be a bit of a laugh but, however much I plead with my companions that I was only teasing, theres no getting away from it. To be clear, the cosy Masoch is no house of ill repute. Rather, its one of several quirky new bars in Lviv, a Ukrainian charmer thats welcoming low-cost flights and more tourists. Despite concerns about Ukraines preparations to co-host the Euro 2012 football championship with Poland, governing body Uefa has made more positive noises recently. The general mood is that Lviv will pass the test, says Slav Tsarynnyk of operator Lviv Ecotour. And on my trip at least, locals seem preoccupied with hedonistic pursuits. Lvivs baroque, Gothic and Renaissance architecture has a faded grandeur. However, the place exudes an irrepressible energy, with crowds milling around Prospect Svobody (Prospect of Freedom Square). The architectural mix comes from a complex history. Passed between Poland and the Austro-Hungarian empire for centuries, Lviv fell under Soviet rule during World War II before being released into an independent Ukraine in 1991. Previously, the city went by the German, Polish or Russian names of Lemberg, Lwow and Lvov. Yet, whichever foreign power has governed it, it has always remained intensely proud of its indigenous Ukrainian roots. So the Opera Theatre may feature marble carved in Vienna and Polish soldiers may rest within the vast, overgrown Lychakivsky Cemetery but true local culture is observed in the embroidered Cossack and Hutsul costumes at the daily craft market. (The Hutsuls are mountain people native to the nearby Ukrainian Carpathians.) This pride is also heard in the moving liturgies of the Transfiguration Church, where the Uniate religion merges Catholic and Orthodox rituals. Its marked by the huge statue of national poet and artist Taras Shevchenko and by the wooden churches of the open-air Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life. Back to the bars and Kryjivka, in the centre of town, is also uniquely Ukrainian, decorated like a bunker of the wartime resistance that fought the Poles, Soviets and Nazis. Guests must proclaim Slava Ukraina! (Glory to Ukraine!) at mock gunpoint before swearing theyre not Russian, downing a shot of honey vodka and passing through a secret door in a bookcase. The Anti-Crisis Bar is an empty bookshop where young clubbers are trying to forget the credit crunch thats nearly bankrupted their country. Here fake dollar and euro bills are stuffed into jam jars on shelves and scattered across concrete floors. Ive not managed to make it to the suburban banya, the Slavic sauna where patrons flay each other with birch twigs, supposedly to release vodka and other toxins from the system. At the Masoch Caf you can get thrashed closer to home, I figure, so we move on to our final stop. The caf has staff on hand with whips, fluffy handcuffs, feathers, balls and chains, and movies such as Dangerous Liaisons playing on the screen. Its a shrine to Leopold von Sacher- Masoch (left), author of the 19th- century novel Venus In Furs and a famous Lvivite. Psychologists used Sacher-Masochs real-life relationship with a dominatrix to define masochism and the soft-core Masoch Caf similarly provides a good metaphor for Lviv. With English still not universally spoken and service not always of a western standard, it can be a mildly adventurous experience. But the result is always fun, memorable and not at all sadistic. n Ukraine International Airlines (01293 596609/flyuia.co.uk) has flights from Gatwick, via Kiev, from 278 (315) return. Double rooms at the historic Hotel George (00 380 32 272 5952/ georgehotel.ukrbiz.net) from 52 (60) (two sharing). Lviv Tourist Board: 00 380 32 297 5767/tourism.lviv.ua OutofOffice Ukraine Fancy getting whipped into shape in Lviv? LISA SCOTT braces herself index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html