“I’m totally in love.” How Lviv and the Carpathians are attracting Latvians to relocate

We wandered to Carpathian Vizhnitsa while looking for accommodation and spent a memorable night there – almost no need to continue exploring the Black Sea in a 32-year-old car.

Two weeks ago we bought the cheapest “Audi 80” in Latvia and have already driven more than 2000 km without any car adventures. Except for the muffler rubber that was fixed for us by the Viznica municipal services, I tore it off the night before, thinking about driving on the newly merged mountain road, which is used every day by tractors or large jeeps. Why did we almost leave? Because you want to be with these people and live in these lush green mountains.

In the evening, while I was writing the last article in the “Central Hotel Lviv”, in the background dozens of generators hummed on the streets, I checked “Telegram” at the same time – what will the Ork army figure out tonight, how to keep Ukrainians awake. Around 11 o’clock, there were reports of 30 “Shaheds” flying in all directions. Now, along the other bank of the Dnieper. Half an hour later, it was already close to us, but it still did not turn on the air alarm. I read the selection in the morning – 26 out of 30 were eliminated.

In the morning we went to the most recommended place for breakfast in Lviv – cafe “Papi.Lviv”, where there are still several of our VEF radios hanging on the wall. The atmosphere was trendy, we took a plate of breakfast snacks, ice cream, rolls, coffee. We were also happy to speak English here and come to them. The price of everything was around 10 euros. The others went to the hotel to pack their bags, and I went to the parking lot to pick up the car. I admired the architecture, the cleanliness and the fact that there was something unusual at every step. Especially the slow pull. All in all, I completely fell in love with this city. To be honest, my mind was always thinking about what it would be like to move here.