God, I love this city. I had a rare excuse to go out on the town, as a colleague was visiting from the US. Granted, part of the thrill for me was vigorous conversation in my native and beloved English language. But the rest of it was the magic of Lviv.

As an old acquainstance one said: “L’viv is what Paris used to be in a by-gone age, and pretends to still be.”

The streets were packed with students, young couples, families, elderly, tourists – many of them seemingly Arab, as I think Ukraine is one of the countries with the most relaxed Covid-related restrictions.

All the bars and restaurants were packed. We had to skip a few because there was no seating. There wasn’t a mask in sight. And no police either, because Lviv remains an extraordinarily safe city.

Every other street seemed to have some musician or performer. All faces were relaxed and happy. All eyes were shining and looking around, enjoying the spectacles.

We peered in to a relatively new restaurant in the city square which I’d known of, but never visited. European Medieval theme. A bit kitschy. They had a sword in a stone from the Arthurian Legend, and a throne where you can turn a noisy crank and lower a crown onto whoever sits there. They had a pickle spearing game, and apparently all their recipes are from hundreds of years ago.

But the place was full, so we went to a newly-opened Langoustine restaurant and sat outside to people watch.

Then we went to Four Friends Whiskey for a shot, and then back to the central square to the classical Galician style Atlas restaurant.