Kiev lies on the banks of the Dnieper River in the north of Ukraine and is regarded as the seat of Slavic culture. In the 17th century, Ukraine and its capital Kiev were transferred to the rule of Russia. This was a relationship that lasted centuries and caused as much misery as it did good fortune. By the time the Soviet Union collapsed, it was the union's third city after Moscow and St Petersburg.

Since 1991, money has not flooded into Kiev in the same way as it has in Moscow. Culturally and economically, Kiev appears as the older, more sober sister, of the brash Russian capital. For all the flavour of a former Soviet capital without the red tape (no visas are required), autocracy or petro-dollar pretension, Kiev is becoming increasingly popular with tourists from Europe and the US. It's not too much of a stretch to imagine Ukraine getting its wish of joining the EU in the future.

Meanwhile Kiev's influence reaches far beyond Ukraine - famous Kievans include the co-founder of Israel, Golda Meir, the writer Mikhail Bulgakov, the model Milla Jovovich and the footballer Andriy Shevchenko, who was born in the region and began his professional career with Dynamo Kiev.

Today's visitor to Kiev will be drawn to Khreschatyk, the city's equivalent of Oxford Street in London, which is the main artery down to Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the city's main square with its golden patron saint Archangel Michael beaming down from a 50m (164ft) column.

At weekends the street is pedestrianised, bringing a peaceful buzz to a place with a colourful and bloody past. The Red Army mined the buildings with explosives as they retreated from the invading Nazis and the 19th century ruins were replaced with imposing Stalin-era neoclassical buildings after WWII.

At the end of 2004 pro-democracy protesters swarmed along the street as they camped out in protest at the rigged elections while the heroes of the Orange Revolution, Victor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, addressed the crowds on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square).

Political differences still boil over in parliament from time to time. But for the casual traveller, squabbling in the Verkhovna Rada, the country's parliament, this does not affect the sense of stately calm that prevails throughout Kiev.