Of all the great European capitals, I never expected Kiev to be so high on my list of must-see places. In my mind, Ukraine had always conjured images of a flat wasteland with little more than rolling plains and large, industrial cities. I never imagined its capital to be so vibrant, culturally significant and dazzlingly beautiful. We visited Kiev because we were looking for a city near Chisinau that was connected to Italy by budget flights. After a bit of research, the closest places we could find were Cluj (our entrance…