I will be sipping on a

I will be sipping on a frothy cappuccino, resting on a bold red leather couch on a trendy terrace under a Parisian sell house fast in fresno stripped awning-how divine! A "fashionista" struts by in 6 in. heals on the cobble stone pathway below. Seated next to me is actually a guy on his iphone. I expertise at once a feeling of displacement and enjoyment. Am I in Prague, Vienna or is this possibly Krakow?

I start looking down the way and memories happen to be quickly returning. Cars are left on the narrow sidewalk and the stop sign is written in Cyrillic. The dead giveaway is the female selling dried field flowers plus sunflowers just around the corner. Now I know! I am within Lviv-the cultural capital of Eastern Ukraine and the Coffee Mecca associated with Eastern Europe.

Flash back to the post Soviet Era when vodka at breakfast was more so "de rigueur". As a North American coffee snob, I would search high and low for my personal early morning caffeine as the shops afterward did not open till 11: 00 am. At that time, to ask for milk in your coffee was unheard of and even frowned on.

Fast forward to 2011 and welcome to Lviv's coffee mania. The city at present boasts nearly 700 coffee residences. Cafe terraces litter the elegant landscape, through the timeless "brahmas" belonging to the ancient center float the aromas of strong coffee. Every conceivable concoction on the planet is available here at this moment. Turkish coffee brewed three times and over hot sand is more popular in this article than it is in Istanbul. There are many cafes that are open 24-7.

Really, the cafe is a microcosm of society, has come to epitomize the art of lifestyle here. The intellectual and creative Bohemia meet here to philosophize. Lovers linger, this is the place to find and be seen. Not only is the restaurant a refuge it is also a "fashion cult". Waiters themselves are a vibrant element of the decor. The staff meanders regarding in the french traditional "rondeau", the black apron that reaches towards the floor and wraps around the waistline.

Lviv (often called the Mini Paris, france of Eastern Europe) is as recognized and infamous for its coffee lifestyle as is Paris. Just as notables such as Toulouse Lautrec and Baudelaire need immortalized certain cafes in Rome, Lviv too has had its' restaurant celebrities. Lviv born Leopold Masoch (of masochism fame) comes quickly to mind. Picture him composing the famous "Venus in Furs" during the heyday of the Austria-Hungarian Empire as he drank his daily java.

From this city, coffee traditions are steeped in history. It was actually a local emigrant to Austria (Yuri Kultschyzky) who else opened the first coffee house inside Vienna. He started up his opportunity with beans left behind by locating Ottoman Turks. He called his or her cafe-"under the blue bottle". A cafe by that same name prevails in the Market Square. It's carefully refurbished 16th century walls are similar to the days of the Empire. Most fascinating could be the 1960's cafe called "with their very own backs to Soviet Authority" exactly where intellectuals drank coffee with their backs facing city hall, then the chair of the Soviet Imperialists.

Since 3 years ago, Lviv has hosted an annual Coffee Festival which occurs in Late September-the essential antidote to the chills regarding autumn. At this time, coffee tours collection different cafes in competition for any honor of the best brew in town.

To my favorite cafe terrace- Dianna's (by the classic fountain statue of the empress of the hunt) in the Market Square. I love people watching here and I like the anonymity of this crowded inner city restaurant.

Are your taste buds ready for some very fine Java? Are you yearning designed for posh yet antique cafe mood with free wifi, all in a good exotic setting? If so, Lviv would be the place to be, coffee mania and all.