The best way to appreciate Mezhigorya is to approach it in the way its former occupant and his most select high-flying guests could: from above, by helicopter.
Viktor Yanukovich, the self-exiled president of Ukraine, enjoyed a country residence north of Kiev that sprawls across 137 hectares – almost the size of Monaco, and almost as complete a city-state, with its own heliport, zoo, private car collection, golf course, dairy and restaurant themed in the style of a boat.
At the front gates of the complex, where once guards kept uninvited guests out, enterprising volunteers from the Maidan vigil (named after the central square of Kiev) now stand watch. They sell maps and charge a modest entry fee for those curious to see how their former leader lived.