━ Cones and Fountains: How to Touch Kyiv | Weekend.Today Article

My favorite periodocal "Weekend.Today" has published an article about my signature Kyiv Senses Tours (Kiev by touch).

I am glad that more people will learn about the inclusive format of tours for the blind and partially blind people.

I dream one day to walk through Kyiv (Kiev) on a tour with Andrea Bocelli by touch and tell about our beautiful city.

Also how cool it is to celebrate a birthday in Kyiv (Kiev) by simply booking a tour - Kyiv Senses: Birthday Party.

Marina Kurylchuk "walked" with me and wrote the article. Thank you for the work.

Enjoy reading the article and let Kyiv (Kiev) be festive and pleasant to touch

Book Kyiv Senses Tours and Touch Kyiv

Cones and fountains: How to Touch Kyiv (Kiev) 

How can Kyiv (Kiev) surprise an American, a Frenchman, or an Indian? How to come up with a tour to touch the city and what exactly is in it worthy to touch? Olena Klimova, author of the "Senses" Tours series, told Weekend about the other Kiev, creativity in her profession and how tourists see our city.

How she started guiding?

I showed my first interest in becoming a tour guide back in 2004, when I worked at the reception desk at the Lybid hotel in Kyiv. One day foreigners who stayed at the hotel asked my colleague to book an English-speaking guide for them for a week. It was hard to find such professionals at that time, so my colleague said that she and I could do the tour. I was puzzled, because I had no experience, but my good knowledge of English, which I had studied since childhood, and my love for literature helped. Now I am very grateful to my colleague for that decision. If the guests had approached me, I would not have dared to offer myself as a guide. With this first walk began my touring journey.

I joined classes to study tour guiding in English and worked as a tour guide on weekends, but I didn't quit my main job. I cooperated with different tour agencies in Kyiv (Kiev), and in two years I gained decent experience.

In 2009, I worked as a paralegal, but I kept thinking that I should try to do something I really liked. I dared to go freelance and work as a guide. Of course, it was very scary, neither my parents nor my friends believed in my idea. For them, coming from Soviet times, the only acceptable scenario was to go to work every day. I decided not to set myself any goals for the first six months. Unexpectedly during that time I managed to earn more money on excursions than I had in my previous job. I realized that I had taken the right decision.

About Ukraine and Foreign Travelers

At the time when I started my career as a tour guide, Kyiv (Kiev) could not be called a tourist magnet city. Rather, foreigners came here on business or on retirement tours of Europe, where Ukraine was one of the countries on the itinerary. After 2012, when we hosted the European Football Championship, the situation in the tourism industry has changed significantly. Now foreigners at least understand the difference between Ukraine and Russia. Fifteen years ago, tourists perceived Kyiv (Kiev) as a gray city with paneled houses and did not expect to see European architecture here. Now there is no such thing. Thanks to the Internet, media, and social networks, tourists know what Ukraine and Kiev look like.

There are plenty of English-speaking guides in Kyiv (Kiev), and the competition is huge. Previously, every three years a local guide had to get certificates of advanced training and pass exams, guides upgraded their experience from their more expert colleagues, there was a good library at the institute of tourism. But that system had its limitations. For example, you had to get a permit for the signature tour. And if the Commission does not like your creativity, it is unlikely you will be allowed to work, to promote new projects it was very difficult back then.

I do individual programs, I don't show and tell the same stories every day. It is important from which country the tourists come from, it influences on the program. The task of the guide is to select the stories that will be of interest to specific tourists.

Tourists from the United States may find it interesting:

1. The Motherland Statue. Tourists are amazed when they learn that the monument is taller than the Statue of Liberty in New York. Americans are also very interested in stories about Soviet times.
2. Igor Sikorsky. Few Americans know that this man was born and grew up in Kiev, but he is very famous in the United States, especially in Connecticut State. When I show them the building on Yaroslav Val Street, where the world-famous aircraft designer was born, they are very interested.
   
3. Food and traditions. They love our food. You can finish the tour with "Shchedryk" Christmas song, better known to guests as the Carol of the Bells, telling them about our songs and traditions, then tourists understand the richness of Ukraine's cultural heritage.
   

The French may be offered:

1. Theremin fountain on the square near the Golden Gate, because its older brother fountain is located on Place des Vosges in Paris. Our fountain appeared at the end of the 19th century along with the Russian Empire's fashion for everything French.
2. Monument to Anna Yaroslavna, the French queen and daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, as well as Holy Sofia of Kyiv. They can also be interested in a story about the Kyiv period of life and formation of the famous ballet dancer and choreographer Serge Lifar.
   
3. Gastronomic twists. For example, here in Ukraine "compote" it is a drink, but with the French it is a dessert.
   

Tourists from India are interested in learning about:

1. Sugar industry in Kyiv in the 19th century. The very first sugar in the world was produced in India from sugar cane. Subsequently, two German professors suggested a substitute - sugar beet. The plant made an economic revolution in Ukraine in the 19th century.
2. Our Tea Traditions. Drawing parallels between countries is always a winning strategy.
   

My tours are often booked with tourists from the U.S., Canada, European countries. Also Ukraine is very interesting to Scandinavians - they like the stories of Kievan Rus, because the Rurik family comes from Scandinavia.

About the series of excursions "The Senses Tours"

Family Tours in Kyiv

Families often booked my tours, so it was necessary to think how to entertain the children. One of my ideas was this: blindfolded, I offered to touch and guess an object. The children liked this kind of entertainment, but it didn't occur to me at the time that it was possible to develop this idea and introduce the separate touching format of tours.

When the pandemic hit, all scheduled tours were canceled within a week. It was the first time, even during the revolution of 2014 there were not so bad situation with tourists. I was not ready: I had plans, developed new content, planned to show foreigners other places in Ukraine. There were no tours, no extra money either, because I had just purchased real estate property. To pay taxes, I had to work for a month and a half in Glovo delivery, also supported me teaching English online.

I realized that I had to be creative and come up with something new. I hadn't been targeting my tours for people in Kyiv before, and I knew there were plenty of great guides in this market. There was no point in doing another tour like the ones we had. Then I decided to make Senses Approach as a separate format as a completely new excursion.

The project "Kyiv Senses" began with a cone. There are lanterns on the Premier Palace building and Andriyivsky Descent that are stylized as the 19th century Art Nouveau. I saw the decoration on them in the form of a cone. Such a symbol can be seen in the decoration of cathedrals and churches, such as St. Vladimir's Cathedral, on the facades of houses, cemetery fences. For the ancient people the cone was a symbol of the transition to another life after death, and later symbolized education, knowledge.

In everyday life there is no time to marvel at the architectural and artistic details inside St. Vladimir's Cathedral or on other buildings. I selected props that I gave children to touch, Yulia Bevzenko's project "Shukay," mini-sculptures installed around the city, also helped. About within a month after the idea was formed, a colleague asked her to substitute for her on a tour. The topic was Saksaganskogo street, and I had never conducted a tour along this street. I answered that I could not prepare overnight and offered my program "Kyiv Senses" Tours.

That's when I did my first tour for the locals. I was lucky: the audience was happy, people even applauded and left good reviews. This success gave me the strength to move forward and develop this project.

How does it work? On a tour, we stop at a certain location, the tourists are blindfolded, and I give them something related to history to touch. Or I ask them to divide into pairs - one blindfolded person and the other open-eyed person must lead them to the location. Then we take off the blindfold mask or scarf, and the guests find themselves in some cozy courtyard, for example. This works as a wow-effect. I also give them some props to touch, then I take them away, and the person opens his or her eyes and has to find a similarly shaped object on the facade of the house. Children especially like this kind of interaction. They can also compete to see who will be the first to find what they are looking for.

Immersive Kyiv Senses Tours

There is a demand for this tours, people who have already been on several of my excursions often ask when there will be new ones. It makes me move further and continue to be creative. Among such tours are "Kyiv Senses: Fairy Tales" and "Dovzhenko film studio senses: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors movie" based on the famous film by a movie director, Serhiy Paradjanov. With this project I was supported by the Dovzhenko Film Studio. Also my excursions are often booked for birthdays, so I decided to develop a special program "Kyiv Senses: Birthday Party tour".

Now I still focus more on local people of Kyiv and develop tours for them, the pandemic continues, with foreign tourists so far all is not easy.

On Inclusion:

One day a married couple of blind people found me through the Internet and booked the Senses Excursion for their wedding anniversary. It was my first experience working with visually impaired people, and I realized that I wanted to introduce more inclusiveness in my projects. I want to order models of famous Kyiv buildings made of plaster, to give them to touch, because blind people ask on the tour about details that the rest people do not pay attention to, such as what the streetlights look like. I am looking for a sponsor to develop the project, I will try to apply for a grant, because I really believe in this project.

The inclusion approach is now developing all over the world, and it is necessary to include all people in the cultural environment and social life. Such excursions should unite different people. I am sincerely glad that Kyiv is also becoming inclusive, and I dream one day of doing the Kiev Senses Tour for Andrea Bocelli singer in English language.

Author: Marina Kurylchuk

Taken from the original source: projects.weekend.today article