Day 1 Arrival in Kiev
We will meet at Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Flight from Helsinki to Kiev, 09.50 – 10.50, stopover in Riga. Connection Riga – Kiev, 12.45 – 14.40. The group will be met by a driver and his coach. Accommodation in Hotel Ukraina ***+ , very well located in the centre of Kiev.
Kiev is an incredible destination, which will surprise first-timers and make them fall genuinely in love with the city and its laid-back vibe. Kiev is full of greenery with stunning views, the buildings are beautiful and there are some truly stunning examples of street art. Church and monastery fans will find more and more ornate boutiques, shoppers have their streets lined with luxury brands and an incredible network of small boutiques, several hundred shops where you can get everything and a little more, criss-crossing the streets.
The city’s main street is Khreschatyk, where tourists and locals alike flock on weekends to have fun and enjoy the atmosphere and incredible shows. Another beautiful, if somewhat quieter, pedestrian street is Andriyivsky uzviz. The metro is a convenient way to get around Kiev from around 6am to midnight. Tokens are very cheap and can be bought at the ticket counter or from vending machines. The three-line metro has three stations in the city centre around Independence Square, where you can change from one line to another.
Next to our hotel, around Independence Square, there are plenty of terraces for everything from alcohol to ice cream, and it’s a good place to spend time in good weather. If you leave the lookout point and head towards the Petshersk Lavra Monastery area, you will find an area of parks where, especially in hot weather, you can walk, sit, enjoy a drink or listen to summer concerts.
The town is clean, with countless restaurants and cafés. Although Kiev’s cuisine is heavily meat-centric, vegetarians will find it easy to eat out, including vegan options.
Day 2 Kiev and the Museum of the Great Patriotic War
After breakfast at the hotel, we set off on an interesting sightseeing tour of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. Kiev is full of sights, massive monuments, impressive cathedrals, modern shops and plenty of Eastern European exoticism.
Rodina Mat, or Mother’s Birthplace, is a large, 102-metre-high stainless steel monument in Kiev, taller than the Statue of Liberty, which sits on the city skyline next to the Lavra church towers. The statue is just the roof of the in-ground Museum to the Great Patriotic War, where you can see a wide range of war-related history. The museum and the statue are symbols of the Second World War, which caused great destruction in Ukraine. A moving exhibition on the conflict in eastern Ukraine has now been created on the lower floor of the museum.
On 26 April 1986, the biggest nuclear disaster in history occurred. The explosion occurred in the fourth block of a nuclear power plant, just 120 km from the Ukrainian capital, near the Belarusian border. Kiev has a fascinating museum built to commemorate Chernobyl, which you can also visit on your own in the afternoon if you have time. The museum displays all kinds ofChernobyl-relatedartefacts, videos, vehicles, protective clothing and road signs. There are also photographs of mutant animals, for example.
Day 3ChernobylAlienation Zone
After a buffet breakfast, the driver and bus will pick us up from the hotel and we will set off on a full-day tour of the Chernobyl Containment Area, through three checkpoints to the chilling ghost town of Pripyat. The town of Pripyat was the worst affected by the explosion, being the closest town toChernobyl’sreactor No 4, only 2 km away, where the devastating explosions took place and the residents were forced to abandon their entire former lives within hours. Although the Lord of Creation has made the area uninhabitable, the rest of nature is reclaiming it.
Before arriving in Chernobyl, the nuclear power plant and Prypyat, we will stop at a secret Cold War base. The equipment had been tuned up to the max and the place was also ordered to be destroyed later, but after the nuclear accident, everything was left intact and unusable.
The way they’ve managed to hide an absurdly large “antenna wall” from people is a fascinating story. The structure reaches up to tens of metres, but is not visible to the casual passerby from the ground. But when the nuclear power plant exploded and the road that had previously been used in the area had to be closed due to the severely contaminated forest that surrounded it, the possibility of seeing the structure from more than its base opened up. On the new road, there is a point where the structure can be seen for a few seconds before disappearing completely out of sight. The radar wall is also known as the Woodpecker, because it made a sound similar to the drilling of a dart when it worked.
Pripyat was a model town of Soviet communism, built for nuclear power plant workers and their families. Pripyat had all the amenities of a new and modern city: a train station, a harbour, a hospital and an amusement park that was never opened. Pripyat was a young town with an average age of only 25 years. Pripyat had many schools, play schools and play parks. You will experience a city where time has stood still and nothing has changed since April 27, 1986, three hours and 49 thousand inhabitants were evacuated. We will also visit the site of the nuclear power plant itself, a unique site that still speaks to people today – what caused the accident and what really happened on the day of the accident.
TheChernobylShelter (extending some 30 km from the accident site) is still not suitable for permanent housing, but guided tours of the area do not expose people to dangerous levels of radiation. If the tour operators’ instructions are followed, tourists will not be harmed by the visit and no special protective equipment will be required.
Day 4 Mamayeva Sloboda – traditional Cossack village and open-air museum
Located near the centre of Kyiv, next to the National Aviation University of Ukraine, the Mamayeva Sloboda open-air museum reflects a traditional rural village of the Cossack era. The name Mamayeva Sloboda comes from the name of the Cossack Mamay, the main character of Ukrainian folklore.
In Ukrainian folklore, the Kazak Mamay is considered a hero holding a kobza, a traditional Ukrainian lute-like instrument that reflects the Ukrainian soul. In paintings of Mamay, she is accompanied by a horse, a symbol of freedom and loyalty. Some paintings also feature an oak tree with weapons hanging from its branches, a symbol of Ukrainian strength.
Mamayeva Sloboda depicts life in the Ukraine in the 1600s and 1700s. Near the main gate there is a mound topped by a statue of the Cossack Mamay. The centre of the village is a traditional Cossack-style church with a windmill nearby. Windmills are considered in Ukraine as a symbol of peaceful agricultural Ukraine.
The open-air museum also includes the houses of a priest, a blacksmith, a potter, a fortune teller, a traditional Ukrainian shynok restaurant and a church keeper’s mansion.
In Mamayeva Sloboda we get to see and experience life in ancient Ukraine, traditional Ukrainian folk traditions, folk customs and crafts. We will enjoy a traditional Ukrainian lunch and vodka tasting.
Day 5 Return to Helsinki
After breakfast, check-in and transfer to the airport for flight to Helsinki at 15.25 – 17.15, stopover in Riga, connecting flight Riga – Helsinki at 18.40-19.40.
