The Worldwide Photowalk comes to Kiev, Ukraine (Kyiv)

Last year, there were over Protected content walks and about 30,000 participants, but Kiev was not represented. Let’s change that in a big way.

My name is Matt Shalvatis and I’m an eight year resident of Kiev. I will be leading the Kiev photo walk as part of the Worldwide Photowalk, organized by Scott Kelby and Kelby Media Group. Here is our likely route:

Starting at Khreschatyk Metro, 6 Instytuts’ka St., we’ll walk to the National Bank Building, then on to Bankova Street to the Office of the President and the House of Chimeras. Continue to the House of the Weeping Widow, then continue down the hill back to Khreschatyk. Most weekends, Khreschatyk is closed to traffic, and many weekends, there is entertainment and performances of one sort or another. Time permitting, we’ll walk to Besarabka Market and the Lenin Statue, or possibly in the other direction, toward Khreschatyk Park and European Square, then back on Khreschatyk toward Maidan (Independence Square), where the walk will conclude.

Some notes on the walk. Walkers under 16 years must be accompanied by a parent or other suitable adult. Being a Saturday, traffic should be light, and a number of streets in the area will be closed. Instituts’ka has wide sidewalks, and likely parking will be available here for those who choose to drive. The first part of Bankova St is open for traffic, but has very little because it is a dead end street. The remainder of Bankova is a pedestrian plaza where no traffic is allowed. Lyuteras’ka Street is a lightly traveled street (with a 12% grade going down) that ends as a parking lot. Khreshatyk is almost always closed to vehicular traffic on weekends. The end point of the walk is about a five minute walk from the start point. If we are lucky, there will be street performers this day. Do be aware that there are often private performers, dressed as Bart Simpson or Spongebob or the like, and if you attempt to take their photo, they will likely expect some money. These are not the street performers we'd be looking for.

Yet being a city, one should always be aware of one’s surroundings, and Kiev is no exception.

After the walk, there may be an opportunity to stop for snacks or drinks, but this depends on the number of participants.

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