Despite efforts to clean up Kyiv’s illegal vendors and markets, almost anything can still be bought on city streets.
While many people take vacations in summer, and others enjoy a more leisurely pace of life, Kyiv’s street vendors are operating at full tilt. Those who sell on in the chaotic outdoor markets and on crowded sidewalks do not seem to take any holidays.
Despite the city authorities’ attempts to clean up the streets and bring order to commerce, almost anything can be bought on city streets.
The Kurenivka flea market [1] in the northern part of Kyiv, for example, is a good place to hunt for the unusual or the antique. Up to 500 vendors flock there every weekend. For crafts and artwork, the destination is, of course, Andriyivskiy Uzviz [5]. There, traders are at least licensed by the city.
Fruits, vegetables and meat [2,3] can be easily purchased on many streets, despite warnings of health inspectors and cases of food poisoning every summer. Kiosks selling kebabs such as this one on Poznyaki [4] need to be treated with caution, but remain popular. Shashlyk, or barbecued meat, is also a hit of sales in the summer. The food court in Chayka Airfield outside Kyiv [6] during a recent music festival proved that, for many, nothing beats shashlyk, beer and music outdoors on a hot summer’s day.
