The new Instagram page “Hey Guide” can be easily mistaken for an account of a typical Kyiv creative. Just like many locals, it posts analog photos from hip locations framed in one eye-catching style. But this is no coincidence.
Hey Guide was created by knowledgeable locals to help others discover the capital’s many hidden gems.
“We love Kyiv and want everyone to see it the way we see it,” Anastasia Ivchenko, one of the co-founders, told the Kyiv Post.
Visual diary
Hey Guide was launched by the duo behind communications agency Public Kitchen, Ivchenko and Eugenia Skibina. Their company contributed to the betterment of Ukraine’s international image by promoting fashion brands like Ksenia Schneider and Ienki Ienki. Both have grown to be a success abroad.
Ivchenko and Skibina have roamed the world but say there is no place like home, in their case, Kyiv.
“We are the generation that doesn’t want to immigrate somewhere but plans to spend our lives in Ukraine,” Ivchenko says.
Their love for Kyiv pushed them to launch Hey Guide, an Instagram account on a mission to help foreigners discover the Ukrainian capital, as well as help locals rediscover their home.
“Showing Kyiv to the world is great, but we also want locals to see the city like we do, with love,” Ivchenko says.
They capture the local color using film photography, which is booming in Kyiv. Their brand colors are Ukraine’s national yellow and blue, but dimmed, to match the overall “analog” look. And their content is the abundance of unconventional places to see and experience in Kyiv, with short but insightful captions in English and Ukrainian.
“It’s like a visual diary,” Ivchenko says.
Thanks to its appealing modern look and out-of-the-ordinary recommendations, Hey Guide proved to be a hit soon after its launch in late July. It is now thriving with over 7,500 followers.
Spectacular Kyiv
The guide offers “authentic and unique” places that are divided into four categories such as “see & do,” “eat & drink,” “shop” and “escape.”
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One of the “shop” options is Kyiv’s legendary Petrivka flea market that takes place every weekend in the middle of the railway, near the Petrivka book market.
“This place is addictive: Everything that is lying on the floor has its own story, and sellers are almost always happy to share it,” the caption reads.
Hey Guide also recommends shopping for goods at Zhytniy Market in the Podil neighborhood. Settled in a mesmerizing Soviet modernist building with a concave roof, the market “has everything Podolyanin (the resident of Podil) could ever need, from top-notch salo to authentic jewelry.”
Their “eat & drink” section invites readers to visit a cozy little cafe Kalyna in the Pechersk neighborhood that has been operating since 1994.
Skibina says she has been passing by Kalyna for many years on the way to her friends’ residence nearby. When she once finally entered the cafe, she realized that it reminded her of “confectioneries from her childhood.”
The team recommends trying Kalyna’s special “vyshnevi rogalyky”— cherry-filled crescent rolls. Hey Guide even organized Cherry Rogalyky Weekend in August to further promote their beloved dessert.
“We think that Kyiv cake is too obvious, so we decided to give this city a new dessert,” Ivchenko says.
The guide suggests that locals “escape” from the city’s buzz and fuss to the quiet and picturesque Gryshko National Botanical Garden, which is “a real oasis in the middle of a busy city.”
The “see & do,” category features the no-name electronic music club at 41 Kyrylivska St., the garbage sorting station Plastic Club and the Dnipro metro station that offers a picturesque view of the eponymous river, the longest in Ukraine.
Numerous posts spotlight Kyiv’s architectural wonders such as the 1984 Soviet modernist Hotel Salute, often referred to as “the grenade” for its unusual round shape, and St. Nicholas Cathedral, Kyiv’s second-oldest Roman Catholic church that was damaged by a fire on Sept. 3.
“We want people to see how beautiful Kyiv is and how important it is to preserve its historical buildings,” Ivchenko says.
Supporting the local
Aside from helping their audience to discover offbeat Kyiv, the guide is on a social mission to support local businesses and institutions.
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According to Ivchenko, many of their followers visited little-known Strumok restaurant outside of Kyiv after they posted about it. A rare exemplar of wooden modernist structure, the restaurant has maintained its original Soviet chic style. Many also discovered Kalyna café thanks to the guide.
“We like the people who develop this city, we admire their projects and therefore we add them to the guide,” Skibina says.
Hey Guide is also here to build a community of those who love and appreciate Kyiv. The team plans to hold events that would bring them together.
They started with arranging an excursion in the National Opera of Ukraine on Sept. 18. The grand 1901 building houses one of Ukraine’s most prominent opera and ballet theaters. Renowned Ukrainian artists Maria Ralko and Stanislav Adamenko, who participated in the building’s renovation in the late 1980s were the tour guides.
The team charged Hr 1,000 ($38) per person. They say that they transferred all the money from ticket sales to an initiative called “Kyiv, clean,” which cleans some of the capital’s busiest and dirtiest places using powerful washing equipment that local public utility services do not possess. Hey Guide doesn’t disclose the sum they raised. They say they keep a low profile about their charitable deeds since it’s not the main focus of their platform.
Hey Guide plans to hold at least two more events by the end of the year, which will also be announced on their Instagram account.
In the meantime, the team is dedicated to continue spotlighting Kyiv they love. “A contrasting, often unexpected, very homey, tasty and beautiful city,” Skibina says.
