Kyiv might seem expensive to the untrained eye, but it turns out that it has plenty of free activities. Conveniently, there is even a website that brings them all together online – but alas, only in Russian.
Free Kiev website (freekiev.com.ua) offers information about films, concerts, exhibitions and even football matches that will cost you nothing.
“Laziness is the only thing that prevents Ukrainians from having an eventful life, not a lack of money,” says Oleksandr Todorchuk, founder of the project. He launched the website several years ago just to prove his point.
Now the website has several thousand users per day. It looks like a big calendar, and is extremely user-friendly. You click on a date to see what’s happening that day, find out the time and place, all attached to a map. A little bonus feature of this website is called “Advice,” which is actually a rotation of proverbs.
(www.freekiev.com.ua)
Laziness is the only thing that prevents Ukrainians from having an eventful life, not a lack of money.
– Oleksandr Todorchuk, the founder of the project
If you want to check out what’s free this Saturday, the website will suggest a show race by the Red Bull racing team, reportedly one of the best teams of the Formula One World Championship.
The best young drivers will attempt to break a speed record of 250 kilometers per hour and stop in 10 seconds. They will be driving one the fastest racing cars of Formula One.
The race will take place on Lesya Ukrainka Boulevard, which will be closed for regular traffic for the occasion.
The website is a non-commercial project, meaning that visitors will not be bombarded by ads, which is a nice surprise on the increasingly commercialized Internet.
“It could be great to have it in English but we don’t have enough people and money to do that,” says Todorchuk, who is funding the project out of his own pocket. He says he would also like to create an interactive city map, and launch an online bookstore had he had the cash.
Todorchuk works full-time for a PR agency, but still finds time to both fill up his site, and go to the events listed on it.
He says he’s happy to receive “thank you” letters from his users. “The most wonderful response I’ve ever got was from a 60-year- old lady who said that Free Kiev gives her an opportunity to have an eventful life,” he says.
To get more information about free entertainment, check out the website www.freekiev.com.ua
Kyiv Post staff writer Anastasia Forina can be reached at [email protected]
