Mamayeva Sloboda

Hidden in a suburban district of Kyiv, this open-air Cossack village is a little gem and will easily fill half a day of enjoyment.  One of the first things you’ll notice is the contrast to the surrounding area; you’ll see small wooden single-storey buildings but behind them there are some towering 20 floor modern apartment blocks. At least they have an interesting view from their windows! Kyivan Rus Park out at Kopachiv does the same trick with a Rus city if you want the older version.

With your tickets, you’ll be given a map with a recommended numbered route around the park. You’ll see wooden churches and traditional small holdings throughout the vast area and on weekends and holidays most of them will be open and have traditionally dressed occupants who will tell you about what used to happen in each building. This could be cooking traditional dishes or finding out about long-established jobs like weavers or blacksmiths.

If you’re an animal fan, you’ll find lots of farmyard animals such as roosters, hares, piglets, long-horned cows and horses. Also, on weekends there are sometimes re-enactments in the main square of Cossack fighting techniques which you may just get invited to join in with! If joining in is what you’re after, there’s disc golf with a pro a few kilometres north of here as well.

There’s an on-site restaurant and also a smaller kiosk serving more simple dishes in the square. In the main restaurant they serve traditional Ukrainian dishes from Borsch to Salo and Varenyky. You can also try Medovukha, which is a honey liqueur.

During the week the park can be very quiet, and you can wander around and you’ll be lucky to see anyone else, but that makes for a very relaxing day. On weekends it can get quite popular especially with coach trips of tourists from foreign countries.

If you’d like to get more information during your visit, you can book an excursion in English, German, Italian, Russian or Ukrainian which is quite good value especially if you are in a large group.