Kyiv is a city that is impossible to get to know completely in a week. It does not reveal itself at first glance, it seems to be checking whether you are ready to feel it.

Recently, I decided to just walk around the center without a map, without plans, without haste. The streets greeted me with the noise of cars, the aroma of coffee from small bakeries and the laughter of students who were sitting right on the stairs of old buildings. It seems that this city breathes in the rhythm of hundreds of different stories at once.

I noticed that the architecture here lives in contrasts. On the one hand, there are houses that have been preserved for centuries. Stone facades, the cracks on which seem to hold someone's fate. On the other, there are modern cafes with neon signs and floor-to-ceiling windows, where it smells of vanilla and fresh buns.

And what's surprising: all this does not argue with each other. It creates a feeling that you are in a place where the past and the present are talking to each other.

Walking, I caught myself thinking: sometimes we are in too much of a hurry to "see the city", ticking off the boxes next to tourist places. But the real Kyiv is not only Khreshchatyk and Andriyivskyy Descent. It is a woman selling apples near the metro. It is a boy playing the guitar in the underpass. It is a small cat that has settled down to sleep right at the entrance to the store.

Here it is - the city. The real one. And you can notice it only when you stop rushing.