A series of new immersive, walking tours led by women of Syrian, Ukrainian, Saudi Arabian and Iberian heritage are launching today, part of a growing portfolio of tours in collaboration with social enterprise Women in Travel CIC (www.womenintravelcic.com).
The women-led tours will take place in London and Edinburgh and celebrate the culture, cuisines and community of the women leading them, all of whom are graduates of Women in Travel CIC’s Tour Guiding Academy programme. The initiative, which this year has been supported by Google and the TUI Care Foundation’s Futureshapers programme, trains women – many of whom have been disconnected from the workforce – to design and deliver an immersive tour based on their own narrative and background. The focus is on personal storytelling and exploring destinations through the lives and cultures of the guides delivering them, offering a unique and authentic perspective on the locations and giving voice to different heritages and communities.
The new tours are as follows:
Saudi Cultural Experience in London: Traditional Hospitality and Belly Dancing tour, led by Amal Ahmed. Three hours, £87 per person.
Starting on Edgware Road, this three-hour tour begins with traditional Saudi Arabian hospitality with Arabic coffee and traditional dishes in a local café, while Amal shares insight into the traditional cooking methods and discusses the role of gender in Saudi culture. It goes on to explore the significance of Arabian oud, musk and the ritual of burning Bukhur in a perfumery on Oxford Street, hears tales of pioneering Saudi female musicians in a nearby musical instrument shop and feels the transformative power of dance through personal stories and an introduction to belly dance.
Exploring Syrian Heritage in London: Stories of Art, Food and Tradition, led by Nadia Aburdene. Three hours, £77 per person.
Nadia is a London-raised Syrian-Palestinian whose roots run deep in Damascus. Through her lived experiences and family stories, old Damascus is brought to life starting within the exquisite beauty of the Arab Hall in Leighton House, and finishing at a traditional ice cream parlour in Shepherds Bush, witnessing how booza, a stretchy ice cream dating back to the 15th century, is made. Nadia celebrates Syrian communities and restaurateurs living in London, and guests on the tour will try their hand at making manoushe, a beloved Middle Eastern pastry, and learn about regional produce like za’atar and Aleppo soap.
Bridges Across Borders: Tracing Ukrainian Roots in the Heart of Edinburgh Tour, led by Nataliya Bezborodova. Two hours, 57 per person.
On this intimate two-hour walking tour, Ukrainian-born refugee Nataliya takes her guests on a journey of shared heritage, memories, and stories of migration in the heart of Edinburgh, which is twinned with Kyiv. Starting at the National Galleries of Scotland, the tour takes in the story of Queen Margaret, an 11th-century royal whose roots trace back to Kyiv; the Duke of Wellington statue, a site of weekly Ukrainian gatherings; the Holodomor Memorial Stone, a quiet, powerful space that honours the victims of the 1932–33 famine and a Ukrainian Community Centre founded in 1947, where resilient Ukrainians are keeping their culture alive. The tour finishes with a feast at a local café, with a selection of dishes blending Ukrainian and Scottish flavours, accompanied by stories of culture and identity.
Iberian Footprints in the Heart of London: Queens, Wine & Waterways, led by Florbela Trindade. Three hours, £77 per person.
Florbela, a passionate guide of Portuguese-Spanish heritage, shares her love of London’s riverside on a three-hour walk uncovering the Iberian influences woven into London’s past. Tracing the footsteps of pioneering queens, merchants, migrants, and spiritual leaders, Florbela reveals the stories of the women who shaped and were shaped by London’s long-standing ties with Spain and Portugal. Starting at Monument, it visits historical docks, steps inside London’s oldest church which was once a refuge for Iberian sailors, hears how a Portuguese princess introduced tea to the English court and celebrates the alliance between England and Portugal, one of the world’s oldest, with a taste port and sherry in an atmospheric pub near St Katherine’s Docks.
Aimed at residents and visitors alike, the tours are new additions to Women in Travel’s growing portfolio of women-led tours, which already includes Ethiopian Flavours of Shepherds Bush led by Sefanit Mengiste (also available through Intrepid Travel’s Urban Adventures programme) and Vaishali Patel’s Immersive India Tour of North London which explores the Gujarati culture along London’s Ealing Road.
A percentage of the proceeds from each tour goes back into supporting Women in Travel’s ongoing mission to provide women – many of whom are refugees, abuse survivors or members of under-represented communities – with the opportunity to fulfil their economic and individual potential through employability and entrepreneurship.
