Kaunas tour offers you the chance to experience the world as a blind person

“The Power of UnSight” labels itself as sensory tourism that builds empathy bridges between the visually impaired community and the rest

Next time you find yourself in Kaunas (Lithuania), you might want to try out a different kind of tour – one that will not show you some hidden corners of the city but will instead take you to a new dimension and let you “see” the city from a new perspective. We are talking about the “The Power of UnSight” tour, which lets people take a walk through the city accompanied by a visually-impaired guide.

The purpose of the tour, which has been billed as ‘sensory tourism’, is to help sighted people experience the city the way a blind person does and to foster a greater understanding of the structural difficulties that are built in the urban environment.

Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes

The sensory tour has been offered since last fall and the idea for it came to Jolanta Kručkauskaite when she hiked along the Luthuanian Camino trail together with visually impaired people. During that hike, she realized that while sighted people relied mainly on their eyes, blind walkers had all of their other senses much more attuned to their surroundings. In a way, they experienced it differently, and in a way which was maybe even richer.

“The Power of UnSight” tour is offered between April and October and lasts between one and a half and two and a half hours. Each participant will don sunlight-blocking goggles and a walking stick, before being led by a personal visually-impaired guide on a journey of sensory discovery.

According to the representatives of the project, a 5-km route in Kaunas is currently selected, leading from Đžuolynos Park, Parodas Hill to Laisvės Alley.

"We hear the sounds of nature, we compare the difference between a live and a dead oak, those who want to get close to a live oak can get strength. Then there is the big challenge going down Parodas Hill towards Laisvės Alley – this stage is remembered by everyone because of the abundance of cars that seem to be nearby without being seen. Laisvės Alley welcomes us with its smells, hurrying people, their words and commotion, in the summer we also feel the freshness of the fountain, in addition, we look for "surprises" on the pavement with a white stick,” the organizer of the project described one part of the tour, as quoted by LRT.

On excursions, the blind guides not only accompany the sighted into their magical world but also manage to inspire them with an active lifestyle: doing sports, reaching for sports heights, learning languages ​​and constantly improving.

In the future, the project is to be expanded, choosing other cities or areas surrounded by nature as routes.