Exteam company has many years of experience in the archaeology, but in the tourists service we are taking our first steps. Of course, lots was thought out in advance, for example we took the experience of other similar projects, but this is not the key to success in a particular area with its unique characteristics.
We have to fill our own bumps and try to avoid stepping on the same rake. Everything seems to be prepared at the best we could, but it needs a view from the outside. People who are, so to speak, with "fresh eyes" who will sweep the roughness and will advise to pay attention to the details that escaped our attention. The expedition leaders decided to seek such an opinion from the most authoritative representatives of tourist business in Odessa and the region, who are qualified for independent analysis.
Let us recall that Lower Dniester expedition under the National Academy of Sciences, spent less than a month on Adzhider and during this short period of time, archaeologists were able to do very much. Besides the excavations (work that takes away most of the time), there has been oblique huge areas of impassable bushes for the passage of tourists, there was put a tent city with all necessary infrastructure equipped with field exposure, which included findings from the excavation site, and even brought the first vessel exposure of local maritime history! Agree - it is quite impressive! However, at this stage it is not enough to make a tourist feel “like at home” while they visit the expedition. Museum needs to be equipped additionally with visual aids, outlets with soft drinks and site souvenirs need to be at the recreational areas,... In general, make Adzhider meet modern standards of comfort and a tourist attraction.
We were nervous before the arrival of tour operators, but as it turned out - in vain. Professionals highly appreciated the idea of the project and its present stage of development! Generally speaking almost everything is done, except those nuances that we have described above. Of course, there are suggestions to get to the estuary to allow tourists to "splash" in the water after a hot hike. We would ourselves like to make an exit to the water, but at this stage we are forced to postpone the idea for the future. Shore is impassable for heavy equipment, without which it is not possible to realize our plans. The rest we will try to ground on for the next week in order to make expedition 53 to work as a full-fledged tourist object worthy of attention by July. To all those who attended and helped us with advices - we say thank you very much! We hope that our cooperation is just the beginning and Adzhider castle after 200 years, will reassert itself loudly!