We were hoping to find a great tour through Harlem with authentic church mess with singing and clapping gospel music, but we were very disappointed. During the walking tour I haven't received any new or specific information about Harlem itself, the tour guide was rather focused on rushing through the streets (even over almost red lights with a big tour group) and was worried all the time not to disturb any of people living in Harlem. Taking pictures of buildings could offend people personally, as well as blocking a piece of a sidewalk- this is what we've been told a couple of times too many. what's wrong here ?! Therefore, we haven't felt welcomed in this part of the city at all or were wondering if people living here were really that easily provocated... also the tour guide's way of speaking was neither well structured nor clearly enough to understand which made it hard and uncomfortable to follow. All in all
1 hour "running" tour Through Harlem like on the run, feeling uncomfortable,
1 hour waiting in the church before mess started because we arrived much too early,
1 hour of getting public administrative news of the church with 2 times money baskets going around and just a few songs sang in a more traditional old fashioned way. Beautiful, but not as we expected with happily moving singing and clapping at all.
Only after 3 hours it seemed the real mess and preaching would actually start, but after we planned with 3hour tour, we had to leave earlier in order to not mess up our agenda totally.
Réponse de l'hôte
Jan 2020
Thank you for your feedback. Our Harlem Gospel tour includes a historical neighborhood tour including both residential areas like Striver's row, the Schomburg, and iconic sites like Apollo. Following the historical tour, we include history of gospel music, viewing several churches, and attend a gospel music performance with an ensemble of singers at an authentic Harlem Church. As for your expectation on what gospel is, the guides communicate it is not what media and film has presented as Gospel. We provided you an opportunity to see gospel and engage an intercultural experience. We do apologize if you felt the guide was rushing. As gospel in Harlem is highly requested, we want to make sure we arrive on time to ensure entry. We indicate the tour can take up to 4 hours, which appears is how long it took based on your review.