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From Russia with Love - Guide to Russia
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is second largest city after Moscow, with over five million people. We Russians call it North Capital. Without any doubt it is another major economic and political center of our country with ports on Baltic Sea, many factories around hosting many international important forums and events.Many Russian and foreign well-known companies have their representative office in this city.
In a few words, Saint Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great - one of the most known Russian Tsars, real reformer of his epoch. Current city regulations forbid building tall buildings. Nevertheless in the city there are 3 skyscrapers and 300 tall TV tower. Architecture of the city center differs from Moscow ones. Here baroque and neoclassical buildings of the imperial epoch were largely preserved.
The main street is famous Nevsky Prospekt. Here are located many important place of interest such as Catholic Church of St. Catherine, Lutheran Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Stroganov Palace, Gostiny Dvor, Alexandrine Theatre, Russian National Library, Grand Hotel Europe, Anichkov Palace, Kazan Cathedral and others. Saint Petersburg is a cultural heart of Russia. City is in UNESCO World Heritage list, there more than 200 museums, 1000 libraries, 70 theaters, 30 galleries and exhibition halls, 50 other cultural establishments. Every year the city hosts over 150 festivals.
You can arrive to Saint Petersburg by train or by plane. From Moscow you can take new rapid train Sapsan - the fastest in Russia with speed over 280 km/h. For more information about this wonderful city visit http://gov.spb.ru/en/
Lake Seliger
One of key parts of beautiful Russian nature is Seliger Lake, which is located between St. Petersburg and Moscow capital. Seliger Lake is not one lake it is an amazing series of lakes and islands amongst colorful forests.
Seliger lake system consists of more than 150 islands. Some islands have lakes inside, others are less than 15 meters. At Seliger lake there are many activities from hunting and fishing to camping, forest walking and visiting nearest places if interest such as museums, ancient monuments and churches.
Since medieval times Seliger Lake witnessed many important events, such as battles against Polish and Lithuanian invaders, World War fights and others. Today it is a very quiet and peaceful area where you can take your time and enjoy wonderful Russian nature.
Vladivostok
Vladivostok is situated at the Golden Horn Bay near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. It is rather big city with population over 500000 people. It has direct access to Pacific Ocean has many ports and well developed sea infrastructure. This city is really very far from Moscow capital. It will take you 7 day o to get to Vladivostok by Trans-Siberian Railway, already built 111 years ago. We Russians have many jokes and funny stories about this long train journey usually full of adventures and interesting people.
If you suddenly wake up in Vladivostol visit Arsenyev Primorye Museum the main museum of Primorsky Krai -region where Vladivostok is located.
Visit also Maxim Gorky Academic Theater, named after famous outstanding Russian novelist Maxim Gorky. In Vladivostok there are many beautiful parks and squares, business centers and entertainment areas.
To get more information see Vladivostok city travel guide on https://vladivostok-city.com/index (available on foreign languages as well).
The Manpupuner rock formations
The Manpupuner rock formations at the Komi Republic are a set of 7 gigantic stone pillars located west of the Ural Mountains. These monoliths are up to 42 m high formed many centuries ago by ice and winds.
Legend says - this stones were Samoyeds giants walking through the mountains to Siberia in order to destroy the Mansi people. The powerful shaman of dropped his drum and the entire team froze into the stone pillars.
The Manpupuner rock formations are one of the main Wonders of Russia, are a very popular attraction in Russia.
Astrakhan city
Astrakhan city is situated in the South of Russia on the Volga River near the Caspian Sea where live more than half a million of people -ancient economic and trade center in the Caspian region.
Ancient economic and cultural center of Russia, outpost at the Caspian region.
The city was conquered by Ivan the Terrible saw many invasions and from Tatars and Ottoman army to Stenka Rasins' Cossacks army and German invasion in 1941.
In astrakhan there are many interesting historic memories and places, picturesque Volga River and The Caspian sea which is nearby. You can get to this city by train or by plane.
Kazan
Russia’s Third Capital - Kazan
Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan and one of Russia’s largest cities, is unique in many respects. To begin with, it is relatively old: its millennium birthday was celebrated in 2005. However, that is far from being its only special feature. Kazan is the city of theaters, museums, international festivals, richest libraries, and new technologies. Local population is mixed, with Tatars, who belong to a Turkic ethnic group, making up about 47% of it. They are proud of their culture, trying not only to preserve it, but to share it, and that, apart from hospitality being a cultural trait, might be one of the reasons why many consider Kazan extremely tourist friendly.
Kazan is an aspiring sport capital of the country as well. It hosted Universiade (Student Olympic Games) in 2013, the 16th FINA World Championships in 2015, and 2018’s FIFA World Cup will also take place here. Consequently, that means that the city receives generous subsidies from the federal budget for developing and beautifying itself, hence an ultra-modern train station, a football stadium of a considerable size, Tennis Academy, Water Sports center, and many other major facilities.
However, despite the city coming across as rather up-to-date, walking around it can still make one feel as if in another era. The center of Kazan, built back in the 18th century, with beautiful buildings raised in different architectural styles, in some way reminds of Saint-Petersburg. Mansions in the style of modernism coexist here with the Baroque monuments, and one can practically feel the aura of antiquity spell from ancient white walls of the Kazan Kremlin where is situated the Kol Sharif mosque, richly decorated on the inside with gold and marble. The architectural symbol of the city, Söyembikä Tower, which is one of a few “leaning” towers in the world and has a romantic and somewhat mysterious legend behind its construction, is also a part of the Kremlin. No wonder that the latter made it on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
But if there was time to visit only one place in Kazan, that would be the Bauman Street. Some would claim that it is known only for becoming pedestrian much earlier than the Moscow’s famous Kuznetskiy Most, but in fact it represents the very essence of the city’s life. It could somewhat be compared to the Arbat, with its very own street artists, innumerable gift shops, museums (Konstantin Vasiliev’s Museum, Museum of the Socialist Way of Life), hordes of tourists at any given time of a day, and all types of restaurants. As far as the food is concerned, national Tatar cuisine is represented both in luxurious restaurants (“Tatar Cuisine House”, “Suleiman Palace”) and small cafes; among local delicacies to try out would be echpochmak, goubadia, and talkuch kaleve.
Overall, Kazan can hardly remind a typical Russian city, but that is its beauty, because one feels almost as if at the border of two worlds: ancient times and modernity, Europe and Asia, Islam and Orthodoxy come together in this wonderful place, and two different cultures, Russian and Tatar, seem to become one.
By Dilyara Gafurova
To get more information about this beautiful city and region you can visit Kazan’s official web site www.kzn.ru/old/eng/
