russia: komsomolsk on Amur

My next stop on the Baikal on Amur Mainline was a city called Komsomolsk on Amur. I'd be willing to be that most locals call the city simply Komsomolsk, or perhaps something even shorter. (Obviously, I don't really know.) I'm going to call it just Komsomolsk most of the time in this post, so my fingers don't go crazy typing the name. Why don't the powers that be think about such things when naming people or places?

Komsomolsk is in Khabarovsk Krai (I have yet to understand the difference between a krai, an oblast, and a republic, as I see them all as equivalent to a US state, with varying differences in how autonomous they are from Moscow.) Google Maps tells me the drive from Moscow would be at least 114 hours, or 8600 kilometers. I doubt many people make the drive, as there is a train station and an airport. There are nearly 265,000 residents, the city is slowly shrinking.

The region in which Komsomolsk is now located was conquered by Mongols back in the 13^th century, then became part of the Manchu dynasty until the mid 18^th century, when the area was ceded to Russia. The Russian city came into being in the 1930, when the Soviet Union decided to build a port. The name of the city comes from this time, as some of the labour used to build the city came from youths who were members of the Komsomol (the Communist Youth.)

Some of the other labour used to build the city came from prisoners in the Gulag system. I guess the 'on Amur' part of the name was added to define it geographically and from other Komsomols in the country.

Komsomolsk was granted official town status in 1933. The shipyards and other facilities for heavy industry were finished a decade later, so the city became a center for 'exciting' industries like aircraft manufacturing, metallurgy, machinery, oil refining, and shipbuilding.

Wikipedia lists 'famous' people from Komsomolsk on Amur, the list includes a sprint canoer, the first footballer to score for Russia in the 2018 World Cup, and Miss Russia 2005.

As usual, my train arrived on time in Komsomolsk. This turned out to be one of the few train stations I've seen in Russia where the city name is on both the front and back of the train station.

Most train stations I've seen only have the name on the track side of the station, with the front side usually saying just 'train station.'

I arrived on a day with gray skies, wind, and some rain. Yuck. Since this was August, I was expecting a bit more heat, but that definitely wasn't happening. I walked to the hostel I'd booked, and was able to check in early.

They seemed surprised to have a foreigner, though I don't know if that was because it was Covid summer, or just in general. I spent a bit longer than expected downloading podcasts, as the wifi was quite slow.

During the walk to the hostel I took a few photos, one of which was of a giant mosaic on the side of the local science/technical university. I love mosaics like these.

I also passed a statue of Lenin, but waited to take photos after checking in.

After checking in, and heading back out to explore, I started by walking down a main street called Prospekt Mira. Not long after I started walking I found another mural, this one on the side of a random apartment building. This one was of half a Greek temple, which struck me as an interesting choice.

I went to the other end of this apartment building, but it didn't have the other half of the temple. I wonder where it is, if it exists at all.

Further down the street I found more mosaics. These were on a couple sides of a government building. Since the building itself was boring dark gray, the mosaics made it look much nicer :)

I started walking along a different street, eventually getting to a park. Slightly inside the park was the drama theatre, which was as grand as I've come to expect in every single Russian city I visit. There were faces on the front side, with different 'moods.'

Just in front of the theatre was a city sign, which made me aware of just how long the city name is: Komsomolsk on Amur. The name covered the entire checkmark in the sign!

(And when I saw it written around a couple globes in the city, it covered half the globe!)

I headed out the other side of the park, which felt quite wild. Longer grass and trees, definitely not as landscaped as I'm used to seeing.

I passed a memorial from WW1, though I don't think this region was much involved in that war.

It was big, (aren't they all?) and had a guy carrying a torch while moving along on skis.

Not too far away was another memorial, this one for WW2. This one had an eternal flame, carved faces, a stela, and more. I don't know if it was part of the same memorial or just a different memorial in the same area, but I also walked down an 'aisle' of busts of military heroes. This memorial was memorable because it included a bust of Stalin, which isn't terribly common anymore in Russia.

I kept moving toward the river, eventually coming to a platz that overlooked the water. There was yet another memorial monument, this one involving several people standing on a pedestal. This one is dedicated to the First Builders, I assume it means the first builders of the city.

I figured out how to get to the river station, I couldn't tell if it was still used or not. Since it was August, and nothing was happening, I would assume not.

The building looked slightly abandoned/derelict, but there were people around, so I don't know. The stairs had cracks and grass growing through, and there was a bit of graffiti. That being said, I still found the place rather photogenic.

From there I kind of circled around, and started heading back up the street. Heading this way I found the monument/memorial dedicated to Japanese POWs from WW2.

It was quite small, on one side of another part. Komsomolsk is not a terribly exciting town, there isn't much to see.

By that point it was almost dinner time, so I went to a supermarket to grab a can of beans and a can of tuna. Exciting, I know.

The next morning I was basically told to get out of the entire hostel building at check out time.

This is the first time I've ever not been allowed to stay an extra few hours in the common room. When I asked to leave my bag for the day while I went out walking they looked at me as if I was an alien, and asked why. Ummm, because I don't want to carry it around all day? Very strange people running this hostel.

My first sight of the day was the stone denoting the exact spot and date the city was founded. Obviously, I took a photo with the rock.

My next stop was a bit of a walk, I went to a beauty salon named after me :) I set up my tripod to take the photo, and the owner came out to ask why I was taking the photo. She didn't seem to understand why I would want to take a photo of a place with my name.

Then she wanted to practice speaking English with me, and didn't seem to understand why I wanted to keep walking. I'm not a social traveler, I'm rarely keen to talk to locals, get to know them. After saying no a bunch of times, I just walked away quickly.

Walking on this new street took me past a series of three buildings with more mosaics. These mosaics were all science/space related, which was neat to see.

More walking brought me to the entry gates to a park. I'm pretty sure the last time they were painted was decades ago, as there were spiderwebs and peeling paint, and general disrepair. I still thought the gates were photogenic, though the locals walking past me gave me looks while I was taking photos.

My next sight was a small church. Not very exciting, or eye catching, but this city doesn't seem to have many churches, so I took a look.

This church had a red brick outside, a blue bell tower spire, and gold onion domes. The inside was not memorable, at all. After seeing as many Orthodox churches as I have seen, I guess I expect lots of colour, lots of frescoes.

My last official sight was a monument, dedicated to the friendship between the Soviet Union and China. (I think.)

From there I wandered back through the city to get to Dodo Pizza, where I picked up a pizza to take with me on the train. I carried it back to the hostel, where I picked up my bag and was able to say a final goodbye to the weirdest hostel staff ever. From there I walked to the train station, stopping only for a hot chocolate along the way.

I don't feel the need to come back to Komsomolsk on Amur, as I think I only missed an art museum, and it would take quite a bit of time to get back here.

russia: kursk

Kursk is a city people outside of Russia have actually heard of, mostly if they are interested in WW2. The city and surrounding area were the sight of a huge tank battle during the war; its actually the largest tank battle ever to take place. (How that is measured, I'm not sure. Number of tanks? Number of soldiers? Geographic area? How long it lasted?) The entire battle was about six weeks long, with the Germans charging for the first week, and the Soviets charging back the next five weeks.

Kursk is a city of more than 415,000 residents, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym rivers. Archaelogists have found evidence that Kursk was first settled as long ago as the 5^th century BCE. The first written record of Kursk dates back to 1032.

Like many other cities in what is now Russia, Kursk was destroyed by the Golden Horde in 1237, but was rebuilt in about 50 years. Kursk officially became part of Russia in the early 16^th century, then a fortress was built by the end of the century. It's a good thing the fortress was built, as the city was attacked by Polish Lithuania, the Crimean Tatars, and the Nogai Horde in 1612, 1616, 1617, and 1634. The fortress of Kursk never fell during any of these battles. (Though I think other parts of the area were under control of some of the attackers for a while?)

As far as I can tell, the Red Army took control of Kursk in 1919, after which the city followed Soviet history for everything. Rebuilding of Kursk started in 1944, not long after the end of the big tank battle.

The current economy of Kursk is based on the iron industry, chemical plants, and food processing.

I'm not sure why I chose the train I did, as it was 12 hours long, which was longer than most of the trains take going from Moscow to Kursk. It took a detour of sorts along the way, I guess most of the trains don't do that. Oh well.

The train station in Kursk was interesting to see. There is one area with a hole in the second floor, so the first floor can see all the way to the ceiling. There are WW2 based decorations in the waiting rooms, which have really high ceilings. There are statues of people on the outside of the station, and the whole exterior is painted red.

The train station of Kursk is not terribly convenient for walking to the city center, but I didn't let that stop me from trying. I walked along until I got to a park with the first Lenin statue I wanted to see. 

This statue had the man in a seated position, it was one of the more awkward Lenin statues I've seen.

After the park I walked further into the city until I got to an area with a bunch of public transport stops, then hopped on a marshrutka that would take me to my accomodation. The lady who checked me into my room was surprised to have a foreigner, which surprised me. Kursk is known because of WW2, I would expect more visitors. But maybe it doesn't get as many because it isn't on the regular Transsiberian rail route. Hmm.

It was not a warm day when I arrived in Kursk, and I was practically frozen by the time I got to my accomodation. I stayed inside for a couple hours to warm up and charge my phone. I really need to stop wasting so much time when I travel, especially at the times of year when daylight isn't nearly long enough.

My first sight was one of many WW2 memorials I would end up seeing over the weekend. This one had a large statue of a woman laying down, presumably she was suffering the loss of someone during the war. There were a number of fresh flowers on the memorial, which was nice to see. It means people remember.

Further along that street I was able to see the circus, a building which seems to exist in many Russian cities. This one looked the same as they all do, like a permanent (concrete) version of a big top tent. They're circular, but otherwise boring on the outside.

The circus was close to the second monument I saw, the one had a solid big red flag with a gold hammer and sickle. The monument sat in a small spot between a park platz and the street, there really wasn't a space for anyone to sit there and appreciate what the monument honoured.

Continuing along I eventually got to the Kursk Cathedral which is painted a dark sea green colour. Unlike many churches, this one did not have an open area around the church. The fence surrounding the whole thing had an open gate, thank goodness, the front door was tucked around to the side.

I really liked the interior of the cathedral, as the whole thing was painted with frescoes, and there was a giant rotunda over the main section. Always look up.

Outside the fenced in area of the church was a bus/trolley/marshrutka stop. It was actually a cul-de-sac, and seemed to be the stop where all the public transport turns around to go back north through the city. 

I got to see a couple trolleybuses reattach their 'antennae' to the wires overhead.

Just north of this turn around was the dom Sovietov, one of the main governmental buildings of the city. It looked like so many others I've seen, huge and rather boring. The second Lenin statue of the city was in front of this building, there were a few wreaths and such laid at the bottom of the pedestal on which he stood.

As sunset was already starting, I ended up taking one of those buses up the street, all the way to a mall. 

I paid attention along the way to what the bus was passing, making notes for what to see the next day. In the mall I got dinner from Dodo Pizza, a chain I've found all over the country.

It was only the end of November, but the city had already put up holiday lights. I'm not a huge fan of holiday decorations being up for 25% of the year, but having those lights to see made the walk back to the city center after dinner a lot nicer. In the city center I caught transport back to my room, as I had zero desire to walk the entire way.

The next morning I packed up and checked out, taking my backpack with me. I much prefer to leave my pack where I've stayed, but it wasn't going to be at all convenient to come back and get it, so I took it with me.

I walked back to the second Lenin I'd seen the day before to take a photo with the man, as the sun was in a better position to do so this time around.

I spent the rest of my day walking up Lenin and Marx streets, stopping at various points along the way. It was a gorgous (but still quite cold,) day, with nothing but blue skies as far as I could see.

One of my stops was to walk through Victory Park, which had more memorials for the Great Patriotic War, as well as a section with gravestones. Some of the gravestones were vertical, and had carvings on both the front and back. I don't think I've seen anything like that before. This park had the requisite eternal flame at one of the memorials.

Another stop was to take a closer look at a large mosaic on the side of a building. Very neat. I'll always admire anyone who has the patience to put something like that together. The pieces were a bit over 1cm square, and the whole thing was at least two meters high! 

Based on the style, it was done back in Soviet times.

As I walked past another mall I took a photo with the city sign located on one end. Who doesn't love a city sign? I also stepped into another church. This one was classic blue on the outside, and had enough space for a cemetery, but no open platz within the walled in area. The inside wasn't all that interesting.

I walked all the way to the biggest memorial area, on the northern end of the city. It's a pedestrian area in the middle of a two way street, the memorial area stretches out quite a bit. 

There is a section with helicopters and tanks, each with informational signs in front. I don't know or care enough about particular styles of helicopters or tanks to read the signs, but I did appreciate that they were there.

In the middle of this memorial area is a chapel/church. The outside was off white, with a bell tower over the front entrance. The interior wasn't big, but the ceiling was awesome. Gold, colour, lots of paint. Always look up.

On the other end of the memorial area were a big victory arch, a statue of Zhukov, and a stelae designating Kursk as a city of military glory. 

I wouldn't expect anything less, given the fighting that took place in this area in WW2. The arch is huge, and the view of the church through the arch is neat to see.

After going all the way to the end of the memorial area, I walked back to the mall where I'd eaten pizza the night before, and went back for more. I killed a couple hours there, then caught a tram back to the train station before hopping on the train to go home to Moscow.

I don't think I missed anything major in Kursk, so I don't think I'll be back.

russia: saransk

Saransk is not on most people's list of places to go in Russia. I'm pretty sure the only reason anyone outside of Russia has heard of the city is because it was one of the host cities for the World Cup in 2018. That's the reason I wanted to visit :)

Saransk is about 650 kilometers southeast of Moscow, with more than 300,000 residents. The city was first founded as a fortress, called Atemar, in 1641. At the time, this fortress represented the southeast border of the Russian Empire. It took all the way until 1780 for the town to be granted official status.

During WW2, Saransk was the furthest battle line of the Battle of Moscow, but the German Wehrmakt never got that far. That being said, a lot of the city was destroyed during the Great Patriotic War, so the city centre was rebuilt by Soviet planners during the 1960s and 1970s.

The rebuild was in Soviet style, meaning wide boulevards and big residential areas were added to the original city plan.

The train station in Saransk feels quite new, though the architecture reminded me of a grand train station like I've been lucky enough to see all over Russia. 

This particular station was painted red, which was a first for me.

My train arrived after daylight, so other than getting hot chocolate inside the station, I didn't stay inside. I wasn't able to walk out the front of the station, even though there was a door there. To get out of the property you walk out the back, then off to a gate on the side. Is it always like that? Why do you have to exit this way? I noticed an x-ray machine in a small shack of sorts, which made sense for security when entering, but why have everyone exit this way as well?

From there I followed the main street as I walked into the city center. Since this was Saturday morning it was pretty quiet. Only half the bakeries I walked past were open, those that opened at 0700. Those opening at 0900 nearly all looked better (as much as I could see through the windows,) but I had to go with what was open :)

I finally got to the end of the street, (Lenin street, this time,) where it meets up with a big square, and Lenin on the other side of the square. This particular Lenin was painted gold, which just looked odd. 

I've seen him painted gold before, and silver too, and I never think it looks right. Just leave the man alone.

I was there early enough that no one else was around, which was kinda awesome. I love it when cities are still asleep when I arrive.

Lenin was on one side of this square (actually a rectangle, but names of these are never rectangle, they're always square,) while the main government buildings were on the other sides. (I think they were the local parliament and the House of Soviets.) 

Even though the World Cup tournament took place in June of 2018, and it was now October of 2019, some of the decorations for that event were still on display around this square.

My favourite was a city sign that said I love Saransk, with the mascot reaching out for a high five. Hard to describe, but I'm better with a camera than I am with words.

More walking brought me to the war memorial area. There was a war memorial museum, not open yet, as well as several large memorials, each dedicated to specific aspects of the Great Patriotic War. 

The biggest memorial had an eternal flame, which is a pretty standard part of a WW2 memorial in Russia. Off one side of this area was a small statue of a guy, dedicated to WW1, a memorial that doesn't happen nearly as often in Russia.

Not too far from the memorials was a big cathedral. You can't miss the cathedral, as it is huge, with gold domes on top. It looked new to me, partly because the colours outside were so bright and clean. After going inside I was almost positive that it was new, as the gold iconostasis was bright and clean, but there weren't any frescoes on the walls or ceilings.

After the cathedral I wanted to find a coffee shop, but there weren't any nearby, so I gave up that idea pretty quickly. Argh. Instead, I headed down a hill, and made my way toward a big park. I'm not sure what the park was called, as the map wasn't very clear.

There was a pond on one side of the park, which gave me a fantastic reflection as I approached. A trout's belly sky, autumn trees, and a ferris wheel all combined for one of my favourite photos of the whole weekend.

Just inside the entry of the park was another Lenin statue, this one looked 'normal,' and tucked into a small area. At that point, instead of going further into the park, I cross the street, and headed toward some interesting looking buildings over there.

None of these buildings ended up being amazing, but it was fun to explore. I found an ice rink, a swimming pool, and another memorial of some kind. Clearly sports are a big thing in this city. 

After that I made my way back up to the cathedral, then walked on the other side of the church. It didn't take long to get to Saransk Arena, a big football arena and the platz around it. On one side of the arena was another city sign, in the same style as those I've seen in other World Cup host cities. Fun fun fun. I wonder who made the decisions for these sorts of decorations for that tournament.

I walked up another street, passing a nice looking theatre on one side. (Also painted red, it somehow reminded me of the train station.)

Eventually I got to a walkway in the middle of a street, it made me think of an alley of heroes. There were posters of different people all the way up the walkway, I think they were people involved in WW2.

From there I walked. And walked and walked and walked. Then walked some more. I walked all the way until I got to a church. The walk from the arena all the way to the church ended up being around 7 kilometers. Considering how far I'd already walked that day, I was starting to feel it.

Anywho, the Church of Our Lady of the Kazan Icon (or something like that, the names always confuse me,) was light blue and white outside, with dark blue and gold domes. There was a tall bell tower on the front side. The inside of the church wasn't nearly as big as I thought it would be, it was quite narrow. The iconostasis up front was a light wood colour, not as eye catching as I was expecting.

From there I walked another two kilometers, in the same direction from which I'd come. I wanted a photo with a really big city sign I'd seen along the way, just because I could. 

Who doesn't love a big city sign in the middle of a traffic circle? I'm pretty sure every driver going past gave me a funny look as I set up my tripod, oh well.

At that point I was done with walking, well, almost. I walked to the nearest bus station, then hopped on the bus that would get me the closest to the accomodation I'd booked. It took me a bit to find my hostel, so I was a bit grumpy, but once I checked in and was able to drop my bag I was a happy camper again.

After hanging out for an hour (mostly to charge my phone,) I started walking again, heading toward the park I'd barely entered earlier that day. When I entered from the back side I saw a sign labeling it as Pushkin Park, which was enough for me to use that name. There were some fun wooden sculptures throughout the park, I admired the artistry it took to create them.

Next up was a museum. The entry fee to the Museum of Mordovian Culture was only 100 rubles, woo hoo. 

There were no other visitors at the time, and the employees looked at me as if they were thinking 'why is she here?' It didn't take long to go through the museum, but I enjoyed what I saw.

The traditional clothing was what caught my eye the most, I wonder if those are ever worn these days. Do most people in the Republic of Mordovia (of which Saransk is the capital,) own traditional clothing anymore?

After the museum I went to a steak restaurant for dinner. This was one of the few times I did any advance research about where I was going to eat during a weekend trip. 

Called the Big Pig, they had an English menu, and the food was plated beautifully. I really liked the dessert, and decided I would go back the next night :)

Considering how far I'd walked that day, I was impressed when I left the hostel by 1040 the next day. The easiest way to get back to the city center was to walk through Pushkin Park again, this time I took a photo with the Lenin I'd barely seen the day before.

I walked up the hill from there, through the war memorial area, past the cathedral, and up another street. 

My first sight of the day was an art museum, named for a guy called Enzi. The entry fee was 200 rubles, and there was no foreigner fee.

The museum ended up being much bigger than I expected. The different sections seemed to be divided by type of art, rather than artist or chronology. There was a sculpture room, which included a wooden sculpture of Lenin's head. There was an area with paintings, I like those depicting traditional Mordovian life. There was also a Russian classical section, much more of the typical art museum exhibits I'm used to seeing. 

The last section of the museum was the biggest section, with contemporary art. I would've been happy to pay my entry fee just for this area. For some reason, I really liked a lot of the exhibits in the part of the museum. (That being said, by the time I left, I was completed arted out.)

From there I walked back to the war memorial area, so I could go to the museum. The architecture is quirky, to say the least. There was no entry fee, which was awesome. That told me they were keen to educate people who visit, and that money wasn't the focus of the museum.

Awesome. This museum wasn't big, and the focus is a sculpture and stained glass window you see as soon as you walk in.

The second floor is filled with momentos from the Great Patriotic War. Medals and photos and pipes and shoes and uniforms and permits and just about anything else you can think of that soldiers had during the war. One of the docents tried to give me a mini tour, but I admit I didn't pay as much attention as I should have.

After leaving the memorial museum, I kept walking. Eventually I got to theatre square, basically just a small platz in front of a theatre, with a fountain in the middle. 

The fountain was across the street from a plane that had been mounted as a memorial; this was the other end of the alley of heroes I'd seen the day before.

I kept going, crossing a bridge to get to another church. The church was sea green outside, and the inside was quite boring because it was under renovation. I like that people were still coming to pray, even though the main area was being redone.

At that point I felt like I'd seen most of the city, and I was ready to eat. 

I'd really enjoyed my dinner the night before, and had been dreaming of my next dinner all day; I felt as if I'd seen enough to justify calling it a day and going to dinner.

I ordered different food, and while it wasn't as good as the first night, it was still really good. I also got myself a dessert to go, just because I could. Hee hee. I ate too much, but since I had a long-ish walk to get back to the train station, I didn't care.

Getting back to the train station was easy, and the rest of the night went as expected. 

I doubt I'll come back to Saransk, as I don't think it would be noticeably different in another season, but I've learned never say never. Maybe there are other areas of Mordovia that I should explore. That being said, I was happily surprised with how much I'd been able to see, how much there was to see, and how much I'd enjoyed the weekend.