I'm
guessing most people don't know much about the city, I didn't know
anything before booking my flight. It was founded in the 18th
century, having been planned by Peter the Great and named for
Catherine 1, his wife.
The
flight to Ekaterinburg left a little after midnight, arriving at 0510
Ekaterinburg time, a two hour time difference. I hung out in the
airport for a couple hours, it was not a pretty airport. Walking
outside was a shock, it was a lot colder than I'd expected.
It
was easy to catch a local bus into town, it dropped me off at the
central train station. I explored inside a bit, but it wasn't a grand
station, at least not like I expected. One of the waiting rooms had a
nice ceiling, but that was about it.
Maybe the grand feeling has gone away because you're checked by security every so often, I don't know.
On
another corner of the intersection in front of the train station were
letters spelling out the city name, they were quite big. As the city
name is quite long, the letters were stacked on each other, making
for a convenient photo. As I've continued to live in Russia, I've found city name signs in many of the towns/cities I've been able to visit.
I
walked, just wandering whereva struck my fancy. I passed an old
mansion on the banks of the river, it still looked really nice on the
outside. I didn't see an option for going inside, though I was
curious.
At
that point it was dark outside so I started looking for a place to
have dinner. I was quite excited to find a Korean option, as I miss
Korean food.
After
dinner I walked to the Church on Spilled Blood to see what it looked
like at night. This is the church built on top of the location where
the Romanov family was killed during July of 1918.
The church is
relatively new, building having started in 2000. I stepped inside
only briefly, but appreciated the brilliant colour everywhere.
The
next morning I walked out of my hostel to find snow on the ground.
That definitely wasn't what I'd expected, though I should've checked
the weather before traveling. Thank goodness I'd brought a warm coat
with me, though my hands/fingers were cold for the rest of the trip.
The
statues and chapel were right next to a bridge that crosses the Iset
river, I walked a bit closer to the river itself. There was an
interesting area, with a large, green hand on display. Modern art,
for sure.
I
was traveling in fall of 2017, but the city was already preparing for
the World Cup event to take place in late spring of 2018; I saw a
RUSSIA2018 sign already on display, not too far from the big green
hand.
My
next sight was a museum, this one displaying religious icons.
Apparently there is a specific style of icons in this region, there
were three rooms of them on display from the 17th-19th
centuries.
I don't know nearly enough about icons to have noticed a style difference, but I did appreciate the skill of the artists.
I don't know nearly enough about icons to have noticed a style difference, but I did appreciate the skill of the artists.
From
there I walked back to the Church on Spilled Blood, also called the
Church of All Saints. When I walked in I was stunned. As the church
is quite new, the paint/colours are still really bright. There was a
lot of gold and a lot of colour. The church sits on the site of the
Ipatiev house, which is where the Romanov family was hiding in July
1918.
The house was torn down in 1977, as the Soviet government
didn't want a place of pilgrimmage to exist for monarchists; after
this time the land remained empty until the beginning of the 21st
century.
By
the time I walked back out of the church I could see the start of
sunset. I ended up getting to see the church in profile with a
beautiful sky in the background.
I
spent that night as well as the next night in Yekaterinburg, but I
spent the next two days in other towns, mentioned in other posts.
I
would be okay with coming back to Ekaterinburg, it's a nice city.
It's the fourth biggest city in the country, and a good city to use
as a base to explore the area.
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