russia: krasnodar

 

Krasnodar was once known as Yekaterinodar. It is now a modern city of nearly a million residents, almost 1400 kilometers straight south from Moscow. Google says the drive time should be around 16 hours, though I imagine it would take longer in reality.

Krasnodar started out as a fortress/military camp built by the Cossacks; they were determined to protect the borders of Russia, and claim Circassia, though Ottoman Turkey didn't agree with that claim. The official year of founding was late in the 18^th century, in 1793.

City status was granted nearly 3/4 of a century later, in 1867.

Wikipedia tells me Yekaterinodar quickly became a trading and transport center of southern Russia, with around 45,000 residents by the end of the 19^th century.

The name Yekaterinodar comes from Catherine the Great, who granted the land in this region to the Cossacks. The other Catherine involved in the name was Saint Catherine of Alexander, who is the patron of the city.

The name Yekaterinodar means Catherine's gift. After the name changed to Krasnodar in 1920, the name means 'gift of the Reds.'

Yekaterinodar saw a lot of fighting during the Russian Civil War, which took place from 1917-1922. (Imagine dealing with a civil war AND a world war at the same time!) During the Civil War the city changed hands several times between the Red Army and the White Army. During my visit I saw quite a few war memorials, some big some smaller.

When WW2 (the Great Patriotic War) rolled around, Krasnodar was again the sight of lots of fighting. The Germans controlled the city for around six months, starting in August of 1942. During the war years most of the city was destroyed, like other Russian cities where fighting took place. Though Germany didn't have any camps in Russia, some of the Gestapo and SS killed thousands of Jews, Communists, and partisans; these unfortunate souls were shot, burned alive, and even sometimes gassed to death in specially built vans.

Before the war was even over the government started trials, even of their own citizens, for collusion with the Nazis and other war crimes. The Wikipedia summary says the tribunal handed down eight death sentences, which were carried out in a city square with an audience of 30,000 people.

Modern Krasnodar has many industries. These include agriculture and food, fuel, forestry, and machine construction. Tourism is said to be a big part of the economy, and those numbers continue to grow.

(Though maybe not so much in the summer of 2020.)

Despite my misadventures in catching the train from Voronezh, I arrived in Krasnodar early in the morning. Since it was mid-August, it was hot and sunny, despite being early in the morning. The train station in Krasnodar is quite big, with the name of the city on both sides. The main level was full of people when I walked in, but I found a waiting room upstairs that was completely empty. Woo hoo!! Despite being an upper level room, it wasn't nearly as hot as I would've been expected.

I wanted to check into my hostel as soon as I could, but I wasn't expecting anyone to be awake when my train arrived around six in the morning.

I loved the train station for another reason as well: I found the first of seven Lenin statues in Krasnodar inside the station!! It was a full size statue, much to my surprise. I've seen mosaics of the man in train and bus stations, or even a bust, but this was the first time I saw a full size statue. I was a bit nervous about setting up my tripod to take a photo inside the station (sometimes security officers don't like seeing me get out the tripod,) but it went off without a hitch.

After waiting around a bit, I walked to my hostel, and was able to check in straightaway. It was a cheap hostel, so the bunks wobbled a bit, and there was no airconditioning. I think the family that ran the place lived on the first floor, with the second floor having the dorm rooms. Some of the girls in my room appeared to actually live in the hostel, they weren't just traveling through.

After relaxing for far too long, I finally walked back out the door, heading toward Lenin number two for the day. It was a long hot walk, but easy enough.

From there I passed a quirky monument: a horse made of holiday ornaments. Unique, to say the least.

To get to my next sight I decided to use public transport. I was able to take a bus directly to Krasnodar City Park, which is relatively new. I'm not sure if this area was always a city park, but what is there now was renovated and opened in 2017. It's a big park, with a lot of landscaping, and lots of cute little areas.

I walked all over, finding heaps of spots to take Instagrammy photos, and I definitely wasn't the only one doing so.

I decided to walk from the park back into the city center, to get to a tower designed and built by a Russian engineer called Shukov. I didn't get what was worth seeing in this tower, as it was just a bunch of wires, but he is well enough known that there are several of these towers around the country.

After seeing the tower I figured out public transport to get back to the hostel. Even though I hadn't been outside for all that long, I was still zonked, and crashed early. This kind of heat wears me out, fast, no matter how much I drink every day.

The next day I got moving a bit earlier, heading in the same general direction as the day before. I had a big itinerary on my list for the day, including three more Lenin monuments! After quite a long walk, I got to my first monument, this one was a gold covered head on top of a pedestal.

The monument wasn't particularly exciting, but I really enjoyed the building behind the monument, as it was decorated with tiles like those you often see in Portugal. Beautiful.

Lenin number two was a full size statue painted white on a pedestal. Another boring-ish statue, this time without a redeeming building behind the monument. Oh well. Not far down the street from the man I found a church to visit. I realized I had spotted the church the day before, but hadn't gone inside. There are times when I'm so hot that even though something catches my eye, I'm just too tired to walk a little out of the way I originally planned. 

I decided to take public transport to Lenin number three for the day, but go figure, the tram I wanted to take didn't come for quite a while. If I understood some of the muttering I heard from people around me, there was a wreck somewhere on the line, blocking some tracks for a while. Ugh. I could've started walking, but I was hot, and just didn't want to walk.

When the tram finally came I didn't ride it all the way to the man. I hopped off early when it drove past a building with a huge mosaic mural on one end. I wanted to get closer, and did. It turned out to be part of a local science university, absolutely gorgeous. And huge.

Eventually I did get to the last Lenin of the day, which turned out to be the biggest I'd seen yet. Unfortunately the best framing of the photo was totally backlit, which I didn't love. I suppose that helped cover up some of the sweat pouring off me. This statue was another full size one on a bigger pedestal, in the middle of a small park, surrounded by flowers and benches. (No one was sitting on the benches in the sun, but the shady benches were full.)

I kept walking, following a main road back toward the city center. As I walked I realized the city had a decoration scheme all over the city, in the form of sparkly flags along the streets. There were flags with the Russian tricolor, and the city colours.

As I walked I had to stop to take another photo, because I was standing in front of a shop named after me. As I was packing up my tripod a couple of the employees came out to look at me, I'm sure they were wondering why someone was posing in front of their shop. Hee hee.

Next up was another memorial, this one to the Civil War. After that I saw yet another monument, this one to Empress Elizabeth. She is in the middle of a park, and the fences around the area all have scrollwork with the letter E.

Even though I hadn't wanted to walk earlier in the day, I hit my stride later in the day. The monument to Empress Elizabeth sits at the bottom of Red Street, which I then walked almost the entire length of.

This walk showed me a few more sights of the city, including a GIANT flag on a flagpole.

Even though I couldn't feel all that much wind, there was enough to keep this flag going. Better than the flag were all the people (mostly kids) running through the fountain/splash pad just in front of the flag. If I'd brought a change of clothes, I would've joined them in the water.

Near the northern end of the street there is a gate leading to a park. The park was not amazing, but it was a good place to people watch. I'm pretty sure half the city was at the park I saw the day before, another quarter at one fountain or another, and the last quarter parading along the sidewalks through this park.

Eventually I decided I'd had enough, and found a marshrutka that got me pretty close to my hostel.

The next day I took the elektrichka to Novorosiisk, where I stayed for a couple nights. Then I came back to Krasnodar for a day before catching a night flight.

The elektrichka brought me back to Krasnodar just before 11 in the morning. I stored my bag at the train station, then started walking. Even though this post already mentions seeing five monuments to Lenin, I knew there were at least two more I hadn't yet seen!

The first Lenin of this day wasn't that far from the train station. He is just a random monument, nothing unique at all. Thankfully there was a church near this monument, which was much more interesting to see.

I took a tram to get closer to the second Lenin of the day. He turned out to be standing on an almost nonexistant pedestal, at the end of a random shopping street. When I find monuments like this I always wonder how the placement was chosen.

After finishing the tour de Lenin in Krasnodar, I found a bus stop where I was able to catch a bus to the last area of the city I wanted to explore for the day. There is an 'island' in the middle of the river that runs through one side of the city, and the bus took me close enough.

To get to the island I got to cross a pretty pedestrian bridge, though the river at that point was quite ugly just then. Not much water, so I could see (and smell) a lot of mud and rubbish. The island itself was better, as it had a park, complete with submarine memorial.

For families there were also a few amusement park style rides, and stalls with amusement park style games.

After leaving the island I made my way to another church. Then back to Red Street to go to a bakery and kill time. Though probably somewhat overpriced, the baked goods were yummy and the chairs were comfortable. When the time came I made my way back to the train station to pick up my bag.

It was easy to catch a bus to the airport, check in, fly, and land back in Moscow. Since my flight landed in the middle of the night I slept/dozed in the airport for a while before catching a train back into Moscow.

russia: novorosiisk

Novorosiisk is a Soviet designated Hero City, of which there are 13 across Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. The designation comes from WW2, or the Great Patriotic War as it is known in Russia. Because of its location on the Black Sea, there is a large port, and there are plenty of shipping containers to be seen.

Novorosiisk is mentioned way back in antiquity, as a sight of grain trade in the Greek Empire. It was also part of the Byzantine Empire a little later on. The history of the area includes names that might have come from English origins, Susaco (Sussex,) and Londia (London.)

In the 15^th century Genoese merchants showed up, with one family maintaining a trading outpost. Fast forward to the 18^th century, when the Ottomans controlled the bay with a fortress. It was during this time that some European maps called the area Susaco (Sussex.) This fort was part of a line of forts that stretched all the way down to what is currently known as Sochi.

In the 19^th century Russia 'won' the coastline during the Russo-Turkish war. At that point two Russian admirals built a base for the Black Sea Fleet, which has basically been here in one form or another ever since.

During the rest of the 19^th century Novorosiisk grew. And grew and grew and grew. The city was granted official city status in 1866, and was the capital of the surrounding area.

For a short while at the beginning of the 20^th century Novorosiisk was the capital of the Novorosiisk Republic. This republic didn't last long, at least not officially, just a week and a half. The lead up to the existence of the republic was far longer than the republic itself.

The breakaway happened as a result of the Russian Revolution in 1905, a time in history that still has an outsize influence on what is now Russia. There were a number of other short lived republics around Russia during the same time.

During the Russian Civil War (1917-1920, which overlapped with what the rest of the world calls WW1,) the White Army used Novorosiisk as a principal center. The Russian Civil War is much more memorialized in Russia than WW1, by a long shot.

During WW2 Novorosiisk earned its Hero City status because it was involved in a fair amount of fighting. The city was occupied by German and Romanian armies in 1942, before being liberated by the Red Army in 1943. 

There was a small section of the city/port that was still under Russian control during this time, and this small section did such a good job in its defense of the port that it was prevented from being used by the Axis powers as a supply point.This wouldn't be the first time an army has been defeated by lack of supplies.

In the early 21^st century the federal government spent a whole heap of money to built a new base for some of the Black Sea Fleet in/near Novorosiisk. Wikipedia tells me that the plan was to move a whole bunch of warships and the HQ from Sevastopol to Novorosiisk in 2020. I have no idea if that happened, but the summer of 2020 was the first COVID summer, so I'm guessing the big move didn't happen.

In addition to being a military and shipping port, this is also a port for oil, coming/going from/to the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Mediterranean, and South American.

As the city is on the sea, there are a couple beaches. That being said, Novorosiisk isn't really considered a resort town. I watched people on the beach for a little while, I wished I had brought a bikini with me, because I love beaches and summer.

I arrived in Novorosiisk after a nearly four hour ride on an elektrichka. As it was August, I nearly melted onto the floor of the train, as there was no air con and it was bloody hot. Arriving at noon didn't make it any easier, as the train station in Novorosiisk is not in the city center, unlike so many other Russian cities I've been able to visit.

The best part of arriving in the city is the view from the train station. You can see the surrounding mountains, it's just pretty. Not stunning, but definitely pretty.

I ended up hopping on a bus, but the traffic was crazy, so the bus didn't go any faster than I could've gone if I had walked. The bus was crowded, so by the time I arrived at my accomodation I was soaked in sweat. Gross. I ended up laying on my bunk for far longer than I wanted to because of the heat and being dehydrated.

Not surprisingly, my first stop was a Lenin statue. My arrival at the statue was at a time of day when the statue (full size, on a big pedestal,) was backlit. I need to pay better attention to which way these statues face and the times I visit. Not far away was a building with a 75^th year of victory (dating from the Great Patriotic War,) memorial.

By this time it was early evening, (I really did hang out inside the hostel for far too long,) so I strolled down to the same place everyone else was strolling: the waterfront pedestrian area that has been well developed. There was a huge city sign, which was good for a photo.

Behind the sign was a ship museum, but I didn't have it in me to visit, and made note of it to come back the next day. The sunset was lovely, and it felt good to finally be in a semi comfortable temperature. There was a rocky area good for scrambling around (but not in the jandals I was wearing,) and a cobblestone zone for walking.

I found another city sign near the entrance of the city park, it was an arch over the street. I wanted to be in a photo with this sign too, but figured there was no way I'd be able to set up the photo without having a car run over me and/or my tripod and camera.

My dinner ended up being bits and bobs from a supermarket. I was too tired and feeling too cheap to find a cafe. I've had way too many dinners this way, but since I'm not a foodie in any way, I don't feel like I'm missing out in any way.

The next morning I was up a whole lot earlier than when I actually got moving. When I got outside it was already hot and I started sweating almost immediately. I stayed in the shade at every chance all day, unfortunately there weren't nearly enough chances.

My first goal of the morning was to see a series of monuments near one area of the beach. One of them was absolutely ginormous, much bigger than I'm used to seeing. (And trust me, Russia has plenty of huge monuments and memorials.) 

This memorial monument was big enough that you could go inside, as long as you could pay 100 ruble entry fee. It was sortof shaped like a very very very big 3D triangle. Sortof. The interiors were filled with photos and information about specific people who served in the war.

The beach was lovely, the view made me wish I had brought my bikini, though I'm pretty sure the sand was mostly imported. The water was clear, and I saw a bunch of concrete towers in the water. They weren't tall, kids were climbing on them and jumping into the water. The area isn't big, it was kindof a classic beach view, if that makes any sense at all. Across the bay you could see low hills in the background.

From there I walked all the way to a space called Cape Sudzhuk. I don't know how long the walk was, but I remember being pretty miserable in the heat and sun. 

The cape was pretty small, and clearly handbuilt. The water level changes pretty drastically depending on the tide. Though the area was rocky, I still walked into the water a little way, just because I could.

Nearby was a statue of a character from a well known Russian comedy film. And by well known, I mean Russians know the film, foreigners generally don't. There is actually a pretty strong Russian film scene, even if the rest of the world is mostly unaware. (Including me, since I don't watch many movies.)

After leaving the water, I walked past an open air military museum without entering. Those sorts of places usually interest me, but there was no shade, and I could only see metal and concrete. It would not have been a pleasant visit.

Then two more monuments, one about Earth, and one of a plane. This city was full of monuments and memorials, I knew I wouldn't be able to see all of them. And I'm pretty sure no one would want to hear about all of the monuments even if I did see all of them.

Behind the plane memorial was a pedestrian walkway, lined with big red stars. There were also big letters spelling out (in English) the word pobeda, which means victory in Russian.

When I passed the local history museum, I knew immediately that I would visit, because it was indoors. It turned out to be a pretty small museum, only 3 or 4 rooms. There was a nice variety in the displays. I didn't retain any of the information very long after my visit, but I do remember that I enjoyed the visit. I was the only person in there at the time, which was nice.

On the way back to the hostel I walked past a number of buildings with huge murals on the sides. As Novorosiisk is a hero city, all the murals were about the Great Patriotic War in one way or another.

Dinner that night turned out to be from another supermarket. During this visit I had no idea if Novorosiisk has any good food.

The next morning I was up early enough to catch a taxi back to the train station. Yes, I could've walked, but I didn't feel like being soaked in sweat then sitting on an unconditioned train for 3-4 hours.

I'll be back.

russia: voronezh

 

Voronezh is the capital of its own oblast. The city is 515 kilometers almost straight south from Moscow, and has a population of over a million people.

Wikipedia tells me the first written references to the city date back to 1177. Something about the prince of another region (when Russia was made up of various princely states and was not a single country,) fled to the city. Reading this makes one think the city was actually older than this date, but I guess there is no other proof?

The region in which the city is located used to have lots of oak forests, which are typically pretty dark in colour. The first half of the name, voron, often means 'black/dark' in Slavic languages. Wikipedia goes on to say that folk etymology in Russia combined the names for raven (voron,) and hedgehog (ezh) to make the river, and therefore city name.

By the 17^th century the city was of a reasonable size, enough that Peter the Great built a dockyard in the city. It was at this dockyard where a fleet of ships was built to help Russia in its Azov campaigns of the late 17^th century.

(When Russia tried to take over access to the Sea of Azov in Turkey.) It didn't work, but that's another story.

During WW2 Voronezh was the sight of a lot of fighting between Russian and combined Axis troops, in fact Germany used the area as a staging area for the seige of what was then Stalingrad. The industrial factories of the region were altered to help produce military equipment, which was a major help to the war effort for Russia. All the fighting took a toll on Voronezh, as it was more than 90% destroyed by the end of the war.

More reading of the Wikipedia article tells me it took decades to rebuild the city after the Great Patriotic War. Industry continues to play a big part in the city and regional economy and environment, with factories for machine tools, and heavy mechanical pressing. (I have no idea what this is.)

My train to Voronezh arrived on time. The attendant in my train car must've been really concerned that I wouldn't get up and off the train after it pulled into the station. She tapped on my leg twice, and was very insistent that I wake up and get up, even though it was still more than 30 minutes before the scheduled arrival time.

I usually get down from my bunk no more than 15 minutes ahead of time, as I have nothing to do except clean up my sheets and put on my shoes.

Anywho. The train station in Voronezh seemed pretty big. Most stations have the city name on the back side/track side of the station, but Voronezh took that to another level. The city name was on the back side twice, as well as on both sides of the station. You'll never end up in Voronezh (by train) and not know where you are.

The inside of the station is nice too, with some stained glass. I was taking a photo of the front of the station (there are some statues on the roof,) when a security officer asked if I was a professional photographer. I'm not sure why he asked, maybe because I was taking a photo with a real camera, not a phone? Who knows. Part of the front of the station was covered with scaffolding, so the photos didn't turn out very well.

It didn't take me long to walk to the hostel I'd booked. I'm pretty sure the hostel wasn't very busy, and I was likely one of few foreigners they had this summer. 

I got the impression that the front desk lady was happy to be able to practice her English, and I didn't mind, knowing that the 'lesson' wasn't going to take very long. I got to have a dorm room all to myself, which was really nice. I ended up staying inside for a few hours, doing nothing in particular.

I finally walked out the door at 11, I didn't want to waste the entire day inside. The first 'sight' I saw was the former 'Officers' House,' which looked more like a theatre to me than a military or government building. Though it was listed as a sight to see, I don't think it was open for visitors to wander around inside.

The Officers' House was on a main street, which I followed for a while. The street was busy, and felt very 'normal.' I don't think Voronezh is high on most people's list of places to visit in Russia, so it doesn't feel at all touristy. I liked seeing a theatre with quirky statues and turrets on top, a building with lovely mosaic tiled decoration, and a government building of some kind.

I walked through a garden that had some modern art pieces on display, they were very very colourful. I don't know how to describe them except to say big circles on sticks. I wonder how long they'll stay on display.

I tried to get close to the main Lenin in town, he stands in the middle of Lenin platz, which is in front of the city administration building. Getting to that platz wasn't as easy as I thought it would've been. There are roads on three sides of the platz, but none of them had a crosswalk going to the platz anywhere close to where I was.

From there I had a long-ish walk. I stopped at a WW2 memorial, which included an eternal flame and big Soviet style statues. There was also a separate building to go in, which was really well done. There was basically one big room, with small displays for each official Hero City from WW2. There were photos, as well as dirt from each city, as well as medallions and ribbons and such. There was intense music and fake flowers too.

There was a small chapel next to the memorial, but the doors were locked when I tried to enter.

From there it was another long-ish walk, this time going over a bridge across the river the splits the city in two.

My goal on the other side of the river was to get to a Lenin statue. Crossing the bridge was easy (but windy,) but as I got to the other side I ended up with the same problem I'd already had once, a lack of crosswalks. The 'as the crow flies' distance to this Lenin statue wasn't that far, but to get there I had to add an extra couple blocks of walking distance, in order to avoid cars flying down the street. Argh.

Lenin seemed about life size, on a pedestal not too much taller than me. He was painted silver, nothing special. That being said, this statue felt smaller than most Lenin statues I've seen; he is often portrayed as being larger than life even though he was not a big/tall man. I took my photo and figured out a slightly faster way to get back to the bridge to go back across the river.

Just after crossing the river, I veered off the bridge and onto a road that followed the river. Eventually I got to a platz with another memorial, a boat museum, and a church.

The boat museum was pretty impressive from the outside, though I chose not to visit the museum this time, figuring it might be worth seeing another day. I could tell this summer was different than usual, because this type of platz would probably normally be teeming with people, but there was hardly another soul to be seen.

I walked out another side of the platz, and followed a path that basically took me straight up a steep hill. The path brought me right to a church, which wasn't open when I walked by. From there I followed roads to get to a bridge listed as a 'sight' worth seeing. Hint, it wasn't.

It was just a bridge over another road. I doubt I would've noticed it at all if it hadn't been marked on the map and mentioned online.

I headed back in the very general direction of my hostel, my walk brought me to a series of triangles leading to another platz. I wanted a photo of me standing in the triangle 'tunnel,' but there were just enough people out for a walk to make that photo difficult to take. I decided to come back in the morning, and hope for fewer people to avoid.

The next morning I made sure to get moving earlier in the day, in order to take a couple photos without worrying about other people getting in my frame. The first was near a bar, go figure. Just outside Barack O'Mama was a series of Warhol style portraits, which I thought would make for an interesting photo background.

I was also able to take the photo I'd wanted in the triangle tunnel I'd seen yesterday. Woo hoo.

After the triangle photo I went back to the platz at one end of the triangles. Called Sovietsky platz, there was a fountain in the middle, and a church on one side.

The outside of this church was blue, and the inside was absolutely lovely with frescoes all over.

From there I walked to the 'main' Lenin statue I'd spotted yesterday. Since it was still early, there wasn't much vehicular traffic, so I got to the platz by just crossing the street where it suited me.

Next on my itinerary was a huge monument. It looked like a giant globe, and had the slogan 'proletarians of every country unite.' Very very big, it took up the entire middle of a traffic circle.

Earlier in this post I mentioned a church on a hill, it hadn't been open when I walked by. I went back, just in case it was open this time around, and luck was with me. This was another blue church, also with great frescoes all over the interior.

Not far away was yet another church, this one looked old. At least, most of it looked old. The bell tower was in need of some love, but the inside was almost sterile. There was a small iconostasis, but nothing else, just white walls. I hope there are plans to add more.

I made my way back to the main street on which I'd started my explorations the day before, this time I walked back in the opposite direction. As I passed a fountain I realized I could see a couple having wedding photos taken. I was hot, the bride and groom must've been roasting. Just off this street was Victory platz, which had a couple big monuments, and a great view over the edge of the hill.

On the other side of the main street I could see Annunciation church. (Or is it a cathedral? I've never figured out the difference.)

Very big, painted white outside with green domes on top, and very eye catching. The inside was stunning, even with part of it under renovation. Brightly painted frescoes all over, a huge iconostasis with bright icons up in front.

After leaving the church, I found a street that headed slightly downhill, hoping to see another couple of churches. Go figure, one of them was another blue church. Too bad, this one was closed. I got down the street to the second church (actually, it was a monastery,) but the outer gates were closed and locked.

Since other churches had been closed at various times, I had no idea whether these churches were closed because of Covid, or if there was another reason.

To get back to my hostel I walked along the path given to me by Yandex maps. I giggled to myself when I realized one of the streets I was following was called Sakko and Vanzetti (sp?) street. Rather odd to find a street named after Italian anarchists, given the political systems and history in Russia. 

When I got back to the hostel I had enough time to charge my phone, and relax a bit, then walk to the train station. Unfortunately, I hadn't looked very carefully at my train ticket, because I was at the wrong train station! The one I needed was on the other side of town!! I tried to get there by taxi, but ended up missing my train by just two or three minutes. Argh.

Fortunately I was able to buy a ticket for the next train going to my next destination, which left just an hour later. While waiting, I walked back to a big memorial of a plane to take a couple photos. There were kids playing on the plane, trying to climb up the 'spine' but not making it very far.

I made sure to be at the train station in plenty of time for my train, hee hee. I shared a coupe with a couple police officers for a couple stops, then they got off and I had it all to myself. Woo hoo!!