Sterlitamak - Стерлитама́к

[mendeleyev]

Sterlitamak (Стерлитама́к)


Editors note: This is the home of RUA member Mirror and many of these photos are from her earlier postings. We dedicate this city thread to Mirror, wish her well, and hope she returns.





This is a fascinating photo because it captures several things about this Bashkir (ethnic) community. First, notice across the street at the wood building with the tall wood windows. From this photo it's impossible to tell but perhaps it was a house a generation ago, or if not, could it have been a work shop for some farm implement business, a barn or garage?

Then, off in the distance you see the spires of the Muslim Mosque, the largest faith in this region.










Ufa is some 2,000km east of Moscow in the foothills of the Ural mountains and Sterlitamak is 120km to the East. It is an industrial town, large enough to offer an urban lifestyle, but small enough to have a warm, friendly atmosphere and particularly clean streets!









Sterlitamak is on the Belaya River. It is a port and the center of a chemical complex. Milling and construction equipment and food products are also made. Founded in the second half of the 18th cent., Sterlitamak became a trading and transit point for the products of European Russia. It was the capital of Bashkiria (now Bashkortostan) from 1920 to 1922.









The sign to the left on the building announces that "Mobile Plus" cell phone service is available there.

Sterlitamak is home to 3 major religions: Jewish, Islam and Christianity and is the second largest city in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, with a population of 264,362. It was founded in 1766 on the banks of the river Belaya as a port for the distribution of salt mined up the river. Today it is an important center of chemical production.

[mendeleyev]

Muslim Mosque.



Drama Theatre.


One tour writer for "Live Journal" said this:
"Sterlitamak was amazing. There’s not much to do, but it is so fantastically clean. The first thing we noticed when we got off the bus from Ufa is that there was no trash on the ground for as far as the eye could see. This is highly unusual for Russia. There is also very little peeling paint, and buildings actually are painted, for the most part - not just bare brick and concrete - and in bright colors, too.

The first thing the taxi driver said to us was when we told him we’d never been to Sterlitamak before was, “Isn’t is beautiful? Very clean, isn’t is?” This struck me as odd - residents of clean cities usually take cleanliness for granted. But everyone else we met said the same thing, but they also mentioned that Sterlitamak is the second cleanest city in Russia."







Memorial Lane to Great Patriotic War.



War monument with names of fallen.



Sterlitamak Grand Hotel.







Safe crossing?

[mendeleyev]

This following group of photos were posted on RUA by member WIZ and he is a good photographer and we hope you will enjoy each scene.









Above: a neighborhood cafe.






Above: Small market caters to a group of apartments in a neighborhood. These little markets carry everything from tea to eggs to bread to a few canned vegetables to a cold case of sausages, etc, sodas, beer, vodka, chocolates and chips. Unlike a kiosk where the customer remains outside, this is a true market where the customer steps inside to shop.


Sterlitamak comments from one RUA traveler:
Its a nice town with very wide spaces, many parks and roads and with an excellent transport system.  It has also many good markets for food and other things. I liked been there despite that most of the time was during the winter.

In my last trip, at the end of May it was extremely hot and I had the time to explore more around town. I found very pleasant walks around the river and or by the side of the wide avenues with many trees and flowers.

There are many good restaurants but I do not know about bars...... not permitted to visit by my then GF/fiance. I have many nice photos of various places.

I was not over impressed with nearby UFA to be honest. It is like any other large town and of course more expensive than Sterlitamak. In Sterlitamak we had some very nice dinners' 5 people for around 600 Rubles and the most expensive restaurant cost me 30 dollars for 3 persons, including wine, live music etc.

A poor pensioner from UK can live very comfortable in Sterlitamak...but life can be very boring and the same applies for Ufa.

Editors note: Ufa is the regional capital and not that far from Sterlitamak.

[Jared2151]

The cleanliness of the town shows the pride of the people in their surroundings.

38 rubles for one apple ? ? ?  ( I didn't see any scales that would indicate a per kilo price)

To me, it sort of looked like the apples we arranged left to right according to quality and price.  LOL .... better than what we do here in the US - one price, no matter the quality.

[mendeleyev]

Trolley buses are a unique part of town and city life in Russia and Ukraine. As you notice they're buses and have wheels, as opposed to trolley trains which run on rail tracks. The driver steers the bus and has limited ability to swerve out of the way of parked cars, etc.  Nonetheless it's like being on a short tether because he must stay connected to the electricity above or else everything stops and a repair crew must come out and reconnect the bus to the overhead wires.







Bus stop






The Bus station allows Sterlitamak residents to travel to other regional cities.

[mendeleyev]

The next 3 photos Wiz took at the 450th anniversary celebrations of the city. In the FSU there is a lot of pride in your city and each year a special celebration.  As you an imagine, a special number like 450 must have been quite an event!














Casino










Like many large parks, this one has a kiosk (киоск) to the left for purchase of things like snacks, soda, beer, cigarettes, camera batteries, etc.  To the right is the word for police--милиция "me-litz-eya."






The Kapitol (capitol) cafe.  See the word "Bistro?"  When Napoleon and his French army invaded Russia the French soldiers would sit in cafes and should "Bistro!" which means they wanted quick service like in the Bistro's back home. 

Well because of that experience the word "Bistro" came into the Russian language as a cognate (a borrowed word) but it's a false cognate, because instead of meaning "cafe" it's more often associated with the idea of "quick" or "fast." Of course when applied to a cafe then the connotation is that the service in a cafe is faster than in a restaurant.

Bistro is бистро in Russian.

[mendeleyev]

Notice the small businesses on the ground floor of many apartment buildings.  Often these are grocery or speciality markets, pharmacies and clinics or stores for shoes and clothing. These are walkin markets in which you step inside and most of the products are behind the counters where an attendant will hand you the selection you've chosen.

The next photo is a kiosk market.  Now this is a large kiosk, but it operates on the same principle. The customer remains outside and points, the attendant/cashier get the product, takes payment and then hands it thru the window to the customer.

[Jared2151]

 

"instead of meaning "cafe" it's more often associated with the idea of "quick" or "fast." Of course when applied to a cafe then the connotation is that the service in a cafe is faster than in a restaurant."

Does this mean that you will get your order in under an hour instead of two ?

BTW, what is the blue car towing, a baby kvas dispenser ?

[mendeleyev]

Cafes today are pretty quick. After the communist debacle, management has learned that competition forces good service.


I'm not sure what that is.      My guess it's a cross between a KVAS tank, air compressor, and some French soldier left over from 1812 is stuffed inside yelling "Bistro" at the top of his lungs!   

[Jared2151]