Samara (Сама́ра) [ IMAGE NOT SHOWN - GUESTS CANNOT VIEW ATTACHED IMAGES ]
This is the city that was capital to the Soviet Union from 1942 to 1943 until Stalin felt safe to move the government back to Moscow. Samara was known as Kuybyshev (Ку́йбышев) from 1935 to 1990 in honour Samara was renamed Kuybyshev in the honour of the Bolshevik leader Valerian Kuybyshev. One of the largest cities in Russia, Samara is situated in the southeastern part of European Russia, the Volga Federal District and is capital of Samara Oblast. It is located on the left bank of the Volga river which acts as its western boundary. Its northern boundary is formed by Sokolyi Hills and by the steppes in the south and east. Samara has a continental climate of hot summers and very cold winters.
[ IMAGE NOT SHOWN - GUESTS CANNOT VIEW ATTACHED IMAGES ] Train sign says Samara ahead.
1921 is remembered as a year of severe hunger in Samara and in order to provide support to the people F. Nansen (the famous Polar explorer), M.Andersen-Nexe (Danish writer), Swedish Red Cross Mission and officials from the United States came to Samara with food and medical supplies.
[ IMAGE NOT SHOWN - GUESTS CANNOT VIEW ATTACHED IMAGES ] Stay at the somewhat modern Holiday Inn.
Samara is a modern Russian city with all advantages of a regional centre providing almost no problems with employment and disadvantages of a “province” easily seen after several days spent in the city. Visitors may be shocked by the road conditions as the vast majority of motorways, street roads, avenues are terribly worn-down, which makes driving an amusement ride. In the centre of the city however they are much better, but suburbs will certainly take you down to reality.
[ IMAGE NOT SHOWN - GUESTS CANNOT VIEW ATTACHED IMAGES ] But, wait, the Volga hotel has more pipes in their toilets! What seat?!
One visitor to Samara said, "The most popular kind of transport is by tram which is only 9 rubles per ticket. Locals seem to prefer small domestic cars due to the narrow street sizes in most areas. Obviously the biggest attraction is the Volga river, the largest in Europe. Tourists usually come to Samara to see its cultural and historical centre and the Volga, a river which is absolutely admirable – sandy beaches, gulls and the hardly seen opposite banks give a feeling that you are at the seaside."
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Not far from the river there is a famous Zhigulevsky brewery and here you can taste fresh beer, which is actually found tasty by both men and women. An interesting fact is that Iverskiy nunnery is located next to the brewery – a funny coincidence. Beer is an exceptionally popular drink in Samara – people drink it in the afternoon, evening, at night and even early morning, no walk is possible without having a bottle of beer.
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Samara is another large city that sprawls along the banks of the Volga River. Despite the presence of plenty of gruesome Soviet era concrete housing estates, the city has a more prosperous appearance than some of the others we visited and also some nice beaches along the Volga backed by a wide waterfront pedestrain promenade. I also found it to be about the friedliest place we visited in Russia.
[ IMAGE NOT SHOWN - GUESTS CANNOT VIEW ATTACHED IMAGES ] Ice has broken so it's time to swim!
Links:
Samara International Airport:
http://www.airport.samara.ru/Samara Web portal:
http://my.samara.ru/Samara State University:
http://www.ssu.samara.ru/en/ [ IMAGE NOT SHOWN - GUESTS CANNOT VIEW ATTACHED IMAGES ] The "Glory" monument.
[ IMAGE NOT SHOWN - GUESTS CANNOT VIEW ATTACHED IMAGES ] Train schedule between Samara to St Petersburg.
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