13/09: The New Way to Russia Guide to Ekaterinburg
The Way to Russia guide to Ekaterinburg is now online. Make sure you read it in detail here. It's the most comprehensive guide you'll find to Ekaterinburg in English anywhere, except for on the official Ekaterinburg tourism website (yes, there is one - I was shocked as well), but obviously their only intention is to glorify their city so their information can't be trusted. The Way to Russia guide features plenty of reviews and information about hotels, sights, clubs, bars, restaurants as well as all the practical information you need for a visit to the capital of the Urals. And now that the guide is online, it seems like a good time to write about my experiences in the city.
I trundled in from Kazan, on the first Russian train I have ever taken that had other foreigners on it. But I didn't speak to them since I was dead tired and they spoke some sort of strange northern European language. My first impression of the city was sheer bliss at finding a hotel room so easily. Straight across the road from the train station is the Sverdlovsk Hotel, which is one of those ugly Soviet monstrosities that you can find in every Russian city. In the case of Ekaterinburg though, it's the best budget option around. My second impression was that "Asian Russia" is incredibly similar to "European Russia". I recall a similar sense of disillusionment after taking the ferry across the Bosphorous in Istanbul. I was hoping for some bizarro world where Asian militsiya would shake down the local ethnic Russians for bribes. But no such luck, the Asian types were still the targets in Ekaterinburg.
As I explored the city more I was shocked by the obvious wealth in Ekaterinburg. I don't have a lot of experience in small or mid-sized Russian cities, but I always expect prices to decrease drastically once I'm outside Moscow. But, hotel rooms aside, there isn't a whole lot of difference in prices for the average tourist between Moscow and Ekaterinburg. Construction seems to be booming and entertainment is expensive. Obviously the mining business is enjoying happy times.
Mining was, of course, the basis on which Ekaterinburg was founded, its name taken from the patron saint of mining , St Ekaterina. Today, local guide booklets still list the main sight in the city as the area where the old forge was. In truth, the "Historical Square" as it is now known is nothing but an ugly blot on an otherwise pretty city center. One of the most impressive things about the city is the way the center is laid out in such an orderly and attractive manner, benefiting of course from its relative youth in terms of Russian cities. At the same time this tends to detract from the city's character a bit. The true main sight in Ekaterinburg is the spot where the last Tsar, Nikolai II, was finally executed by the Bolsheviks. Today it's marked by a huge church and a modest but touching memorial. I'm particularly proud of the photo below. I had to wait around for 15 minutes and endure several suspicious stares before the old woman stopped dithering and started laying her flowers on the memorial. There are a number of other places of interest in the city, which you can read about here.
But due to severe time constraints I didn't have a lot of time to enjoy the many pleasures of city. Instead, I decided to work for 36 hours straight, which was fine until around 11pm, after which I was subjected to everything but a cavity search before entering a club that turned out to be empty and later came into contact with a number of creatures of the night. These included a drunken middle-aged male admirer who decided to join me while I was sitting at a cafe and then, unperturbed by me completely ignoring him for 20 minutes, decided to follow me through the late-night streets for a while. It must have been about 11am when I approached a woman to see if she'd do an interview for the website. To my question she helpfully replied, "That's definitely on trolleybus number one." Perhaps my Russian had become garbled by that time. At any rate, I decided it was time to rest for a while.
Back at the hotel I lay down just to give my legs a break and then suddenly it was 3pm, 15 minutes before my train was due to leave. Leaving my room quickly I gave my key to the floor dezhurnaya, a redundant Soviet-era figure that has refused to die off, which allowed me to avoid the late check-out fee and paperwork. I guess they do have a use other than questioning your right to go to your hotel room. Then, after a quick dash across the street, I was on my train with two minutes to spare. Fun times, interesting city, great escape.
I trundled in from Kazan, on the first Russian train I have ever taken that had other foreigners on it. But I didn't speak to them since I was dead tired and they spoke some sort of strange northern European language. My first impression of the city was sheer bliss at finding a hotel room so easily. Straight across the road from the train station is the Sverdlovsk Hotel, which is one of those ugly Soviet monstrosities that you can find in every Russian city. In the case of Ekaterinburg though, it's the best budget option around. My second impression was that "Asian Russia" is incredibly similar to "European Russia". I recall a similar sense of disillusionment after taking the ferry across the Bosphorous in Istanbul. I was hoping for some bizarro world where Asian militsiya would shake down the local ethnic Russians for bribes. But no such luck, the Asian types were still the targets in Ekaterinburg.
As I explored the city more I was shocked by the obvious wealth in Ekaterinburg. I don't have a lot of experience in small or mid-sized Russian cities, but I always expect prices to decrease drastically once I'm outside Moscow. But, hotel rooms aside, there isn't a whole lot of difference in prices for the average tourist between Moscow and Ekaterinburg. Construction seems to be booming and entertainment is expensive. Obviously the mining business is enjoying happy times.
Mining was, of course, the basis on which Ekaterinburg was founded, its name taken from the patron saint of mining , St Ekaterina. Today, local guide booklets still list the main sight in the city as the area where the old forge was. In truth, the "Historical Square" as it is now known is nothing but an ugly blot on an otherwise pretty city center. One of the most impressive things about the city is the way the center is laid out in such an orderly and attractive manner, benefiting of course from its relative youth in terms of Russian cities. At the same time this tends to detract from the city's character a bit. The true main sight in Ekaterinburg is the spot where the last Tsar, Nikolai II, was finally executed by the Bolsheviks. Today it's marked by a huge church and a modest but touching memorial. I'm particularly proud of the photo below. I had to wait around for 15 minutes and endure several suspicious stares before the old woman stopped dithering and started laying her flowers on the memorial. There are a number of other places of interest in the city, which you can read about here.
But due to severe time constraints I didn't have a lot of time to enjoy the many pleasures of city. Instead, I decided to work for 36 hours straight, which was fine until around 11pm, after which I was subjected to everything but a cavity search before entering a club that turned out to be empty and later came into contact with a number of creatures of the night. These included a drunken middle-aged male admirer who decided to join me while I was sitting at a cafe and then, unperturbed by me completely ignoring him for 20 minutes, decided to follow me through the late-night streets for a while. It must have been about 11am when I approached a woman to see if she'd do an interview for the website. To my question she helpfully replied, "That's definitely on trolleybus number one." Perhaps my Russian had become garbled by that time. At any rate, I decided it was time to rest for a while.
Back at the hotel I lay down just to give my legs a break and then suddenly it was 3pm, 15 minutes before my train was due to leave. Leaving my room quickly I gave my key to the floor dezhurnaya, a redundant Soviet-era figure that has refused to die off, which allowed me to avoid the late check-out fee and paperwork. I guess they do have a use other than questioning your right to go to your hotel room. Then, after a quick dash across the street, I was on my train with two minutes to spare. Fun times, interesting city, great escape.
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