Almaty, Kazakhstan! Take a look around and breathe in the fresh air. I’ve been in this city for a month now and I’ve been loving it. The people here are very friendly and hospitable, and the climate is neither too hot nor too cold. In terms of the places you can visit there is such a great variety. From the Esentai River to the ever-present mountains, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU), and Kasteev Art Museum, to the amusement park atop Kok Tobe, the bustling pedestrian street of Arbat, the Abai Opera House and Kazakh State Circus, and the colorful design of Zenkov’s Ascension Cathedral where you can greet the flocks of pigeons, there are just so many cool places to explore that I could go on forever about it. Almaty is such a unique city to be in! Allow me to tell you all about my journey so far, and I’ll show you all what makes this place so special.
First of all, a little background about the city. Once upon a time in southeastern Kazakhstan lay the city of Almaty, which was formerly known as Alma-Ata during Soviet times. The city’s name comes from the word “alma”, which in Kazakh means “apple”, because the region in which it sits is considered the ancestral birthplace of the apple. Almaty was the capital of Kazakhstan until 1997, which was the year the government was moved to the current capital of Astana. Despite losing capital status, Almaty remains the most populous city in Kazakhstan, and with a fascinating history to learn about. I especially like walking around and seeing the apple iconography on benches, or even sculptures of apples placed throughout the city. These symbolize the aport, which is the large type of apple native to Almaty. They are also delicious! I got to try some on my blini at a pancake shop at the Green Bazaar.
So, what’s it like here? For me personally, I’ve been living by Al-Farabi Avenue, one of the busiest roads in the biggest city in Kazakhstan. This is not a street that you can cross easily! I use a pedestrian bridge to get across, but I also take a route under the street next to the river, which I find to be the most convenient path. Al-Farabi passes right next to the imposing Esentai Tower, a glisteningly modern 49-story skyscraper that is a far cry from a lot of the older Soviet-era architecture that can be found in other parts of the city. Constructed in 2008, this building contains offices, a mall complex and a Ritz-Carleton hotel at the tippy top. On my first weekend here, I was a bit intimidated by how tall it was! But the tower sticks out among the rest of the city skyline, so making my way towards this building remains a reliable way to find my way home if I ever get lost.
Next to the skyscraper is the Esentai River and a lush green park where people walk on a sunny day! For me, however, this is just the walk to the university (which takes roughly 20 minutes). In other words, I pass by it every day. The water flow is currently closed, so the only thing visible at the moment is a lot of concrete and amusing graffiti art, which is also visible in the area directly under Al-Farabi Avenue. Despite the lack of water, I always enjoy walking here since it’s just so relaxing! My favorite part is the mountains. One of the first things I learned after coming here is that in Almaty, the area closer the mountains is referred to as “верх” (up), and further from the mountains is referred to as “низ” (down). As a side note, I like going верх more, since I get to look at the mountains.
This picture gives us a better view of the city. What you see before you is the Abai Opera House, which we visited on our very first excursion into Almaty. This view was captured from atop a nearby building, which was a neat way for us to experience the sheer scale of the city, with the mountains and skyline visible in the background. The tall building that is visible on the left is the Hotel Kazakhstan, which was built in 1977 and is located next to the Abai square and monument. Further back, you’ll see a TV tower in the distance. This is on top of Kok Tobe (“Blue Hill”), which is a mountain with an amusement park on top. The view is even better in person, unfortunately there is only so much a camera can capture. This picture was taken back in March, while trees still hadn’t grown new leaves. I bet it looks even nicer now!
We actually got to go to Kok Tobe! Definitely one of the highlights from our early excursions. From Abai Square, we rode a cable car to the top, where we entered an amusement park with all kinds of exotic birds like peacocks, along with a bunch of others I couldn’t really pronounce the names of. One of the peacocks squawked at us really loudly, which gave us a bit of a scare. But the most interesting thing I saw there was a monument dedicated to the Beatles of all people. Take a look!
Here they are in all their glory! Chilling on a bench. Supposedly, this sculpture (made from bronze) was commissioned by a non-profit organization and installed back in 2007. If you look closely at the bench, there’s a bunch of carvings with names as well, though I’m not exactly sure what they mean. Fun fact: if you stand around the area, you’ll hear Beatles music playing on a nearby radio! I thought that was a nice touch, and I would’ve liked to relax here for a while to listen to the music. Alas, John Lennon’s guitar kind of blocks your face if you sit next to him, and the bright spotlight from above which keeps the Beatles so well-lit also hurts your eyes if you sit down. Still, just the fact that this exists is really cool on its own.
Anyway, this post is getting a bit long, but just know that Almaty is huge, and there are so many more places I didn’t get to touch on. We’ve more excursions in store! And a great many I’ve yet to tell you about. Stay tuned! Until we meet again, I’ll leave you with a view of the sunset from Kok Tobe.
Onward and верх-ward!
-Adrian
