Almaty Kazakhstan, July 2016

Dag 52. Almaty

I dag havde vi booket en sightseeing tur med Toursbylocals.com ( Tur med lokale). Vores guide var Alta, hun havde taget hendes mand, Eddie, med som hjælper, eftersom i dag er helligdag-fridag i Kasakhstan ( Præsidentens dag).

De havde 2 biler med, så første stop var ”Den første præsidents park”( indtil nu, har de kun haft 1 præsident), imponerende sted, med udsigt til snedækkede bjerge.

Ulrikka, Michael, Alta, Eddie and Louis

First presidents Park - Første præsidents park

 Efterfølgende var vi på Uafhængighedspladsen, også et interessant sted, med landets historie fortalt på bronze plader. Så kørte vi hen til et monument, som er lavet til minde om dem som mistede livet i 2. verdenskrig, og bagved det, lå der en flot Russisk ortodoks kirke, en af de få kirker, som har overlevet kommunist tiden.

Independence Square - Uafhængighedspladsen

WWII Memorial - 2. verdenskrig mindeplads

The Church - Kirken 

Derfra gik vi til det lokale marked og købte lidt ind til turen i morgen – frugt, brød og pølse. Til sidst så vi byens store Moske. Ca. 80 % af befolkningen er Muslimer her i Kasakhstan.

The Mosque - Moskeen

Horse meat - Hestekød

Her i Kasakhstan taler en stor del af befolkningen russisk til hverdag. F.eks er der rigtig mange russisk sprogene skoler, og i flg. guiden, er de russiske skoler bedre end Kasak skolerne. Man skriver Kasakstansk med russiske bogstaver, men planlægger at ændre til det latinske alfabet i 2018.

Efter vores tur, inviterede vi Alta og hendes mand på frokost, hyggeligt og interessant at tale med nogle lokale. Begge havde studeret i USA, så begge var gode til engelsk.

Outside Megamall - udenfor Megamall

Tilbage på hotellet, var Ulrikka og jeg nede og afprøve hotellets swimming pool, helt dejligt, og bagefter gik vi alle i Mega Mall shopping centret, som lå i nærheden af hotellet. Her fik vi burgere til aftensmad.

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6th July. Almaty

We had booked a sightseeing tour, ‘Tour by locals’.

The local guide Alta, together with her husband Eddie, arrived at our hotel on the dot at 9.30 am.

They had taken their 2 cars along, as we were 5 of us. So, Louis and Janet, together with Alta, in her car, and the Danes, together with Moi, in Eddies car.

Eddie, was very informative, on the drive to our first stop. He explained about all the rules of driving, and bribes which had to be paid, to the police, as he was a lawyer. We reached our first stop, which was “The First Presidents Park”. He is still the president, and is well liked by the locals.

Kazakhstan, has been an independent nation for only 25 years.

First Presidents Park - Første Præsidents park

They have oil, copper and other essential minerals, which are mined by the government, and also by Lakshmi Mittal.

The First Presidents Park, was a beautiful park, carefully inlaid with flowers and water ways. The back drop of the park, was snow capped mountains all around. Since, today is also Presidents day, they were playing piped music, at the park.

After a picture shoot, at the park, we drove over to the “Republika Alany’. Its focus is the tall independence monument. This stone column, is surmounted with a replica of a Golden man, standing with a winged snow leopard. Around its base is a wall of bronze sculptures, depicting scenes from Kazakhstan’s history. A very interesting history lesson, we got here.

the Golden man - Den gyldne mand

Republica Alany

The freedom Monument - Bronze pladerne

                   

The next monument, was the ‘Dawn of Freedom Monument’, which honours those killed and injured, on Republika Alany, on 17^th December 1986.

We then drove, to the ‘Panifilov Park’. Here, we visited the candy-colored, ‘Zenkov Cathedral’. This is one of the few surviving churches in the Communist era. This church is build entirely of wood.

It survived, because it was used as a museum, and concert hall, during the Soviet time.

Zenkov Cathedral

Funnily, we meet a whole bunch of Indians here, and they were surprised to see us, and hear about our car trip.

We then walked to the Green Market. This large 2 level market had a true flavour of Central Asia.

Here you can get fermented horse meat, fermented camels milk, nuts, dried fruits, spices, vegetables, chunks of horse meat and even smoked fish. (The closest sea is at least 3000 km away).

The Green Market - Basaran

We bought a whole collection of fruits, and some of the best cherries I have ever tasted in my life. Some of us tasted the fermented horse milk. I will drink ‘Fenny’, any day. As they both smell, the same, and taste the same.

We then walked to the ‘Central Mosque’. Which is of white marble, and is one of the largest in the country.

The mosque - Moskeen

The Lunch restaurant - Frokost restaurenten

We invited Alta and Eddie for lunch. They suggested, a beautiful local restaurant. This restaurant had Murals, on the wall, and one of the most colourful, and well done toilets I have ever visited.

Said bye, to Alta and Eddie, a very pleasant and interesting couple.

Had dinner at Mega Mall.