Imperia G Hotel

The embankment

by Lalique

One of the best places to strall and enjoy the city is the embankment. It's new nice and clean - on one side (Bokeikhan Koshesy) of the river Ishim there are living apartments, on the other side - a nice green park with marry-go-rounds.

IIn the evening plenty of locals come to embankment to have a walk, to chat, to observe life....

Weather

by Pablos_new

There is strongly continental climate in Astana. Temperature varies from -40 'C in winter time to +40 'C in summer. Plus to that it is windy and air is very dry.

Astana, former Tselinograd (virgin-town), stands in the center of Kazakh steppe, virgin lands, where big settlements appear only in 1950-s. There are no mountains around, there are no woods or even big trees around... only steppe. On hot summer day people rash to the city beach on river Ishim. It is free of charge, has many beach facilities and life-saving service looking very serious.

Though it is river flow, it seemed to me rather dirty place to swim. Just beside the beach there is an aquapark with swimming pools that looks more attractive. The price for a day entry is only $4.

Warm Clothes!!!!

by remsteel

If God or boss puts u in AStana for a winter, well then come prepared. Thermals and woolen socks from REI/EMS are needed. Buy the thick fur lined jacket in Almaty. A warm beanie - preferably get ear warmers. a nice warm Oldnavy fleece jacket will serve u well inside the big jacket aka dublanka Procter and GAmble etc cover Kazakhstan very well. God help u if u need medicines. Camping/Beach - are you kidding yourself - 8 months of relentless winter.

Astana - New Capital of Kazakhstan

by Santini738

"Astana Upper view"

Astana (Kazakh: Астана; former names include Akmola, Tselinograd, and Aqmola), estimated population of 577,300 (2007),is the third largest city and the capital of Kazakhstan since December 10, 1997. The name "Astana", which in Kazakh language means "Capital city".

The current mayor of Astana is Askar Mamin, formerly Minister for Transportation. He was appointed mayor on 25 September 2006.

In 1999, Astana had a population of 281,000. The ethnic mix was about 30% Kazakh and 70% Russian, Ukrainian, and German.

AKMOLA -> TSELINOGRAD -> ASTANA

by Pablos_new

"New Capital of Kazakhstan"

Akmola

TselinoGrad

Astana

Akmola, which could be translated from ancient Turk as "white grave" was a small willage in endless Kazakh steppe. In 1950-s Khruschev made a call: Everyone should go for uprising of virgin lands. And millions of peasants, mainly from Russia and Ukraine, moved with families into this wild and deserted country. For many of young people this was real chalenge and there were really very many volunteers and enthusiasts came here to build new life. Administrative center of the new region could not have such an unpleasant name and new town was named: Tselinograd. "Tselina" in Russian and Ukranian means "Virgin lands" (Virginia ;-))).

After fall of the Soviet Union there was a wave of renaming of all Russian names (not only Soviet ones) in Northen Kazakhstan (even ancient Russian town Guriev was renamed). Name Akmola was returned, but not for too long time. To prevent splitting Kazakhstan into to parts (Russian-speaking and Kazakh-speaking), president Nazarbaev desided to move capital from Almaty (Alma-Ata) to the north. Name Akmola again apeared to be rather unpleasnat for that. And new giant and modern megapolis appeared on the world map - Astana.

I Kazakh this means just "a capital".