Astana Favorites

Favorite thing: The building on the foreground is typical "Khruschevka" - urgly buildings that were rapidly built after disasters of WWII across all the SU in 50-s...60-s (in times of Nikita Khruschev). Thousands of them are still alive. The district of such buildings is called Tselinograd (name of this town in 50-s).

On the background there are modern block of flats of modern Astana.

Favorite thing: Climatically Astana is one of the coldest capitals in the world, with temperatures of -35 to -40 °C common in the late autumn. The new city is also known to regularly freeze for around six months every year. Overall however, Astana has a continental climate, with exceptionally cold winters and moderately hot summers, arid and semiarid.

The average annual temperature in Astana is 1 degree Celsius. January is the coldest month with an average temperature of -16 °C. July is the hottest month with an average temperature of 20 °C

Favorite thing: Close to the end of embankment promenade there is a monument to Kenesary Khan, the national hero of the new Kasakh state. He is got famous for fighting against tsarist russian army in 1830-1840s for resuming of khan ruling. He was a very controversial character, who apart from defending Kazakh suverenity was known as one of the most cruel military man in the worlds history.

Favorite thing: Being a newly annouced Kazakh capital Astana is under constant construction. Here and there one can see an unfinished constuction sites as if the city is being built from the scratch (which is partially true). It really amasing how quick the erection progress is going.
I went to Astanan with the time gap of a couple of months but on my 2nd time in the city I could hardly recognise some places: the site where they had only a fence, in my 2nd visiti already had a building 2/3 fihished.

Favorite thing: 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....

Favorite thing: 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.

Fondest memory: 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.