Kaliningrad Things to Do

Temple of the Christ of the Rescuer is absolutely new temple, which have constructed in 2006. It is in the city centre near to the Central Plaza. The temple is constructed on the donations of the citizens and various organizations.
Central Plaza was repaired too. Now here are two singing fountains and benches, where you can have a rest. On the Plaza plays music.
This is very popular place among the tourists and city dwellers.

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Тhe Cathedral was repaired. Now it looks so (look photos).
Inside the cathedral there is a small historical museum. Some years back here have established an organ. Now in a cathedral pass concerts and various representations.
Near a cathedral there is a park with interesting sculptures.

Located in an old Koningsburg fortress, the Amber Museum is a very picturesque building, especially the courtyard with its ornamental pond. However the really interesting part is inside.

Amber never struck me as being particularly exciting stuff, but to see a piece many millions of years old with a perfectly preserved spider or mosquito from that era is quite arresting.

The range of decorative products made over the centuries and millenia is very ornate and impressive. The mock-up of Catherine The Great's amber room (buried to avoid it being captured by the advancing Nazis during WWII and never since found) is particularly stunning.

A good hour or 2 can be spent here, especially if you get the chance to sit in the tranquil courtyard and contemplate the world.

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The best Kaliningrad has on offer is a railway trip for less than 80RR to the city of Svetlogorsk. To see: nice old German Houses surrounded by green and a nice location next to the beach side.
Walk straight on through the main street, where shasliks and dorum is for sale together with stalls that provide you with fresh fruit and vegatables, beers ice creams or souvenirs.
In the end turn left and walk down the huge stairs to the promenade / boulevard where you will find on sunny days happy Russians getting a tan, taking a refreshing dive in the calm sea or playing beach volleyball. Water bikes can be rented and many beach bars have their wooden picknique tables out side with parasols. For a night in the 5 star hotel Grand Place one pays between 100.00 and 400.00 Euros.
A cable line can bring you back uptown or just take the stairs.

Amber (in Russian “Jantar”) was for millenia an important source of income for those who ruled at the Amber coast of the Baltic Sea – amber from here came as far as to the Pharaonic Egypt, ancient Greece (named “Elektron” in classical Greek) and Rome. And the only place in the world where a real mining for amber is going on is at the coast near Palmnicken (Jantarniy in Russian) and even much of the amber which is sold to the tourists in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia is originating from here.
But if you are lucky you may even find (mostly small) pieces of amber at the beaches here or in Lithuania and Poland, especially after heavy storms.

The Amber museum is in the Dohnaturm.

This tomb - built to the cathedral, in its actual form from the 1920ies, was the reason why the cathedral was not blasted away like the Koenigsberger Schloss. The "communists" misunderstood in some way Immanuel Kant as one of the "intellectual fathers" of communism. I was there on a Saturday and wedding couples visited the place to take pics and to let flowers there. (That is a Soviet tradition, it never happened in the German time)

But it is also due to the Russians that Kant's body is no longer there. The tomb was opened, the body thrown into the Pregel river and never found again.

The Cathedral is situated on an island ("Kneiphof") and was damaged in WW2. In the meanwhile it is repaired with German money and looks from outside as it looked until 1945. on other VT pages you may see the renovated church. This was done with German money, of course.

It has to be added that the main damages of Koenigsberg in the last phase of WW 2 happened in the centre, Koenigsberg after the war did not look like Dresden, Hamburg or Berlin, the outer regions of the city remained almost completely intact as practically all smaller towns and villages in the region. The shocking picture of today results from half a century neglect and slow destruction. Not even in the old DDR ("German Democratic Republic" until 1989) one could find regions in such a state. So not only communism can be blamed for it.

The Königstor ("Kings Gate") is one of several surviving German city gates. There used to be small turrets on every corner, but after the war, when the city was occupied by the Soviet Union, some people thought it great fun to shoot them off. Also the heads were beaten off the three statues. Very mature behaviour indeed, but then communism never created people with high moral standards in the first place. Still, even in this shape it's an attractive sight. Some restoration would be nice though.