Kaliningrad. Without a breath, but with interest
As they say, not even a year has passed since that trip, and I just got to the description. Well, nothing, just the winter season is ripening, so it's almost on topic : ).
Kaliningrad - the city is now mega-popular among the tourist fraternity. There is a huge amount of information and pictures about him. Therefore, I will not (however, as always) doubling historical references and reasoning on the topic "Kaliningrad or Koenigsberg? ".
House of Soviets built on the ruins of the royal castle
Museum of Fine Arts, former stock exchange of Koenigsberg
I can't say that there was some kind of wild desire to visit the city. More attracted the coast of the Kaliningrad region. And in this case, one might say, they acted according to the saying: "Where everyone is, there we are! " : )). No, of course, no one pulled by force, but it was also necessary to get acquainted with the capital of the Russian Nemetchina, the central center of the region is absolutely impossible to miss.
So, Kaliningrad is a city with an ambiguous reputation. Someone falls in love with him, someone does not understand the enthusiasm at all, someone sees him as the heir to the Prussian Koenigsberg, others urge not to look for Koenigsberg in Kaliningrad.
Many opinions, views. . .
And all this ambiguity eventually resulted in an absolutely even perception of the city for us, without a breath. Now I will try to express my understanding: the city of the Soviet period, obviously preening as far as possible, according to fashion trends. . .
My husband and I did not immediately recognize the standard "Lithuanians" in these fashionable handsome men ( high-rise buildings built according to the so-called Lithuanian project, developed respectively in the Lithuanian SSR in the 60s of the last century) forty years ago. The fact is that we lived in such, and now our parents live in Saransk. That's why they are dearer to us than "Khrushchev" : ))
. . . and quietly pulling out old things from the bins, miraculously preserved during the Second World War and used in the household in various forms at one time. In a modern economy, they seem to be no longer needed, but it became possible not to throw them away as unnecessary, but to brush off the dust, clean them up and put them out for the delight of the eye.
The lion guarding the Museum of Fine Arts
Brandenburg Gate
Friedrichsburg Gate
Our walks around the city do not differ at all from thousands of similar routes traveled by the same tourists. But we have one feature, not to say that it is bad, but... We often violate our own plans and outlines, and turn off the intended path.
If you see something that differs from the general mass, you need to take a closer look, and then again, and again, and again...
Accordingly, we are walking and wandering already without a plan and a path. As a result, we often miss the “standard” set of attractions.
The mass grave of 1200 soldiers and the memorial ensemble of 1200 soldiers of the 11th Guards Army of the Red Army Armed Forces USSR, who died during the assault on Koenigsberg in April 1945
Or we see them from a different angle at night, for example:
Prospect Mira
Victory Square
To the Conquerors of the Near Universe
Or not attractions at all, but... interesting things:
Nice to meet you! Hydrant : )
All this later, and first, as expected, we went, of course, to Kant Island to look at the most recognizable landmark of Kaliningrad - Cathedral:
The museum component did not really attract us, but we went to an unusual action for us - an organ mini-concert. Concerts are held sometimes once, sometimes twice a day. This is not counting full-fledged concerts, not mini ones. The schedule and cost can be viewed on the official website. There is also information about exhibitions and excursions.
This event is my first time in organ practice. Yes, for the first time I heard the organ live, so to speak. So it was just interesting, curious, well, like a child. Naturally, I cannot do analyzes and comparisons. And my husband was very imbued with organ art, took a cultural nap : ).
The Fishing Village with an observation deck at the fake lighthouse has also become an obligatory item on the program. And here my photos will not differ in originality. Is that a little frozen landscapes. Despite the glimpses of the sun, it was quite cool and very windy. And later it started to rain. Well, that's me, about the dual nature of the Baltic weather : )
The new synagogue was built in 2018 on the site of the one destroyed during the war
While in Kaliningrad, walk past Museum of the World Ocean won't work. Or rather, you may pass by, but you will unwittingly find yourself a visitor, because the entire embankment is part of the exposition.
And The "Planet Ocean" balloon body just beckons! But. . . the completion of the long history of construction, which began back in 2013, seems to be pushed back once again. Now for 2024. Alas.
Okay, this is a topic for other sites. . .
You can hang out in the museum for a long time. Therefore, it is better to choose the very best for yourself.
About the cost of visiting, opening hours, features of the exposition and other innovations, of course, you need to find out on the official website.
As a practical recommendation: tickets can be purchased at the terminals, and here there is a nuance. After payment, a check appears. And most of them grab it and happily run away, mistaking it for a ticket. But no, the ticket quietly falls into a pocket in the lower part of the apparatus, which you still need to see, open the door... Yes, we didn’t realize right away either. Just twisting the receipt in the hands, it came out in the subconscious that modern tickets should have a code, QR or a bar, but a code, and they began to look for a ticket. In general, we found a few more tickets there, bought clearly in front of us. I don’t know how the whole thing turned out, but in those few minutes no one ran after them. Yes, and then we watched the purchase process, we had to return the happy owners of the checks : ))
Of course, there was no time for everything. And the most-most for ourselves, we chose a visit to the research vessel "Vityaz".
I really liked the exposition, how the narration was built, how the route was laid out. We walked around using the izi app. TRAVEL. Yes, everything is signed and painted, but listening and viewing at the same time is more comfortable. I will not delve into the description, but briefly this: The ship was built in 1939 in Germany as a cargo-passenger ship under the name "Mars". During the war, it even operated a hospital with 600 beds. After the Second World War, it was transferred to the USSR as a reparation. By 1949, it was radically re-equipped, and it became the research Vityaz. The vessel is legendary, a great hard worker. It was on this ship that the depth of the Mariana Trench was determined at 11022 m.
When visiting Vityaz, don't forget to go up to the bridge (I may be wrong in the terminology). Not everyone wanders there, not everyone knows that you can also climb up along a not very comfortable ladder. We knew, but we couldn't find her. Or rather, they knew about the possibility, but they did not guess about the inconspicuousness and some difficulty in climbing this ladder. Signs like "continuation of inspection" were not found, so the employee had to be tortured. Seeing what was waiting for me (unfortunately, I didn’t take a photo), at first I gave up my intention, but my companion extended a helping hand and promised that he would keep, if anything, his “quintal of happiness”. I had to climb : )). Girls, in our Instagram age, you definitely need to overcome these several crossbars even in heels and in a tight skirt. Such a photo shoot can be fun!
We also visited the streets of the historical Amalienau district:
Now it is part of the city. And once it was a respectable suburb of Koenigsberg. It suffered the least from the bombings during the Second World War precisely because of its suburbanity. It is believed that the spirit of that very pre-war Koenigsberg was preserved there.
This area began to be built at the beginning of the 20th century according to a clear plan for comfortable living. Wide streets, lots of greenery, elegant houses no more than two stories high. . . Accordingly, the most famous citizens began to settle there. The surviving houses are now marked with the names of their former owners.
For special connoisseurs and connoisseurs, there are names of villas and mansions on the maps. Probably better to take a tour. But for loners like us, the marks on the maps make the walk more interesting.
That's probably all.
We, as a rule, evaluate each new place we visit according to the principle “I want or don’t want to return. ” Maybe even without voicing these thoughts aloud, somewhere in the subconscious. Agree? So, I would not specifically return to Kaliningrad for its own sake. And as a transshipment base - yes, at the same time still go through some nooks and crannies.
From the same trip:
