On my most recent trip to Astrakhan I was litterally shocked by all of the little Kots (boy cat) and Koshka (girl cats) that I kept seeing. 

Every time I turned a corner, looked down an alley, into a window or at a fish sellers kiosk there was a little kot or koshka looking up at me. 

As a result I have arbitrarily declared Astrakhan's new name forever more to be Koshkakhan.  I've posted some pics of the cute lil' Koshkas (yes a couple of cute Sabakas (dogs) too.

In mid-November work brought me back to Astrakhan, the city atop the Caspian Sea.  It was great to get to Southern Russia for a bit and while there I saw a non-overcast sky for the first time in almost three weeks.  It was a whirlwind trip full of meetings but I arrived with a goal of seeing Astrakhan's famous fish market.  After asking around we finally ended up at a fish market.  It was interesting to see the wares being sold on the street and to wander the random neighborhoods of Astrakhan admiring their wooden cottages.  The market was much smaller then I expected...but after getting back to Moscow I was informed that I had found a fish market but not THE fish market.  So now I have something to look forward to on a subsequent visit.

It was amusing trying to find the fish market, though.  I was with two Russian co-workers whom I basically dragged along with me.  I think they could have done without seeing another market, but I like markets they really capture a city especially when you're in a region where the market is relatively unique (such as sea port town with a fish market).  As we wandered the streets asking directions for the fish market we got the most puzzled looks.  It was clear that we were not from Astrakhan and clear (if I spoke) that I wasn't Russian and people were extremely confused as to why we wanted to find the fish market.  A few people discouraged us from continuing on our trek saying that there is nothing to see and we wouldn't like it, but I was persistent (as I can be sometimes) and we pressed on in search of dead creatures of the sea. 

Finally after about 45 minutes of wandering random residential neighborhoods and admiring the sometimes very brightly painted wooden cottages we came up a series of markets, including a small fish market.  I wandered to and fro taking pictures and watching the action.  A few people stopped me and asked me what I was doing there and wanting to know if I was a journalist.  I told them I wrote for a travel website (kinda true right?), which seemed to please people.  We bought some dried fish to go with the vodka we consumed before hitting one of Astrakhan's clubs that night.  Even though smaller then I expected the market was great.  It was well off the beaten track and full of color and life (well technically a mix of life and death, ya know with all the dead fish and such).  I'm looking forward to getting back to Astrakhan in a couple months and seeing "THE FISH MARKET." 

DAY 1 

The trip to Astrakhan started off very smoothly.  I got picked up by my taxi around 9:30 in the morning and to my great pleasure we went to Domodedovo airport instead of Sheremetyevo.  All of my other flying experiences in Moscow have been in Sheremetyevo. Sheremetyevo is ancient and it is generally a miserable start to the flying experience.  Domodedovo on the other hand was like a dream.  It was clean, modern and most importantly well organized.  So three cheers to Domodedovo and the people who work there, good job folks!

We flew Siberia 7, one of the better known discount airlines in Russia.  The service on Siberia 7, aka s7 (www.s7.ru/en), was very good.  The meal good but the seats were quite uncomfortable.  The plane as a whole looked fairly old and relatively dishevelled…looking at it from a glass half full perspective you could described the plane as new if you meant that it was newly built from spare aviation parts. J  

The flight itself was fine. The pilot got a little overzealous with the joy stick during the landing and we made some big lurches…but I think he was just reliving his glory days when he flew a MiG.  We landed safely and that’s what counts.

Astrakhan airport is a small little building stuck out in the middle of nowhere.  They have one conveyer belt for baggage.  The luggage is picked up by a bunch of guys in a pick up truck and then hand delivered to the conveyer belt in the baggage area.  Once we had our bags we hopped into our shuttle from the Azimut hotel and headed towards Astrakhan.  During the landing we flew over the Volga River and got a nice view of the city.  It looked very pretty hugging the banks of the Volga and I was excited to get to town and take a look around. 

We arrived at the Azimut after about 40 minutes in the cab.  Azimut is a fairly major chain in Russia.  They basically buy up old Soviet style monster hotels that are falling apart and then renovate them.  I stayed at an Azimut once before in St. Petersburg and had a pretty decent time.  The Azimut in Astrakhan is under major renovation right now.  As you pull up to the place it looks like an abandoned building.  Once inside though it’s not too bad.  They have a pleasant lobby with a decent bar and fairly good food.  Breakfast isn’t fantastic but it’s not too bad either, and it is included. 

The Azimut’s rooms themselves are simple but comfortablish.  My room had two couch like beds, a desk, refrigerator and a TV.  I had a decent view of the Kremlin, and if you were on the other side of the building you’d have a great view of the Volga.  The bathroom design was a bit odd.  For whatever reason it was designed so that when you take a shower the entire bathroom floods.  I don’t really understand the point of that…I mean seriously how hard would it be to build a lip between the shower part of the bathroom and the toilet…not that hard. But whenever, I get on a tear about something small and annoying like that I just have to say to myself TIR (This Is Russia) and not dwell. 

After getting settled and watching a little bit of the Yankees/Red Sox game on ESPN my friend and I headed off to see the Kremlin and downtown Astrakhan.  In case you don’t know kremlin actually means fortress, so “the Kremlin” in Moscow is just one of many kremlins spread out around Russia.  In old cities, such as in Moscow, the kremlins were the original city, in other cities they were just defensive positions built within the city. In Astrakhan the Kremlin is quite big, with massively think white walls. Astrakhan’s kremlin sits atop a hill covering a major portion of the cities center.  

Outside the Kremlin’s triangular walls are various plazas and squares with floral gardens and trees.  Inside the kremlin are three churches: Assumption Cathedral, Kirillov Chapel and Trinity Cathedral.  Unfortunately the only church open for visitors was the Assumption Cathedral built between 1698 and 1710.  Assumption Cathedral is a massive white square structure designed in a very traditional Russian Orthodox style.  Next to the Assumption Cathedral is the massive tower of the Prechistenskie Gate.  Prechistenskie Gate was the main entrance to the Kremlin and the only one open during my visit.  The beautiful and giant green domes of both Prechistenskie Gate and Assumption Cathedral can be seen throughout the city. 

The actual interior of the kremlin is huge.  When you first enter you find yourself in a gigantic brick paved square with Prechistenskie gate behind you, Assumption Cathedral to your left and Trinity Cathedral to your right.  The enormity of the buildings and scale of the square make you feel rather itzy bitzy as you stroll about.  Along with the churches and the square the kremlin is filled with flowers and trees.  There are some other buildings as well, including what looks like a music school.  None of the other buildings are in particular good repair outside of Prechistenskie Gage and the Assumption Cathedral.  Still it is pretty neat to wander about and look at the massive white palisades and the defensive towers.

After strolling through the kremlin we headed through the city, which is under major renovation.  They’re tearing up a lot of the asphalt and replacing it with pink and white pavers.  The city will look fabulous when they’re done. We strolled through Astrakhan stopping making our way through Bratsky Gardens outside of the kremlin walls.  Bratsky Gardens is a pretty little park filled with flowers, trees and relaxed pedestrians.  After our stroll through the central city we ended up heading to Sharlow café.  

Sharlow is this great hip coffee spot filled with young people smoking, drinking coffee and enjoying life.  It has a very non-Russian feel to the place and instead feels much more like the kind of relaxed coffee spot that you might find in a college town somewhere in the USA.  It was good fun and if you’re in Astrakhan I’d definitely recommend it.  From there we went to Acadamia Peva (Beer Academy) right around the corner.

Academia Peva doesn’t have a very Russia feel either.  I’d say it is the kind of bar that you could put anywhere in the world and not no exactly where you were.  Anyway, it was good…with a nice fun crowd, slightly older than the crowd in the Sharlow.  There was lots of beer and the dinner we had was excellent.  I had the chicken stew which reminded me of some dishes that I’d had in Bulgaria.  Chunks of tasty hot chicken cooked in a clay pot with a bit of sauce and lots of cheese on top.  After beer and dinner we went back to Sharlow for a final coffee and then headed home to the Azimut.  

Azimut, as with many regional hotels in Russia, was crowded with prostitutes roaming the lobby.  We hung out in the lobby to check our email and watched as their madam sent them up and down the hotel looking for business. We expected to get the customary calls from the girls asking if we were interested in some “entertainment” during the night but we were never approached and weren’t subjected to any late night phone calls.  It was great to not have to deal with that, and I appreciate the Azimut ensuring the calls are kept in check.  I had enough trouble sleeping without “entertainment” calls from Astrakhan’s ladies of the night.

A major thunder storm rolled through town during the evening, blowing out the warm weather and bringing Moscow weather to Astrakhan.  The wind howled and the lighting struck all night long.  That coupled with the comfortablishness of my couch/bed didn’t make for a great night of sleeping.  

DAY 2

We woke up early and got our breakfast.  As I said before it was good, not great, but free so what the hell.  My impressions of astrakhan remained positive on the second day.  It’s not the world’s most beautiful city but it is nice, tranquil and the people are genuinely friendly.  We found another café called Café Chai-ka with great cappuccinos.  

Not too much else went on…except I guess I can mention my final meeting of the day.  Great fun, Russian style!  We met with a couple of older women who treated us like their grandsons feeding us cake and coffee and insisting that we sample their Dagestani cognac.  In true Russian style we conducted our business and then sampled one, two and three shots of cognac, plus a bit extra to help the instant coffee go down.  It was actually, believe it or not, the most productive meeting of the day and definitely the most fun.

Post work I headed home relaxed, checked email in the lobby and watched the madam and her ladies work their business until I went to bed.  It was fascinating watching them work.  I sat there on the coach just watching the girls move about the lobby and then head for the elevator.  They’d be gone for 15 to 30 minutes and then they’d pop back downstairs. Once back in the lobby they hang out relaxing together chatting with the bartender till they get another call and then off they’d go.  I’m not sure where they get their calls or how they know where to go but the whole operation seems organized and well structured.  

DAY 3

So it turns out that Astrakhan will be celebrating its 450^th anniversary next year and all of the renovations along the Volga and why all the streets in the center of the city are being torn up and replaced with pink and white pavers.  They’re making nice progress and the city looks like it will be quite lovely by next year.  Hopefully I’m able to make it back here then.  

After some business in the morning we went over to a pizza joint call Picnic.  It was right by Bratsky Gardens on Oktybraskaya street.  We sat down and ordered some kind of a pizza with chicken, tomato, parsley, cheese and peas.  It certainly wasn’t the best pizza I have had in Russia but by far not the worst either.  At least they put sauce on the pizza; lack of sauce is generally what is wrong with Russian pizza.  Good pizza should be oozing with the red stuff…I spent many a long college night delivering and making pizza to earn extra money for beer so I should know!  The pizza would have actually been fairly good pizza had they just cooked the crust thoroughly, but TIR!

After lunch I had a bit of time to wander about so I walked back through Bratsky Gardens and up to the Kremlin to take a look around again.  Along the way I passed by a monument to the soldiers of the Revolution (a very solid looking worker with a rifle) and a monument to the Red Army soldiers from Astrakhan (a small obelisk with a star at the top and an eternal flame lit below).  Both monuments were attractive and tasteful and looked very picturesque within the Gardens.   

I hadn’t actually been able to go into the Cathedral on my main tour through the Kremlin so I thought I’d check it out.  It was a cold and blustery day in Astrakhan (blustery…that’s a good word don’t ya think, and not used enough in daily conversation…so do me a favor and try to use it once in the next two days)…k…so anyway, as I walked through the park the wind tore through my suit flipping my tie all about and making it difficult to hold the camera steady when taking pictures.  As I entered the Kremlin walls at Prechistenskie Gate the wind was especially strong nearly knocking me back as it funnelled through the massive doors of the gate. 

I walked from the gate up to the Cathedral and entered.  There were many beautiful frescos including an interesting one of Adam and Eve, and one with the Angels Michael, Rafael and Gabriel (the names of me and my brothers).  The dominant colour of the walls was a deep dark blue.   Because of the gloomy gray weather outside the church was especially dark with only candle light as illumination.  I strolled about quietly examining the icons, frescos and worshippers and then made my way back into the greyness of the day.  

After leaving the church I strolled past Trinity Cathedral.  Trinity is in considerable disrepair, but I’m sure by next summer when they celebrate their 450^th anniversary it will be back up and running.  I also strolled around the walls I took more pictures.  The grey sky made a nice backdrop to the churches and the tower of Prechistenskie Gate.  The greyness caught the light in interesting ways and, in my opinion, really changed the look of the buildings compared to the first day I was in the kremlin and bright blue surrounded Assumption Cathedral and Prechistenskie Gate.

DAY 4 

 Got up and finally went running along the Volga as I planned to do all week…By running along the Volga what I actually mean is that I ran along the blue temporary wall blocking my view of the Volga, not the ideal view, but at least the weather was nice and I was outside.  Did more work and wandered around the city. 

During the course of the day we met an elderly gentleman who gave us an interesting history/current events briefing of Astrakhan.  Astrakhan has over 170 different ethnic groups living in the Oblast (that is the equivalent of a US State).  The Oblast includes Buddhists, Muslims, Christians (of various denominations) and probably others as well.  

The city itself has unique older looking architecture than many of the Russian cities because Astrakhan was not obliterated by the Nazis.  In fact not a single bomb fell on Astrakhan because the Nazis advance were halted at Volgograd (AKA Stalingrad).  The consequence of this was that the distinctive buildings built by the Astrakhan Elite in the 1800’s, in emulation of their Moscow and St. Pete. brethren survived the war.

According to this gentleman Astrakhan was one of Russia’s richest and most important cities for much of its 450 years in existence.  Astrakhan is located near where the Volga empties into the Caspian Sea and as such was major port city for river and sea traders.  Astrakhan’s location also made it a perfect spot to command the trade of Beluga Caviar.  As a result the city grew rich during the time of the Tsars.  

As I said much of the glory of Astrakhan’s architecture from this rich period of history was preserved because the Nazis bombs never reached the city and there was little need to reconstruct the entire city with Soviet style apartments.  

Another thing I noticed while travelling through the city was that communities of single family houses (or cottages) seem to be quite prevalent in Astrakhan.  In Moscow I almost never see communities like this.  People tend to live in Apartments, either old smaller buildings or the massive ones of the Soviet Union, but single family neighbourhoods, like you would see in almost every mid-sized city of the United States or much of Europe are virtually non-existent.  This trend in Astrakhan, I would wager, is also a ramification of Astrakhan being spared bombardment in WWII.  Other cities with such neighbourhoods would have had these communities completely destroyed by Nazi bombs. 

As for the rest of the day it was fairly uneventful.  I guess the highlight was taking about a gazillion pictures of a Lenin statue or eating some kind of a tasty doughnut stuffed with cabbage for the remarkable price of only 10 rubbles (35 cents).  It was hot greasy and filling.  The babushka I purchased it from was very excited that I was trying here homemade cabbagey thing too. 

I ended the day of course heading back to the airport and flying home to Moscow.  Per usual my flight was not great, but I was pretty tired and in kind of a goofy mood so I managed to laugh pretty much everything off.  This lovely redheaded Russian girl sitting next to me had a good laugh at my efforts to say “exit, no smoking, fasten seatbelt, and toilet occupied” in Russian.  Ney Kurit �" that’s no smoking…which is apparently rather humorous when I say it.  Speaking of Russian I mastered a few new words this week.  Tochna (clearly or of course), akleetcha (great) sprayvesztliva (fair or fair enough) and mee-la (fine). 

Well that’s it for Astrakhan.  It is a good city and worth a visit if you are in the area…or if you’re looking for a gateway point to explore the natural wonders of the Caspian Sea.  I’d wager it is an especially nice city to stroll about in the spring or fall when it is a bit warmer and greener than Russia’s more northern cities.