Difference between revisions of "Volgograd"

Revision as of 13:04, 10 October 2012

Volgograd (Russian: Волгогра́д vuhl-gah-GRAHD) used to be called Stalingrad. It lies along the west bank of the Volga River in Southern Russia. It was the scene of one of the most important and bloodiest battles of the Second World War.

Understand

History

Get in

By Plane

Serving the city is Volgograd International Airport (Международный Аэропорт Волгоград) (IATA: VOG) [1] which despite its name mostly has domestic routes, Moscow and Saint Petersburg being the two major destinations. International connections are available to Munich and Yerevan and operated by RusLine [2].

By Train

Volgograd is a major railway junction with good connections from Moscow (20 h), Saint Petersburg (34 h) and most other large cities in western Russia, tickets cost between 3-5000 RUB for a second class sleeper. In the other direction, trains come all the way from Irkutsk (92 h) in Siberia. International connections are limited but several central asian cities such as Bishkek (77 h), Baku (30 h) Dushanbe (72 h), Tashkent (60 h) as well as the two major cities in Kazakstan, Almaty (68 h) and Astana (52 h) have departures atlest once a week. Directs routes from European countries is scarce, the usual route involves a change of trains in Moscow however there is a few trains from Brest (45 h) via Minsk (40 h), Kiev (29 h) and from Sofia (61 h) via Bucharest (49 h) and Chisinau (36 h) that does not require a change. These trains usually departs 3-4 times a week.

By Car

European route E40, the longest European route connecting Calais, France with Ridder, Kazakhstan, passes through Volgograd.

By Boat

The city stands at the east end of the Volga-Don Canal, opened in 1952 to link the two great rivers of Southern Russia. River cruises down the Volga operate during the summer months (early May to late September). Dozens of boats operated by different companies run from Moscow to Astrakhan passing by Volgograd. One way or return cruises may be reserved to/from practically any city along the Volga. Turflot [3] and Infoflot [4] offer tours. Prices starts a RUR 8,000 without meals and RUR 15,000 with meals.

Get around

Volgograd's public transport system includes a light rail service known as the Volgograd Metrotram.

See

• Mamayev Kurgan — the site of one of the twentieth century's most important battles: Battle of Stalingrad. This huge memorial is located on top of a large hill overlooking Volgograd and the Volga River. The name derives from the hill's supposed status as the grave of Mamai, a famous Tatar Khan and general (kurgan is a Tatar word meaning burial mound).

• The Panorama museum, ul. Chuikova. 10-17. The Panorama museum, which is located alongside the Volga river, contains artifacts from World War II. These include a panoramic painting of the battlefield from the location of the monument "Mamayev Kurgan." Here a rifle of the famous sniper Vasily Zaytsev, can also be found.

Do

Buy

Eat

• Arca
• Grand Cafe
• Grand Pizza
• Volgograd
• Mario
• McDonalds
• Labamba
• Shury-Mury
• Vizantia
• Steak House
• Ole
• Chinar
• Velvet
• Yakitoria
• SV
• Pyramid
• Blindazh
• Bellagio
• Deja Vu
• Sakura

Drink

MISHKA SHOP & BAR The Only Bar in Volgograd

Sleep

• Intourist, ul. Mira 14, ☎ 30-23-01, 30-23-02 (volgaint@avtlg.ru, fax: 38-60-00).
• Volgograd, ul. Mira 12, ☎ 40-80-30, 40-80-31, 40-80-20 (volgahot@hotelvolgograd.ru, fax: 40-80-33), [5].
• Yuzhnaya, ul. Raboche-Krestyanskaya 18, ☎ 97-50-57, 97-55-46, 97-54-40 (yug-hot@avtlg.ru, fax: 97-54-00).
• Kristina, bul. 30 Let Pobedy, 39a, ☎ 31-60-37 (kristina-hotel@yandex.ru, fax: 31-60-37), [6].
• Tourist, ul. Chuikova, 73, ☎ 23-12-43, 23-97-00 (tourkompleks@t-k.ru, fax: 23-98-94).
• Hotel Bank, ul. Kommunisticheskaya, 40, ☎ 74-21-74 (hotelbank@vlink.ru, fax: 96-53-37).
• Oktyabrskaya, ul. Kommunisticheskaya, 3, ☎ 33-18-41, 33-18-36 (fax: 33-18-41).

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