Almaty or Alma-Ata

Because of translations to english, most places seem to have multiple spellings. The name Almaty or Alma-Ata comes from "rich with apples" or "grandfather of apples" as it has the largest variety of apples anywhere. It was the capital of kazakhstan until they changed it to Astana in the 1990's, but it remains the business center of Kazakhstan. Most international flights land here so it makes travel so much easier. This is a picture of the airport.

There are about 1,200,000 people who live in Almaty. Most speak Russian or Kazah, but many people in the hotels and some in restaurants speak English. It is relatively expensive to stay in Almaty. Hotels run from $100 to over $500/night. I haven't decided if I am staying in an apartment or a hotel, but it won't be the $500/night 5 star ones!


You can't talk about Kazakhstan without talking about the traffic. Traffic lanes are more like guidelines so if you need 5 or 6 lanes on a 4 lane road, then go for it. If one of those lanes is half on the sidewalk, that is ok also. When you think of a pedestrian trying to cross the road, think of the video game Frogger except you are the frog. Horns are installed in cars so use them- constantly. There are no seatbelt laws since most of the cars do not have seatbelts. No one would use them if they did. I will have a driver to get me where I need to go so I will not be driving here. I'm pretty happy about that.



This is a picture of the Tsum store. It has a little of everything in it. Almaty has everything from the small shop in the front of someone's home to designer clothing stores. In some regions, you have to bring many items with you, but you can find almost anything you need in Almaty, although it may be very expensive. Think $30-40 for a baby outfit.

There are a lot of places for tourists to go visit. I don't know which ones I'll be able to get to, but here are some of the ones I hope to see:


Zenkov Cathedral is surrounded by Panfilov Park, a pleasant rectangle of greenery. The Park was named after the heroes of World War II. The Cathedral is one of the few tzarist-era buildings to survive the 1911 earthquake, despite the fact it is built entirely of wood and constructed without nails. It is also one of the eight most unique wooden buildings in the world. After the revolution it was used as historical museum, cultural center, and just in 1990 again it was given a status of a Russian Orthodox cathedral.(copied from the Kaz Tourism site)



A cable car takes you to the top of Kok-Tobe(I've seen many spellings). At the top, there is a great view of the city, restaurants, along with an amusement park. It is one of the standard tourist places, but also sounds like a nice trip. The second picture is the view from the top.


This is the ice skating rink at Medeo outside Almaty. It is a very popular place in the winter. Once you get out of the city, there is some very beautiful and different landscapes. There are mountains and steppes. Some of it reminds me of the American Southwest.