Passed today: gaining strength in Saratov
Saratov greeted me with the wonderful weather. I’ve been here over a week.
And this week was the most important in all my travel.
First of all, here I received a long-awaited parcel from the Russian Information Center (Mumbai) with very important equipment for me and Ayurvedic medicines-vitamins that will help me to continue my journey.
Secondly, and most importantly, it was in Saratov that we closed the fundraiser for Timur, already the second child during my trip
Vadim is already undergoing rehabilitation, Timur has also already gone to rehabilitation.
We can already say that my path has a certain success and I went to it for a reason!
Saratov is a very beautiful and ancient city, there are many attractions and very kind people – at least I thought so.
I’ve had a lot of help here…
There are many beautiful places in Saratov – a very beautiful embankment, one of the longest bridges in Europe, ancient surroundings and much more.
I was lucky to arrive at the very moment when the city hosted the historical festival Ukek, where residents of different cities of Russia met. They restored the historical chronicle-went in costumed outfits and really lived their roles.
I was very much pleased with Saratov, and I do not want to leave it at all! Probably at the moment, this is my favorite city in the world!
Many thanks to everyone who helped in Saratov and I hope someday to return here
Thank you Mary and Nicholas Fedyanin for accommodations, food and for showing me the city!
Thanks to the hotels Slovakia and X&O and his staff for giving me a complimentary stay! I read on the Internet that these are some of the best hotels in Saratov, and I highly recommend them to you if you find yourself in this beautiful city. Hotel Slovakia – one of the most famous hotels in the city, number 2 rated “Tripadvisor” in terms of price/quality. It is located right on the Waterfront of the city – so there is a chance that you will get a room with a view of the Volga.
About Saratov:
Saratov was founded as a guard fortress at the end of the XVI century by Boris Godunov
Before this city appeared, on the same place there was a settlement of the Golden Horde, it was mentioned in his travel notes by the famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo.
In the middle of the XVIII century, these lands remained sparsely populated, and then by order of Catherine II, foreign colonists were invited here. It was in Saratov that mechanized steam mills appeared for the first time in the Russian Empire. Therefore, this city for decades wore the unofficial title of flour capital of Russia.
Yuri Gagarin studied in Saratov. By the way, after his famous flight, he also landed not far from here.
One of the most interesting museums in Saratov is radishchevsky. The building itself is no less interesting than the internal collection. This Museum was the second art Museum in Russia, and the first in the province.
One of the symbols of Saratov is a bridge across the Volga, which connects two cities-Saratov and Engels. The length of this bridge is impressive – almost three thousand meters. If you look at it, it seems rounded — its height is uneven at different intervals, which makes the Saratov bridge so stunning, especially at night during the lighting of lanterns.
One of the visiting cards of the city – the Temple “Quench my sorrows” – outwardly it is a stunning building that is simply impossible to miss. Bulbous heads painted in different colors, giving the temple a very beautiful and unforgettable look. Inside it is also beautiful and cozy, though small in size.
Well, the most famous place in Saratov – monument Cranes in Victory Park. Most residents and tourists come to the observation deck of the monument, which offers an overview of almost the entire city, to photograph the bridge over the Volga, individual buildings or a panoramic photo of the city.
The background of “Cranes”is also very interesting.
With high probability it can be argued that the image of the monument, Y. I. Manykina architect of the monument pushed the song of the poet Rasul Gamzatov “Cranes”, which was born in 1969 and performed by the singer mark Bernes.
The story of the song began in Japan, where Rasul Gamzatov learned the story of a girl from Hiroshima who survived the atomic bombing. She believed that by making a thousand white cranes out of paper, she would defeat a deadly disease. Life force left her, she didn’t have time to lay down the coveted number of cranes. This tragic story in the mind of the poet intertwined with the fate of his two brothers. Only deep personal experiences were able to turn into such a poetic way: “the soldiers who did not come from the fields, not in our land once died, and turned into white cranes.” The poet gave immortality to the heroes of the war.
This poem shocked Mark Bernes, an artist who survived the war years, starred in military films. He asked Jan Frenkel’s to compose music, which he did immediately. Bernes was in a hurry to record a new song, realizing that the days of his life were running out. As a result-the song was loved by the whole country, the poem got into the rating of the hundred best poems. The song became the most popular. Every year on Victory Day it sounds like a Requiem for the dead in all wars.
The metaphor of dead soldiers whose souls turned into cranes has been picked up by many sculptures across the country. And in a few years in places of fights of 1941-1945 began to erect steles and monuments which Central image there were flying cranes.
At least 24 monuments were built: in Dagestan (9 monuments), North Ossetia, Kislovodsk, Crimea, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Leningrad, Samara (two monuments), Chelyabinsk regions, in Ukrainian Lugansk, Belarusian Polotsk, Uzbek Chirchik, Hiroshima and even Los Angeles! And, of course, in Saratov.
Source (the Cranes): https://miha-top.livejournal.com/54845.html
