Samara sits concealed on a bend in the Volga River. Inconspicuous and forgotten, Samara is Russia’s sixth largest city and a major contributor to Russia’s aerospace industry. This little known city was closed off to foreigners during the Cold War and this has perhaps contributed to its obscurity. Despite this, Samara is an exciting, dynamic city with good restaurants, hotels and shopping mixed with a darker Soviet past to excite history buffs in search of anything unusual and off the beaten track.
Samara started out as a fortress built in 1588 to protect the Rus from nomadic raiders. Tsar Ivan the Terrible had thirty years earlier had captured the Tartar capital of Kazan and it became necessary to protect the newly acquired territory along the Volga River. The city grew slowly and eventually became an important trading and industrial city in the second half of the 19th century when it became famous for grain and beer.
Wooden buildings have survived better in Samara than other European Russian cities, having been protected from the wars of the past century
As a result of its rich 19th century history Samara is a museum piece of 19th century Russian architecture with numerous small homes and mansions surviving today. Some of these buildings were made from brick and were painted to mimic the appearance of plaster covered buildings in Moscow or St Petersburg (a few administrative buildings in Samara are plastered). The wooden buildings are attractively adorned with carvings. Many of these structures are neglected – needing additional paint and repairs. Nonetheless, most seem to be still in use although clearly lacking most modern conveniences such as electricity, water. They are rented by migrant workers from Central Asia, who are prepared to accept such third world conditions and may even be accustomed to such conditions at home. In summer these conditions are probably tolerable, but winter, with temperatures dropping to minus 20, must be brutal.
Aleksei Tolstoy’s writing desk and room when he was a schoolboy in the late 19th century
Several museums are dedicated to famous people who lived in Samara at the end of the 19th century and preserve what life was like during that period. Famous people who lived in Samara include Maxim Gorky, Vladimir Lenin and Aleksei Tolstoy (a lesser known member of the Tolstoy family who wrote huge volumes Pyotr I, and also a trilogy based on the Russian Civil War). These apartments have some interest, but do not differ greatly from what is depicted on a basic level in historical dramas and films. The most interesting element of visiting one of these museums is stumbling across some old enthusiast who has dedicated the last 60 years of their life to a particular person and can talk at length about their habits, where they went to school, what the main influences were in their lives – of course, most of this information can be obtained from Wikipedia, but it is nice to get it from a person rather than a webpage.
Samara can be divided into three basic sections. There is the old city with the broad boulevards and newly done up shops and restaurants. This old central city gives way to the old suburbs and outskirts which include the mansions – mainly broken up into small apartments and primitive by modern standards. These suburbs have broad, dusty streets, broad leaved trees grow along the sides of the road and often there will be traffic islands which once upon a time were planted out and now provide additional shade.
Then there is the Soviet city which comprises miles and miles of high-rise suburbia. Most buildings are about five to seven storeys. Associated with each group of buildings is usually a small shopping centre and playground for children. The roads are dusty and potted but are often shaded by trees, giving the suburbs a forgotten, rustic feel to them.
The new city is being constructed at this moment. An entire suburb of about 100, tall apartment buildings, maybe 20 storeys high, has appeared in the last year or so. It is hard to imagine the scale of construction or what this new city will become in the next five to 10 years – but the first impression is narrow streets and tall buildings creating a ghetto. However, the newness of the buildings and Samara’s wealth may prevent this from happening.
A real sputnik – one of the Resource F-II satellites used for mapping
Samara is not only important for Russia’s aerospace industry, it also has significant oil and gas reserves. Consequently, several of Russia’s largest companies are based here and this is reflected in house prices that are almost as high as those in Moscow and St Petersburg. It is said that half of Russia’s wealthiest people live in Samara.
The city is also known for its recreation. Along the Volga River people play volleyball, beach soccer, beach basketball. Samara has a successful soccer team and there are advertisements throughout the city for various martial arts such as Muay Thai and Aikido. I hear they have quite a strong fencing team too.
Beach volleyball is popular during the summer. At winter temperatures drop to minus 20 and snow-volleball hasn’t became a success
In addition to sport, Samara has an excellent drama and ballet company which attracts foreign performers, and a range of interesting museums and sites linked to Samara’s World War II history as the emergency capital of the USSR. Perhaps the most interesting of these is Stalin’s bunker.
The first impressions of Samara are of a growing, active city with plenty to do and plenty to explore. The next few weeks should be fun.
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Copyright © Peter Campbell 2014, www.intrepid-adventure.com
