Nestling at the foot of the Tian Shan mountains, the tree-lined avenues of Almaty give it a very different feel from Nur-Sultan, its successor as capital of Kazakkstan. Even the municipal flower beds are different: petunias and marigolds in the … Continue reading Exploring Almaty
In the Central City Park in Nursultan is a colourful monument comprising figures bearing globes painted to represent the countries of the world, originally created for the 2017 Expo. It’s fun to walk round spotting the countries you have visited, … Continue reading Around the world in just one park
As a country girl at heart, after a day pounding city streets, I long for a park. Our second day in Kazakhstan did not disappoint, as we drove out of the city of Nur-Sultan to the Burabay National Park, where … Continue reading The invisible elephant
It was our first day in Kazakhstan and after a mere 2 hours’ sleep and some excellent jam-filled croissants, we met our local guide Olyssa for a city tour. Our first stop was the Hazrat Sultan (Holy Sultan) mosque, opened … Continue reading A Day in Nur-Sultan
Apples are big in Almaty. Really big. The city is even named after them – alma is the Kazakh for ‘apple’. Apples are everywhere, most strikingly in a public artwork of a yellow car bursting with red apples. The wild … Continue reading The Other Big Apple
