I went to Nizhny Novgorod after the inspiring stories of my friend, who recently visited there. Once I was going there, but then there were no tickets and I left for Veliky Novgorod. This time I decided to try to get to BlaBlaCar (how did i get), and go back by train. Budgetary and quickly turned out.
In this post I will try to convey my impressions of the city. Since I was there only a day, this is only a superficial glance, and I look at the cities rather not from the point of view of historical and cultural heritage, but trying on myself whether I could live there or not. Actually, that's why I draw your attention to what you might not have noticed, being a simple tourist. If you go to Nizhny, it's still better to spend the night in a hotel (my selection of hotels), much more can be seen.
What we liked
They brought me to the city immediately to the upper part, where I took a walk all day. I was accompanied by Alexander Kotlov, thanks to him for that! We walked along the pedestrian street (Bolshaya Pokrovskaya), inside and along the walls of the Kremlin, went down to the Nizhne-Volzhskaya embankment, then climbed the Chkalovskaya stairs, rolled down to Bor by the cable car, after which we reached the Fedorovsky embankment and in the evening crossed the Kanavinsky bridge and reached the railway station. During the day it turned out about 15 km, great! Such walks are much more interesting than jogging in the morning, with which I still can't get along well. I have a separate post, what to see in Nizhny Novgorod.
The center of Nizhny Novgorod is quite pleasant. Although is it possible to say a word here «center», if we are talking about only one part of the city (upper), and even, one might say, located on the outskirts? I don't know what the residents call it, but I really liked this decentralization. You walk along Bolshaya Pokrovka: shops, cafes, restored houses, Moscow Arbat is straight, but you got on the car and after 10-20 minutes you are already in a residential area, convenient.
Pedestrian street - Bolshaya Pokrovskaya
There are figures scattered all over the pedestrian street
Local Arbat
The bank was opened in the form of a castle
Installation with cats
Frequent pedestrian street
An underground cafe, I don't know if it works
Going to Bolshaya Pokrovka
And if you live right next to the Kremlin, you can get a view from the window to the arrow, where the Oka and Volga merge, or just the Volga. And do you know what you will see across the river? Nothing! There is not another part of the city with dense residential buildings, but a forest! And this is great! I have already looked at the house on the Fedorovsky embankment, just from the top floor all the beauties will open up. I imagine, you are sitting by the window, writing an article, and there is a view ... Moreover, the view is eternal, it is very unlikely that it will be spoiled.
On the left is the very house from where a beautiful view should open
Volga and forests
I wrote for a reason that this «center» on the outskirts. It is this feeling that is created, a kind of airiness or something, because of the Volga, which is the border of the city, the gaze does not rest on anything. It is easy to breathe, you do not feel at all in the center of a millionth city. After Moscow, it seems that he came to the suburbs, although this is not so. By the way, the second moment looms here, which I also liked - there is where to take a walk.
Yes, yes, Moscow also has parks and other places for walking, but I don't have a promenade with a beautiful view 10-20 minutes from my house. However, in all smaller cities, it is much easier to get somewhere. Although in Moscow I do not remember a place with a non-urban landscape at all, the city will be visible on all the embankments and lookouts. And here at once both the upper embankments and the lower ones, I don't want to walk, ride a bike. And the most important thing is not to get tired of walking around the same places so quickly. And I also had such an idea, you can take a bike and with it on the cable car cross to the other side, where there is absolutely freedom for pokatusha.
Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin
Strolling
View from the observation deck inside the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin
View from the observation deck inside the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin
Nizhny Novgorod, view from the Kremlin
Nizhny Novgorod «Chizhik-Pyzhik» near the hill of poets
Binoculars are installed on the observation deck, 10 rubles
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod, view of the Volga from the Zelensky Congress
Gorky Square
Gagarin Avenue
Cycle paths on the Nizhne-Volzhskaya embankment
On the streets on a weekday there are a lot of people, young people - they walk, relax, ride
Nizhny Novgorod embankment
Ice cream for those over 18
Chkalovskaya staircase and hero boat
Very helpful pointers
I assume international students
All houses on the Verkhne-Volzhskaya embankment are signed
How good it used to be for ordinary engineers
I liked the building very much, it remains only to restore
Cable car in Nizhny Novgorod - view of Bor
What does it mean? 🙂
Cable car in Nizhny Novgorod - view of the upper part of the city
Nizhny Novgorod
Electric vitamins are one of the attractions of Nizhny Novgorod
What else is needed for life, if there is such a beautiful view
Sunset in Nizhny Novgorod
Romantic Nizhny Novgorod residents
Instead of a lock, a piston from a motorcycle
Temple in a very strange place, near the port and ruins
Evening view of the upper part of the city
What did not like
When I was driving with a driver through the BlaBlaCar service (applications: Android, iOS) to Nizhniy, the conversation started about who would like to live where. He, who was born in Arzamas, but created a business in Moscow, was going to return to his hometown sooner or later. Moscow with its eternal traffic jams is sick of him, the city is not for life, but for work, you cannot see your family. I completely agree and support, I also always wanted to live in a smaller town, but there is not enough civilization. The driver Sasha then asked me, what is missing? There are shops, museums, exhibitions, movement are in Nizhny, where it is only an hour and a half to go from Arzamas, and you can go to Moscow to get medicine, 5 hours by car or 4 hours by train. I could not find what to answer. Its true. Then, while walking around Nizhny Novgorod, I realized what civilization means to me, in addition to all of the above..
One of the lanes adjacent to the pedestrian street
It is worth looking into the gateway and there is a similar landscape
Another courtyard
Strange restoration - balusters crookedly blinded, and all the paint flowed
The transitions are scary, many have no lighting
I agree, broken roads and sidewalks (why is there such a misfortune with them in Nizhny Novgorod?), There are also murdered courtyards in Moscow, they can be found, but there is nothing like that in large quantities. Even the sleeping areas are now tidy, garbage is being removed, the curbs and fences are painted, the flower beds are laid out and the lawn is almost everywhere, there are modern playgrounds in every courtyard, everything is illuminated at night. This is what ours looks like. South Butovo. There are not many photos in the post, it was about something completely different, but we have a really modern and pretty area. The architecture is not for everybody, but it is better than the lower part of Novgorod in the area of the Moscow highway, where it is absolutely bleak. However, I had photos just from the upper part, we drove through the lower part in a car (I did not take pictures from the window), and then I took a walk on Yandex-Panoramas..
Someone will say, the bourgeois / Muscovite got drunk. Indeed, you can get used to everything. But does it make sense to get used to it? Here everyone will have their own answer. I personally cannot yet exchange Moscow with its minuses for another city with its minuses, but the search continues slowly 🙂 Conventionally, it is very important for me what my eyes see while I go to the store. Desolation drives you into depression and does not add optimism at all, and broken-down sidewalks without ramps (and entrances without ramps) make life very difficult, especially if you have to drive a baby / wheelchair every day down the street. When you are a tourist and see the sights, you can not pay attention to such things, but living in it every day is completely different. I remember, Pushchino near Moscow I was also surprised, it seems very close to the capital, and there is nothing to do there without an all-terrain vehicle. On the other hand, it is a matter of time (I hope). They say that Nizhny has already changed a lot. There are quite nice areas like the 7th sky. Well, or you need to live in the upper part of the city next to the Kremlin and in a house with a view, as I wrote above 🙂
P.S. It is very interesting how Sochi looks like. So I hope that we will get there this year, it was too much praise for him. Plus the climate is suitable, summer is right up to December.
