This place was on the ancient Silk Road… Once it was capital of Golden Orda, but from 1558 Astrakhan is important trade post for Russia. It has walled Kremlin with beautiful orthodox churches. The main one has two levels! I had half a day to walk around, to find three nice mosques – quite big muslim minority lives here. Astrakhan on Volga River close to the Caspian Sea was always important fishing center – it is still famous for the production of caviar. You can buy it here but the little can cost more than 5000 roubles – like 80 USD. It is also famous for local, tasty watermelons – you can buy them paying 50 roubles per kilo.
It was worth to stroll the side streets to see the samples of old Russian wooden architecture. Some houses are very ornate, but many of them is in the ruin. No money for restauration? But they have money to built new skyscrapers in Astrakhan… 🙂
Anyway – Astrakhan has special atmosphere and is well worth a visit. In the night we are turning north and sailing Volga upstream visiting new places…
