I went to Astana on a business trip, was heard that the city is rejected that the conversion of the city is colossal.
Honestly, it was very surprised that somewhere in the steppe there is such a city, a lot of multi-storey, glass buildings in a modern style, many hotels, clean streets.
Previously, Astana was a provincial city and was called Tselinograd, from Soviet times there were still Khrushchev, how painted and brought into the divine appearance.
The airport is large, but impressed empty, from the airport to the city you can get by taxi, but it is expensive pleasure, or you can take the bus.
The city is located in the steppe, but a lot of young greenery is planted, carefully cautiously behind the trees, but still some yellowish, in general I lacked greens.
The capital was transferred to Astana from Almaty recently. The scope of construction is impressive, something resembles Dubai. Located Astana on the banks of the Ishto River.
At the city bazaar, which is located in the city center, you can buy oriental sweets, national clothes, souvenirs.
On the water-green boulevard there is a pedestrian bridge, which consists of three levels. At the lower level there is a parking lot, on the second - shops, cafes, offices, on the third you can walk, here all the conditions for this: fountains, sculptures, plants.
Astana has its own flying saucer - an unusual circus building. In the circus itself was not, I can not judge the quality of the idea, but the locals visit him with pleasure.
There are a lot of national cuisine restaurants, reasonable prices, I liked: Tea, Besparmak.
In Astana, you can stay at the hotel (quite a lot in the city) or rent an apartment. Still in Astana, the old "Soviet" hotels, however, did not do the repair there from the same time. Their main advantage is proximity to the center.
Near the railway station there are cheapest hotels, but I do not recommend stopping there, there are no conditions, and the contingent, living there, leaves much to be desired.
The symbol of the city is the Baiterek Tower, "Poplar" translated into Russian. At the top of the tower big ball. There are four underground floors in the tower. From the panoramic hall of the tower, you can look at the city, it is all like a palm.
I liked the entertainment center "Duman", there is a 3D cinema, a 5D film trap, shops, but most impressed the aquarium, with the marine inhabitants and tunnel at the bottom of the largest aquarium, going into which, I was on the seabed!
Museums of the city, which can be visited by: Museum of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (entrance to the museum is free), Museum of Contemporary Art, Presidential Palace.
From the attractions of the city, you can still highlight the map "Map of Kazakhstan - Atameken", located in an open-air. On the map in the form of reduced layouts presented monuments of history and culture of Kazakhstan, 14 regions and 2 cities: Astana and Alma-Ata.
Of course, Astana is an interesting city for visiting, fully new. The only drawback is not strongly expressed by national motives, the history of the city, it is represented only by Soviet buildings.
