{"id":352,"date":"2020-01-19T14:24:38","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T14:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=352"},"modified":"2021-01-02T11:01:04","modified_gmt":"2021-01-02T11:01:04","slug":"kaliningrad-the-secret-holiday-destination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/kaliningrad-the-secret-holiday-destination\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaliningrad: Secret holiday destination"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A City of Contrasts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Preamble<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before going anywhere today, the first thing we do is\nconsult the internet. If you undertake ~ or have already undertaken ~ an\ninternet search of \u2018Kaliningrad\u2019 chances are that you will turn up, or have\nalready turned up, a disproportionate amount of negativity. This is especially\ntrue of UK media articles, that is articles disseminated by the mainstream UK\npress, particularly articles written prior to and up to 2018, when Kaliningrad\nhosted the World Cup tournament in which England played against Belgium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the months leading up to the World Cup the\nconcerted vitriol reached its apotheosis, which was rather unfortunate for the\nBritish press as, almost without exception, the majority of British fans who\nwere not dissuaded from coming to Kaliningrad agreed that they had enjoyed\nthemselves in Russia and in Kaliningrad in particular. So, it was a warm\nwelcome for the British footer fans and a red face for the British media.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2018, there has been a noticeable change in tone,\nwith some, though not all, journalists adopting a more honest appraisal of Kaliningrad\u2019s\nstatus as a tourist destination. Leading travel guides for English-language\nreaders blaze the trail, using such words to describe Kaliningrad as \u2018exciting,\nvibrant, a city and region of contrasts, fascinating, quirky and historically\nunique\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, our late friend Victor Rybinin, artist and\nhistorian, defined its unique character as the combination of two cultures, first\nGerman and then Russian, and it is somewhere between this polarity that its\nfascination resides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

K\u00f6nigsberg: a city that refuses to die<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Kaliningrad\u2019s duality really begins at the close of WWII. Until that time it had been the capital of East Prussia, an imposing and noble city, boasting an architectural composition of Romanesque, Baroque and Gothic designs. Originally known as K\u00f6nigsberg, the city changed names when it changed people and country in 1946, the historical city of K\u00f6nigsberg having been all but extirpated from aerial bombing in 1944 and the Soviet siege and battle of 1945.  From 1946 onwards, K\u00f6nigsberg, now renamed Kaliningrad, and the territory surrounding it, was absorbed by the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home to the Baltic Fleet, and of strategic geo-political importance, the area became a closed domain and remained this way until the collapse of the Soviet Union. The dissolution of the satellite Baltic states in the 1990s and their subsequent harvesting by the European Union created a physical and psychological barrier ~ physical in that the Kaliningrad region is separated by countries unallied to Russia, psychological in the sense that this little piece of land, the westernmost outpost of the Russian Federation, has become a political\/military bogeyman for the West to rattle its sabres at ~ little wonder, therefore, that it is ringed with NATO bases! Never mind, it does not worry the locals, so it need not worry you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History is Kaliningrad\u2019s speciality<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For the history buff, especially those interested in\nWWI, WWII and the Cold War, K\u00f6nigsberg-Kaliningrad has plenty to offer. The\ncity contains a number of wartime monuments and museums and so many underground\nshelters that I have often amused myself whilst travelling from one side of the\ncity to the next by taking part in my own spot the bunker competition. One of\nthe bunkers, the aptly named Museum Bunker, is open to the public. It is very\nNazispheric and replete with military history exhibits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kaliningrad:
Spot the German bunker competition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The most obvious examples of K\u00f6nigsberg\u2019s military\nhistory predate the conflicts of the 20th<\/sup> century, although, like\nevery building in the beleaguered city of 1945, they played a not\ninconsiderable defensive role in the final battle for K\u00f6nigsberg.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

K\u00f6nigsberg was a fortress city, which, by the middle\nand the late 19th<\/sup> century, was heavily defended by two continuous\nrings of red-brick forts joined by an elaborate network of slit walls,\nbastions, gates, ramparts and crenelated towers. A prodigious proportion of\nboth defensive rings is extant today, thanks to their solid construction, the determination\nof local history groups to conserve them and considerable restoration\ninvestment. Some of the forts now house museums; others are work in progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"K\u00f6nigsberg
One of K\u00f6nigsberg’s inner circle of forts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Moat
Moat surrounding one of K\u00f6nigsberg’s<\/em> forts in the outer ring<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Smaller relics both of K\u00f6nigsberg and from its military\npast can be found in any one of the city\u2019s antique shops and ~ joy of all joys\n~ at the city\u2019s central street market. This haven for collectors has evolved\ninto a boot fair\/flea market hybrid, selling all manner of WWII and Soviet\nrelics along with remnants of K\u00f6nigsberg itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most atmospheric, or should that be claustrophobic,\nreminders of the Cold War is the Soviet submarine which is moored at the side\nof the Pregolya (German: Pregel<\/em>) River on a bankside development mainly\ndevoted to other marine vessels, museums and education centres under the\nauspices of the World Ocean Museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Soviet
Soviet submarine, Kaliningrad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kaliningrad\u2019s Amber Museum is possibly the most well-known museum in the city and its territory. It was established in 1972 and occupies one of the inner-circle forts on the bank of one of Kaliningrad\u2019s lakes (the correct terminology for which, I am told, is \u2018pond\u2019 ~ which makes it a very big one!) This, incidentally, is the same tower depicted in various YouTube videos<\/a>, on which victorious Russian troops hoist the Soviet flag high across the war-torn landscape which, in 1945, is all that remained of K\u00f6nigsberg ~ at least in its physical form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaliningrad amber<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/a>
Amber Museum, Kaliningrad, Russia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Established in the richest amber-producing area in the world, the Amber Museum<\/a> holds impressive and ornate examples of artisan craftsmanship, and both the city and coastal resorts are dotted with specialist amber shops, supplemented by market stalls specialising in every conceivable manifestation of amber-work imaginable and in all its various hues ~ jewellery, souvenirs, framed pictures, clocks, statues, household goods \u2026 the list is seemingly endless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n