{"id":431,"date":"2020-01-28T11:10:01","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T11:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=431"},"modified":"2021-03-20T04:29:57","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T04:29:57","slug":"svetlogorsk-to-kaliningrad-by-train","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/svetlogorsk-to-kaliningrad-by-train\/","title":{"rendered":"Svetlogorsk to Kaliningrad by Train"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Svetlogorsk to Kaliningrad by Train<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

28 December 2000<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a plethora of travel guides out there on the internet that like to make sweeping statements about Russian people, as if the people of the largest country in the world can be whittled down to fit ~ like a misconceived square peg into the round hole of consolation. After much negative stereotyping,  these articles tend to intimate that in spite of what you have heard<\/em>, when you meet them Russian people are not so bad after all. It is suggested that they come across as brusque, even rude, but, guess what! ~ when you get to know them they are just as superb and wonderful as any English, German or American person. And what is more, despite having been brought up cooking behind an Iron Curtain, their food is no less delicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: Exploring Svetlogorsk<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Armed then\nwith this image of a bear with sandwiches, we had not the slightest misgiving\nor uncharitable apprehension that later today we would have the extraordinary\nexperience of meeting and dining with Olga\u2019s mum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous article: Exploring Sv<\/a>etlogorsk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Svetlogorsk to Kaliningrad by Train<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

First, we\nhad to get to Kaliningrad, because remember, Dear Reader, Olga had been so\nconcerned that her English visitors would baulk at the imperfections there that\nshe had taken the precaution of squirreling them away in the coastal resort of\nSvetlogorsk, had installed them in the Hotel Russ, where everything was obvious\nand the fitness centre was minus its wheel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday,\nwe had travelled by taxi from Kaliningrad to Svetlogorsk, but today, whether to\nsave money or merely to be brave, Olga suggested that we go by train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had\nreturned to the Russ from our afternoon drink in the bar, which had no toilet,\ngot changed ~ rugged ourselves up ~ trudged our way back through the new fall\nof snow, it was snowing as we did so, to arrive at Svetlogorsk\u2019s railway\nstation just as dusk was gathering. We were right on time: a big, old solid\nlump of a train was making its way ponderously along the track to where we\nstood at the end of the line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Svetlogorsk
Trains waiting at Svetlogorsk Station, December 2000<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Quickly ~\nas quick as it was possible with conditions as they were ~ we hurried along the\nlength of the platform, passing this beast of a train\u2019s bull-nose front until\nwe reached the first carriage door. Unlike British trains where, in getting on\nand off, you are constantly advised to \u2018mind the gap\u2019, here it was a case of\nmind the small, narrow, rusty iron steps up which you have to teeter if you\nwant to get inside. As the doors were shut when we arrived, there was no small\namount of dexterity involved in ascending, balancing and opening them, but\nteamwork won the day, and before you could say \u2018arse over head\u2019 we were on\nboard and, a few seconds later, on boards. Through no fault of a\nwell-illuminated carriage we could have been forgiven for believing that\nBritish vandalism had arrived in Russia at last, but it soon dawned on me, with\nthe cold comfort of a Cold War documentary, that  Western decadence would simply not be\ncountenanced, that there really were not any cushions or padding upon the\nseats, just two long rows of slat-back wooden benches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ignored\nwhat I thought was my brother saying something like \u201cwho\u2019s going to pick the\nsplinters out\u201d and made my way to the seat at the other end of the carriage.\nThere may not have been neon lights above our heads saying \u2018Look at us, we\u2019re\nforeigners\u2019, but the inhabitants of the carriage were gawping at us all the\nsame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\ncontinued to gawp, as if all were one, even though it necessitated some\nbackward craning on their part, whilst we found that we could not hear each\nother speak below the sound of our peculiar whispering. Fortunately, unlike Max\nBygraves, the train never lingered longer, for, with a sickening, unannounced\njolt, which took the audience as much by surprise as it had us, wrenching their\nheads in the other direction, we and the hulking train lurched clumsily out of\nthe station. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within a\nfew moments of rolling along we had to admit to each other that although the\nseats had looked hard, cold, hostile and uninviting they were all that and more\nbesides. There was no heat in the carriage; a couple of young scruffy looking\nblokes were taking it in turns to drain a bottle of vodka; two old babushkas,\nwho simply could not refrain from turning their heads every now and  then, gave us a withering stare; a gnarled\nold man, his  coat pulled up over his\nears, rocked back and forth with the rhythm of the train, one minute asleep,\none minute not; and almost everyone without exception was dragging on a fag, ~\nnot that this bothered us, tobacco smoking had not quite yet become the\nwretched victim of self-proclaimed health zealots. I cannot remember whether we\nlit up or not, but we most likely did. Brother Joss always had a packet of\nroll-ups with him in those days, and besides, the complete and utter absence of\nany detectable heating system made striking the match appealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Svetlogorsk to Kaliningrad by Train: Tickets Pashalsta<\/em>!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I was just\nwondering when and how we would pay for this magic carpet ride, when a\nfierce-looking babushka armed with a large leather handbag waved that secret\nweapon menacingly in our direction and snarled something at us, which might\nhave meant anything, such as \u2018Hand over your roll-ups\u2019. Such was her fierce\ndemeanour that we would have quite willingly handed over anything had not Olga,\ntaking money out of her purse and passing it to the handbag waver, received in\nexchange three slips of paper. Ahhh, so these were our tickets to ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In spite of\nthe excitement, Kaliningrad seemed an age away. The old engine and its \u2018ready\nfor retirement long ago\u2019 rolling stock, rocked, swayed, groaned and complained\nevery snowbound inch of the way. The undernourished light cast a yellow shroud\nover the carriage windows through which nothing could be seen except darkness\nand small rivers of snow, which stretched out across the opaque expanse and\ncollected in miniature drifts along the lower edge of the sills. It was a long\njourney; a hard-on-your bum journey; and a very cold journey; but we got there\nin the end ~ we actually made it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The No\nFrills Travel Company operated from a station which was not in the least\ndifferent from what you would expect: it seemed that no expense had been spared\nin reinforced concrete and metal struts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nalighted, a little undignified, from the steep, narrow and rickety steps, onto\na slab. A bitter wind was channeling through the yawning end of the station\ncanopy and what signs there were to tell us how to escape from it were all, of\ncourse, in Russian. As this was Olga\u2019s home town, she did know the way, and\nalthough nothing softening or unremitting greeted us in the station\u2019s concrete underside,\nsimply evading the wind\u2019s cutting edge was consolation enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were now\npassing along the same subterranean passages that we had traversed yesterday\nwhen we arrived in Kaliningrad, from which we would cross the vast rectangular\nconcourse, and out through one of a number of wonderfully arched Gothic doors.\nWe had done this, and were now standing, ankle deep in snow, on the perimeter\nof that vast concrete plain where yesterday my senses had been so seductively\nstimulated by a scene so typically Soviet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nevening, however, there were no shoveling soldiers and all but one lonely taxi\ndriver. All was quiet on the Eastern Front. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately,\nwe had done our bit with public transport for the time being and were now all\ntogether looking out for Olga\u2019s friend, the man who was going to meet us. We\ndid not have long to wait. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antiques & collectables<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Andrew was\na big man; you could not make out his features as he had a muffler over the\nlower half of his face and a woolly hat pulled firmly down on his head. He\nshook our hands warmly, exchanged a few short words with Olga, laughed and\nembraced us and then beckoned for us to follow. Olga had confided my love of history\nand antiques to him and he was now leading us to an antique and collectables\nshop some few yards away on the edge of the station carpark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The antique shop was located in a large room in one of the relatively few remaining original K\u00f6nigsberg buildings. Access was gained by passing through a large, heavy, metal studded door, on the other side of which was a veritable cornucopia of Soviet and pre-Soviet K\u00f6nigsberg relics ~ I\u2019ve stopped short of claiming that it was Aladdin\u2019s Cave, as Aladdin would most likely have found it difficult to get a visa here and is most likely on his way to England as we speak in the back of a Co-op lorry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I shall not\ndwell on all the goodies I was interested in here, or what I would have liked\nto have bought. In a couple of days\u2019, we would return to this shop and make\nthree or four purchases. Suffice it to say, that for someone who had spent a\nlifetime involved with antiques and curios this was a place far beyond Aladdin\nand his half-brother Ali Barber (since arrested in Rochdale).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were\nactually on our way to Olga\u2019s mums, but our driver, Andrew, had been asked by\nOlga to wheel us around via K\u00f6nigsberg Cathedral, at this time one of the few\nhistoric buildings to have been given the green light for restoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

K\u00f6nigsberg Cathedral <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Konigsberg
K\u00f6nigsberg Cathedral (this photo taken in winter 2004)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we\ndrove, I remember passing by a great concrete monolith, softened by and\nshrouded in snow, and thinking to myself, what on earth is that? (I was later\nto learn it was the \u2018House of the Soviets\u2019). But the soon-to-hove-into view\nGothic turret, high perpendicular gables and broad sweeping roof of K\u00f6nigsberg\nCathedral erased all other sentiments, save for that inspired by the sublime\nscene in front of me. Now when I look back on my first impression of K\u00f6nigsberg\nCathedral, its haunting profile sketched against a whiteboard of snow, I gain\nsome insight into the extent to which already the dark and troubled past of\nthis place had begun to draw me in. But whilst the vast silhouette stamped its\nindelible mark, my recollections of the interior of K\u00f6nigsberg Cathedral in the\nyear 2000 are vague to say the least. I was entranced by my first view of the\nexternal edifice but wrote very little in my diary about what lay behind the\ngreat oak doors. I mention renovation work to various wall monuments and note\nthat it was not possible at that time to venture further than the ground floor,\nbut much more than this I did not register, although  the impression I have is that unlike today\nthe doors opened into one very large rectangular room in which seating and\nother appurtenances seemed to be at a minimum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that, strangely enough, is all that I can recall of K\u00f6nigsberg Cathedral on the inside; whilst the memory of its outside has never let go of me \u2026 and never let me go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2018-2021 Mick Hart. All rights reserved.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Svetlogorsk to Kaliningrad by Train 28 December 2000 There are a plethora of travel guides out there on the internet that like to make sweeping statements about Russian people, as if the people of the largest country in the world can be whittled down to fit ~ like a misconceived square peg into the round […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6],"tags":[99,98,96,35,97],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diary-2000","category-kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary","tag-kaliningrad-by-train","tag-kaliningrad-winter","tag-konigsberg-cathedral","tag-mick-hart-svetlogorsk","tag-svetlogorsk-by-train"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":143,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/christmas-in-gdansk\/","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":0},"title":"Christmas in Gdansk","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"11 \u0444\u0435\u0432\u0440\u0430\u043b\u044f, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Christmas in Gdansk Updated: 11 February 2022 | First published: 5 October 2019 ~ Christmas in Gdansk Christmas in Gdansk\u00a0is the fourth article in a series of posts that recount my first visit to Kaliningrad in 2000, and my first impressions of the land, the people and its culture. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Diary 2000"","block_context":{"text":"Diary 2000","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/diary-2000\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Christmas in Gdansk Mick Hart & Joss Hart","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Mick-Hart-Joss-Hart-in-Gdansk-2000.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Mick-Hart-Joss-Hart-in-Gdansk-2000.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Mick-Hart-Joss-Hart-in-Gdansk-2000.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Mick-Hart-Joss-Hart-in-Gdansk-2000.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Mick-Hart-Joss-Hart-in-Gdansk-2000.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13354,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/from-kaliningrad-to-zelenogradsk-and-svetlogorsk\/","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":1},"title":"From Kaliningrad to Zelenogradsk and Svetlogorsk","author":"Mick","date":"18 \u0430\u0432\u0433\u0443\u0441\u0442\u0430, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"How to get from Kaliningrad to Zelenogradsk and Svetlogorsk 18 August 2025 \u2013 From Kaliningrad to Zelenogradsk and Svetlogorsk One of the things that I like about being in Kaliningrad is that it is not far away from the Baltic coast. The main resorts, Zelenogradsk (in German times: Cranz) is\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "VISITOR'S GUIDE to KALININGRAD"","block_context":{"text":"VISITOR'S GUIDE to KALININGRAD","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/visitors-guide-to-kaliningrad\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"From Kaliningrad to Zelenogradsk and Svetlogorsk. 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Without genning up on its history, I would estimate that it dates to around the 1920s and is designed and constructed in a neo-Gothic style. The wooden cladding, turret\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Kaliningrad Region Photo Gallery"","block_context":{"text":"Kaliningrad Region Photo Gallery","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/visitors-guide-to-kaliningrad-region\/kaliningrad-region-photo-gallery\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20200102_121900.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1417,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/open-letter-to-president-trump\/","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":3},"title":"Open Letter to President Trump","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"30 \u043c\u0430\u044f, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Mr President Trump, Kaliningrad is not closed to tourism* *With due deference given to the current coronavirus situation Dear President Trump I hope you will not mind me writing an open letter to you to advise you that the advice your adviser is giving you is the wrong advice.\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Diary 2019\/2020"","block_context":{"text":"Diary 2019\/2020","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/diary-2019-2020\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Open Letter to President Trump","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/675px-Kaliningrad_05-2017_img04_Kant_Island.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/675px-Kaliningrad_05-2017_img04_Kant_Island.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/675px-Kaliningrad_05-2017_img04_Kant_Island.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":165,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/kaliningrad-first-impression\/","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":4},"title":"Kaliningrad: First Impression","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"1 \u043d\u043e\u044f\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Kaliningrad: First Impression 27 December 2000 Strangely enough, there is nothing in my year 2000 diary regarding our first glimpse of Kaliningrad by train. Later, in 2001, when I returned to Kaliningrad via Vilnius, I did refer to the maze of concrete jutting out and across the horizon which asserted\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Diary 2000"","block_context":{"text":"Diary 2000","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/diary-2000\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3353,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/see-you-in-kaliningrad-russia\/","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":5},"title":"See you in Kaliningrad Russia!","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"11 \u044f\u043d\u0432\u0430\u0440\u044f, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Decision My first visit to Kaliningrad in 2000: 23 December 2000 See you in Kaliningrad Russia! is one in a series of posts that recount my first visit to Kaliningrad in 2000, and my first impressions of the land, the people and its culture. Updated: 11 January 2021 |\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Diary 2000"","block_context":{"text":"Diary 2000","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/diary-2000\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"See you in Kaliningrad Russia!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Airplane-pictogram-by-Rones.png?fit=463%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}