FROM ALMATY TO ASTANA ACROSS ENDLESS STEPPES AND SOVIET MEMORIES

JUNE 25 ⇾ JULY 04

DAY 1 | JUNE 25 | WELCOME TO KAZAKHSTAN

Meet-and-greet at Almaty International Airport and transfer to our hotel of choice in central Almaty.

Free day at your own leisure in Almaty and late-afternoon welcome drink and dinner with your guide for an introductory walkabout.

Overnight in Almaty.

DAY 2 | JUNE 26 | MONUMENTS AND ARCHITECTURES OF THE FORMER CAPITAL

Full-day architectural photo tour in and around Almaty: kaleidoscopic socialist-era mosaics, imposing monuments and memorials, modernist concrete patterns, richly decorated metro stations, and many other Soviet-era gems in what was once one of the most lively metropolis in the entire USSR.

During our time in Almaty, we'll also explore the true local face of the city, antithetically losing ourselves in both the evocative scents traditional food bazaars and the vibrant scene of contemporary art galleries.

Overnight in Almaty.

DAY 3 | JUNE 27 | SOVIET ALMATY OFF THE BEATEN PATH

Our second day in Kazakhstan’s former capital will be spent exploring and photographing the least-known facets of the city.

In the spirit of discovery and under the aegis of local urban activists, we will delve into the peripheries of this fascinating Central Asian urban sprawl, hunting for more monuments, mosaics, architectural shapes, and other leftovers from the heydays of the Kazakh SSR.

Overnight in Almaty.

DAY 4 | JUNE 28 | UP TO THE MOUNTAINS

One cannot visit Almaty and ignore its stunning natural surroundings: you can't leave Rome without visiting the Colosseum, you can’t leave Almaty without ascending up to its crown of awe-striking mountains.

In spite of the strong architectural focus of our tour, we’ll take a day off from the city’s wide array of massive concrete structures and towering bronze statues and spend a full day in the glorious nature of southern Kazakhstan: leave your thoughts down in the heat of the valley and enjoy the brisk air and rejuvenating atmosphere of the high altitudes!

Overnight in Almaty.

DAY 5 | JUNE 29 | KARAGANDA’S LOST WONDERS

Morning flight from Almaty to Karaganda with Air Astana.

Karaganda is a quintessentially Soviet city famous for its grand socialist-realist artworks and the curious German heritage of its dwellers: in the 1940s up to 70% of the city's inhabitants were, indeed, ethnic Germans, most of whom were Soviet Volga Germans collectively deported to Kazakhstan on Stalin's order after Hitler’s foolish attack against the Soviet Union.

For the rest of the day we’ll embark on a Soviet-themed heritage tour around and about Karaganda: architecture, mosaics, monuments, and memorials.

Overnight in Karaganda.

DAY 6 | JUNE 30 | SOMBER MEMORIES

After a well-deserved late breakfast, we’ll travel west of Karaganda, heading for the small satellite town of Dolynka.

Dolynka is infamously known as the unfortunate site of the Karlag, one of the largest Gulags established during the darkest years of Stalin’s lugubrious reign.
First built in 1931, at the time of mass repressions against political opponents and disloyal citizens, the Karlag later received a second wave of German and collaborationist prisoners during and shortly after the disastrous Barbarossa debacle.

Almost immediately after the death of Stalin, the Soviet establishment started to dismantle the Gulag system: a countrywide general amnesty was granted and shortly thereafter, as Nikita Khrushchev was elected First Secretary, a thorough process of destalinization was thoroughly carried out across the entire Soviet Union, triggering a mass release and rehabilitation of political prisoners.

Overnight in Karaganda.

DAY 7 | JULY 01 | ACROSS THE STEPPE

Morning road trip from Karaganda to the industrial satellite town of Temirtau, where we’ll take a short city tour with a local guide, before heading further north towards Astana, the incongruously futuristic and slightly soulless capital of the country.

We’ll then conclude the day with a modern Kazakh dinner and an evening walk in downtown Astana.

Overnight in Astana.

DAY 8 | JULY 02 | ASTANA: KITSCH AND POMP

Our first full day in Astana will be centred around the post-Soviet pomp of the city, where brave-new-world architectural visions meet with both contemporary kitsch and post-modern dystopia.

As in Almaty, we’ll also throw a glance at the lively cultural scene of the capital: free-spirited art venues, glamorous events and a growing underground of improvised concerts and unconventional performances.

Overnight in Astana.

DAY 9 | JULY 03 | FADING TSELINOGRAD

Following an anti-chronological order, we’ll unveil the hidden and alas fading Soviet-era face of Astana, which was formerly known as Tselinograd – “City of the Virgin Lands” – after Khrushchev's Virgin Lands Campaign, a plan to dramatically boost the Soviet Union's agricultural production in order to alleviate the food shortages plaguing the Soviet people.

In the company of a local architecture buff, we’ll peruse the tangible legacy of bygone Tselinograd, slowly disappearing vestiges of a time full of hope and optimism, as the busy citizens of the Kazakh SSR were still looking at the horizon in search of their own “bright tomorrow”.

Overnight in Astana.