Samara, today's host city and another city I had never heard of. So I started my search by looking up their football team, but I am unaware of Krylia Sovetov. They were just promoted to the Russian Premier League. Their best European result was getting through a qualifying round of the UEFA Cup in 2005-06 but they lost in the first round to Holland's AZ Alkmaar.
Samara is about 600 miles south-east of Moscow. It is known as a centre of production of aerospace equipment and is a reason why the new stadium, the Samara Arena, will be renamed the Cosmos Arena after the World Cup.
If you are in Samara, be sure to go down to the river, the Volga. Apparently the embankment is spectacular and the place to go for a walk, with a stop for a coffee or an ice cream. Or you could visit Stalin's Bunker. He never did. It was built in 1942 in case Moscow fell to the Germans.
But this, from Lonely Planet, would be my favourite thing to do in Samara:
"Samara's own Zhiguli Brewery, 2km north of the centre along the embankment, offers a couple of diverse drinking options. Most popular on a warm day is to bring an empty plastic water bottle and fill it from a small shop inside the brewery and then walk along the river. You can also purchase smoked and salted fish to eat as a snack."
No, not the smoked and salted fish, but the filling up of an empty water bottle, not with water.
No comments:
Post a Comment