What can England fans expect in Nizhny Novgorod?
If there’s one thing more exciting than the prospect of watching England limp out of the group stages of next year’s World Cup, it’s the chance to learn more about the enigmatic nether regions of the host nation.
We all know Moscow and St Petersburg, each soaking in its own charm and character, but what of Kazan or Yekaterinburg? Nizhny Novgorod, anyone?
Of the 11 cities set to welcome thousands of football fans from around the world, we would wager the names of eight, maybe nine, have never crossed the lips of those poised to visit.
With that in mind, here’s a crash course on the Russian host cities you’ve never heard of. Or follow these links for the lowdown on Moscow and St Petersburg.
1. Samara
Where is it? To the south-west, not far from the Kazakhstan border.
Population: 1.2million
Of note: Known as Kuybyshev, in honour of the Bolshevik leader Valerian Kuybyshev, from 1935 to 1991.
How to get there: Kurumoch International Airport, as well as rail links to Moscow and other major cities.
“Samara is a very diverse city,” says the official World Cup literature. “It is a merchant town and an important aerospace centre; it is athletic, musical and youthful. Back in 1916, Boris Pasternak, Russian poet, novelist and future Nobel Prize laureate, wrote: ‘Samara is the best, the most sinful, most elegant and most comfortable part of Moscow, cut out from the city and transplanted on the banks of the Volga.’”
Samara is indeed home to Russia’s aerospace centre and is where the rocket that took Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, was built.
There is also a Football Museum, opened in 2007; Vladimir Lenin Memorial Home, where the Ulyanov family once rented a flat; and a subterranean stronghold made for Joseph Stalin but never used, today known as “Stalin’s Bunker”.
The city on the banks of the Volga is twinned with Palermo, Italy, and St Louis, US, among others.
2. Yekaterinburg
Where is it? East of the Urals.
Population: 1.4million
Of note: The Church on Blood in Honour of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land was built on the site of the 1918 executions of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.
How to get there: Kolstsovo International Airport is one of the largest in the country.
In contrast to St Petersburg’s “window to Europe”, Yekaterinburg is Russia’s “window to Asia”. Capital of the Urals, the region is of great economic importance and full of natural treasures, such as oil, gas, gold mines and Europe’s largest emerald deposit.
Why not swing by the Boris Yeltsin Museum? The former leader was born nearby.
3. Rostov-on-Don
Where is it? Southern Russia, on the banks of the Black Sea.
Population: 1.1million
Of note: Home of the Don Cossacks.
How to get there: Platov International is the city’s brand spanking new airport.
“The story of the Don Cossacks, delectable fish, and all the traditions of a large trading port: Rostov-on-Don treats visitors to the flavours of the Russian south,” says Russia's World Cup information website. The city, twinned with Glasgow, boasts a number of tourist sites including Russian Orthodox churches, as well as the heritage of a raft of renowned authors, including Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Maxim Gorky and Alexander Pushkin.
The Upside Down House - where, you guessed it, everything is upside down - sounds perfect for travellers with time to kill.
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4. Sochi
Where is it? The Russian Riviera - on the Black Sea.
Population: 370,000
Of note: Winter Olympics 2014 host city.
How to get there: Adler-Sochi International Airport.
We all know about Sochi, don’t we? The unofficial summer capital of Russia, where past tsars and Joseph Stalin had dachas (the latter of which can be visited), Sochi boasts a subtropical climate that warms the Russian elite every summer.
But it’s not all glitz and glamour, there’s the Nikolai Ostrovsky Literary Memorial Museum and Sochi’s Museum of Sporting Glory.
The people behind the World Cup boast of its “impressive modern infrastructure”.
5. Saransk
Where is it? Saransk is capital of the Mordovia region, about 400 miles east of Moscow.
Population: 297,000
Of note: Gerard Depardieu, the French actor, has been a registered resident here since 2013.
How to get there: There’s a daily direct train from Moscow, or a small airport.
“Saransk is a town of myths and legends, with a chequered past and big plans for the future,” says the World Cup’s promotional literature. “Remembering his trip to Saransk, Leo Tolstoy wrote in 1906: ‘Old pines with long trunks and short crowns. The soil is black, and a little stony… Backwoods. The Sura River, and the best sturgeon ever.’ By 2018, when the FIFA World Cup arrives here, the myths of Saransk will have been transformed into architecture.” Intruguing.
Do not miss the Museum of Mordovia Folk Culture, or a triumvirate of excellent squares - Millennium Square, Victory Square and Soviet Square.
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6. Kaliningrad
Where is it? Prepare to have your mind blown.
Population: 437,456
Of note: Kaliningrad is Russia’s European enclave, wedged between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast.
How to get there: Khrabrovo Airport, train from Moscow, or ferry from a number of European cities.
During Soviet times Kaliningrad was a closed military zone, and after the fall of the USSR, it suffered a horrendous economic collapse. Today, however, it is popular with holidaying Russians, especially its half of the Unesco-protected Curonian Spit beach strip that it shares with Lithuania. Founded by Teutonic Knights in 1255, Kaliningrad was also home to the legendary Baron Munchhausen, philosopher Immanuel Kant and writer and compose Ernst Hoffman.
England in Kaliningrad: The city will host England v Belgium on 28 June 2018.
7. Volgograd
Where is it? On the banks of the Volga, south-west of Moscow.
Population: 1million
Of note: Volgograd was once known as Stalingrad.
How to get there: Volgograd International Airport connects to other major Russian cities, or its connected to Moscow by rail.
It’s hard to detach the city from its past, a city made by famous by a devastating Second World War siege. The official literature notes: “Over the course of the last hundred years, Volgograd has often been a prominent figure on the Russian and global stage. Many events have left their mark on the city in monuments, places and traditions.
“Over the last century the city has changed its name three times: at the beginning of the twentieth century it was called Tsaritsyn and it was a backwater place on the banks of the Volga River. Then it became Stalingrad - the fortress that played a pivotal role in World War II, and later was renamed Volgograd, having become in the process a sunny and hospitable city whose residents love fishing, football, boat rides and beaches.”
The Motherland Calls, a monument to the Battle of Stalingrad and the tallest statue of a woman in the world, is well worth a visit. The imposing structure soars above the city, while beneath it is buried the famous Soviet sniper Vasily Zaytsev.
England in Volgograd: The city will host England v Tunisia on 18 June 2018.
8. Nizhny Novgorod
Where is it? 250 miles east of Moscow.
Population: 1.3 million
Of note: It was previously known as Gorky, in honour of the Soviet author.
How to get there: Strigino International Airport.
The city was previously closed to foreigners during the Soviet era to protect the security of its military research centre and production factories. Even street maps were not available for sale until mid-1970s. “At the same time Nizhny Novgorod is an old Russian merchant town with timber planking and carved window frames that survived the onslaught of modern architecture,” says the official literature.
The city boasts a Kremlin, “the cradle of Nizhny Novgorod”, built high above the Volga. The structure seen today was built in the 16th century.
England in Nizhny Novgorod: The city will host England v Panama on 24 June 2018.
9. Kazan
Where is it? Where the Volga meets the Kazanka.
Population: 1.1million
Of note: It is referred to the Sports Capital of Russia, having hosted the 2014 World Fencing Championships and 2015 World Aquatics Championships.
How to get there: Kazan International Airport, or by rail from Moscow.
Kazan, too, has a Kremlin, which in 2015 was visited by 1.5 million people. The World Cup organisers say Kazan is a “feast of a city”. “Cold winters and hot summers, Muslim minarets and Orthodox monasteries, the ancient archeological sites and the science city of Innopolis, forest steppes, taiga and the Great Silk Road all mix in the cauldron that is the Tatar capital,” they say. “The result of this melting pot is the self-sufficient and self-assured third capital of Russia that each year extends a warm welcome to a million guests who come here to experience all sorts of impressions and emotions.”
The city has its own Millennium Bridge, too.
