How a Ufa Journalist's View of Yekaterinburg Changed
The holiday break has come to an end, and it«s time to share how everyone spent their weekends. Our colleague from UFA1.RU visited the capital of the neighboring region of Bashkortostan and shares his impressions. See what surprised and disappointed him about Yekaterinburg.
«And you say Ufa is a city of contrasts»
That phrase has long become a cliché. Tell me, in which city of over a million is everything arranged so that these contrasts don«t catch the eye? In every city, something is being built, and against this background, old houses create dissonance. But everything is known by comparison, and in that, Ufa, in my opinion, falls short of the Ural capital.
Probably, my impressions are affected by the difference between the 2000s and our days. I studied for five years in Sverdlovsk Oblast and then lived there for another five, but, frankly, I didn«t have particularly warm feelings for it then, and I don»t now. I«ve always kept in mind (and in my heart) that my place is in Bashkortostan. Moreover, it was only after my departure that Yekaterinburg took off in development.
Before, neither their embankment, nor Plotinka (the dam), nor even their pedestrian street, Vaynera, could impress me with their appearance. That makes the changes that have happened to the city even more obvious to me. Now all of the above locations look much more picturesque and «walkable.»
The same embankment was extended over several years, and, pleasingly, the residential high-rises around it were built so as not to block the view, leaving space for the panorama. You walk along the Iset River through the little squares and admire the views.
They also opened a sports arena — it looks cool, although the fences are set up in a way… at first I even thought it wasn«t working yet.
On weekends, Plotinka looked like a kingdom of celebration. They set up a whole amusement park there; there were a lot of people during the day, but in the evening — especially — the lines to the entrance stretched for tens of meters.
On the main square nearby, they flooded a skating rink and surrounded it with fir trees. The square at the Church on the Blood was filled with ice sculptures.
Much attention, in particular, was drawn to the figure of a soldier with a violin, which clearly references the late Yevgeny Prigozhin«s Wagner Private Military Company.
But even without the holiday decorations, there was plenty to see in the city. Let«s return to that very »city of contrasts.« In Yekaterinburg, there is construction almost on every corner, houses are growing both singly and in whole »flocks.«
They appear even near historical objects, which against the backdrop of new construction look cute and charming. I«m sure, however, that local architectural preservationists are not happy with everything, but, remembering Ufa»s Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsii Street, I want to cite Yekaterinburg as an example.
Oh well, I didn«t conduct any serious research — I just walked around and gawked. What else I noticed — the flooring in the underpasses. Maybe I don»t understand something about shoe choice, but other pedestrians were walking on them cautiously. Well, really, it«s very slippery; it wouldn»t be hard to fall and crack your head open.
On the other hand, the snow on the sidewalks — at least in the city center — is being cleared. I won«t say much about the trams, otherwise Ufa»s public transport fans will die of envy (and about the metro — let«s not even mention). They run at intervals of 10–15 minutes.
And here, too, paid parking zones have been introduced. By the way, I«ll share the main reason for being happy for Yekaterinburg.
This stretch of 8 Marta Street since the distant 2006 has been my main association with the Ural capital. Back then, cars parked along the curb, and it drove me crazy. On this sidewalk — by the way, on one of the main streets of the city, almost in the center — pedestrians were forced to squeeze along a narrow path, fenced off by bumpers.
The hated sidewalk set my attitude towards Yekaterinburg as a whole. Here and there, I discovered similar absurdities. How this city annoyed me. Thank God, the sidewalk near the circus has been put in order. Although, in my opinion, it should be widened, but you can«t move a house. Anyway, my attitude towards Yekaterinburg has changed since then — of course, not only because of one street. I walked around it with great pleasure this time.
I said I don«t have warm feelings for Yekaterinburg, but don»t think I«m completely cold to it. After all, it is full of context familiar to me personally, but it will also appeal to anyone who is able to notice the little details with which the locals express their love for the city.
We previously reported on the impressions of a foreign tourist, who for most of his life didn«t even know that Yekaterinburg existed on the map. Umut Alıntaş was born in Turkey and now lives in Portugal, from where he sets out on a journey at every opportunity.
We also wrote about what Yekaterinburg residents love about their city and why, on the contrary, they dream of moving away.
