VOLGA VALLEY

The next leg down the Volga took us to Samara, an unpretentious city with a lot of sandy beach! There is some nice architecture, including an 18th century theatre (closed), and we went to a chamber concert in the Roman Catholic church built around 1900, used as a museum and then a cinema during the soviet period...

We stayed in the Bristol Hotel, built at the end of the 19th century and recently refurbished. The next door to ours bore the legend "Shalyapin's Room" - the great operatic bass stayed here in 1909 and gave a series of concerts in the theatre. He also gave an impromptu recital from his balcony to admirers in the street below!

During the war, Samara was the alternative capital of the USSR, and a bunker was built for Stalin 9 floors below ground level - but never used. The only people who moved here from Moscow were the members of diplomatic missions to Russia, who had a very pleasant time far from the horrors of the war...



From Samara we took another river trip three hours up to a little village called Shiroyaevo, made famous in the late 19th century by the visit of the artist Ilya Repin for a few months. Here he made studies for his famous painting (now in the Russian Museum in St Petersburg) of Barge-haulers on the Volga - using villagers as models. The village now is burgeoning with the construction of lots of new dachas by the Samara middle class; cruise ships journeying from Moscow to Astrakhan (the mouth of the Volga on the Caspian Sea) also call there to see the Repin House museum.

The next - rather undistinguished - city which we visited was Saratov. We arrived in time for a late breakfast in a pleasant French cafe, and later went to have another swim in the river, returning to the centre just in time before the heavens opened.

Our final stop on the Volga was Volgograd - better known to history as Stalingrad after the emblematic battle of 1941-42. Probably the turning point of the war, it cost over 1,000,000 Russian lives and 750,000 German, not to mention the many prisoners who died in labour camps. The city was virtually destroyed, but the invasion of Russia was stopped definitively and the German army's winning streak was broken.

For Russia it is the strongest symbol of the "Great Patriotic War" and the memories are very much alive, not just in the memorials but among the people - we saw two elderly people on the bus wearing their medals, apparently on an ordinary Monday.


We went to see the statue of Mother Russia and the eternal flame on Kurgan Mound, just north of the city centre and a key tactical point. The names of a 'token' 7,200 Russian soldiers are inscribed in the memorial. There is also a brand new church, but it is insignificant beside the 83 metre high statue.

==

La proxima etapa por el rio Volga nos llevo a Samara, ciudad de pocas pretensiones y mucha playa! Hay algunos edificios interesantes, entre ellos un teatro del siglo 18 (cerrado), y asistimos a un concierto de camara en la iglesia catolica de 1900, ocupada durante la epoca sovietica como cine y museo...

Nos alojamos en el hotel Bristol, del decada de 1890 y recien redecorado. La puerta al lado de la nuestra decia "Pieza de Shalyapin" - el gran bajo estuvo alojado aqui en 1909, cuando dio una seria de conciertos en el teatro. Tambien hizo un recital impromptu desde el balcon de su pieza para sus admiradores en la calle!

Durante la guerra, Samara era el capital alternativo del USSR, y se construyo un bunker para Stalin, 9 pisos debajo del suelo - nunca se ocupo. Los unicos que abandonaron Moscu era los diplomaticos, quienes pasaron un rato muy agradable lejos de la guerra...

Desde Samara hicimos otro viaje por el rio al pequeno pueblo de Shiroyaevo, famoso por la visita (siglo 19) del pintor Ilya Repin durante varios meses. Aqui hizo estudios para su pintura famosa (ahora en St Petersburgo) de los hombres que tiraban las barcazas por el Volga. El pueblo ahora esta floreciendo con la construccion de muchas dachas nuevas por la clase media de Samara; los cruceros que pasan desde Moscu a Astrakhan (embocadura del rio en el Mar Caspiano) tambien paran para que los pasajeros conozcan la casa/museo de Repin.

La proxima ciudad - no muy distinguida - que conocimos es Saratov. Llegamos a tiempo para un desayuno tardio en un cafe frances, muy agradable. Fuimos a la playa del Volga por la tarde, volviendo justo antes que se pusiera a llover a chuzos.

La ultima parada era Volgograd - mejor conocido como Stalingrad por la batalla emblematica de 1941-42. Probablemente el momento de quiebre de la guerra, costo mas de un millon de vidas rusas y 750.000 alemanas, sin hablar de los que murieron en los campos de trabajo. La ciudad fue destruida casi en su totalidad, pero la invasion nazi de Rusia fue parada y la suerte del ejercito aleman fue cambiado.

Para los Rusos, constituye el simbolo mas fuerte de la "Gran guerra Patriotica" y los recuerdos siguen muy vivos, y no solo en los recordatorios formales - vimos a dos viejitos en el tranvia luciendo sus medallas. Fuimos a ver la estatua de Madre Rusia, junta a la Llama eterna, en el monte Kurgan al norte del centro, un punto clave en la batalla. Estan inscritos 7.200 nombres de soldados rusos - como simbolo de los muertos. Tambien han hecho una iglesia nueva, pero se pierde al lado de la estatua, que tiene una altura de 83 metros.