I stayed in Almaty for a few nights as part of the Ski Adventure Kazakhstan tour to visit a few of the ski resorts near Almaty.

On arrival we had a guided city tour of some of the main attractions of Almaty. Perhaps it was that I’d only had a couple of hours of sleep after flying in from Munich via Istanbul and was existing in a different time zone, but the city didn’t really wow me visually. Possibly it was because it was a grey day and the mountains not visible, or perhaps it was just that I had no well informed expectations of the city. It was more modern than I’d expected and the historic attractions were nothing like ancient Silk Road attractions of Tashkent or Samarkand, but rather monuments and buildings with more recent history. It was good that we had a tour guide to explain the relevance of some of the sights to gain more appreciation for the local culture. My favourite spot was probably the Ascension Cathedral. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I quite enjoyed that I didn’t find it at all beautiful. The Soviet era has a bit to answer for! I also enjoyed some of the local people watching.

The Green Bazaar was much smaller than I expected so at least it wasn’t overwhelming. I liked wandering around looking at some of the unusual produce and buying dried fruits and nuts and refreshing my bartering skills.

Like a lot of modern cities that don’t have Instagram worthy sightseeing spots, the main fascination of Almaty was just wandering the streets and absorbing the culture. Visiting a couple of bars and some varied restaurants was also a nice element of staying in the city. And needless to say, it was a great base to visit some of the nearby ski resorts.
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