Kostanay - a city on Tobol

Original! Here is a unique feature of the city called Kostanay.

 

Kostanay is an original city that stands out in Kazakhstan. And the point here is not in the local features of architecture, peculiar and, of course, unique. A mentality, a special and calm atmosphere and sometimes a serene image of everyday and nowhere in a hurry - that's what you can feel in the city of Kostanay.

 

And if in the Chelyabinsk bus you need to shout about your stop loudly and in advance, then in the Kostanay bus, at the stop of the green bazaar, for example, you will want to ask the driver: will we ever go?

 

 

Kostanay is an international city. Under the shadow of not all, fashionably cut trees, Kazakhs, Russians, Chechens, Azerbaijanis, Ukrainians, Koreans and others are slowly going about their business on the streets of Kostanay. Although Kazakhstan has recently become very fond of renaming cities, streets and even the country, Kostanays still proudly call themselves Kustanays.

 

Kostanay is located on the left bank of the Tobol River. A notable place is the beautiful promenade, which opened in 2017. You can walk along it in the evening with a girl, admire the sunset, and when the Kostanay sun sets somewhere beyond Karbyshev Street, you can go down the stairs and swim in the warm water of the Malibu beach. Of course, if the sharply continental climate is favorable to you.

 

 

There are three shopping and entertainment centers in Kostanay. Given the size of the population and the length of the city today, Kostanay residents are quite enough. “TsUM”, “Kostanay-PLAZA” and “March”, in addition to excellent souvenirs and trips to the cinema, you can try small masterpieces of national cuisine, which push fast food dishes into the background.

 

Kostanay Plaza shopping center is located in the north-west of the city in a rapidly developing area in terms of development, the north-west. And in the center of Kostanay opposite the shopping center "Tsum" is the shopping center "Mart", once the famous cinema "Kostanay".

 

 

Thanks to modern progress, the shopping center "Mart" has a modern cinema, presented in 2 variations: 3D and easy viewing. But despite all Kostanay residents and most of them liked the Kostanay cinema in its original form. In protest before the transformation of the cinema into a shopping center, Kostanayans even held protests. But, unfortunately for many, their voice has already been lost in time and three floors of the modern entertainment complex, which more than compensated for all previous indignation and indignation with its entertainment choice.

 

Not far from the shopping center "Mart" is a marvelous park, a visit to which is mandatory! Walking, you can contemplate the architecture of the building of the French center. And in the evening and especially at night, in the very center of the park in front of you in all its glory will appear “singing fountain”. There used to be swans swimming in it.

 

 

From above, from the cabin of the Ferris wheel, you can better see the rapidly developing city. In Kostanay there are no such large factories and multi-storey buildings as, for example, in Chelyabinsk. The city is visible as if in the palm of your hand. From a bird’s-eye view, you can see the wonderful architecture of the building of the Kazakh Drama and Opera Theater, the Kostanay chapel and even a new embankment in the distance, built in honor of the city’s birthday, walks along which are very pleasant, especially in the evening.

 

The city does not stand still in its development. The only thing that sometimes catches the eye is the inconsistency of the names of reality. As, for example, Kobylandy Batyr Street, once the former Herzen Street. As is usual in the center, the street is a grandiose, great spectacle. The roads, which are the main arteries of the city, intertwine with each other at the ring, in the center of which on the monument stands the monument to Kobylanda Batyr on horseback.

 

And everything would be fine, but it is worth moving away from the center, as a tourist (and any other person) can find something suitable for himself on the subject for the work of M. N. Zadornov. 5-storey house of Soviet construction with its architecture going into a distant, not subject to repair past. Dilapidated heating pipes with torn insulation, sprinkled with bottles and other garbage. And drunken people are an integral part of the design of this place. And on the very tablet proudly flaunts the inscription Kobylanda Batyr AVENUE.

 

But times change! Indeed, sometimes change starts small, in this case with a sign. In the same, not yet renamed area of KSK, you can walk along the Boulevard of Youth, crowned with arches at the entrance. And in a modern stadium to cheer for the local team “Tobol”, so diligently trying to get into the top three, and the zeal of which can be envied by other teams that have already taken their prize places.

 

To the surprise of Kostanay residents and the great joy of their cars, roads were repaired almost all over Kostanay in 2017. Not bypassed this innovation and the Military town, the roads of which for about 20 years more like massage roads.

 

Yes, but almost all the streets of Kostanay today are lit lanterns, and there are no longer those streets of broken lanterns, as on the street. Sports, Green or Headquarters Street.

 

If you have been to Kostanay before and you suddenly feel nostalgia for those times, you can go to the Kzhbi district, the 2nd Kostanay or the Red Partisan. Staying in it more than compensates for this sense of nostalgia. But it is better not to go to such places alone. It is not for nothing that they say, “Ksk – the region of miracles – went out – the corner disappeared!”

 

 

In such distant places, Kostanay streets are branched and not as well lit as closer to the center, so, passing by them, you still need to try to consider how to capture all the beauty in the picture, originally hidden.

 

In the evening, the mosques of the city are mysteriously illuminated. And in the middle of the night, if you do not sleep at three o'clock, you can enjoy the wonderful singing of prayers. Whether you like it or not, it is beautiful. Kostanay - how to believe banners - the city of young people. The young, first of all, the soul!

 

Author of the text: Alexander Samokhvalov

Photos: gk170, playcast, from the author's personal archive