Отпуск в Саратове (2023) (Travel to Saratov, Russia, en)

Why Saratov?
I like middle sized cities which are human-friendly to walk in the center by foot, but not very quiet to be scared at night. Actually, Saratov is the 17th-largest city in Russia by population. The city has an embankment near the Volga River, which, of course, makes it appealing to look at the view.

What is my general impression of the city? 👉

Its center feels like a third of it is dead houses, broken to the way of soon to be demolished or just slowly deteriorating. It has some atmosphere, but it's sad and worrying too. Another part looks either saved to a stable version of itself or built anew. There’s a renovation going near some houses.

It’s hard to tell the impression, because I’m from Moscow. And all I can say - is very subjective. On the one hand Saratov is the administrative center of Saratov Oblast, it has a lot of governmental buildings, jurisdictional and lawyer centers, universities. On the other hand there’s still bad asphalt on the roads for pedestrians, that with renovation’s fences and with parkings of cars makes me wish for improvements in this field. It feels like the city will change, sooner or later it will become neater, there’s all of the potential for it...

Because of the hills near the river, the motorized scooters aren't as constant as in Moscow, which makes a walk more calm. But this type of transport develops there anyways. I hope they decide to make special roads for it.

What do I like there?
I liked that in the city there were enough museums and exhibitions to visit, an embankment with a nice view, the way that roads are not as crowded and easier to cross than in Moscow. I also like the view on the way to the other small city, the road goes through large fields, hills and valleys, green in summer.

How I had traveled?
I like to go by myself, go sightseeing and also to places which are not that famous. For several days I was on my feet for about 11-15 km. Maybe except for the days when I took a bus trip. In the middle of the day between the museums I visited canteens, which I appreciate as a tourist. That was the first vacation when I woke up the same as at home, usually at 5:30, and did a short workout. Days went fast, I haven't been able to reflect about it in the evenings.

So I can’t say it’s a relaxing trip, but it has its worth anyways. The tour to Khvalinsk city was long, and I was a little bit tired sitting in the bus during the commutement. But the views from the windows were beautiful.

Just some thoughts.
A lot of visits to art museums gave me a constant thought about the topic: "What art is a good one?" I mean "How can you distinguish good art from a lazy fake one?" What if I understand some specific type of art and don't understand the other? Is it my taste? Can I have my own taste without much knowledge?

There are different types of drawings: ones which are drawn by current local artists recently or during their lives, academic ones by students, historical ones, authors of which lived more than 200 years ago. I even saw the works of the children.

I just watch pictures and I like it or feel neutral or feel disappointment. But I explain my feeling by the topics of the pictures, details in it, stylistic degree of simplifying reality into a magic world of the imagination. Usually I see something amazing when I don’t expect to see it.
So that was my vacation. It took me about 15-18 hours to make a video about it (which you probably saw). Hope it was interesting enough. Sorry, if not very informative.