What should we do
Stretching along the two banks of the never-freezing Yenisei, the mountains are part of the cityscape and skyline in Krasnoyarsk, and the taiga begins right at the edge of the city. It makes you feel like you are in nature, you don’t need to buy mountain boots, fleece sweatshirt and mosquito and midge net for contact. The only thing you need to remember is sunscreen and dark glasses, because in Siberia the sun is not afraid to shine.
To meet the Eastern Sayan mountain system in Krasnoyarsk, it makes sense to go to the Bobrovy Log fan park, located 15 minutes from the center, on the border of the Krasnoyarsk Stolby national park, with light, sneakers and comfortable trousers. Opened in 2006, the fan park offers its visitors a wide variety of outdoor activities: in winter, these are ski slopes of all colors, an ice rink and a rodelbahn (a mix of amusement, roller coaster and toboggan), and in summer, that is, currently the same rodelbahn , zip -rider, skiing over the pines on the chairlift and the beach by the pool.
After getting on a cable car – and this entertainment can hardly be classified as extreme – the Beaver Log visitor may find himself at the exit of the road, where it is enough to walk eight kilometers to the famous Krasnoyarsk columns. The road is not close, but it is not difficult either – to see the syenite rocks in the middle of the Sayan spurs, whose outlines resemble giants (by the way, you can go there with a trip so as not to get lost), you do not need to stubbornly climb the mountains.
In general, the Krasnoyarsk Pillars National Park stretches 34 kilometers from northwest to southeast, and the area of this part of the mid-mountain taiga landscape exceeds 48 thousand hectares. But it is not necessary at all to skip them all.
Another comfortable pastime in Krasnoyarsk – or rather around it – can be a yacht cruise along the Krasnoyarsk Sea, that is, a reservoir formed after the construction of the Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric power station in the late 60s. Warm air, gentle wind, pine trees and rocks rising on the shore of one of the largest artificial reservoirs in the world will help you clear your head for a while and forget about your work and worries. Because there is nothing better than looking warmly at the sun in the middle of the taiga and watching a kite in the sky. Yes, and swim in the parking lot next to the Royal Gates.
Arriving in Krasnoyarsk, you should not miss your share of affection: in the center of the city is Tatyshev Island, where the squirrels run from mink to mink completely freely, where the park of the same name is located. those who want to propose to them. Squirrel-sized animals sometimes run after each other, ignoring tourists trying to treat them. And sometimes – they themselves come in anticipation of carrots. However, feeding squirrels isn’t all that fun for tourists, it’s a familiar way to spend their free time for citizens who adore squirrels.
what to watch
The city of Krasnoyarsk was founded in 1628 – as a usual prison in Siberia. It was named Krasny Yar because of the red color of marl, a rock that forms the thickness of the left bank of the Kacha River. The wooden prison was not preserved – it burned in a fire in 1773. But you can get an idea of what the city looked like in the 19th and early 20th centuries by walking through the historic part of the city with its classic wooden houses and Art Nouveau rental houses.
Despite the fires that are inevitable in any city built with wooden houses – and Krasnoyarsk survived the devastating fires of 1735, 1773 and 1881 – many examples of wooden architecture, including Art Nouveau, have been preserved here. These are, for example, the Music School No. 5 on Dekabristov Street, built in 1909-1911, the Children’s and Youth Tourism and Local History Center on Karl Marx Street (which is also the former Sevastyanov’s home), the Bazilevich House and the bourgeois Volgang’s His house on Lenin Street. Surikov Art Museum is also located in a wooden house (also on Karl Marx Street).
In Krasnoyarsk, you need to look not only at the houses, but also at the river: the Yenisei that separates the city is equipped with a long embankment on which people walk, run and ride various wheeled vehicles.
And once on the embankment, one cannot but pay attention to the bridges, especially the Communal Bridge, which was built in 1961. It is he who is depicted on the 10-ruble note, which has never replaced coins in the city – here you can easily get crispy dozens as coins.
Why
The gastronomic picture of Krasnoyarsk is distinguished by a rare variety, from restaurants of classic Siberian cuisine to wine bars, from drinking establishments with specialty cocktails to gourmet restaurants. The choice is so large and diverse that you can go to Krasnoyarsk only for food, you can spare a few days for this, and it is quite a Moscow budget. And you don’t need to spare money for the city’s institutions – instead, you will regret not having time to go to the Central Market for smoked grayling.
The format of classic Siberian cuisine is represented, for example, by the restaurant “The Master of the Taiga” near the “Beaver Log”. The dumplings expected here, dumplings with various fillings from northern fish stroganina, venison, roe deer, salted mushrooms and rabbit to juniper venison, will give a complete picture of the set of dishes that Siberian rivers and taiga provide to local chefs.
But the most striking gastronomic impression from Krasnoyarsk will not be dumplings. Local restaurants with good author’s cuisine are similar to Moscow and St. Petersburg institutions.
Today there are five gourmet restaurants in Krasnoyarsk, including Tunguska, where chef Nikolai Bobrov has created his own modern version of Siberian cuisine. The version is elegant – especially in the form of sets, in which the institution found a harmonious concept related to the history, culture and geography of Yenisei Siberia. So in the set, dedicated to the pagan rituals of the indigenous peoples of the region, there is a mushroom sandwich or a crispy stone with roe tartare (all of which you can eat quite calmly). But if such sets seem like entertainment for private connoisseurs, you can order dishes from the menu, eat Yenisei whitefish or homemade dumplings with boiled cheeks.
In the Fresco restaurant, with the slogan “When food is art”, the brand’s chef and co-owner, Khayyam Aminov, proves by his own example that nothing is impossible for a person – even attaching a stone bullet to a piece of rock brought from the Irkutsk scale is four tons Here, in general, the brand chef’s its identity is almost central: for example, many items on the menu are served on the stone, as the owner likes to collect them. This passion is confirmed by one of the dishes: thin slices of marinated beef served on a red-hot cobblestone, on which the meat can be fried on the table by itself.
The most touching thing about Fresco is the brand chef’s set, which draws the guest into his inner world. The restaurant operator openly says that he grew up in the Pamir Mountains until he was seven years old – and the set is a reflection of his worldview, a story of growing up, a declaration of love for his family in which the traditions of eastern gastronomy are combined. with a harsh Siberian spirit.
And indeed: almonds and strawberries will be served as entertainment, and soon they will bring as part of the set an intricate figure of burgundy color, which will turn into beets on a colorful imitation of an oriental carpet. Shell filled with foam from Yenisey fish called lenok. But the most delicious and memorable dish according to a family recipe will be rice porridge with burnt sour cream.
This year, Krasnoyarsk’s gastronomic diversity was renewed with an event in which Aminov was also the ideological inspiration. From June 3 to July 29, the Wild Dinner Festival is held here.
In the middle of the taiga, a two-hour drive from Krasnoyarsk, without communication or running water, almost on their knees, Russia’s best chefs prepare sets from local products, and most of them were found (plucked, dug) three hours before the intended action.
Last Saturday, July 8, the fifth such meal was held in the marble quarry. Chefs of the Moscow restaurant Artest Artem Estafiev and the metropolitan Olluco Nikanor Veira, and with them Denis Kurkov, the chef of Fresco, gathered in one set what not only the taiga, but all Yenisey Siberia, including Khakassia and Tyva, gave. . The brainbone of a deer, the rib of a Khakas bull, a chocolate dessert with spruce and birch jelly, catfish garnished with herbs gathered in the taiga, including unripe currants and the root of a plant we call reed, although actually long-tailed.
It sounds crazy – but no one gets sick from fly agaric, unripe currants, or rice porridge with burnt sour cream.
The diversity of restaurants in Krasnoyarsk and the high flight of gastronomic fantasy are explained by the high competition between restaurant concepts and the support of regional authorities, who also participate in the organization of the Wild Dinner Festival. But that’s not all. In Krasnoyarsk, the Institute of Gastronomy of the Siberian Federal University, established in partnership with the cooking school of Paul Bocuse, equipped with the latest restaurant technology, has been operating for several years.
In addition, Yenisei Siberia itself has a high level of gastronomy. If in other regions the variety of dishes is limited to pine and juniper, cloudberry, deer, game and river fish, then Tuva (for example, yak) and Khakassia (especially bull) products are added to this wonderful set.