Almaty, Kazakhstan

Breakfast buffet at Renion Hotel in Almaty, Kazakhstan 🇰🇿 

After 2 days of a very limited choice of breakfast buffet at Jelsomino Hotel in Astana, our 3rd day buffet felt like a feast!!! Upon looking at a wide variety of fruits on the buffet table, my eyes were sparkling right away as if looking at gold bars in front of me :D

I had a bit of constipation for the first few days of my travel as I did not drink enough water (in flight and during travelling) and did not eat enough fruits that were good and helping my suggestion system. 

That was why I was so happy looking at the breakfast spread and immediately filled my plate with variety of fruits, took a cup of yoghurt, and another plate of salad plus the aromatic Americano from the coffee machine. 

Later on I squeezed some parts of my stomach with two sunny-side up eggs, chicken samosa, and beef samosa :D

In our itinerary, we supposed to visit the Central State Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan. However it was Tuesday and the museum was closed. Therefore, our cheerful and high spirit guide directed us to another museum, Almaty Museum, and briefed us the history of the city. 

Almaty Museum - Almaty, Kazakhstan

The name of the city, Almaty, used to be called Alma-ata, meaning 'father of apples' because apples grew wild in the Tian Shan mountain, and Almaty was the origin of these cultivated apple.

It is the largest city in Kazakhstan with a population more than 2 million people. It used to be the capital of Kazakhstan until year 1997, the government relocated its capital to Astana. Too many people living in Almaty while road was narrow, also air pollution and traffic jam was getting worse. Nevertheless, Almaty is still the most developed, most ethnically and culturally diverse city, as well as the major commercial, financial, and cultural center of Kazakhstan.

Republic Square of Almaty, Kazakhstan

Next, we visited the Republic Square, also known as the Independence Square or New Square with the former presidential palace, now used as  Almaty's city Mayor's office. Many national celebrations were held in this square. Below, they build underground shopping center back in 2007 and finished in 2012, currently under renovation again.

Ascension Zenkov Cathedral - Almaty, Kazakhstan

Museum of Musical Instruments, 28 Panfilov Guardsmen Park - Almaty, Kazakhstan

We moved to Ascension Zenkov Cathedral (a Russian Orthodox church, built entirely of wood, erected without a single nail) passing through the Kazakh Museum of Folk Musical Instruments (wooden building built in 1908, in old Russian architecture style, and filled with more than 1,000 instrument items inside); Panfilov Park of 28 Guardsmen (named after the Panfilov heroes who were the 28 soldiers of an Alma-Ata Infantry unit who allegedly died while defending Moscow from the German invasion during the World War 2 and the park used to be the old cemetery park), Memorial Complex World War 2 and the Eternal Flame.

Souvenir shops - Almaty Green Bazaar

Meat products, pickles, dairy products, honey - Almaty Green Bazaar

Dried fruits, spices, sweets - Almaty Green Bazaar

From there, we walked all the way to the Almaty Green Bazaar on Zenkov Street. We browsed through the souvenir shops, stationery stalls, clothing, various local food products such as: dried fruits, dried nuts, sweets, honey, spices, pickles, products from animals meat (kazy - horse meat sausage, kurdyuk - salted or smoked sheep butt lard), kimys and shubat (fermented horse and camel milk), as well as cream, cream cheese, yoghurt, kefir, kurt (dried cheese), and so on. 

Dried fruits and nuts tasting at the Almaty Green Bazaar

You cab try some of the products before buying or even without buying. Kazakh's local dried fruits products includes apricots, raisins, apples, cherries, and mulberries. These fruits are carefully selected, sun-dried, and packaged to preserve their natural flavors and nutritional value. Kazakhstan is also known for its premium quality nuts, such as: almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and hazelnuts. These nuts are harvested, shelled, and dried to ensure maximum freshness and taste. These types of dried products are very good gifts to bring back home as it is easy to store and carry inside your luggage.

Rakhat chocolate factory - Almaty, Kazakhstan

Located at about 5 minutes walk from the market, we stopped at the Lotte Rakhat JSC (Joint Stock Company) chocolate factory and confectionery store. The well-known one is the one with light blue cover - as shown at the above photo. If you take the Air Astana flight, they will give you the smaller piece during your flight as sample and national proud. 

Here, they also sell a wide variety of chocolate, sweets and biscuits, perfect for the sweet tooth person!! And also, a perfect gift to bring back home. Fyi, LOTTE Rakhat JSC is the only confectionary enterprise in Kazakhstan that has developed the production of special products for people with diabetes. This range includes several names of chocolate, sweets, cookies and wafers with lowered caloricity and sugar substitution for an equivalent natural raw material.

Almaty Central Mosque

We visited one of the largest mosques in Almaty and in Kazakhstan. It was designed to accommodate 7,000 worshippers, built on the site of the old Tatar mosque that dated to 1890 and caught fire in 1987. 

Kok Tobe Hill Gondola Cableway - Almaty, Kazakhstan

After having our late lunch, we headed to the Kok Tobe Hill by taking the cable car. "Kok Tobe" means "blue hill" in Russian language. It is a popular recreation area for local and also a nice place to see Almaty panorama city view and snow-capped mountains view at the surrounding plus sunset viewing from the top of the hill.

Kok Tobe - Recreation area on top of the mountain - Almaty, Kazakhstan

Up there, there are small amusement park containing Ferris wheel, apple fountain - wish fulfilling fountain while tossing a coin, small zoo, the Beatles statue, Kazakhstan local souvenir and handicraft shops, playground and rope park for children, and so on. 

 

Enjoying sunset at Monteverde Cafe on top of Kok Tobe Hill - Almaty, Kazakhstan

We found a table and comfortable sofa where we could have our coffee, dessert, ice cream, local beer, and even food for dinner at the Monteverde Cafe. We sat down, relaxed, chit chatted and watched the sun went down. Such a beautiful scenery up there.

If you have more time, you can also visit the Shymbulak mountain and ski resort, located around 25 km from the Almaty city. The place is popular for its mild climate, large quantity of sunny days and great amount of snow through the winter. 

So, hope you had an idea where to go, what to do, and how Almaty looked like by now and enjoyed looking at the photos too :)