Almaty, Kazakhstan

Almaty is the largest city in Central Asia and has a population of 2 million people. Despite this we found the city to be very peaceful and it had a calming atmosphere. The streets in the city centre are wide and lined with beautiful trees and hedges. Often there is a pedestrian pavement in the middle of the street which is protected by the greenery.

Almaty is very multicultural city and this is evident by its thriving restaurant and nightlife scene. For the two evenings we were there we ate delicious shashlik, which is traditional marinated meat skewers and then went to a great Chinese restaurant. China and Kazakhstan share a large boarder so there are many Chinese influences in the city. Both restaurants were mid to upper class and were some of the best food we have had in a long time. Each meal was just over £10 per head and this included enough food for two people and a couple of drinks each. A bit different to London prices!

During our two days, we packed in a lot, walking between sights, which felt very safe and relaxed. We visited the central Green Market which sold everything including all sorts of meat. Some familiar to what we have back home but also a lot of other things including horse!

We took a cable car to the top of a large hill (Kok-Tobe) that overlooks the city which had impressive views and a slightly dated amusement park at the top (also a statue of The Beatles).

In Panfilov Park we visited the Zebkov Cathedral, which is a beautiful coloured wooden Russian Orthodox Church which was filled to the brim with gold.

We also used the metro to travel to the Kazakhstan Museum of Arts. The metro was easy to use, but the wait times between trains were pretty long, making the London District Line look speedy!

The real highlight was the Arasan spa and bath house. Bath houses are very popular in Central Asia and this is the largest one in the region. It’s an imposing building with lots of domes and is split into two, one half for men the other for women. On arrival we hired towels, sandals and a sheet, which we were told we would need. We said goodbye to each other and went to our separate sections, both prepared for nudity which although isn’t compulsory is the norm. Once inside the bath house, we moved (naked) between the Finnish sauna, Russian Banya, Turkish steam baths and Moroccan Hammam. To cool down, we took contrast bucket showers and floated in the circular plunge pools. We both had very aggressive back massages, which although were nice, left some bruising and we’re far from relaxing.

We didn’t partake, but a Russian tradition is to whip each other with either birch or oak branches in the Banya, which is a very hot room. We also both noticed that most people were wearing traditional felt pointed hats. We later found out these are worn to trap the cool air around your head and protect your hair from the heat in the Banya.

The whole experience was really lovely and our skin felt silky smooth after 3 hours at the spa. Rory even managed to sneak in a beer in the on site restaurant. I think we both paid about £20 each for the whole experience.

Overall we really loved our time in Almaty, a great start to our world trip.