To our surprise, not only was there little set up in the way of tourism, but the city didn’t have a single hostel.
After trekking around town for over an hour – checking hotel prices along the way – we finally sucked up our pride and shelled out nearly $100 USD for a room. Even though it was the cheapest hotel, we still felt a bit cheated.
Additionally, the room was not exactly posh. As in, it was a sparse, Soviet compound that probably hadn’t been updated since Stalin was at the helm.
On the plus side, the hotel’s restaurant offered some comic relief.
And, it was located on the Northern bank of the Yenisey River right next to the Krasnoyarsk Bridge, which is featured on the 10 Ruble note.
The bridge is stunning in the evenings and at night.
We had a few unexpectedly delicious meals in Krasnoyarsk too – they were even vegetarian friendly!
Across the street from our hotel was the Regional Museum of Local Lore, which curiously was housed in a building with a distinctly Egyptian motif.
Inside, however, was a well organized and surprising extensive collection of artifacts documenting the entire history of the region from the age of dinosaurs to the 2010 Census. There were even English translations!
For decades, the city played host to countless political exiles; forced into the heart of Siberia, and out of the way of the powers that be.
These days Krasnoyarsk is best known for its Stolby National Park, named for the Stolby (meaning “pillar” in Russian) rock formations.
We ventured to the National Park on our last day in town and found simply getting there to be quite an undertaking – requiring a lengthy bus ride and a 2 mile walk just to get to the Park entrance.
Our mother is a geologist, so our trip to Stolby was largely based on the knowledge that visiting a famed Russian geologic wonder would bring her some amount of happiness.
We were pressed for time, so with a set turn-around time we nearly took off running up the hills to ensure that we would reach the Stolby.
We moved as fast as we could, but with a slight drizzle and muddy trails, we didn’t reach the main concentration of pillars.
There were a few small Stolby along the way that we snapped photos of and we grabbed a few rocks for our mother before heading back to town.
The National Park was a great break from spending so much time in cities and on trains, but it wasn’t the best part of Krasnoyarsk…
