THIS IS A CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL TOUR, WHICH INCLUDES A VISIT TO FOUR CITIES IMPORTANT IN THE LIFE OF THE “LEADER OF THE WORLD PROLETARIAT”, VLADIMIR LENIN (BORN VLADIMIR ULYANOV): MOSCOW, ST. PETERSBURG, ULYANOVSK AND KAZAN.
THIS ARTICLE WAS PREPARED BY THE ULYANOVSK REGION TOURISM AGENCY
Ulyanovsk is the city where Lenin was born, and lived for 17 years. Kazan is the city where he studied. St. Petersburg is the city where the October Revolution took place, and Moscow is the city where the foundations of a new state were laid and its new history began.
In Ulyanovsk, founded as Simbirsk and renamed in honour of Lenin’s family name in 1924, the route passes through places associated with Lenin’s childhood and youth. On a three-hour bus and walking excursion, tourists first visit the Lenin Museum House -the house of the Ulyanov family, and then learn about middle-class Simbirsk life in the Museum-Estate of city life “Simbirsk Life in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries”. Additionally, tourists can learn about the intricacies of secondary education in tsarist Russia at the “Simbirsk Classical Gymnasium” museum.
At the Lenin memorial, you pass from the era that gave birth to the great revolutionary to the era born of his genius. The route ends with a colourful Pioneer initiation ceremony, after which tourists can enjoy a beautiful view of the Volga River.
The Red Route in Ulyanovsk is an opportunity to learn how the personality of the future leader of the world proletariat developed, what important political processes took place in the country and what impact they had on the development of Ulyanovsk. Guests in the city will appreciate the contrast between the architectural appearance of pre-revolutionary Simbirsk in the well-preserved historic quarter, and the monumental structures erected to mark the centenary of the birth of Vladimir Lenin.
GETTING THERE
How to get there
From Moscow to Ulyanovsk, tourists can choose between a comfortable night train with a journey time of 14 hours, or a 1.5-hour flight. The flight St. Petersburg-Ulyanovsk takes 2 hours. The distance between Kazan and Ulyanovsk is 210 km, which is approximately a 3-hour drive.
Where to stay For those that appreciate luxury, there is the five-star “Imperial ClubDeluxe” hotel, which is located next to an aqua park. If you want to stay in the very centre, we can recommend the four-star “Hilton
Garden Inn” or “Barcelona”.
A bit more modest, but no less comfortable are the Volga, Venets, Rakurs, Art-Ulyanovsk, and Regatta hotels.
Where to eat
The Ulyanovsk region offers a variety of cuisine to suit all tastes. To imagine yourself as a resident of old Simbirsk, dine at the Russian restaurant “Oblomov”, its interior created on the basis of Goncharov’s novel of the same name. A pleasantly surprising restaurant is “Phoenix”, which has a statue of Mao Zedong at the entrance and serves Asian cuisine. For lovers of
modern Russian cuisine, we can recommend the restaurant MATRESHKI with its national flavour and dishes created from natural farm products.
What to buy
Choosing souvenirs from Ulyanovsk is simple: there are all sorts of items with Soviet symbols, ranging from old Soviet badges and stamps, to modern magnets and original postcards. If you want something original, look for jewellery made from the local stone simbircite, also known as “Volga River Amber”, which has a history of more than 200 million years.
