24 HOURS IN THE CAPITAL, NUR-SULTAN


From Almaty airport, it's an hour and three-quarters north to Nur-Sultan



 Some views of the city on the way in from the airport...





The settlement, Akmolinsky prikaz, was founded in 1830, a defensive fortification for Siberian Cossacks. Successively renamed Akmolinsk,Tselinograd, Akmola ('white grave'), it replaced Almaty as the capital of Kazakhstan in December 1997, and was renamed Astana in 1998 (very sensible - that means 'capital city' in Kazakh).  But, on 20 March 2019, it was renamed again to Nur-Sultan (the first name of the long-ruling, retiring Kazakh president).

 We've only got one night so we're staying right in the centre, a bit glitzy and soulless with the lozenge-shape Nurzhol boulevard arranged on a massive scale with marbled flower-beds, seats, stairs and bushes.






A different perspective is from the square's centrepiece, the 105m (344ft)-high Bayterek Monument




a white latticed tower crowned by a gold-mirrored 22m-diameter sphere (apparently embodying a Kazakh legend where a mythical bird, Samruk, lays a golden egg containing the secrets of human desires in a poplar tree, beyond reach). 



Lifts glide up into a 97m (318ft)-high observation deck in the 'egg'.






though it's hard to see in one direction, directly into the sun.  After sunset


the tower is, naturally, illuminated
 




After a spot of dinner

we walk through multi-coloured lights and views of lit-up buildings.


Opposite our hotel has a  light show - showing 'KAZAKHSTAN'/flowers.
 

Next morning, just time for another quick nip up the Bayterek to see what we couldn't yesterday.
And to the airport via a quick ride across river.



Hazrat Sultan mosque 
 

grand-looking 91m Kazakh Eli pillar (the height is associated with independence in 1991)


Palace of Peace and Reconciliation


the 2017 Expo building

 

the President's Palace


the National Museum 


the Arch of Triumph, again


the Alzhan mosque


and back to the airport


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