I visited Vladivostok a couple of weeks ago for the usual reason ... attending a conference. It was only a short visit, arriving on a Monday from Seoul in South Korea and departing the following Saturday. Fortunately, only one day was given over to formal delivery of conference papers and three days were allocated to field excursion ... though the trip around Vladivostok itself hardly took place in a field. This post concerns Vladivostok itself, which seemed to be in reasonable shape. I was staying in the modest Zemchuzhina Hotel (Жемчужина Отель), which was right down-town and provided easy access to the main sights, and was fortunately chosen by nearly all the foreign delegates so that we could explore the city together.
Well here are some the images that caught my imagination. The first thing I often do is to take the view from my bedroom window ... or balcony in this case, though the landscape was hardly inspiring. Many buildings dating from the soviet era, and which might be described as Chateaux Stalin, still encumber the visual landscape.
More interesting was this statue to a famous resident born nearby. Would you have guessed Jul Brynner , the Hollywood film-star?
Perhaps the most photographed sight is Vladivostok's version of the Golden Gate bridge which looms over so many street scenes, including churches and submarines, the latter part of a war memorial.
Of course, one associates the city with one end of the Trans-Siberian railway, which parks itself here. As in Istanbul, where I looked for the ghosts of Hercule Poirot and the Orient Express, I visited the station though not sure who I was looking for.
Of course, the rather attractive port stole a lot of the limelight, home to private vessels, cargo ships, and the military. Fortunately, I was not detained for illegal photography, unlike an earlier disaster on the Trans-Siberian railway west of Khabarovsk back in 1974 when I photographed Russian tropps guarding a bridge!
The city has another larger and impressive bridge which connects Russian Island with the mainland and also a funicular railway connecting to an attractive lookout..
Then there are some historical structures such as ceremonial arches and churches or shrines. The first of these was built specifically for a visit by one of the Russian Tsars back in the 19th century. The communists demolished it, but the subsequent government reinstated it!
And here are a few street scenes which tend to make Vladivostok look like many European cities. I must mention one thing about the cars. To start with the Russians drive on the right like the French and Germans, but amazingly by my estimate something like 60% of the vehicles on the road are right-hand drive as in Australia and Britain. How come? Well, most of them are secondhand imports from Japan and guess what! The Japanese are one of the few nations to also drive on the left!
Next, and I'm not sure that Vladimir P. would approve, we saw preparations for a Rock Concert!
Finally, Vladivostok has bathing beaches, though I imagine that they're empty much of the year given the climate. The water was as flat as a tack, the sand was noticeably missing, and the little space available was, shall we say, crowded.
AS
Well here are some the images that caught my imagination. The first thing I often do is to take the view from my bedroom window ... or balcony in this case, though the landscape was hardly inspiring. Many buildings dating from the soviet era, and which might be described as Chateaux Stalin, still encumber the visual landscape.
More interesting was this statue to a famous resident born nearby. Would you have guessed Jul Brynner , the Hollywood film-star?
Perhaps the most photographed sight is Vladivostok's version of the Golden Gate bridge which looms over so many street scenes, including churches and submarines, the latter part of a war memorial.
Of course, one associates the city with one end of the Trans-Siberian railway, which parks itself here. As in Istanbul, where I looked for the ghosts of Hercule Poirot and the Orient Express, I visited the station though not sure who I was looking for.
Of course, the rather attractive port stole a lot of the limelight, home to private vessels, cargo ships, and the military. Fortunately, I was not detained for illegal photography, unlike an earlier disaster on the Trans-Siberian railway west of Khabarovsk back in 1974 when I photographed Russian tropps guarding a bridge!
Nice sunset, eh!
The city has another larger and impressive bridge which connects Russian Island with the mainland and also a funicular railway connecting to an attractive lookout..
Then there are some historical structures such as ceremonial arches and churches or shrines. The first of these was built specifically for a visit by one of the Russian Tsars back in the 19th century. The communists demolished it, but the subsequent government reinstated it!
And here are a few street scenes which tend to make Vladivostok look like many European cities. I must mention one thing about the cars. To start with the Russians drive on the right like the French and Germans, but amazingly by my estimate something like 60% of the vehicles on the road are right-hand drive as in Australia and Britain. How come? Well, most of them are secondhand imports from Japan and guess what! The Japanese are one of the few nations to also drive on the left!
Next, and I'm not sure that Vladimir P. would approve, we saw preparations for a Rock Concert!
Finally, Vladivostok has bathing beaches, though I imagine that they're empty much of the year given the climate. The water was as flat as a tack, the sand was noticeably missing, and the little space available was, shall we say, crowded.
