"Atyrau" Atyrau by davido7236

The Ural River runs through Atyrau. It's broad and freezes solid in winter, although people are deterred from walking on it since many have fallen through and are drowned. The river is the boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia.

I stayed at the (old) Chagala hotel which was fine. The food is good - a nice hot buffet breakfast and lunch. Polite staff. It's near the Ural River and has good security. There is also a new Chagala hotel near corner of Azattyk Avenue which does a very good buffet lunch with a choice of main courses, soup and delicious-looking desserts. They also do live music in the bar some evenings and serve Baltika, Amstel and other beers.

One evening we had a meal here - the Baltika beer was tasty and they do a range of world dishes. The fajitas were quite good. It was quite busy even on a Wednesday night which must be a good sign. One thing I found out is that beers here are sometimes noted with a number depending on the alcoholic strength which runs from 1 to 9, so you can get a Baltika in say a 3 or a 7 which was new to me.

• Pros:Airport is fairly close, people generally nice.
• Cons:Hot in summer, cold in winter.
• In a nutshell:It's coming along!