Travel - Viajes

Vodka in the Sun: An Undiscovered Gem

By Eric D. Goodman

Our little Russian car was hours outside of Moscow’s city limits, and the bumpy highway of cracks and potholes seemed endless. My noggin had tired of Nabokov for the night, so Alexi’s electronic bookreader rested on the dash.

The long and winding road eventually led to the door of relatives and friends in the city of Nizhni Novgorod. During my visits in Russia, I’ve been quite fond of Nizhni. It is a large city with a population of about 2 million. While it’s not as large as Moscow or St. Petersburg, it is still a metropolis.

What still fascinates me about Nizhni Novgorod is that it is a relatively undiscovered gem. It is a large city with business and industry, and yet is relatively untouched by the western world. I say relatively because that has changed much in the last ten years—but one has only to look to St. Petersburg and Moscow to see that Nizhni is still the sheltered sibling.

Nizhni Novgorod was a military town and was closed to foreigners until the fall of communism. My first visit was in 1994, just after the invisible wall had fallen. I was somewhat of a curiosity, a celebrity even, being an American in a large city that had only read books and seen movies about Americans. Now, of course, Nizhni is as used to imports as any other world city … but tourism still eludes it.

And that is why it is a perfect destination for someone who really wants to see Russian life. Not the history of Red Square or the architectural treasures of St. Petersburg, but modern Russian life, unaltered by the western world.

To Market, to Market to Buy a Sliced Pig …

There are supermarkets in Nizhni Novgorod, although they are reminiscent of the days before the mega-super-marts of today’s American suburbs. But the outdoor market is where the real bargains are, and that is where most people in the skyscraper suburbs tend to shop. Row after row of canopied booths and kiosks make up the outdoor market, and one can buy virtually anything there. Fresh meat, just cut off the cow or pig—you can even buy the entire head or leg if you wish. Fresh fish is abundant, literally the catch of the day. Dried fish, or vobla, is a favorite with beer on a hot day. Fresh produce, nuts, coffee, and teas from around the world—it’s all here.

Many Russians now buy tea imported from India or England. But perhaps the best Russian tea for a foreigner to try is 36. A robust black tea, sold loose like most of the teas in Russia, it is strong and filling. Our host remembers when she used to stand in line for hours for her ration of the new shipment of 36 tea. Now, she only buys it because of my interest—to her it is cheap and unfashionable. Why drink yesterday’s favorite when imports are ample?

Tea is a popular drink in Russia—as commonly consumed as vodka. Coffee—strong like espresso—is also popular, but tea is not just for breakfast. It is common to have a cup of communal tea together—steeped long and strong in a teapot and diluted in individual cups with hot water—after every meal, after drinking vodka, and as a nightcap. Along with the delicious tea we usually ate other fresh fare from the market—cookies, pies, cakes and pastries, chocolates, and dried fruit. Tea time—even after a meal—is almost a meal in itself.

These Are the Places in Our Neighborhood …

The neighborhood I know as my Russian home is typical. The apartment is inside one of several dozen highrise apartment buildings in the area. In front of the building is a little park where children play on wooden slides, play houses, iron and wood swings, and in the sandbox. Benches and picnic tables offer a place for the locals to meet. Several retired men and war veterans meet at the tables and benches daily, eating sunflower seeds, smoking cigarettes and drinking pivo. Occasionally the table serves as a place to drink vodka or to play chess or cards.

Within a five-minute walk are a dozen other parks like this one, some with more traditional attractions (like log playhouses and slides) and some with more modern attractions (like huge orange elephants and metal see-saws).

Perhaps 50 or more kiosks are within walking distance, each of them offering an amazing selection for their size of vodka, beer, wine, juice, cigarettes, condoms, cookies, candies, gum, panty-hose, ice cream, kelbasa, bread and items too numerous to attempt listing here. The nearest kiosks are only a couple minutes away on foot, making late-night beer runs and vodka stops easy and safe.

And there is always a bus stop nearby. There are more cars in Russia now than ever before, but public transportation remains by far the most common mode of getting around. A car is more a status symbol and liability in Russia than it is practical. If you know the bus system, you can go anywhere you want to go in the city for five rubles, or 20 cents. If you don’t feel comfortable with the busses or trolleys (which are not very friendly to non-Russian-speaking foreigners), you can take a taxi to just about anywhere within an hour’s radius for five to ten dollars. They may try to charge you $20 if they think you’re a rich foreigner.

One day, after taking a $20 taxi out to Gorky Square, I took a 20-cent bus back home. On the way from the bus stop, at one of the neighborhood parks, stood a well-suited man with a microphone surrounded by a crowd of residents. The city was electing a new mayor, and this was obviously a political candidate. I asked my companion about him.

“He is Andre Clementiev. He won’t be reelected.”

“So he’s been mayor before?”

“Only for one day,” was the answer. “He was elected, and then he was arrested for illegal business practices. He was so mad that he vowed to never return to politics.”

And now, here he was in the very next election, running again. “That’s a politician,” he shrugged off, knowing well the nature of the political man.