Almaty Audio Tours

Almaty's name derives from the Kazakh word for apple, and the wild apple trees that grow on the slopes of the Tian Shan mountains surrounding the city are -- according to botanists -- the genetic ancestors of every cultivated apple on earth. The mountains are the first thing you notice: the Trans-Ili Alatau range rises directly to the south of the city, snowcapped for most of the year, close enough to dominate the skyline from most of Almaty's wide Soviet-era boulevards. Kazakhstan's largest city and former capital (until the government moved to Astana in 1997) sits at around 800 metres, with the mountains climbing to over 4,000 metres almost immediately south of the city limits.

Almaty carries the marks of three eras with unusual frankness.

The Russian colonial period left the Ascension Cathedral -- a 56-metre wooden Russian Orthodox church completed in 1907, one of the tallest wooden buildings ever constructed, and built without a single nail, according to local tradition. The Soviet period left wide tree-lined avenues, monumental public buildings and the Medeu high-altitude skating rink at 1,691 metres, where 126 world speed-skating records were broken. The post-independence decades brought new money, glass towers and a food scene that draws on Kazakh, Russian, Uyghur and Korean traditions simultaneously. The green tea with milk at a local chaikhana, the beshbarmak (slow-boiled horse or lamb with flat noodles) at a traditional restaurant, the Korean kimchi and panchan sold at the Green Bazaar: Almaty eats in ways that few Central Asian cities can match.