Yes, we invented that

Day 58 - Astana

As we only have one full day in Astana we decided to book a private tour to make sure we caught all of the highlights while we were there. Because we weren't quite used to Kazakh time yet we arranged to be picked up at noon, when we were collected by our driver/guide, a young student from Astana. 

We visited all of the main city highlights, which had all been built within the last 25 years. It seems weird to be in such an old country that was once part of the USSR, yet everything we saw was so young and new. The place reminded of us Skopje, the capital of Northern Macedonia. 

We visited a lot of grand buildings and monuments, including the Opera House, Baiterek Tower, Khan Shatyr (the biggest tent in the world, which houses a shopping and entertainment centre), Ak Orda Presidential Palace, the pyramid shaped Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, and the Astana Grand Mosque, which is the fifth largest mosque in the world by capacity. All building were new and modern, in fact what we saw of the whole city was spotless, reminiscent of somewhere like Singapore.

Our guide was surprised to learn that the flat white originated in Australia (yes Kiwi's, we know you like to claim it), it's pretty interesting that we had a couple of decent flat whites in a place like Kazakhstan, but we couldn't find a decent coffee at all in France! 

After the tour finished we went for a walk, ending up at Khan Shatyr where it was getting busy, as there were lots of families about on this pleasant Sunday. The day had been sunny and bright at 12 degrees, but as the afternoon progressed it got colder, heading towards a forecast minimum of -2. 

We finished the day with a meal at our nice hotel, which included horse meat on their menu. M considered that it might be worth a try and seriously pondered it for a short time, before chickening out and ordering grilled chicken (yeah, pun intended).