Life in the Russian exclave Kaliningrad | German heritage, Russian people and Soviet buildings

Let's see how people live in the westernmost region of Russia - Kaliningrad. We will visit the capital of the region (former Konigsberg), see the attractions and talk to the locals.

Time codes:
0:00 Welcome to Kaliningrad!
1:27 Let me take you for a walk in the city
2:37 Is life here different from life on the mainland?
5:04 What are the prices in Kaliningrad?
6:39 Typical soviet architecture?
7:23 The museum of marzipan
10:36 The mystery of the lost Amber chamber
14:00 Do the locals like to live here?
14:57 The westernmost part of Russia

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[getthepointx]

I have to remind myself sometimes that this is not a film crew, but a one person production. You're very skilled with both filming and editing. I'm grateful that you spend your free days grinding out videos for your channel. I really enjoy your videos.

[BlackBear]

As a person who appreciates all cultures, I've been watching your videos and enjoy being taken along your journeys. As a side note, my german grandmother was born in Königsberg and always told me of her life in East Prussia. One day I hope to visit.

[khecke]

I went to Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) in Fall of 1942 and also to Tilsit and went there to school for a few month, before I returned to Silesia.

[christianphilipp]

My father was born there when it was still called Koenigsberg. Thanks for this video❤

[alanfox]

Hi Eli from Russia. Every day's a school day. I love learning about your beautiful country and the people within it🥰

[rhubarbpie]

I grew up as a boy of German parents living in Canada and later, the US. I love the German Christmas traditions....except for Marzipan! You are right, Eli. There is no middle ground when it comes to Marzipan. You either love it or hate it. Perhaps the Kaliningrad Marzipan might change my mind. Thank you for the history of Marzipan! I never knew this.

[aseltho]

Not a single word about Immanuel Kant 😢 one of the most important philosophers of the last centuries. He spent his whole life in Königsberg.

[billbaird]

Great video. We visited Kaliningrad in 2018 for the World Cup and I agree people there are so friendly and accommodating. Actually we found people to be very friendly everywhere we traveled in Russia, hope this war is over soon so we can visit again. Kaliningrad is very interesting, there are only a few structures left from the former Königsberg (apart from the cobbled streets), there are a few places from the old walls 2 gates, one of which has been turned into a museum, very interesting. I think they must get a lot of German tourists (or did get), as you see souvenirs in most shops with Königsberg on them.

[gerhard]

In 2016, i was in Kaliningrad. I drove to that area with my own car. I am from the Netherlands. We stayed in Zelenogradsk for a week. It was very nice. The tiny hotel was 150 m from the sea. We also visited the dancing forest, Dune Elau (62m) and the bird watch on the Curonian Spit, Kurische Nehrung. We went to Kaliningrad city by train. We had a volunteer guide, a young student girl. She asked us if we wanted to go to the zoo. I said that we have a nice zoo in Amstedam too and that i wanted to go to the General Lasch war museum, under the university garden. She did not know it existed. So we went there. After that we walked along the former Schlossteich to the Amber museum. It was very nice. After that we went to the Historical Museum, next to the Schlossteich. We also drove one soviet city bus and later we drove a new city bus with airconditioning. She offered us a lunch and we went to a model kit shop somewhere else in the city. An other day we wanted to go to the militairy show in Baltysk, but we did not arrange the permit in time. On the last day we drove via the castle ruine of Schaaken and then southwards via a more scenery route to the Polish border. We liked our stay very much and everybody was unselfish helpfull ( the hotel gardener walked us all the way to the postoffice and the girl from the souvenir marketstand ran after us because we had forgotten to take one of the items we bought from her). We gave the guide loads of Rubels that she did not want. I just put it in her pocket. We hope to go there once again and visit Georgenburg, and the Elk region, Sovetsk and other nice places. Yes, we bought Amber items ther. A necklace with hanger and a silver with amber letter opener. I hope the old buildings in the centre of Zelenogradsk/Cranz will be restored. The highway ( 100km/h) was brandnew and there were several roadworks to modernize the infrastructure. My car had a good place on the guarded hotel courtyard. And the benzine was only €0, 55 per liter. Yes, we would like to go there again,

[paulbuning]

Thanks Elli for the very interesting documentation! A few years ago, as Germans, we visited Kaliningrad when times were not that complicated. Really worth seeing! You didn't mention one important fact: Immanuel Kant, one of the most important philosophers, spent his whole life here!

[FYLUBO]

Its hard to imagine that both Gdansk and Kaliningrad were rival cities with similar number of people and how it looks today... Gdańsk/ Danzig was heavily destroyed during WW2 but luckily rebuilt by Poles(lets say 40-50% of historical city was brought back to life the rest was gone)... In Kalingrad whole city center looks like empty desert with one church remaining in the middle of nothing plus some 90's and 2000's added buildings... its such a big pity that Russians didn't decide to rebuilt this city. This cobbled stone roads are probably older than whole Russia there, and it is sad when people say that they like this european architecture there but generally it was destroyed in 90% of its previous state.
Kalingrad would be in one list with turistic Tallin Riga Gdansk and for example Lubeck...

[ajjoshi]

You make the videos so well. It makes me feel I have known you all my life though physically and culturally, we are poles apart. My hats off to you Eli.

[stevenhandorf]

I am watching your channel for the first time in several months. I stopped only because of time considerations, not for political reasons. Your blogs are always so professional and so enjoyable to watch!

[Nastiazik]

*Greetings from a Russian blogger to a Russian blogger🇷🇺😂* Thanks for the wonderful video, Elli)

[krunoslavkovacec]

This is why exclaves and enclaves are some of the most interesting places on Earth. The combination of cultures and the historical heritage is incredible.

[BECKER_]

Willkommen in Kaliniingrad! Hoffentlich hat es dir bei uns gut gefallen!)

[pomodorino]

Thanks Eli! Beautiful video as usual!
The place looks amazing also!

[carltongirl]

What an unusual city Kaliningrad is in some area's it really does look German and the rest like Russia thankyou for sharing Eli I'm loving your stories about your homeland 💜

[xeonxeonko]

it took some effort to destroy that beautiful german city

[movalodh]

Excellent, Eli from Russia! Outstanding quality in all areas. I found it informative, interesting and entertaining.