{"id":1653,"date":"2019-10-01T18:28:10","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T18:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/?p=1653"},"modified":"2024-02-15T21:57:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T21:57:25","slug":"nur-sultan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/","title":{"rendered":"Nur-Sultan \u2013 impressive but confusing capital in the middle of the steppe"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"1653\" class=\"elementor elementor-1653\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-6adb674e elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"6adb674e\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-721e5f7c\" data-id=\"721e5f7c\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-047fecc elementor-align-left elementor-widget elementor-widget-post-info\" data-id=\"047fecc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"post-info.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"elementor-inline-items elementor-icon-list-items elementor-post-info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-f0b7872 elementor-inline-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-calendar-alt\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-custom\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 19, 2019\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-fcf06e9 elementor-inline-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"far fa-calendar-check\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-custom\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDay 15\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-b7f90aa elementor-inline-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"far fa-compass\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-custom\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNur-Sultan, Kazakhstan\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-5c90350 elementor-inline-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-suitcase\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-custom\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t3691 Km\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-385b6ad7 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"385b6ad7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">It\u2019s not a wonder if you\u2019ve never heard of the city of Nur-Sultan, as it got its new name just less than a half a year ago. Until that it was known as Astana and it\u2019s been the capital of Kazakhstan only for 11 years. Nur-Sultan is a surreal, artificial city with skyscrapers in the middle of the vast central-Asian steppe. The whole place was a little bit confusing for us.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image postimage\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"579\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090105-1024x579.jpg\" alt=\"The high buildings of Nur-Sultan\" class=\"wp-image-1663\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090105-1024x579.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090105-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090105-768x434.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090105.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>The high buildings of Nur-Sultan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Too much money to buy anything<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It was early evening when we arrived at the train station in Nur-Sultan. As always when we arrive to a new country, we had to find an atm to get some local money, tenge. We asked for the directions and found a few ATMs at the waiting hall. Stupidly we were choosing to withdrawal in big notes. We tried to break one of the big notes for the bus by buying water from a small shop, but they didn\u2019t have enough of cash. After trying at some other shops and one office we made another withdrawal. This time only small notes. It was a good lecture for our stay in Kazakhstan. From that point on we were always breaking the big notes when ever possible, for example in hostels, supermarkets or restaurants, and keeping the small notes for when we were needing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Back on the international traveler\u2019s trail<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The outskirts of the city were not looking as modern as we expected. We took a public bus to the direction of our hostel. The bus looked quite modern, we could have been also in some European city, except that many of the people on it looked already Asian. As we came closer to the city center, things started to look newer and posher. Our accomodation, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.booking.com\/hotel\/kz\/hostel-nomad-4x4.en-gb.html?label=gen173nr-1FCAEoggI46AdIM1gEaHeIAQOYAQm4AQfIAQzYAQHoAQH4AQuIAgGoAgO4AtiBzuwFwAIB;sid=436158f39d060562ba1fc2c885a717a9;all_sr_blocks=187653020_95177529_2_0_0;checkin=2019-10-01;checkout=2019-10-02;dest_id=-2334218;dest_type=city;dist=0;group_adults=2;group_children=0;hapos=1;highlighted_blocks=187653020_95177529_2_0_0;hpos=1;matching_block_id=187653020_95177529_2_0_0;no_rooms=1;ref_is_wl=1;room1=A%2CA;sb_price_type=total;sr_order=popularity;srepoch=1569947882;srpvid=15f174f41be200f5;type=total;ucfs=1&amp;\">Hostel Nomad 4&#215;4,<\/a><\/strong> was situated next to the center in some older area of the city with small houses. When we arrived there, we were surprised that the friendly owner was speaking in quite good German to us. Next surprise was that the place was full of international backpackers. We hadn\u2019t seen almost any on our journey until now. It felt nice and overwhelming at the same time, to be among other international tourists and to be able to talk to other people than just to each other. The hostel was nice with a garden. We liked the place a lot and asked straight the next day if we could stay longer but the room was already booked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image postimage\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090097-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"On the streets near our hostel\" class=\"wp-image-1661\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090097-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090097-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090097-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090097.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>On the streets near our hostel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The city of Nursultan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The capital of Kazakhstan was moved in 1998 from Almaty to Astana. The autocratic president decided to build on the base of the city a new futuristic capital that can compete with economic centers like Shanghai. Therefore, popular international architects like Norman Forster were hired and the city is still in a big transformation process. This March the name of the city was changed from Astana to Nur-Sultan to honor the former President Nursultan Nasarbajew. He was formally steppings to side after 29 year of autocratic rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image postimage\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"579\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG_2597-1024x579.jpg\" alt=\"Crossing the bridge\" class=\"wp-image-1660\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG_2597-1024x579.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG_2597-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG_2597-768x434.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Crossing the bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We were spending our two days by cruising in the city (as its new, big parts are also good to skate) and just looking around. There are impressive buildings and sights like the <strong>Bayterek Tower<\/strong>, <strong>the Ak Orda Presidential Palace<\/strong>, <strong>the Pyramid of Peace and Reconciliation<\/strong> with a huge park surrounding it or the <strong>Nur-Astana Mosque<\/strong>. We visited the <strong>Khan Shatyr shopping center<\/strong> that is shaped like a tent and housing everything from fancy shops to giant supermarket (that was half empty), food court with cheap chain restaurants and even a Waterpark and roller-coaster in the roof. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image postimage\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090072-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"The Presidential Palace\" class=\"wp-image-1664\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090072-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090072-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090072-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090072.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>The Presidential Palace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image postimage\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090110-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"The Nur-Astana Mosque\" class=\"wp-image-1665\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090110-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090110-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090110-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090110.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>The Nur-Astana Mosque<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The city feels clean and safe, the people are friendly, there are a lot of parks many with small forests built in. The streets in between are huge, offering enough of capacity to prevent traffic jams. Even very impressive, after a while the whole place felt a bit soulless. We had the feeling that many of the houses in the city center are still empty and there\u2019s still a lot of building going on. So to us the place felt unfinished and artificial. There are not too many people in the streets. Still we managed to bump into a group of Finnish men who were in the city for the boxing championship. We loved the bicycle ways for skating, especially because we saw only three bikers in two days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image postimage\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090101-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Plenty of space for cars, but also for skateboards\" class=\"wp-image-1668\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090101-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090101-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090101-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090101.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Plenty of space for cars, but also for skateboards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We missed nice small cafes or restaurants in the center. Most of the places were chains or addressed to a rich business audience. Even though the owner of our guesthouse had announced us that Kazakhstan is a meat country, we managed to find some vegetarian food. Our favorite place to eat was a veggie restaurant not too far from our place called <strong>Trawa Modern Vegetarian<\/strong>. The food was delicious and well-priced. Still, even there we felt a little displaced at first because the whole interior felt so posh. Otherwise we were sticking quite much to the fast food of the food courts. If we couldn\u2019t find anything else vegetarian, french fries, pizza margarita and surprisingly also Russian food like vareniki always work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After all we felt quite much done with the city after two days. Therefore it turned out to be a good thing that we couldn\u2019t extend our stay at the hostel. Still we would recommend a visit to Nur-Sultan on a Kazakhstan trip because the city is quite impressive. After futuristic and globalized Nur-Sultan, we were looking forward going further south to Almaty and being in a more natural environment, surrounded by mountains, forests and lakes.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0bed8ed elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-widget elementor-widget-global elementor-global-3685 elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"0bed8ed\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5c7059b elementor-widget elementor-widget-global elementor-global-3676 elementor-widget-post-navigation\" data-id=\"5c7059b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"post-navigation.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post-navigation\" role=\"navigation\" aria-label=\"Post Navigation\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post-navigation__prev elementor-post-navigation__link\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/2019\/09\/26\/an-uzbek-train-from-russia-to-kazakhstan\/\" rel=\"prev\"><span class=\"post-navigation__arrow-wrapper post-navigation__arrow-prev\"><i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-caret-left\"><\/i><span class=\"elementor-screen-only\">Prev<\/span><\/span><span class=\"elementor-post-navigation__link__prev\"><span class=\"post-navigation__prev--label\">Previous<\/span><span class=\"post-navigation__prev--title\">An Uzbek Train from Russia to Kazakhstan<\/span><\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post-navigation__next elementor-post-navigation__link\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/2019\/10\/04\/good-vibes-almaty\/\" rel=\"next\"><span class=\"elementor-post-navigation__link__next\"><span class=\"post-navigation__next--label\">Next<\/span><span class=\"post-navigation__next--title\">Good vibes in Almaty<\/span><\/span><span class=\"post-navigation__arrow-wrapper post-navigation__arrow-next\"><i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-caret-right\"><\/i><span class=\"elementor-screen-only\">Next<\/span><\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b8fa03d elementor-hidden-tablet elementor-widget elementor-widget-global elementor-global-3682 elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"b8fa03d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Related stories<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b1c69c6 elementor-grid-tablet-3 elementor-posts--align-center elementor-posts__hover-none elementor-grid-3 elementor-grid-mobile-1 elementor-posts--thumbnail-top elementor-card-shadow-yes elementor-widget elementor-widget-posts\" data-id=\"b1c69c6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;cards_columns_tablet&quot;:&quot;3&quot;,&quot;cards_row_gap&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:8,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;cards_columns&quot;:&quot;3&quot;,&quot;cards_columns_mobile&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;cards_row_gap_tablet&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;cards_row_gap_mobile&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]}}\" data-widget_type=\"posts.cards\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-posts-container elementor-posts elementor-posts--skin-cards elementor-grid\" role=\"list\">\n\t\t\t\t<article class=\"elementor-post elementor-grid-item post-1641 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-kazakhstan category-russia tag-astana tag-juna tag-junamatkustus tag-kasachstan tag-kazakhstan tag-landweg tag-maata-pitkin tag-nur-sultan tag-overland tag-overland-to-asia tag-russia tag-russland tag-train tag-traintravel tag-uzbekistan tag-yekaterinburg tag-zug\" role=\"listitem\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__card\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/2019\/09\/26\/an-uzbek-train-from-russia-to-kazakhstan\/\" tabindex=\"-1\" ><div class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"170\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_20190916_182055-300x170.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-1644\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_20190916_182055-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_20190916_182055-768x434.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_20190916_182055-1024x579.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_20190916_182055.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-post__title\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/2019\/09\/26\/an-uzbek-train-from-russia-to-kazakhstan\/\" >\n\t\t\t\tAn Uzbek Train from Russia to Kazakhstan\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<article class=\"elementor-post elementor-grid-item post-1674 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-kazakhstan tag-alma-ata tag-almaty tag-big-almaty-lake tag-butakovka-waterfall tag-daytrip tag-hikes tag-indian-visa tag-kazakhstan tag-kazakstan tag-overland-to-asia tag-things-to-do\" role=\"listitem\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__card\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/2019\/10\/04\/good-vibes-almaty\/\" tabindex=\"-1\" ><div class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090130-1-300x169.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-1711\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090130-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090130-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090130-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090130-1.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-post__title\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/2019\/10\/04\/good-vibes-almaty\/\" >\n\t\t\t\tGood vibes in Almaty\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<article class=\"elementor-post elementor-grid-item post-1731 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-kazakhstan tag-almaty tag-backpacking tag-border-crossing tag-canyon tag-charyn-canyon tag-karakol tag-karkara tag-karkara-border tag-kazakhstan tag-kazakstan tag-kirgisia tag-kirgisistan tag-kyrgyzstan tag-overland tag-overland-to-asia tag-overlanding\" role=\"listitem\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__card\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/2019\/10\/09\/way-to-kyrgyz-border-pt-1-charyn-canyon-surprises\/\" tabindex=\"-1\" ><div class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090398-300x169.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-1738\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090398-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090398-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090398-1024x576.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-post__title\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/2019\/10\/09\/way-to-kyrgyz-border-pt-1-charyn-canyon-surprises\/\" >\n\t\t\t\tWay to the Kyrgyz border pt. 1 \u2013 Canyon adventures and surprises\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[70,29,77,69,75,47,53,71,76,26,467,45,78],"class_list":["post-1653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kazakhstan","tag-astana","tag-backpacking","tag-central-asia","tag-kazakhstan","tag-kazakstan","tag-landweg","tag-maata-pitkin","tag-nur-sultan","tag-nursultan","tag-overland","tag-overland-to-asia","tag-reppureissaus","tag-travel-blog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nur-Sultan \u2013 impressive but confusing capital in the middle of the steppe &#8211; Good Ride Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Not a wonder if you\u2019ve never heard of Nur-Sultan, it got the name just a few months ago.Until that the futuristic capital of Kazakhstan was known as Astana.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nur-Sultan \u2013 impressive but confusing capital in the middle of the steppe &#8211; Good Ride Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Not a wonder if you\u2019ve never heard of Nur-Sultan, it got the name just a few months ago.Until that the futuristic capital of Kazakhstan was known as Astana.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Ride Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-01T18:28:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-15T21:57:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090077.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1013\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"johanna\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"johanna\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/\",\"name\":\"Nur-Sultan \u2013 impressive but confusing capital in the middle of the steppe &#8211; Good Ride Stories\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090077.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-01T18:28:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-15T21:57:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/#\/schema\/person\/17d9ea4617b83d9d7595c823c1f48939\"},\"description\":\"Not a wonder if you\u2019ve never heard of Nur-Sultan, it got the name just a few months ago.Until that the futuristic capital of Kazakhstan was known as Astana.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090077.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090077.jpg\",\"width\":1800,\"height\":1013},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nur-Sultan \u2013 impressive but confusing capital in the middle of the steppe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/\",\"name\":\"Good Ride Stories\",\"description\":\"Travel blog about overland adventures\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/#\/schema\/person\/17d9ea4617b83d9d7595c823c1f48939\",\"name\":\"johanna\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6a74d6d6416f04b07da5e12d165b78992a60e57045e64bb105e45d0a2be363df?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6a74d6d6416f04b07da5e12d165b78992a60e57045e64bb105e45d0a2be363df?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"johanna\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/author\/johanna\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nur-Sultan \u2013 impressive but confusing capital in the middle of the steppe &#8211; Good Ride Stories","description":"Not a wonder if you\u2019ve never heard of Nur-Sultan, it got the name just a few months ago.Until that the futuristic capital of Kazakhstan was known as Astana.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nur-Sultan \u2013 impressive but confusing capital in the middle of the steppe &#8211; Good Ride Stories","og_description":"Not a wonder if you\u2019ve never heard of Nur-Sultan, it got the name just a few months ago.Until that the futuristic capital of Kazakhstan was known as Astana.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/","og_site_name":"Good Ride Stories","article_published_time":"2019-10-01T18:28:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-02-15T21:57:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1800,"height":1013,"url":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090077.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"johanna","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"johanna","Estimated reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/","url":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/","name":"Nur-Sultan \u2013 impressive but confusing capital in the middle of the steppe &#8211; Good Ride Stories","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090077.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-01T18:28:10+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-15T21:57:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/#\/schema\/person\/17d9ea4617b83d9d7595c823c1f48939"},"description":"Not a wonder if you\u2019ve never heard of Nur-Sultan, it got the name just a few months ago.Until that the futuristic capital of Kazakhstan was known as Astana.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090077.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/P1090077.jpg","width":1800,"height":1013},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/2019\/10\/01\/nur-sultan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nur-Sultan \u2013 impressive but confusing capital in the middle of the steppe"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/","name":"Good Ride Stories","description":"Travel blog about overland adventures","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/#\/schema\/person\/17d9ea4617b83d9d7595c823c1f48939","name":"johanna","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6a74d6d6416f04b07da5e12d165b78992a60e57045e64bb105e45d0a2be363df?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6a74d6d6416f04b07da5e12d165b78992a60e57045e64bb105e45d0a2be363df?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"johanna"},"url":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/author\/johanna\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1653"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3710,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653\/revisions\/3710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodridestories.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}