The sun which set beyond the Kok-Tobe cable cars

What to do when first arriving in a new town?

Go see the highest view you can find.

This can be via a tower, via a tram up a mountain or, traditionally in the Story of My Life, via a cable car.

One of the attractions of Almaty in the first place was the cable car that went up into the mountains, so that was my aim for the first day in Kazakhstan. The cable car was located near the majestically crowned Hotel Kazakhstan, and conveniently close to my homey hostel. While waiting for it to open, I wandered around the pretty fountains and was very innovative and took many reflective pictures in this posh reflective building.

Once I arrived at the cable car at 1 o’clock, it turned out to be under repair. I was rather skeptical when the ticket lady told me that it should be working again in “half an hour, or an hour”. I’m used to even “an hour” meaning anything from “six hours” to “try again Monday” (today was Tuesday).

I passed the time by fulfilling life-long dreams of taking the metro to the terminus – Almaty metro isn’t a hugely impressive feat as it’s only eight stops long in total. However, it scores strangely high on TripAdvisor’s Things To Do In Almaty, so didn’t seem like a completely pointless thing to do. The final stop was called Moscow and I had a delish pasty and ice tea (Kazakhs love tea, be it iced or hot) and then returned to the cable car a few hours later.

As a positive surprise, the cable car had started working again! Hooray!

The signs before the cable car entrance reminded passengers to cooperate in sharing cars with other people (a maximum of eight people) but it wasn’t the most populous time, and I couldn’t have shared with anyone even if I’d wanted to.

The 1727-metre cable car trip up Kok-Tobe mountain was dreamy. The views were progressively more epic, though my favourite direction I think was still heading towards the mountains, with the Almaty TV-tower in the background.

Kok-Tobe is well-liked on Tripadvisor, stating it to be an especially fun place for families with young kids. I concur, though there were very few families or young kids or people in general when I arrived. Not complaining, though!

Kok-Tobe mountain is 1100 metres above sea level, and Almaty Tower stands upon it. Almaty Tower was finished in 1983, and this 372 metre-high beauty can be classified as one of the highest towers in the world if you sneakily calculate from sea level.

I wandered the empty fun fair attractions (went on the big wheel) and got not just one, but multiple photos posing with the Beatles (as you do in Kazakhstan), with the burly Beatle-guard as my photographer.

Obviously a cafe visit was on the cards too. The staff at the Kok-Tobe café were the ultimate textbook example of the belief that views make up for customer service. I ordered watermelon ice cream which was delicious but didn’t look like anything special in photos. The views were incredible, by the way.

Kok-Tobe is especially recommended at sunset, and people started arriving as the afternoon advanced.

I had to leave briefly before the sun, but the views were fantabulous.

The reason I had to leave in a rush was to meet up with my new friends P and M. They showed me around the lively Arbat Street, where we enjoyed some street concerts and then went to eat traditional Kazakh food. On my last evening I went to M’s place for the evening – it was really nice having a cozy evening with new friends. I’d got in touch with P through a friend from many years back – the joys of international friendship networks!

Next – Big Almaty Lake! Stay tuned lovelies!