Every day, residents of the Saratov region have less and less chances to meet a winter holiday in a popular tourist region. For the New Year holidays, St. Petersburg closed all sightseeing routes, museums, theaters, concert halls, and limited the work of public catering. Kaliningrad, which held out to the last, suddenly announced a lockdown, Sochi – about the work of restaurants until twelve at night and the mandatory wearing of masks even at ski resorts. So far only Tatarstan is holding on, promising guests of Kazan incendiary banquets and parties. Maybe Saratov residents will find festive entertainment in their region?
Alas, banquets are strictly prohibited by Rospotrebnadzor in the Saratov region, as well as other mass events. Seventy recreation centers and sanatoriums will be able to receive more than 8 thousand people during the New Year holidays, however, they also cannot throw merry festive parties. During the New Year holidays, residents and guests of the city will be able to visit the famous sights of the region: Khvalynsky baths, the Sosnovy Bor tract near Volsk, the Krasny Luch ravine near Rtishchev – a smaller version of the American Grand Canyon, a unique siltstone deposit with an admixture of red ocher. Or go to the memorial complex “Gagarin Field”.
Guests of the regional center, as well as local residents, will have to take comfort in walks along the Cosmonauts Embankment, Kirov Avenue and a new pedestrian zone, illuminated parks and squares, visiting museums, cinemas and restaurants, which are still open and accept everyone until 23:00.
Unfortunately, theaters in our region have been switched to online format since spring. But if at the beginning of the pandemic Saratov residents could at least occasionally watch live broadcasts of performances, now, for the most part, they offer productions from video archives. The Saratov Regional Philharmonic named after A. Schnittke also issues links to YouTube, where everyone can see video clips from concerts.
Things are more fun in museums. Almost every museum in the region offers its own New Year’s program. Radishchevsky – an exhibition of designer dolls, which will open on December 25 as part of the traditional annual Christmas exhibitions. Saratov Local Lore – New Year’s quests, Engels branch, festive performance for children “The Most Winter Tale” (from December 22 to January 11, 2021). Of course, there are restrictions for museums during a pandemic: pre-registration and visits by groups of no more than five people. But some cultural institutions with large halls allow 10-20 visitors to gather.
The traditional festive fireworks, which Saratov residents admired every year on Teatralnaya Square, will now thunder from Sokolovaya Gora. According to local authorities, this has its own advantage: the fireworks will be visible from different points of the city. However, the New Year’s fireworks can be viewed live on the Instagram network, on the page of the city administration for culture.
All holidays for Saratov residents and guests of the city are available in cinemas, however, since September, a number of coronavirus restrictions have also been developed for them. For example, the occupancy of the hall should be no more than 30% of the total number of seats.
Interestingly, according to the travel and travel service analytical center Tutu. ru, our city in 2020 became one of the most popular destinations for air travel. But experts of another service for travelers – OneTwoTrip, found out that Saratov was on the list of Russian cities where tourists made the shortest trips. The service calculated that travelers stayed in our city for an average of four and a half days.