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Tver
From Leningradsky Train station in Moscow, Metro Komsomolskaya. Commuter trains run all the time, more frequently in the morning and in late afternoon. About $10 per ride, and the ride takes just under three hours. Ordinary trains take two hours. The high-speed train, I think, stops there too. Busses also leave from the vicinity of the train station. If you hire a cab in Moscow expect to pay around $150-200.
www.map.tver.ru (opens, although with great difficulty, as of August 16, 2011)
Where to stay in Tver - Hotels
Two of them - Park and Ostambrook - spam heavily and successfully, thus producing the impression that there are but two hotels in Tver. Here are a few more:
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The train station has a mini-hotel called "Room of Rest" ("Komnata Otdykha") which has one "luxury" room. If available take it. 500 roubles ($17) will get you their best suit the size of a small apartment. Private bathroom, refrigerator, and good furniture. A bed in a shared room will be 150-200 roubles ($5-7). As of late fall of 2004 these are excellent deals even without hot water, which is often the case. You can call 8-4822-426547 to reserve a room but you'll be charged 50% extra, which still give you a fair price. Rooms free up at noon, which is the best time to call to make a reservation or to just show up. Their best ("Lux") room is right to the attendant's desk, which further enhances security. 7-10 minute streetcar ride to the center of Tver. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, ESPECIALLY IF YOU TRAVEL BY TRAIN. (RATES ARE AS OF AROUND 2005-2008.)
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There is a hotel across the road from the train station. $50-70/room, a big and busy place but OK if you just want to stay overnight.
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Hotel Yunost. 170026 Tver, Komsomoslky prospekt 12, tel. 8-4822-316904. $10/night beds, rooms from $18 to $50. Just follow the main road from the train station to the end. Taxi ride will cost you $3.50 at most from the train or bus station to the Yunost hotel. (Price info is from about 2008.) Reservations accepted at no extra charge. Only one out of three receptionists speaks any English.
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Motel Tver. In the early spring of 2004 I stayed in the Motel Tver (part of the Soviet-era Intourist system) just outside of Tver as you exit t
he city
going to St. Petersburg for $25 or so, and was happy. Very quiet. Said to be
available even when others are booked solid. The food is lousy,
especially if you are a vegetarian, and there are no stores nearby. Exact
address: 170036 Tver, St. Petersburg Highway 130. Tel.: (4822) 55-5650 / 55-4544 / 55-5768. Fax: (0822) 55-5650. E-mail:
motel@rvcom.ru -
Park Hotel. I'd promote it if it was not so actively promoting itself.
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Osnabruk. Same
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Zarya ("Dawn"). Simeonovskaya 30/27, at the corner with Tresvyatskaya, near the Tver bank and the Gertsen Library that has Internet access. 800-1500 rouble ($30-55) rooms. Great location. This hotel serves the needs of the Tver city administration and thus has none of the usual casinos etc. Foreigners no problem, visas registered. Tel. 8-4822-342129, fax 34-71-34. RECOMMENDED IF YOU DON'T HAVE A CAR.
Several more hotel not described above and possibly no longer there:
Tourist: +7-4822-346178
Volga: +7-4822-348100
Seliger: +7-4822-340753
Berezovaya Rosha: +7-4822-497722
Motel Tver: +7-4822-555692
Tsentralnaya: +7-4822-489093
WHERE TO STAY IN TVER - apartments for short-term rent
Try the All Tver Ladies dating agency, apparently part of the Be Happy Today empire, is still in business and still offering apartments.
Elena (+7-4822-42-19-21, 8-910-536-07-69) used to have two or three apartments for about $20/night. Probably more expensive now. Here is a description of one of her cheaper apartments - a typical one of the sort - from about 2005 >>
Some more numbers of people offering inexpensive apartments intended for local travellers for short-term rent: +7-910-640-70-70, +7-905-608-96-5, +7-905-129-14-84, +7-905-608-96-58 (very cheap), +7-905-164-08-21 (by the River Port), +7-4822-57-59-59 (cheap, in Proletarka, a heavy-duty industrial neighbourhood), +7-4822-50-47-30, +7-920-693-19-23, +7-910-646-20-90 (prime location).
Agents: +7-4822-34-86-21, +7-4822-34-86-39, +7-4822-36-09-10, +7-4822-36-12-30, +7-4822-48-12-79.
Where to stay in Tver - Homestays
None in Tver, as expected. Searched for them 12 years ago, repeated the exercise now in 2011, same zero result. Tver people are close-minded and fundamentally scared of strangers, especially from abroad, and will not open their homes. What a contrast to Karelia, where every village will have a small guesthouse!
The Russian Brides industry in Tver
Over the last decade the Russian Brides industry in Tver bloated and then quickly collapsed under its own weight but scam scandals seems to have precipitated the fall. In particular, there were stories of agencies hiring women to pose as husband seekers. A very Russian style of doing trickery in business. Probably this hiring of women cannot be considered outright scam. Even if it is, it would be hard to catch agencies of women working for them red-handed. I'll need to think up of something like that too. In effect I did. And I practice it too. For instance, I attract clients to my horse riding operation by promising "unlimited riding", "horse riding without supervision", or "you get the horse, tack, and nearly unlimited area to ride". And you do. Not a word here which is not true. But I know damn well that most riders way overestimate their ability and animals will not leave the property. Another trick is to get clients claim that they can and will saddle the horses. I will not point to errors till they are done putting tack on and are up on the animal. Only then will I call their attention to a twisted girth or to a saddle blanket with its front and back mixed up. So my poor clients have to get down to re-do saddling. After 2-3 cycles of this they just give up. If I'm lucky they are reduced to tears. And it is me, Russian light. Others are considerably worse. Stay away from this land! Where was I? Should stop the practice of sipping on beer while doing these pages as it gets me to go off tangent. Yes, the Tver Brides Industry. On reviewing the old list I see that the only agency with a site that seems to indicate they are still in business is Tver Angels. If you have your mind set on looking for your mate through an agency, try Tver Angels.
Unlike Moscow, where a pretty woman may get 200 replies in the first week and grow quite discriminating, Tver brides may get 1-2 letters per month. Also a loser in Moscow all of a sudden becomes acceptable in Tver. Yes, if you are a typical Russian brides seeker, Tver is a good choice indeed.
Tver needs to be rated "be on your alert". Heard of a few robberies here. Large heroine addict population. Lots of prostitutes. Doing a prison term seems like a must for most of Tver men. Prison folk songs are heard everywhere. I would not call Tver "dangerous" but do not relax. Beware of petty scam. I'm experienced a disproportionate amount of shit from the Tver people I hired or otherwise transacted with both in Tver and in Moscow.
www.delta-ic.net/studyrussian (the site up as of August 2011 and doesn't look neglected)
...more coming up
Tver in the Internet, in English
...Most of these are gone; other have automatically-generated content and have been deleted; still others are hopelessly stale. Of the old links that still seem worth something I'm keeping.. After an hour of checking links over very slow Internet I found none of them worth keeping. The only link alive was some woman protection stuff in Tver but the page felt just too.. perfunctory I think is the word. They got a grant and are going through the motions to spend it. Sad. A disappointment. Seems that Tver failed to attract any international interest. I understand why but still what a bummer. After all I make a living convincing you to travel to and around Russia. Here is an idea of a new service:
Having thoughts about visiting Russia? Let me convince you not to. For only $50 I'll make a serious effort to convince you go elsewhere or stay home. I'll tell you about the visa hassle, airport confusion, crude taxi drivers, air pollution, bland food etc. etc. etc. Of course I'll tell you just how overpriced this country is. My fee is but a small fraction of what it would cost you to visit this gloomy land. Stick to images of Russia you got from Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, or Pasternak. Avoid disappointment, stay away from the real thing. Only $50 towards my losing cause and I'll help you to give up with clear consciousness you your Russian travel idea..
I
don't like the place. I'm not alone. It is said that
Saltykov-Shedrin based his Story of One Town on his Tver
experience where he served as either a governor or a
vice-governor. In recent years Tver has been a reliable supplier
of scandals. Corruption accusations with governors departing to
hospitals with heart attacks or taken to prisons to be held
there without even a charge and then released with no
explanation, gatherings of nationalist youth, Putin's statement
that the US is a parasite on world economy, land speculation
schemes, Russian bride scams, the story of a worm in a salad
served in Kremlin.. These are present-day Tver associations.
Just google Tver+Scandals to appreciate just what a piece of bad
news Tver is. When hired, a few years ago, to set up interviews
with alcoholics, drug addicts, and prostitutes I naturally went
to Tver and in no time my client had a lineup of superb, in
their ugliness, subjects for filming for her documentary on
Russian women. Yes, heroine and STD too are among associations
with "Tver". I could tell you a few stories of my own. So I will
probably limit myself to giving only basic practical
information, such as..
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A random selection of Tver photos >>
August 2011