Volgograd - a bright, prosperous modern city on the west bank of the mighty Volga: Stalingrad - a byword for devastation, desperation and death. Hard to reconcile these two images of a single place separated by half a century. But all around and about the elegantly-rebuilt squares and neo-classical municipal buildings of this bustling river port lurk constant reminders of the most heroic and crucial struggle of World War II.
Day 1
Fly LGW to Volgograd (modern Stalingrad) via Moscow. Check in Hotel Volgograd. Meet guide/s and a WWII survivor.
Day 2
To the Stalingrad Panorama overlooking the harbour, with a series of 360-degree paintings depicting the battle at its height, as viewed from the Mayev Kurgan mound, Hill 102 in military parlance, the defenders' stronghold. Followed by visit to the mound, now capped by the unimaginably vast Victory Statue (72 metres of sword-wielding feminine fury!) above the Museum to the Defence of Stalingrad. Attend guard-changing ceremony at the Pantheon where the permanent guards stand by an eternal flame and hear the endless playing of Schuman's Traumerei.
Day 3
See the grain silo where young Soviet marines valiantly held out against massive German onslaughts and the famous Tractor Factory in the industrial zone where fierce fighting took place. Private viewing of postwar film of Stalingrad battle in Volgograd's fine Planetarium. Trip to German and Russian war graves, and panoramic battlefield site (dotted with stone markers to show where specific events occurred) on outskirts of town with local historian.
Day 4
Visit to the museum of Russian aviation and the space programme at the Pavshikh Borstav airbase, where Yuri Gagarin trained as a pilot, specially arranged through the Air Force. Visit modest suburban house where General Chuikov took the final surrender of Paulus' 6th Army.
Day 5
To Saratov and the Victory Park open air museum featuring Soviet and German WWII vehicles and aircraft, modern era nuclear bombers and interceptors, helicopter gunships, and a Revolutionary period armoured train with hospital carriage set in a magnificent park atop Sokolovaya Mountain overlooking the city and the wide sweep of the Volga. Visit the river port town's superb food market. Stay overnight, then on to ...
Day 6
... Samara, for private tour of Stalin's secret bunker - at 40 metres, the deepest of its kind in WWII. Excavated by hand under the supervision of NKVD Chief (the reptile Beria) over 6 months in utmost secrecy by 60 personally selected Moscow metro tunnellers, to protect Stalin and his immediate cabinet, who were to shift to Samara in the event of the fall of Moscow.
Day 7
Return to Volgograd for onward flight to London.
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