Gorky Park Syzran 31st August 2019

We had intended to spend the penultimate morning of our trip exploring the three parks in Samara, but managed to tick them off a day early due to our detour around poor weather. That made it possible to add in a bonus stop at Gorky Park (Парк Горького) in Syzran (Сызрань), a city of 175,000 located on the bank of the Volga river. We were stopped by traffic police on the way out of the city, albeit only briefly; they took one look at our foreign passports before sending us on our way.

The park was a place of contrasts. The main entrance and central area was pleasantly landscaped, but the rides were scattered around the facility and it was necessary to walk across uneven ground to get to them. We paid ₽150 (~€2.04) per person for a six lap cycle on Asteroid (#2813), a locally-built production model double helix coaster that felt very much like the Yamasakutalab machines found all over eastern Europe. The layout was forceful throughout, but particularly so at the highest point of the track where a directional change threw me from one side of the car to the other.