Liski is located in the Voronezh region, on the left bank of the Don,
100 km south of Voronezh. This is a city at a large junction railway
station, which grew out of it, and for travelers it is also the “gate”
of Divnogorye, a natural museum-reserve with cave temples of the 17th
century and chalk pillars. There is not much interesting in Liski,
although there are several interesting objects there, and the city is
not without some color.
Liski arose in the place where the
Moscow-Rostov-on-Don main railway crossed the Don River. Before the
construction of the road, there were two villages in this place: Liski
on the right bank and Novaya Pokrovka on the left. The station was built
on the left bank, but for some reason was named after the village on the
right bank, whose name, apparently, was associated with the “bald” chalk
mountains in the surrounding area. In 1895, the Kharkov-Balashov line
passed through Liski, turning it into a large junction station.
In 1928, the station village was renamed Svoboda, marking the beginning
of further leapfrog with names, and in 1937 it received city status. In
1943, Liski was returned to its original name; from 1965 to 1991, the
city was called Gheorghiu Dej in honor of the General Secretary of the
Romanian Communist Party, and since 1991 - Liski again, as local
residents always called it. It is curious that the village of the same
name on the right bank of the Don Liska was never absorbed; it is listed
as a separate settlement.
Now Liski is a small city, in
comparison with many cities of a similar size, it looks clean and
well-groomed: there are tiles on the sidewalks, flower beds on the
lawns, a light and music fountain in the park, the number of new
buildings in the city is surprising, although the main part of the city
is still occupied by the nondescript private sector. Liski is not
without its share of color: both a large railway station and a small
town in the Black Earth Region. In Liski, the Soviet heritage is honored
and, for example, one of the new alleys is named in honor of the 80th
anniversary of the Komsomol. The spiritual-Orthodox theme, which is no
less widespread in the Black Earth Region, is also not forgotten here -
the city has a huge new cathedral and a column with an archangel on the
station square.
From the point of view of the internal structure, Liski is a very chaotic mixture of new buildings, Soviet high-rise buildings, railway buildings and private houses. There is no point for travelers to understand this device - to get a general idea, it is enough to examine the station and the adjacent temple square, as well as see the unusual city park, you can also visit the museum - but there is nothing else to see in Liski. The general panorama of the city is quite visible from a train crossing the Don and is unlikely to impress you.
1 City park. A well-kept park, in the center of which stands an old
water tower, painted with bright graffiti; at the entrance there is a
colonnade with figures of Soviet cartoon characters. The park also has
life-size dinosaur figures, a giant wasp and a children's railway (see
below) - it all makes for a very unusual place.
2 Guardian angel
statue. On the station square there is a statue of an angel on a high
bell pedestal. Pay attention to the bas-reliefs on the pedestal, one
half of which depicts biblical scenes, and the other half the history of
the city. Nearby is a more familiar locomotive-monument.
3 Temple of
the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, pl. Revolutions. A newly built
cathedral of enormous scale. From the area around it there is an
excellent view of the banks of the Don, even some chalk remains are
visible. Next to the cathedral is an unusual monument to Lenin (1932)
with a pedestal decorated with locomotive wheels.
4 Pokrovskaya
Church, st. Collective (at the cemetery). Built in 1784 - quite
impressive for this area. In architectural terms, it is a quadrangle on
an octagon, characteristic of those times, although the church did not
escape later reconstructions.
1 Children’s railway (in the city park). from May 1 to September
30, Wed–Sun 13:00–20:00. 60 rub. The only children's railway on the
South-Eastern Road. The road is small, and there is only one station on
it.
2 City Museum, pl. Revolutions, 10a. Mon–Fri 8:00–17:00, Sat–Sun
10:00–16:00. The relatively new museum is divided into two parts - local
history and art. The local history exhibition is small, but tries to
cover all possible topics, from archeology to modernity, including, of
course, a room with stuffed animals. The art collection is somewhat
larger; local and Voronezh artists are represented there starting from
the mid-20th century, and among the paintings there are very, very
non-trivial ones. The museum building is pre-revolutionary (which is a
huge rarity in Liski) and was originally a school.
By train
Liski is a large railway junction at the intersection of
the Ukraine-Volga region and Center-South Russia lines. In practice,
this means that almost all trains going to the Black Sea resorts and
Mineralnye Vody go through Liski and stop there, and there are many of
these trains even out of season. The once existing direct train
Moscow-Liski no longer exists, but there are plenty of passengers
passing through, the travel time is from 10 hours. In the direction of
Ukraine, the only train left is Kharkov-Baku, and even that a couple of
times a week.
Suburban service has been maintained in all four
directions. Most often you can go to the north, to Voronezh - 7-9 times
a day, the journey takes 1.5-2.5 hours, depending on the train and the
destination in Voronezh. To the west, towards Divnogorye (about 30
minutes) and Ostrogozhsk (1 hour), you can go 3 times a day, of which
twice the train goes to Alekseevka (2 hours). There are 4-5 trains to
the south, towards Rossosh (but sometimes with a shorter route), to the
east - 4 trains a day to the Talovaya station, passing through Bobrov (1
hour).
Railroad station. On the long platforms designed for
resort trains (among which stands out one shorter one, fenced with
turnstiles - for Voronezh electric trains), there is an active trade in
food and drinks, and not from hand, but from some semblance of
stationary kiosks. Here is the old “island” station building, built
before the revolution. It still has ticket offices and a newsstand, but
mainly serves as an underground passage to the new building, built in
the late Soviet era. All the infrastructure you would expect from a
large station is there. From the new building there is a ground exit to
the main part of the city.
By car
Take the M4 to the village
of Sredniy Ikorets, then 25 km to Liski. After another 30 km, this road
connects with the highway from Voronezh through Ostrogozhsk to Rossosh.
By bus
Buses from Liski go in approximately the same directions
as trains. 3-4 times a day you can go to Voronezh (only in the first
half of the day - less convenient than by train), 4-5 times - to Bobrov,
4 times - to Ostrogozhsk (buses to which do not pass through
Divnogorye). From cities not covered by rail, there are buses to
Pavlovsk 2 times a day. There are direct buses to Moscow (9 hours per
night), Belgorod (6.5 hours) and Kursk (7.5 hours).
Bus station
(station area). A small building, inside the ticket office, several
benches and a candy store, from the window facing the street they sell
pies and shawarma.
Trade in Liski gravitates towards the station square. In Liski there
are already several impressive shopping centers by the standards of a
small town; they are mainly found on Kommunisticheskaya Street, right in
the area of the station.
Market, south of the station square.
7:00–19:00.
There are quite a lot of food establishments in Liski. Most of them
have a bias towards pizza or sushi, however, you can usually order other
dishes in the same cafes.
1 Cafe, st. Kommunisticheskaya, 7 (Don
shopping center, 3rd floor).
2 Cafe “Russian Appetite”, st.
Kommunisticheskaya, 27. 8:00–20:00.
3 Cafe “Skazka”, st. Sverdlova,
51. 11:00–24:00.
4 Alpha Pizza, st. Kommunisticheskaya, 46.
9:00–22:00. Pizzeria, good reviews
5 Sea Zone , st. Labor Reserves,
77 (near the park). ☎ +7 (920) 40-333-68. 11:00–23:00. Sushi bar, there
are also some Japanese dishes. Good reviews
6 Tokyo , st.
Kommunisticheskaya, 17. ☎ +7 (930) 40-23-007. Mon–Thu, Sun 12:00–00:00,
Fri–Sat 12:00–02:00. The establishment is priced above average, with
some emphasis on Japanese cuisine (which is not limited to sushi).
Reviews often call it the best in the city. Apparently, on weekends it
is popular among locals as a place to get together - there may not be
any vacancies. Wi-Fi, menu on the website.
There are also positive
reviews about the summer cafe in the city park.
1 Hostel “Cranes” , st. Titova, 28. ✉ ☎ +7 (47391) 5-00-12, +7
(951) 555-29-92. bed in a shared room from 500 rubles, double room from
1400 rubles. Not bad reviews.
2 RaDom. ✉ ☎ +7 (910) 746-7747, +7
(985) 922-1207. single from 1800 rubles, double from 2000 rubles.
Mini-hotel at the Radon sanatorium. Not bad reviews.
3 Hotel “Three
Stars”, st. Svobody, 1B. ☎ +7 (47391) 4-07-13, +7 (920) 440-40-40.
2000-3500 rub. A strange combination of comfort and arbitrariness of the
owners. The rooms are well furnished: air conditioning, refrigerator,
fast Wi-Fi, modern plumbing, slippers. On the ground floor there is a
fully equipped shared kitchen where you can prepare your own breakfast.
However, the price greatly depends on the mood of the hostess and the
occupancy of the hotel: you need to call several times, bargain and, as
a result, bring the price down from excessive to quite acceptable.
4 Barocco LV. ✉ ☎ +7 (999) 721-4444. Double room from 2900 rub. The
most expensive hotel in the city. The reviews are not bad. The interiors
try to live up to the name as much as possible in Liski.
Divnogorye, for which people usually come to Liski, is only a small
section of the chalk mountains of the banks of the Don, which stretch
for tens of kilometers in this area. There are cave monasteries and
ancient settlements there, and there are simply countless places with
picturesque views - even if they are less “concentrated” and suitable
for tourism than Divnogorye. In the same area there are two historical
cities, Ostrogozhsk and Pavlovsk; Ostrogozhsk is also notable for its
museum, which dates back to pre-revolutionary times.
On the
opposite side, symmetrically to Liski relative to the M4 highway, there
is another historical town - Bobrov. In itself, it is less interesting
than Ostrogozhsk or Pavlovsk, but it is accompanied by ancient stud
farms in the surrounding villages - this is the homeland of the Oryol
trotters.
Kazan Church, village. Davydovka (by rail towards
Voronezh). Built in 1911 in pseudo-Russian style. The church is visible
from a distance from the railway. The village, judging by the cultural
heritage lists, also has several old buildings.