KALUGA
A cozy merchant town on the steep bank of the Oka River, Kaluga happened to be related to such an unfitting field as cosmonautics. A tiny log house on the bank of Oka became a place of worship for several generations of cosmonauts and spacecraft engineers. The house once belonged to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the pioneer of the astronautic theory and the founding father of rocketry. Tsiolkovsky is everywhere in Kaluga. Streets, cafés, schools and parks are named after him. The museum of the history of cosmonautics, the largest in Russia, was built here, in Kaluga, and named after Tsiolkovsky. But apart from cosmonautics history Kaluga has a lot to offer. There're beautiful palaces converted into museums, old churches, and shady parks.
Distance from Moscow: 181km Founded in 1371 Population: 342 936 UTC+3
TO GET THERE
By train
There're 2 railway stations in Kaluga. While Kaluga-1 is situated close to the centre of Kaluga, Kaluga-2 is located outside the city, 15-20min taxi ride from the centre. There's a dozen of trains per day from Moscow Kievskaya Railway Station which take 2-3h to get to Kaluga. An express train from Moscow to Kaluga departs 3 times a day arriving to Kaluga-1 station. Tickets can be purchased online or at the Kievskaya railway station.
TO GET AROUND
It takes around 30min to walk from Kaluga-1 station to the central Kirova St. Alternatively, you can catch one of many buses (1, 30, 504, 511, 555) and trolleybuses (1, 2) which stop in front of the station. From Kirova-2 you can catch bus 20 or 30, or take a taxi (for example, Rush Taxi +7 484 278 77 87). All the museums and other historical sights are located in the centre of Kaluga, and within walking distance from each other.
EVENTS IN TAMBOV
17-21 May - Festival of Discoveries ("Фестиваль Открытий")
23-27 May - The World of Guitar Music Festival ("Мир Гитары")
27 August - Kaluga City Day