"Iron heart of the country" - this is the name of this city. Most often it is associated with quarries, dumps, copra mines, dusty roads and red puddles. Few people suspect that this steppe city may be interesting in terms of tourism. Sights of Kryvyi Rih are parks, rocks, waterfalls, unique anthropogenic landscapes and even botanical gardens!
Kryvyi Rih - a special and unique city
150 years ago, Kryvyi Rih was just a small, inconspicuous place on the banks of the Ingulets. But everything changed after the discovery of large deposits of iron ore by Alexander Paul. Since the end of the 19th century, Kryvyi Rih has been significantly transformed.
The first mines appear here, a railway is being laid connecting Krivbass with another large industrial region - Donbass. Poles, French, Bulgarians and representatives of other nationalities come to the fast-growing city, helping to develop and build Krivoy Rog.
Today, Krivoy Rog is the largest city in Ukraine and an important industrial center of Eastern Europe with dozens of metallurgical enterprises. About 650 thousand people live here. The city has developed all types of public transport: bus, tram and trolleybus. There is also its own "metro": Krivorozhskoy light rail, which has 11 stations (four of them are underground).
What sights of Krivoy Rog can be distinguished? In fact, there are quite a lot of them. The most interesting of them will be discussed later. And Kryvyi Rih itself is, in fact, one big attraction. After all, it is the longest city in Europe (its length is 121 kilometers). In addition, there is the deepest European quarry and the second largest blast furnace in the world!
Kryvyi Rih Botanical Garden - the pearl of the industrial giant
The sweet aroma of magnolias, subtropical creepers, Japanese relic trees ... And all this is in Krivoy Rog. "It can not be!" - exclaims one who has never been to a city botanical garden.
Kryvyi Rih Botanical Garden was established in 1975 and covers an area of 52 hectares. It is located in the far north of the city, almost under the fence of the largest mining and processing plant in Europe - the Northern GOK. Nowhere in the world will you ever see such a striking and contrasting neighborhood.
The exposition part of the garden, intended for walks and excursions, covers an area of 20 hectares. All of it is divided into thirty quarters, in each of which various plants are represented. There is also a beautiful rose garden, and a syringary, and a section of coniferous trees. The rest of the garden is occupied by nurseries and nurseries. Separately, in the botanical garden, greenhouses are located, in which flora from Australia, America, Africa and East Asia is exotic for our latitudes.
Rocks of MOPR - geological miracle of Kryvyi Rih
Now we will move to the southern part of the city to visit a unique geological formation - the rocks of the village of them. MOPRa. Such a strange name this natural monument received a long time, in honor of the International Organization for Assistance to the Revolutionaries, which existed in the 20-30s of the last century.
The brownish-red rocky outcrops stretched several kilometers along the banks of the Ingulets River. Individual ledges reach several tens of meters in height and effectively hang over the river surface. Rocks of MOPR consist of ferruginous quartzites - the main wealth of the Kryvyi Rih subsurface. Their age, according to geologists, reaches 2.5-3 billion years. This is an impressive figure, especially if you recall the age of our planet.
The rocks of MOPR in Kryvyi Rih are not only a unique geological monument, but also a great place for relaxation, ecological walks and excursions.
Park named after the newspaper Pravda
At these two sites, the interesting sights of Krivoy Rog do not end there. In the center of the city is Pravda Park, named after one of the most famous print media of the Soviet era. It was founded at the end of the 19th century by the local landowner and philanthropist V.F. Mershavtsev. By the way, today in the city it is planned to rename the park in honor of this person.
It is in this park that the historic confluence of the Ingults and Saksagani rivers is located, from which, as local historians believe, the chronological countdown of the city begins. Nearby is a memorial sign in honor of the foundation of Krivoy Rog in 1775.
Another attraction of Truth Park is the Boat Station. An elegant white-columned building with a spire is very beautifully integrated into the landscape of the green zone. The station was built in 1957 according to the project of the architect Vasily Sumaneev. In summer, there is a rental of boats and catamarans, which you can swim in the Ingulz.
Kryvyi Rih ostrich farm
In the vicinity of the city is another unique tourist attraction, which is visited not only by residents of Krivoy Rog. This place is especially loved by families with small children.
The ostrich farm Ostrich Park Land is located in the village of Gruzskoy, twenty kilometers west of Krivoy Rog. It was founded back in 2001 and today is an excellent recreation area. The territory of the park is decorated in the traditional Ukrainian style: with huts-huts, wooden bridges and fences made of twigs (tynami).
Here you can see not only African ostriches, but also other feathered animals: Emu birds, pheasants, white swans, dwarf chickens and others. In addition, in this amazing place you will be offered to try scrambled eggs from a huge ostrich egg (one such egg is quite capable of feeding a company of 4-5 people).
Dips, quarries, waterfalls and other interesting objects of the city
Sights of Kryvyi Rih are not limited only to natural objects. There are many more unusual and interesting places here, and it is simply impossible to describe them all in one article.
So, anthropogenic (man-made) landforms deserve special attention: huge pits of quarries (active and flooded), iron ore hills of dumps, in the body of which you can find many semiprecious stones, the deepest mine dips and even waterfalls.
In the western part of the city is the largest waterfall in the region - Karachunovsky. Jets of river water here fall from steep granite blocks 15 meters high. In the immediate vicinity of the waterfall there is a powerful dam, behind which begins the huge Karachunovskoye reservoir - the largest water reservoir in Kryvyi Rih.
The architecture of the old Krivoy Rog is quite interesting, where you can see dozens of beautiful brick buildings of the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries.
Thus, Kryvyi Rih is not only a boring industrial city. Here you can see many interesting and unique objects of both natural attractions and those created by human activities.