​A famous Slovakian writer visited Krasnoyarsk

Pavol Vitek, a Slovak businessman and writer from the city of Zilina, a sister-city of Krasnoyarsk, came to Krasnoyarsk for a 2-days visit. 

Once you visit Siberia it never lets you go. These words can be fully attributed to Mr. Vitek. In 2016, after traveling through the whole Russia by train, Mr. Vitek wrote a book about his journey along the Trans-Siberian Railway (Transsib). And here he is once again in Krasnoyarsk, with the idea of another trip.

In Krasnoyarsk Mr. Vitek had a meeting with the Deputy Head of Mayor's Department Vadim Falaleev. During the meeting were discussed possible ways of cooperation between Krasnoyarsk and Slovakian cities in cultural and other spheres.

Despite extremely cold weather (it was -45 in Krasnoyarsk Airport, when Mr. Vitek and his daughter Sasha arrived) Mr. Vitek insisted on visiting the national park "Stolby" as, according to Mr. Vitek, it is one of the main symbols and attractions of Krasnoyarsk for foreigners.​

So, what made Siberia so interesting for Mr. Vitek and why did he start his trip this year from our city?

Pavol Vitek says:

"The story of the book is as follows. In July 2016, my whole family (me, my wife and our daughters) went by train from Moscow to Vladivostok, stopping in several cities. The very idea of the trip belonged to my youngest daughter, Sasha. She is interested in Russian culture, literature, when she was still a child she wanted to learn Russian and now she speaks it quite well.

The trip was very interesting. And the travel notes gave a start to a book. In that book, I described our impressions, gave some comments on the places worth visiting, as well as discussed the sources of information you might like to study before going on a trip along Transsib.

One more reason to write a book about Transsib was that no such book had been published in Slovakia before. I wanted to tell about this great railway and show it. Therefore, the book has more than 300 photographs.

The book aroused great interest in Slovakia. Many people bought it. 1500 copies were issued. For Slovakia and for a book of this type it is a big number. The presentations of the book, which I make at schools, are also met with great interest. And my friends, who later visited Siberian cities, told me: Pavol, we got acquainted with the atmosphere of those places from your book.

In our trip this year I want to continue the "railway" topic. Only this time I'd like to write about the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM). Therefore, from Krasnoyarsk we are going to Taishet and then to Severobaikalsk, Tynda, and along the BAM to Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Khabarovsk.

The book about Transsib also helped us this year, because while the first trip we made as ordinary tourists, today we are supported by the Russian Railways. The administrations of those cities that we plan to visit know about our arrival and provide help. This makes it possible to visit places where an ordinary tourist usually cannot go to.

For example, we really wanted to get into the tower of the Krasnoyarsk "Big Ben" (clock tower). The city administration helped us with this and we are thankful for it.

As for information about Krasnoyarsk in my previous book – it included everything that we could find the information about or saw ourselves: the hydropower plant, Krasnoyarsk fountains, the construction of bridges, your beautiful railway station, the historical monument with the white horse telling about the history of Krasnoyarsk and the Cossacks, a photo of a ten-ruble banknote with the sights of Krasnoyarsk and a picture of a talking cartoon wolf from the recreation park Bobrovy Log."

For the reference: the home city of Pavol Vitek, Zhilina and Krasnoyarsk have long established close and diverse economic, scientific, educational and cultural ties. The cities exchange delegations, hold joint international children's festivals, organize exhibitions of works of Slovak and Siberian photographers and artists. In 2016, the Mayor of Zhilina, Igor Khoma, visited Krasnoyarsk to participate in the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum.

Pavol Vitek's visit to Krasnoyarsk was organized by International Affairs Division of Mayor's Department of Krasnoyarsk City Administration​ and Krasnoyarsk Tourist and Sport Center.

You can also look for additional information about Pavol Vitek's trip along the Russian railways at his official web-page.