Watched by the Trans-Ili Alatau Mountains, Almaty (Alma-Ata from the time the Soviet Union and a former capital) lives like any crowded big city. Cut by wide boulevards (that make up almost a perfect grid) the city has nothing spectacular. The noisy traffic (you hear horns almost at every step) fills the autumn air with a disturbing exhaust gas smell. As European, you make a discordant note with the Asian pedestrians hurrying to their destinations.
