Until 1964, Togliatti was called Stavropol-on-Volga. The city was founded in 1737 by Vasily Tatishchev and a monument to him was erected on the embankment of Togliatti. For many years Stavropol served as a fortress to protect against nomads, and at the beginning of the 20th century, a kumis hospital was opened here and several sanatoriums were built.
The name of the Italian fighter for the rights of the people Palmiro Togliatti was given to the former Stavropol-on-Volga before the opening of the VAZ automobile plant, which today serves as the main city-forming enterprise.
There are actually two embankments in Togliatti:
- Embankment of the Komsomolsk district, where the river station is located.
- Naberezhnaya street in Portposelka. In the 19th century, it passed along the banks of the Volozhka River, which merged with the Volga during the construction of the Zhigulevskaya HPP. There are no sights and monuments on this embankment in Togliatti, and therefore tourist routes pass far from it.
Opposite the Zhiguli
The Volga coast opposite Togliatti is high and steep. These are the famous Zhiguli mountains - the highest point of the Central Russian Upland. The best view of the Zhiguli opens from the Komsomolsky District Embankment, where the townspeople like to relax and celebrate holidays. It hosts events dedicated to the City Day and Victory Day, fireworks and Maslenitsa festivities.
The embankment has several levels of bicycle and pedestrian paths, lighting at night is provided by modern lanterns, and you can relax here on cozy wooden benches. The Volga bank in the area of the Togliatti embankment is sufficiently fortified and can survive even serious weather tests. From the top to the water from the Komsomolskoye highway, a major city highway, you can go down several multi-span stairs.
"Sputnik" is always funny
On the embankment of Togliatti, in the area of the river station, a motor ship, the largest in the world in its class, is installed on a permanent dock. The first passenger hydrofoil ship Sputnik was launched in 1961 and turned out to be the only one. The prototype carried up to 300 passengers and developed a speed of up to 65 km / h.
The deep draft of the motor ship and its extreme inefficiency in the use of fuel became the reasons for the decommissioning of Sputnik to the embankment in Togliatti just four years after its construction. And from the river station during the navigation season, light motor ships leave, from the deck of which there are especially beautiful views of the city and the Zhiguli mountains.
