The entrance to the marina in Syzran is ‘tricky’: sandbanks that have been shifted or accumulated by the Volga over the winter and are neither marked on a map nor reliably marked by buoys – but fortunately the ArgoFram has an echo sounder system, and there are some local fishermen who take their boats out into the Volga and whose driving behaviour we can observe, which finally allows us to find our way into the harbour. From there, we had to walk for another half an hour or so (Syzran and its industrial facilities are protected by an extensive dam system, which indicates that the Volga can rise considerably and flood large areas…) until we finally arrived in the town centre. But what am I saying, town centre…, Sysran is a town the size of Basel – but where are the inhabitants? The town centre looks rather rural and sleepy; a main road, a few shops and restaurants, all the houses mostly two-storey, I would have estimated a maximum of 30,000 inhabitants. But then again, a town covers a huge area here, so even without a skyline or conurbation, such a population can be achieved.
Shortly before we set off into the ‘city’, we discovered a small container settlement less than 50 metres from the ArgoFram, where we also found Irina, Alla and Oleg, who had already retreated here this Friday afternoon to ring in their weekend. They own small cabins, which they have nicely decorated, and form their own self-contained little world here in this harbour area. When we return to the harbour from our tour of the town, we are promptly invited to a second dinner and a hearty drink! – The barbecue is fired up, glasses are brought out, and there it is again, this spontaneous welcoming culture, this (from a Swiss point of view) blunt permission to enter the private area, which becomes – with the extra bit of alcohol on offer – much more open and accessible than we Swiss could ever dream of .