In the late sixteenth century, the Volga region was still largely untamed, greatly hindering the trade possibilities. A series of fortresses along the river was therefore constructed, and several towns subsequently grew up around the protection of the fortresses. One of these towns was Saratov, founded in 1590.

The fortresses were not entirely successful in protecting the region, however, particularly from the notoriously unruly Cossaks which inhabited the region and who led a series of Peasant Revolts in the 16th and 17th Centuries. After the third such uprising, Catherine the Great decided that the area needed a larger and more stable population and so she invited hundreds of peasants from her native Germany to settle along the Volga. The center of this effort was based in Saratov.

Although most of the Volga Germans were deported to labor camps in Siberia and Kazakhstan in the anti-German frenzy that accompanied WWII, the city of Saratov still maintains a distinctly German feel, and attracts enough German tourists that Germany maintains a consulate here.

Saratov is also the city where Yuri Gregarin studied and lived, and the location where his rocket crash-landed after his trip to the cosmos. Today there is an extensive Museum dedicated to the man, his life, and the near-mythology the Soviets built around him. There is also an impressive monument marking the site of his landing. In Saratov you can also see the Radishchev Fine Arts Museum (the famous artist lived here) and the beautiful (and very Russo-Bavarian) Prospect Kirova.

Saratov makes for an interesting cross-cultural excursion, particularly if combined with Samara or Volgograd.

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