continuing the saga 4. You can’t deny the inventiveness of N. Yu. belyh, the governor of Kirov Region. Here, for example, is a photo from his office. If You Know What I Mean.
5. One of Kirov Region’s signature brands is the Vyatka saffron milk caps. Legend has it that the most prized ones were salted not in ordinary jars, but in empty champagne bottles. Accordingly, the mushroom cap had to be no wider than the bottle neck. These mushrooms were supplied to the tsar’s table. I can add that they’re not just salty—they’re as salty as salt itself. You can’t eat them without sour cream. With sour cream, though, they’re not bad. 6. Kirov Region is a hunter’s paradise. Everyone here is obsessed with hunting. And hunting here isn’t just hunting—it’s a whole industry. Everything is strictly scientific. There’s even a Hunting Research Institute. Excellent wild boar and moose hunting can be found just thirty minutes from Kirov. About an hour and a half away, there’s even lynx. 7. Anyone opposed to hunting and inclined to feel sorry for the animals should avoid the "Belka" fur farm. In Soviet times it was the largest in the USSR, and now it’s simply one of the largest. Imagine a huge field packed solid with cages. Inside them, raccoons, foxes, minks, and other fluffy creatures dart around like mad. They’re killed by injection. Interestingly, there are no squirrels there. They don’t breed them in cages—they buy them from hunters instead. 70–80 rubles per pelt. 8. Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov (Kirov) never actually visited the city of Vyatka, which was later named after him. He was from Urzhum.