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Destination Russia
‘Oh, what a glittering, wondrous infinity of space the world knows nothing of ! Rus!’
Nikolai Gogol, Dead Souls (1842)
For centuries the world has wondered what to believe about Russia. The country has been reported variously as a land of unbelievable riches and indescribable poverty, cruel tyrants and great minds, generous hospitality and meddlesome bureaucracy, beautiful ballets and industrial monstrosities, pious faith and unbridled hedonism. These eternal Russian truths coexist in equally diverse landscapes of icy tundra and sun-kissed beaches, dense silver birch and fir forests and deep and mysterious lakes, snow-capped mountains and swaying grasslands – those famous steppes. Factor in ancient fortresses, luxurious palaces, swirly spired churches and lost-in-time wooden villages and you’ll begin to see why Russia is simply amazing.
To get the most from Russia, head way off the beaten track. After taking in old favourites such as dynamic Moscow, historic St Petersburg and beautiful Lake Baikal, dive further and deeper into the largest country in the world. Visit the soft, golden sands of the old Prussian resort of Kranz, now known as Zelenogradsk, in the far western Kaliningrad Region; the charming Volga river village of Gorodets, home to folk artists and honey-cake bakers; fascinating Elista, Europe’s sole Buddhist enclave and location of the wacky Chess City; the 400-year-old mausoleums of Dargavs, a North Ossetian ‘city of the dead’ or the hot springs of Kamchatka’s Nalychevo Valley in the Russian Far East.
FAST FACTS
Population: 141.4 million
Surface area: 17 million sq km
Time zones: 11
National symbol: double-headed eagle
Extent of the Russian rail network: 87,000km
Gazprom profits in 2007: R658 billion (US$27.8 billion)
Rate of income tax: 13% flat
Number of deaths per year from alcohol poisoning: 40,000
Number of languages spoken (other than Russian): more than 100
Number of Nobel Prize winners: 20
Russia’s vast geographical distances and cultural differences mean you don’t tick off its highlights in the way you might those of a smaller country; the Russian Far East, for example, is the size of Europe. A more sensible approach is to view Russia as a collection of countries, each one deserving exploration. Rather than transiting via Moscow, consider flying direct to a regional centre such as Irkutsk to have an Eastern Siberian vacation, or to Yekaterinburg to explore the Urals mountain range.
If cultural and architectural highlights are what you’re after, stick to European Russia, which is all of the country west of the Urals. If you don’t mind occasionally roughing it and are in search of Russia’s great outdoors, train your eye on the vast spaces of Siberia and the Far East. Alternatively, boost your adrenaline on the country’s top ski resorts and raft-friendly rivers. You can also get a bird’s-eye view of it all from the cockpit of a MiG-25 or even from outer space, as well as unique experiences such as getting a beating in a banya (traditional steam bath).
In the past decade Russia has evolved from the economically jittery, inefficient and disorganised basket case that Vladimir Putin inherited from Boris Yeltsin to a relatively slick petrodollar mover and shaker, the world’s No 1 luxury goods market. Off the back of oil and gas sales, the world’s biggest energy exporter has paid off its debts and stashed away reserves of R3.84 trillion (US$162.5 billion). With the economy growing at an average 7% per year, the National Statistics Agency reported that the average monthly salary rose by 27% in 2007 to R13,500 (US$550) and that unemployment was down to 6%. According to Forbes magazine in 2007, 19 of the 100 richest people in the world were Russians, while the country’s tally of 87 US$ billionaires makes it second only to the US. Lenin is surely spinning in his mausoleum!
The global financial turmoil of late 2008 may have put a significant dent in their bank balances, but it remains true that the lyux life enjoyed by the likes of aluminium mogul Oleg Deripaska or Roman Abramovich might as well be on an different planet from that of the 20 million or so Russians who subsist on less than R4500 a month. Luxury is hardly common to the growing Russian middle class, either, who nevertheless enjoy lives undreamed of by the vast majority of Soviet citizens less than two decades ago. Under such circumstances they have supported Putin and continue to support his successor Dmitry Medvedev, at the same time as gritting their teeth and tightening their purses to deal with steadily rising inflation, counted at 15% in the year to May 2008.
With no credible opponent, Medvedev’s election to president in March 2008 was never in doubt, the only intangibles being how big his majority might be (71.25%) and how many Russians would bother to vote at all (73.73 million). Non-Russian observers worried about how democratic the outcome really was, and fretted even more in August of the same year when Russia came to blows with Georgia over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
While the controversy inevitably stirred up extreme reactions, a more sober analysis would have that Russia – however heavy-handedly – is fumbling to find a way to deal with its sense of encirclement by NATO-leaning neighbours, such as Georgia, Ukraine and the Baltic States, who were once part of its ‘sphere of influence’ and whose borders continue to harbour Russian nationals. While claiming to not want to defy the international community, Medvedev has said, ‘We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a new Cold War.’
Under such circumstances you may be understandably wary about visiting Russia. It would be a lie to say that travel here is all plain sailing. On the contrary, for all the welcome that its people will show you once you’re there, Russia’s initial face can be frosty. Tolerating bureaucracy, an insidious level of corruption and some discomfort, particularly away from the booming urban centres, remains an integral part of the whole Russian travel experience. However, a small degree of perseverance will be amply rewarded.
In 1978, in his commencement address at Harvard, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn talked about Russia’s ‘ancient, deeply rooted autonomous culture…full of riddles and surprises to Western thinking’. From the power machinations of the Kremlin and a resurgent Russian Orthodox Church to the compelling beauty of its arts and the quixotic nature of its people, whose moods tumble between melancholy, indifference and exuberance in the blink of an eye, Russia remains its own unique and fascinating creation that everyone should see for themselves.
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Getting Started
WHEN TO GO
Early summer and autumn are many people’s favourite periods for visiting Russia. By May the snow has usually disappeared and temperatures are pleasant, while the golden autumnal colours of September and early October can be stunning.
July and August are the warmest months and the main holiday season for both foreigners and Russians (which means that securing train tickets at short notice can be tricky). They’re also the dampest months in much of European Russia, with as many as one rainy day in three. In rural parts of Siberia and the Russian Far East, May and June are peak danger periods for encephalitis-carrying ticks, though June and July are worse for biting insects. By September the air has cleared of mosquitoes.
Winter brings the Russia of popular imagination to life. If you’re prepared for it, travel in this season is recommended: the snow makes every-thing picturesque, and the insides of buildings are kept warm. Avoid, however, the first snows (usually in late October) and the spring thaw (March and April), which turn everything to slush and mud.
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COSTS & MONEY
See Climate Charts (Click here) for more information.
Start saving up! Avoid the major cities and use the platskartny (‘hard’ class, or 3rd class) carriages of overnight trains as an alternative to hotels and it’s possible – just! – to get by on US$50 per day. However, if you visit the main cities, eat meals in restaurants and travel on kupeyny (2nd class) trains, US$150 to $US200 per day is a more realistic figure. Prices drop away from the metropolises, but not significantly, while in remote areas, such as the Russian Far East, everything can cost considerably more.
Dual pricing is also an issue (see the boxed text, opposite). As a foreigner you’ll sometimes be charged more at hotels, too, although not in Moscow or St Petersburg where hotel prices are the same for everyone. It’s often fair game for taxi drivers and sometimes market sellers to try to charge foreigners more – check with locals for prices, but don’t expect that knowledge to be much use unless you can bargain in Russian. You’ll rarely be short-changed by staff in restaurants, cafés and bars, though.
DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT…
- Getting a visa – we’ll guide you through the paperwork (Click here)
- Checking the security situation – travel to parts of the Caucasus is dangerous and not recommended
- Learning Cyrillic and packing a phrasebook or mini-dictionary – having a handle on the Russian language will improve your visit immeasurably
- Very warm clothes and a long, windproof coat for winter visits
- Thick-soled, waterproof, comfortable walking shoes
- Effective insect repellent for summer
- A sense of humour and bucket load of patience
- A stash of painkillers or other decent hangover cure
ABOUT MUSEUMS (AND OTHER TOURIST ATTRACTIONS)
Much may have changed in Russia since Soviet times, but one thing remains the same: foreigners typically being charged up to 10 times more than locals at museums and other tourist attractions. Higher foreigner fees generally go towards preserving works of art and cultural treasures that might otherwise receive minimal state funding.
Some major Moscow attractions, such as the Kremlin, State History Museum and St Basil’s, have ditched foreigner prices. All adults pay whatever the foreigner price used to be; all students, children and pensioners pay the low price. However, in St Petersburg foreigner prices rule.
Moscow and St Petersburg apart, non-Russian labels, guides or catalogues in museums are fairly uncommon. In our reviews we mention if there is good English labelling at a museum. Otherwise assume that you’ll need a dictionary to work out the precise details of what you’re seeing, or be prepared to pay even more for a guided tour – particularly if you wish that tour to be in a language you understand.
A few more working practices of Russian museums to keep in mind are:
- Admittance typically stops one hour before the official closing time.
- If you wish to take photos or film a video there will be a separate fee for this, typically an extra R100 for a still camera and R200 for video camera.
- Once a month many places close for a ‘sanitary day’, in theory to allow the place to be thoroughly cleaned; if you specially want to see a museum, call ahead to check it’s open.
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TRAVELLING RESPONSIBLY
Ease your impact on the environment by travelling overland between Russia and Europe or Asia, as well as using trains to get around the country itself. Sure, it takes more time, but overland travel allows you to see plenty of interesting places en route and meet locals – far more fun than a boring flight. International trains and buses (Click here) are plentiful, and, as our Carbon Emissions Comparison Table shows (Click here), it’s possible in some cases to make more than a 50% cut in your environmental footprint by using them.
Interestingly, when we calculated the emissions that would be generated by taking a (non-existent) bus from London to Vladivostok (1.104 tonnes), we found that this was actually more polluting than a flight – take note, trans-Siberian drivers! For further details on overland travel options see the websites The Man in Seat Sixty-One (www.seat61.com/Russia.htm) and Way to Russia (www.waytorussia.net/Transport/International/Bus.html).
Once in Russia you’ll not fail to notice that as closely as some Russians live with nature, they don’t always respect it: littering, hunting and poaching are common pastimes. Responsible travellers will be appalled by the mess left in parts of the countryside and at how easily rubbish is chucked out of train windows. Accept that you’re not going to change how Russians live, but that you might be able to make a small impression by your own thoughtful behaviour.
It’s obvious to not litter yourself, but also try to minimise waste by avoiding excess packaging. Rather than relying on bottled water, consider using purification tablets or iodine in tap water. Also avoid buying items made from endangered species, such as exotic furs and caviar (Click here) that isn’t from legal sources.
Support local enterprises, environmental groups and charities that are trying to improve Russia’s environmental and social scorecard. A good example is the Great Baikal Trail project helping to construct a hiking trail around Lake Baikal (Click here). Other possibilities include:
Calculations made on www.carbonfootprint.com.
Cross-Cultural Solutions (www.crossculturalsolutions.org) Runs volunteer programs in a range of social services out of Yaroslavl.
Dersu Uzala Ecotours (www.ecotours.ru/english) Works in conjunction with several major nature reserves across Russia on tours and projects.
EcoSiberia (www.ecosiberia.org) Has information on eco attractions, projects and tours in Siberia.
International Cultural Youth Exchange (www.icye.org) Offers a variety of volunteer projects, mostly in Samara.
Language Link Russia (www.jobs.languagelink.ru) Volunteer to work at language centres in Moscow, St Petersburg, Volgograd and Samara.
World 4U (www.world4u.ru/english.html) Russian volunteer association.
World Wise Ecotourism Network (www.traveleastrussia.com) Ecoadventure tour company specialising in Far East Russia and Siberia.
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TRAVEL LITERATURE
Russia: A Journey to the Heart of a Land and its People by Jonathan Dimbleby – the hefty side product of a 16,000km journey the British journalist made for a BBC documentary across the country in 2007 – is a revealing snapshot of a multifaceted country.
Lost Cosmonaut and Strange Telescopes by Daniel Kalder are both blackly comic and serious explorations of some of Russia’s quirkiest and least visited locations. In the former book, the ‘anti-tourist’ author puts Kalmykia, Tatarstan, Mary-El and Udmurtia under the microscope. In the latter, Kalder goes underground in Moscow, hangs out with an exorcist and extends his travels into Siberia to meet the religious prophet Vissarion (Click here).
Motherland(www.motherlandbook.com) by Simon Roberts depicts in inspirational words and stark pictures the photographer’s year-long journey from Kamchatka to Kaliningrad.
Black Earth: A Journey Through Russia after the Fall by Andrew Meier is acutely observed and elegiac. In dispatches from Chechnya, Moscow, Norilsk, Sakhalin and St Petersburg, he paints a bleak picture of the country.
Black Earth City by Charlotte Hobson is an eloquent account of the author’s year studying in Voronezh in the turbulent period following the dissolution of the USSR. The book captures eternal truths about the Russian way of life.
Through Siberia by Accident and Silverland by Dervla Murphy are affectionate, opinionated discourses on the forgotten towns along Siberia’s BAM rail route by one of the world’s best travel writers.
MUST-SEE MOVIES
Hollywood did Russia proud in David Lean’s romantic epic Doctor Zhivago and spy thrillers such as Gorky Park and The Russia House, but otherwise its interest in the country as a location has been limited. No matter, as Russia has its own illustrious movie-making record. Check out the following classics, listed in chronological order. For more on Russian cinema Click here.
- The Cranes are Flying (1957) Mikhail Kalatozov
- Irony of Fate (1975) Eldar Ryazanov
- Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears (1979) Vladimir Menshov
- Stalker (1980) Andrei Tarkovsky
- My Friend Ivan Lapshin (1982) Alexey German
- Burnt by the Sun (1994) Nikita Mikhalkov
- Prisoner of the Mountains (1996) Sergei Bodrov
- Russian Ark (2002) Alexander Sokurov
- The Return (2003) Andrei Zvyagintsev
- 12 (2007) Nikita Mikhalkov
GREAT READS
Russian literature flourished in the 19th century when leviathans such as Pushkin, Gogol, Chekhov and Dostoevsky were wielding their pens. However, 20th- and 21st-century Russia has also bred several notable wordsmiths whose works afford a glimpse of the country’s troubled soul. For more on Russian literature go to Click here.
- War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
- Dr Zhivago Boris Pasternak
- The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov
- Quiet Flows the Don Mikhail Sholokhov
- Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Eugene Onegin Alexander Pushkin
- Dead Souls Nikolai Gogol
- Fathers and Sons Ivan Turgenev
- Kolyma Tales Varlam Shalamov
- Ice Vladimir Sorokin
FANTASTIC FESTIVALS
When Russians throw a party they seldom hold back. Time your trip to coincide with one of these top events and festivals, most showcasing local music, and you’re sure to have a ball.
- Sergei Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF), late April, St Petersburg (Click here)
- Victory Day, 9 May: most places celebrate this day but St Petersburg (Click here) puts on a great parade
- Glinka Festival, 1-10 June, Smolensk (Click here)
- Sabantuy, mid-June, Tatarstan (Click here)
- Grushinsky festivals, early July, Samara (Click here)
- Naadym, mid-August, Tuva (Click here)
- Ysyakh, 21-22 June, Yakutsk (Click here)
- Sayan Ring International Ethnic Music Festival, mid-July, Shushkenskoe, (Click here)
- Dzhangariada, mid-September, Elitsa (Click here)
- Ded Moroz’s Birthday, 18 November, Veliky Ustyug (Click here)
In Siberia by Colin Thubron is a fascinating, frequently sombre account of the author’s journey from the Urals to Magadan in post-Soviet times; it’s worth comparing with his Among the Russians about a journey taken in 1981 from St Petersburg to the Caucasus.
Journey into Russia by Laurens van der Post might have been written 60 years ago, but many of the observations made by the author about Soviet life still seem pertinent today, particularly those about the Russian character.
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INTERNET RESOURCES
CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html) Read what the US spooks have on the Russkies.
English Russia (www.englishrussia.com) Daily entertainment blog that exists, as its strapline says, ‘just because something cool happens daily on 1/6th of the world’s surface’.
Lonely Planet (www.lonelyplanet.com) Russian travel tips and blogs, plus the Thorn Tree bulletin board.
Moscow Times (www.moscowtimes.ru) All the latest breaking national news, plus links to sister paper the St Petersburg Times and a good travel section.
Russia! (www.readrussia.com) There’s more to Russia than ballet, Leo Tolstoy or Maria Sharapova, as the website of this groovy quarterly magazine sets out to prove with its hip features on contemporary Russky culture.
Russia Beyond the Headlines (www.rbth.rg.ru) Wide-ranging online magazine, with interesting features, sponsored by the daily paper Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
Russia Prolife (www.russiaprofile.org) Expert analysis of Russian politics, economics, society and culture that promises to unwrap ‘the mystery inside the enigma’.
Seven Wonders of Russia (www.ruschudo.ru, in Russian) A 2008 project in which Russians nominated and voted for their local wonders both natural and built. Even if you don’t read Russian, the photos are inspirational.
Trans-Siberian Railway Web Encyclopedia (www.transsib.ru/Eng) It’s not been fully updated for several years, but this site still has tonnes of useful information and a huge photo library. (There’s also a German-language version at www.trans-sib.de.)
Way to Russia (www.waytorussia.net) Written and maintained by Russian backpackers, this site is highly informative and on the ball. However, please note that we’ve received complaints about buying train tickets through third parties associated with the site.
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Itineraries
THE AMBER–CAVIAR ROUTE Three Weeks
THE BIG TRANS-SIBERIAN TRIP Two to Four Weeks
RUSSIAN FAR EAST CIRCUIT One Month
TYUMEN TO TUVA: SIBERIA OFF THE BEATEN TRACK One to Two Months
FROM THE WHITE SEA TO THE BLACK SEA One to Two Months
CLASSIC ROUTES
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RUSSIAN CAPITALS Two Weeks
Moscow and St Petersburg are linked by a 650km-long railway. A week is the absolute minimum needed if you want to experience the cream of both cities. Add on another week if you plan on visiting the Golden Ring towns, the palaces around St Petersburg, and Novgorod, where it’s best to stay at least one night.
First time in Russia? Then start at the top with the awe-inspiring capital Moscow (Click here) and the spellbinding imperial capital St Petersburg (Click here); both encompass the best elements of the country’s turbulent past and glittering present. Moscow highlights include the historic Kremlin (Click here), glorious Red Square (Click here) and classic Tretyakov Gallery (Click here), while in St Petersburg do not miss the incomparable Hermitage (Click here) and the Russian Museum (Click here), or cruising the city’s rivers and canals (Click here). Enjoy nights dining and drinking at some of the best restaurants and bars in Russia, witnessing first-rate performances at the Bolshoi (Click here) or Mariinsky Theatres (Click here), or relaxing in a banya such as Moscow’s luxury Sanduny Baths (Click here). St Petersburg is ringed by grand palaces set in beautifully landscaped grounds such as Petrodvorets (Click here), Pushkin (Tsarskoe Selo) (Click here) and Pavlovsk (Click here). From Moscow you have easy access to the historic Golden Ring towns of Sergiev Posad (Click here), Suzdal (Click here) and Vladimir (Click here), where you will be rewarded with a slice of rural Russian life far from the frenetic city pace. Also leave time for ancient Novgorod (Click here), home to an impressive kremlin, the Byzantine Cathedral of St Sophia and the riverside Yurev Monastery.
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THE AMBER–CAVIAR ROUTE Three Weeks
Combining travel by road, rail and river, this 2500km route takes you from the Baltic coast to the Caspian Sea. Avoid the need for a Russian multiple-entry visa and visas to Belarus and Lithuania by flying direct from Kaliningrad to either St Petersburg or Moscow and picking up the route from there.
Ease yourself into Russia by exploring the geographically separate Kaliningrad region, Russia’s far west outpost, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, and source of 90% of the world’s amber. Four to five days is sufficient to get a taste of the historic city of Kaliningrad (Click here), the delightful seaside resort of Svetlogorsk (Click here) and the ‘dancing forest’ and sand dunes of the Kurshskaya Kosa (Click here), a World Heritage–listed national park. Take a train through Lithuania and Belarus to re-enter ‘big Russia’, pausing in the charming walled city of Smolensk (Click here), which has a connection to the composer Mikhail Glinka, before indulging in the bright lights and big nights of Moscow (Click here). If it’s summer, consider booking a berth on one of the cruise ships that frequently sail down Mother Russia’s No 1 waterway, the Volga River (Click here). Possible stops along the route include Russia’s ‘third capital’ Nizhny Novgorod (Click here), with its mighty kremlin and the Sakharov Museum; the Tatar capital Kazan (Click here), also with a World Heritage–listed kremlin; and Volgograd (Click here), sacred site of Russia’s bloodiest battle of WWII. Follow the river to its mouth into the Caspian Sea to end your journey at the east-meets-west city of Astrakhan (Click here), jumping-off point for exploring the glorious natural attractions, including rare flamingos, of the Volga delta, source of the endangered Beluga sturgeon and its caviar.
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THE BIG TRANS-SIBERIAN TRIP Two to Four Weeks
The 9289km journey between Moscow and Vladivostok can be done, nonstop, in a week, but unless you’re into extreme relaxation we recommend hopping on and off the train, making more of an adventure of it. Spend time seeing the sights in Moscow and St Petersburg and you could easily stretch this trip to a month.
The classic Russian adventure is travelling the Trans-Siberian Railway (Click here), one of the 20th century’s engineering wonders and a route that holds together the world’s largest country. We suggest going against the general flow by boarding the train in the port of Vladivostok (Click here), at the far eastern end of Russia, so you can finish up with a grand party in either Moscow (Click here) or, better yet, St Petersburg (Click here). Vladivostok, situated on a stunningly attractive natural harbour, merits a couple of days of your time, and it’s also worth considering a stop off at Khabarovsk (Click here), a lively city of some charm on the banks of the Amur River – it’s just an overnight hop to the west. Save a couple of days for Ulan-Ude (Click here), a fascinating city where Russian, Soviet and Mongolian cultures coexist, and from where you can venture into the steppes to visit Russia’s principal Buddhist monastery, Ivolginsk Datsan (Click here). Just west of Ulan-Ude the railway hugs the southern shores of magnificent Lake Baikal (Click here). Allow at least three days (preferably longer) to see this beautiful lake, basing yourself on beguiling Olkhon Island (Click here); also check out historic Irkutsk (Click here) on the way there or back. Krasnoyarsk (Click here), on the Yenisey River, affords the opportunity for scenic cruises along one of Siberia’s most pleasant waterways. Crossing the Urals into European Russia, the first stop of note is Yekaterinburg (Click here), a historic, bustling city well stocked with interesting museums and sites connected to the murder of the last tsar and his family. Your last stop before Moscow could be of either the Golden Ring towns of Yaroslavl (Click here) or Vladimir (Click here), both packed with ancient onion-domed churches.
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ROADS LESS TRAVELLED
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RUSSIAN FAR EAST CIRCUIT One Month
Travel junkies will relish this off-beat trip involving overnight train journeys, hopping around on planes and helicopters, and possibly a bumpy ride by bus through forbidding stretches of taiga and tundra. In summer there’s also the chance to relax on a languid river cruise between Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-na-Amure.
Travel in the Russian Far East isn’t so much a holiday as an expedition. From the ‘wild east’ port of Vladivostok (Click here) head north to Khabarovsk (Click here), with a possible detour to the World Heritage–listed Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve (Click here). An overnight train from Khabarovsk heads to the lively border town Blagoveshchensk (Click here) – China is on the opposite bank of the Amur River. Another overnight train from here will transport you to Tynda (Click here), headquarters of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) construction company and a great place to refresh at the local banya. From here there’s a choice. Train and hard-travel fanatics should head to Neryungri (Click here) from where there’s a very bumpy and erratic bus to Yakutsk (Click here), the extraordinary permafrost-bound capital of the Sakha Republic. Alternatively, stick with the BAM route through to the proudly Soviet city of Komsomolsk-na-Amure (Click here) and back to Khabarovsk, from where there are flights to Yakutsk. Once in Yakutsk, make time to cruise to the scenic Lena Pillars (Click here) and to visit the city’s fascinating Permafrost Institute (Click here). A flight from either Khabarovsk or Vladivostok will take you over the Sea of Okhotsk to the highlight of this Far Eastern odyssey: Kamchatka (Click here). Cap off your adventures by climbing one of the snowcapped volcanoes rising behind the rugged peninsula’s capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (Click here), which hugs breathtakingly serene Avacha Bay, and by visiting Esso (Click here), as charming an alpine village as you could wish for at the end of a long bumpy road.
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TYUMEN TO TUVA: SIBERIA OFF THE BEATEN TRACK One to Two Months
Direct overnight trains link the major cities on this Siberia-wide itinerary, save Kyzyl, which is best reached either by flight from Barnaul or by a shared taxi from Abakan along the spectacular mountain route, the Usinsky Trakt. In summer a three-day boat trip between Tobolsk and Omsk is also possible.
Far from being the forbidding land of the popular imagination, Siberia is a vast, glorious, adventure-travel playground where you could spend months happily exploring areas away from the well-travelled trans-Siberian route. For a journey covering some of Siberia’s lesser-known locations begin in the oil-rich city of Tyumen (Click here), which for all its contemporary bustle includes several picturesque areas of traditional architecture. Journey northeast in the footsteps of the Siberian conqueror Yermak Timofeevich, the exiled writer Fyodor Dostoevsky and the last tsar to Tobolsk (Click here), whose splendid kremlin lords it over the Tobol and Irtysh Rivers. Upriver and back on the main trans-Sib route is Omsk (Click here), a pleasant, thriving city, from where you can head directly to the backwater of Tomsk (Click here), a convivial university town dotted with pretty wooden gingerbread-style houses. Journey south next to Barnaul (Click here), gateway to the mountainous Altai Republic (Click here). Here you can arrange a white-water rafting expedition or plan treks out to Lake Teletskoe and the arty village of Artybash (Click here), or along the panoramic Chuysky Trakt (Click here), a helter-skelter mountain road leading to yurt-dotted grasslands, first stopping in Gorno-Altaisk (Click here) where you’ll have to register your visa. A train journey via Novokuznetsk (Click here) will get you to Abakan (Click here), where you can arrange onward travel to the wild republic of Tuva (Click here). This remote and little-visited region, hard up against Mongolia (with which it shares several cultural similarities), is famed for its throat-singing nomads and mystic shamans. Use the uninspiring capital Kyzyl (Click here) as a base for expeditions to pretty villages and the vast Central Asian steppes.
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FROM THE WHITE SEA TO THE BLACK SEA One to Two Months
Connecting two of Russia’s least visited (by foreigners) regions, this 3000km route is best travelled in May or June when access to the Solovetsky Islands is possible, Volga River cruises start running and the Black Sea beaches are warm enough for sunbathing.
Experience climatic and environmental extremes in this adventurous itinerary running from the frigid White Sea within the Arctic Circle to the sun-kissed Black Sea lapping at the foothills of the Caucasus. Start in Murmansk (Click here), something of a boom town from its offshore gas fields; time your visit right and you might even witness the famous northern lights here. Take a train directly south through the Kola Peninsula, heading for Kem (Click here), access point for the remote Solovetsky Islands (Click here), infamous as the location of Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago but also known for their beautiful landscapes and evocative monastery. Back on the mainland keep on towards appealing Petrozavodsk (Click here) where you can connect, either by hydrofoil across Lake Onega or by bus, to Vytegra (Click here), which has a fascinating submarine museum, before continuing on to historic Vologda (Click here), dotted with old churches and wooden houses. Trains chug on to lovely Yaroslavl (Click here) from where you could take a short cruise on a river boat down to Nizhny Novgorod (Click here) or even further along the Volga to the Tatarstan capital of Kazan (Click here). The Volga continues to guide you south past Lenin’s birthplace of Ulyanovsk (Click here) and Samara (Click here) from where you could go hiking in the rocky Zhiguli Hills. Ultimately you’ll reach Astrakhan (Click here) where you could dip your toe in the Caspian Sea before turning west to the fascinating Buddhist enclave of Elista (Click here), a convenient breaking point en route to the Caucasus mineral-water spa region centred around attractive Pyatigorsk (Click here). From here it’s a straight shot to Sochi (Click here), the Black Sea’s premier resort and host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics, which will be mainly held up at the ski centre of Krasnaya Polyana (Click here).
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TAILORED TRIPS
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LITERARY RUSSIA
A tour of the locations associated with Russia’s literary giants gives you an insight into what inspired their work, and makes for an offbeat trip across Russia, from the Baltic to the Pacific and back to the Black Sea. St Petersburg (Click here) is arguably Russia’s city of letters, with museums in the former homes of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Alexander Pushkin and the poet Anna Akhmatova. You can also pay your respects at Dostoevsky’s summer hideaway in Staraya Russa (Click here) and the Siberian prisons in which he languished in Tobolsk (Click here) and Omsk (Click here). In contrast Anton Chekhov, whose country estate is at Melikhovo (Click here), made a voluntary trip across Siberia ending up on Sakhalin; a small museum in the island’s capital, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Click here), commemorates the writer’s epic journey as does one in Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky (Click here). Boris Pasternak’s dacha in the writers’ colony of Peredelkino (Click here) is open for inspection, as is Yasnaya Polyana (Click here), Leo Tolstoy’s estate, which is surrounded by apple orchards, and Spasskoe-Lutovinovo (Click here), the family manor of Ivan Turgenev. Recite your favourite Pushkin verses at his home in Mikhailovskoe (Click here) before heading south, as the poet did in exile, to the romantic, troubled Caucasus and the resort of Pyatigorsk (Click here), where fellow poet Mikhail Lermontov is commemorated all over town at a grotto, gallery, museum and gardens.
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WORLD HERITAGE RUSSIA
There are 21 Unesco World Heritage sites in Russia. To visit many of them, from the Kurshskaya Kosa (Click here) in Kaliningrad in the west to the volcanoes of Kamchatka (Click here) in the Far East, could easily swallow up a couple of months but would also make an unparalleled tour of the nation’s cultural and geographical highlights. From Kaliningrad head to imperial St Petersburg (Click here), then continue to the fairy-tale churches on Kizhi (Click here) in Lake Ladoga. Journey to the edge of the Arctic Circle to the beautiful Solovetsky Islands (Click here), and on the way back south pause at ancient Novgorod (Click here). In Moscow (Click here), you can tick off the Kremlin, Red Square, Novodevichy Convent and Church of the Ascension at Kolomenskoe. The Golden Ring towns of Vladimir (Click here), Suzdal (Click here) and Sergiev Posad (Click here) are all on the list, as are the spectacular mountains of the Western Caucasus such as Mt Elbrus (Click here). Turning eastward, stop off at Kazan (Click here) for its kremlin before making your assault on the Altai Mountains (Click here). Beguiling Lake Baikal (Click here) and the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve (Click here) on the Pacific coast bring up the rear.
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History
ALEXANDER NEVSKY & THE RISE OF MOSCOW
BORIS GODUNOV & THE TIME OF TROUBLES
DECEMBRISTS & OTHER POLITICAL EXILES
FIVE-YEAR PLANS & FARM COLLECTIVISATION
Russia’s epic history is stacked with larger-than-life characters, such as Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Stalin and Boris Yeltsin – rulers who run the gamut from enlightened reformers to murderous despots. From its very beginnings it has been a multiethnic country, its inhabitants a colourful and exhausting list of native peoples and invaders, the descendants of whom are still around today.
EARLY HISTORY
Human activity in Russia stretches back a million years, with evidence of Stone Age hunting communities in the region from Moscow to the Altai and Lake Baikal. By 2000 BC a basic agriculture, relying on hardy cereals, had penetrated from the Danube region as far east as the Moscow area and the southern Ural Mountains. At about the same time, peoples in Ukraine and southern areas of European Russia domesticated the horse and developed a nomadic, pastoral lifestyle.
While central and northern European Russia remained a complete back-water for almost 3000 years, the south was subject to a succession of invasions by nomads from the east. The first written records, by the 5th-century-BC Greek historian Herodotus, concern a people called the Scythians, who probably originated in the Altai region of Siberia and Mongolia and were feared for their riding and battle skills. They spread as far west as southern Russia and Ukraine by the 7th century BC. The Scythian empire ended with the arrival of another people from the east, the Sarmatians, in the 3rd century BC.
In the 4th century AD came the Huns of the Altai region, followed by their relations the Avars, then by the Khazars, a Turkic tribe from the Caucasus, who occupied the lower Volga and Don Basins and the steppes to the east and west between the 7th and 10th centuries. The crafty and talented Khazars brought stability and religious tolerance to areas under their control. In the 9th century they converted to Judaism, and by the 10th century they had mostly settled down to farming and trade.
Geoffrey Hosking’s Russia and the Russians is a definitive one-volume trot through 1000 years of Russian history by a top scholar.
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SLAVS
The migrants who were to give Russia its predominant character were the Slavs. There is some disagreement about where the Slavs originated, but in the first few centuries AD they expanded rapidly to the east, west and south from the vicinity of present-day northern Ukraine and southern Belarus. The Eastern Slavs were the ancestors of the Russians; they were still spreading eastward across the central Russian woodland belt in the 9th century. From the Western Slavs came the Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and others. The Southern Slavs became the Serbs, Croats, Slovenes and Bulgarians.
The Slavs’ conversion to Christianity in the 9th and 10th centuries was accompanied by the introduction of an alphabet devised by Cyril, a Greek missionary (later St Cyril), which was simplified a few decades later by a fellow missionary, Methodius. The forerunner of Cyrillic, it was based on the Greek alphabet, with a dozen or so additional characters. The Bible was translated into the Southern Slav dialect, which became known as Church Slavonic and is the language of the Russian Orthodox Church’s liturgy to this day.
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VIKINGS & KYIVAN RUS
The first Russian state developed out of the trade on river routes across Eastern Slavic areas – between the Baltic and Black Seas and, to a lesser extent, between the Baltic Sea and the Volga River. Vikings from Scandinavia – the Varangians, also called Varyagi by the Slavs – had been nosing east from the Baltic since the 6th century AD, trading and raiding for furs, slaves and amber, and coming into conflict with the Khazars and with Byzantium, the eastern centre of Christianity. To secure their hold on the trade routes, the Vikings made themselves masters of settlements in key areas – places such as Novgorod, Smolensk, Staraya Ladoga and Kyiv (Kiev) in Ukraine. Though by no means united themselves, they created a loose confederation of city-states in the Eastern Slavic areas.
Ex-diplomat Sir Fitzroy Maclean wrote several entertaining, intelligent books on the country. Holy Russia is a good, short Russian history, while All the Russias: The End of an Empire covers the whole of the former USSR.
The 9th-century legendary figure Rurik of Jutland is the founder of the Rurik dynasty, the ruling family of the embryonic Russian state of Kyivan Rus and the dominant rulers in Eastern Slavic areas until the end of the 16th century. The name Rus may have been that of the dominant Kyivan Viking clan, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that the term Russian or Great Russian came to be used exclusively for Eastern Slavs in the north, while those to the south or west were identified as Ukrainians or Belarusians.
Prince Svyatoslav I made Kyiv the dominant regional power by campaigning against quarrelling Varangian princes and dealing the Khazars a series of fatal blows. After his death in 972, his son Vladimir made further conquests, baptised Kyivan Rus as a Christian state and introduced the beginnings of a feudal structure to replace clan allegiances. However, some principalities – including Novgorod, Pskov and Vyatka (north of Kazan) – were ruled democratically by popular vechi (assemblies).
Kyiv’s supremacy was broken by new invaders from the east – first the Pechenegs, then in 1093 the Polovtsy sacked the city – and by the effects of European crusades from the late 11th century onwards, which broke the Arab hold on southern Europe and the Mediterranean, reviving west–east trade routes and making Rus a commercial backwater.
NAMING RUSSIAN RULERS
In line with common usage, names of pre-1700 rulers are directly transliterated, anglicised from Peter the Great until 1917, and again transliterated after that – thus Andrei Bogolyubov not Andrew, Vasily III not Basil; but Peter the Great not Pyotr, Catherine the Great not Yekaterina etc.
Ivan the Great was the first ruler to have himself formally called tsar. Peter the Great began using emperor, though tsar remained in use. In this book we use empress for a female ruler; a tsar’s wife who does not become ruler is a tsaritsa (in English, tsarina). A tsar’s son is a tsarevitch and his daughter a tsarevna.
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NOVGOROD & ROSTOV-SUZDAL
The northern Rus principalities began breaking from Kyiv after about 1050. The merchants of Novgorod joined the emerging Hanseatic League, a federation of city-states that controlled Baltic and North Sea trade. Novgorod became the league’s gateway to the lands east and southeast.
As Kyiv declined, the Russian population shifted northwards and the fertile Rostov-Suzdal region northeast of Moscow began to be developed. Vladimir Monomakh of Kyiv founded the town of Vladimir there in 1108 and gave the Rostov-Suzdal principality to his son Yury Dolgoruky, who is credited with founding the little settlement of Moscow in 1147.
Sergei Bodrov’s Mongol, nominated for an Oscar as best foreign film in 2008, focused on the dramatic early life of Chinggis Khaan, whose forces would go on to conquer Russia.
Rostov-Suzdal grew so rich and strong that Yury’s son Andrei Bogolyubov tried to use his power to unite the Rus principalities. His troops took Kyiv in 1169, after which he declared Vladimir his capital, even though the Church’s headquarters remained in Kyiv until 1300. Rostov-Suzdal began to gear up for a challenge against the Bulgars’ hold on the Volga–Ural Mountains region. The Bulgar people had originated further east several centuries before and had since converted to Islam. Their capital, Bolgar, was near modern Kazan, on the Volga.
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TATARS & THE GOLDEN HORDE
Meanwhile, over in the east, a confederation of armies headed by the Mongolian warlord Chinggis (Genghis) Khaan (1167–1227) was busy subduing most of Asia, except far northern Siberia, eventually crossing Russia into Europe to create history’s largest land empire. Russians often refer to these mainly Mongol invaders as Tatars, when in fact the Tatars were simply one particularly powerful tribe that joined the Mongol bandwagon. The Tatars of Tatarstan actually descended from the Bulgars and are related to the Bulgarians of the Balkans.
In 1223 Chinggis’ forces met the armies of the Russian princes and thrashed them at the Battle of Kalka River. This push into European Russia was cut short by the death of the warlord, but his grandson Batu Khaan returned in 1236 to finish the job, laying waste to Bolgar and Rostov-Suzdal, and annihilating most of the other Russian principalities, including Kyiv, within four years. Novgorod was saved only by spring floods that prevented the invaders from crossing the marshes around the city.
Batu and his successors ruled the Golden Horde (one of the khanates into which Chinggis’ empire had broken) from Saray on the Volga, near modern Volgograd. At its peak the Golden Horde’s territory included most of eastern Europe stretching from the banks of the Dnieper River in the west to deep into Siberia in the east and south to the Caucasus. The Horde’s control over its subjects was indirect: although its armies raided them in traditional fashion if they grew uppity, it mainly used collaborative local princes to keep order, provide soldiers and collect taxes.
Jack Weatherford’s informative book Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World includes some details on the Mongol invasion and occupation of western Russia.
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ALEXANDER NEVSKY & THE RISE OF MOSCOW
One such ‘collaborator’ was the Prince of Novgorod, Alexander Nevsky, a Russian hero (and later a saint of the Russian Church) for his resistance to German crusaders and Swedish invaders. In 1252, Batu Khaan put him on the throne as Grand Prince of Vladimir.
Sergei Eisenstein’s 1938 movie Alexander Nevsky, focusing on the saviour of Russia’s epic battle with the Teutonic knights, had a music score by Sergei Prokofiev.
Nevsky and his successors acted as intermediaries between the Tatars and other Russian princes. With shrewd diplomacy, the princes of Moscow obtained and hung on to the title of grand prince from the early 14th century while other princes resumed their feuding. The Church provided backing to Moscow by moving there from Vladimir in the 1320s, and was in turn favoured with exemption from Tatar taxation.
But Moscow proved to be the Tatars’ nemesis. With a new-found Russian confidence, Grand Prince Dmitry put Moscow at the head of a coalition of princes and took on the Tatars, defeating them in the battle of Kulikovo Pole on the Don River in 1380. For this he became Dmitry Donskoy (of the Don) and was canonised after his death.
The Tatars crushed this uprising in a three-year campaign but their days were numbered. Weakened by internal dissension, they fell at the end of the 14th century to the Turkic empire of Timur (Tamerlane), which was based in Samarkand (in present-day Uzbekistan). Yet the Russians, themselves divided as usual, remained Tatar vassals until 1480.
Masha Holl’s Russian History site (http://history.mashaholl.com/history.php) abounds with intriguing details, such as the fact that surnames didn’t exist in Russia for most of the Middle Ages.
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MOSCOW VS LITHUANIA
Moscow (or Muscovy, as its expanding lands came to be known) was champion of the Russian cause after Kulikovo, though it had rivals, especially Novgorod and Tver. More ominous was the rise of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which had started to expand into old Kyivan Rus lands in the 14th century. The threat became real in 1386 when the Lithuanian ruler Jogaila married the Polish queen Jadwiga and became king of Poland, thus joining two of Europe’s most powerful states.
With Jogaila’s coronation as Wladyslaw II of Poland, the previously pagan Lithuanian ruling class embraced Catholicism. The Russian Church portrayed the struggle against Lithuania as one against the pope in Rome. After Constantinople (centre of the Greek Orthodox Church) was taken by the Turks in 1453, the metropolitan – head of the Russian Church – declared Moscow the ‘third Rome’, the true heir of Christianity.
Meanwhile, with the death of Dmitry Donskoy’s son Vasily I in 1425, Muscovy suffered a dynastic war. The old Rurikids got the upper hand – ironically with Lithuanian and Tatar help – but it was only with Ivan III’s forceful reign from 1462 to 1505 that the other principalities ceased to oppose Muscovy.
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IVAN THE GREAT
In 1478 Novgorod was first of the Great Russian principalities to be brought to heel by Ivan III. To secure his power in the city he installed a governor, deported the city’s most influential families (thus pioneering a strategy that would be used with increasing severity by Russian rulers right up to Stalin) and ejected the Hanseatic merchants, turning Russia’s back on Western Europe for two centuries.
Ivan III was the first Russian emperor to adopt the use of the double-headed eagle as the symbol of state.
The exiles were replaced with Ivan’s administrators, whose good performance was rewarded with temporary title to confiscated lands. This new approach to land tenure, called pomestie (estate), characterised Ivan’s rule. Previously, the boyars (feudal landholders) had held land under a votchina (system of patrimony) giving them unlimited control and inheritance rights over their lands and the people on them. The freedom to shift allegiance to other princes had given them political clout, too. Now, with few alternative princes left, the influence of the boyars declined in favour of the new landholding civil servants. This increased central control spread to the lower levels of society with the growth of serfdom (see the boxed text, opposite).
In 1480 at the Ugra River, southwest of Moscow, Ivan’s armies faced down those of the Tatars who had come to extract tributes withheld by Muscovy for the previous four years. They parted without a fight, Russia free at last of the Tatar yoke.
Tver fell to Moscow in 1485, and far-flung Vyatka fell in 1489. Pskov and Ryazan, the only states still independent at the end of Ivan’s reign, were mopped up by his successor, Vasily III. Lithuania and Poland, however, remained thorns in Russia’s side.
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IVAN IV (THE TERRIBLE)
Vasily III’s son, Ivan IV, took the throne in 1533 at the age of three, with his mother as regent. After 14 years of court intrigue he had himself crowned ‘Tsar of all the Russias’. The word ‘tsar’, from the Latin caesar, had previously been used only for a great khan or for the emperor of Constantinople.
DEAD SOULS: SERFS IN RUSSIA
During many centuries of feudalism right up to the turn of the 20th century, Russia had serfs: peasants and servants who were tied to their master’s estates. The value of those estates was determined not by their size or output but by the number of such indentured souls.
Before the 1500s peasants could work for themselves after meeting their master’s needs, and had the right to change homes and jobs during the two weeks around 26 November, St George’s Day, when the annual harvest was complete. However, laws introduced by Ivan III in 1497 began to restrict these limited rights to free movement and by 1590 peasants were permanently bound to the lands in which they lived.
Some peasants, of course, still chose to run away, and authority in the countryside collapsed during the Time of Troubles (1606–1613), with thousands absconding south to Cossack areas or east to Siberia, where serfdom was unknown. Despairing landlords found support from the government, which cracked down further on peasants’ personal freedoms. By 1675 they had lost all land rights and, in a uniquely Russian version of serfdom, could be sold separately from the estates on which they worked – slavery, in effect.
In 1842 Nikolai Gogol, one of Russia’s greatest writers, highlighted the trade in serfs, both dead and alive, in his novel Dead Souls. The Russian census of 1857 accounted for over 46 million serfs out of a total population of 62.5 million; around half of these were peasants working state lands who were considered free but in reality still had their movements restricted. As serfdom and slavery were being abolished across Europe and in the USA, it became recognised that changes to Russia’s system also had to be made if its economy was to compete in the age of industrialisation.
The emancipation of March 1861 immediately set serfs free of their masters, but in reality liberation was a much more drawn-out affair. Of the land serfs had worked, roughly a third was kept by established landholders. The rest went to village communes, which assigned it to the individual ex-serfs in return for ‘redemption payments’ to compensate former landholders – a system that pleased nobody and took several decades to sort out completely.
Legally serfdom may have ended in Russia but its practice, according to some, certainly didn’t go away. In his book The Road to Serfdom, Friedrich Hayek argued that the collective farm system of Soviet Russia, in which workers were tied to specified farms and had their work quotas dictated by central government, amounted to state-sponsored serfdom.
Ivan IV’s marriage to Anastasia, from the Romanov boyar family, was a happy one – unlike the five that followed her death in 1560, a turning point in his life. Believing her to have been poisoned, Ivan instituted a reign of terror that earned him the sobriquet grozny (literally ‘awesome’ but commonly translated as ‘terrible’) and nearly destroyed all his earlier good works.
Only parts 1 and 2 of Sergei Eisenstein’s powerful movie trilogy Ivan the Terrible were in the can when the director died in 1948. Just 20 minutes of the third episode were shot.
His subsequent career was indeed terrible, though he was admired for upholding Russian interests and tradition. His military victories in the Volga region, down to the Caspian Sea coast and across into Siberia helped transform Russian into the multiethnic, multireligious state it is today. However, his campaign against the Crimean Tatars nearly ended with the loss of Moscow, and a 24-year war with the Lithuanians, Poles, Swedes and Teutonic knights to the west also failed to gain any territory for Russia.
Ivan’s growing paranoia led him to launch a savage attack on Novgorod in 1570 that finally snuffed out that city’s golden age. An argument about Ivan’s beating of his son’s wife (possibly causing her miscarriage) ended with the tsar accidentally killing his heir in 1581 with a blow to the head. Ivan himself died three years later during a game of chess in 1584. The later discovery of high amounts of mercury in his remains indicated that he had most likely been poisoned – possibly by his own hand, as he had habitually used mercury to ease the pain of a fused spine.
Benson Bobrick’s book, East of the Sun, is a rollicking history of the conquest and settlement of Siberia and the Russian Far East, and is packed with gory details.
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BORIS GODUNOV & THE TIME OF TROUBLES
Ivan IV’s official successor was his mentally enfeebled son Fyodor, who left the actual business of government to his brother-in-law, Boris Godunov, a skilled ‘prime minister’ who repaired much of the damage done by Ivan. Fyodor died childless in 1598, ending the 700-year Rurikid dynasty, and Boris ruled as tsar for seven more years.
Shortly after Boris’s death a Polish-backed Catholic pretender arrived on the scene claiming to be Dmitry, another son of Ivan the Terrible (who had in fact died in obscure circumstances in Uglich in 1591, possibly murdered on Boris Godunov’s orders). This ‘False Dmitry’ gathered a huge ragtag army as he advanced on Moscow. Boris Godunov’s son was lynched and the boyars acclaimed the pretender tsar.
The story of Boris Godunov inspired both a play by Alexander Pushkin in 1831 and an opera by Modest Mussorgsky in 1869.
Thus began the Time of Troubles (the Smuta), a spell of anarchy, dynastic chaos and foreign invasions. At its heart was a struggle between the boyars and central government (the tsar). The False Dmitry was murdered in a popular revolt and succeeded by Vasily Shuysky (1606–10), another boyar puppet. Then a second False Dmitry challenged Shuysky. Swedish and Polish invaders fought each other over claims to the Russian throne, Shuysky was dethroned by the boyars, and from 1610 to 1612 the Poles occupied Moscow.
Eventually a popular army rallied by merchant Kuzma Minin and noble Dmitry Pozharsky, both from Nizhny Novgorod, with support from the Church, removed the Poles. In 1613 a Zemsky Sobor (Assembly of the Land), with representatives of the political classes of the day, elected 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov tsar, the first of a new dynasty that was to rule until 1917.
Vladimir Khotinenko’s 2007 movie 1612: Chronicle of the Time of Troubles is a big-budget historical epic that plays fast and loose with the events leading up to Russia’s ousting of the Poles from Moscow in 1612.
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SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY RUSSIA
Though the first three Romanov rulers – Mikhail I (1613–45), Alexey I (1645–76) and Fyodor III (1676–82) – provided continuity and stability, there were also big changes that foretold the downfall of ‘old’ Russia.
THE COSSACKS
The word ‘Cossack’ (from the Turkic kazak, meaning free man, adventurer or horseman) was originally applied to residual Tatar groups and later to serfs, paupers and dropouts who fled south from Russia, Poland and Lithuania in the 15th century. They organised themselves into self-governing communities in the Don Basin, on the Dnepr River in Ukraine, and in western Kazakhstan. Those in a given region, eg the Don Cossacks, were not just a tribe; the men constituted a voysko (army), within which each stanitsa (village-regiment) elected an ataman (leader).
Mindful of their skill as fighters, the Russian government treated the Cossacks carefully, offering autonomy in return for military service. Cossacks such as Yermak Timofeevich were the wedge that opened Siberia in the 17th century. By the 19th century there were a dozen Cossack armies from Ukraine to the Russian Far East and, as a group, they numbered 2.5 million people.
The Cossacks were not always cooperative with the Russian state. Three peasant uprisings in the Volga–Don region ‒ 1670, 1707 and 1773 – were Cossack-led. After 1917 the Bolsheviks abolished Cossack institutions, though some cavalry units were revived in WWII. Since 1991 there has been a Cossack revival particularly in the Don region. Cossack regiments have been officially recognised, there is a presidential adviser on Cossacks, and some Cossacks demand that the state recognise them as an ethnic group.
The 17th century saw a huge growth in the Russian lands. In 1650 Tsar Alexey commissioned the Cossack trader Yerofey Khabarov (after whom Khabarovsk is named) to open up the far-eastern region. By 1689 the Russians occupied the northern bank of the Amur. The Treaty of Nerchinsk sealed a peace with neighbouring China that lasted for more than 150 years.
Additionally, when Cossacks in Ukraine appealed for help against the Poles, Alexey came to their aid, and in 1667 Kyiv, Smolensk and lands east of the Dnepr came under Russian control.
In 1648 the Cossack Semyon Dezhnev sailed round the northeastern corner of Asia, from the Pacific Ocean into the Arctic, 80 years before Vitus Bering.
Conflicts within the Church resulted in its transformation into an ally of the authoritarian government, equally distrusted by the people. In the mid-17th century, Patriarch Nikon tried to bring rituals and texts into line with the ‘pure’ Greek Orthodox Church, horrifying those attached to traditional Russian forms, and causing a bitter divide in Russian Orthodoxy (see boxed text, Click here).
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PETER THE GREAT
Peter I, known as ‘the Great’ for his commanding 2.24m frame and his equally commanding victory over the Swedes, dragged Russia kicking and screaming into Europe, and made it a major world power.
Born to Tsar Alexey’s second wife, Natalia, in 1672, Peter was an energetic and inquisitive youth who often visited Moscow’s European district to learn about the West. Dutch and British ship captains in Arkhangelsk gave him navigation lessons on the White Sea.
THE RISE, FALL AND RISE AGAIN OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
Legend has it that, while preaching the gospel, the apostle Andrew paused in what would later become Kyiv (Kiev) and predicted the founding of a Christian city. In AD 988 Vladimir I fulfilled the prophesy by adopting Christianity from Constantinople (Istanbul today), the eastern centre of Christianity in the Middle Ages, effectively starting the Russian Orthodox Church. The Church’s headquarters stayed at Kyiv until 1300, when it moved north to Vladimir. In 1326 it moved again, from Vladimir to Moscow.
The church flourished until 1653 when it was split by the reforms of Patriarch Nikon. Thinking that the Church had departed from its roots, Nikon insisted, among other things, that the translation of the Bible be altered to conform with the Greek original, and that the sign of the cross be made with three fingers, not two. Even though Nikon was subsequently sacked by Tsar Alexey, his reforms went through and those who refused to accept them became known as Starovery (Old Believers) and were persecuted. Some fled to Siberia or remote parts of Central Asia, where in the 1980s one group was found who had never heard of Vladimir Lenin, electricity or the revolution. Only from 1771 to 1827, from 1905 to 1918 and again recently have Old Believers had real freedom of worship. Estimates put the number of Old Believers worldwide at anything from one to 10 million, but in 1917 there were as many as 20 million.
Another blow to Church power came with the reforms of Peter the Great, who replaced the self-governing patriarchate with a holy synod subordinate to the tsar, who effectively became head of the Church. When the Bolsheviks came to power Russia had over 50,000 churches. Lenin adopted Karl Marx’s view of religion as ‘the opium of the people’. Atheism was vigorously promoted and Josef Stalin seemed to be trying to wipe out religion altogether until 1941, when he decided the war effort needed the patriotism that the church could stir up. Nikita Khrushchev renewed the attack in the 1950s, closing about 12,000 churches. By 1988 fewer than 7000 churches were active.
Since the end of the Soviet Union, the Church has seen a huge revival with around 90% of Russians identifying themselves as Russian Orthodox. New churches are being built and many old churches and monasteries – which had been turned into museums, archive stores and even prisons – have been returned to Church hands and are being restored.
When Fyodor III died in 1682, Peter became tsar, along with his feeble-minded half-brother Ivan V, under the regency of Ivan’s ambitious sister, Sophia. She had the support of a leading statesman of the day, Prince Vasily Golitsyn. The boyars, annoyed by Golitsyn’s institution of a stringent ranking system, schemed successfully to have Sophia sent to a convent in 1689 and replaced as regent by Peter’s unambitious mother.
http://artsci.shu.edu/reesp/documents/index.html is Seton Hall University’s online source book of primary documents on Russia, including proclamations by the tsars and speeches by Lenin and Stalin.
Few doubted Peter as the true monarch, and when he became sole ruler, after his mother’s death in 1694 and Ivan’s in 1696, he embarked on a modernisation campaign, symbolised by his fact-finding mission to Europe in 1697–98; he was the first Muscovite ruler ever to go there and in the process hired a thousand experts for service in Russia.
He was also busy negotiating alliances. In 1695 he had sent Russia’s first navy down the Don River and captured the Black Sea port of Azov from the Crimean Tatars, vassals of the Ottoman Turks. His European allies weren’t interested in the Turks but shared his concern about the Swedes, who held most of the Baltic coast and had penetrated deep into Europe.
Peter’s alliance with Prussia and Denmark led to the Great Northern War against Sweden (1700–21). The rout of Charles XII’s forces at the Battle of Poltava (1709) heralded Russia’s power and the collapse of the Swedish empire. The Treaty of Nystadt (1721) gave Peter control of the Gulf of Finland and the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, and in the midst of this (in 1707) he put down another peasant rebellion, led by Don Cossack Kondraty Bulavin.
On land taken from the Swedes, Peter founded St Petersburg and in 1712 he made it the capital, symbol of a new, Europe-facing Russia.
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PETER’S LEGACY
Peter’s lasting legacy was mobilising Russian resources to compete on equal terms with the West. His territorial gains were small, but the strategic Baltic territories added ethnic variety, including a new upper class of German traders and administrators who formed the backbone of Russia’s commercial and military expansion.
Peter the Great – His Life and World, by Robert K Massie, is a good read about one of Russia’s most influential rulers, and provides much detail about how he created St Petersburg.
Peter was also to have the last word on the authority of the Church. When it resisted his reforms he simply blocked the appointment of a new patriarch, put bishops under a government department and in effect became head of the Church himself. Among other modernising measures, he ordered all his administrators and soldiers to shave off their beards.
Vast sums of money were needed to build St Petersburg, pay a growing civil service, modernise the army and launch naval and commercial fleets. But money was scarce in an economy based on serf labour, so Peter slapped taxes on everything from coffins to beards, including an infamous ‘Soul Tax’ on all lower-class adult males. The lot of serfs worsened, as they bore the main tax burden.
Even the upper classes had to chip in: aristocrats could serve in either the army or the civil service, or lose their titles and land. Birth counted for little, with state servants being subject to Peter’s Table of Ranks, a performance-based ladder of promotion, in which the upper grades conferred hereditary nobility. Some aristocrats lost all they had, while capable state employees of humble origin, and thousands of foreigners, became Russian nobles.
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AFTER PETER
Peter died in 1725 without naming a successor. His wife Catherine, a former servant and one-time mistress of the tsar’s right-hand man Alexander Menshikov, became the first woman to rule Imperial Russia. In doing so, she blazed a path for other women, including her daughter Elizabeth and, later, Catherine the Great, who, between them, held on to the top job for the better part of 70 years.
RUSSIANS IN AMERICA
Peter the Great commissioned Vitus Bering, a Danish officer in the Russian navy, to head the Great Northern Expedition, which was ostensibly a scientific survey of Kamchatka (claimed for the tsar in 1697 by the explorer Vladimir Atlasov) and the eastern seaboard. In reality the survey’s aim was to expand Russia’s Pacific sphere of influence as far south as Japan and across to North America.
On his second expedition Bering succeeded in discovering Alaska, landing in 1741. The Bering Straits separating Alaska from the Russian mainland are named after him. Unfortunately, on the return voyage his ship was wrecked off an island just 250km east of the Kamchatka coast. Bering died on the island and it, too, now carries his name.
Survivors of Bering’s crew brought back reports of an abundance of foxes, fur seals and otters inhabiting the islands off the mainland, triggering a fresh wave of fur-inspired expansion. An Irkutsk trader, Grigory Shelekhov, landed on Kodiak Island (in present-day Alaska) in 1784 and, 15 years later, his successor founded Sitka (originally called New Archangel), the capital of Alaska until 1900.
In 1804 the Russians reached Honolulu, and in 1806 Russian ships sailed into San Francisco Bay. Soon afterwards a fortified outpost was established at what is now called Fort Ross, California. Here the imperial flag flew and a marker was buried on which was inscribed ‘Land of the Russian Empire’.
Catherine left day-to-day administration of Russia to a governing body called the Supreme Privy Council, staffed by many of Peter’s leading administrators. Following her death in 1727, and that of her nominated heir, Peter II (grandson of Peter I) just three years later from smallpox, the council elected Peter’s niece Anna of Courland (a small principality in present-day Latvia) to the throne, with a contract stating that the council had the final say in policy decisions. Anna ended this experiment in constitutional monarchy by disbanding the council.
Anna ruled from 1730 to 1740, appointing a Baltic German baron, Ernst Johann von Bühren, to handle affairs of state. His name was Russified to Biron, but his heavy-handed, corrupt style came to symbolise the German influence on the royal family that had begun with Peter the Great.
During the reign of Peter’s daughter, Elizabeth (1741–61), German influence waned and restrictions on the nobility were loosened. Some aristocrats began to dabble in manufacture and trade.
Catherine the Great: Life and Legend, by John T Alexander, is a lively account of the famous empress, making a case for the veracity of some of the more salacious tales of her life.
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CATHERINE II (THE GREAT)
Daughter of a German prince, Catherine came to Russia at the age of 15 to marry Empress Elizabeth’s heir apparent, her nephew Peter III. Intelligent and ambitious, Catherine learned Russian, embraced the Orthodox Church and devoured the writings of European political philosophers. This was the time of the Enlightenment, when talk of human rights, social contracts and the separation of powers abounded.
Catherine later said of Peter III, ‘I believe the Crown of Russia attracted me more than his person.’ Six months after he ascended the throne she had him overthrown in a palace coup led by her current lover (it has been said that she had more lovers than the average serf had hot dinners); he was murdered shortly afterwards.
Catherine embarked on a program of reforms, though she made it clear that she had no intention of limiting her own authority. She drafted a new legal code, limited the use of torture and supported religious tolerance. But any ideas she might have had of improving the lot of serfs went overboard with the violent peasant rebellion of 1773–74, led by the Don Cossack Yemelyan Pugachev, which spread from the Ural Mountains to the Caspian Sea and along the Volga. Hundreds of thousands of serfs responded to Pugachev’s promises to end serfdom and taxation, but were beaten by famine and government armies. Pugachev was executed and Catherine put an end to Cossack autonomy.
Vincent Cronin’s book, Catherine, Empress of all the Russias, paints a more sympathetic portrait than usual of a woman traditionally seen as a scheming, power-crazed sexpot.
In the cultural sphere, Catherine increased the number of schools and colleges and expanded publishing. Her vast collection of paintings forms the core of the present-day Hermitage collection. A critical elite gradually developed, alienated from most uneducated Russians but also increasingly at odds with central authority – a ‘split personality’ common among future Russian radicals.
RUSSIA’S SCIENTIFIC LEGACY
The Russian Academy of Sciences was established in 1726 and has since produced great results. Students the world over learn about the conditional reflex experiments on Ivan Pavlov’s puppies, and about Dmitry Mendeleyev’s 1869 discovery of the periodic table of elements. Yet you may be surprised to hear from locals about Russia’s invention of the electric light and radio (didn’t you know?).
During the Soviet period, Russian advances in science, hampered by secrecy, bureaucracy and a lack of technology, were dependent on the ruling party. Funding was sporadic, often coming in great bursts for projects that served propaganda or militaristic purposes. Thus the space race received lots of money, and even though little of real scientific consequence was achieved during the first missions, the PR was priceless. In other fields, however, the USSR lagged behind the West; genetics, cybernetics and the theory of relativity were all at one point deemed anathema to communism.
Physics – especially theoretical and nuclear – was supported, and Russia has produced some of the world’s brightest scientists in the field. Andrei Sakharov (1921–89), ‘father of the H-bomb’, was exiled to Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) in 1980, five years after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for his vocal denunciations of the Soviet nuclear program and the Afghan War. He was one of the most influential dissidents of his time.
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TERRITORIAL GAINS
Catherine’s reign saw major expansion at the expense of the weakened Ottoman Turks and Poles, engineered by her ‘prime minister’ and foremost lover, Grigory Potemkin (Potyomkin). War with the Turks began in 1768, peaked with the naval victory at Çesme and ended with a 1774 treaty giving Russia control of the north coast of the Black Sea, freedom of shipping through the Dardanelles to the Mediterranean, and ‘protectorship’ of Christian interests in the Ottoman Empire – a pretext for later incursions into the Balkans. Crimea was annexed in 1783.
Read about the fascinating life of Grigory Potemkin, lover of Catherine the Great and mover and shaker in 18th-century Russia, in Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin.
Poland had spent the previous century collapsing into a set of semi-independent units with a figurehead king in Warsaw. Catherine manipulated events with divide-and-rule tactics and even had another former lover, Stanislas Poniatowski, installed as king. Austria and Prussia proposed sharing Poland among the three powers, and in 1772, 1793 and 1795 the country was carved up, ceasing to exist as an independent state until 1918. Eastern Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – roughly, present-day Lithuania, Belarus and western Ukraine – came under Russian rule.
The roots of the current Chechen war began when Catherine sought to expand her empire into the Caucasus.
After wrapping up the periodic table, Mendeleyev devoted much of his remaining 38 years of life to searching for the universal ethers and rarefied gases that allegedly rule interactions between all bodies.
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ALEXANDER I
When Catherine died in 1796 the throne passed on to her son, Paul I. A mysterious figure in Russian history (often called the Russian Hamlet by Western scholars), he antagonised the gentry with attempts to reimpose compulsory state service, and was killed in a coup in 1801.
Paul’s son and successor was Catherine’s favourite grandson, Alexander I, who had been trained by the best European tutors. Alexander kicked off his reign with several reforms, including an expansion of the school system that brought education within reach of the lower middle classes. But he was soon preoccupied with the wars against Napoleon, which were to dominate his career.
Under the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, Alexander agreed to be Emperor of the East while Napoleon was declared Emperor of the West. This alliance, however, lasted only until 1810, when Russia’s resumption of trade with England provoked the French leader to raise an army of 700,000 – the largest force the world had ever seen for a single military operation – to march on Moscow.
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1812 & AFTERMATH
The Russian forces, who were vastly outnumbered, retreated across their own countryside throughout the summer of 1812, scorching the earth in an attempt to deny the French sustenance and fighting some successful rearguard actions. In September, with the lack of provisions beginning to affect he French, the Russian general Mikhail Kutuzov finally decided to turn and fight back at Borodino, 130km outside Moscow. The battle was extremely bloody, but inconclusive, with the Russians withdrawing in good order.
Before the month was out, Napoleon entered a deserted Moscow; the same day, the city began to burn down around him (by whose hand has never been established). Alexander ignored his overtures to negotiate. With winter coming and his supply lines overstretched, Napoleon was forced to retreat. His starving troops were picked off by Russian partisans. Only one in 20 made it back to the relative safety of Poland, and the Russians pursued them all the way to Paris.
At the Congress of Vienna, where the victors met in 1814–15 to establish a new order after Napoleon’s final defeat, Alexander championed the cause of the old monarchies. His legacies were a hazy Christian fellowship of European kings, called the Holy Alliance, and a system of pacts to guard against future Napoleons – or any revolutionary change.
Meanwhile Russia was expanding its territory on other fronts. The kingdom of Georgia united with Russia in 1801. After a war with Sweden in 1807–09, Alexander became Grand Duke of Finland. Russia argued with Turkey over the Danube principalities of Bessarabia (covering modern Moldova and part of Ukraine) and Wallachia (now in Romania), taking Bessarabia in 1812. Persia ceded northern Azerbaijan a year later and Yerevan (in Armenia) in 1828.
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DECEMBRISTS & OTHER POLITICAL EXILES
Alexander died in 1825 without leaving a clear heir, sparking the usual crisis. His reform-minded brother Constantine, married to a Pole and living happily in Warsaw, had no interest in the throne.
Officers who had brought back liberal ideas from Paris in 1815 preferred Constantine to Alexander’s youngest brother, the militaristic Nicholas, who was due to be crowned on 26 December 1825. Their show of force in St Petersburg was squashed by troops loyal to Nicholas; five of these ‘Decembrists’ (Dekabristy) were executed and more than 100 – mostly aristocrats and officers – were sent to Siberia along with their families for terms of hard labour, mostly in rural parts of the Chita region. Pardoned by Tsar Alexander II in 1856, many of these exiles chose to stay on in Siberia, their presence having a marked effect on the educational and cultural life in their adopted towns.
Following a failed uprising in Poland in 1864 huge numbers of Polish rebels, many well educated, were also shipped to Siberia. In the late 19th century other famous intellectual exiles followed in their footsteps, including novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky and, in the early 20th century, Leon Trotsky, Josef Stalin and Vladimir Lenin, who spent nearly three years at Shushenskoe near Abakan.
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NICHOLAS I
Nicholas I’s reign (1825–55) was a time of stagnation and repression under a tsar who claimed: ‘I do not rule Russia; 10,000 clerks do.’ The social revolutions that were shaking Europe passed Russia by, and when the Marquis de Custine visited in 1839 he found a country paralysed by fear. ‘What is called public order here’, wrote the French aristocrat, ‘is a mournful quiet, a terrifying peace, reminiscent of the tomb.’
There were positive developments, however. The economy grew, and grain exports increased. Nicholas detested serfdom, if only because he detested the serf-owning class. As a result, peasants on state lands, nearly half the total, were given title to the land and, in effect, freed.
In 1833 EA Cherepanov and his son ME Cherepanov invented Russia’s first steam railway locomotive at Nizhny Tagil in the Urals (there’s a model of it in Yekaterinburg, opposite the railway station).
In foreign policy, Nicholas’ meddling in the Balkans was eventually to destroy Russian credibility in Europe. Bad diplomacy led to the Crimean War of 1854–56 against the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France, who declared war after Russian troops marched into the Ottoman provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia – ostensibly to protect Christian communities there. At Sevastopol an Anglo-French-Turkish force besieged the Russian naval headquarters. Inept command on both sides led to a bloody, stalemated war.
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ALEXANDER II & ALEXANDER III
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The ‘Great Reforms’
Alexander II saw the Crimean War stir up discontent within Russia and accepted peace on unfavourable terms. The war had revealed the backwardness behind the post-1812 imperial glory, and the time for reform had come.
Abolition of serfdom in 1861 (see boxed text, Click here) opened the way for a market economy, capitalism and an industrial revolution. Railways and factories were built, and cities expanded as peasants left the land. Foreign investment in Russia grew during the 1880s and 1890s, but nothing was done to modernise farming, and very little to help peasants. By 1914, 85% of the Russian population was still rural, but their lot had barely improved in 50 years.
Revolutionary Movements
The reforms raised hopes that were not satisfied. The tsar refused to set up a representative assembly. Peasants were angry at having to pay for land they considered theirs by right. Radical students, known as narodniki (populists), took to the countryside in the 1870s to rouse the peasants, but the students and the peasants were worlds apart and the campaign failed.
Other populists saw more value in cultivating revolution among the growing urban working class (the proletariat), while yet others turned to terrorism: one secret society, the People’s Will, blew up Alexander II in 1881.
Not all opponents of tsarism were radical revolutionaries. Some moderates, well off and with much to lose from a revolution, called themselves liberals and advocated constitutional reform along Western European lines, with universal suffrage and a duma (national parliament).
Discontent was sometimes directed at Jews and took the form of violent mass attacks (pogroms). At their height in the 1880s, these were often fanned by the authorities to divert social tension onto a convenient scapegoat. Tending towards intellectual and commercial professions, Jews were hated as shopkeepers and moneylenders by the lower classes and as political radicals by the authorities.
Territorial Expansion
Between 1855 and 1894 Central Asia (modern Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) came fully under Russian control. Further east, Russia acquired a long strip of Pacific coast from China and built the port of Vladivostok. However, in 1867 it was forced to sell the Alaskan territories (acquired in the 18th century; see the boxed text, Click here) to the USA – its only supporter during the Crimean War – for the then enormous amount of US$7.2 million, in the wake of the economic crisis following the conflict.
Rise of Marxism
The more radical revolutionaries were genuinely surprised that there was no uprising after Alexander II’s assassination. Most were rounded up and executed or exiled, and the reign of his son Alexander III was marked by repression of revolutionaries and liberals alike. Many revolutionaries fled abroad – including Georgy Plekhanov and Pavel Axelrod, founders of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party in 1883, and, in 1899, Vladimir Ulyanov, better known by his later pseudonym, Lenin.
Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia by Astolphe, Marquis de Custine, documents the travel writer’s 1839 journey to the country and contains pungent comments on Russian society and manners of the time.
Social democrats in Europe were being elected to parliaments and developing Marxism into ‘parliamentary socialism’, improving the lot of workers through legislation. But in Russia there was no parliament – and there was an active secret police, to boot. At a meeting of the Socialist International movement in London in 1903, Lenin stood for violent overthrow of the government by a small, committed, well-organised party, while Plekhanov stood for mass membership and cooperation with other political forces.
Lenin won the vote through clever manoeuvring, and his faction came to be known as the Bolsheviks (meaning members of the majority); Plekhanov’s faction became the Mensheviks (members of the minority). The Mensheviks actually outnumbered the Bolsheviks in the party, but Lenin clung to the name, for obvious reasons.
RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR
Nicholas II, who succeeded his father, Alexander III, in 1894, was a weak man who commanded less respect than his father, but was equally opposed to representative government.
The most serious blow to his position was a humiliating defeat by Japan when the two countries clashed over their respective ‘spheres of influence’ in the Far East – Russia’s in Manchuria, Japan’s in Korea. As in Crimea 50 years before, poor diplomacy led to war. In 1904 Japan attacked the Russian naval base at Port Arthur (near Dalian in present-day China).
Defeat followed defeat for Russia on land and sea. The ultimate disaster came in May 1905, when the entire Baltic fleet, which had sailed halfway around the world to relieve Port Arthur, was sunk in the Tsushima Straits off Japan. In September 1905 Russia signed the Treaty of Portsmouth (New Hampshire), under the terms of which it gave up Port Arthur, Dalny and southern Sakhalin as well as any claims to Korea – but at least retained its pre-eminent position in Manchuria.
Despite all this, Siberia and the Russian Far East were prospering. From 1886 to 1911, the immigrant population leapt above eight million, thanks partly to ease of access via the new Trans-Siberian Railway. Most immigrants were peasants, who put Siberian agriculture at the head of the class in grain, stock and dairy farming. (Before the October Revolution, Europeans had Siberian butter on their tables.)
By turns anecdotal and specific, A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924 by erudite scholar Orlando Figes paints a vivid picture of this tumultuous period in Russian history.
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1905 REVOLUTION
Unrest across Russia became widespread after the fall of Port Arthur. On 9 January 1905 a priest named Georgy Gapon led a crowd of some 200,000 workers – men, women and children – to the Winter Palace in St Petersburg to petition the tsar for better working conditions. Singing ‘God Save the Tsar’, they were met by imperial guards, who opened fire and killed several hundred. This was Bloody Sunday.
The country was breaking into anarchy, with wild strikes, pogroms, mutinies, and killings of landowners and industrialists. Social democrat activists formed soviets (workers’ councils) in St Petersburg and Moscow, which proved remarkably successful: the St Petersburg Soviet, led by Mensheviks under Leon Trotsky, declared a general strike, which brought the country to a standstill in October.
The tsar gave in and promised a duma. General elections in April 1906 created a duma with a leftist majority and it demanded further reforms. The tsar disbanded it. New elections in 1907 pushed the duma further to the left. It was again disbanded, and a new electoral law, limiting the vote to the upper classes and Orthodox Christians, ensured that the third and fourth duma were more cooperative with the tsar, who continued to choose the prime minister and cabinet.
The capable prime minister, Pyotr Stolypin, abolished the hated redemption payments in the countryside. Enterprising peasants were now able to buy decent parcels of land, which could be worked efficiently; this led to the creation of a new class of kulak (wealthier peasant) and to a series of good harvests. It also made it easier for peasants to leave their villages, providing a mobile labour force for industry. Russia enjoyed unprecedented economic growth and radical activists lost their following.
THE PRIEST OF SEX
Cult figure of the early 1900s, Grigory Rasputin was born in the Siberian village of Pokrovskoe in 1869. Though not a monk as is sometimes supposed, Rasputin experienced a vision of the Virgin while working in the fields in his mid-20s and left Pokrovskoe to seek enlightenment. On his wanderings he came to believe, as did the contemporary Khlyst (Whip) sect, that sinning (especially through sex), then repenting, could bring people close to God.
After he reached St Petersburg, Rasputin’s racy brand of redemption, along with his soothing talk, compassion and generosity, made him very popular with some aristocratic women. Eventually he was summoned by Tsaritsa Alexandra and seemed able, thanks to some kind of hypnotic power, to cure the uncontrollable bleeding of her haemophiliac son, Tsarevitch Alexey, the heir to the throne. As he continued his drunken, lecherous life, replete with famous orgies, Rasputin’s influence on the imperial family grew to the point where he could make or break the careers of ministers and generals. He became increasingly unpopular and many scapegoated him for Russia’s disastrous performance in WWI.
In 1916 Prince Felix Yusupov and others decided to assassinate him. According to Yusupov’s own account of the murderous affair, this proved to be easier said than done: Rasputin survived poisoning, several shots and a beating, all in the one evening at St Petersburg’s Yusupov Palace. Apparently he died only when drowned in a nearby river.
In a twist to the tale, a BBC documentary in 2004 uncovered evidence that Rasputin actually died from his bullet wounds, one of which was delivered by a British secret agent working in conjunction with the Russian plotters. For the fascinating background to this version of events read Andrew Cook’s To Kill Rasputin. Even more incredible are efforts by a small but vocal group within the Orthodox Russian Church to have Rasputin canonised, an idea that the Orthodox Patriarch Alexey II has called ‘madness’.
Still, Stolypin was assassinated in 1911 and the tsarist regime again lost touch with the people. Nicholas became a puppet of his strong-willed, eccentric wife, Alexandra, who herself fell under the spell of the sinister Siberian mystic Rasputin (see boxed text, above).
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WWI & FEBRUARY REVOLUTION
Russia’s involvement with the Balkans made it a main player in the world war that began there in 1914. The Russian campaign went badly from the start. Between 1915 and 1918 the theatre of war was mostly around Russia’s western border and often on enemy territory. Much, if not most, of the fighting was with Austro-Hungarians in Galitsia, rather than with the Germans. The latter didn’t make major advances into Russian territory until 1918, by which time an estimated two million Russian troops had been killed and Germany controlled Poland and much of the Baltic coast, Belarus and Ukraine.
THE SWITCH IN CALENDARS
Until 1918 Russian dates followed the Julian calendar, which lagged behind the Gregorian calendar (used by pretty much every other country in the world) by 13 days. The new Soviet regime brought Russia into line by following 31 January 1918 with 14 February (skipping 1–13 February). This explains why, in Russia history, the revolution was on 25 October 1917 while in the West it occurred on 7 November 1917. The Julian calendar is still used in Russia by the Orthodox Church, which is why Christmas Day is celebrated on 7 January instead of 25 December.
The tsar responded to antiwar protests by disbanding the duma and assuming personal command in the field, where he couldn’t make much headway. At home, the disorganised government failed to introduce rationing, and in February 1917 in Petrograd (the new, ‘less German’ name for St Petersburg), discontent in the food queues turned to riots, kicking off the February Revolution. Soldiers and police mutinied, refusing to fire on demonstrators. A new Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies was formed on the 1905 model, and more sprang up elsewhere. The reconvened duma ignored an order to disband itself and set up a committee to assume government.
Now there were two alternative power bases in the capital. The soviet was a rallying and debating point for factory workers and soldiers; the duma committee attracted the educated and commercial elite. In February the two reached agreement on a provisional government that would demand the tsar’s abdication. The tsar tried to return to Petrograd but was blocked by his own troops. On 1 March he abdicated.
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OCTOBER REVOLUTION
The provisional government announced general elections for November 1917, and continued the war despite a collapse of discipline in the army and popular demands for peace. On 3 April Lenin and other exiled Bolsheviks returned to Petrograd via Scandinavia in a sealed railway carriage provided by the German army. Though well and truly in the minority in the soviets, the Bolsheviks were organised and committed. They won over many with a demand for immediate ‘peace, land and bread’, and believed the soviets should seize power at once. But a series of violent mass demonstrations in July (the ‘July Days’), inspired by the Bolsheviks, was in the end not fully backed by the soviets and was quelled. Lenin fled to Finland and Alexander Kerensky, a moderate Social Revolutionary, became prime minister.
In September the Russian military chief of staff, General Kornilov, sent cavalry to Petrograd to crush the soviets. Kerensky turned to the left for support against this insubordination, even courting the Bolsheviks, and the counter-revolution was defeated. After this, public opinion massively favoured the Bolsheviks, who quickly took control of the Petrograd Soviet (chaired by Trotsky, who had joined them) and, by extension, all the soviets in the land. Lenin decided it was time to seize power, and returned from Finland in October.
Ten Days That Shook the World, written by US journalist John Reed, the only American buried in Moscow’s Kremlin wall, is a melodramatic, enthusiastic and contemporary account of the Bolsheviks’ 1917 power grab.
During the night of 24–25 October 1917, Bolshevik workers and soldiers in Petrograd seized government buildings and communication centres, and arrested the provisional government, which was meeting in the Winter Palace. (Kerensky escaped, eventually dying in the USA in 1970.) Within hours, an All-Russian Congress of Soviets, meeting in Petrograd, made the soviets the ruling councils in Russia, headed by a ‘parliament’ called the Soviet Central Executive Committee. A Council of People’s Commissars became the government, headed by Lenin, with Trotsky as commissar for foreign affairs and the Georgian Josef Stalin as commissar for nationalities, in charge of policy for all non-Russians in the former empire.
Local soviets elsewhere in Russia seized power relatively easily, but the coup in Moscow took six days of fighting. The general elections scheduled for November could not be stopped, however. More than half of Russia’s male population voted. Even though 55% chose Kerensky’s rural socialist party and only 25% voted for the Bolsheviks, when the Founding Assembly met in January the Bolsheviks disbanded it after its first day in session, thus setting the antidemocratic tone for the coming decades.
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CIVIL WAR
The Soviet government wasted no time introducing sweeping measures. It redistributed land to those who worked it, signed an armistice with the Germans in December 1917 and set up its own secret police force, the Cheka; Trotsky, now military commissar, founded the Red Army in January 1918. In March the Bolshevik Party renamed itself the Communist Party and moved the capital to Moscow.
Straight after the revolution Lenin proclaimed the independence of Finland and Poland, and the Founding Assembly gave independence to Ukraine and the Baltic states. Further concessions were made in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918 so the Soviet regime could concentrate on internal enemies. These were becoming numerous in the countryside due to food requisitions by armed trade-union detachments.
In July 1918 the Romanovs (the former tsar and his family), who had been interned for months, were murdered by their Communist guards in Yekaterinburg (Click here). Two months later, the Cheka began a systematic program of arrest, torture and execution of anyone opposed to Soviet rule.
Those hostile to the Bolsheviks, collectively termed ‘Whites’, had developed strongholds in the south and east of the country. But they lacked unity, including as they did tsarist stalwarts, landlord-killing social revolutionaries (who were opposed to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk), Czech prisoners of war, Finnish partisans and Japanese troops. The Bolsheviks had the advantage of controlling the heart of Russia, including its war industry and communications. Full-scale civil war broke out in early 1918 and lasted until 1922 when the Red Army was victorious at Volochaevka, west of Khabarovsk.
LAYING THE LAST TSAR TO REST
What happened to the Romanovs after their 1918 execution is a mixture of the macabre, the mysterious and the just plain messy. The bodies were dumped at Ganina Yama, an abandoned mine 16km from Yekaterinburg. When grenades failed to collapse the main shaft, it was decided to distribute the bodies among various smaller mines and pour acid on them. But the expert in charge of the acid fell off his horse and broke his leg; and the truck carrying the bodies became bogged in a swamp.
By now understandably desperate, the disposal team opted to bury the corpses. They tried burning Alexey and Maria in preparation, but realised it would take days to burn all the bodies properly, so the others were just put in a pit and doused with acid. Even then, most of the acid soaked away into the ground – leaving the bones to be uncovered 58 years later in 1976, near Porosinkov Log, about 3km from Ganina Yama. The discovery was kept secret until the remains were finally fully excavated in 1991. The bones of nine people were tentatively identified as Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Tsaritsa Alexandra, three of their four daughters, the imperial doctor and three servants.
Missing were the remains of the imperial couple’s only son, Tsarevitch Alexey, and one of their daughters, giving a new lease of life to theories that the youngest daughter, Anastasia, had somehow escaped. In 1992 bone samples from the excavated skeletons were sent to the British government’s Forensic Science Service, to be tested by DNA identification techniques. Using blood and hair samples from distant relatives of the tsar and tsarina, the scientists established with ‘more than 98.5%’ certainty that the bones were those of the imperial family.
In 1994 an official Russian inquiry team managed to piece together the skulls found in the pit, badly damaged by rifle butts, hand grenades and acid. Using plaster models of the faces, DNA tests and dental records, they determined that the three daughters found were Olga, Tatyana – and Anastasia. The missing daughter was Maria, whose remains were unearthed in 2007, and formally identified along with those of her brother Alexey in 2008.
In mid-1998 the imperial remains were given a proper funeral at St Petersburg’s SS Peter and Paul Cathedral, to lie alongside their predecessors dating back to Peter the Great. The Orthodox Church later canonised the tsar and his family as martyrs.
By 1921 the Communist Party had firmly established one-party rule, thanks to the Red Army and the Cheka, which continued to eliminate opponents. Some opponents escaped, joining an estimated 1.5 million citizens in exile.
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WAR COMMUNISM
During the civil war, a system called War Communism subjected every aspect of society to the aim of victory. This meant sweeping nationalisation in all economic sectors and strict administrative control by the Soviet government, which in turn was controlled by the Communist Party.
Robert Service is the author of a biography of Lenin and the History of Twentieth-Century Russia, both excellent introductions to the dawn and progress of the Soviet era.
The Party itself was restructured to reflect Lenin’s creed of ‘democratic centralism’, which held that Party decisions should be obeyed all the way down the line. A new political bureau, the Politburo, was created for Party decision-making, and a new secretariat supervised Party appointments, ensuring that only loyal members were given responsibility.
War Communism was also a form of social engineering to create a classless society. Many ‘class enemies’ were eliminated by execution or exile, with disastrous economic consequences. Forced food requisitions and hostility towards larger, more efficient farmers, combined with drought and a breakdown of infrastructure, led to the enormous famine of 1920–21, when between four and five million people died.
Edmund Wilson’s magnum opus, To the Finland Station (1940), is the most authoritative account of the development of socialism and communism in Russia.
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THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY
Lenin suggested a strategic compromise with capitalism. The New Economic Policy (NEP) was adopted by the 10th Party congress in 1921 and remained in force until 1927. The state continued to own the ‘commanding heights’ of the economy – large-scale industry, banks, transport – but allowed private enterprise to re-emerge. Farm output improved as the kulaks consolidated their holdings and employed landless peasants as wage earners. Farm surplus was sold to the cities in return for industrial products, giving rise to a new class of traders and small-scale industrialists called Nepmen.
In the state sectors, wages were allowed to reflect effort as professional managers replaced Party administrators. By the late 1920s, agricultural and industrial production had reached prewar levels.
But the political tide was set the other way. At the 1921 Party congress, Lenin outlawed debate within the Party as ‘factionalism’, launching the first systematic purge among Party members. The Cheka was reorganised as the GPU (State Political Administration) in 1922, gaining much greater powers to operate outside the law; for the time being it limited itself to targeting political opponents.
Seventeen Moments in Soviet History (www.soviethistory.org) is a well-designed site that covers all the major events and social movements during the life of the USSR in fascinating detail.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), a federation of theoretically independent Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs), was established in 1922. The initial members were the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Transcaucasian SSRs. By 1940 the number had reached 15, with the splitting of the Transcaucasian SSR into Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani SSRs and the addition of five Central Asian republics.
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STALIN VS TROTSKY
In May 1922 Lenin suffered the first of a series of paralysing strokes that removed him from effective control of the Party and government. He died aged 54 in January 1924. His embalmed remains were put on display in Moscow, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honour and a personality cult was built around him – all orchestrated by Stalin.
But Lenin had failed to name a successor, and had expressed a low opinion of ‘too rude’ Stalin. The charismatic Trotsky, hero of the civil war and second only to Lenin as an architect of the revolution, wanted collectivisation of agriculture – an extension of War Communism – and worldwide revolution. He attacked Party ‘bureaucrats’ who wished to concentrate on socialism in the Soviet Union.
But even before Lenin’s death, the powers that mattered in the Party and soviets had backed a three-man leadership of Zinoviev, Kamenev and Stalin, in which Stalin already pulled the strings. As Party general secretary, he controlled all appointments and had installed his supporters wherever it mattered. His influence grew with a recruiting drive that doubled Party membership to over a million, and in 1927 he succeeded in getting Trotsky, his main rival, expelled.
Simon Sebag Montefiore has penned two books about Russia’s most notorious 20th-century leader: Stalin: The Court of the Red Czar and Young Stalin.
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FIVE-YEAR PLANS & FARM COLLECTIVISATION
With Trotsky sidelined, Stalin took up farm collectivisation to help turn the USSR into an industrial power. The first Five-Year Plan, announced in 1928, called for quadrupling the output of heavy industry, such as power stations, mines, steelworks and railways. Agriculture was to be collectivised to get the peasants to fulfil production quotas, which would feed the growing cities and provide food exports to pay for imported heavy machinery.
Eugenia Ginzburg’s Journey into the Whirlwind is her memoir of 18 years in Stalin’s prisons and labour camps.
The forced collectivisation of agriculture destroyed the country’s peasantry (still 80% of the population) as a class and as a way of life. Farmers were required to pool their land and resources into kolkhozy (collective farms), usually consisting of about 75 households and dozens of square kilometres in area, which became their collective property, in return for compulsory quotas of produce. These kolkhozy covered two-thirds of all farmland, supported by a network of Machine Tractor Stations that dispensed machinery and advice (political or otherwise).
Stalin once remarked that the death of one person was tragic, the death of a million ‘a statistic’.
Farmers who resisted – and most kulaks did, especially in Ukraine and the Volga and Don regions, which had the biggest grain surpluses – were killed or deported to labour camps in their millions. Farmers slaughtered their animals rather than hand them over, leading to the loss of half the national livestock. A drought and continued grain requisitions led to famine in the same three regions in 1932–33, in which millions more people perished. Ukrainians consider this famine, known as golodomor, a deliberate act of genocide against them while others say Stalin deliberately orchestrated this tragedy to wipe out opposition.
In heavy industry, if not in consumer goods, the first two Five-Year Plans produced faster growth than any Western country ever showed. By 1939 only the USA and Germany had higher industrial output.
THE GULAG
The Siberian exile system has been abolished at the turn of the 19th century, but Stalin brought it back with a vengeance, using inmates as a major source of enforced labour. It was during his rule that Siberia became synonymous with death. He established a vast bureaucracy of resettlement programs, labour colonies, concentration camps and special psychiatric hospitals, commonly known as the Gulag.
The Gulag’s inmates – some of whose only ‘offence’ was to joke about Stalin or steal two spikelets of wheat from a kolkhoz field – cut trees, dug canals, laid railway tracks and worked in factories in remote areas, especially Siberia and the Russian Far East. A huge slice of the northeast was set aside exclusively for labour camps, and whole cities such as Komsomolsk-na-Amure and Magadan were developed as Gulag centres.
The Gulag population grew from 30,000 in 1928 to eight million in 1938. The average life expectancy after being sentenced to the Gulag was two years: 90% of inmates died. The Gulag continued well after WWII; Boris Yeltsin announced the release of Russia’s ‘last 10’ political prisoners from a camp near Perm in 1992.
Anne Applebaum, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning, definitive history Gulag: A History, reckons that at least 18 million people passed through the camp system. Many more suffered, though. Nadezhda Mandelstam, whose husband Osip Mandelstam, a highly regarded poet, was exiled to Siberia in 1934, wrote that a wife considered herself a widow from the moment of her husband’s arrest. She was almost right – Osip lasted four years before dying at the Vtoraya Rechka transit camp in Vladivostok.
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THE GULAG & PURGES
Many new mines and factories were built in Central Asia or Siberia, which was resource-rich but thinly populated. A key labour force was provided by the network of concentration camps – begun under Lenin and now called the Gulag, from the initial letters of Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerey (Main Administration for Camps) – which stretched from the north of European Russia through Siberia and Central Asia to the far east (see boxed text, above).
Early camp inmates were often farmers caught up in the collectivisation, but in the 1930s the terror shifted to Party members and other influential people not enthusiastic enough about Stalin. In 1934 the popular Leningrad Party secretary and Stalin’s second-in-command, Sergei Kirov, who favoured alleviating the lot of the peasants and producing more consumer goods for urban workers, was murdered by an agent of the secret police (now called the NKVD, the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs). This launched the biggest series of purges yet. That year 100,000 Party members, intellectuals and ‘enemies of the people’ disappeared or were executed in Leningrad alone. In 1936 the former Party leaders Zinoviev and Kamenev were forced to make public confessions admitting to murdering Kirov and plotting to kill Stalin, and were executed.
This was the first of the Moscow show trials, whose charges ranged from murder plots and capitalist sympathies to Trotskyist conspiracies. The biggest was in 1938 against 21 leading Bolsheviks, including Party theoretician Bukharin. Throughout 1937 and 1938, NKVD agents took victims from their homes at night; most were never heard of again. In the non-Russian republics of the USSR, virtually the whole Party apparatus was eliminated on charges of ‘bourgeois nationalism’. The bloody purge clawed its way into all sectors and levels of society – even 400 of the Red Army’s 700 generals were shot. Its victims are thought to have totalled 8.5 million.
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THE GERMAN-SOVIET PACT
In 1939 Russian offers of a security deal with the UK and France to counter Germany’s possible invasion of Poland were met with a lukewarm reception. Under no illusions about Hitler’s ultimate intentions, Stalin decided to buy time to prepare his country for war, and saw a deal with the Germans as a route to making territorial gains in Poland.
The TV series Seventeen Moments of Spring, about the Soviet spy Maksim Isaev who infiltrates Hitler’s inner circle, had Russians hooked in 1973 and is still remembered today.
On 23 August 1939 the Soviet and German foreign ministers, Molotov and Ribbentrop, signed a nonaggression pact. A secret protocol stated that any future rearrangement would divide Poland between them; Germany would have a free hand in Lithuania, and the Soviet Union in Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Bessarabia, which had been lost to Romania in 1918.
Germany invaded Poland on 1 September; the UK and France declared war on Germany on 3 September. Stalin traded the Polish provinces of Warsaw and Lublin with Hitler for most of Lithuania and the Red Army marched into these territories less than three weeks later. The Soviet gains in Poland, many of which were areas inhabited by non-Polish speakers and had been under Russian control before WWI, were quickly incorporated into the Belarusian and Ukrainian republics of the USSR.
The Baltic states were made republics of the USSR in 1940; along with Moldavia, they brought the total of SSRs up to its final number of 15. But the Finns offered fierce resistance, fighting the Red Army to a standstill.
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THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR
The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad, by Harrison Salisbury, is the most thorough and harrowing account of that city’s sufferings in WWII.
‘Operation Barbarossa’, Hitler’s secret plan for an invasion of the Soviet Union, began on 22 June 1941. Russia was better prepared for war, but Stalin, in one of the great military blunders of all time, refused to believe that the Germans were preparing to attack, even as reports came to Moscow of massive German preparations along the border. The disorganised Red Army was no match for the German war machine, which advanced on three fronts. Within four months the Germans had overrun Minsk and Smolensk and were just outside Moscow; they had marched through the Baltic states and most of Ukraine, and laid siege to Leningrad. Only an early, severe winter halted the advance.
STALINGRAD
Lasting 199 days and claiming something in the order of 1.5 million lives, the Battle for Stalingrad was the longest, deadliest and strategically most decisive of WWII.
In spring 1942 Hitler launched Operation Blue to seize the food and fuel resources of the Soviet south, a goal that would require the capture of the city of Stalingrad. Stalin was slow to respond, keeping Soviet forces in the north in fear of another attack on Moscow. In August, German Field Marshal von Paulus launched the offensive; his troops quickly reached the river and entered the city. Victory seemed all but certain.
The Red Army’s brilliant tactician, Marshal Zhukov, was dispatched to organise a desperate defence, street by street, house by house, hand to hand. Neither side flinched and a flood of reinforcements sustained the bloodletting. By November threadbare Soviet forces somehow still held the city. The German armies were overextended and demoralised. Zhukov launched Operation Uranus, a one-million-man counter-offensive that severed German supply lines and isolated the 300,000 Nazi troops.
German efforts to break out of Zhukov’s closing snare continued into winter. By the end of January, most of them were killed or taken prisoner. On 2 February 1943 von Paulus surrendered what was left of the encircled German Sixth Army. It was the turning point of the war. The Red Army had driven the Germans out of most of the Soviet Union by the end of the year; it reached Berlin in April 1945.
The Soviet commander, General Zhukov, used the winter to push the Germans back from Moscow. Leningrad held out – and continued to do so for 2¼ years, during which over half a million of its civilians died, mainly from hunger (see boxed text, Click here). In 1942 Hitler ordered a new southern offensive towards the Caucasian oilfields, which stalled at Stalingrad (now Volgograd). Well aware of the symbolism of a city named after the Great Leader, both Hitler and Stalin ordered that there be no retreat (see boxed text, above).
The Germans, with insecure supply lines along a front that stretched more than 1600km from north to south, also faced scorched earth and guerrilla warfare. Their atrocities against the local population stiffened resistance. Stalin appealed to old-fashioned patriotism and eased restrictions on the Church, ensuring that the whole country rallied to the cause with incredible endurance. Military goods supplied by the Allies through the northern ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk were invaluable in the early days of the war. All Soviet military industry was packed up, moved east of the Ural Mountains, and worked by women and Gulag labour.
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THE END OF WWII
Siberia was never a battlefield in WWII but in virtually the closing days of the war, with Japan on its knees, the Soviet Union occupied the Japanese territories of southern Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands. Japan accepted the loss of Sakhalin but continues to this day to maintain a claim to the southern islands in the Kuril chain, which at their closest point are approximately 14km from Hokkaido.
Officially Russia and Japan are still fighting WWII, having never signed a peace treaty because of a dispute over the sovereignty of the Kuril Islands (known as the Northern Territories in Japan).
The USSR had borne the brunt of the war. Its total losses, civilian and military, may never be known, but they are thought to have numbered between 25 and 27 million. This compares to wartime deaths of between five and seven million for Germany, 400,000 for Britain and 330,000 for the USA.
Russia’s sacrifices meant that the US and British leaders, Roosevelt and Churchill, were obliged to observe Stalin’s wishes in the postwar settlement. At Tehran (November 1943) and Yalta (February 1945) the three agreed each to govern the areas they liberated until free elections could be held.
Soviet troops liberating Eastern Europe propped up local communist movements, which formed ‘action committees’ that either manipulated the elections or simply seized power when the election results were unfavourable.
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THE COLD WAR
See both the BBC’s www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/and CNN’s site, http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/ for background features on the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR.
Control over Eastern Europe, and postwar modernisation of industry with the aid of German factories and engineers seized as war booty, made the Soviet Union one of the two major world powers. The development of a Soviet atomic bomb as early as September 1949 demonstrated its industry’s new power. But the first postwar Five-Year Plan was military and strategic (more heavy industry); consumer goods and agriculture remained low priorities.
A cold war was shaping up between the communist and capitalist worlds, and in the USSR the new demon became ‘cosmopolitanism’ – warm feelings towards the West. The first victims were the estimated two million Soviet citizens repatriated by the Allies in 1945 and 1946. Some were former prisoners of war or forced labourers taken by the Germans; others were refugees or people who had taken the chance of war to escape the USSR. They were sent straight to the Gulag in case their stay abroad had contaminated them.
Party and government purges continued as Stalin’s reign came to resemble that of Ivan the Terrible. In 1947 US president Harry Truman initiated a policy of ‘containment’ of Soviet influence within its 1947 limits. The US, British and French forces occupying western zones of Germany unified their areas. The Soviet troops in eastern Germany retaliated by blockading western Berlin, controlled by the Western powers, in 1948; Berlin had to be supplied from the air for a year. The long-term division of Germany followed.
Dominic Lieven’s Empire is an astute, scholarly book written with great love and understanding of Russia.
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THE KHRUSHCHEV THAW
With Stalin’s death in 1953, power passed to a combined leadership of five Politburo members. One, Lavrenty Beria, the NKVD boss responsible under Stalin for millions of deaths, was secretly tried and shot (and the NKVD was reorganised as the KGB, the Committee for State Security, which was to remain firmly under Party control). In 1954 another of the Politburo members, Nikita Khrushchev, a pragmatic Ukrainian who had helped carry out 1930s purges, launched the Virgin Lands campaign, bringing vast tracts of Kazakhstan and Central Asia under cultivation. A series of good harvests did his reputation no harm.
During the 20th Party congress in 1956, Khrushchev made a ‘secret speech’ about crimes committed under Stalin. It was the beginning of de-Stalinisation (also known as the Thaw), marked by the release of millions of Gulag prisoners and a slightly more liberal political and intellectual climate. The congress also approved peaceful coexistence between communist and noncommunist regimes. The Soviet Union, Khrushchev argued, would soon triumph over the ‘imperialists’ by economic means. Despite the setback of the 1956 Hungarian rebellion, which was put down by Soviet troops, in 1957 he emerged the unchallenged leader of the USSR.
Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Twentieth-Century Russia by Catherine Merridale is an enthralling read, viewing the country’s bleak recent history through the prisms of psychology and philosophy.
In October 1957 the world listened to radio ‘blips’ from the first space satellite, Sputnik 1, an achievement timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Great October Revolution. In 1961 Yury Gagarin became the first person in space. In an era of cautious détente between the Soviet Union and the USA discussions were even held for a joint space mission.
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CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
Such cooperation would be undermined by a series of international crises. In 1961 Berlin was divided by the Wall to stop an exodus from East Germany. In 1962, the USSR supplied its Caribbean ally Cuba with defensive weapons, effectively stationing medium-range missiles with nuclear capability on the doorstep of the US. After some tense calling of bluff that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, it withdrew the missiles.
A rift opened between the Soviet Union and China, itself now on the road to superpower status. The two competed for the allegiance of newly independent Third World nations and came into conflict over areas in Central Asia and the Russian Far East that had been conquered by the tsars.
At home, Khrushchev started the mass construction of cheap and ugly apartment blocks – by the end of his reign most people who had lived in communal flats now had their own, but the cityscapes changed forever. The agricultural sector also performed poorly and Khrushchev upset Party colleagues by decentralising economic decision-making. After a disastrous harvest in 1963 forced the Soviet Union to buy wheat from Canada, the Central Committee relieved Khrushchev of his posts in 1964, because of ‘advanced age and poor health’. He lived on until 1971.
David Remnick’s Lenin’s Tomb and Resurrection: The Struggle for a New Russia are both notable volumes by the Washington Post’s award-winning ex-Moscow correspondent.
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THE BREZHNEV STAGNATION
The new ‘collective’ leadership of Leonid Brezhnev (general secretary) and Alexey Kosygin (premier) soon devolved into a one-man show under conservative Brezhnev. Khrushchev’s administrative reforms were rolled back. Economic stagnation was the predictable result, despite the exploitation of huge Siberian oil and gas reserves. As repression increased, the ‘dissident’ movement grew, along with samizdat (underground publications). Prison terms and forced labour did not seem to have the desired effect and, in 1972, the KGB chief, Yury Andropov, introduced new measures that included forced emigration and imprisonment in ‘psychiatric institutions’. Among the many deportees was Nobel Prize–winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn (see the boxed text, Click here).
The growing government and Party elite, known as nomenklatura (literally, ‘list of nominees’), enjoyed lavish lifestyles, with access to goods that were unavailable to the average citizen. So did military leaders and some approved engineers and artists. But the ponderous, overcentralised economy, with its suffocating bureaucracy, was providing fewer and fewer improvements in general living standards. Corruption began to spread in the Party and a cynical malaise seeped through society.
Repression extended to countries under the Soviet wing. The 1968 Prague Spring uprising, when new Czechoslovak Party leader Alexander Dubcek promised ‘socialism with a human face’, was crushed by Soviet troops. The invasion was later defended by the Brezhnev Doctrine – that the Soviet Union had the right to defend its interests among countries that fell within its sphere of influence. In 1979 Afghanistan would be one such country. Relations with China fell to an all-time low with border clashes in 1969, and the military build-up between the two countries was toned down only in the late 1980s.
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ANDROPOV & CHERNENKO
Brezhnev was rarely seen in public after his health declined in 1979. Before he died in 1982, he came to symbolise the country’s moribund state of affairs. His successor Yuri Andropov replaced some officials with young technocrats and proposed campaigns against alcoholism (which was costing the economy dearly) and corruption, later carried out under Gorbachev. He also clamped down on dissidents and increased defence spending.
To the Great Ocean by Harmon Tupper is a well-researched and very lively take on the history of building the Trans-Siberian Railway, which sped up the settlement of Siberia and the Russian Far East.
But the economy continued to decline and Andropov died in February 1984, only 15 months after coming to power. Frail, 72-year-old Konstantin Chernenko, his successor, didn’t even last that long.
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GORBACHEV
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Glasnost
Mikhail Gorbachev, an articulate and energetic 54-year-old Andropov protégé, was waiting to step up as general secretary. Understanding that radically different policies were needed if the moribund Soviet Union was to survive, he launched an immediate turnover in the Politburo, bureaucracy and military, replacing many of the Brezhnevite ‘old guard’ with his own, younger supporters.
‘Acceleration’ in the economy and glasnost (openness) – first manifested in press criticism of poor economic management and past Party failings – were his initial slogans. The aim was to spur the stagnant economy by encouraging some management initiative, rewarding efficiency and letting bad practices be criticised.
However, the bloody clampdowns on nationalist rallies in Alma-Ata (now known as Almaty) in 1986, Tbilisi in 1989, and Vilnius and Rīga in early 1991 made an alliance between Gorbachev, the interregional group in the parliament and the Democratic Russia movement impossible.
Foreign Affairs
In foreign policy, Gorbachev discontinued the isolationist, confrontational and economically costly policies of his predecessors. At his first meeting with US president Ronald Reagan in Geneva in 1985, Gorbachev suggested a 50% cut in long-range nuclear weaponry. By 1987 the two superpowers had agreed to remove all medium-range missiles from Europe, with other significant cuts in arms and troop numbers following. During 1988–89 the ‘new thinking’ also put an end to the Afghan War, which had become the Soviet Union’s Vietnam. Relations with China improved, too.
Perestroika & Political Reform
At home, Gorbachev quickly found that even limited reforms were difficult and that there were hard choices to be made. His highly unpopular anti-alcohol campaign resulted in a huge growth in illegal distilling, so had to be abandoned. There was also outrage when it was learned how the state tried to cover up the full extent of the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear disaster in Ukraine in April 1986.
Twenty years later Gorbachev would write, ‘even more than my launch of perestroika, [Chornobyl] was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union’. In an effort to tackle the ingrained corruption of the Communist Party, perestroika (restructuring) combined limited private enterprise and private property, not unlike Lenin’s NEP, with efforts to push decision-making and responsibility out towards the grass roots. New laws were enacted in both these fields in 1988, but their application, understandably, met resistance from the centralised bureaucracy.
Glasnost was supposed to tie in with perestroika as a way to encourage new ideas and counter the Brezhnev legacy of cynicism. The release at the end of 1986 of a famous dissident, Nobel Peace Prize–winner Andrei Sakharov, from internal exile in Nizhny Novgorod was the start of a general freeing of political prisoners. Religions were allowed to operate more and more freely.
In 1988 Gorbachev announced a new ‘parliament’, the Congress of People’s Deputies, with two-thirds of its members to be elected directly by the people, thus reducing the power of the bureaucracy and the Party. A year later, the first elections for decades were held and the congress convened, to outspoken debate and national fascination. Though dominated by Party apparatchiki (members), the parliament also contained outspoken critics of the government such as Sakharov and Boris Yeltsin.
To preserve the legacy of perestroika Mikhail Gorbachev set up the Gorbachev Foundation (www.gorby.ru) in 1992, one of the first independent think tanks in post-Soviet Russia.
Sinatra Doctrine
Gorbachev sprang repeated surprises, including sudden purges of difficult opponents (such as the populist reformer Yeltsin), but the forces unleashed by his opening up of society grew impossible to control. From 1988 onwards the reduced threat of repression and the experience of electing even semi-representative assemblies spurred a growing clamour for independence in the Soviet satellite states. One by one, the Eastern European countries threw off their Soviet puppet regimes in the autumn of 1989; the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November. The Brezhnev Doctrine, Gorbachev’s spokesperson said, had given way to the ‘Sinatra Doctrine’: letting them do it their way. The formal reunification of Germany on 3 October 1990 marked the effective end of the Cold War.
In 1990 the three Baltic states of the USSR also declared (or, as they would have it, reaffirmed) their independence – an independence that, for the time being, remained more theoretical than real. Before long, most other Soviet republics either followed suit or declared ‘sovereignty’ – the precedence of their own laws over the Soviet Union’s. Gorbachev’s proposal for an ill-defined new federal system, to hold the Soviet Union together, won few friends.
Rise of Yeltsin
Also in 1990, Yeltsin won chairmanship of the parliament of the giant Russian Republic, which covered three-quarters of the USSR’s area and contained more than half its population. Soon after coming to power, Gorbachev had promoted Yeltsin to head the Communist Party in Moscow, but had then dumped him in 1987–88 in the face of opposition to his reforms there from the Party’s old guard. By that time, Yeltsin had already declared perestroika a failure, and these events produced a lasting personal enmity between the two men. Gorbachev increasingly struggled to hold together the radical reformers and the conservative old guard in the Party.
Once chosen as chairman of the Russian parliament, Yeltsin proceeded to jockey for power with Gorbachev. He seemed already to have concluded that real change was impossible not only under the Communist Party but also within a centrally controlled Soviet Union, the members of which were in any case showing severe centrifugal tendencies. Yeltsin resigned from the Communist Party and his parliament proclaimed the sovereignty of the Russian Republic.
In early 1990 Gorbachev persuaded the Communist Party to vote away its own constitutional monopoly on power, and parliament chose him for the newly created post of executive president, which further distanced the organs of government from the Party. But these events made little difference to the crisis into which the USSR was sliding as organised crime and black-marketeering boomed, profiting from a slackening of Soviet law and order.
Economic Collapse & Old-Guard Reaction
Gorbachev’s economic reforms proved too little to yield a healthy private sector or a sound, decentralised state sector. Prices went up, supplies of goods fell, people got angry. Some wanted all-out capitalism immediately; others wanted to go back to the suddenly rosy days of communism. In trying to steer a middle course, to prevent a showdown between the radical reformers and the conservatives in the Party, Gorbachev achieved nothing and pleased no one.
Much of the record 1990 harvest was left to rot in fields and warehouses because the Party could no longer mobilise the machinery and hands to bring it in, while private enterprise was not yet advanced enough to do so. When Gorbachev, still trying to keep a balance, backed down in September 1990 from implementing the radical 500 Day Plan – to shift to a fully fledged market economy within 500 days – many saw it as submission to the growing displeasure of the old guard, and a lost last chance to save his reforms.
His Nobel Peace Prize, awarded in the bleak winter of 1990–91 when fuel and food were disappearing from many shops, left the average Soviet citizen literally cold. The army, the security forces and the Party hardliners called with growing confidence for the restoration of law and order to save the country. Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, long one of Gorbachev’s staunchest partners but now under constant old-guard sniping for ‘losing Eastern Europe’, resigned, warning of impending hardline dictatorship.
In 1909 Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky set out to shoot all of the ‘lands and people living on Russian land’ using his own colour photographic technique. View the stunning results at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/prokhtml/prokabt.html and www.prokudin-gorsky.ru/collection.htm.
The Failed Coup
In June 1991 Yeltsin was voted president of the Russian Republic in the country’s first-ever direct presidential elections. He demanded devolution of power from the Soviet Union to the republics, and banned Communist Party cells from government offices and workplaces in Russia. Gorbachev won some respite by fashioning a new union treaty, transferring greater power to the republics, which was to be signed on 20 August.
Matters were taken out of Gorbachev’s hands, however, on 18 August, when a delegation from the ‘Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR’ arrived at the Crimean dacha where he was taking a holiday and demanded that he declare a state of emergency and transfer power to the vice president, Gennady Yanayev. The old-guard coup had begun.
The plan to restore the Communist Party and the Soviet Union to their former status immediately faltered when Yeltsin escaped arrest and went to the Moscow White House, seat of the Russian parliament, to rally opposition. Crowds gathered at the White House, persuaded some of the tank crews (who had been sent to disperse them) to switch sides, and started to build barricades. Yeltsin climbed on a tank to declare the coup illegal and call for a general strike. Troops disobeyed orders and refused to storm the White House.
A History of Russia, by Nicholas Riasanovsky, is one of the best single-volume versions of the whole Russian story through to the end of the Soviet Union.
The following day huge crowds opposed to the coup gathered in Moscow and Leningrad. Kazakhstan rejected the coup, and Estonia declared full independence from the Soviet Union. Coup leaders started to quit or fall ill. On 21 August the tanks withdrew; the coup leaders fled and were arrested.
End of the Soviet Union
Yeltsin’s response to the failed coup was to declare that all state property in the Russian Republic was now under the control of Russia, not the Soviet Union. On 23 August he banned the Communist Party in Russia. Gorbachev resigned as the USSR Party’s leader the following day, ordering that the Party’s property be transferred to the Soviet parliament.
Latvia followed Estonia by declaring independence on 21 August – Lithuania had already done so in 1990 – and most of the other republics of the USSR followed suit. International, and finally Soviet, recognition of the Baltic states’ independence came by early September.
Even before the coup, Gorbachev had been negotiating a last-ditch bid to save the Soviet Union with proposals for a looser union of independent states. In September the Soviet parliament abolished the centralised Soviet state, vesting power in three temporary governing bodies until a new union treaty could be signed. But Yeltsin was steadily transferring control over everything that mattered in Russia from Soviet hands into Russian ones.
On 8 December Yeltsin and the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus, meeting near Brest in Belarus, announced that the USSR no longer existed. They proclaimed a new Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a vague alliance of fully independent states with no central authority. Russia kicked the Soviet government out of the Kremlin on 19 December. Two days later eight more republics joined the CIS.
Yeltsin: A Life by Timothy J Colton casts a favourable light on the much maligned former president who led the destruction of Soviet Communism and the establishment of the Russian Federation.
With the USSR dead, Gorbachev was a president without a country. He formally resigned on 25 December, the day the white, blue and red Russian flag replaced the Soviet red flag over the Kremlin.
THE YELTSIN YEARS
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Economic Reform & Regional Tensions
Even before Gorbachev’s resignation, Yeltsin had announced plans to move to a free-market economy, appointing in November 1991 a reforming government to carry this out. State subsidies were to be phased out, prices freed, government spending cut, and state businesses, housing, land and agriculture privatised. Yeltsin became prime minister and defence minister, as well as president, as an emergency measure.
With the economy already in chaos, some local regions of Russia started hoarding scarce foodstuffs or declaring autonomy and control over their own economic resources. All of the nominally autonomous ethnic regions scattered across Russia, some of them rich in resources vital to the Russian economy, declared themselves autonomous republics, leading to fears that Russia might disintegrate as the USSR had just done. These worries were eventually defused, however: by a 1992 treaty between the central government and the republics; by a new constitution in 1993, which handed the other regions increased rights (see boxed text, opposite); and by changes in the tax system.
CORRUPTION, CRIME & PUNISHMENT
In August 2007 Vladimir Barsukov, once regarded as the Godfather of St Petersburg, was arrested on suspicion of a slew of Mafia-style crimes. Head of the powerful Tambov syndicate, the one-armed strongman (he lost a limb in an assassination attempt in 1994 – the same year President Boris Yeltsin labelled Russia the ‘biggest Mafia state in the world’) Barsukov is alleged to have masterminded extortion rackets and contract killings that had given Tambov control over businesses worth US$213 million.
Barsukov’s case is one of eight involving crime syndicates to be investigated by the St Petersburg General Prosecutor’s Office. New president Dmitry Medvedev also pledged to curb Russia’s rampant corruption while his predecessor Vladimir Putin, who then became Medvedev’s prime minister, lashed out at the coal and steel company Mechel in July 2008 for evading taxes and breaking the law. All are indications that the Russian authorities are determined to stamp out the lawlessness that accompanied the end of the Soviet Union and allowed Mafia gangs and systematic corruption to flourish.
However, even the most optimistic Russophiles would concede that Russia has a long way to go before reaching such a law-abiding future. Corruption is an ingrained feature of Russian life, stretching back centuries and long an accepted way of doing business. Russian sociologist Simon Kordonsky lists ‘optimizing taxes, winning a tender, getting a building permit, getting a relative care at an “elite” clinic, helping a son avoid the draft, sending a daughter to a good school, getting back a driver’s license confiscated by the police, or instigating a police raid on a rival’ among the many ‘services’ a bribe can expedite in Russia. The Indem Foundation, a Russian think tank, backs him up, estimating in a 2005 report that Russians paid more than US$3 billion in bribes a year and labelling the state as ‘the country’s biggest racketeer’.
Kiril Kabanov heads up the National Anti-Corruption Committee, an NGO. When asked by Newsweek in 2008 what Medvedev needs to win the battle against corruption he answered, ‘new anti-corruption legislation, independent courts and independent police institutions to prosecute corrupt bureaucrats on all levels, beginning from the Kremlin. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have any of these.’
GOVERNING RUSSIA IN THE 21ST CENTURY
From media reports you’d be forgiven for thinking that Russia is governed by the Kremlin. In the same way that Downing Street or the White House is used as shorthand to refer to, respectively, the British and US governments, so too is the Kremlin a metonym for Russia’s government, a leftover from back in the Soviet era when the country’s every move was stage-managed by Moscow.
Some analysts would claim that the former dictatorial situation is little changed today, even though Boris Yeltsin’s 1993 constitution established a complex system of government for Russia as a federation. This federation is currently made up of 83 constituent parts, including 46 oblasti (regions), 21 semiautonomous respubliki (republics), nine kraya (territories), four autonomous okruga (districts), one autonomous region (the Jewish Autonomous Oblast), and the federal cities of Moscow and St Petersburg. The republics have their own constitution and legislation; territories, regions, the federal cities, and autonomous districts and region have their own charter and legislation. Over recent years several regions have merged (eg the Chita Region and the Agin-Buryat Autonomous District in March 2008, to become Zabaikalsky Territory) and this process is likely to continue.
This structure is partly a hangover from the old Soviet system of nominally autonomous republics for many minority ethnic groups. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, all these republics declared varying degrees of autonomy from Russia, the most extreme being Chechnya, in the Caucasus, which unilaterally declared full independence.
Yeltsin struck deals with the republics, which largely pacified them, and in the new constitution awarded regions and territories much the same status as republics but declared that federal laws always took precedence over local ones. Putin brought control back to the Kremlin by creating seven large federal districts – Central, South, North West, Volga, Ural, Siberia and Far East – each with an appointed envoy. He also saw to it that the regions would have federally appointed governors.
The president is the head of state and has broad powers. He or she appoints the key government ministers, including the prime minister (who is effectively the deputy president), interior and defence ministers. The Duma has to approve the president’s appointees. Presidential elections are held every four years.
The Duma’s upper house, the Federation Council (Sovet Federatsii), has 176 seats occupied by two unelected representatives from each of Russia’s administrative districts. Its primary purpose is to approve or reject laws proposed by the lower house, the State Duma, which oversees all legislation. Its 450 members are equally divided between representatives elected from single-member districts and those elected from party lists. Obviously this gives extra clout to the major parties, and efforts to replace this system of representation with a purely proportional system have been shunned.
Duma elections are held every four years in the December preceding the presidential elections. The last election was in December 2007, in which United Russia (www.er.ru, in Russian) won 64.24% of the vote to become the ruling party. Ex-president and current prime minister Vladimir Putin is United Russia’s chairman, and the party supports the president Dmitry Medvedev.
Some benefits of economic reform took hold during 1994 in a few big cities, notably Moscow and St Petersburg (the name to which Leningrad had reverted in 1991), where a market economy was taking root and an enterprise culture was developing among the younger generations. At the same time crime and corruption seemed to be spiralling out of control.
Conflict with the Old Guard
Yeltsin’s chaotic program of reforms and the associated loss of international status suffered by Russia put him on a collision course with the parliament, which was dominated by communists and nationalists, both opposed to the course events were taking.
As early as April 1991 Yeltsin’s ministers were complaining that their reforms were being stymied by contradictory legislation from the parliament. As the austerity caused by economic reform continued to bite (although there was more in the shops, ordinary people could buy less because they had no money), Yeltsin’s popularity began to fall. Organised crime was steadily rising and corruption at all levels seemed more prevalent than before.
In 2005 China and Russia settled a post-WWII dispute over 2% of their 4300km common border. For the first time, the whole border is now legally defined.
Yeltsin sacrificed key ministers and compromised on the pace of reform, but the parliament continued to issue resolutions contradicting his presidential decrees. In April 1993 a national referendum gave Yeltsin a big vote of confidence, both in his presidency and in his policies. He began framing a new constitution that would abolish the existing parliament and define more clearly the roles of president and legislature.
Finally, it came down to a trial of strength. In September 1993 Yeltsin dissolved the parliament, which in turn stripped him of all his powers. Yeltsin sent troops to blockade the White House, ordering the members to leave by 4 October. Many did, but on 2 and 3 October the National Salvation Front, an aggressive communist-nationalist group, attempted an insurrection, overwhelming the troops around the White House and attacking Moscow’s Ostankino TV centre, where 62 people died. The next day troops stormed the White House, leaving at least 70 members of the public dead.
Constitutional Reform
Elections to a new two-house form of parliament were held in December 1993. The name of the more influential lower house, the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma), consciously echoed that of tsarist Russia’s parliaments. At the same time as the elections, a national referendum endorsed the new Yeltsin-drafted constitution (see boxed text, opposite), which gave the president a clear upper hand over parliament.
This system, however, does have potential flaws in that the president and the parliament can (and do) both make laws and can effectively block each other’s actions. In practice, the president can usually get his way through issuing presidential decrees. During Yeltsin’s turbulent rule this happened often. His successor Vladimir Putin worked to ensure a more harmonious relationship with the Duma.
The 1993 constitution also enshrines the rights to free trade and competition, private ownership of land and property, freedom of conscience, and free movement in and out of Russia, and bans censorship, torture and the establishment of any official ideology.
War in Chechnya
Yeltsin’s foreign policy reflected the growing mood of conservative nationalism at home. The sudden demise of the Soviet Union had left many Russian citizens stranded in now potentially hostile countries. As the political tide turned against them, some of these Russians returned to the motherland. Under such circumstances the perceived need for a buffer zone between Russia and the outside world became a chief concern – and remains so, as recent events in Georgia have proved. Russian troops intervened in fighting in Tajikistan, Georgia and Moldova as UN-sanctioned peacekeepers, but also with the aim of strengthening Russia’s hand in those regions, and by early 1995 Russian forces were stationed in all the other former republics except Estonia and Lithuania.
However, in Chechnya – a Muslim republic of around a million people in the Caucasus, which had declared independence from Russia in 1991 – this policy proved particularly disastrous. Although the region has long been prone to internal conflicts, and is home to powerful organised crime groups, it also sits across the routes of oil pipelines from the Caspian Sea to Russia – hence an area that Russia would want to keep within its control.
Attempts to negotiate a settlement or have Chechnya’s truculent leader Dzhokhar Dudayev deposed had stalled by the end of 1994. Yeltsin ordered troops into Chechnya for what was meant to be a quick operation to restore Russian control. But the Chechens fought bitterly and by mid-1995 at least 25,000 people, mostly civilians, were dead, and the Russians had only just gained full control of the destroyed Chechen capital, Grozny. Dudayev was still holding out in southern Chechnya, and guerrilla warfare continued unabated. Yeltsin’s popularity plummeted and, in the December 1995 elections, communists and nationalists won control of 45% of the Duma.
Filmed in the mountains of Dagestan, Prisoner of the Mountains is a 1996 film by Sergei Bodrov based on the Tolstoy short story, A Prisoner of the Caucasus, updated to the more recent wars in Chechnya.
1996 Elections
By early 1996, with presidential elections pending, Yeltsin was spending much time hidden away, suffering frequent bouts of various ill-defined sicknesses. When he was seen in public he often appeared to be confused and unstable. But even as the communists under Gennady Zyuganov seemed set to rise from the dead on a wave of discontent, those who had grown rich under Russia’s five-year flirtation with capitalism – oligarchs such as media barons Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky, and banker and oilman Mikhail Fridman – came to the president’s aid. The communists were kept off TV, ensuring that the only message the Russian voters received was Yeltsin’s. Anatoly Chubais, a Yeltsin protégé, ran a brilliant campaign that, among other things, involved the temporarily revived president dancing on stage at a rock concert to show his supposed strength.
In the June elections, Zyuganov and a tough-talking ex-general, Alexander Lebed, split the opposition vote, and Yeltsin easily defeated Zyuganov in a run-off in early July (although the strain of dancing at concerts and other stunts must have taken their toll, because Yeltsin again disappeared from view for several weeks). The communists and other opposition parties returned to their grousing in the Duma, while Lebed was handed the poisoned chalice of negotiating an end to the messy Chechen war. Russian troops began withdrawing from Chechnya in late 1996.
In November Yeltsin underwent quintuple heart-bypass surgery. While he recuperated, much of 1997 saw a series of financial shenanigans and deals that became known variously as the War of the Oligarchs or the War of the Bankers. These were nothing more than power grabs by the various Russian billionaires and members of Yeltsin’s inner circle known as ‘the Family’. (Yeltsin himself would later come under investigation by Swiss and Russian authorities. However, following his resignation in 1999, Yeltsin was granted immunity from legal prosecution by his successor, Valdimir Putin.)
The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia by David Hoffman gives a blow-by-blow account of the rise and sometimes fall of the ‘robber barons’ of modern Russia.
Economic Collapse & Recovery
In the spring of 1998 signs that the Russian economy was in deep trouble were everywhere. Coal miners went on strike in protest at months of unpaid wages, part of more than US$300 billion owed to workers across the country. This, added to well over US$100 billion in foreign debt, meant that Russia was effectively bankrupt. Yeltsin tried to exert his authority by sacking the government for its bad economic management.
But it was too late. During the summer of 1998 the foreign investors who had propped up Russia’s economy fled. On 17 August the rouble was devalued, and in a repeat of scenes that had shaken the West during the Depression of 1929, many Russian banks faltered, leaving their depositors with nothing. The overall economic impact, though, was generally positive.
Following the initial shock, the growing Russian middle class, mostly paid in untaxed cash dollars, suddenly realised that their salaries had increased threefold overnight (if counted in roubles) while prices largely remained the same. This led to a huge boom in consumer goods and services. Luxuries such as restaurants and fitness clubs, previously only for the rich, suddenly became available to many more people. The situation also provided a great opportunity for Russian consumer-goods producers: in 1999 imported products were rapidly being replaced by high-quality local ones.
Given the circumstances, it was no surprise that various nationalist groups like the communists would enjoy growing support. Their cause received a major boost on 24 March 1999 when NATO forces, led by the USA, began bombing Yugoslavia over the Kosovo crisis, an attempt by Serb forces to ethnically cleanse the territory of its ethnic Albanian majority population. This attack on the Serbs, who are regarded by Russians as ethnic kin, inflamed long-dormant passions among Russians, one of whom resorted to launching a rocket propelled grenade at the US embassy in Moscow.
Moscow Bombings
In September 1999 a series of explosions rocked Moscow, virtually demolishing three apartment blocks and killing nearly 300 people. This unprecedented terrorism in the nation’s capital fuelled unease and xenophobia, particularly against Chechens, who were popularly perceived as being responsible. An FSB (Federal Security Service, successor to the KGB) investigation concluded in 2002 that the bombings were masterminded by two non-Chechen Islamists – one of whom remained at large at the time of research; the other was assassinated in 2002.
Andrei Nekrasov’s Disbelief (2004) is an emotionally powerful and convincing documentary that makes the case for state involvement in the Moscow apartment bombings of 1999. Watch it online at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7658755847655738553.
However, at the same time a theory about FSB involvement in the apartment bombings as a means to ensure public support for a second Chechen war gained traction. An independent public commission into the bombings chaired by a Duma deputy (who was later murdered) found no evidence to support either version of events, although its work was hampered by government refusals to cooperate. One former FSB agent, Mikhail Trepashkin (closely linked to the anti-Putin Boris Berezovsky), who was prepared to give evidence, was later jailed for ‘disclosing state secrets’, causing an outcry among human rights campaigners including Amnesty International.
Whatever the truth of the situation, the discovery of similar bombs in the city of Ryazan in September 1999, on top of Chechen incursions into Dagestan, was used by the Kremlin as a justification for launching air attacks on Grozny, the Chechen capital, sparking the second Chechen War. Tens of thousands of civilians fled to the countryside to escape the bombardment. The Russian army later admitted that over 1100 of its troops had been killed during the ground battle to take control of Grozny, a city the UN called ‘the most destroyed city on earth’. Speaking to the UN Commission on Human Rights in 2000, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright referred to the ‘thousands of Chechen civilians [who had] died and more than 200,000 [who had] been driven from their homes’ during the conflict. Both Amnesty International and the Council of Europe have criticised both sides for ‘blatant and sustained’ violations of international humanitarian law. Nearly a decade later, the conflict has eased to a controllable simmer under the watch of the Kremlin-friendly Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov; Click here for more details.
VLADIMIR PUTIN
As Yeltsin’s appointed successor, Vladimir Putin’s sweeping victory in the March 2000 presidential elections surprised nobody. The one-time KGB operative and FSB chief quickly established his strongman credentials by boosting military spending, clawing back power to the Kremlin from the regions and cracking down on the critical media. Despite the increasingly bloody Chechen war, support for Putin remained solid, bearing out the president’s own view – one that is frequently endorsed by a cross-section of Russians – that ‘Russia needs a strong state power’.
Moscow bureau chief of the Financial Times Andrew Jack sums up the thorny political, economic and social issues facing the country in his book, Inside Putin’s Russia: Can There Be Reform Without Democracy?
Putin’s cooperation with and support for the US-led assault on Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 won him respect in the West, particularly from George W Bush, who was won over at their first summit, saying of his Russian counterpart, ‘I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy.’ Both leaders shared the view of terrorism being a profound threat to their nations. To this end, Putin was resolute in not giving in to terrorist demands, even when hostages’ lives were at stake. In Moscow, the body count was a 100 after the siege of the Palace of Culture Theatre in October 2002, and in the school siege at Beslan, in 2004, 344 people died, half of them children.
A flourishing personality cult and lack of an effective opposition allowed Putin to cruise to re-election in 2004. His power was consolidated as Russia’s global status grew, in direct correlation to the rise in energy prices and a booming economy. Election rules were changed, making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for fledgling opposition parties to run against the establishment.
Anna Politkovskaya’s Putin’s Russia is a searing indictment of the country and its leaders from a fearless journalist who was murdered in 2006 while working on an exposé of Chechnya’s Russian-backed leader.
Behind the scenes an alliance of ex-KGB/FSB operatives, law enforcers and bureaucrats, known as siloviki (power people), seemed to be taking control. The siloviki’s most prominent victims have been oligarchs who have either been forced to leave the country or, as in the case of one-time oil billionaire Mikhail Khordorkovsky, sentenced to eight years in a Siberian jail for tax evasion, fraud and embezzlement after what was widely believed outside Russia to be an unfair trial. Even US president George W Bush reportedly had words with Putin about the trial’s fairness. The Russian prosecutor’s office ‘categorically denied’ that the case was politically motivated, however, saying that ‘serious crimes were committed and have been proved’.
Despite such steps, the Kremlin still felt it necessary in 2005 to stir up nationalist feeling and guard against a Ukrainian-style Orange Revolution by founding the ultranationalist youth group Nashi (meaning Ours), a band of ardent Putin and United Russia supporters – numbering some 120,000 members at the end of 2007 – who have been compared both to Komsomol (the Soviet youth brigade) and the Hitler Youth.
Read all about why Time chose Vladimir Putin as its Person of the Year at www.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/
In choosing Putin as their Person of Year for 2007 Time magazine said ‘with an iron will – and at a significant cost to the principles that free nations prize – Putin has brought Russia back as a world power’. Those principles include freedom of the media and democracy – as Garry Kasparov, former chess grandmaster and founder of the opposition group the Other Russia (www.theotherrussia.org), discovered when his presidential campaign was crushed.
DMITRY MEDVEDEV: PUTIN’S PUPPET?
As he has been a loyal lieutenant of the former president ever since they worked together in the early 1990s for the St Petersburg government, it’s natural that many would assume Dmitry Medvedev to be Putin’s puppet. Such assumptions are rash in the frequently surprising world of Russian politics, and a comparison of the two politicians reveals some interesting differences in style and substance that could well prove decisive as time goes on.
Although both men hail from St Petersburg, are married and have kids, the similarities between them end there. Putin’s parents were working class and poor, while Medvedev’s, both academics, were part of the city’s liberal intelligentsia. Putin is known as a judo black belt and was famously photographed shirtless in the Siberian wilderness, while the diminutive Medvedev (he’s 162.5cm or 5ft 4in tall) is more into tailored Versace suits, fiddling with his iPhone and listening to his favourite heavy-metal bands, such as Deep Purple and Black Sabbath.
There are also signs that Medvedev could be his own man politically. Putin’s early career was in the KGB. He saw the collapse of the Soviet Union as the ‘greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century’, and during his two-term rule set about restoring Russia’s clout and pride, while the USA expressed concern at the progress of democracy in Russia. Medvedev, born in 1965 and a lawyer by profession, is of a completely different generation from Putin. He has no known links to the former Soviet regime nor the security services and was an active supporter of democracy in his youth. In his inauguration speech he pledged to develop ‘civil and economic freedom’ in Russia and is already taking steps to tackle ingrained corruption.
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A REGIONAL POWER
Russia in Global Affairs (http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/) is a respected English quarterly published in Moscow with features on a variety of topics relating to Russian politics, its economy and culture.
At a Nashi summer camp attended by 10,000 youths in the summer of 2007 Putin lambasted British calls for the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi. Lugovoi, an ex-KGB operative and, since December 2007, an elected member of the State Duma, was suspected of murdering Alexander Litvinenko (an anti-Putin ex-FSB operative) by lethal radiation poisoning in London in November 2006. This nasty affair later escalated, with Britain expelling four Russian diplomats from London, protests by Nashi supporters at the UK embassy in Moscow and the Russian government’s forced closure of the British Council (which it claimed was violating tax laws) in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.
Taken together with the intense battle between British and Russian partners over the joint oil venture TNK-BP, and the UK embassy’s complaints about harassment of the British ambassador by Nashi supporters, it is tempting to see this crisis as a resumption of a cold war between Britain and Russia. However, the easing of visa regulations on both sides in 2008, to allow supporters of the St Petersburg soccer team Zenit to attend the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) cup-final match in Manchester, UK, and British supporters to pitch up in Moscow a few weeks later for the UEFA Champions League cup final between Chelsea and Manchester United, showed that UK–Russia relations are far from deadlocked.
Zenit’s victory was followed in swift succession by that of the national ice hockey team in the world championships and pop star Dima Bilan clinching the Eurovision Song Contest – all triumphs hailed by politicians and the public alike as evidence of Russia’s renewed confidence and power on the world stage. Putin’s last term as president also saw the Kremlin increasingly at odds with US foreign policy (it refused to stop supplying nuclear fuel to Iran, for example) and determined to keep its NATO-leaning neighbours – notably Ukraine after its Orange Revolution, and Georgia – within its perceived regional sphere of influence.
Want to know what Dmitry Medvedev is currently up to? Check out his personal portal at http://president.kremlin.ru/eng/.
Threats by Russia’s largest company, Gazprom, to cut off gas supplies to the country in 2006 and 2008 because of unpaid bills also sent shudders through much of Europe – a quarter of its gas comes from Gazprom, too, and is piped through Ukraine. Relations with Georgia also deteriorated to the point of war when the two countries came to blows over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in August 2008, which Russia later recognised as independent countries. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted in a radio interview on Ekho Moskvy as saying ‘We will do anything not to allow Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO.’
Since settling into the top job in May 2008, Medvedev has been under intense scrutiny to see whether he uses his presidential powers to overrule Putin, who continues to take an active interest in both domestic and foreign policy in his new role as prime minister. The possibility that Medvedev might only be keeping the presidential seat warm for Putin until he can stand again in 2012 (just in time, should he win, to open the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014) has been discussed.
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TIMELINE
c 30,000 BC Humans settle in many locations across what would become Russia’s vast territory, including Sunghir near Vladimir, 192km east of Moscow, and along the Aldan River in the Sakha Republic in the Russian Far East.
c AD 700 The seminomadic Khazars put down roots in Northern Caucuses, establishing their capital at Itil, near the mouth of the Volga River. At their peak they control much of what is today southern Russia.
AD 862 The legendary Varangian (Scandinavian) Rurik of Jutland gains control of Staraya Ladoga and builds the Holmgard settlement near Novgorod. Rus, the infant version of Russia, is born.
980 Vladimir I, the illegitimate son of Svyatoslav I, slays his half-brother Yaropolk and establishes himself in Kyiv as leader of breakaway Kyivan Rus.
988 Vladimir I persuades the Patriarch of Constantinople to establish an episcopal see – a Church ‘branch’ – in Kyiv, marking the birth of the Russian Orthodox Church.
1019–54 The reign of Yaroslav the Wise, who united the principalities of Novgorod and Kyiv, marks the zenith of Kyivan Rus in terms of military might and cultural splendour.
1093–1108 Vladimir Monomakh takes control of territory bounded by the Volga, Oka and Dvina Rivers, moves his capital from Rostov to Suzdal and, in 1108, founds Vladimir, thus creating the Vladimir-Suzdal principality.
c 1113 Nestor the Monk completes the first edition of Primary Chronicle, a history of Kyivan Rus and the East Slavic people from around 850, incorporating oral traditions and legends.
1147 Vladimir’s son Yury Dolgoruky stakes his claim to be the founder of Moscow by building a wooden fort, the forerunner of Moscow’s Kremlin, and invites his allies to a banquet there.
1169 Yury’s son, Andrei Bogolyubov, sacks Kyiv and moves his court to Vladimir, where he houses the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God in the newly built Assumption Cathedral.
1223 Chinggis Khaan’s defeat of the Russian princes at the Battle of Kalka River sparks Mongol incursions into Rus territory, followed by Batu Khaan’s full-scale invasion from 1236 to 1240.
1240 The 19-year-old Aleksandr, Prince of Novgorod, defeats the Swedes on the Neva River near present-day St Petersburg, thus earning himself the title ‘Nevsky’ and future canonisation as a Russian Orthodox saint.
1328 The Khan of the Golden Horde appoints Ivan I (Ivan the Moneybags) as Grand Prince of Vladimir with rights to collect taxes from other Russian principalities, a task previously carried out by Mongol officials.
1380 Grand Prince Dmitry mounts the first successful Russian challenge to Tatar authority, earning his moniker ‘Donskoi‘ after defeating the Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo on the Don River.
1382 Led by the Khan Tokhtamysh, the Mongols invade again, slaughtering half of Moscow’s population but allowing a supplicant Dmitry to remain Grand Prince of Vladimir.
1389 Vasily I takes over his father Dmitry’s titles on his death, without the weakened Khan’s approval. He continues the unification of the Russian lands and enters into an alliance with Lithuania.
1425–62 Vasily II is proclaimed Prince of Moscow at the age of 10. His long rule is plagued by civil war but also sees the collapse of the Golden Horde into smaller khanates.
1462–1505 Ivan III (Ivan the Great) takes up Moscow’s reins after his father, Vasily II, dies. He forcibly brings Novgorod and Tver into his fold and is the first ruler to adopt the title ‘tsar’.
1505–33 Vasily III annexes the auton-omous Russian provinces of Pskov and Ryazan, captures Smolensk from Lithuania and extends Moscow’s influence south along the Volga towards Kazan.
1547 The coronation of Ivan IV (whose military victories and fearsome temper later earns him the name Ivan the Terrible) sees the 17-year-old assume the title of Tsar of all the Russias.
1552 Ivan IV defeats the surviving Tatar khanates of Kazan and, four years later, Astrakhan, thus acquiring for Russia the whole Volga region and a chunk of the Caspian Sea coast.
1580 Yermak Timofeevich and his band of Cossack brigands capture Tyumen from the Turkic khanate Sibir and, two years later, take the capital, Isker, initiating Russia’s expansion into Siberia.
1581 In a fit of rage Ivan IV murders his eldest son and appointed heir, Ivan. Succession passes to the Terrible one’s possibly mentally retarded youngest son, Fyodor.
1584 More interested in ringing church bells (hence his nickname, Fyodor the Bellringer), the pious and feeble Fyodor I leaves governing Russia to his brother-in-law Boris Godunov.
1598 Fyodor I’s death ends the 700-year-old Rurikid dynasty. Boris Godunov seizes the throne and proves a capable tsar, instituting educational and social reforms.
1605 Boris’s son Fyodor II lasts just three months as tsar before he and his mother are assassinated on the arrival in Moscow of the first False Dmitry, who claims to be a son of Ivan IV.
1606 Vasily Shuysky plots against the False Dmitry, has him killed and becomes tsar until 1610, when he is, in turn, deposed and exiled to Warsaw.
1612 A Russian militia, led by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, retakes Moscow after three years of occupation by the Poles, a victory commemorated every 4 November by the Day of Unity.
1613 Sixteen-year-old Mikhail Romanov, a relative of Ivan VI’s first wife, is elected tsar, starting the Romanov dynasty. He concludes a peace treaty with Sweden in 1617 and with Poland a year later.
1628–48 Russian pioneers reach the Lena River in 1628, found the fort of Yakutsk in 1637 and, two years later, sail out of the Ulya River into the Sea of Okhotsk.
1645 Like his father before him, Alek-sey I is 16 when he comes to the throne of Russia. During his reign Russia’s territory expands to over 800 million hectares as the conquest of Siberia continues.
1660 Patriarch Nikon’s reforms of the Russian Orthodox Church create a schism leading to him being deposed. Many of the Old Believers flee to Siberia to practise their religion as they see fit.
1670–71 Cossack Stepan (Stenka) Razin leads an uprising in the Volga–Don region. The folk hero’s army of 200,000 seizes the entire lower Volga basin before he is captured and executed in Red Square.
1676–82 Fyodor III’s keen intelligence lays the foundations for a more liberal attitude in the Russian court. Under his rule civil and military appointments start to be determined by merit rather than nobility.
1682 Aleksey I’s 10-year-old son Peter I (later Peter the Great) becomes joint tsar with his chronically ill half-brother Ivan V. Ivan’s elder sister Sophia, acting as regent, holds the real power.
1689 Following a botched coup, Sophia is forced to enter a convent. Peter’s mother Natalia becomes the power behind the throne, until her death in 1694 leaves her son as effective sole ruler.
1697–98 During his 18-month Grand Embassy tour of Europe Peter learns shipbuilding in Amsterdam, meets England’s King William III and travels to Manchester, UK, where he picks up ideas for building a new city.
1700–21 In seeking control over the Baltic Sea, Peter I battles the Swedes in the Great Northern War. Sweden, fighting on several fronts against other countries, eventually cedes much territory, including Estonia and part of Karelia.
1703 On 27 May Peter I establishes the Peter and Paul Fortress on Zayachy Island in the Neva River, thus founding the new city of Sankt Pieter Burkh (St Petersburg), named after his patron saint.
1712–14 At the behest of Peter I, government institutions begin to move from Moscow, and St Petersburg assumes the administrative and ceremonial role as the Russian capital.
1718 Alexey Petrovich, the estranged 28-year-old son of Peter and his first wife Eudoxia, is tortured and killed by his father, punishment for disobedience, fleeing the country and suspected treachery.
1724 Catherine I (born Martha Elena Scowronska to lowly Latvian peasants), secretly betrothed to Peter I in 1707 and publicly married in 1712, is officially announced as Russia’s co-ruler.
1728 After the death of Peter I and two years of rule by his wife, Catherine, his grandson Peter II shifts the Russian capital back to Moscow.
1730 The direct male line of the Romanov dynasty ends with Peter II’s death. His successor is Anna, Duchess of Courland, daughter of Peter the Great’s half-brother and co-ruler, Ivan V.
1732 Empress Anna reverses the decision of Peter II and moves the capital to St Petersburg, presiding over the recommencement of the city’s construction and development.
1733–43 Vitus Bering’s second Kamchatka Expedition (the first was in 1725) maps the eastern reaches of Siberia and includes the discovery of Alaska, the Aleutian and Commander Islands as well as Bering Island.
1740 Twelve days before her death, Empress Anna adopts a two-month-old baby. He becomes Tsar Ivan VI, ruling for barely a year with his natural mother, Anna Leopoldovna of Mecklenburg, as regent.
1741 Elizabeth, the second oldest daughter of Peter I and Catherine I, seizes power in a bloodless coup. She creates the most luxurious court in Europe, and packs her wardrobe with over 15,000 ball gowns.
1756 Elizabeth battles Prussia in the Seven Years’ War. With Russian troops occupying Berlin, Prussia is saved only by Elizabeth’s death in 1761 and the ascension to the throne of her pro-German nephew, Peter III.
1762 A coup against Peter III brings to the throne his wife Catherine II (Catherine the Great) 17 years after their marriage, ushering in the era of Russian Enlightenment.
1768–74 Victories in the Russo-Turkish War expand Russian control in southern Ukraine and give access to the Black Sea. To commemorate the decisive Battle of Çesme, Catherine commissions the Çesme Church in southern St Petersburg.
1773 Emilian Pugachev, a Don Cossack, claims to be the overthrown Peter III and begins a peasant uprising, which is subsequently quelled by brute force. The Pugachev Rebellion curbs the liberal tendencies of Catherine the Great.
1796 Upon Catherine the Great’s death, her son Paul I ascends the throne. One of his first acts as tsar is to decree that women can never again rule Russia.
1799 The birth of poet Alexander Pushkin ushers in the era of Russian romanticism and the golden age of Russian literature. Revered as the national bard, Pushkin’s legacy endures to this day.
1801 Tsar Paul is murdered in his bedroom in the fortresslike Mikhaylovsky Castle. The coup places on the throne Alexander I, who vows to continue the reformist policies of his grandmother.
1807 Following defeats at Austerlitz, north of Vienna, and then at Friedland, near modern Kaliningrad, Alexander I signs the Treaty of Tilsit with Napoleon, uniting the two sides (in theory) against England.
1810 Russia resumes relations with England, provoking Napoleon into his ill-fated march on Moscow two years later. Muscovites burn two-thirds of the capital rather than see it occupied by the French.
1814 Russian troops briefly occupy Paris after driving Napoleon back across Europe. A ‘Holy Alliance’ between Russia, Austria and Prussia is the outcome of the Congress of Vienna in 1815 following the war.
1817 Alexander I’s appointment of the brutal general Alexey Yermolov to subdue the fractious tribes of the Caucasus sows seeds of discontent in that region that continue to have repercussions today.
1825 Following the sudden death of Alexander I, reformers assemble in St Petersburg to protest the succession of Nicholas I. The new tsar brutally crushes the so-called Decembrist Revolt, killing hundreds in the process.
1836 The success of Mikhail Glinka’s opera A Life for the Tsar inspires a future generation of Russian composers to create distinctive classical music. His follow-up, Ruslan and Lyudmila, receives a cooler reception six years later.
1851 Upon completion of the construction of Nikolaevsky Station (now Moscow Station), the first trains linking Moscow and St Petersburg begin running, introducing long-distance rail travel to Russia.
1854 The Battle of Balaclava, famous for the Charge of the Light Brigade, is the key stoush of the Crimean War between Russia on one side and Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire on the other.
1855 Nicholas I’s death coincides with Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War. His successor, Alexander II, starts peace negotiations and realises reform is necessary if Russia is to remain a major European power.
1860 The Treaty of Peking sees China cede to Japan all territory east of the Ussuri and as far south as Korean border, including the newly established port of Vladivostok (which means ‘Lord of the East’).
1861 The emancipation of the serfs frees up labour to feed the Russian industrial revolution. Workers flood into the capital, leading to overcrowding, poor sanitation, epidemics and societal discontent.
1866 The revolutionary Dmitry Karakozov fails to assassinate Alexander II, the first of several attempts to be made on the life of the reform-minded tsar.
1867 Debts from the Crimean War force Russia to sell gold-rich Alaska and the Aleutian Islands to the USA for $7.2 million. The first volume of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital is published; it’s translated into Russian five years later.
1869 Leo Tolstoy finishes the final version of his great novel, War and Peace. Eight years later Anna Karenina is completed. Both provide vivid descriptions of 19th-century Russian life.
1877 Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake premiers at Moscow’s Bolshoy Theatre. The critics proclaim the music of what would become his best-loved ballet to be ‘too noisy, too Wagnerian, too symphonic’.
1877–78 War against the Ottoman Empire results in the liberation of Bulgaria and annulment of the conditions of the Treaty of Paris of 1856, imposed after Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War.
1881 Terrorists finally get Alexander II. St Petersburg’s Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood is built on the site of the assassination. During his reign, the reactionary Alexander III undoes many of his father’s reforms.
1882 Jews are subject to harsh legal restrictions in retribution for their alleged role in the assassination of Alexander II. A series of pogroms provokes Jewish migration to other parts of Europe and the USA.
1883 The revolutionaries Georgy Plekhanov and Pavel Axelrod flee to Switzerland, adopt Marxism, and found the Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party. One of their converts is Vladimir Ulyanov, later known as Lenin.
1886 Alexander III authorises the building of 7500km of railroad between Chelyabinsk (then Russia’s eastern railhead) and Vladivostok, shifting up Siberia’s development by several gears and laying the foundations for the Trans-Siberian railway.
1895 Lenin takes charge of Russia’s first Marxist cell in St Peters-burg. He’s arrested and sentenced to three years of Siberian exile in Shushenskoe. Here he marries Nadezhda Krupskaya in a church wedding.
1896 Nicholas II’s reign as Russia’s last tsar is marked by tragedy from the start when a stampede by crowds assembled in Moscow for his coronation results in over 1300 being trampled to death.
1900 China’s Boxer Rebellion gives Russia the excuse it needs to take control of Outer Manchuria, east of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, but puts it on course for a fateful collision with Japan.
1903 The Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party splits into the radical Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, and the more conservative Mensheviks. The two factions coexist until 1912, when the Bolsheviks set up their own party.
1904–05 The Russo-Japanese War has an unexpectedly disastrous result for the Russians, who lose Port Arthur and see their fleet virtually annihilated. When Japan occupies Sakhalin Island, Russia is forced to sue for peace.
1905 Hundreds of people are killed when troops fire on peaceful protestors presenting a petition to the tsar. Nicholas II is held responsible for the tragedy, dubbed Bloody Sunday.
1906–12 Nicholas II allows elections for a parliament (duma) in 1906 and 1907. Both prove to be too left-wing so he promptly dissolves them. The third duma (elected in 1912) runs for its full five-year term.
1911 Having survived court intrigues, including the wrath of Tsaritsa Alexandra for ordering the expulsion of Rasputin from St Petersburg, reforming prime minister Pyotr Stolypin is assassinated by a student while at the theatre in Kyiv.
1912 The election of a fourth duma coincides with worker unrest and strikes. Even so, an exiled Lenin tells an audience in Switzerland that there will be no revolution in his lifetime.
1914 WWI kicks off with Russia simultaneously invading Austrian Galicia and German Prussia. It is grossly unprepared for war and immediately suffers defeats. St Petersburg changes its name to the less Germanic-sounding Petrograd.
1916 With allegations rife about the relationship between Rasputin and Tsaritsa Alexandra, and the tsar absent at the front leading Russia’s troops, a successful plot is hatched to assassinate the meddling mystic.
1916 The completion of the 2.6km-long Khabarovsk bridge (the longest on the Trans-Siberian route) over the Amur River culminates 25 years of railway building across Russia, establishing the Trans-Siberian line as it exists today.
1917 The February Revolution forces the abdication of Nicholas II, followed by the Bolshevik coup in October, led by Lenin. The moderate Socialist Party wins the November election, a result ignored by the increasingly authoritarian Bolsheviks.
1918 Lenin pulls Russia out of WWI and moves the capital to Moscow. As Nicholas II, his immediate family and servants are murdered in Yekaterinburg, nationwide civil war ensues.
1920 Admiral Alexander Kolchak, lead-ing the counter-revolutionary White Army, is decisively defeated by the Red Army at Omsk. He retreats to Irkutsk where he’s captured and shot. The civil war is over two years later.
1921 Once strong supporters of the Bolshevik cause, sailors and soldiers at Kronshtadt rebel against the Communists’ increasingly dictatorial regime. The rebellion is brutally suppressed as debate with the Communist Party is outlawed.
1922 Josef Stalin, born Josef Dzhugashvili in Georgia, is appointed Communist Party general secretary. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is founded with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the republics of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
1924 At the age of 53, Lenin dies without designating a successor. Petrograd changes its name to Leningrad in his honour. Power is assumed by a triumvirate of Stalin, Lev Kaminev and Grigory Zinoviev.
1928 Stalin introduces the first of his ‘Five Year Plans’, a program of centralised economic measures, including farm collectivisation and major investment in heavy industry, designed to make the Soviet Union into a superpower.
1929 Expelled from the Communist Party in 1927, Leon Trotsky goes into exile, ending up in Mexico, where an agent of Stalin wielding an ice pick finishes him off in 1940.
1932–33 Million die in famines following the forced collectivisation of farms, which slashes grain output and almost halves livestock. It takes until 1940 for agricultural production to reach precollectivisation levels.
1934 Leningrad party boss Sergei Kirov is murdered as he leaves his office at the Smolny Institute. The assassination kicks off the Great Purges, ushering in Stalin’s reign of terror.
1936–38 In a series of three Moscow show trials former senior Communist Party leaders are accused of conspiring to assassinate Stalin and other Soviet leaders, dismember the Soviet Union and restore capitalism.
1939 Talks between Russia, Britain and France on a mutual defence treaty fail. Instead Stalin signs a nonaggression pact with Germany thus laying the ground for the Nazi invasion of Poland and the start of WWII.
1941 In June, Hitler invades the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, beginning what is referred to in Russia as the Great Patriotic War. The Red Army is unprepared, and German forces advance rapidly across Russian territory.
1942 In the same year that Time magazine names Stalin Man of the Year (an accolade he’d previously received in 1939), Russia wins the Battle of Stalingrad at a cost of more than a million lives.
1945 The end of WWII sees Soviet forces occupy much of eastern Europe, leaving Berlin and Vienna divided cities. Winston Churchill refers to an ‘iron curtain’ coming down across Europe.
1949 The Soviet Union tests its first nuclear weapon in August, heating up the Cold War. A year later Stalin signs the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance with communist China.
1953 In March Stalin suffers a fatal stroke. Nikita Khrushchev becomes first secretary, although it is Lavrenty Beria who initially takes charge. In June Beria is arrested, tried for treason and executed.
1955 In response to the USA and Western Europe forming NATO, the Soviet Union gathers together the communist states of central and eastern Europe to sign the Warsaw Pact.
1956 Soviet troops crush Hungarian uprising. Khrushchev makes a ‘Secret Speech’ denouncing Stalin, thus commencing the de-Stalinisation of the Soviet Union, a period of economic reform and cultural thaw.
1957–1963 Russia steams ahead in the space race, with the launch of Sputnik I in 1957. Yury Gagarin goes into orbit four years later, followed in 1963 by Valentina Tereshkova, the first female cosmonaut.
1962 After a period of cautious détente, the Soviet Union’s relations with the USA turn nasty with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Russia’s climb-down in the Caribbean standoff deals a blow to Khrushchev’s authority.
1964 A coup against Khrushchev brings Leonid Brezhnev to power, ushering in the so-called Years of Stagnation. Poet and future Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky is labelled a ‘social parasite’ and sent into exile.
1965 Oil begins to flow in Siberia as Prime Minister Alexey Kosygin tries to shift the Soviet economy over to light industry and producing consumer goods. His reforms are stymied by Brezhnev, resulting in economic stagnation.
1968 The Brezhnev Doctrine of safeguarding socialism sees Soviet troops stamp out political liberalisation in Czechoslovakia. Relations with China deteriorate the following year and armed clashes erupt along the Ussuri River.
1972 President Richard Nixon visits Moscow to sign the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty with the Soviet Union, restricting the number of nuclear ballistic weapons and ushering in a period of détente between the two superpowers.
1979 Russia invades Afghanistan to support its communist regime against US-backed Islamic militants. Relations between the superpowers deteriorate, and the USA and 61 other nations boycott the Olympic Games held in Moscow the following year.
1982–84 Brezhnev’s death ushers in former KGB supremo Yury Andropov as president for 15 months until his death in 1984. His successor, the doddering 72-year-old Konstantin Chernenko, hardly makes an impact before dying 13 months later.
1985 Aged 54, Mikhail Gorbachev is elected general secretary of the Communist Party, the first Soviet leader to be born after the revolution. Intent on reform, he institutes policies of perestroika and glasnost.
1989–90 Gorbachev takes the decision to pull Soviet troops from Afghanistan. He wins the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, as Germany is reunited and Moscow relinquishes its increasingly enfeebled grip on Eastern European satellites.
1991 A failed coup in August against Gorbachev seals the end of the USSR. On Christmas Day, Gorbachev resigns and Boris Yeltsin takes charge as the first popularly elected president of the Russian Federation.
1993 In a clash of wills with the Russian parliament, Yeltsin sends in troops to deal with dissenters at Moscow’s White House and Ostankino TV tower. His use of force wins him no friends.
1994 Russian troops invade the breakaway republic of Chechnya in December. In a brutal two-year campaign the Chechen capital, Grozny, is reduced to rubble and 300,000 people flee their homes.
1996 Poor health doesn’t stop Yeltsin from running for, and winning, a second term as president. His election is ensured by financial support from influential business oligarchs.
1999 On New Year’s Eve, in a move that catches everyone on the hop, Yeltsin announces his immediate resignation, entrusting the caretaker duties of president to the prime minister, Vladimir Putin.
2002 In October a 700-strong audience at Moscow’s Palace of Culture Theatre are taken hostage by around 50 Chechen terrorists. Security forces pump powerful nerve gas into the theatre before storming it, resulting in over 100 casualties.
2004 Putin is re-elected president. Terrorists hold 1200 hostages at a school in Beslan demanding an end to the war in Chechnya. Government troops storm the building leaving 344 dead, half of them children.
2005 Mikhail Khodorkovsky is sentenced to nine years in jail for fraud and tax evasion, following a trial seen as a pretext for the government to dismantle his company, Yukos Oil.
2007 Assassination of former FSB operative Alexander Litvinenko in London and closure of the British Council offices in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg see UK-Russia relations reach a new low.
2008 Former chairman of Gazprom Dmitry Medvedev succeeds Putin as Russia’s third elected president. One of his first acts is to install his predecessor as prime minister.
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The Culture
THE NATIONAL PSYCHE
Within the Russian Federation, one’s ‘nationality’ refers to one’s ethni-city rather than one’s passport – and Russia has dozens of nationalities. Nonetheless, despite this enormous cultural variation, there are certain elements of a common psyche. The overwhelming Russian character trait is one of genuine humanity and hospitality that tends to go much deeper than in most Western countries.
While it’s true that some Russians can be miserable, uncooperative and guarded in their initial approach to strangers, once you’ve earned a small crumb of friendship, hospitality typically unfolds with extraordinary generosity. Visitors can find themselves regaled with stories, drowned in vodka and stuffed full of food. An invitation to a Russian home will typically result in all of this being repeated several times, even when the family can ill afford the expense. This can be especially true outside the big cities, where you’ll meet locals determined to share everything they have with you, however meagre their resources.
There’s a similar bipolarity in the Russian sense of humour. Unsmiling gloom and fatalistic melancholy remain archetypically Russian, but, as in Britain, this is often used as a foil to a deadpan, sarcastic humour. This can be seen in Russians bandying around the derogatory terms sovok and novy russky (new Russian) in jokes about themselves. A sovok (derived from the word Soviet but also a play on words as it also means ‘dust tray’) refers to a lazy, uncouth person stuck in the Soviet mindset (it’s also used to refer to anything bad that brings back memories of the worst of the USSR), while novy russky are considered obscenely rich and lacking in taste.
You’ll also see this contradiction in Russian’s attitudes towards their country. They love it deeply and will sing the praises of Mother Russia’s great contributions to the arts and sciences, its long history and abundant physical attributes, then just as loudly point out its many failures. The extreme side of this patriotism can manifest itself in an unpleasant streak of racism (Click here). Don’t let it put you off and take heart in the knowledge that as much as foreigners may be perplexed about the true nature of the Russian soul, the locals themselves still haven’t got it figured out either! As the poet Fyodor Tyutchev said, ‘You can’t understand Russia with reason…you can only believe in her’.
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LIFESTYLE
In the world’s biggest country, the life of a Nenets reindeer herder in Siberia is radically different to that of a marketing executive in Moscow or an imam in a Dagestani mountain village. Travel into the countryside and more remote areas of this vast nation and you’ll also witness a very different way of living from that being experienced in prosperous urban centres such as Moscow and St Petersburg. Sometimes it even can feel like a trip back in time to the USSR – as witnessed in any of the preserved-in-Soviet-formaldehyde towns along the BAM (Click here).
Although a little out of date, Teach Yourself World Cultures: Russia by Stephen and Tatyana Webber is a decent, layman’s stab at decoding all aspects of Russian culture.
This said, some common features to modern life across Russia stand out, such as the Soviet-era flats, the dacha (country home), education and weekly visits to the banya (Click here). Cohabitation remains less common than in the West, so when young couples get together, they get married just as often a not (which also partly explains why around 80% of marriages in Russia end in divorce).
THE RULES OF RUSSIAN HOSPITALITY & BEHAVIOUR
Blame it on the days of Soviet rules and regulations – Russians are sticklers for formality. They’re also rather superstitious. Follow these tips though and you should fit right in:
- If you’re invited to a Russian home, always bring a gift, such as wine or a cake.
- Shaking hands across the threshold is considered unlucky; wait until you’re fully inside.
- If you give anyone flowers, make sure there’s an odd number of flowers; even numbers are for funerals.
- Remove your shoes and coat on entering a house; also, be sure to deposit your coat in cloakrooms at restaurants, bars and the theatre.
- Dress up, rather than down, for fancy restaurants, the theatre and other formal occasions.
- Once the festivities begin, refusing offered food or drink can cause grave offence.
- Vodka is for toasting, not for casual sipping; wait for the cue.
- When you are in any setting with other people, even strangers sharing your train compartment, it’s polite to share anything you have to eat, drink or smoke.
- Traditional gentlemanly behaviour is not just appreciated, but expected – you’ll notice this when you see women standing in front of closed doors waiting for something to happen.
As the economy has improved so too has the average Russian’s lifestyle, with more people than ever before owning a car, a computer and a mobile phone, and taking holidays abroad (something impossible except for the favoured few during Soviet times). The lives of Russian teenagers today couldn’t be more different from those of their parents, who just a generation ago had to endure shortages of all kinds of goods on top of the bankrupt ideology of Soviet communism. It’s not uncommon to find young adults who have only the vaguest, if no, idea who Lenin or Stalin are (Click here).
In 2006, 42,855 Russians committed suicide, down 30% from 2001. Currently, the overall rate is 30 deaths per 100,000 – still high by global standards.
This has to be balanced against the memories of those who knew the former Soviet leaders only too well and are now suffering as the social safety net that the State once provided for them has largely been withdrawn. It’s hard not to be moved by the plight of the elderly struggling to get by on pensions of a few hundred roubles, for example.
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Apartments & Dacha
For the vast majority of urban Russians, home is within a Soviet vintage, drab, ugly housing complex. Many of these were built during the 1950s and early 1960s when Khrushchev was in power, so are known as Khrushchevkas (or sometimes khrushchoby, for Khrushchev and trushchoby, or slums). Meant to last just a couple of decades, they are very dilapidated on the outside, while the insides, though cramped, are invariably cosy and prettily decorated.
If you ever wondered why so many Russians act the way they do, check out the satirical ‘Sovok of the Week’ (www.sovokoftheweek.com).
While there’s usually a play area for kids in the middle of apartment blocks, they don’t typically come with attached gardens. Instead, something like a third of Russian families have a dacha, or small country house. Often little more than a bare-bones hut (but sometimes quite luxurious), these retreats offer Russians refuge from city life, and as such figure prominently in the national psyche. On half-warm weekends, the major cities begin to empty out early on Friday as people head to the country.
One of the most important aspects of dacha life is gardening. Families use this opportunity to grow all manner of vegetables and fruits to eat over the winter. Flowers also play an important part in creating the proper dacha ambience, and even among people who have no need to grow food, the contact with the soil provides an important balm for the Russian soul.
Education
From its beginning as an agrarian society in which literacy was limited to the few in the upper classes, the USSR achieved a literacy rate of 98% – among the best in the world. Russia continues to benefit from this legacy. Russian schools today emphasise basics such as reading and mathematics, and the high literacy rate has been maintained. Many students go on to university and men can delay or avoid the compulsory national service by doing so.
Country Studies (http://country-studies.com/russia/) includes a comprehensive series of essays on many aspects of Russian life.
Technical subjects such as science and mathematics are valued and bright students are encouraged to specialise in a particular area from a young age. While Russian teachers and professors are held in high regard by their international peers, at home they are among the worst victims of Russia’s new economy, their government-paid salaries being among the lowest in the land.
POPULATION
The last century brought enormous changes to Russia’s population. This country of peasants has become an urban one, with close to three-quarters of Russia’s 142 million people living in cities and towns. There are 13 cities with populations in excess of one million (in order: Moscow, St Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Omsk, Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa, Volgograd and Perm). Rural communities are left to wither, with thousands of villages deserted or dying.
Read the results of studies carried out by the UN Development Programme in Russia (www.undp.ru/?iso=RU) on issues such as poverty reduction, HIV/AIDS and democratic governance.
Russia is also facing an alarming natural decline in its population, around 0.5% per year (opposite). In the last decade alone the population has plummeted by some 6 million people. The average life expectancy for a Russian man is 61.5 years, for a woman 74. Much of this is the result of poor health exacerbated by a diet high in alcohol and fat. Accidental deaths due to drunkenness are also frequent.
About 80% of Russia’s people are ethnic Russians. The next largest ethnic groups are Tatars with 3.8%, followed by Ukrainians (2%), Bashkirs (1.15%), Chuvash (1.13%), Chechens (0.94%) and Armenians (0.8%). The balance belongs to dozens of smaller ethnic groups, all with their own languages and cultural traditions (in varying degrees of usage), and varied religions.
WEDDINGS RUSSIAN STYLE Leonid Ragozin
During any trip to Russia you can’t help but notice the number of people getting hitched, particularly on Friday and Saturday when the registry offices (called ZAGS) are open for business. Wedding parties are particularly conspicuous, as they tear around town in convoys of cars making lots of noise and having their photos taken at the official beauty and historical spots. It’s also traditional for a couple to place a lock inscribed with their names on a bridge and throw away the key into the river below.
Church weddings are fairly common; the Russian Orthodox variety go on for ages, especially for the best friends who have to hold crowns above the heads of the bride and the groom during the whole ceremony. For a marriage to be officially registered though all couples need to get a stamp in their passports at a ZAGS. Most ZAGS offices are drab Soviet buildings with a ceremonial hall designed like a modern Protestant church less the crucifix. There are also dvortsy brakosochetaniy (purpose-built wedding palaces) – a few are in actual old palaces of extraordinary elegance.
After the couple and two witnesses from both sides sign some papers, the bride and the groom exchange rings (which in the Orthodox tradition you wear on your right hand) and the registrar pronounces them husband and wife. The witnesses each wear a red sash around their shoulders with the word ‘witness’ written on it in golden letters. The groom’s best man takes care of all tips and other payments since it’s traditional for the groom not to spend a single kopek during the wedding. Another tradition is that the bride’s mother does not attend the wedding ceremony, although she does go to the party.
HAVE A BABY FOR RUSSIA
In 2008, designated the Year of the Family by ex-president Putin, there were signs that government policies aimed at reversing Russia’s calamitous demographic problem were taking effect. Cash payouts of R250,000 (US$10,300) for women who have more than two children, and stunts such as awarding prizes such as fridges, TVs and cars to those who give birth on Russia’s national day, have helped slowed the rate of population decrease, delivering roughly 20,000 more babies in 2007 than in 2006. Not since Stalin & Co dished out medals to ‘heroic mothers’ who boosted Russia’s depleted population after WWII have the authorities made such an effort to encourage Russians to procreate.
However, more Russians are still dying than are being born – the number of deaths exceeds the number of births by 1.3. Similarly there are far more abortions in Russia than births. In 1920, it became the first country in the world to legalize abortion and, since then, it has remained the most popular form of birth control, with women allowed to terminate up to the 12th week of pregnancy. There are many reasons why some 1.6 million women a year chose to abort but one of the most commonly cited is that they can barely afford to have even one baby let alone two or more. A feature in Slate (www.slate.com/id/2195133/) deflating the 2008 baby boom illustrated just how desperate some women were to give birth to win these prizes that they were putting their health, and that of their baby, at risk.
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Tatars
Russia’s biggest minority is the Tatars, who are descended from the Mongol-Tatar armies of Chinggis (Genghis) Khaan (Click here) and his successors, and from earlier Hunnic, Turkic and Finno-Ugric settlers on the middle Volga. The Tatars lived in Siberia before the Russians arrived (Click here). There’s a famous painting in Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery that shows the Tatar stronghold of Sibir being conquered by Cossacks in 1582.
Today the Tatars are mostly Muslim, and about 2 million of them form nearly half the population of the Tatarstan Republic, the capital of which is Kazan. A couple more million or so Tatars live in other parts of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). For more details, see Tatarstan on the internet (www.kcn.ru/tat_en/index.htm).
Chuvash & Bashkirs
Two other important groups in the middle Volga region are the Chuvash and the Bashkirs. The Chuvash, descendants of the pre-Mongol settlers in the region, are Orthodox Christian and form a majority in the Chuvash Republic, immediately west of the Tatarstan Republic. The capital is Cheboksary (also known as Shupashkar).
The Muslim Bashkirs have Turkic roots. About half of them live in the Republic of Bashkortostan (capital: Ufa, Click here), where they are outnumbered by both Russians and Tatars.
Finno-Ugric Peoples
In central and northern European Russia, several major groups of Finno-Ugric peoples are found, distant relatives of the Estonians, Hungarians and Finns. These groups include the Orthodox or Muslim Mordvins, a quarter of whom live in the Republic of Mordovia (capital: Saransk); the Udmurts or Votyaks, predominantly Orthodox, two-thirds of whom live in Udmurtia (capital: Izhevsk); the Mari, with an animist/shamanist religion, nearly half of whom live in Mary-El (capital: Yoshkar-Ola); the Komi, who are Orthodox, most of whom live in the Komi Republic (capital: Syktyvkar); and the Karelians, found in the Republic of Karelia, north of St Petersburg.
Finno-Ugric people are also found in Asian Russia. The Khanty, also known as the Ostyak, were the first indigenous people encountered by 11th-century Novgorodian explorers as they came across the Urals. Along with the related Mansi or Voguls, many live in the swampy Khanty-Mansisk Autonomous District on the middle Ob River, north of Tobolsk.
Peoples of the Caucasus
The Russian northern Caucasus is a real ethnic jigsaw of at least 19 local nationalities including the Abaza and Adygeya (both also known as the Circassians), Kabardians, Lezgians and Ossetians. Several of these peoples have been involved in ethnic conflicts in recent years, some of which stem from Stalinist gerrymandering of their territories.
Both www.unpo.org, the website of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), and The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire (www.eki.ee/books/redbook) contain profiles of over 80 different ethnic groups found in the lands currently or once ruled by Russia.
The Chechens, a Muslim people almost one million strong, are renowned for their fierce nationalism and for the separatist war they have been fighting against Russia for over a decade. Click here for more details.
Turkic peoples in the region include the Kumyk and Nogay in Dagestan, and the Karachay and Balkar in the western and central Caucasus.
Peoples of Siberia & the Russian Far East
More than 30 indigenous Siberian and Russian Far East peoples now make up less than 5% of the region’s total population. The most numerous groups are the ethnic Mongol Buryats (Click here), the Yakuts or Sakha (Click here), Tuvans (Click here), Khakass (Click here) and Altai (Click here). While each of these has a distinct Turkic-rooted language and their ‘own’ republic within the Russian Federation, only the Tuvans form a local majority.
Among the smaller groups are the Evenki, also called the Tungusi, spread widely but very thinly throughout Siberia. Related tribes include the Evens, scattered around the northeast but found mainly in Kamchatka (Click here), and the Nanai in the lower Amur River basin; you can visit some Nanai villages near Khabarovsk (Click here).
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, has a website (www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/features/croads) that provides a virtual exhibition on the native peoples of Siberia and Alaska.
The Arctic hunter-herder Nenets (numbering around 35,000) are the most numerous of the 25 ‘Peoples of the North’. Together with three smaller groups they are called the Samoyed, though the name’s not too popular because it means ‘self-eater’ in Russian – a person who wears himself out physically and psychologically. All these tribes face the increasing destruction of their reindeer herds’ habitat by the oil and gas industries.
The Chukchi and Koryaks are the most numerous of six palaeo-Siberian peoples of the far northeast, with languages that don’t belong in any larger category. Their Stone Age forebears, who crossed the Bering Strait ice to America and Greenland, may also be remote ancestors of the Native Americans. Eskimos, Aleuts and the Oroks of Sakhalin Island, who were counted at just 190 in the 1989 census, are also found in the far northeast.
MULTICULTURALISM
With a history shaped by imperial expansion, forced movements and migration over many thousands of years, it’s not surprising that Russian society has multicultural traits. On paper, the USSR’s divide-and-rule politics promoted awareness of ethnic ‘national’ identities. But the quest to mould model Soviet citizens steadily undermined real cultural differences and virtually killed off many of Russia’s native non-Slavic cultures (as well as much of early Russian culture). With Sovietisation came a heavy dose of Slavic influence. Most native peoples have adopted Russian dress and diet, particularly those who live in the bigger towns and cities.
Anna Reid’s The Shaman’s Coat is both a fascinating history of the major native peoples of Siberia and the Russian Far East and a lively travelogue of her journeys through the region.
Russia’s constitution gives courts the power to ban groups inciting hatred or intolerant behaviour. Nonetheless, increased nationalism, xenophobia and racism are creating ethnic tensions. Neo-Nazi and skinhead groups, often violent, are unofficially reckoned to have over 100,000 members. They’ve been linked to many murders, including the stabbing to death of a nine-year-old Tajik girl in St Petersburg in 2004 (the suspect acquittal was called a ‘moral catastrophe’ by a human rights group). In 2008, a skinhead gang, led by two teenagers, was charged with the racists murders of 20 people in Moscow.
Attacks on Africans and Asians on city streets are not uncommon. Visitors of African, Middle-Eastern and Asian descent should be aware that they may not always receive the warmest of welcomes, though Russian racism seems particularly focused towards Caucasian peoples (ie people from the Caucasus, not white-skinned Europeans).
What is most surprising is that racist attitudes or statements can come from highly educated Russians. Anti-Semitism, which was state-sponsored during the communist reign, is still easily stirred up by right-wing political parties.
On the other hand, attitudes are broadening among younger and more affluent Russians as, for first time in the nation’s history, large numbers of people are being exposed to life outside Russia. Under communism people were rarely allowed to venture abroad – now they are doing so in droves. In 2006, 7.1 million Russians took an overseas trip up from 2.6 million in 1995. In 1988 only 22,000 Russians visited Turkey compared to 2.5 million in 2007.
The result, apart from a fad for the exotic – whether it’s Turkish pop music or qalyans (hookahs) in restaurants – is a greater tolerance and better understanding of other cultures. The country’s declining population is also bringing more migrants from nearby countries like Ukraine or the Central Asian republics to Russia to live and work; UN data shows that Russia has the world’s second largest number of immigrants after the USA.
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MEDIA
Russia is a TV country, with radio and newspapers sidelined to a greater extent than elsewhere in Europe or the US. The internet has exploded in recent years with all manner of blogs on LiveJournal (www.livejournal.com; originally an US company, it was sold to Russians in December 2007), the main platform for free political and cultural debate in Russia, with both the opposition and progovernment forces broadly represented. Social networking sites such as Odnoklassniki.ru (http://Odnoklassniki.ru, in Russian) and Vkontakte (http://vkontakte.ru, in Russian), similar to Facebook, have members in the millions. So far, the censorship that is prominent in the old media (mainly in the form of self-censorship to avoid any potential clashes with the authorities) hasn’t significantly affected the web but there are fears that this freedom of speech loophole may eventually be plugged.
According to the human rights group SOVA Center (http://xeno.sova-center.ru, in Russian) there were at least 232 victims of hate crimes in Russia in the first five months of 2008, including 57 murders.
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Newspapers & Magazines
While genuine freedom of speech appears absent from TV (Click here) the best newspapers offer editorial opinions largely independent of their owners’ or the government’s views. This said, both the leading and one of the most respected papers, Kommersant (www.kommersant.com), and its main rival Izvestia (http://izvestia.com, in Russian), have financial ties with Gazprom, the state-owned gas monopoly, and so are muted in their criticism of the government. Gazeta (www.gzt.ru; in Russian) has tie ups with the UK’s Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, while Vedomosti (www.vedomosti.ru/eng), a joint venture between the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal, is a highly professional business daily.
The most famous antiestablishment newspaper is the tabloid Novaya Gazeta (http://en.novayagazeta.ru), for whom the journalist Anna Politk-ovskaya wrote before her murder in 2006 (see below). Other tabloid-type (but not necessarily format) papers are Komsomolskaya Pravda (www.kp.ru, in Russian), the weekly Argumenty i Fakty (www.aif.ru, in Russian), both very progovernment, and the varying-with-the-political-wind Moskovsky Komsomolets (www.mk.ru, in Russian).
There are scores of magazines in Russia on all topics, with respected news magazines including the weeklies Kommersant Vlast (www.kommersant.ru/vlast.aspx, in Russian), Russian Newsweek (www.runewsweek.ru, in Russian), Ogonyok (www.ogoniok.com, in Russian) and Expert (http://eng.expert.ru).
TV
With a population habituated for decades to receiving the party line through the tube, conventional wisdom has it that in Russia, he who controls the TV, rules the country. Ex-president Putin grasped this fact, and through a variety of takeovers and legal challenges, succeeded in putting practically all TV channels under the Kremlin’s direct or indirect control. In an effort to present Russia’s viewpoint to the outside world, the state also set up the digital channel Russia Today (www.russiatoday.ru) in 2005, a CNN- or BBC-like news and current affairs station that even broadcasts in Arabic to cover the Al Jazeera audience.
RIA Novosti’s RIAN News Service (http://en.rian.ru) is an English-language newswire providing reliable real-time coverage of events in Russia and its surrounding regions.
Not that Russian TV is managed by some Soviet-style spooks. In fact, the heads of the main state channels – Channel 1 and Rossiya – were among those young journalists who gave Russian audiences a taste of editorial freedom in the 1990s. Many faces on the screen are still the same, but news and analysis is generally uncontroversial, while entertainment is dominated by crime series in which shaven-headed veterans of the war in Chechnya pin down conspiring oligarchs and politicians.
That said, Russian TV provides a wide choice of programs, some modelled on Western formats, some unique. Perhaps it’s a sign of the times but there’s a boom of sitcoms and comedy shows. The national channel Kultura, dedicated entirely to arts and culture, is always worth a look. For news, RenTV (www.ren-tv.com) has coverage that tends to be more objective than the norm.
A DANGEROUS PROFESSION
In 2007, the Committee to Protect Journalists (www.cpj.org) reported that 14 reporters had been killed in Russia in direct relation to their work since 2000, making it the world’s third-deadliest nation for the press. One of them was Anna Politkovskaya, a human rights activist honoured by Amnesty International and Index on Censorship for her fearless coverage of the war in Chechnya. Before she was gunned down at point blank range in the elevator of her Moscow apartment in 2006, the crusading journalist had received several death threats and was the victim of an alleged poisoning while en route to Beslan to negotiate in the hostage crisis there in 2004.
Winner of the 2005 Civil Courage Prize, Politkovskaya was dismissed after her murder as a ‘person of no importance’ by Putin. In contrast her death sparked outrage and demonstrations against Russian authorities around the world. As Anne Applebaum puts it in her foreword to Politskovskaya’s Putin’s Russia ‘she was proof…that there is still nothing quite so powerful as the written word’.
Although various people have been arrested in connection with Politkovskaya’s murder, it remains unsolved at the time of writing, as do many of the killings of other journalists, including that of Paul Klebnikov, the American editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of Forbes, in 2005.
RELIGION
One of the most noticeable phenomena in Russia since the end of the atheist Soviet Union has been the resurrection of religion. Since 1997 the Russian Orthodox Church has been legally recognised as the leading faith, and takes an increasingly prolific role in public life, just as it did in tsarist days. Even though the Russian constitution enshrines religious freedom – in theory protecting the rights of Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and members of the nation’s myriad animist religions – in its ‘freedom of conscience’ report for 2007 the SOVA Center found that ‘nontraditional’ religious organisations faced ‘serious difficulties’ in relation to the construction of buildings or leasing of facilities.
Listen to the Voice of Russia state radio station on www.ruvr.ru (in Russian) and use its Russian Culture Navigator to learn more about aspects of Russian culture.
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Russian Orthodox Church
After decades of persecution under the Soviet regime, the Russian Orthodox Church (Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov; www.mospat.ru) is enjoying a huge revival. This highly traditional religion is so central to Russian life that understanding something about its history (Click here) and practices will enhance any of the inevitable visits you’ll make to a Russian Orthodox church.
HIERARCHY, BELIEFS & PRACTICE
Patriarch Alexey II of Moscow and All Russia is head of the Church. The patriarch’s residence is Moscow’s Danilovsky Monastery while the city’s senior church is the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The Church’s senior bishops bear the title metropolitan.
Churches have no seats, but melodic chanting and many icons (Click here), before which people will often be seen praying, lighting candles, and even kissing the ground. The Virgin Mary (Bogomater, Mother of God) is greatly honoured; the language of the liturgy is ‘Church Slavonic’, the Southern Slavic dialect into which the Bible was first translated for Slavs. Paskha (Easter) is the focus of the Church year, with festive midnight services launching Easter Day.
In most churches, Divine Liturgy (Bozhestvennaya Liturgia), lasting about two hours, is held at 8am, 9am or 10am Monday to Saturday, and usually at 7am and 10am on Sunday and festival days. Most churches also hold services at 5pm or 6pm daily. Some include an akafist, a series of chants to the Virgin or saints.
Part of the Christian revival is the renewed celebration of name days. Just as in Catholic countries, children are traditionally named after saints as well as having a given name. Each saint has a ‘saint’s day’ set in the Orthodox calendar. The day of one’s namesake saint is celebrated like a second birthday.
CHURCH DESIGN
Churches are decorated with frescoes, mosaics and icons with the aim of conveying Christian teachings and assisting veneration. Different subjects are assigned traditional places in the church (the Last Judgement, for instance, appears on the western wall). The central focus is always an iconostasis (icon stand), often elaborately decorated. The iconostasis divides the main body of the church from the sanctuary, or altar area, at the eastern end, which is off limits to all but the priest.
Other Christian Churches
Russia has small numbers of Roman Catholics, and Lutheran and Baptist Protestants, mostly among the German, Polish and other non-Russian ethnic groups. According to a 2007 US government report on religious freedom, Russian courts have tried to use the 1997 religion law (asserting the Orthodox Church’s leading role) to ban or impose restrictions on the Pentecostal Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other minority Christian faiths.
CHURCH-GOING DOS & DON’TS
As a rule, working churches are open to one and all, but as a visitor you should take care not to disturb any devotions or offend sensibilities. On entering a church, men bare their heads and women usually cover theirs. Female visitors can often get away without covering their heads, but miniskirts are unwelcome. Hands in pockets or legs or arms crossed may attract frowns. Photography, especially during services, is generally not welcome; if in doubt, you should ask permission first.
Communities of Old Believers (Click here) still survive in Siberia where you may also encounter followers of Vissarion (Click here), considered by his followers to be a living, modern-day Jesus.
Islam
Islam in Russia has somewhere between six and 20 million followers – the figures vary so widely between the lower count, accounting for practising Muslims, and the higher one, relating to Muslims by ethnicity. Muslims are mainly found among the Tatar and Bashkir peoples east of Moscow and a few dozen of the Caucasian ethnic groups. Nearly all are Sunni Muslims, except for some Shiah in Dagestan. Muslim Kazakhs, a small minority in southeast Altai, are the only long-term Islamic group east of Bashkortostan.
Muslim history in Russia goes back over 1000 years. In the dying days of tsarist Russia, Muslims even had their own faction in the duma (parliament). Like all other religions, Islam suffered under Soviet rule and has enjoyed growth since the mid-1980s. The Islamic Cultural Centre of Russia, which includes a madrasa, or college for Islamic learning, opened in Moscow in 1991.
Some Muslim peoples – notably the Chechens and Tatars – have been the most resistant of Russia’s minorities to being brought within the Russian national fold since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, but nationalism has played at least as big a part as religion in this. In an apparent effort to ease tensions between the state and Muslim communities following the war in Chechnya, Russia became a member of the influential Organisation of Islamic Conferences in 2003. However, in 2002 the courts upheld a ban on Muslim women appearing in passport photos with their heads covered, even though girls can wear headscarfs at school.
Islam in Russia is fairly secularised – in predominantly Muslim areas you’ll find women that are not veiled, for example, although many will wear headscarfs; also, the Friday holy day is not a commercial holiday. Few local Muslims seriously abide by Islam’s anti-alcohol rule. Still, Islamic moderation means that Muslim villages in Altai, for example, tend to be safer than others where the population can too often be drunk.
Beyond the Pale: The History of Jews in Russia (www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-the-pale/index.html) is an online version of an exhibition on Jewish history that has toured Russia since 1995.
Judaism
Jews, who number some 250,000 people according to the 2002 census, are considered an ethnicity within Russia, as well as a religion. Most have been assimilated into Russian culture and do not seriously practise Judaism.
The largest communities are found in Moscow and St Petersburg, both of which have several historic, working synagogues. There’s also a small, conservative community of several thousand ‘Mountain Jews’ (Gorskie Yevrei) living mostly in the Caucasian cities of Nalchik, Pyatigorsk and Derbent. Siberia was once home to large numbers of Jews but now you’ll only find noticeable communities in Yekaterinburg and the Jewish Autonomous Region – created during Stalin’s era – centred on Birobidzhan.
After Kyiv’s destruction of the Judaic Khazar empire in 965, Russia had few Jews (they were banned from Muscovy during Ivan the Terrible’s reign) until the 1772–95 partitions of Poland brought in half a million. They were confined by law to the occupied lands – roughly, present-day Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and eastern Poland, the so-called Pale of Settlement. The notion of a ‘Jewish problem’ grew in the 19th century, exploding in the 1880s into pogroms and massive emigration to Western Europe and the USA.
The pogroms also led to many Jews embracing revolutionary ideas and becoming key leaders of the revolution. In Lenin’s first government, every-body except himself, Felix Dzerzhinsky, Stalin and Pavel Dybenko were Jewish. Hence there was a major revival of Jewish culture in the 1920s, and many talented Jews went on to enjoy government and artistic careers they could not have dreamed of under the tsar. Stalin’s anti-Semitism originated in his struggle for power with Leon Trotsky, Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev (Click here).
After WWII, Stalin devoted himself to the destruction of Jewish cultural life, shutting schools, theatres and publishing houses. Glasnost (the free-expression aspect of the Gorbachev reforms) brought an upsurge in grassroots anti-Semitism, and emigration grew to a flood: between 1987 and 1991 more than half a million Jews left Russia, 350,000 going to Israel and 150,000 to the US. However, since 2000, anecdotal evidence suggests 80,000 to 100,000 Jews have returned to Russia, despite a disturbing rise in anti-Semitism.
If you are allowed into a working mosque, take off your shoes (and your socks, if they are dirty!). Women should wear headscarfs.
There are two umbrella organisations of Russian Jewry existing today: the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS (www.fjc.ru) and the Russian-Jewish Congress (www.rjc.ru). There are two competing chief rabbis, Russian-born Adolf Shayevich and Italian-born Berl Lazar, who is backed by Medvedev and is a member of Russia’s Public Chamber, an oversight committee to the government.
Buddhism
There are around 1.5 million Buddhists in Russia, a figure that has been growing steadily in the years since glasnost, when Buddhist organisations became free to reopen temples and monasteries.
The Kalmyks – the largest ethnic group in the Kalmyk Republic, northwest of the Caspian Sea – are traditionally members of the Gelugpa or ‘Yellow Hat’ sect of Tibetan Buddhism, whose spiritual leader is the Dalai Lama. They fled to their present region in the 17th century from wars in western Mongolia, where Buddhism had reached them not long before.
The Gelugpa sect reached eastern Buryatiya and Tuva via Mongolia in the 18th century, but only really took root in the 19th century. As with other religions, Stalin did his best to wipe out Buddhism in the 1930s, destroying hundreds of datsans (Buddhist temples) and monasteries and executing or exiling thousands of peaceable lamas (Buddhist priests). At the end of WWII, two datsans were opened – a new one at Ivolginsk (Click here) near Ulan-Ude, which houses the largest collection of Buddhist texts in Russia, and an older one at Aginskoe, southeast of Chita (Click here). The glorious 1820 Tsugol Datsan (Click here) is the only other old Siberian temple to survive virtually intact.
You’ll also find a Yellow Hat sect temple in St Petersburg (Click here), dating from the early 20th century.
Since 1950, Buddhism has been organised under a Buddhist Religious Board based at Ivolginsk. The Dalai Lama has visited Buryatiya, Tuva and Elista, the capital of the Kalmyk Republic – despite Chinese pressure on the Russian government for them not to grant the Tibetan leader a visa. For more about Buddhism in Russia see http://buddhist.ru/eng.
Animism & Shamanism
Many cultures, from the Finno-Ugric Mari and Udmurts to the nominally Buddhist Mongol Buryats, retain varying degrees of animism. This is often submerged beneath, or accepted in parallel with, other religions. Animism is a primal belief in the presence of spirits or spiritual qualities in objects of the natural world. Peaks and springs are especially revered and their spirits are thanked with token offerings. This explains (especially in Tuva and Altai) the coins, stone cairns, vodka bottles and abundant prayer ribbons that you’ll commonly find around holy trees and mountain passes.
Buryat shaman Sarangerel’s book, Riding Windhorses, is a great general introduction to shamanism.
Spiritual guidance is through a medium or ‘shaman’, a high priest, prophet and doctor in one. Animal skins, trance dances and a special type of drum are typical shamanic tools, though different shamans have different spiritual and medical gifts. Siberian museums exhibit many shamanic outfits. Krasnoyarsk’s regional museum (Click here) shows examples from many different tribal groups. Tuva is the easiest place to encounter practising shamans. There are three shamanic school-clinics in Kyzyl (Click here) but, like visiting a doctor, you’ll be expected to have a specific need and there will be fees for the consultation. Popular among a few New Age groups, a less superstitious religious shamanism emphasises the core philosophical beliefs of ecological balance and respect for nature.
SPORT
Russia has been honing its sporting prowess for over a century. Athletes competing for the USSR consistently scored the most medals at the Olympics, as the state used the Games as a showcase for the fruits of socialism. Even since then, Russia’s tally of medals puts it in a very respectable third place to eternal rivals, the US and the newly dominant China.
Russia continues to invest heavily in sports, developing facilities, new training programs and offering fat fees to attract overseas coaches and, particularly in the case of soccer, players to improve its local sporting culture and performance. In the three-year run up to the 2008 Olympics, the government spent R12 billion to prepare the nation’s team. Medal winners are provided with handsome rewards from both the state, local government and Russian business sponsors, a clear incentive to do well for Russia, above and beyond patriotism.
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Football
The most popular spectator sport is football (soccer), which is currently enjoying a boom, pumped up by sponsorship deals with Russian big business. LUKoil has thrown its considerable financial weight behind perennial 1990s champions Spartak Moscow, and the state energy giant Gazprom has pumped funds into Zenit St Petersburg, the company’s bottomless pockets bringing the team the Russian title in 2007 and the UEFA Cup in 2008. CSKA Moscow, funded at the time by Roman Abramovich’s Sibneft, also lifted the UEFA Cup in 2005.
Some other teams to watch out for in the 16 team Premier League (Premer Liga) are Lokomotiv and Dynamo (both from Moscow), the Chechen side Terek (now playing in Grozny after the end of the Chechen War), Rubin (from the Russian Republic of Tatarstan) and the Siberian sides, Amkar (from Perm) and the amusingly named Tom Tomsk. The Vladivostock-based side Luch-Energiya are, understandably, the least popular away fixture.
Football Dynamo by Marc Bennetts is a passionate, insightful and racy read that reveals not only the fascinating and frequently murky world of Russian soccer, where politics, billionaires and star players collide, but many other aspects of Russian life.
The post-Soviet era has also seen, however, rising allegations of corruption in the Russian game. The allegations have mainly centred on match-fixing, or dogovorniki. There have also been a number of attacks on top football officials, including the still unsolved murder of Spartak Moscow general director Larisa Nechayeva in 1997.
The national side, for many years a source of shame and disappointment, is also enjoying a revival. The team, led by experienced Dutch trainer Guus Hiddink, reached the semifinals of Euro 2008, its attacking performances winning the side many admirers, and making instant stars out of its best players, notably the diminutive forward Andrei Arshavin.
Ice Hockey & Winter Sports
Ice hockey is the second most popular spectator sport in Russia with the national team beating arch-rivals Canada in the World Championships in 2008. Russian teams play in the Kontinental Hockey League (www.khl.ru, in Russian), which replaced the Russian Super League in 2008, and includes teams from Belarus, Latvia and Kazakstan as well as teams from the autonomous republics of Bashkortostan and Tartarstan within the Russian Federation. For more about Russian ice hockey see the website of the Russia Ice Hockey Federation (www.fhr.ru/english).
As would be expected for a country bound in ice and snow for large chunks of the year, Russians enjoy and excel at winter sports. Figure skating has always been popular, with Russia consistently snapping up medals at the Winter Olympics. Its cross-country ski team is also strong.
Other Sports
Basketball is Russia’s third favourite sport and its Super League (www.basket.ru, in Russian) is one of the strongest in Europe. At a national level the men’s and women’s teams won the European Championships in 2008. The sport’s most famous star is St Petersburg-born Andrei Kirilenko (www.kirilenko.ru) who plays for the US team Utah Jazz.
It’s said that it was Boris Yeltsin’s love of tennis that sparked a national interest in the game in the early 1990s. But long before that Russians were whacking balls back and forth over the net, with the game introduced to Russia in 1874. Both the last tsar Nicholas II and Leo Tolstoy liked to play, the latter inserting a tennis scene into Anna Karenina. The game fell out of favour during Soviet times as being too ‘bourgeois’, but since then, Russian players have enjoyed increased success on the court, with Maria Sharapova and Marat Safin both winning Grand Slam singles titles and other stars Elena Dementieva, Nikolay Davydenko, Mikhail Youzhny and Dinara Safina (Safin’s younger sister) all achieving top rankings within the sport.
RUSSIAN FOOTBALL’S DUTCH REVOLUTION Marc Bennetts
There have been many examples of Russian–Western cooperation since the break up of the USSR, yet one of the most successful is undoubtedly the ‘Dutch revolution’ currently sweeping through Russian football. In 2006, the experienced Dutch trainers Guus Hiddink and Dick Advocaat took over the national side and Zenit St Petersburg respectively. Although the appointments of both men were met with initial opposition, the success that they have brought the teams has silenced the doubters. While Russian managers have always had an authoritarian streak, ruling by fear and an ‘Iron Fist’, both Hiddink and Advocaat have taken a more relaxed approach, freeing the players’ considerable potential. The results have been startling. In November 2007, Zenit lifted the Russian title for the first time and, six months later, stormed their way to a memorable UEFA Cup triumph, hammering German club giants Bayern Munich 4–0 at home in the semifinals. At Euro 2008, Hiddink led the players to the last four of the tournament, taking them out of the group stage at a major competition for the first time as an independent nation in the process. The team’s 3–1 unexpected and breathtaking victory over Hiddink’s native Holland in the quarter-finals was met in Moscow by the biggest spontaneous celebration in the Russian capital since the end of WWII, with some 700,000 people pouring onto the streets to party all night. Hiddink had used the Dutch side’s own trademark ‘Total Football’ against them to great effect and, after the game, President Medvedev suggested granting him Russian citizenship. A number of babies in Siberia were also given the very un-Russian first name of ‘Guus’ as football fever gripped the largest nation on Earth. Advocaat and Zenit now look to the Champions League and Hiddink and Russia to the 2010 World Cup.
WOMEN IN RUSSIA
Although Soviet women were portrayed in propaganda as superwomen, equally at home with the household chores as they were heaving bricks on a construction site or operating a lathe in an industrial combine, the truth was far more familiar. Women in the Soviet era worked out of economic necessity and were relegated to nontechnical factory work, meagre-wage service positions and low-status professions. Traditional gender roles remained firmly fixed in the Soviet home, too.
Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears, directed by Vladimir Menshov, bagged the best foreign language film Oscar in 1980. Vera Alentova plays Katya, single mum and Soviet everywoman, battling through life in the capital between the late 1950s and late 1970s.
Sociologists agree that women have better adapted to life in post–Soviet Russia and succeeded more than men in the last decade. There are career opportunities available to women like never before, and Russia’s revitalised economy has particularly benefited young, university-educated women. They are gaining valued skills, professional experience and access to information, yielding greater economic independence and self-confidence.
But as Russian women succeed in the workplace, they have found, like their Western sisters, that this has not made their load at home any lighter. Marrying, and divorcing, young is still common, and it’s almost always the woman who is left to bring up the children solo (with grandmothers often stepping in to pick up some of the strain). While some young women are rejecting traditional ideas about marriage altogether, others see marriage as a way to escape Russia: marriage agencies, which hook up Russian women with foreign men, do a bustling business.
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ARTS
Russia’s contribution to the world’s sum of artistic goodness – from music and dance to visual arts and architecture – is truly astounding. The following section does but skim the brim of an o’er full barrel.
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Ballet
First brought to Russia under Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich in the 17th century, ballet in Russia evolved as an offshoot of French dance combined with Russian folk and peasant dance techniques. The result stunned Western Europeans when it was first taken on tour during the late 19th century.
Domestic violence is a huge problem, with the rate twice that of the US, despite Russia having half the population; see this report by Amnesty International for more details: www.amnesty.org/russia/womens_day.html.
The ‘official’ beginnings of Russian ballet date to 1738 and the establishment of a school of dance in St Petersburg’s Winter Palace, the precursor to the famed Vaganova School of Choreography (Click here), by French dance master Jean Baptiste Lande. Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre (Click here) dates from 1776. However, the true father of Russian ballet is considered to be Marius Petipa (1819–1910), the French dancer and choreographer who acted first as principal dancer, then premier ballet master, of the Imperial Theatre in St Petersburg. All told, he produced more than 60 full ballets (including Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake).
At the turn of the 20th century – Russian ballet’s heyday – St Petersburg’s Imperial School of Ballet rose to world prominence, producing a wealth of superstars including Vaslav Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova, Mathilda Kshesinskaya, George Balanchine and Michel Fokine. Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, formed in Paris in 1909 (with most of its members coming from the Imperial School of Ballet), took Europe by storm. The stage decor was painted by artists such as Alexander Benois.
During Soviet rule, ballet enjoyed a privileged status, which allowed schools like the Vaganova and companies like the Kirov and Moscow’s Bolshoi to maintain a level of lavish production and high performance standards. At the Bolshoi, Yury Grigorovich emerged as a bright, new choreographer, with Spartacus, Ivan the Terrible and other successes. Even so, many of Soviet ballet’s brightest stars emigrated or defected, including Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova.
As the Soviet Union collapsed, artistic feuds at the Bolshoi between Grigorovich and his dancers, combined with a loss of state subsidies and the continued financial lure of the West to principal dancers, led to a crisis in the Russian ballet world. Grigorovich resigned in 1995, prompting dancers loyal to him to stage the Bolshoi’s first-ever strike.
For Ballet Lovers Only (www.for-ballet-lovers-only.com) has biographies of leading Bolshoi and Mariinsky dancers both past and present, as well as a good links section if you want to learn more about Russian ballet.
Grigorovich’s successor, Vladimir Vasiliev, helped revive the Bolshoi’s fortunes, and in 2004 was succeeded by rising star Alexey Ratmansky. Of Ratmansky’s more than 20 ballets, Dreams of Japan was awarded a prestigious Golden Mask award in 1998. Grigorovich continues to play an active role on Moscow’s ballet stage, and the Bolshoi Ballet often performs his classic compositions. The Bolshoi’s brightest star is currently Maria Alexandrova.
Meanwhile, in St Petersburg, director Valery Gergiev at the Kirov – now known as the Mariinsky (Click here) – has earned international kudos and, crucially, foreign sponsorship for his grand productions.
Note that ballet and opera are generally performed at the same venues, which are often architectural masterpieces in themselves. The ballerinas in Novosibirsk may not be as fleet-footed, and the operas in Ulan-Ude may be in Buryat, but tickets can be remarkably good value.
Music
The roots of Russian music lie in folk song and dance, and Orthodox Church chants. Byliny (epic folk songs of Russia’s peasantry) preserved folk culture and lore through celebration of particular events such as great battles or harvests. More formal music slowly reached acceptance in Russian society, first as a religious aid, then for military and other ceremonial use, and eventually for entertainment.
CLASSICAL
The defining period of Russian classical music was from the 1860s to 1900. Mikhail Glinka (opposite) is considered the father of Russian classical music: he was born in Smolensk, where an annual festival (Click here) is held in his celebration.
As Russian composers (and other artists) struggled to find a national identity, several influential schools formed, from which some of Russia’s most famous composers and finest music emerged. The Group of Five – Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Borodin, Cesar Kui and Mily Balakirev – believed a radical departure necessary, and looked to byliny and folk music for themes. Their main opponent was Anton Rubinstein’s conservatively rooted Russian Musical Society, which became the St Petersburg Conservatory in 1861, the first in Russia. Triumphing in the middle ground was Pyotr Tchaikovsky (Click here), who embraced Russian folklore and music as well as the disciplines of the Western European composers.
Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes is an excellent book offering plenty of colourful anecdotes about great Russian writers, artists, composers and architects.
Following in Tchaikovsky’s romantic footsteps were Sergei Rachmaninov (1873–1943) and Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) – both fled Russia after the revolution. Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring – which created a furore at its first performance in Paris – and The Firebird were influenced by Russian folk music. Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953), who also left Soviet Russia but returned in 1934, wrote the scores for Eisenstein’s films Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible, the ballet Romeo and Juliet, and Peter and the Wolf, beloved of those who teach music to young children. His work was condemned for ‘formalism’ towards the end of his life.
Similarly, the ideological beliefs of Dmitry Shostakovich (1906–75), who wrote brooding, bizarrely dissonant works, as well as accessible traditional classical music, led to him being alternately praised and condemned by the Soviet government. Despite initial official condemnation by Stalin, Shostakovich’s Symphony No 7 – the Leningrad – brought him honour and international standing when it was performed by the Leningrad Philharmonic during the Siege of Leningrad (Click here). The authorities changed their minds again and banned his anti-Soviet music in 1948, then ‘rehabilitated’ him after Stalin’s death.
Progressive new music surfaced only slowly in the post-Stalin era, with outside contact limited. Symphony No 1 by Alfred Schnittke (1934–98), probably the most important work of this major experimental modern Russian composer, had to be premiered by its champion, conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky, in the provincial city of Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) in 1974 and was not played in Moscow until 1986.
NATIVE FOLK DANCING & MUSIC
Traditional Russian folk dancing and music is still practised across the country, although your main chance of catching it as a visitor is in cheesy shows in restaurants or at tourist-orientated extravaganzas such as Feel Yourself Russian in St Petersburg (Click here). Companies with solid reputations to watch out for include Igor Moiseyev Ballet (www.moiseyev.ru), the Osipov National Academic Folk Instruments Orchestra of Russia (www.ossipovorchestra.ru/en) and the Pyatnitsky Russian Folk Chorus, all offering repertoires with roots as old as Kyivan Rus, including heroic ballads and the familiar Slavic trepak (stamping folk dances).
In Siberia and the Russian Far East, it’s also possible to occasionally catch dance and music performances by native peoples. In the Altai, minstrels sing epic ballads, while in Tuva khöömei (throat singing) ranges from the ultradeep troll-warbling of kagara to the superhuman self-harmonising of sygyt; Click here for more details.
BUYING TICKETS FOR PERFORMANCES & EVENTS
Teatralnye kassy (theatre ticket offices, sometimes kiosks) are found across all sizable cities, although it’s not difficult to buy face-value tickets from the kassa (ticket office) at the venue itself, typically open for advance or same-day sales from early afternoon until the start of the evening show. Tickets can range from R100 to R500, and only the most popular shows tend to sell out completely, so there’s usually hope for same-day seats. In Moscow and St Petersburg however, competition is much greater – the top venues have ‘foreigner pricing’ and it can be worth falling back on a hotel service bureau or concierge to get the best tickets, even though that can mean a huge premium over face value.
Tickets for both Moscow’s Bolshoi (Click here) and St Petersburg’s Mariinsky (Click here) theatres can be booked online – this is the best way to ensure that you get the seat you want. For Moscow events, consider booking using a web-based service such as www.parter.ru (in Russian).
If all else fails, there are usually touts, not only professionals but also people with spares. It’s standard practice to sell tickets outside the main entrance before starting time. Remember that prices are a free-for-all and you run the risk of obstructed views. Before handing over any money make sure that the ticket actually has the date, performance and section you want.
For Russian words and phrases useful at the theatre, Click here.
OPERA
Russian opera was born in St Petersburg when Mikhail Glinka’s A Life for the Tsar, which merged traditional and Western influences, premiered on 9 December 1836. It told the story of peasant Ivan Susanin, who sacrifices himself to save Tsar Mikhail Romanov. He followed this up with another folk-based opera, Ruslan and Lyudmilla (1842), thus inaugurating the ‘New Russian School’ of composition.
Another pivotal moment in Russian opera was the 5 December 1890 premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades at the Mariinsky. Adapted from a tale by Alexander Pushkin, Tchaikovsky’s version surprised and invigorated the artistic community by successfully merging opera with topical social comment.
Classical opera was performed regularly in the Soviet period, and con-tinues to be popular. In March 2005 the Bolshoi premiered its first new opera in 26 years, Rosenthal’s Children – with music by Leonid Desyatnikov and words by Vladimir Sorokin – to a hail of protests over its allegedly pornographic plot. Russian opera has produced many stars, from Fyodor Chaliapin in the early years of the 20th century, to the current diva, soprano Anna Netrebko who started as a cleaner at the Mariinsky and now commands the stages of top opera houses around the world.
ROCK & POP
The Communist Party was no fan of pop music. Back in the 1960s, the gravel-voiced Vladimir Vystoskii was the dissident voice of the USSR, becoming a star despite being banned from TV, radio and major stages. Denied the chance to record or perform to big audiences, Russian rock groups were forced underground. By the 1970s – the Soviet hippy era – this genre of music had developed a huge following among a disaffected, distrustful youth. Although bands initially imitated their Western counterparts, by the 1980s there was a home-grown sound emerging, and in Moscow, Leningrad (St Petersburg) and Yekaterinburg, in particular, many influential bands sprung up.
PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY
The most beloved of all Russian classical composers is arguably Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–93). The former lawyer first studied music at St Petersburg’s conservatory, but he later moved to Moscow to teach at the conservatory there. This was where all of his major works were composed, including, in 1880, the magnificent 1812 Overture.
Among his other famous pieces are the ballets Swan Lake (Lebedinoe Ozero), Sleeping Beauty (Spyachshchaya Krasavitsa), and The Nutcracker (Shchelkunchik), the operas Eugene Onegin (Yevgeny Onegin) and Queen of Spades (Pikovaya Dame), both inspired by the works of Alexander Pushkin, and his final work, the Pathetique Symphony No 6. The romantic beauty of these pieces belies the more tragic side of the composer, who led a tortured life as a closeted homosexual. The rumour mill has it that rather than dying of cholera, as reported, he committed suicide by poisoning himself following a ‘trial’ by his peers about his sexual behaviour. For more about Tchaikovsky go to www.tchaikovsky-research.net.
Boris Grebenshchikov and his band Akvarium (Aquarium) from Yekater-inburg are one example, causing a sensation wherever they performed; his folk rock and introspective lyrics became the emotional cry of a generation. At first, all of their music was circulated by illegal tapes known as magizdat, passed from listener to listener; concerts – known as tusovka (informal parties) – were held in remote halls or people’s apartments in city suburbs, and just attending them could be risky. Other top bands included DDT, Nautilus Pompilius, Mashina Vremeni and Bravo, whose lead singer Zhanna Aguzarova became Soviet rock’s first female star.
The god of Russian rock, though, was Viktor Tsoy, an ethnic Korean born in Leningrad, frontman of the group Kino; the band’s classic album is 1988’s Gruppa Krovi (Blood Group). Tsoy’s early death in a 1990 car crash sealed his legendary status. Fans gather on the anniversary of his death (15 August) to this day and play his music. His grave, at the Bogoslovskogo Cemetery in St Petersburg, has been turned into a shrine, much like Jim Morrison’s in Paris. There is also the ‘Tsoy Wall’, covered with Tsoy-related graffiti on ul Arbat in Moscow. A similar shrine to the Russian punk rock icon Yegor Letov who died in 2008 (Click here) is nearby.
The likes of techno-pop girl duo tATu and pretty-boy singer Dima Bilan, winner of the 2008’s Eurovision Song Contest, are the tame international faces of Russia’s contemporary music scene. The aging diva Alla Pugacheva, a survivor from the 1960s, is still around, although she’s become more famous for her torrid love life (married four times and countless affairs) and battles with booze. She’s also the producer of the TV show Star Factory (Fabrika Zvyozd; www.1tv.ru/fabrika, in Russian), a Russian take on American Idol.
Cinema
SOVIET-ERA CINEMA
Movies made sense as propaganda to Stalin, so vast resources were pumped into studios to make sure the correct message was being conveyed. Historical dramas about Soviet and Russian victories were fine, resulting in Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925), a landmark of world cinema, and his Alexander Nevsky (1938), which contains one of cinema’s great battle scenes. However, Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible (1945), a discreet commentary on Stalinism, fell foul of state sponsors and was banned for many years.
Mikhail Kalatozov’s tragic WWII drama The Cranes are Flying (1957), judged best film at Cannes in 1958, illuminated the sacrifices made by Russians during the Great Patriotic War. Of later Soviet directors, the dominant figure was Andrei Tarkovsky, whose films include Andrei Rublyov (1966), Solaris (1972) – the Russian answer to 2001: A Space Odyssey – and Stalker (1980), which summed up the Leonid Brezhnev era pretty well, with its characters wandering, puzzled, through a landscape of clanking trains, rusting metal and overgrown concrete. Tarkovsky died in exile in 1987.
Glasnost brought new excitement in the film industry as film makers were allowed to reassess Soviet life with unprecedented freedom, and as audiences flocked to see previously banned films or the latest exposure of youth culture or Stalinism. Notable were Sergei Solovyov’s avant-garde ASSA (1987) staring rock-god Viktor Tsoi and the artist Afrika (Sergei Bugaev), and Vasily Pichul’s Little Vera (1989) for its frank portrayal of a family in chaos (exhausted wife, drunken husband, rebellious daughter) and its sexual content – mild by Western standards but startling to the Soviet audience.
Soviet cinema wasn’t all doom, gloom and heavy propaganda. The romantic comedy Irony of Fate (1975) has a special place in all Russians hearts, while a whole genre of ‘Easterns’ are epitomised by White Sun of the Desert (1969), a rollicking adventure set in Turkmenistan during the Civil War of the 1920s. This cult movie, still one of the top selling DVDs in Russia, is traditionally watched by cosmonauts before blast-off.
Directed by Alexey Uchitel in 1988, Rock is a revealing documentary about the Leningrad rock scene of the 1980s featuring legends such as Boris Grebenshchikov and Viktor Tsoy.
POST-SOVIET CINEMA
By the time Nikita Mikhalkov’s Burnt by the Sun won the best foreign movie Oscar in 1994, Russian film production was suffering. Funding had dried up during the economic chaos of the early 1990s, and audiences couldn’t afford to go to the cinema anyway. The industry was back on track by the end of the decade though with hits like Alexey Balabanov’s gangster drama Brother (1997) and Alexander Sokurov’s Molokh (1999). Sokurov’s ambitious Russian Ark was an international success in 2002, as was Andrei Zvyaginstev’s moody thriller The Return in the following year.
TOP OF THE POPS
Russian rock and pop doesn’t have be bland or techno. We recommend adding the following to your iPod:
- Leningrad – listen to their music, which mixes up punk rock, Latino, polka and Tom Waits with a strong brass section, on their My Space page (www.myspace.com/leningradru).
- Markscheider Kunst (www.mkunst.ru) – this favourite St Petersburg band offers Afro-beat–infused music.
- Deti Picasso (www.detipicasso.ru) – the beautiful lead singer Gaya Arutyunyan of this Armenian-Russian folk-rock band has an exceptional voice.
- Zemphira (www.zemfira.ru) – hailing from Ufa, this jazz-rock musician is Russia’s answer to Alanis Morissette.
- Leonid Fedorov (www.leonidfedorov.ru) – semi-absurd poetry is fused with acoustic guitars and hypnotic melodies.
- Grazhdanskaya Oborona (http://gr-oborona.ru/) – dead but still hardcore, the late Yegor Letov lives on in cyberspace.
- Boris Grebenshikov (www.planetaquarium.com) – check out the Dylanesque songs of the hippy lead singer of Akvarium.
- Pelageya (www.pelagea.ru) – art-rock–folk from a vocalist who is apparently Putin’s favourite.
Russian cinema has been on a roll in recent years. Historical dramas, such as Turkish Gambit (2005) and The State Counsellor (2005) both based on novels by Boris Akunin, were big hits. The glossy vampire thriller Night Watch (2004) struck box office gold both at home and abroad, leading to an equally successful sequel Day Watch (2006) and to Kazakstan-born director Timur Bekmambetov, being lured to Hollywood. Twilight Watch, the final part of the trilogy, is set for release in 2009.
Alexey German’s My Friend Ivan Lapshin (1982), set in 1935, shows the amorous and professional ups and downs of a provincial police investigator with a light touch, yet also catches the underlying sense of impending terror experienced under Stalin.
Bekmambetov also directed Irony of Fate: Continuation (2007), a follow-up to the classic 1970s comedy. Simultaneously released on 1000 screens across the nation, the poorly reviewed movie nonetheless helped Russian cinema clock up record takings of US$565 million in 2007, along with other hits such the Lord of the Rings style fantasy Wolfhound and the feel-good romantic comedy Heat.
Russian directors are still turning out challenging, art-house films, too, including the tragic love story Euphoria (2006; http://eng.euphoria-film.com/) and The Island (2006) directed by Pavel Lunghin, a bleak but beautiful examination of redemption and forgiveness through the eyes of a self-exiled Russian priest. Nikita Mikhalkov’s Oscar-nominated 12 (2007), based on Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men, follows a jury deliberating over the trial of a Chechen teenager accused of murdering his father, an officer in the Russian army; Vladimir Putin is quoted as saying that it ‘brought a tear to the eye’.
If you don’t have time for a visit to the Hermitage, practically the next best thing is watching Alexander Sokurov’s Russian Ark (Russky Kovcheg; 2002), filmed inside the museum in a stunning, single 96-minute tracking shot.
Circus
While Western circuses grow smaller and more scarce, the Russian versions are still like those from childhood stories – prancing horses with acrobats on their backs, snarling lions and tigers, heart-stopping high-wire artists and hilarious clowns. They remain a highly popular form of entertainment.
The Russian circus tradition has roots in medieval travelling minstrels called skomorokhi, although the first modern-style circus (a performance within a ring) dates to the reign of Catherine the Great. The country’s first permanent circus was established in St Petersburg in 1877 and, in 1927, Moscow’s School for Circus Arts became the world’s first such training institution. Many cities still have their own troupes and most at least have an arena for visiting companies. Best known is Moscow’s Nikulin Circus (Click here).
Directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev, The Return (Vozvrashcheniye; 2003) has won many awards and is a deeply involving psychological thriller set in the northern Russian town of Vyborg.
A word of warning: Russian attitudes towards animals are often less ‘humane’ than in the West, and some sensitive visitors find the acts and off-stage confinement of circus animals upsetting.
Theatre
Russia’s theatre started to flourish under the patronage of drama-lover Catherine the Great, who set up the Imperial Theatre Administration and authorised the construction of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre. During her reign Denis Fonvizin wrote The Brigader (1769) and The Minor (1791), satirical comedies that are still performed today.
An enduring classic is Woe from Wit by Alexander Griboedev, which debuted in 1831, two years after the diplomat and amateur dramatist was murdered by a mob in Tehran. Other 19th-century dramatists included Alexander Pushkin, whose drama Boris Godunov (1830) was later used as the libretto for the Mussorgsky opera; Nikolai Gogol, whose tragic farce The Government Inspector (1836) was said to be a favourite play of Nicholas I; and Ivan Turgenev whose languid A Month in the Country (1849) laid the way for most famous Russian playwright of all: Anton Chekhov (1860–1904).
RUSSIAN ANIMATION
Little known outside of Russia is the country’s great contribution to the art of animation. Two years before Disney’s Snow White, stop-motion animation was used for New Gulliver (1935), a communist retelling of Gulliver’s Travels, which featured more than 3000 puppets. And rather than Disney’s films, it was actually Lev Atamov’s beautiful The Snow Queen (1957), based on the Hans Christian Andersen story, that inspired young Hayao Miyazaki to become the master Japanese animator that he is today.
One of Russia’s most respected animators today is Yury Norshtein, whose masterpiece, Hedgehog in the Mist (1975), is very philosophical and full of references to art and literature. The current master of the medium is Alexander Petrov, who paints in oil on glass sheets using his fingertips instead of brushes. He photographs one frame, modifies the picture with his fingers and photo-graphs the next; this painstaking work takes around a year of work to create just 10 minutes of film. The Cow (1989), his first solo work, displays Petrov’s trademark montage sequences, in which objects, people and landscapes converge in a psychedelic swirl. Petrov was the winner of an Academy Award for The Old Man and the Sea (1999), based on the Hemmingway novella and was also nominated in 2008 for the dazzling My Love, a short set in pre-revolutionary Russia.
Prince Vladimir (2006; www2.knyazvladimir.ru/en), loosely based on the historical figure who converted Kyivan Rus to Christianity (Click here) and, sponsored by the Russian Orthodox Church, is the highest grossing Russian animated film to date, pulling in around US$5.8 million.
To learn more about Russian and Soviet era animation check the database Animator.ru (http://animator.ru, in Russian) and the excellent blog Animatsiya (http://niffiwan.livejournal.com), which includes many animation clips.
Chekhov’s The Seagull, The Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya, all of which take the angst of the provincial middle class as their theme, owed much of their success to their ‘realist’ productions at the Moscow Art Theatre by Konstantin Stanislavsky, which aimed to show life as it really was.
Through the Soviet period theatre remained popular, not least because it was one of the few areas of artistic life where a modicum of freedom of expression was permitted. Stalin famously said that although Mikhail Bulgakov’s White Guard had been written by an enemy, it still deserved to be staged because of the author’s outstanding talent. Bulgakov is perhaps the only person dubbed an enemy by Stalin and never persecuted. The avant-garde actor-director Vsevolod Meyerhold was not so fortunate (see the boxed text, Click here).
Even today, with state subsidies withdrawn, both Moscow’s and St Petersburg’s theatre scenes are as lively as those in London and New York. Notable directors include Kama Gingkas, who works with the Moscow Art Theatre, Pytor Fomenko, who heads up the Moscow’s Pytor Fomenko Workshop Theatre, and Lev Dodin at the Maly Drama Theatre in St Petersburg. Gaining an international reputation are brothers Oleg and Vladimir Presnyakov who co-write and direct their plays under the joint name Presnyakov Brothers; they’ve been praised for their plays’ natural sounding dialogue and sardonic wit. Terrorism, their best known work, has been performed around the world.
In 2008,Vladimir Putin attended a performance of Woe from Wit, a 19th- century play in which the hero Chatsky, a brutally honest angry young man, is declared mad by Moscow’s hypocritical establishment.
Literature
Although they really only got going in the 19th century, Russian writers have wasted little time in carving out prime place in the canon of world literature, producing renowned classics in the fields of poetry and prose. In the process they have bagged five Nobel Prizes for the country, and yet have constantly found themselves in conflict with the Russian establishment.
19TH-CENTURY LITERATURE
Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837) is to Russia what Shakespeare is to England. Read all about him on Click here. Like fellow poet Mikhail Lermontov (1814–41), author of A Hero of Our Time, he died in a duel widely perceived as engineered by the authorities who were aggravated by his writing.
Pushkin’s Button by Serena Vitale is a fascinating account of the duel that killed Russia’s most famous poet.
Continuing the tradition of literary criticism of the powers that be was the novelist and playwright Nikolai Gogol (1809–52) whose novel Dead Souls exposed the corruption at the heart of Russian society. Gogol also created some of Russian literature’s most memorable characters, including Akaki Akakievich, the tragicomic hero of The Overcoat, and Major Kovalyev, who chases his errant nose around St Petersburg when it makes a break for it in the absurdist short story The Nose. That story bequeathed a love of the surreal in Russian literature that would echo through the works of Danil Kharms, Mikhail Bulgakov and Viktor Pelevin in the next century.
More radical Russian writers figured in the second half of the 19th century. In Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev (1818–83), the antihero Bazarov became a symbol for the anti-tsarist nihilist movement of the time. Before penning classics such as Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, which deals with questions of morality, faith and salvation, Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–81) fell foul of the authorities and was exiled for a decade from St Petersburg, first in Siberia and later in what is now Kazakstan.
A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov makes a great travelling companion in the Caucasus, where the novel is set. Its cynical antihero, Pechorin, is an indirect comment on the climate of the times.
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) sealed his reputation as one of Russia’s greatest writers with his Napoleonic War saga War and Peace, and Anna Karenina, a tragedy about a woman who violates the rigid sexual code of her time. Such was his popularity that his unorthodox beliefs in Christian anarchy and pacifism protected him from reprisals by the government.
THE SILVER AGE
From the end of the 19th century up until the early 1930s, the Silver Age of Russian literature produced more towering talents. First came the rise of the symbolist movement in the Russian arts world. The outstanding figures of this time were the philosopher Vladimir Solovyov (1853–1900), the writer Andrei Bely (1880–1934), author of Petersburg, regarded by Vladimir Nabokov as one of the four greatest novels of the 20th century, and Maxim Gorky (1868–1936), who is considered to be the founder of the Socialist Realism school of literature and art (opposite) with his 1906 novel Mother (written during a Bolshevik Party fund-raising trip in the USA).
Alexander Blok (1880–1921) was a poet whose sympathies with the revolutions of 1905 and 1917 were praised by the Bolsheviks as an example of an established writer who had seen the light. His tragic poem The Twelve, published in 1918 shortly before his death, likens the Bolsheviks to the Twelve Apostles who herald the new world. However, Blok soon grew deeply disenchanted with the revolution, and in one of his last letters, wrote, ‘She did devour me, lousy, snuffling dear Mother Russia, like a sow devouring her piglet’.
Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace offers an epic panorama of Russia during the Napoleonic Wars, told through the fortunes of a vivid cast of characters.
Other notable Silver Age wordsmiths were the poet Velimir Khlebnikov and poet and playwright Vladimir Mayakovsky, who, together with other Futurists, issued the 1913 ‘Slap in the Face of Public Taste’ manifesto urging fellow writers ‘to throw Pushkin out of the steamship of modernity’.
SOVIET LITERATURE: PART I
The life of poet Anna Akhmatova (1888–1966) was filled with sorrow and loss – her family was imprisoned and killed, her friends exiled, tortured and arrested, her colleagues constantly hounded – but she refused to leave her beloved St Petersburg. Her verses depict the city with realism and monumentalism, particularly her epic Poem Without a Hero, where she writes: ‘The capital on the Neva/Having forgotten its greatness/Like a drunken whore/Did not know who was taking her’.
SOCIALIST REALISM & ART
In The Magical Chorus, an enlightening book about Russian art from Tolstoy to Solzhenitsyn, Solomon Volkov writes ‘Lenin, and especially Stalin, understood the usefulness of culture as a political tool, not only inside the country but in the international arena, too, and they wielded the weapon well’.
In 1932 the Communist Party demanded Socialist Realism: the ‘concrete representation of reality in its revolutionary development…in accordance with…ideological training of the workers in the spirit of Socialism’. Henceforth, artists had the all but impossible task of conveying the Party line in their works and not falling foul of the notoriously fickle tastes of Stalin in the process.
The composer Dmitry Shostakovich, for example, was officially denounced twice (in 1936 and 1948) and suffered the banning of his compositions. Strongly opposed to Socialist Realism, theatre director Vsevolod Meyerhold had his theatre closed down, and in 1939 he was imprisoned and later tortured and executed as a traitor. He was cleared of all charges in 1955.
Writers were particularly affected, some committing suicide in their despair like Vladimir Mayakovsky, others, such as the poet Anna Akhmatova, soldiering on despite lives blighted by persecution and tragedy. Many, including Daniil Kharms, had their work driven underground, or were forced to smuggle their manuscripts out to the West for publication, as Boris Pasternak famously did for Doctor Zhivago.
Socialist Realism did serve a better purpose, however, in guiding the artistic efforts of the creators of the many Great Patriotic War (WWII) memorials around Russia. Among our favourites:
- Park Pobedy, Moscow (Click here)
- Malaya Zemlya, Novorossiysk (Click here)
- Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad, St Petersburg (Click here)
- Mamaev Kurgan, Volgograd (Click here)
Another key poet of this age, who suffered for his art just like Akhmatova, was Osip Mandelstam (1892–1938), who died in a Stalinist transit camp near Vladivostok. Akhmatova’s and Mandelstam’s lives are painfully recorded by Nadezhda Mandelstam in her autobiographical Hope Against Hope.
The great satirist Mikhail Bulgakov (1891–1940) also found his books, such as The Master and Margarita and Heart of a Dog, banned for years, as did Daniil Kharms (1905–1942), a writer described in Russia! magazine as a ‘one-man Monty Python show staged at a labour camp.’ Kharm’s starved to death in a hospital during the siege of Leningrad in 1942; it would be two decades later that his surreal stories and poems started to see the light of day and only then were they circulated in the Soviet underground press.
Mikhail Bulgakov’s deeply philosophical novel The Master and Margarita can also be read as a wacky comedy with a serious twist – the devil turns up in Moscow to cause all manner of anarchy and make idiots of the system and its lackeys.
Although best known abroad for Doctor Zhivago, the epic novel spanning events from the dying days of tsarist Russia to the birth of the Soviet Union, Boris Pasternak (1890–1960) is celebrated at home for his poetry. My Sister Life, published in 1921, inspired many Russian poets thereafter. Doctor Zhivago, first published in an Italian translation in 1957, secured him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958, but Pasternak turned it down, fearing that if he left Russia to accept the award he would not be allowed to return.
One writer who managed to keep in favour with the communist author-ities was Mikhail Sholokhov (1905–84), with his sagas of revolution and war among the Don Cossacks – And Quiet Flows the Don and The Don Flows Home to the Sea. He won the Nobel Prize in 1965.
SOVIET LITERATURE: PART II
The relaxing of state control over the arts during Khrushchev’s time saw the emergence of poets like Yevgeny Yevtushenko, who gained international fame in 1961 with Babi Yar (which denounced both Nazi and Russian anti-Semitism), as well as another Nobel Prize winner, Alexander Solzhenitsyn (opposite), who wrote mainly about life in the Gulag system. If you’re interested in this subject, read Kolyma Tales by the great literary talent Varlam Shalamov – his camp experience was even more harrowing than Solzhenitsyn’s.
Yet another Nobel Prize winner was the fiercely talented poet Joseph Brodsky (1940–96), spiritual heir to Akhmatova. In 1964 he was tried for ‘social parasitism’ and exiled to the north of Russia. However, after concerted international protests led by Jean-Paul Sartre, he returned to Leningrad in 1965, only to continue being a thorn in the side of the authorities. Like Solzhenitsyn, Brodsky was exiled to the US in 1972.
The anthology Today I Wrote Nothing: The Selected Writings of Daniil Kharms, translated by Matvei Yankelevich, is worth dipping into to discover the bizarre works of this eccentric absurdist writer.
Preceding glasnost was native Siberian writer Valentin Rasputin, who is best known for his stories decrying the destruction of the land, spirit and traditions of the Russian people. His 1979 novel Farewell to Matyora is about a Siberian village flooded when a hydroelectric dam is built.
POST-SOVIET LITERATURE
Recent years have seen a boom in Russian publishing, with the traditional Russian love of books as strong as ever. One of the most popular novelists is Boris Akunin, whose series of historical detective novels feature the foppish Russian Sherlock Holmes, Erast Fandorin. The Winter Queen and Turkish Gambit have been a hit in their English translations and are now being made into movies.
Among the more challenging contemporary Russian writers who have made their mark are Viktor Yerofeev, whose erotic novel Russian Beauty has been translated into 27 languages, and Tatyana Tolstaya, whose On the Golden Porch, a collection of stories about big souls in little Moscow flats, made her an international name when it was published in the West in 1989. The prolific science fiction and pop culture writer Viktor Pelevin on the other hand has been compared to the great Mikhail Bulgakov. Several of his novels, including The Yellow Arrow and The Sacred Book of the Werewolf, have also been widely translated. Vladimir Sorokin (www.srkn.ru/english) is also well known, having established his literary reputation abroad with his novels The Queue and Ice. In his latest book, Day of the Oprichnik, he describes Russia in the year 2028 as a nationalist country ruled with an iron fist that has shut itself off from the West by building a wall.
Famous in the West as a movie by David Lean, Doctor Zhivago is a richly philosophical epic novel offering personal insights into the revolution and the Russian civil war.
Poet, journalist, media talent and prose writer Dmity Bykov is one of the biggest names currently in Russian literary circles; he published a well-regarded biography of Boris Pasternak in 2007 and his latest novel, ZhD, is a satirical, anti-utopian, conspiracy theory laden tale of civil war set in near-future Russia. Also of note is Perm-based Alexei Ivanov, whose historical novels such as Heart of Parma focus on the Russian colonization of the Urals.
Inaugurated in 1992, the Booker-Open (www.russianbooker.org, in Russian) is Russia’s top literary prize. The 2003 winner White on Black by Ruben Gallego, a disabled man of Spanish origins, has been translated into English. Gallego’s novel is a partly autobiographical account of enduring and surviving the bleak, cruel Soviet orphanage system. Winning awards outside of Russia are the novels of Andrei Makine, born in the Russian Far East but long based in France. Read A Hero’s Daughter, charting the impact of the Soviet Union on a family from WWII to the 1990s.
Architecture
Until Soviet times most Russians lived in homes made of wood. The izba (single-storey log cottage) is still fairly common in the countryside, while some Siberian cities, notably Tomsk, retain fine timber town houses intricately decorated with ‘wooden lace’. Stone and brick were usually the preserves of the Church, royalty and nobility.
RUSSIA’S CONSCIENCE
Few writers’ lives sum up the fickle nature of their relationship with the Russian state than that of Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008). Born in conjunction with the Soviet Union, he was persecuted and exiled by that regime, only to return to a country that in his latter years considered him both a crank and its conscience. Embraced by Vladimir Putin (whom Solzhenitsyn praised as ‘a good dictator’) for his nationalism, staunch belief in Russian Orthodoxy and hatred of the decadent West, the one-time dissident was given what amounted to a state funeral.
Decorated twice with medals for bravery during WWII, the young Solzhenitsyn first fell foul of the authorities in 1945 when he was arrested for anti-Stalin remarks found in letters to a friend. He subsequently served eight years in various camps and three more in enforced exile in Kazakhstan.
Khrushchev allowed the publication in 1962 of Solzhenitsyn’s first novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, a short tale of Gulag life, as part of his anti-Stalin thaw. The book sealed the writer’s reputation and in 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Prize, although, like Boris Pasternak before him, he did not go to Sweden to receive it for fear that he would not be allowed to re-enter the USSR. Even so, he was exiled in 1974 when he went to the USA. He finally returned to Russia in 1994.
To the end Solzhenitsyn remained a controversial figure. He was detested by many Gulag survivors who accused him of collaborating with prison authorities and who looked suspiciously on the writer’s ability to gain sole access to the archives that allowed him to write his best-known work, The Gulag Archipelago, which describes conditions at the camps on the Solovetsky Islands, even though he was never imprisoned there himself. In his final book, 200 Years Together, about the history of Jews in Russia, he laid himself open to accusations of anti-Semitism.
EARLY RUSSIAN CHURCH ARCHITECTURE
Early Russian architecture is best viewed in the country’s most historic churches, such as Novgorod’s Cathedral of St Sophia (Click here), dating from 1050. At their simplest, churches consisted of three aisles, each with an eastern apse (semicircular end), a dome or ‘cupola’ over the central aisle next to the apse, and high vaulted roofs forming a crucifix shape centred on the dome.
The Slynx by Tatyana Tolstaya, a dystopian fantasy set in a post-nuclear holocaust world of mutant people, fearsome beasts and totalitarian rulers, is considered a literary masterpiece.
Church architects in Novgorod, Pskov and Vladimir-Suzdal developed the three-aisle pattern in the 11th and 12th centuries. Roofs then grew steeper to prevent the heavy northern snows collecting and crushing them, and windows grew narrower to keep the cold out. Pskov builders invented the little kokoshnik gable, which was semicircular or spade-shaped and was usually found in rows supporting a dome or drum.
Where stone replaced brick, as in Vladimir’s Assumption Cathedral (Click here), it was often carved into a glorious kaleidoscope of decorative images. Another Vladimir-Suzdal hallmark was the ‘blind arcade’, a wall decoration resembling a row of arches. The early church-citadel complexes required protection, and thus developed sturdy, fortress-style walls replete with fairy-tale towers – Russia’s archetypal kremlins.
MOSCOW
Though the architects of two of the Moscow Kremlin’s three great cath-edrals (Click here and Click here) built between 1475 and 1510 were Italian, they took Vladimir’s churches as their models; the third cathedral (Click here) was by builders from Pskov.
Later in the 16th century, the translation of the northern Russian wooden church features, such as the tent roof and the onion dome on a tall drum, into brick added up to a new, uniquely Russian architecture. St Basil’s Cathedral (Click here), the Ivan the Great Bell Tower (Click here) in the Moscow Kremlin and the Ascension Church at Kolomenskoe (Click here) are three high points of this era.
In the 17th century builders in Moscow added tiers of kokoshniki, colourful tiles and brick patterning, to create jolly, merchant-financed churches. Mid-century, Patriarch Nikon outlawed such frippery, but elaboration returned later in the century with Western-influenced Moscow baroque, featuring ornate white detailing on red-brick walls.
A couple of good websites devoted to Russian architecture are http://archi.ru/english/index.htm, which has an index of the country’s key buildings, and www.towns.ru (mainly in Russia), highlighting off-the-beaten-track locations and structures.
BAROQUE
Mainstream baroque reached Russia as Peter the Great opened up the country to Western influences. As the focus was on his new capital, St Petersburg, he banned new construction elsewhere from using stone to ensure supplies. The great baroque architect in Russia was an Italian, Bartolomeo Rastrelli. He created an inspired series of buildings, the style of which merged into rococo, for Empress Elizabeth. Three of the most brilliant were the Winter Palace (Click here) and Smolny Cathedral (Click here), both in St Petersburg, and Catherine Palace at nearby Tsarskoe Selo (Click here).
CLASSICISM
Later in the 18th century, Catherine the Great turned away from rococo ‘excess’ towards Europe’s new wave of classicism, which was an attempt to recreate the ambience of an idealised ancient Rome and Greece with their mathematical proportions, rows of columns, pediments and domes. Catherine and her successors built waves of grand classical edifices in a bid to make St Petersburg the continent’s most imposing capital.
From the simpler classicism of Catherine’s reign, exemplified by the Great Palace at Pavlovsk (Click here), the more grandiose Russian Empire style was developed under Alexander, with such buildings as the Admiralty (Click here) and Kazan Cathedral (Click here). St Isaac’s Cathedral (Click here), built for Nicholas I, was the last big project of this wave of classicism in St Petersburg. Moscow abounds with Empire-style buildings, as much of the city had to be rebuilt after the fire of 1812 (Click here).
REVIVALS & STYLE MODERNE
A series of architectural revivals, notably of early Russian styles, began in the late 19th century. The first pseudo-Russian phase produced the state department store GUM (Click here), the State History Museum (Click here) and the Leningradsky vokzal (train station) in Moscow, and the Moskovsky vokzal (Click here) and the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood (Click here) in St Petersburg.
The early 20th century neo-Russian movement brought a sturdy classical elegance to architecture across the nation, culminating in the extraordinary Kazansky vokzal (Click here) in Moscow, which imitates no fewer than seven earlier styles. About the same time, Style Moderne, Russia’s take on art nouveau, added wonderful curvaceous flourishes to many buildings right across Russia. Splendid examples include Moscow’s Yaroslavsky vokzal (Click here) and St Petersburg’s Vitebsky vokzal (see the boxed text, Click here), and Singer Building (Click here).
SOVIET CONSTRUCTIVISM
The revolution gave rein to young constructivist architects, who rejected superficial decoration in favour of buildings whose appearance was a direct function of their uses and materials – a new architecture for a new society. They used glass and concrete in uncompromising geometric forms.
Konstantin Melnikov was probably the most famous constructivist and his own house off ul Arbat in Moscow (Click here) is one of the most interesting examples of the style; Moscow’s Pravda and Izvestia offices are others. In the 1930s, the constructivists were denounced, and a 400m-high design by perpetrators of yet another revival – monumental classicism – was chosen for Stalin’s pet project, a Palace of Soviets in Moscow, which mercifully never got off the ground.
Stalin favoured neoclassical architecture as it echoed ancient Athens, ‘the only culture of the past to approach the ideal’, according to Anatoly Lunacharsky, the first soviet commissar of education. The dictator also liked architecture to be on a gigantic scale, underlining the might of the Soviet state. This style reached its apogee in the ‘Seven Sisters’, seven Gothic-style skyscrapers that sprouted around Moscow soon after WWII.
Then, in 1955, Khrushchev condemned the ‘excesses’ of Stalin (who had died two years earlier) and disbanded the Soviet Academy of Architecture. After this, architects favoured a bland international modern style – construct-ivism without the spark, you might say – for prestigious buildings, while no style at all was evident in the drab blocks of cramped flats that sprouted countrywide to house the people.
CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE
Following the demise of the Soviet Union, architectural energies and civic funds initially went into the restoration of decayed churches and monasteries, as well as the rebuilding of structures such as Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Click here).
As far as contemporary domestic, commercial and cultural buildings are concerned, post-Soviet architects have not been kind to Russia. Featuring bright metals and mirrored glass, these buildings tend to be plopped down in the midst of otherwise unassuming vintage buildings, particularly in Moscow. The oil rich economy is producing some changes for the better, helping to fund exciting projects. Moscow is benefiting, currently undergoing a construction boom, spearheaded by Federation Tower (www.federationtower.ru), set to be the tallest building in Europe when it opens in 2009 as part of the huge Moscow-City development, and the Norman Foster–designed US$4 billion Crystal Island complex, which will be the world’s largest building when completed. The British lord’s firm is also behind one of several very promising new architectural developments in St Petersburg (Click here).
The classic and comprehensive A History of Russian Architecture, by William Craft Brumfield, was republished in an expanded version in 2004.
Visual Arts
ICONS
Up until the 17th century, religious icons were Russia’s key art form. Though they were conceived as religious artefacts, it was only in the 20th century that they really came to be seen as ‘works of art’. Click here for the typical layout of a church’s iconostasis.
The beginning of a distinct Russian icon tradition came when artists in Novgorod started to be influenced by local folk art in their representation of people, producing sharply outlined figures with softer faces and introducing lighter colours including pale yellows and greens. The earliest outstanding painter was Theophanes the Greek (Feofan Grek in Russian). He lived between 1340 and 1405, working in Byzantium, Novgorod and Moscow, and bringing a new delicacy and grace to the form. His finest works are in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin (Click here).
Andrei Rublyov, a monk at Sergiev Posad’s Trinity Monastery of St Sergius (Click here) and Moscow’s Andronikov Monastery (Click here), was 20 years Theophanes’ junior and the greatest Russian icon painter. His most famous work is the dreamy Old Testament Trinity, on display in Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery (Click here).
The layman Dionysius, the leading late-15th-century icon painter, elongated his figures and refined the use of colour. Sixteenth-century icons grew smaller and more crowded, their figures more realistic and Russian looking. In 17th-century Moscow, Simon Ushakov moved towards Western religious painting with the use of perspective and architectural backgrounds.
PEREDVIZHNIKI
In the 18th century, when Peter the Great encouraged Western trends in art, Dmitry Levitsky’s portraits were the outstanding achievement. His work foreshadowed the move to a more Western style of painting.
The major artistic force of the 19th century was the Peredvizhniki (Wanderers) movement, which saw art as a force for national awareness and social change. The movement gained its name from the touring exhibitions with which it widened its audience. Patronised by the industrialists Savva Mamontov – whose Abramtsevo estate near Moscow became an artists’ colony (Click here) – and brothers Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov (after whom the Tretyakov Gallery is named), they included Vasily Surikov, who painted vivid Russian historical scenes; Nicholas Ghe, with his biblical and historical scenes; the landscape painter Ivan Shishkin; and Ilya Repin, perhaps the best loved of all Russian artists. Repin’s work ranged from social criticism (Barge Haulers on the Volga) through history (Zaporizhsky Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Turkish Sultan) to portraits of the famous; see these works and many others in St Petersburg’s Russian Museum (Click here), a treasure house of Russian art.
Originally painted by monks as a spiritual exercise, icons are images intended to aid the veneration of the holy subjects they depict. Some believe that there are some icons that can grant luck and wishes, or even cause miracles.
Isaac Levitan, who revealed the beauty of the Russian landscape, was one of many others associated with the Peredvizhniki. The end-of-century genius Mikhail Vrubel, inspired by sparkling Byzantine and Venetian mosaics, also showed traces of Western influence.
MODERNISM
Around the turn of the 20th-century, the Mir Iskusstva (World of Art) movement in St Petersburg, led by Alexander Benois and Sergei Diaghilev under the motto ‘art pure and unfettered’, opened Russia up to Western innovations such as impressionism, art nouveau and symbolism. From about 1905, Russian art became a maelstrom of groups, styles and ‘isms’ as it absorbed decades of European change in just a few years, before it gave birth to its own avant-garde futurist movements.
FIGHTING TO PRESERVE THE PAST
In Russia it’s down to national and local governments to decide what pieces of architecture warrant preservation. St Petersburg in particular spends millions of roubles on maintaining and renovating its stock of historic buildings. However, the pressure group Zhivoi Gorod (Living City; www.save-spb.ru) claims that the city is more interested in destruction, citing the demolition of hundreds of historically important buildings in recent years. Wanting to preserve the city’s historic skyline, Zhivoi Gorod is also firmly against skyscrapers such as the controversial Okhta Tower (Click here) financed by Gazprom.
In a similar vein, the Moscow Architecture Preservation Society (MAPS; www.maps-moscow.com, in Russian), a pressure group founded by architects, historians, heritage managers and journalists of various nationalities, has been fighting for several years to preserve the capital’s architectural heritage. They claim that over 400 of the city’s listed buildings have been demolished since 1989 and that the chief villain is Moscow’s autocratic mayor Yury Luzkkov.
FOLK & NATIVE ART
Isolated by vast distances and long winters, an amazing spectrum of richly decorated folk art evolved in Russia. Perhaps most familiar are the intricately painted, enamelled wood boxes called palekh, after the village east of Moscow that’s famous for them; and finift, luminous enamelled metal miniatures from Rostov-Veliky. From Gzhel, also east of Moscow, came glazed earthenware in the 18th century and its trademark blue-and-white porcelain in the 19th. Gus-Khrustalny, south of Vladimir, maintains a glass-making tradition as old as Russia. Every region also has its own style of embroidery and some specialise in knitted and other fine fabrics.
The most common craft is woodcarving, represented by toys, distaffs (tools for hand-spinning flax) and gingerbread moulds in the museums, and in its most clichéd form by the nested matryoshka dolls. Surely the most familiar symbol of Russia, they actually only date from 1890 (see http://russian-crafts.com/nesting-dolls/history.html for the history of the matryoshka and other crafts). You’ll also find the red, black and gold lacquered pine bowls called khokhloma overflowing from souvenir shops. Most uniquely Slavic are the ‘gingerbread’ houses of western and northern Russia and Siberia, with their carved window frames, lintels and trim. The art of carpentry flourished in 17th- and 18th-century houses and churches.
A revived interest in national traditions has recently brought much more good-quality craftwork into the open, and the process has been boosted by the restoration of churches and mosques and their artwork. There has also been a minor resurgence of wood and bone carving. An even more popular craft is beresta, using birch bark to make containers and decorative objects, with colours varying according to the age and season of peeling. In Tuva, soapstone carving and traditional leather forming are also being rediscovered.
Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov were at the centre of the Cézanne-influenced Jack of Diamonds group (with which Vasily Kandinsky was also associated) before developing neoprimitivism, based on popular arts and primitive icons.
In 1915 Kasimir Malevich announced the arrival of Suprematism, declaring that his utterly abstract geometrical shapes – with the black square representing the ultimate ‘zero form’ – finally freed art from having to depict the material world and made it a doorway to higher realities. See one of his four Black Square paintings at St Petersburg’s Hermitage (Click here).
SOVIET-ERA ART
Futurists turned to the needs of the revolution – education, posters, banners – with enthusiasm, relishing the chance to act on their theories of how art shapes society. But at the end of the 1920s, formalist (abstract) art fell out of favour; the Communist Party wanted Socialist Realism (see boxed text, Click here). Images of striving workers, heroic soldiers and inspiring leaders took over. Malevich ended up painting portraits (penetrating ones) and doing designs for Red Square parades, while the avant-garde propaganda magazine USSR in Construction (1930–1941) featured stunning design and photography by Nikolai Troshin, El Lisstsky, Alexander Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova.
For a review of some interesting contemporary Russian artists, go to www.waytorussia.net/WhatIsRussia/Art.html.
After Stalin, an avant-garde ‘conceptualist’ underground was allowed to form. Ilya Kabakov painted, or sometimes just arranged, the debris of everyday life to show the gap between the promises and realities of Soviet existence. Erik Bulatov’s ‘Sotsart’ pointed to the devaluation of language by ironically reproducing Soviet slogans or depicting words disappearing over the horizon. In 1962 the authorities set up a show of such ‘unofficial’ art at the Moscow Manezh; Khrushchev called it ‘dog shit’ and sent it back underground. In the mid-1970s it resurfaced in the Moscow suburbs, only to be literally bulldozed back down.
CONTEMPORARY ART
In the immediate post-Soviet years, contemporary painters of note abandoned Russia for the riches of the West. Today, with increased economic prosperity, many of the most promising young artists are choosing to stay put. A few specialist art galleries are listed in the shopping sections of the Moscow and St Petersburg chapters (Click here and Click here respectively). At these you can find the latest works by Russians in and out of the motherland.
One of the best known painters in Russia today is the religious artist Ilya Glazunov (www.glazunov.ru/EN/index.html), a staunch defender of the Russian Orthodox cultural tradition. Hundreds of thousands of people visit exhibitions of his work. More notorious than popular is the artist and architect Zurab Tsereteli, whose monumental buildings and statues (many are also monumentally ugly) grace Moscow – Click here for more on Tsereteli.
GIF.RU (www.gif.ru/eng) is a great online resource with information on the people, places and issues that are important in Russia’s vibrant contemporary art scene.
Artists are now freer than they ever were in the past to depict all aspects of Russian life (Click here) with even the government pitching in to fund prestigious events such as the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (http://2nd.moscowbiennale.ru/en/). This said, in 2008, Amnesty International called on the Russian authorities to respect the right to freedom of expression and to stop the criminal prosecution of Yurii Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeev, two organizers of an exhibition of contemporary art, called ‘Forbidden Art 2006’, which took place in Moscow’s Sakharov Museum in March 2007. It featured work by some of Russia’s best known contemporary artists, such as Ilya Kabakov, Aleksandr Kosolapov, the Siberian collective Blue Noses and Mikhail Roginskii.
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Food & Drink
Russia has a glorious culinary heritage enriched by influences from the Baltic to the Far East. The country’s rich black soil provides an abundance of grains and vegetables that are used in a wonderful range of breads, salads and appetisers, and as the base of the distinctive soups that are the highlight of any Russian meal. The rivers, lakes and seas yield a unique range of fish and, as with any cold-climate country, there’s a great love of fat-loaded dishes – Russia is no place to go on a diet!
STAPLES & SPECIALITIES
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Breakfast
Typical zavtrak (breakfast) dishes include bliny (pancakes) with sweet or savoury fillings, various types of kasha (porridge) made from buckwheat or other grains, and syrniki (cottage-cheese fritters), delicious with jam, sugar and the universal Russian condiment, smetana (sour cream). Khleb (bread) is freshly baked and comes in a multitude of delicious varieties.
Appetisers & Salads
Whether as the preamble to a meal or something to nibble on between shots of vodka, zakuski (appetisers) are a big feature of Russian cuisine. They range from olives to bliny with mushrooms, tvorog (cheese curd) or caviar, to a multitude of delicious salads, many smothered in creamy mayonnaise. Among the most popular recipes that you’ll find on restaurant menus are salat olivye (chopped chicken or ham, potatoes, eggs, canned peas and other vegetables mixed with mayonnaise) and selyodka pod shuboi (literally ‘herrings in fur coats’), a classic fish salad from the Soviet era that is also made with beetroot and pickles. Discovering what’s actually under the salad’s creamy sauce is often part of the fun, unless you happen to be vegetarian: salads often include shredded meat, fish or seafood.
Soups
No Russian meal is complete without soup, even in the summer when there are refreshing cold varieties such as okroshka (chopped cucumber, potatoes, eggs, meat and herbs in a base of kvas, a nonalcoholic beer). Shchi (made from cabbage) and solyanka (a sometimes flavoursome concoction of pickled vegetables, meat and potato that used to be the staple winter food for the peasantry) are both popular soups that you’ll find on menus across the country.
RusCuisine.com (www.ruscuisine.com) is a cheery website packed with Slavic recipes and background information on Russian dining and drinking.
A Taste of Russia, by Darra Goldstein, offers over 200 recipes as well as some interesting short essays on local food culture.
A GIFT TO YOUNG HOUSEWIVES Mara Vorhees
The most popular cookbook in 19th-century Russia was called A Gift to Young Housewives, a collection of favourite recipes and household management tips. The author, Elena Molokhovets, a housewife herself, was dedicated to her 10 children, to the Orthodox Church, and to her inexperienced ‘female compatriots’ who might need some assistance in keeping their homes running smoothly.
Reprinted 28 times between 1861 and 1914, Molokhovets’ bestseller had new recipes and helpful hints added to each new edition. The last edition included literally thousands of recipes, as well as pointers on how to organise an efficient kitchen, how to set a proper table and how to clean a cast-iron pot.
Having gone out of print during the Soviet era, Molokhovets’ ‘gift’ was bestowed upon contemporary readers when Joyce Toomre, a culinary historian, translated and reprinted this historical masterpiece. The 1992 version, Classic Russian Cooking: Elena Molokhovets’ A Gift to Young Housewives includes Toomre’s detailed analysis of mealtimes, menus, ingredients, cooking techniques etc.
Borsch, made from a base of beetroot, originally came from Ukraine but is now synonymous with Russia throughout the world. It can be served hot or cold and usually with smetana poured on top of it. Some borsch is vegetarian (ask for postny borsch), although most is made with beef stock. Other commonly served soups are listed in the food glossary (Click here).
Main Courses
Traditional Russian cuisine tends to be meaty and quite heavy. Staples include zharkoye(hot pot; a meat stew served piping hot in a little jug), kotleta po kievsky (better known in the West as chicken Kiev) and shashlyk (meat kebab). In Siberia, the common Russian dish myaso po monastirsky (beef topped with cheese) is often relabelled myaso po Sibirski (Siberian meat).
TRAVEL YOUR TASTEBUDS
From the koryushki (freshwater smelt) that are a feature of menus in St Petersburg in early May, to the mammoth king crabs of Kamchatka, Russia abounds with regional food specialities. As these two examples illustrate, different varieties of fish and seafood are always worth sampling. Try dried, salty oblyoma fish found in the Volga; or Lake Baikal’s delicious omul,a cousin of salmon and trout. Russia’s Far East doesn’t yield many specialist dishes but in the port of Vladivostok you can be sure of the freshness of seafood such as kalmary(calamari) and grebeshki (scallops).
Honey is used as an ingredient of several dishes and drinks in Western European Russia such as vzbiten, the decorated gingerbread made in Tula, a tea with herbs and the alcoholic drink medovukha. Cowberries, reindeer and elk meat are ingredients that figure in the cuisine of northern European Russia. From this region, lokhikeytto is a deliciously creamy Karelian salmon and potato soup ideally served with crispy croutons.
The tapestry of peoples and cultures along the Volga River yield several other specialities such as the Finno-Ugric clear dumpling soup sup s klyutskami and the dried horsemeat sausage kasylyk and zur balish meat pie, both from Tatarstan, where chek chek (honey drenched macaronic-shaped pieces of fried dough) are an essential part of celebrations.
In the Altai region of southern Siberia you can masticate on sera, a chewing gum made from cedar oil. While around the ski resort of Sheregesh, sample the wild leek with a distinctive garlicky taste, known as kabla in the local language and cheremsha in Russian.
The Buddhist-influenced culinary traditions of the Kalmyk republic have brought the Tibetan style buttery tea known as dzhomba to Europe. Further east in Buryatiya, and throughout the Russian Far East, you’ll often encounter the steamed, palm-sized dumplings known as manti, pozi or buuzy and pyan-se (a peppery version). Two or three make a good, greasy meal. Siberia is most famous for its pelmeni (small ravioli dumplings), and you’ll find local variations in all the major cities across the region.
Russian cuisine also borrows enormously from neighbouring countries, most obviously from those around the Caucasus, where shashlyk originated. Across Russia, Georgian restaurants (Click here) are common, though not all offer a fully Georgian menu. Other Caucasus dishes we like are sokhta (a mammoth sausage stuffed with minced liver and rice) eaten around Dombay; Karbadian food such as zharuma (fiery sausage stuffed with minced lamb and onion and spices), gedlibzhe (a spicy chicken dish), and geshlubzhe, a saucy bean dish that can be sampled around Nalchik; and the sinfully delicious Ossetian pirogi, pizza-like pies that come in olibakh (cheese), sakharadzhin (cheese and beet leaves) and fidzhin (meat) varieties.
We dare you to…
- Tuck into horse meat fillets and dried elk noses and lips in the Sakha Republic.
- Chew on reindeer cartilage – a snack indulged in by the Even of Kamchatka.
- Drink khoitpak (fermented sour milk) in Tuva or its distilled version araka.
- Pig out on salo (pig fat).
CAVIAR – IF BUYING, BUY CAREFULLY
While nothing is as evocative of Russian imperial luxury as Beluga caviar, be aware that the sturgeon of the Caspian Sea are facing extinction due to the unsustainable and illegal plunder of their roe (Click here). If you do buy some, buy carefully. Purchase caviar only from shops (not on the street or at markets), in sealed jars (not loose) and, most importantly, make sure the jar or tin is sealed with a CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) label, an international trade-control measure set up to reduce sturgeon poaching. Additionally, under international law, tourists are only permitted to bring home 250g of caviar per person. For more information go to www.cites.org/eng/prog/sturgeon.shtml. The Philosopher Fish by ecojournalist Richard Adams Carey, a lively investigation into the endangered life of the sturgeon and the prized caviar it provides is a good read, as is Vanora Bennett’s lyrical The Taste of Dreams.
A legacy of Soviet days are Central Asian-style dishes, notably plov (fried rice with lamb and carrot) and lagman (noodles and meat in a soupy broth that gets spicier the further south you go). Ubiquitous are pelmeni, Russian-style ravioli dumplings (generally stuffed with pork or beef) that are served either heaped on a plate with sour cream, vinegar and butter, or in a stock soup. Variations such as salmon or mushroom pelmeni are found on the menus of more chic restaurants.
The range of fish in Russia is enormous, but common staples include osyetrina (sturgeon), shchuka (pike), losos or syomga (salmon) and treska (chub). Beware that even relatively upmarket restaurants seem averse to filleting and the unwary can find their fish dishes viciously barbed with throat-ripping bones. Stuffed kalmar (squid) is usually tasty and bone-safe, though as it’s generally stored frozen, avoid it if you have any doubts about the regularity of the restaurant’s electrical supply.
Most restaurant menus give the weight of portions as well as the price (easily confused when your Russian is poor). In most cases, you’ll be expected to choose an accompanying ‘garnish’ (priced separately) of ris (rice), various potato dishes or grechka (split buckwheat). The latter has long been considered low class, but a recent revival means it is no longer relegated to just the most basic stolovye (canteen).
Desserts & Sweets
The Russian sweet tooth is seriously sweet. Morozhenoe (ice cream) is very good here, and Russians love it with a passion: it’s not unusual to see people gobbling dishfuls, even in the freezing weather. Gooey torty (cream cakes), often decorated in lurid colours, are also popular. Pecheniye (pastries) are eaten at tea-time in the traditional English style and are available at any bulochnaya (bakery).
Locally made chocolate and konfetki (sweets) are also excellent and, with their colourful wrappings, make for great presents. Russian chocolate typ-ically uses more cocoa so it is not as sweet as some non-Russian brands can be. Moscow’s Krasny Oktyabr (Red October; www.konfetki.ru) and St Petersburg’s Krupskoi (www.krupskaya.com) are both reputable manufacturers.
Please to the Table, by Anya von Bremzen and John Welchman, is nothing if not comprehensive, with over 400 recipes from the Baltics, Central Asia and all points between, plus a wealth of background detail on Russian cuisine.
DRINKS
‘Drinking is the joy of the Rus. We cannot live without it’ – with these words, Vladimir of Kyiv, the father of the Russian state, is said to have rejected abstinent Islam on his people’s behalf in the 10th century. Ever since, Russians have been among the world’s most enthusiastic imbibers. If you really want to fit in, break open a can or bottle of beer and drink it while walking down the street or sitting in a park, as many locals do.
TABLE SCRAPS FROM HEAVEN Mara Vorhees
Described by writer Darra Goldstein as ‘Heaven’s table scraps’, you must try the rich, spicy cuis-ine of the former Soviet republic of Georgia while in Russia. Georgian cooking shows glimpses of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavours, but a notable difference is that many meat and vegetable dishes use ground walnuts or walnut oil as an integral ingredient, yielding a distinctive rich, nutty flavour. Also characteristic of Georgian cuisine is the spice mixture khmeli-suneli, which combines coriander, garlic, chillies, pepper and savoury with a saffron substitute made from dried marigold petals.
Grilled meats are among the most beloved items on any Georgian menu. Herbs such as cori-ander, dill and parsley and things like scallions are often served fresh, with no preparation or sauce, as a palette-cleansing counterpoint to the other rich dishes. Grapes and pomegranates show up not only as desserts, but also as tart complements to roasted meats. For vegetarians, Georgian eggplant dishes (notably garlic-laced badrizhani nivrit), lobiyo (spicy beans) and khachapuri (cheese bread) are a great blessing.
Here are a few more tried and true Georgian favourites to get you started when faced with an incomprehensible menu:
- basturma – marinated, grilled meat; usually beef or lamb
- bkhalior pkhali – a vegetable purée with herbs and walnuts, most often made with beetroot or spinach
- buglama – beef or veal stew with tomatoes, dill and garlic
- chakhokhbili – chicken slow cooked with herbs and vegetables
- chikhirtmi – lemony chicken soup
- dolmas – vegetables – often tomatoes, eggplant or grape leaves – stuffed with beef
- khachapuri – the archetypal Georgian cheese bread comes in three main forms. Snack versions sold at markets are flaky pastry squares. In restaurants, khachapuri po-imeretinsk are circles of fresh dough cooked with sour, salty suluguni cheese, while khachapuri po-adzharski is topped with a raw egg in the crater (mix it rapidly into the melted cheese).
- kharcho – thick, spicy rice and beef or lamb soup
- khinkali – dumplings stuffed with lamb or a mixture of beef and pork
- lavash – flat bread used to wrap cheese, tomatoes, herbs or meat
- pakhlava – a walnut pastry similar to baklava, but made with sour cream dough
- satsivi – walnut, garlic and pomegranate paste, usually used as a chicken stuffing in cold starters
- shilaplavi – rice pilaf, often with potatoes
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Alcohol
Both good local and foreign brands are common. That doesn’t stop some locals gleefully dishing out samogon (homemade moonshine); if you’re at all in doubt about the alcohol’s provenance, don’t drink it – some of this stuff is highly poisonous.
VODKA
The classic Russian drink is distilled from wheat, rye or occasionally potatoes. The word comes from voda (pronounced va-da, water). The drink’s flavour derives from what’s added after distillation, so as well as ‘plain’ vodka you’ll find klyukovka (cranberry vodka, one of the most popular kinds), pertsovka (pepper vodka), starka (apple and pear leaves), limonnaya (lemon), and okhotnichya (meaning ‘hunter’s’, with about a dozen ingredients, including peppers, juniper berries, ginger and cloves).
There are hundreds of different brands of vodka for sale, with ones that you’ll certainly have heard of such as Stolichnaya and Smirnoff, as well as ones named after presidents (Putinka, the country’s top seller), politicians (Zhirinovsky) and banks (Russian Standard, whose manufacturer paid US$3 million for the domain name wwww.vodka.com in 2006). Among the better labels are Moskovskaya, Flagman, Gzhelka and Glavspirttrest’s Green Mark, named after the Stalin-era government agency that regulated vodka quality. For more brands see http://russianvodka.com, and for an interview with the chief manager of a vodka factory in Novgorod, Click here.
The classic recipe for vodka (a 40% alcohol to water mixture) was patented in 1894 by Dmitry Mendeleyev, the inventor of the periodic table.
BEER
These days beer is far more popular than vodka among Russians, not least because it’s cheap and very palatable. There are scores of breweries across the country pumping out dozens of tasty local and famous Western brands. The local market leader is Baltika (http://eng.baltika.ru), based in St Petersburg with nine other breweries across the country. You’re bound to find something to like among its 10 different kinds of ale: No 3, a light beer, is the most popular; No 8 is an unfiltered wheat beer; No 0 is alcohol-free; and No 9 is a lethal 16.5% proof.
Other brands to look out for include Stepan Razin, Nevskoye and Bochkaryov (all produced in St Petersburg), Stary Melnik, Klinskoye and Sibirskaya Korona. Most cities also have their own brews – Krasnoyarsk’s Legenda is particularly good.
WINES & BRANDY
The Soviet Union was the fourth largest producer of wine in the world in 2008. Of course, quantity doesn’t always equate to quality, and into today’s relatively slimline Russian Federation, the local wine industry is much diminished and notable mainly for its saccharine polusladkoe (semisweet) or sladkoe (sweet) dessert wines. Bryut (very dry and only for sparkling wine), sukhoe (dry) and polusukhoe (semi-dry) reds can be found, though getting a palatable Russian dry white can be pretty tough. Locally produced sparkling wine, known as shampanskoye is remarkably cheap (around R300 a bottle) and popular even though it tastes nothing like champagne. For more information about Russian wines see www.russiawines.com.
Georgian and Moldovan wines were once very popular and widely available in Russia. In March 2006 though, the government banned them on sanitary grounds after unacceptable amounts of pesticides and heavy metals were found in samples tested in Moscow. Also covered by the ban was Georgia’s Borjomi mineral water. Georgia and Moldovia claim that the ban is motivated more by politics than safety concerns.
Russian brandy is called konyak – the finest come from the Caucasus. Winston Churchill reputedly preferred Armenian konyak over French Cognac, and although standards vary enormously, local five-star brandies are generally a very pleasant surprise.
Nonalcoholic Drinks
WATER & MINERAL WATER
Dodgy tap water has caused sales of bottled water to proliferate to the point where almost half the water drunk in Russia comes from a bottle. Since 2004, over 2000 licences have been issued to producers of bottled water, but not all of it is as pure as it may seem. The Bottled Water Producers Union claim you’re likely to be safer drinking water labelled stolovaya (purified tap water, which accounts for the vast majority of what’s available) rather than mineralnaya (mineral water), which has doesn’t have to meet so many legal requirements for purity. One reliable brand of mineral water is Narzan. For those concerned about the environment as well as their health, boiling water and using a decent filter are sufficient if you want to drink what comes out the tap.
TEA & COFFEE
Russians make tea by brewing an extremely strong pot, pouring small shots of it into glasses, and topping the glasses up with hot water. This was trad-itionally done from the samovar, a metal water urn with an inner tube filled with hot charcoal; modern samovars have electric elements, like a kettle, which is actually what most Russians use to boil water for tea these days. Putting jam in tea instead of sugar is quite common for those who like it a little sweeter.
Tuvans and Buryats often drink their tea weak and milky, while tea in the Altai traditionally has butter and talkan (a sort of ground muesli) added to taste.
Coffee comes in small cups; unless you buy it at kiosks or stand-up eateries, it’s usually good. There’s been an explosion of Starbucks-style cafés all across Russia’s bigger cities – cappuccino, espresso, latte and mocha are now as much part of the average Russian lexicon as elsewhere.
OTHER DRINKS
Tasting not unlike ginger beer, kvas, a nonalcoholic beer, is a common Russian drink. It’s often dispensed on the street from big, wheeled tanks and is a highly refreshing drink in summer.
Sok can mean anything from fruit juice (usually in cartons rather than fresh) to heavily diluted fruit squash. Mors, made from all types of red berries, is a popular sok. Napitok means ‘drink’ – it’s often a cheaper and weaker version of sok, maybe with some real fruit thrown in.
Jugs of kefir (yogurtlike sour milk) are served as a breakfast drink, and are also recommended as a hangover cure. Milk, common and cheap in moloko (dairy shops), is often unpasteurised.
The Bashkirs, the Kazakhs of southernmost Altai and the Sakhans of the Sakha Republic drink kumiss (fermented mare’s milk).
CELEBRATIONS
In the 16th century, visitors to Russia gave drooling accounts of elaborate feasts at the tsars’ courts where everything, from the traditional bread and salt to young swans, was served. Little has changed since. OK, swan isn’t common, but food and drink still play a central role in many Russian cele-brations from birthdays to religious holidays. It’s traditional, for example, for wedding feasts to stretch on for hours (if not days in some villages) with all the participants generally getting legless.
In A Year of Russian Feasts, Catherine Cheremeteff Jones recounts how Russia’s finest dishes have been preserved and passed down through the feast days of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The most important holiday for the Russian Orthodox Church is Paskha (Easter). Coming after the six-week fast of Lent, when meat and dairy products are foresworn, Easter dishes are rich, exemplified by the traditional cheesecake (also known as paskha) and the saffron-flavoured buttery loaf kulich. Together with brightly decorated boiled eggs, these are taken in baskets to church to be blessed during the Easter service.
Bliny are the food of choice during the week-long Maslenitsa (Butter Festival), which precedes Lent – it is the equivalent of Mardi Gras elsewhere.
Christmas (which is celebrated on 7 January in the Russian Orthodox calendar) is not as big a festival as New Year’s Eve, which is celebrated with a huge feast of zakuski and the like. However, it is traditional to eat a sweet rice pudding called kutya at Christmas. The same dish is also left as an offering on graves during funerals.
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WHERE TO EAT & DRINK
In all major cities you’ll find a decent range of restaurants, with Moscow and St Petersburg particularly well served; there, you can feast on anything from sushi to Brazilian barbecue, often round the clock.
In general, a kafe is likely to be cheaper yet often more atmospherically cosy than a restoran, many of which are aimed at weddings and banquets more than individual diners. A kofeynya is generally an upmarket café with real coffee and cakes, though they often serve great meals too, as will a pab (upmarket pub with pricey imported beers) or traktir (a tavern, often with ‘traditional’ Russian decor). A zakusochnaya can be anything from a pleasant café to a disreputable bar, but they usually sell cheap beer and have a limited food menu. Occasionally you’ll come across ryumochnaya, dive bars specialising in vodka shots.
After the victory over Napoleon, impatient Russian soldiers in Paris cafés would bang their tables and shout ‘Bystro, bystro!’, meaning ‘Quickly, quickly!’ – that’s where the word ‘bistro’ came from.
It’s common to find restaurants serving set three-course menu biznes lunch from noon to 4pm, Monday to Friday, costing as little as R200 (up to R400 in Moscow and St Petersburg).
Increasingly common as you head east, a poznaya is an unpretentious eatery serving Central Asian food and, most notably, pozi. These are meat dumplings that you need to eat very carefully in order to avoid spraying yourself with boiling juices, as an embarrassed Mikhail Gorbachev famously did when visiting Ulan-Ude.
If you fancy a snack in an old Soviet-era hotel, the bufet is usually the best bet and will be far cheaper than its restaurant. Bufety are also found in stations and serve a range of simple snacks: buterbrod (open sandwiches), boiled eggs, salads, pastries and drinks.
The stolovaya (canteen) is the common person’s eatery, often located near stations or in public institutions such as universities. They are invariably cheap. Slide your tray along the counter and point to the food, and the staff will ladle it out. While unappealing, old Soviet style stolovaya remain, newer sparkling versions with very palatable food are springing up in most cities and towns.
In smaller towns the choice will be far narrower, perhaps limited to standard Russian meals such as pelmeni (Russian-style ravioli dumplings) and kotlety (cutlets); in villages there may be no hot food available at all (though there’s almost always do-it-yourself pot noodles available from kiosks and shops). The choice is particularly abysmal in Tuva (beyond Kyzyl).
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Ordering Food
It’s always worth asking if a restaurant has an English-language menu. If not, even armed with a dictionary and this book’s food glossary, it can be difficult to decipher Russian menus (the different styles of printed Cyrillic are a challenge), although they typically follow a standard form: first come zakuski, (appetisers, often grouped into cold and hot dishes) followed by soups, sometimes listed under pervye blyuda (first courses). Vtorye blyuda (second courses, or mains) are also known as goryachiye blyuda (hot courses). They can be divided into firmenniye (house specials, often listed at the front of the menu), myasniye (meat), ribniye (fish), ptitsa (poultry) and ovoshchniye (vegetable).
DRINKING ETIQUETTE IN RUSSIA
If you find yourself sharing a table at a bar or restaurant with locals, it’s odds-on they’ll press you to drink with them. Even people from distant tables, spotting foreigners, may be seized with hospitable urges. If it’s vodka being drunk, they’ll want a man to down the shot in one, neat of course; women are usually excused. This can be fun as you toast international friendship and so on, but vodka has a knack of creeping up on you from behind and the consequences can be appalling. It’s traditional (and good sense) to eat a little something after each shot.
Refusing a drink can be very difficult, and Russians may continue to insist until they win you over. If you can’t quite stand firm, take it in small gulps with copious thanks, while saying how you’d love to indulge but you have to be up early in the morning (or something similar). If you’re really not in the mood, one sure-fire method of warding off all offers (as well as making people feel quite awful) is to say Ya alkogolik (Ya alkogolichka for women): ‘I’m an alcoholic’.
If the menu leaves you flummoxed, look at what the other diners are eating and point out what takes your fancy to the staff. Service charges are uncommon, except in the ritziest restaurants, but cover charges are frequent after 7pm, especially when there’s live music (one would often gladly pay to stop the music). Check by asking, ‘Vkhod platny?’. Leave around 10% tip if the service has been good.
There is no charge for using the garderob (cloakroom) so do check in your coat before entering. Not doing so is considered extremely bad form in all but the shabbiest places.
For more words to help you order, check out Eat Your Words, opposite.
Quick Eats
There’s plenty of fast food available from both local and international operations, supplemented by street kiosks, vans and cafés with tables. Pitstsa (pizza, often microwaved) and shashlyk are common fare, as are bliny and pelmeni.
Restaurant.ru (http://en.restoran.ru) carries listings for places to eat in Moscow, St Petersburg, Ryazan, Vladimir, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk in a variety of languages.
All large cities have Western-style supermarkets and food stores, with a large range of Russian and imported goods – don’t expect them to be particularly cheap though. You’ll generally have to leave all bags in a locker before entering. The old food stores (with their infuriating system of queuing three times for each purchase: once to find out the price, once to pay, once to collect) are fast converting to one-stop service (if not to full supermarket-style shopping). Many places are now open 24 hours.
As well as the supermarkets, there are smaller food stores, called kulinariya, which sell ready-made food and are common all over the country. There are also the ubiquitous food-and-drink kiosks, generally located around parks and markets, on streets and near train and bus stations – their products are usually poor, but the kiosks are handy and reasonably cheap.
Every sizable town has a rynok (market), where locals sell spare potatoes and carrots from their dacha plots (check the market fringes), while bigger traders off-load trucks full of fruit, vegetables, meat, dried and dairy goods. Take your own shopping bag and go early in the morning for the liveliest scene and best selection; a certain amount of bargaining is acceptable, and it’s a good idea to check prices with a trustworthy local first.
Homes, roadside vendors and the well-stocked markets are your best bet for tasting the great range of wild mushrooms, paporotniki (fern tips), shishki (cedar nuts) and various soft fruits (red currants, raspberries) laboriously gathered by locals from the forest.
VEGETARIANS & VEGANS
Unless you’re visiting during Lent, when many restaurants have special non-meat menus, Russia can be tough on vegetarians. Some restaurants have caught on, particularly in Moscow, St Petersburg and other large cities. Main dishes are heavy on meat and poultry, vegetables are often boiled to death, and even the good vegetable and fish soups are usually made from meat stock.
If you’re vegetarian say so, early and often. You’ll see a lot of cucumber and tomato salads, and – if so inclined – will develop an eagle eye for baklazhan (eggplant) plus the rare good fish and dairy dishes. Zakuski include quite a lot of meatless ingredients such as eggs and mushrooms. Potatoes (kartoshka, kartofel, pure) are usually filed under ‘garnish’ not ‘vegetable’.
DINING DOS & DON’TS
- Do put your wrists on the edge of the table (not in your lap) while eating, and keep your fork in your left hand and knife in your right.
- Do eat snacks between shots of vodka.
- Don’t mix or dilute your vodka with another drink – it’s anathema to your average Russian.
- Don’t place an empty bottle on the table – it must be placed on the floor.
- Don’t sit at a table’s corner if you’re single, or you won’t get married for the next seven years!
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EATING WITH KIDS
Children are loved in Russia and in all but the fanciest of restaurants they will be greeted with the warmest of welcomes. Some restaurants also have special children’s rooms with toys. Kids’ menus are uncommon, but you shouldn’t have much problem getting the littl’ uns to guzzle bliny or bifshteks –a Russian-style hamburger served without bread, and often topped with a fried egg. Also, make sure you check whether the milk is pasteurised – outside of major cities it often isn’t. For more information on travelling with children, Click here.
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HABITS & CUSTOMS
It’s traditional for Russians to eat a fairly heavy early-afternoon meal (obed) and a lighter evening meal (uzhin). Entering some restaurants, you might feel like you’re crashing a big party. Here, the purpose of eating out is less to taste exquisite food than to enjoy a whole evening of socialising and entertainment, with multiple courses, drinking and dancing. Dress is informal in all but top-end places.
While restaurants and cafés are common, dining out for the average Russian is not as common as it is in many other countries – don’t be surprised if the choice of places to dine is limited outside of the main cities. If you really want to experience Russia’s famous hospitality – not to mention the best cuisine – never pass up the opportunity to eat at a Russian home. Be prepared to find tables groaning with food and hosts who will never be satisfied that you’re full, no matter how much you eat or drink.
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EAT YOUR WORDS
This glossary will help you navigate your way around Russian food and eateries. The italics in the pronunciations indicate where the stress in the word falls. To reflect the spoken language more accurately, the Russian letter ‘о’ is written as ‘a’ when it occurs in unstressed syllables in the following list of words and phrases; Click here for further tips on pronunciation.
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Useful Words & Phrases
PLACES TO EAT & BUY FOOD
ORDERING AT A RESTAURANT OR CAFé
Food Glossary
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Environment
THE LAND
Russia is the world’s largest country, covering 13% of the globe. As you’d expect, there’s a vast variety of terrain, though a remarkably large proportion is relatively flat. Mountains are comparatively rare, but do reach impressive heights in the Caucasus (where 5642m Mt Elbrus is Europe’s highest peak), in the magnificent volcanoes of Kamchatka and in the Altai, Sayan and Ergaki ranges of southern Siberia. Cities and towns are concentrated chiefly across central European Russia, and along the ribbon of track that constitutes the Trans-Siberian Railway, thinning out in the frozen north and the southern steppe.
Northwest Russia has a short border with Norway and a longer one with Finland. Frozen northern Russia is washed by the Barents, Kara, Laptev and East Siberian Seas. Novaya Zemlya, Europe’s fourth-biggest island, is also Russian, as are the islands that make up Franz Josef Land (Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa). Both stretch to the edge of the permanent Arctic ice cap. South of Finland, Russia opens on the Gulf of Finland, an inlet of the Baltic Sea; St Petersburg stands at the eastern end of this gulf.
In the west and southwest, Russia borders Estonia, Latvia, Belarus and Ukraine. The small Kaliningrad region of Russia lies disconnected from the rest of the country, between Lithuania, Poland and the Baltic Sea. East of Ukraine, the Russian Caucasus region commands stretches of the Black Sea and rugged, mountainous borders with Georgia and Azerbaijan. East of the Caucasus, Russia has an oil-rich stretch of Caspian Sea coast, north of which the Kazakhstan border runs up to the Ural Mountains.
Beyond the Urals, Asian Russia covers nearly 14 million sq km bordering Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China and a tiny corner of North Korea. Asia’s easternmost point is Russia’s Big Diomede Island (ostrov Ratmanov) in the Bering Strait, just 45km from the Alaskan mainland. Contrary to popular conception, only the western section of Asian Russia is actually called Siberia (Sibir). From the Amur regions in the south and the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in the north, it becomes officially known as the Russian Far East (Dalny Vostok). The eastern seaboard is 15,500km long, giving Russia more ‘Pacific Rim’ than any other country.
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Rivers & Lakes
Though none has the fame of the Nile or the Amazon, six of the world’s 20 longest rivers are in Russia. Forming the China–Russia border, the east-flowing Amur (4416km) is nominally longest, along with the Lena (4400km), Yenisey (4090km), Irtysh (4245km) and Ob (3680km), all of which flow north across Siberia, ending up in the Arctic Ocean. In fact, if one were to measure the longest stretch including tributaries (as is frequently done with the Mississippi-Missouri in North America), the Ob-Irtysh would clock up 5410km, and the Angara-Yenisey a phenomenal 5550km. The latter may in fact be the world’s longest river if Lake Baikal and the Selenga River (992km) are included, which directly feed into it. Beautiful Lake Baikal itself is the world’s deepest, holding nearly one-fifth of all the world’s unfrozen fresh water. Europe’s longest river, the Volga (3690km), rises northwest of Moscow and flows via Kazan and Astrakhan into the Caspian Sea, the world’s largest lake (371,800 sq km). Lake Onega (9600 sq km) and Lake Ladoga (18,390 sq km), both northeast of St Petersburg, are the biggest lakes in Europe.
The Wild Russia website (www.wild-russia.org) belongs to the US-based Center for Russian Nature Conservation, which assists and promotes nature conservation across Russia and publishes the English-language journal Russian Conservation News.
Until the 20th century, boats on Russia’s rivers offered the most important form of transport. Today, rivers are still economically important, but mostly as sources of hydroelectric power, with dozens of major dams creating vast reservoirs. It’s possible to visit Russia’s largest hydroelectric dam at Sayano-Shushenskaya on the Yenisey near Sayanogorsk (Click here).
Lesley Chamberlain’s Volga Volga recounts the author’s voyage back and forth along the great river in 1993 as she digs into its history, environmental decline and place in Russian culture.
VEGETATION & WILDLIFE
To grasp the full extent of Russia’s enormous diversity of wildlife, it is useful to understand the three major types of vegetation. In the northernmost extremes, fringed by the Arctic Ocean, is the icy tundra. These bleak, seemingly barren flatlands extend from 60km to 420km south from the coast. They gradually become more amicable to life and build up to taiga – the vast, dense forest that characterises and covers the greater part of Siberia. Finally is the steppe (from stepi, meaning plain), the flat or gently rolling band of low grassland – mostly treeless except along river banks – which runs intermittently all the way from Mongolia to Hungary.
There are three other distinct vegetative zones: the mountainous Caucasus in southern Russia; the active volcanic region of Kamchatka, in the far northeast of Russia; and Ussuriland, in the extreme Russian southeast, which experiences tropical air and rains. The forests covering this region – and their indigenous animals and vegetation – more closely resemble those of Southeast Asia than anything typically associated with Siberia.
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Tundra
Falling almost completely within the Arctic Circle, the tundra is the most inhospitable of Russia’s terrains. The ground is permanently frozen (in places recorded to a depth of 1450m) with whole strata of solid ice and just a thin, fragile carpet of delicate lichens, mosses, grasses and flowers lying on top. The few trees and bushes that manage to cling tenaciously to existence are stunted dwarfs, the permafrost refusing to yield to their roots. For nine months of the year the beleaguered greenery is also buried beneath thick snow. When the brief, warming summer comes, the permafrost prevents drainage and the tundra becomes a spongy wetland, pocked with lakes, pools and puddles.
Not surprisingly, wildlife has it hard on the tundra and there are few species that can survive its climate and desolation. Reindeer, however, have few problems and there are thought to be around four million in Russia’s tundra regions. They can endure temperatures as low as -50°C and, like the camel, can store food reserves. Reindeer sustain themselves on lichen and grasses, in winter sniffing them out and pawing away the snow cover.
A similar diet sustains the lemming, a small, round, fat rodent fixed in the popular consciousness for its proclivity for launching itself en masse from cliff tops. More amazing is its rate of reproduction. Lemmings can produce five or six litters annually, each comprising five or six young. The young in turn begin reproducing after only two months. With a three-week gestation period, one pair could spawn close to 10,000 lemmings in a 12-month period. In reality, predators and insufficient food keep numbers down.
Roger Took’s Running with Reindeer is a vivid account of his travels in Russia’s Kola Peninsula and the wildlife found there.
Other tundra mammals include the Arctic fox, a smaller, furrier cousin of the European fox and a big lemming fan, and the wolf, which, although it prefers the taiga, will range far and wide, drawn by the lure of reindeer meat. Make it as far as the Arctic coast and you could encounter seals, walruses (notably around Chukotka), polar bears and whales.
Taiga
Russia’s taiga is the world’s largest forest, covering about 5 million sq km (an area big enough to blanket the whole of India) and accounting for about 25% of the world’s wood reserves. Officially the taiga is the dense, moist subarctic coniferous forest that begins where the tundra ends, and which is dominated by spruces and firs. Travelling on the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) through the depths of Siberia, two or three days can go by with nothing but the impenetrable and foreboding dark wall of the forest visible outside the train: ‘Where it ends,’ wrote Chekhov, ‘only the migrating birds know’.
Though the conditions are less severe than in the Arctic region, it’s still harsh and bitterly cold in winter. The trees commonly found here are pine, larch, spruce and fir. In the coldest (eastern) regions the deciduous larch predominates; by shedding its leaves it cuts down on water loss, and its shallow roots give it the best chance of survival in permafrost conditions.
The Moscow-based Biodiversity Conservation Center (BCC; www.biodiversity.ru/eng/) is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organisation working for the restoration and protection of pristine nature all over northern Eurasia.
Due to the permanent shade, the forest-floor vegetation isn’t particularly dense (though it is wiry and spring-loaded, making it difficult for humans to move through), but there is a great variety of grasses, moss, lichens, berries and mushrooms. These provide ample nourishment for the animals at the lower end of the food chain that, in turn, become food for others.
Wildlife flourishes here; the indigenous cast includes squirrels, chipmunks (which dine well on pine-cone seeds), voles and lemmings, as well as small carnivores such as polecats, foxes, wolverines and, less commonly, the sable – a weasel-like creature whose luxuriant pelt played such a great role in the early exploration of Siberia.
The most common species of large mammal in the taiga is the elk, a large deer that can measure over 2m at the shoulder and weighs almost as much as a bear. The brown bear itself is also a Siberian inhabitant that you may come across, despite the Russian penchant for hunting it. Other taiga-abiding animals include deer, wolves, lynx and foxes.
Steppe
From the latitudes of Voronezh and Saratov down into the Kuban area north of the Caucasus, and all the way across southwestern Siberia, stretch vast areas of flat or gently undulating grasslands know as steppe. Since much of this is on humus-rich chernozem (black earth), a large proportion is used to cultivate grain. Where soil is poorer, as in Tuva, the grasslands offer vast open expanses of sheep-mown wilderness, encouraging wildflowers and hikers.
The delta through which the Volga River enters the Caspian is, in contrast to the surrounding area, very rich in flora and fauna. Huge carpets of the pink or white Caspian lotus flower spread across the waters in summer, attracting over 200 species of birds in their millions. Wild boar and 30 other mammal species also roam the land.
The small saygak (a type of antelope), an ancient animal that once grazed all the way from Britain to Alaska, still roams the more arid steppe regions around the northern Caspian Sea. However, the species is under threat of extinction from hunting and the eradication of its traditional habitat.
Caucasus
The steppe gives way to alpine regions in the Caucasus, a botanist’s wonderland with 6000 highly varied plant species and glorious wildflowers in summer. Among the animals of the Caucasus are the tur (a mountain goat), bezoar (wild goat), endangered mouflon (mountain sheep), chamois (an antelope), brown bear and reintroduced European bison. The lammergeier (bearded vulture), endangered griffon vulture, imperial eagle, peregrine falcon, goshawk and snowcock are among the Caucasus’ most spectacular birds. Both types of vulture have been known to attack a live tur.
Read about the work of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Russia at www.wwf.ru/eng/.
Kamchatka
The fantastic array of vegetation and wildlife in Kamchatka is a result of the geothermal bubbling, brewing and rumbling that goes on below the peninsula’s surface, which manifests itself periodically in the eruption of one of around 30 active volcanoes. The minerals deposited by these eruptions have produced some incredibly fertile earth, which is capable of nurturing giant plants with accelerated growth rates. John Massey Stewart, in his book The Nature of Russia, gives the example of the dropwort, normally just a small, unremarkable plant, which in Kamchatka can grow by as much as 10cm in 24 hours and reach a height of up to 4m. In the calderas (craters) of collapsed volcanoes, hot springs and thermal vents maintain a high temperature year-round, creating almost greenhouselike conditions for plants. Waterfowl and all manner of animals make their way here to shelter from the worst of winter.
The volcanic ash also enriches the peninsula’s rivers, leading to far greater spawnings of salmon than experienced anywhere else. And in thermally warmed pools the salmon also gain weight at a much increased rate. All of which is good news for the region’s predatory mammals and large sea birds (and for local fishermen). The bears, in particular, benefit and the numerous Kamchatkan brown bears are the biggest of their species in Russia: a fully grown male stands at over 3m and weighs close to a tonne. Other well-fed fish-eaters are the peninsula’s sea otters (a protected species), seals and the great sea eagle, one of the world’s largest birds of prey, with a 2.5m wingspan. The coastline is particularly favoured by birds, with over 200 recognised species including auks, tufted puffins and swans.
Among several research projects in the Russian Far East, the Wild Salmon Center (www.wildsalmoncenter.org) has teamed up with Moscow State University to save the last wild steelhead salmon in Kamchatka.
Ussuriland
Completely unique, Ussuriland is largely covered by a monsoon forest filled with an exotic array of plant life and animals – from tree frogs to tigers – found nowhere else in Russia. The mix of plants and animals draws from the taiga to the north, and also from neighbouring China, Korea and the Himalayas. The topography is dominated by the Sikhote-Alin Range, which runs for more than 1000km in a spine parallel to the coast. Unlike the sparsely vegetated woodland floor of the taiga, the forests of Ussuriland have a lush undergrowth, with lianas and vines twined around trunks and draped from branches. However, it’s the animal life that arouses the most interest – not so much the wolves, sables or Asian black bears (tree-climbing, herbivorous cousins to the more common brown bears, also found here), as Russia’s own tiger, the Siberian or Amur tiger.
The largest of all wild cats, the Siberian tiger can measure up to 3.5m in length. In 2005 there were estimated to be between 430 and 530 tigers in Ussuriland; incredible considering that, by 1948 when the animal was designated a protected species, hunting had reduced the population to between 20 and 30. In 2007 the 81,000-hectare Zov Tigra (Roar of the Tiger) National Park was established in the region, partly to help monitor and safeguard the cats. The tigers’ favoured prey is boar, though they’ve been observed to hunt and kill bears, livestock and even humans.
WORLD HERITAGE SITES
Russia’s environmental treasures inscribed on Unesco’s World Heritage list:
- Virgin Komi Forests of the Urals
- Lake Baikal
- Volcanoes of Kamchatka
- Altai Mountains
- Western Caucasus
- Curonian Spit (Kurshskaya Kosa National Park)
- Central Sikhote-Alin
- Uvs Nuur Basin on the border with Mongolia
- Wrangel Island Reserve in the Chukchi Sea in the Russian Far East
Ussuriland is also home to the Amur leopard, a big cat significantly rarer than the tiger, though less impressive and consequently less often mentioned. Around 30 of these leopards roam the lands bordering China and North Korea. Sadly, both the leopard and tiger are under threat from constant poaching by both Chinese and Russian hunters. For more about this beautiful animal see ALTA Amur Leopard Conservation (www.amur-leopard.org).
STATE NATURE RESERVES
Russia has around 100 official nature reserves (zapovedniki) and 35 national parks (natsionalniye parki), ranging from the relatively tiny Bryansk Forest (122 sq km) on the border with Ukraine to the enormous 41,692 sq km Great Arctic Nature Reserve in the Taymyr Peninsula, the nation’s largest such reserve. (This remote and difficult-to-reach peninsula is not covered in this book, but there are some details of Arctic Russia in Lonely Planet’s Greenland & the Arctic.) These are areas set aside to protect fauna and flora, often habitats of endangered or unique species, where controls are very strict. There are also around 70 zakazniki (special purpose reserves) where protection is limited to specific species or seasons, and many other nature parks.
All these nature reserves – which in total account for around 6% of Russian territory – were once the pride of the Soviet government, and lavished with resources. Scientists had ample funding to study the biological diversity of the reserves and conservation laws were strictly enforced. Now, though, the entire network is in danger of collapse due to a shortage of funds. The remaining conservation officers and scientists often have to grow their own food. Some reserves are open to visitors (see the table, below); and, unlike in the old days when visitors’ ramblings were strictly controlled, today you can sometimes hire the staff to show you around.
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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
The environmental health of the motherland has never been a particularly high priority in Russia. The Soviet Union’s enthusiasm for rapid industrialisation was matched only by its apparent ignorance of the often devastating environmental side effects – think of the draining of the Aral Sea. Mistakes were often covered up and, as the 1986 Chornobyl disaster in Ukraine notoriously showed, people were not told when their lives were in danger.
The USSR’s demise was an unexpected boon to Russia’s environment, as many of the centrally planned – and massively polluting – industries collapsed. However, as the economy has recovered so, too, have concerns resurfaced about environmental damage, particularly in relation to the country’s extraction of oil and gas. Higher standards of living have put many more cars on the roads and substantially increased solid-waste generation.
At the same time environmental awareness is growing. In June 2008 Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree ordering the government to develop legislation that encourages efficiency in electricity, construction, housing and transportation. Tax cuts for environmentally conscious companies are being considered, environmental education at schools is being introduced and on 5 June 2008 Russia observed its first World Environment Day. At the time of writing, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry is working on legislation that would toughen up rules on pollution emissions and increase fines for environmental offenders.
The Russian Far East, A Reference Guide for Conservation and Development, edited by Josh Newell, gathers work by 90 specialists from Russia, the UK and the US on this fascinating chunk of the country.
Numerous pressure groups such as Greenpeace Russia have managed to mount successful campaigns and there are several ways, as a visitor, that you can get involved in helping to clean up and preserve Mother Russia (Click here).
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Air Pollution
Air quality across Russia often exceeds national pollution limits, with levels that are likely to worsen. The results of a study of all of Russia’s regions by the International Social Environmental Union and the NERA independent environmental rating agency, released in June 2008, skewered Moscow and St Petersburg as both suffering particularly high levels of air pollution.
According to a 2007 report by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, air pollution is either ‘high’ or ‘extremely high’ in 69% of Russian cities, affecting over half of Russia’s population. Six Russian cities are on the Blacksmith Institute’s list of the 30 dirtiest places in the world – Bratsk (Click here), Dzerzhinsk (see the boxed text, Click here), Magnitogorsk (Click here), Norilsk (see the boxed text, Click here), and Rudnaya Pristan and Dalnegorsk, both in Primorsky Territory in the Russian Far East.
One positive step came in 2004 when Russia ratified the Kyoto Protocol. Its greenhouse gas emission targets were set in 1990 during the Soviet days, and since then the actual emissions have fallen by around a third. Should the quotas market ever start functioning, Russia is currently in the position of being able to earn itself billions of dollars by selling carbon credits.
Oil & Natural Gas Issues
Oil-rich Russia has proven reserves of 60 billion barrels, most of which are located in Western Siberia. It is even more blessed with natural gas – an estimated 47.6 trillion cu metres, more than twice the reserves of the next-largest country, Iran.
While it has undoubtedly been a great source of wealth for Russia, the oil and gas industry has been perhaps the country’s greatest environmental hazard. There are severe problems in Chechnya – where Grozny was a key oil-pipeline junction – and Russia’s deputy environment minister has estimated that 30 million barrels of oil have leaked into the ground, exacerbated by the region’s black market in oil. In the Western Siberian Plain, the huge Ob River, which flows across Russia’s major oil fields, has been subject to oil spills and pollution for decades.
RUSSIA’S MOST POLLUTED CITIES
In 2006 the dirty duo of Dzerzhinsk and Norilsk made the Blacksmith Institute’s top 10 list of the world’s most polluted cities (www.blacksmithinstitute.org). Dzerzhinsk, 400km east of Moscow in Nizhny Novgorod region, was once one of the Soviet Union’s principal production sites for chemical weapons. Although the manufacture of such weapons is said to have ceased here in the 1960s, toxic chemical production continues and the city’s water supply is highly contaminated with dioxins and other poisons. Out of a population of around 300,000 the Blacksmith Institute put the average life expectancy at 42 years for men and 47 for women (20 and 27 years less, respectively, than national figures). The city authorities have challenged these results.
Norilsk, the northernmost major city in Russia and home to 134,000, is where almost half the world’s supply of the precious metal palladium is mined by Norilsk Nickel. The resulting pollution has, according to Greenpeace Russia, created a 30km-wide ‘dead zone’ around the city and acid rain contaminating an area the size of Germany. In February 2008 the Natural Resources Ministry’s environmental watchdog filed a R4.35 billion lawsuit against Norilsk Nickel for polluting Siberian rivers. Follow this link to a story by the BBC who visited the off-limits city in 2007: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6528853.stm.
The Oslo-based Bellona Foundation (www.bellona.org) is a respected environmental organisation tackling nuclear waste and other pollution problems in Russia.
Equally harmful has been the destabilisation of the delicate tundra ecosystem by the construction of buildings, roads and railways and the extraction of underground resources. Parts of the low-lying Yamal Peninsula at the mouth of the Ob, containing some of the world’s biggest gas reserves, have been crumbling into the sea as the permafrost melts near gas installations. The traditional hunting and reindeer-herding way of life of Siberian native peoples, such as the Nenets, Khanty, Mansi and Nivkhi, has been further impeded by new pipelines blocking migration routes.
With Russia hard at work developing new oil fields in the Caspian and Baltic Seas, in the Sea of Japan around Sakhalin and Kamchatka, and in the Arctic, marine life is also under threat. Yet, according to Greenpeace Russia, there are almost no sea oil-spill and toxic-pollution prevention and response programs in the country – as demonstrated when an oil tanker sank in the Azov Sea in November 2007, spilling 1300 tonnes of fuel oil and 6100 tonnes of sulphur into the sea, affecting at least 20km of coastline.
Go to Greenpeace Russia (www.greenpeace.org/russia/en) for more details on the environmental problems being faced by Russia.
There have been some successes in environmental campaigns. The native inhabitants of the Yamal Peninsula managed to halt construction of a new railway and gas pipeline that would have interfered with reindeer migration routes. On Sakhalin, ecologists are joining with locals to block further oil exploration. A positive sign is Sakhalin Energy’s agreement to move its facilities away from the whale-breeding area.
Radioactivity & Nuclear Waste
Maintenance standards and security against terrorist attacks have improved in recent years at Russia’s 10 nuclear power plants, all managed by the federal agency Rosenergoatom (www.rosenergoatom.ru). Still, many of the reactors at these plants are similar to the ones that operated in Chornobyl in Ukraine, and accidents and incidents continue to happen.
Over two million people still live in areas of Russia affected by the Chornobyl disaster (mostly in the west around Bryansk); there are increased rates of cancer and heart problems among these people. The same is true for residents around Chelyabinsk, where the Mayak nuclear complex suffered a meltdown of similar scale to Chornobyl in 1957. Full details of this only started to emerge in the 1990s. In 1991 a Worldwatch Insititute (www.worldwatch.org) report declared Lake Karachay, adjacent to the Mayak complex, to be ‘the most polluted spot’ on Earth. It is estimated to contain 120 million curies of radioactive waste.
Following 120 underground and atmospheric nuclear tests on the Arctic Novaya Zemlya Island, abnormally high cancer rates have been recorded among the local Nenets people and their reindeer herds.
Forest.ru (www.forest.ru), a site about Russian forests, their conservation and sustainable usage, has a lot of information in English.
Chukotka in the far northeast is another past nuclear testing site, where locals have actually been subjected to as much radiation as if they’d been at Chornobyl in 1986. Today, there is close to a 100% incidence of tuberculosis and a child mortality rate of 10%.
Post-glasnost (the free-expression aspect of the Gorbachev reforms) disclosures have revealed that the Russian navy secretly dumped nuclear waste, including used reactors from submarines, in the Sea of Japan, off Vladivostok, and in the Arctic Ocean.
Logging & Desertification
Logging companies from China, Japan, South Korea and the USA in partnership with Russia, are queuing up to clear-fell the Siberian forests, which are currently being devoured at an estimated 4 million hectares a year, according to the Federal Agency for Forestry. Huge fires have swept uncontrollably through Russia’s forests in recent years too, causing much damage; some Russian scientists allege them to have been deliberately set to allow logging in previously protected areas. These forests act as a major carbon sink, removing an estimated 500 million tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year, so their destruction is cause for wider concern, not just in Russia.
Green Cross International (www.gci.ch), based on an idea of ex-president Mikhail Gorbachev, aims to find solutions to ecological and environmental issues and problems that span national boundaries.
There’s been desertification of the Kalmyk steppe areas around the northern Caspian Sea because of overgrazing by sheep, and other areas of the steppe suffer similarly from excessive cultivation.
Water Pollution
Russia’s network of antique pipes result in tap water that is, at best, tainted with rust and large doses of chlorine and, at worst, positively harmful. No wonder so many locals have turned to bottled water as a solution, but this creates its own environmental problem as discarded bottles increase litter.
All of European Russia’s main rivers, including the Volga, Don, Kama, Kuban and Oka, have 10 to 100 times the permitted viral and bacterial levels. The Volga, in particular, is severely polluted by industrial waste, sewage, pesticides and fertilisers. A chain of hydroelectric dams along the river blocks fish spawning routes and slows the current, which encourages fish parasites. The most documented instance of water pollution has centred on Lake Baikal. For an update on the situation, Click here.
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Active Russia
HIKING, MOUNTAINEERING & ROCK CLIMBING
From the Sahara-like sand dunes of Kaliningrad to the snow-covered volcanoes of Kamchatka, Russia offers a thrilling range of terrains in which to get active. Mountaineers can scale Mt Elbrus, Europe’s highest peak; the beautiful Altai Mountains; or the rock ledges of the Zhiguli Hills overlooking the mighty Volga River. Hikers should train their eyes on the vast tracts of forest and steppe protected in national parks. Fast-flowing rivers in the Altai and the Russian Far East are ideal for rafting and canoeing, while skiers can rack up bragging rights by ticking off resorts such as Abzakovo (Vladimir Putin’s favourite) or Krasnaya Polyana, future location of the 2014 Winter Olympics. If none of these common activities sparks your fancy, how about some uncommon ones, such as being beaten with birch branches in a banya (bathhouse), flying a supersonic MiG fighter jet, or even training as a cosmonaut (Click here)?
With witty quips a la Bill Byrson, Barbed Wire and Babushkas follows author Paul Grogan and companion Richard Boddington as they kayak the Amur River through China and Siberia.
While there are several professional operations out there, this is Russia, so it’s best to be flexible, patient, and prepared for things not to go as smoothly as you may hope. Specialist operators are listed under the Activities sections in each chapter. There will often also be a group of enthusiasts more than happy to share their knowledge and even equipment with a visitor; you might also be able to locate guides for trekking and other activities where detailed local knowledge is essential. Providing as much advance warning as possible is ideal; even if you can’t hammer out all the details, give operators an idea of your interests.
A scene in a banya kicks off the comedy Irony of Fate (Ironiya Sudby ili s Legkim Parom; 1975) directed by Eldar Ryazanov, a much-loved movie screened on TV every New Year’s Eve.
Always check the safety equipment before you set out and make sure you know what’s included in the quoted price. Also, make sure you have adequate insurance – many travel insurance policies have exclusions for risky activities, including skiing, diving and even trekking (Click here).
THE BANYA
For centuries, travellers to Russia have commented on the particular (and in many people’s eyes, peculiar) traditions of the banya; the closest English equivalents, ‘bathhouse’ and ‘sauna’, don’t quite sum it up. To this day, Russians make it an important part of their week, and you can’t say you’ve really been to Russia unless you’ve visited one.
A GUIDE TO BANYA ETIQUETTE Steve Kokker
At the same time every week, people head out to their favourite banya (boathouse) to meet up with a regular crowd of people (the Western equivalent would be your gym buddies). Many bring along a Thermos filled with tea mixed with jam, spices and heaps of sugar. A few bottles of beer and some dried fish also do nicely, although at the better banya, food and drink are available.
After stripping down in the sex-segregated changing room, wishing ‘Lyogkogo (pronounced lyokh-ka-va) para!’ to their mates (meaning something like ‘May your steam be easy!’), bathers head off into the parilka (steam room). After the birch-branch thrashing (best experienced lying down on a bench, with someone else administering the ‘beating’), they run outside and, depending on their nerve, plunge into the basseyn (ice-cold pool) or take a cold shower.
With eyelids draped back over their skull, the bathers stagger back into the changing room to their mates’ wishes of ‘S lyogkim parom!’ (Hope your steam was easy!). Finally, they wrap themselves in sheets and discuss world issues before repeating the process – most banya aficionados go through the motions about five to 10 times over a two-hour period.
The main element of the banya is the parilka (steam room), which can get so hot that it makes Finnish saunas seem wussy in comparison. Here, rocks are heated by a furnace, with water poured onto them using a long-handled ladle. Often a few drops of eucalyptus or pine oil (and sometimes even beer) are added to the water, creating a scent in the burst of scalding steam released into the room. After this, some people stand up, grab hold of a venik (a tied bundle of birch branches) and lightly beat themselves, or each other, with it.
It does appear sadomasochistic, and there are theories tying the practice to other masochistic elements of Russian culture. Despite the mild sting, the effect is pleasant and cleansing: apparently, the birch leaves (or sometimes oak or, agonisingly, juniper branches) and their secretions help rid the skin of toxins.
For more background on the design and health benefits of banya, see www.rusbanya.com/eng.htm
The banya tradition is deeply ingrained in the Russian culture that emerged from the ancient Viking settlement of Novgorod, with the Kyivan Slavs making fun of their northern brothers for all that steamy whipping. In folk traditions, it has been customary for the bride and groom to take separate bani with their friends the night before the wedding, with the banya itself the bridge to marriage. Husband and wife would also customarily bathe together after the ceremony, and midwives used to administer a steam bath to women during delivery. (It was not uncommon to give a hot birch minimassage to the newborn.) The banya, in short, is a place for physical and moral purification.
There’s a trend in the big cities of renovating banya or building new ones with sparking private facilities – all very welcome as many older banya are run-down and unappealing. Moscow’s splendid Sanduny Baths Click here) are an institution and there are also several good ones in St Petersburg (Click here). In Ust-Barguzin there’s a banya museum (Click here). Short of engineering a visit to a dacha with a traditional log cabin banya, your best chance for a truly authentic banya experience is to rent the one at Goryachie Klyuchi in Suzdal (Click here).
Rivers of an Unknown Land: A Whitewater Guide to the Former Soviet Union, by Vladimir Gavrilov, is the only English-language guidebook to include detailed information about rafting rivers in Russia.
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BOATING, CANOEING & RAFTING
Although the pollution of many rivers discourages even getting near the water, the coasts offer many canoeing and kayaking possibilities. The Altai region’s pristine rivers offers full-blown expedition-grade rafting, as well as easy, fun splashes possible on a ‘turn up’ basis; Click here. Kamchatka’s Bystraya River (Click here) is also recommended.
The Solovetsky Islands in northern European Russia are an example of the remote and fascinating places that can be toured by boat during the summer. The Volga River delta, with its fascinating flora and fauna below Astrakhan, is another good place for exploring by boat. In towns and parks with clean lakes, there are usually rowing boats available for rent during the warmer months. Both Moscow and St Petersburg sport active yacht clubs.
Agencies offering boating, kayaking and rafting trips include the following:
River of No Reprieve is an account of Jeffrey Tayler’s harrowing journey in 2004 in an inflatable raft down the Lena River, from Lake Baikal to the Arctic Ocean.
Adventure Studio,Sochi (Click here)
Alash Travel Kyzyl (Click here)
Altai Info Gorno-Altaisk (Click here)
Altour Barnaul(Click here)
Chip Levis Esso (Click here)
DVS-Tour Magadan (Click here)
Ekaterinburg Guide Center Yekaterinburg(Click here)
Kamchatintour Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (Click here)
Krasnov Perm(Click here)
K2 Adventures Omsk(Click here)
MorinTur Ulan-Ude (Click here)
Nata Tour Komsomolsk-na-Amure (Click here)Raft Siberia (
1-916-624 5189; www.raftsiberia.com) California-based agency that arranges rafting trips on the Katun, Chuya, Sayan Oka and Chatkal rivers in Siberia.
Reinfo Sochi (Click here)
Samara Intour Samara (Click here)
Solnechny Parus St Petersburg (Click here)
Team Gorky Nizhny Novgorod (Click here)
Tengri Ufa(Click here)
Ural Expeditions & Tours Yekaterinburg(Click here)
Wild Russia St Petersburg (Click here).
Mark Jenkins’ Off the Map: Bicycling Across Siberia follows the author on a 1989 ride with three Americans and four Russians from Vladivostok to what was then Leningrad. Jenkin’s distaste for Soviet Russia and Siberia rings through clearly.
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CYCLING
With its poorly maintained roads and manic drivers, Russia is no cyclists’ nirvana, although off-road bikers will find plenty of challenging terrain (see below). Otherwise, rural Russians are quite fascinated with and friendly towards long-distance riders. Just make certain you have a bike designed for the harshest conditions and carry plenty of spare parts.
In Moscow it’s possible to rent bikes at VDNKh (All-Russia Exhibition Centre; Click here). There are also a couple of rental operations in St Petersburg (Click here) and one in Suzdal (Click here).
EXTREME CYCLING: ILYA GUREVICH
Ilya Gurevich is one of the people behind the St Petersburg–area cycling website Velopiter (www.velopiter.spb.ru, in Russian), as well as the sadly defunct Towns.ru (www.towns.ru), which is mainly in Russian, but carries reviews and pictures of charming off-the-beaten-path places around the country, many of which could be visited on a cycling tour. We met up with him to talk about some of his cycling adventures – most of which have taken place in the depths of winter when freezing conditions have allowed access to places otherwise too wet or infested with insects to visit in the summer:
Tell us about one of your more memorable cycling trips. In March 2001 I cycled with two others across a frozen Lake Baikal. [Ilya’s route and a report in Russian is shown at www.velopiter.spb.ru/rep/baikal.] We started the trip by taking the BAM railway to Novy Uoyan, which is north of the lake, and cycling through the forest as far as Ust-Barguzin on the lake’s eastern shore. It was very cold, down to −37ºC on the lake. Obviously there’s no road; we followed the tracks made by lorries that cross through the forest and over the lake in winter. It took us 19 days to travel 1019km.
Is that the coldest place you’ve cycled? No, that would have to be my trip from Yakutsk to Oymayakon (the Republic of Sakha settlement with the lowest recorded temperatures in Russia) in 2004. There were five of us and it took two weeks to make that journey, during which I endured the coldest night of my life: −45ºC.
What’s the biggest challenge on these trips? Sometimes the conditions make it very difficult to judge how quickly you can go. In 2007 I planned a trip from Amderma (on the Kara Sea within the Arctic Circle) to Vorkuta. However we only managed the first 167km to the village Ust-Kara which took us 13 days. One day was so bad we covered just 12km.
What advice would you have for anyone wanting to undertake a similar bike ride in Russia? Bring the right equipment, especially if you’re travelling across ice and snow in winter. Having ice spikes on your wheels is essential. Also do a less ambitious preliminary trip to test out what it’s like to cycle in the Russian winter.
Any future trips planned? Yes, in 2009 I’m hoping to cycling across the Chukotka Peninsula from Pevek on the East Siberian Sea to Anadry on the Bering Sea.
Former submarine designer Ilya Gurevich has bicycled across some of the most inhospitable terrain that Russia can offer.
Agencies offering organised bike tours include the following:
Alliance Tour Samara (Click here)
Ekaterinburg Guide Center Yekaterinburg (Click here)
Kola Travel Monchegorsk (Click here)
Samara Intour Samara (Click here)
Skatprokat St Petersburg (Click here)
Team Gorky Nizhny Novgorod (Click here).
Tim Cope’s Russian expeditions (www.timcopejourneys.com) include a 10,000km cycle ride from Moscow to Beijing – covered in Off the Rails, written with co-cyclist Chris Hatherly – and rowing a boat 4500km down the Yenisey River to the Arctic Ocean.
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DIVING
Fancy diving Lake Baikal or within the Arctic Circle? Such specialist trips can be arranged:
Aqua-Eco Irkutsk (Click here)
BaikalExplorer Irkutsk (Click here)
Diveworldwide (0845-130 6980 in the UK; www.diveworldwide.com)
Nereis St Petersburg (812-103 0518; www.nereis.ru/eng/index.html) Can arrange ice diving. RuDive Moscow (495-005 7799; www.dive.ru; Serpukhovsky val 6; 
Tulskaya) Group of dive companies, with the Diving Club and School of Moscow State University at its core. They offer trips in the White and Barents Seas and the Sea of Japan, including ice diving off the live-aboard boat Kartesh (www.barentssea.ru/index/en.htm).
SVAL Irkutsk (Click here).
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FISHING
Serious anglers drool at the opportunity to fish the rivers, lakes and lagoons of the Kaliningrad region, northern European Russia, the Russian Far East and Siberia. Kamchatka is a particular draw, with steelhead fishing in the peninsula reckoned to be the best in the world.
Start saving up: organised fishing trips in Russia can be heart-stoppingly expensive. While it’s possible to go it alone and just head off with rod and tackle, most regions have severe restrictions on fishing, so you’d be wise to at least check these out before departure. A curious alternative is ice fishing for Lake Baikal’s unique omul (Click here).
Hooked: Fly Fishing in Russia (titled Reeling in Russia in the US) by Fen Montaigne charts the former Moscow-based correspondent as he spends a revealing three months casting his rod in the country’s largely polluted lakes and rivers.
Click here for some specialist agencies with trips to the Kola Peninsula. Other agencies include the following:
Baltma Tours Kaliningrad (Click here)
DVS-Tour Magadan (Click here)
Flait Murmansk (Click here)
Kamchatintour Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (Click here)
Nata Tour Komsomolsk-na-Amure (Click here)
Yug Kola Apatity (Click here)
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FLYING & SKYDIVING
If you’ve ever wanted to fly in a MiG-31, −25 or-29, contact Rostourism (910 397 2820; www.bestrussiantour.com); they can arrange tourist flights in these supersonic aircraft at Nizhny Novgorod’s Sokol aviation plant. They can also organise trips to see the launch of the manned Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and a range of activities at Star City (Click here).
For flights in MiGs (starting at US$11,300), an L-39 Albatros (US$2650) or a Su-27 Flanker (US$14,550) out of Zhukovsky Airbase, an hour’s drive southeast of Moscow, contact the US-based firm MiG-25.com (www.mig-25.com) at least 16 days in advance of your ideal flight date so they can sort out security clearance. Flights on L-29, Yak-52, Yak-18T and TL-2000 aircraft out of St Petersburg can be arranged at much shorter notice.
Baltic Airlines (Click here) offer flights over St Petersburg in a chopper, as well as tandem parachute skydives, which can also be arranged at Kubinka Aerodrom, 60km southwest of Moscow (Click here).
ADVENTURES IN SPACE
Do you have US$100 million to spare? If so, consider signing up for the first private lunar expedition, organised by US-based Space Adventures (
For less-wealthy individuals, Space Adventures offer a range of programs – while they might not actually shoot you into space, they certainly give you an idea of what it takes to be there. Running out of Zvezdny Gorodok (Star City), a once highly classified community of cosmonauts and scientists, around an hour’s drive northeast of Moscow these programs include ones that allow participants to enjoy zero-gravity flights (for around US$10,000), train as a cosmonaut (US$89,500), board the Soyuz spacecraft simulator as a trainee commander (US$15,950) experience the high g-forces of a rocket launch in the world’s largest centrifuge (US$9750) and, for qualified divers, enjoy spacewalk training outside a full-scale model of the International Space Station submerged in a neutral buoyancy tank (US$33,750 for two people). The least costly deal is to train for a spacewalk (US$7650), which still includes a visit to Star City, trying on an Orlan spacesuit, meeting with cosmonauts and chowing down at Star City’s cafeteria.
Moscow-based Rostourism (Click here) can also arrange similar tours to Star City including zero-gravity flights (from US$3400 for a four-day package), three days of primary space training (from US$19,800), and survival after landing training (from US$18,100).
If you just want to visit Star City and have a look around, this is also possible. Tours of the technical area and museum can be arranged through the Yuri Gagarin Russian State Science Research Cosmonauts Training Centre (
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HIKING, MOUNTAINEERING & ROCK CLIMBING
Serious hikers and mountain climbers should have the Caucasus top of their wish list, particularly the areas around Mt Elbrus (Click here), Dombay (Click here), Krasnaya Polyana (Click here) and Mt Fisht (Click here). The Agura Valley (Click here) is a prime location for rock climbing.
In the Southern Urals, Zyuratkul National Park (Click here) and Taganay National Park (Click here) are both beautiful places to hike. Siberia also harbours many equally fantastic hiking and mountaineering locations, principally the Altai (Click here) and around Lake Baikal, where you’ll find the Great Baikal Trail (Click here). In the Russian Far East, look no further than Kamchatka (Click here) for plentiful hiking and mountaineering possibilities, including the chance to summit active volcanoes.
You might have the cash, but do you have the right stuff? This feature in Wired magazine (www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-09/ff_starcity) gives the inside scoop on training to go into space.
Elsewhere, multiple national parks and state nature reserves (Click here) exist but don’t expect them to have especially good facilities or even well-marked trails. For this reason, it’s especially important to seek out local advice, information and even guides before setting off.
Reliable agencies include the following:
Acris Novosibirsk (Click here)
Bars Dombay (Click here)
Ekaterinburg Guide Center Yekaterinburg(Click here)
Elsi-Trek Nalchik (Click here)K2 Adventures Omsk(Click here) Good for tackling Mt Belukha.
Kola Travel Monchegorsk (Click here)
Megatest Moscow (495-126 9119; www.megatest.ru)
Pyatigorsk Intour Pyatigorsk (Click here)
Reinfo Sochi (Click here)
Sputnik-Altai Barnaul (Click here).
STA-Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (Click here)
Tuva Travel Kyzyl (Click here)
Ural Expeditions & Tours Yekaterinburg(Click here)
Wild Russia St Petersburg (Click here) Recommended for Mt Elbrus.
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HORSE RIDING
Many of the same areas that offer good hiking and mountaineering also offer horse riding treks. Try Dombay (Click here) and Arkhyz (Click here) in the Caucasus, the Altai region (Click here) around Lake Baikal (Click here) and Kamchatka (Click here). Horse enthusiasts will also be keen to check out the famous Georgenburg Stud Farm inChernyakhovsk (Click here).
Specific operators who can arrange horse riding include the following:
GDK Suzdal (Click here)
Krasnov Perm(Click here)
Ural Expeditions & Tours Yekaterinburg(Click here)
Baikal Naran Tour Ulan-Ude (Click here)
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WINTER SPORTS
It’s no surprise that Russia’s winter wonderlands have long been put to good use by active locals. Sochi will be the location of the 2014 Winter Olympics (see http://sochi2014.com and Click here for more information). Get a jump on future tourists by signing up for a wide range of winter sports now.
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Skiing
Downhill ski slopes are scattered throughout the country, although cross-country skiing is more common, attracting legions of skiers during the long winters. Given the wealth of open space, you won’t have a problem finding a place to hit the trail – even in central Moscow for example, at Gorky Park. For off-piste adventures, try heliskiing in the Caucasus and Kamchatka, while for year-round fun there’s the chance to learn to ski-jump in Moscow (Click here).
SAFETY GUIDELINES FOR HIKING
Before embarking on a hike, consider the following:
- Be sure you’re healthy and feel comfortable about hiking for a sustained period. The nearest village in Russia can be vastly further away than it would be in other countries.
- Get the best information you can about the physical and environmental conditions along your intended route. Russian ‘trails’ are generally nominal ideas rather than marked footpaths, so employing a guide is very wise.
- Walk only in regions, and on trails, within your realm of experience.
- Be prepared for severe and sudden changes in the weather and terrain; always take wet-weather gear.
- Pack essential survival gear including emergency food rations and a leak-proof water bottle.
- If you can, find a hiking companion. At the very least tell someone where you’re going and refer to your compass frequently so you can find your way back.
- Unless you’re planning a camping trip, start early so you can make it home before dark.
- Allow plenty of time.
- Consider renting, or even buying (then later reselling), a pack horse, especially in southern Siberia where this is fairly inexpensive.
MORE UNUSUAL ACTIVITIES
Looking for something even more offbeat than training to be an astronaut during your Russian vacation? Try the following on for size:
- Join a mineralogical (rock-hunting) tour – the geologically minded should contact Kola Travel (Click here) or Yug Kola (Click here) to organise one of these.
- Go caving and canyoning – arrange this through Adventure Studio (Click here) in Sochi.
- Sample ski-climbing – first you climb up, then you ski down. Do this with the pro skiers at Go-Elbrus (Click here).
- Raise your rifle – all kinds of shooting can be arranged at Central Sport Shooting Club in Moscow (Click here).
- Drive off-road – check out the options on the World 4×4 Adventures website (www.world4×4.co.uk/index.htm), including the Ladoga Trophy Raid, an eight-day marathon around Lake Ladoga starting and ending in St Petersburg. There’s also the Transyberia Rally (www.transsyberia-rallye.de/en) from Moscow to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. If all that sounds too hard core, try ATV (all-terrain vehicle) rides organised out of Novgorod (Click here).
- Dive off a hydroelectric dam – bungee-jump over the Altai’s Katun River (Click here).
Ski resorts and areas include the following:
Abzakovo (Click here)
Bobrovy Log Krasnoyarsk (Click here)
Cheget & Elbrus (Click here)
Dombay (Click here)
Gladenkaya Sayanogorsk (Click here)
Gora Sobolinaya Baikalsk (Click here)
Kirovsk (Click here)
Krasnaya Polyana (Click here)
Krasnoe Ozero near St Petersburg (Click here)
Kurort Snezhny near St Petersburg (Click here)
Metallurg ski centre Bannoye (Click here)
Sheregesh Southern Kemerovo region (Click here)
Tuutari Park near St Petersburg (Click here)
For further details, go to World Snowboardguide.com (www.worldsnowboardguide.com/resorts/russia/) or Onboard.ru (www.onboard.ru in Russian).
Ice Skating
Russians skate with abandon during the long winter. Outdoor rinks are common and easy to find, and equipment rentals are cheap. There are also many rinks, both indoor and outdoor, open throughout the year. For specific recommendations in Moscow, Click here, and in St Petersburg, Click here.
Snowmobiling & Arctic Adventures
For snowmobile safaris and activities in the arctic contact Kola Travel in Monchegorsk (Click here), Megatest (495-126 9119; www.megatest.ru) in St Petersburg, or Yug Kola in Apatity (Click here). GTK in Suzdal (Click here) also offers snowmobile rides.
For full-on Arctic expeditions contact Vicaar in St Peterbsurg (812-713 2781; www.northpolextreme.com).
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Moscow Москва
PRIOKSKO-TERRASNY BIOSPHERE RESERVE
Moscow is a city of superlatives: it’s the priciest and (according to one poll) the rudest city in the world, boasts the most billionaires, the most expensive cup of coffee and – coming soon – the most colossal building. No wonder, then, that a popular nightclub is called simply The Most.
Moscow may occupy the top spot, but these lists hardly capture its reality – or vitality. Free (relatively) from the strictures of censorship and hardship, Russia’s capital is experiencing a burst of creative energy. Former factories and warehouses are now edgy art galleries, while classic venues such as the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum are expanding and experimenting. Tchaikovsky and Chekhov remain well-represented at Moscow’s theatres, but you can also see world premieres by up-and-coming composers and choreographers. Foodies flock to wine bars, coffee bars, sushi bars and even beer bars, while night owls enjoy a dynamic scene of exclusive nightclubs, bohemian art cafés, underground blues bars and drink-up dives.
The ancient city has always been a haven for history buffs. The red-brick towers of the Kremlin occupy the founding site of Moscow; churches and monuments remember fallen heroes and victorious battles; and remains of the Soviet state are scattered all around the city. Even history is being examined in innovative ways, as new museums broach subjects long brushed under the carpet.
The capital is also experiencing an unprecedented growth in birth rates. From artistry and history to recreation and procreation, Moscow is definitely a caldron of creativity. Dare we say that it is so much more than the most?
HIGHLIGHTS
- Paying your respects to Vladimir Ilich at the Lenin Mausoleum (Click here)
- Cooling off at Russia’s first year-round Ice Sculpture Gallery (Click here)
- Seeing eye to eye with the fallen heroes at the Art Muzeon Sculpture Park (Click here)
- Admiring the world’s largest collection of Russian art at the Tretyakov Gallery (Click here)
- Doing the café scene at sweet summer spots such as Chaikhona No 1 or Swan Lake (both Click here)
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HISTORY
Legend has it that Prince Yury Dolgoruky – on his way from Kyiv to Vladimir – stopped at the trading post near the confluence of the Moscow and Yauza Rivers. Believing that the local prince had not paid him sufficient homage, Yury put the impudent boyar (high-ranking noble) to death and took control of the site. Moscow is first mentioned in the historic chronicles in 1147, when Yury invited his allies to a banquet: ‘Come to me, brother, please come to Moscow’.
Moscow’s strategic importance prompted Yury to construct a moat-ringed wooden palisade on the hilltop, the first Kremlin. Moscow blossomed into an economic centre, attracting traders and artisans to the merchant rows just outside the Kremlin’s walls.
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Medieval Moscow
Beginning in 1236, Eastern Europe was overwhelmed by the ferocious Golden Horde, a Mongol-led army of nomadic tribesmen. The Mongols introduced themselves to Moscow by burning the city to the ground and killing its governor.
The Golden Horde was mainly interested in tribute, and Moscow was conveniently situated to monitor the river trade and road traffic. Moscow’s Prince Ivan Danilovich readily accepted the assignment as Mongol tax collector, earning himself the moniker of Moneybags (Kalita). As Moscow prospered, its political fortunes rose, too. It soon surpassed Vladimir and Suzdal as the regional capital.
Moscow eventually became a nemesis of the Mongols. In the 1380 Battle of Kulikovo, Moscow’s Grand Prince Dmitry won a rare victory over the Golden Horde on the banks of the Don River. He was thereafter immortalised as Dmitry Donskoy. This feat did not break the Mongols, however, who retaliated by setting Moscow ablaze. From this time, Moscow acted as champion of the Russian cause.
Towards the end of the 15th century, Moscow’s ambitions were realised as the once-diminutive duchy emerged as an expanding autocratic state. Under the long reign of Grand Prince Ivan III (the Great), the eastern Slav independent principalities were consolidated into a single territorial entity. In 1480 Ivan’s army faced down the Mongols at the Ugra River without a fight: the 200-year Mongol yoke was lifted.
To celebrate his successes, Ivan III imported a team of Italian artisans and masons for a complete renovation of his Moscow fort-ress. The Kremlin’s famous thick brick walls and imposing watchtowers were constructed at this time. Next to the Kremlin, traders and artisans set up shop in Kitay Gorod, and a stone wall was erected around these commercial quarters. The city developed in concentric rings outwards from this centre.
As it emerged as a political capital, Moscow also took on the role of religious centre. In the mid-15th century, the Russian Orthodox Church was organised, independent of the Greek Church. In the 1450s, when Constantinople fell to the heathen Turks, Moscow claimed the title of ‘Third Rome’, the rightful heir of Christendom. Under Ivan IV (the Terrible), the city earned the nickname of ‘Gold-Domed Moscow’ because of the multitude of monastery fortresses and magnificent churches constructed within them.
By the early 15th century, the population surpassed 50,000 people. Contemporary visit-ors said Moscow was ‘awesome’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘filthy’. The city was resilient against fire, famine and fighting. In the early 17th century, its population topped 200,000, making it the largest city in the world.
Imperial Moscow
Peter the Great was determined to modernise Russia. He built Moscow’s tallest structure, the 90m-high Sukharev Tower, and next to it founded a College of Mathematics and Navigation. Yet Peter always despised Moscow for its scheming boyars and archaic traditions. In 1712 he startled the country by announcing the relocation of the capital to a swampland in the northwest (St Petersburg). The spurned ex-capital fell into decline, later exacerbated by an outbreak of bubonic plague.
By the turn of the 19th century, Moscow had recovered from its gloom. By this time, the city hosted Russia’s first university, museum and newspaper. Moscow’s intellectual and literary scene gave rise to a nationalist-inspired Slavophile movement, which celebrated the cultural features of Russia that were distinctive from the West.
In the early 1800s Tsar Alexander I decided to resume trade with England, in violation of a treaty Russia had made with France. A furious Napoleon Bonaparte set out for Moscow with the largest military force the world had ever seen. The Russian army engaged the advancing French at the Battle of Borodino, 130km from Moscow. More than 100,000 soldiers lay dead at the end of this inconclusive one-day fight. Shortly thereafter, Napoleon entered a deserted Moscow. By some accounts, defiant Muscovites burned down their city rather than see it occupied. French soldiers tried to topple the formidable Kremlin, but its sturdy walls withstood their pummelling.
The city was feverishly rebuilt following Napoleon’s final defeat. Monuments were erected to commemorate Russia’s hard-fought victory, including a Triumphal Arch (Click here) and the grandiose Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Click here). In the centre, engineers diverted the Neglinnaya River to an underground canal and created two new urban spaces: the Alexandrovsky Garden (Click here) and Teatralnaya pl (Click here). Meanwhile, the city’s two outer defensive rings were replaced with the tree-lined Boulevard Ring and Garden Ring roads.
By midcentury, industry overtook commerce as the city’s economic driving force. With a steady supply of cotton from Central Asia, Moscow became a leader in the textile industry, known as ‘Calico Moscow’. By 1900, Moscow claimed over one million inhabitants. The Garden Ring became an informal social boundary line: on the inside were the abodes and amenities of businessmen, intellectuals, civil servants and foreigners; on the outside were the factories and flophouses of the toiling, the loitering and the destitute.
Red Moscow
Exhausted by three years engaged in fighting during WWI, the tsarist regime meekly succumbed to a mob of St Petersburg workers in February 1917; a few months later, Lenin’s Bolshevik party stepped into the political void. In Moscow the Bolshevik coup provoked a week of street fighting, leaving more than a thousand dead. Fearing a German assault on St Petersburg, Lenin ordered that the capital return to Moscow.
In the early 1930s Josef Stalin launched an industrial revolution, instigating a wave of peasant immigration to Moscow. Around the city, makeshift work camps were erected to shelter the huddling hordes. Moscow became a centre of military industry, whose engineers and technicians enjoyed a larger slice of the proletarian pie.
Under Stalin a comprehensive urban plan was devised for Moscow. On paper, it appeared as a neatly organised garden city; unfortunately, it was implemented with a sledgehammer. Historic cathedrals and monuments were demolished, including landmarks such as the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Click here) and Kazan Cathedral (Click here). In their place appeared the marble-bedecked metro and neo-Gothic skyscrapers.
When Hitler launched ‘Operation Barb-arossa’ into Soviet territory in June 1941, Stalin was caught by surprise. By December the Nazis were just outside Moscow, within 30km of the Kremlin – an early winter halted the advance. In the Battle of Moscow, war hero General Zhukov staged a brilliant counter-offensive and saved the city from capture.
After Stalin’s death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev – a former mayor of Moscow – tried a different approach to ruling. He introduced wide-ranging reforms and promised to improve living conditions. Huge housing estates grew up round the outskirts of Moscow; many of the hastily constructed low-rise projects were nicknamed khrushchoby, after trushchoby (slums). Khrushchev’s populism and unpredictability made the ruling elite nervous and he was ousted in 1964.
From atop Lenin’s mausoleum, Leonid Brezhnev presided over the rise of a military superpower during the Cold War. The aerospace, radio-electronics and nuclear weapons ministries operated factories and research laboratories in and around the capital. By 1980 as much as one-third of the city’s industrial production and one-quarter of its labour force were connected to the defence industry. As a matter of national security, the KGB secretly constructed a second subway system.
Brezhnev showed a penchant for lavish cement-pouring displays of modern architecture, such as the State Kremlin Palace (Click here). Residential life continued to move further away from the city centre. Shoddy high-rise apartments went up on the periphery and metro lines were extended outward. By 1980 the city’s population surpassed eight million.
Transitional Moscow
Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in March 1985 with a mandate to revitalise the ailing socialist system. He promoted Boris Yeltsin as the new head of Moscow. Yeltsin’s populist touch made him an instant success with Muscovites. He embraced the more open political atmosphere, allowing ‘informal’ groups to organise and express themselves in public. Moscow streets such as ul Arbat hosted demonstrations by democrats, nationalists, reds and greens.
MOSCOW IN…
Two Days
Spend a day seeing what makes Moscow famous: St Basil’s Cathedral (Click here), Lenin’s Mausoleum (Click here) and the Kremlin (Click here). Allow a few hours in the afternoon to gawk at the gold and gems in the Armoury (Click here). In the evening, attend an opera at the Bolshoi Theatre (Click here) or dine like a tsar at Café Pushkin (Click here).
Art lovers should spend their second day at the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum (Click here) or Tretyakov Gallery (Click here), both housing world class collections. In the late afternoon, head to whimsical Art Muzeon Sculpture Park (Click here) and fun-filled Gorky Park (Click here), stopping for a drink at Chaikhona No 1 (Click here). Cross the river for dinner at Skazka Vostoka (Click here). Be sure to save some energy to sample Moscow’s nightlife at Art Garbage (Click here) or Krizis Zhanra (Click here).
Four Days
Take in all of the activities suggested in the two-day itinerary. On day three, visit Novodevichy Convent and Cemetery (Click here), where many political and cultural figures are laid to rest. Have lunch at Stolle (Click here) or get the blues at the Roadhouse (Click here). Reserve one morning for shopping at Izmaylovo Market (Click here). Afterwards, head over to Izmaylovsky Park (Click here) for a picnic and a walk in the woods.
On 18 August 1991 the city awoke to find tanks in the street and a self-proclaimed ‘Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR’ in charge. They had already detained Gorbachev and ordered Yeltsin arrested. Crowds gathered at the White House to build barricades. Yeltsin, from atop a tank, declared the coup illegal. He dared KGB snipers to shoot him; when they didn’t, the coup – and Soviet communism – was over. By the year’s end Boris Yeltsin had moved into the Kremlin.
The first years of transition were fraught with political conflict. In September 1993 Yeltsin issued a decree to shut down the Russian parliament. Events turned violent, and a National Salvation Front called for popular insurrection. The army intervened on the president’s side and blasted the parliament into submission. In all, 145 people were killed and another 700 wounded – the worst such incident of bloodshed in the city since the Bolshevik takeover in 1917.
Within the Moscow city government, the election of Yury Luzhkov as mayor in 1992 set the stage for the creation of a big-city boss in the grandest of traditions. The city government retained ownership of property in Moscow, giving Luzhkov’s administration unprecedented control over would-be business ventures, and making him as much a CEO as a mayor. His interests range from the media (the city’s tele-vision station Center TV) and food service (city-owned fast-food chain Russkoe Bistro) to five-star hotels (Le Meridien Royal National) and shopping malls (Okhotny Ryad).
While the rest of Russia struggled to survive the collapse of communism, Moscow quickly emerged as an enclave of affluence and dyna-mism. The new economy spawned a small group of ‘New Russians’, who are routinely derided and often envied for their garish displays of wealth. Outside this elite, Russia’s transition to the market economy came at enormous social cost. The older generation, whose hard-earned pensions became practically worthless, paid the price of transition.
Millennium Moscow
In September 1999 a series of mysterious explosions in Moscow left more than 200 people dead. It was widely believed, although unproven, that Chechen terrorists were responsible for the bombings. This was the first of many terrorist attacks in the capital that were linked to the ongoing crisis in Chechnya (Click here).
In 2002, Chechen rebels, wired with explosives, seized a popular Moscow theatre, holding 800 people hostage for three days. Russian troops responded by flooding the theatre with immobilising toxic gas, resulting in 120 deaths and hundreds of illnesses. Between 2002 and 2005, suicide bombers in Moscow made strikes on the metro, in aeroplanes and at rock concerts, leaving hundreds of people dead and injured. The violence in the capital has lessened in recent years, although there is no end in sight to the Chechen crisis.
The economic rhythms of the city seemed to have steadied. Seven straight years of economic growth mean that wealth is trickling down beyond the ‘New Russians’. In Moscow, the burgeoning middle class endures a high cost of living, but enjoys unprecedented employment opportunities and a dizzying array of culinary, cultural and consumer choices.
In 2007, Mayor Luzhkov was reappointed for his fifth term in office. Under him, the city continues to undergo a massive physical transformation, with industrial enterprises moving out of the historic centre and skyscrapers shooting up along the Moscow River. The population keeps climbing as fortune-seekers arrive from the provinces and other parts of the former Soviet Union. And Moscow – political capital, economic powerhouse and cultural innovator – continues to lead the way as the most fast-dealing, freewheeling city in Russia.
ORIENTATION
The Kremlin, a north-pointing triangle with 750m-long sides, is at Moscow’s heart in every way. Red Square lies along its eastern side while the Moscow River flows to the south. From this centre, radial roads spoke out across the city in all directions, the most important being the northbound Tverskaya ul. The radial roads and the Moscow River delineate the boundaries of the city’s various neighbourhoods.
Four ring roads spread out from the centre, although the outermost rings are only of interest to drivers. The Blvd Ring (Bulvarnoe Koltso) is about 1km from the Kremlin. It’s mostly dual carriageway, with a green strip down the middle. Each section of the road has a different name, always ending in ‘bulvar’.
The Garden Ring (Sadovoe Koltso) is about 2km out. Most of the sights are concentrated within the Garden Ring. The area’s northern sections are called Sadovaya-something (Garden-something) ulitsa; its southern sections are called ulitsa-something-val, recalling its origins as a val (rampart).
And the difference between the Garden and Blvd Rings? The Garden Ring is the one without any gardens.
The only elevation worth its name in the whole flat expanse is Vorobyovy Gory, or Sparrow Hills, 6km southwest of the Kremlin, topped by the Moscow University skyscraper. This is one of seven Stalinist skyscrapers known as the ‘Seven Sisters’ – Moscow’s most prominent buildings.
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Maps
An excellent, up-to-date map in English is the Moscow Today City Map, published in 2007 by Atlas Print Co (495-984 5604; www.atlas-print.ru, in Russian).
The map shop Atlas (Map; 495-928 6109; Kuznetsky most 9; 
9am-8pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat, 11am-5pm Sun; Kuznetsky Most) stocks a range of city and regional maps covering the whole country.
INFORMATION
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Bookshops
Anglia (Map; 495-299 7766; Vorotnikovsky per 6/11; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat, 10am-5pm Sun; Mayakovskaya) A small shop specialising in English-language titles. The sale of used books benefits a local children’s charity.
Biblio-Globus (Map; 495-781 1900; Myasnitskaya ul 6; 9am-10pm Mon-Fri, 10am-9pm Sat, 10am-8pm Sun; Lubyanka) A huge shop with lots of reference and souvenir books on language, art and history, and a good selection of maps and travel guides.
Dom Inostrannoy Knigi (Map; 495-628 2021; Kuznetsky most 18/7; 9am-9pm Mon-Fri, 10am-9pm Sat, 10am-8pm Sun; Kuznetsky Most) The ‘House of Foreign Books’ is a small place with the widest selection of literature in foreign languages.
Respublika (Map; 495-251 6527; Tverskaya-Yamskaya ul 10; 24hr; Mayakovskaya) If you take your browsing seriously, Respublika is the place for you, with comfy couches, a cosy café and stay-all-day atmosphere. Also sells music, posters and souvenirs.
Emergency
Ambulance
03, in Russian
Emergency assistance
495-937 9911
Fire
01
Police
02
Internet Access
Cafemax Zamoskvorechie (Map; 495-950 6050; Pyatnitskaya ul 25; per hr R50-90; 24hr; Novokuznetskaya) Novoslobodskaya (Map; 495-741 7571; Novoslobodskaya ul 3; per hr R120; 24hr; Novoslobodskaya) Discounts available for late-night and early-morning hours.
NetLand (Map; 495-781 0923; Teatralny proezd 5; per hr R80-100; 24hr; Kuznetsky Most, Lubyanka) A loud, dark club that fills up with kids playing games. Enter from ul Rozhdestvenka.
Playground.ru (Map; 495-980 1020; Tishinskaya pl 1; per hr R50; 24hr; Belorusskaya) This computer gaming club is inside the Tishinka shopping centre.
Pronto Internet Cafe (Map; 495-692 5181; Tverskaya ul 10; per hr R130-160; 9am-10pm; Pushkinskaya) Computers and coffee on the second floor of the Tsentralnaya Hotel.
Set.ru (Map; 915-335 0223; 1-ya Volkonsky per 15; per hr R60; 24hr; Tsvetnoy Bulvar)
Time Online Okhotny Ryad (Map; 495-988 6426; per hr R70-100; 24hr; Okhotny Ryad); Komsomolskaya (Map; 495-266 8351; Komsomolskaya pl 3; per hr R70-100; 24hr; Komsomolskaya) Offers copy and photo services, as well as over 100 zippy computers and free wi-fi access.
Internet Resources
Click here for a list of mostly Moscow-based sites. Also see Media, right, for a list of publications that offer electronic versions of their newspapers/magazines. Other useful resources:
www.expat.ru Run by and for English-speaking expats living in Russia. Provides useful information about real estate, restaurants, children in Moscow, social groups and more.
www.maps-moscow.com An energetic group of international journalists raising awareness of architectural preservation issues in Moscow.
www.moscowmaximum.blogspot.com An anonymous blog providing in-depth club reviews and inside info on Moscow nightlife.
www.moscow-taxi.com Viktor the virtual taxi driver provides extensive descriptions of sites inside and outside of Moscow, as well as hotel bookings and other tourist services.
www.redtape.ru Like expat.ru but better. Forums offer inside information on just about any question you might ask.
WI-FI MOSCOW
Wireless access is becoming very common around Moscow. It’s not always free, but it is ubiquitous. Take advantage of wireless access at many hotels and hostels, as well as at Time Online and Cafemax (Click here). Look also for the internet iconin the listings for restaurants (Click here), bars and cafés (Click here). A more-complete listing of clubs and cafés with wireless access is available in Russian at http://wifi.yandex.ru.
Libraries & Cultural Centres
Foreign Literature Library (Map; 495-915 3621; www.libfl.ru; Nikoloyamskaya ul 1; 10am-7.30pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5.30pm Sat & Sun; Taganskaya) Home to several international libraries and cultural centres, including the American Centre (495-777 6350; www.amc.ru), the French Cultural Centre (495-915 7974; www.ccf-moscou.ru) and the British Council Resource Centre (495-782 0200; www.britishcouncil.org). Closed Sundays between June and August.
Russian State Library (Map; ul Vozdvizhenka 3; 9am-9pm; Biblioteka imeni Lenina) On the corner of Mokhovaya ul, this is one of the world’s largest libraries, with over 20 million volumes. If you want to peruse any of these, take along your passport and one passport photo, and fill in some forms at the information office to get a free chitatelsky bilet (reader’s card).
Media
All of the following English-language publications can be found at hotels, restaurants and cafés around town.
element (www.elementmoscow.ru) This oversized newsprint magazine comes out weekly with restaurant reviews, concert listings and art exhibits. It also publishes a seasonal supplement highlighting Moscow’s hottest restaurants.
Moscow News (www.moscownews.ru) This long-standing Russian news weekly – now in English too – focuses on domestic and international politics and business.
Moscow Times (www.themoscowtimes.com) This first-rate daily is the undisputed king of the hill in locally published English-language news, covering Russian and international issues, as well as sport and entertainment. The Friday edition is a great source for what’s happening at the weekend.
Passport Magazine (www.passportmagazine.ru) An excellent monthly lifestyle magazine that includes restaurant listings, book, music and film reviews, as well as articles on culture and business in the capital.
Medical Services
36.6 Basmanny (Map; 495-923 2258; ul Pokrovka 1/13; Kitay-Gorod); Kuznetsky Most (Map; 495-623 4718; Kuznetsky most 18/7; Kuznetsky Most); Novy Arbat (Map; 495-203 0207; ul Novy Arbat 15; Arbatskaya); Tverskaya (Map; 495-699 2459; Tverskaya ul 25/9; Tverskaya, Mayakovskaya) A chain of 24-hour pharmacies with outlets all over the city.
American Medical Center (Map; 495-933 7700; www.amcenter.ru; Grokholsky per 1; Prospekt Mira) Offers 24-hour emergency service, consultations and a full range of medical specialists, including paediatricians and dentists. Also has an on-site pharmacy with English-speaking staff.
CHANGING TELEPHONE NUMBERS
At the time of research, the Moscow telephone system was undergoing a modernisation and expansion, which may result in the changing of many numbers.
There are now two area codes functioning within the city:
- Within the 495 area code, dial seven digits (no area code).
- Within the 499 area code, dial 10 digits (including 499).
- From 495 to 499 or vice versa, dial 8 + 10 digits (including appropriate area code). Although this looks like an inter-city call, it is charged as a local call.
The addition of mobile phones also complicates matters. Mobile phone numbers have a completely different area code (usually
Botkin Hospital (Map; 495-945 0045; 2-ya Botkinsky proezd 5; Begovaya) The best Russian facility.
European Medical Center (Map; 495-933 6655; www.emcmos.ru; Spirodonyevsky per 5; Pushkinskaya) Includes medical and dental facilities, which are open around the clock for emergencies. Between them, the staff speak 10 different languages.
Money
Banks, exchange counters and ATMs are ubi-quitous in Moscow. Currencies other than US dollars and Euros are difficult to exchange and yield bad rates. Credit cards, especially Visa and MasterCard, are widely accepted in upscale hotels, restaurants and shops. You can also use your credit card to get a cash advance at most major banks in Moscow.
Alfa-Bank (8.30am-8pm Mon-Sat) Kitay Gorod (Map; ul Varvarka 3; Kitay-Gorod); Kuznetsky Most (Map; Kuznetsky most 9/10; Kuznetsky Most); Arbat (Map; ul Arbat 4; Arbatskaya); Zamoskvorechie (Map; ul Bolshaya Ordynka 21; Tretyakovskaya) ATMs dispense roubles, euros and US dollars.
American Express (Map; 495-543 9400; Vetoshny per 17; 10am-9.30pm; Teatralnaya) The most reliable place to cash American Express travellers cheques. It also offers an ATM, mail holding and travel services for Amex cardholders.
Western Union (495-797 2197) Contact for wire transfers of money.
Post
Service has improved dramatically in recent years, but the usual warnings about delays and disappearances of incoming mail apply. Note that mail to Europe and the USA can take two to six weeks to arrive.
Central telegraph office (Map; Tverskaya ul 7; post 8am-10pm, telephone 24hr; Okhotny Ryad) This convenient office offers telephone, fax and internet services.
DHL Worldwide Express (495-956 1000; www.dhl.ru) Air courier services. Call for information on drop-off locations and to arrange pick-ups.
Main post office (Map; Myasnitskaya ul 26; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 9am-7pm Sat & Sun; Chistye Prudy) Moscow’s main post office is on the corner of Chistoprudny bul.
Telephone
Moscow pay phones operate with cards that are available in shops, kiosks and metro stations. The cards are available in a range of units. The phones are fairly user-friendly, and most of them have an option for directions in English. Make sure you press the button with the speaker symbol when your party answers the phone.
For international calls, it’s often easier to go to the central telegraph office, where you prepay for the duration of your call.
Tourist Information
Moscow City Tourist Information Office (Map; 495-232 5657; www.moscow-city.ru; ul Ilynka 4; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri; Kitay-Gorod) Located in Gostiny Dvor, the capital’s official tourist office does not return phone calls, nor does it open on weekends.
Travel Agencies
Maria Travel Agency (Map; 495-725 5746; ul Maroseyka 13; Kitay-Gorod) Offers visa support, apartment rental and some local tours, including the Golden Ring.
Unifest Travel (Map; 495-234 6555; www.infinity.ru; Komsomolsky pr 13; Park Kultury) Formerly Infinity Travel, this on-the-ball travel company offers rail and air tickets, visa support, and trans-Siberian and Central Asian packages. It’s a great source for airline tickets.
DANGERS & ANNOYANCES
Unfortunately, street crime targeting tourists has increased in recent years, although Moscow is not as dangerous as locals may have you think. As in any big city, be on your guard against pickpockets and muggers. Be particularly careful at or around metro stations, including Krizis Station and Partizanskaya, where readers have reported specific incidents.
Some policemen can be bothersome, especially to dark-skinned or otherwise foreign-looking people. Others target tourists, though reports of tourists being hassled about their documents and registration have declined. However, it’s still wise to carry a photocopy of your passport, visa and registration stamp. If stopped by a member of the police force, do not give him your passport! It is perfectly acceptable to show a photocopy instead.
Return to beginning of chapter
SIGHTS
Return to beginning of chapter
Kremlin
The apex of political power, the Kremlin (Map; 495-202 3776; www.kremlin.museum.ru; adult/student R300/50, audio guide R200; 9.30am-4pm Fri-Wed; Aleksandrovsky Sad) is the kernel not only of Moscow but of all of Russia. From here Ivan the Terrible orchestrated his terror; Napoleon watched Moscow burn; Lenin fashioned the proletariat dictatorship; Stalin purged his ranks; Khrushchev fought the Cold War; Gorbachev unleashed perestroika; and Yeltsin concocted the New Russia.
A ‘kremlin’ is a town’s fortified stronghold, and the first low, wooden wall around Moscow was built in the 1150s. The Kremlin grew with the importance of Moscow’s princes, becoming in the 1320s the headquarters of the Russian Church, which had shifted from Vladimir. The ‘White Stone Kremlin’ – which had limestone walls – was built in the 1360s, with almost the same boundaries as it has today.
Towards the end of the 15th century, Ivan the Great brought master builders from Pskov and Italy to supervise the construction of new walls and towers (most of which still stand), as well as the Kremlin’s three great cathedrals and more. The Kremlin’s walls today have 19 distinctive towers.
ADMISSION
Before entering the Kremlin, deposit bags at the left luggage office (Map; per bag R60; 9am-6.30pm Fri-Wed; Aleksandrovsky Sad), beneath the Kutafya Tower near the main Kremlin ticket office (Map; 9.30am-4pm Fri-Wed; Aleksandrovsky Sad). The main ticket office is in the Alexandrovsky Garden, just off Manezhnaya pl. The ticket to the ‘Architectural Ensemble of Cathedral Square’ covers entry to all five church-museums, as well as Patriarch’s Palace and exhibits in the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. It does not include the Armoury or the Diamond Fund Exhibition.
GAY & LESBIAN MOSCOW
The first Gay Pride Parade was held in Moscow in 2006, despite bureaucratic obstacles, popular protests and sporadic violence. Moscow now hosts Gay Pride (www.moscowpride.ru) every year in May. The 2009 parade has been scheduled to coincide with the Eurovision Song Contest, which will also be held in Moscow. Three years down the road, Gay Pride is still highly controversial, even amongst the gay community. City officials continue to threaten to ban the event.
Nevertheless, Moscow is the most cosmopolitan of Russian cities, and the active gay and lesbian scene reflects this attitude. Newspapers such as the Moscow Times feature articles about gay and lesbian issues, as well as listings of gay and lesbian clubs. The glossy magazine Queer (Квир) offers up articles and artwork aimed at, well, queers. For specific venue information, Click here.
Some other useful resources:
www.gay.ru/english The English version of this site includes updated club listings, plus information on gay history and culture in Russia.
www.gaytours.ru Dmitry is an excellent, gay-friendly guide and his site is a wealth of information about gay life in Moscow.
www.lesbi.ru An active site for lesbian issues; Russian only.
STAND ON CEREMONY
Every Saturday at noon on Sobornaya pl, the Presidential Regiment show up in all their finery for a ceremonial procession, featuring some very official-looking prancing and dancing, both on foot and on horseback. The price of admission to the Kremlin allows access to the demonstration. Otherwise, on the last Saturday of the month, the demonstration is repeated at 2pm for the masses on Red Square.
In any case, you can and should buy tickets for the Armoury here. Arrive early before tickets sell out. There’s also an entrance at the southern Borovitskaya Tower, mainly used by those heading straight to the Armoury or Diamond Fund Exhibition.
Inside the Kremlin, police will keep you from straying into the out-of-bounds areas. Visitors wearing shorts will be refused entry. Photography is not permitted inside the Armoury or any of the buildings on Sobornaya pl (Cathedral Sq).
Visiting the Kremlin buildings and the Armoury is at least a half-day affair. If you intend to visit the Diamond Fund or other special exhibits, plan on spending most of the day here. If you are short on time, skip the Armoury and the Diamond Fund and dedicate a few hours to admiring the amazing architecture and historical buildings around Sobornaya pl.
TOURS
Make advance arrangements for the tour ‘One Day at the Kremlin’ at the Kremlin Excursions Office (Map; 495-290 3094; 9:30am-4pm Fri-Wed; Alexandrovsky Sad) in Alexandrovsky Garden. Capital Tours (Click here) offers standard daily tours of the Kremlin and Armoury, while Dom Patriarshy Tours (Click here) offers more in-depth tours of the Kremlin cathedrals, sometimes including a visit to the otherwise off-limits palaces. Numerous freelance guides also tout their services near the Kutafya Tower.
NORTHERN & WESTERN BUILDINGS
The main entrance is through Kutafya Tower (Map), which stands away from the Kremlin’s west wall, at the end of a ramp over the Alexandrovsky Garden. The ramp was once a bridge over the Neglinnaya River, which used to be part of the Kremlin’s defences; it has flowed underground, beneath the Alexandrovsky Garden, since the early 19th century. The Kutafya Tower is the last survivor of a number of outer bridge towers that once stood this side of the Kremlin.
From the Kutafya Tower, walk up the ramp and through the Kremlin walls beneath the Trinity Gate Tower (Map). The lane to the right (south), immediately inside the Trinity Gate Tower, passes the 17th-century Poteshny Palace (Map) where Stalin lived. East of here the bombastic marble, glass and concrete State Kremlin Palace (Map), formerly the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, was built from 1960 to 1961 for Communist Party congresses. It is now a concert and ballet auditorium (Click here). At the north is the 18th-century Arsenal (Map), ringed with 800 captured Napoleonic cannons.
To the east of the Arsenal the offices of the Russian president are in the yellow former Senate (Map) building, a fine, triangular 18th-century classical edifice. Next to the Senate is the 1930s former Supreme Soviet (Map) building.
PATRIARCH’S PALACE
Built for Patriarch Nikon (whose reforms sparked the break with the Old Believers) mostly in the mid-17th century, the highlight of the Patriarch’s Palace (Map) is perhaps the ceremonial Cross Hall, where the tsar’s and ambassadorial feasts were held. The palace also contains an exhibit of 17th-century household items, including jewellery, hunting equipment and furniture. From here you can access the five-domed Church of the Twelve Apostles, which has a gilded, wooden iconostasis and a collection of icons by the leading 17th-century icon painters.
The Patriarch’s Palace often holds special exhibits (adult/student R150/70), which can be visit-ed individually, without access to the other buildings on Sobornaya pl.
ASSUMPTION CATHEDRAL
The heart of the Kremlin is Sobornaya pl, surrounded by magnificent buildings. Assumption Cathedral (Map) stands on the northern side, with five golden helmet domes and four semicircular gables facing the square. As the focal church of prerevolutionary Russia, it is the burial place of most of the Russian Orthodox Church heads from the 1320s to 1700. The tombs are against the north, west and south walls.
The cathedral was built between 1475 and 1479 after the Bolognese architect Aristotle Fioravanti had toured Novgorod, Suzdal and Vladimir to acquaint himself with Russian architecture. His design is based on the Assumption Cathedral at Vladimir (Click here), with some Western features.
In 1812 French troops used the cathedral as a stable, looting 295kg of gold and over five tonnes of silver, although much of it was recovered.
The church closed in 1918. However, according to some accounts, when the Nazis were on the outskirts of Moscow in 1941, Stalin secretly ordered a service in the Assumption Cathedral to protect the city from the enemy. The cathedral was officially returned to the Church in 1989, but still operates as a museum.
A striking 1660s fresco of the Virgin Mary faces Sobornaya pl, above the door once used for royal processions. The visitors’ entrance is at the western end, and the interior is un-usually bright and spacious, full of warm golds, reds and blues.
The tent-roofed wooden throne near the south wall was made in 1551 for Ivan the Terrible; it’s commonly called the Throne of Monomakh because of its carved scenes from the career of 12th-century grand prince, Vladimir Monomakh of Kyiv.
The iconostasis dates from 1652, although its lowest level contains some older icons, among them (second from the right) Saviour with the Angry Eye (Spas Yaroe Oko) from the 1340s. On the left of the central door, the Virgin of Vladimir (Vladimirskaya Bogomater) is an early-15th-century Rublyov-school copy of Russia’s most revered image; the 12th-century original, Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, which stood in the Assumption Cathedral from the 1480s to 1930 and now in the Tretyakov Gallery (Click here). One of the oldest Russian icons, the 12th-century red-clothed St George (Svyatoy Georgy) from Novgorod, is positioned by the north wall.
Most of the existing murals on the cathedral walls were painted on a gilt base in the 1640s, but three grouped together on the south wall – The Apocalypse (Apokalipsis), The Life of Metropolitan Pyotr (Zhitie Mitropolita Petra) and All Creatures Rejoice in Thee (O tebe Raduetsya) – are attributed to Dionysius and his followers, the cathedral’s original 15th-century mural painters.
CHURCH OF THE DEPOSITION OF THE ROBE
This delicate little single-domed church (Map), found beside the west door of the Assumption Cathedral, was built between 1484 and 1486 by masons from the town of Pskov. As it was the private chapel of the patriarch, it was built in exclusively Russian style, and the frescoes on the pillars depict the church metropolitans and Moscow princes over the centuries. The church now houses an exhibition of 15th- to 17th-century woodcarvings.
IVAN THE GREAT BELL TOWER
With its two golden domes rising above the eastern side of Sobornaya pl, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower (Map) is the Kremlin’s tallest structure, a Moscow landmark visible from 30km away. (Before the 20th century it was forbidden in Moscow to build any higher than the tower.)
When designed by Italian Marco Bono in 1508, the southern tower had just two octagonal tiers beneath a drum and dome. Boris Godunov raised the tower to 81m, a public works project designed to employ the thousands of people who came to Moscow during a famine. The building’s central section, with a gilded single dome and a 65-tonne bell, dates from the 1530s, while the tent-roofed annexe next to the belfry was commissioned by Patriarch Filaret in 1642 and bears his name.
Beside the bell tower, not inside it, stands the Tsar Bell (Map), the world’s biggest bell. Sadly, this 202-tonne monster never rang. In a 1701 fire an earlier 130-tonne version fell from its belfry and shattered; with these remains, the current Tsar Bell was cast in the 1730s for Empress Anna Ioanovna. The bell was cooling off in the foundry casting pit in 1737 when it came into contact with water, causing an 11-tonne chunk to chip off, rendering it useless.
North of the bell tower is the Tsar Cannon (Map), cast in 1586 for Fyodor I, whose portrait is on the barrel. Shot has never sullied its 89cm bore – and certainly not the cannonballs beside it, which are too big even for this elephantine firearm.
ARCHANGEL CATHEDRAL
The cathedral at the square’s southeastern corner was – for centuries – the coronation, wedding and burial church of tsars. The tombs of all Muscovy’s rulers from the 1320s to the 1690s are here (Map), bar one – Boris Godunov is buried at Sergiev Posad.
The Archangel Cathedral (Map), built between 1505 and 1508 by the Italian Alevisio Novi, is dedicated to Archangel Michael, guardian of Moscow’s princes. Like the Assumption Cathedral, its style is essentially Byzantine-Russian, though the exterior has many Venetian Renaissance features, most notably the distinctive scallop-shell gables.
Tsarevich Dmitry – Ivan the Terrible’s son, who died mysteriously in 1591 – lies beneath a painted stone canopy. Ivan’s own tomb is out of sight behind the iconostasis, along with those of his other sons: Ivan (whom he killed) and Fyodor (who succeeded him). From Peter the Great onwards, emperors and empresses were buried in St Petersburg; the exception was Peter II, who died in Moscow in 1730 and is buried here.
During restorations in the 1950s, 17th-century murals were uncovered. The south wall depicts many of those buried here, and on the pillars are some of their predecessors, including Andrei Bogolyubsky, Prince Daniil and his father, Alexander Nevsky.
ANNUNCIATION CATHEDRAL
Dating from 1489, the Annunciation Cathedral (Map) at the southwest corner of Sobornaya pl contains the celebrated icons of master painter Theophanes the Greek. Built by Pskov masters, the cathedral was the royal family’s private chapel. Originally, it had just three domes and an open gallery around three sides. Ivan the Terrible added six more domes and chapels at each corner, enclosed the gallery and gilded the roof.
Ivan’s fourth marriage disqualified him under Orthodox law from entering the church proper, so he had the southern arm of the gallery converted into the Archangel Gabriel Chapel, from which he could watch services through a grille. The chapel has a colourful iconostasis dating from its consecration in 1564, and an exhibition of icons.
Many of the murals in the gallery date from the 1560s. Among them are the Capture of Jericho in the porch, Jonah and the Whale in the northern arm, and the Tree of Jesus on the ceiling.
The cathedral’s small central part has a lovely jasper floor, and the 16th-century frescoes include Russian princes on the north pillar and Byzantine emperors on the south, with Apocalypse scenes above both. But the real treasure is the iconostasis, where restorers in the 1920s uncovered early-15th-century icons by three of the greatest medieval Russian artists.
Theophanes likely painted most of the six icons at the right-hand end of the deesis row, the biggest of the six tiers of the iconostasis. Left to right are the Virgin Mary, Christ Enthroned, St John the Baptist, the Archangel Gabriel, the Apostle Paul, and St John Chrysostom. His icons are distinguished by his mastery at port-raying visible pathos in facial expressions.
Archangel Michael is ascribed to Andrei Rublyov, who may also have painted the adjacent St Peter. Rublyov is also reckoned to be the artist of the first, second, sixth and seventh (and probably the third and fifth) icons from the left of the festival row, above the deesis row. The seven at the right-hand end are attributed to Prokhor of Gorodets.
The basement – which remains from the previous 14th-century cathedral on this site – contains a fascinating exhibit on the Archaeology of the Kremlin. The artefacts date from the 12th to 14th centuries, showing the growth of Moscow during this period.
HALL OF FACETS & TEREM PALACE
On the western side of the square, named after its facing Italian Renaissance stone, is the square Hall of Facets (Map). Its upper floor housed the tsar’s throne room, the scene of banquets and ceremonies, and was reached by external staircases from the square below.
The 16th- and 17th-century Terem Palace (Map) is the most splendid of all the Kremlin palaces. Catch a glimpse of its sumptuous cluster of golden domes and chequered roof behind and above the Church of the Deposition of the Robe.
Both the Hall of Facets and Terem Palace are closed to the public.
ARMOURY
In the Kremlin’s southwestern corner is the Armoury (Map; adult/student R350/70, audio guide R200; 10am, noon, 2.30pm, 4.30pm), a numbingly opulent collection of treasures accumulated over centuries by the Russian state and Church. Tickets – which specify a time of entry – can be purchased one hour in advance.
Here you can see the renowned eggs made from precious metals and jewels by St Petersburg jewellers, Fabergé. The tsar and tsarina traditionally exchanged these gifts each year at Easter. Most famous is the Grand Siberian Railway egg, with gold train, platinum locomotive and ruby headlamp, created to commemorate the completion of the Moscow–Vladivostok line.
The royal regalia includes the joint coronation throne of boy tsars Peter the Great and his half-brother, Ivan V (with a secret compartment from which Regent Sofia prompted them), as well as the 800-diamond throne of Tsar Alexey, Peter’s father. The gold Cap of Monomakh – jewel-studded and sable-trimmed – was worn for two centuries of coronations until 1682.
Among the coaches is the sleigh that Elizabeth rode from St Petersburg to Moscow for her coronation, pulled by 23 horses at a time.
Between the Armoury and the Annunciation Cathedral stretches the 700-room Great Kremlin Palace (Map), built as an imperial residence between 1838 and 1849. Now it is an official residence of the Russian president and is used for state visits and receptions. It’s not open to the public.
DIAMOND FUND EXHIBITION
If the Armoury doesn’t sate your diamond lust, there’s more in the separate Diamond Fund Exhibition (Map; 495-629 2036; admission R500; 10am-1pm, 2-5pm Fri-Wed; Aleksandrovsky Sad); it’s in the same building as the Armoury. The lavish collection shows off the precious stones and jewellery garnered by tsars and empresses over the centuries, including the largest sapphire in the world. The highlight is the 190-carat diamond given to Catherine the Great by her lover Grigory Orlov. It is possible to check out the Diamond Fund without paying for a ticket to enter the Kremlin. Head to Borovitskaya Tower at the far southern end of Alexandrovsky Garden. The guards look intimidating but they should let you through if you insist you are going to the Diamond Fund. Purchase tickets at the entrance to the exhibition.
SAVIOUR GATE TOWER
The Saviour Gate Tower (Map) is the Kremlin’s ‘official’ exit onto Red Square. The current clock dates from the 1850s. Hauling 3m hands and weighing 25 tonnes, the clock takes up three of the tower’s 10 levels. Its melodic chime sounds every 15 minutes across Red Square and across the country (on the radio).
Alexandrovsky Garden
The first public park in Moscow, Alexandrovsky Garden (Map) sits along the Kremlin’s western wall. Colourful flowerbeds and impressive Kremlin views make it a favourite strolling spot for Muscovites and tourists alike.
At the north end is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Map), where newlyweds bring flowers and have their pictures taken. The tomb contains the remains of a soldier who died in December 1941 at km41 of Leningradskoe sh (the nearest the Nazis came to Moscow). The inscription reads, ‘Your name is unknown, your deeds immortal’, along with an eternal flame and other inscriptions listing the Soviet hero cities of WWII, honouring ‘those who fell for the motherland’ between 1941 and 1945. The changing of the guard happens every hour.
Red Square
Immediately outside the Kremlin’s northeastern wall is the celebrated Red Square (Krasnaya pl; Map), the 400m by 150m area of cobbles that is at the very heart of Moscow. Commanding the square from the southern end is St Basil’s Cathedral (Click here). This panorama never fails to send the heart aflutter, especially at night.
Red Square used to be a market square adjoining the merchants’ area in Kitay Gorod. It has always been a place where occupants of the Kremlin choose to congregate, cele-brate and castigate for all the people to see. Soviet rulers chose Red Square for their military parades, perhaps most poignantly on 7 November 1941, when tanks rolled straight off to the front line outside Moscow; and during the Cold War, when lines of ICBMs rumbled across the square to remind the West of Soviet military might. On Victory Day in 2008, tanks rolled across Red Square for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
LENIN UNDER GLASS
Red Square is home to the world’s most famous mummy, that of Vladimir Lenin. When he died of a massive stroke (on 22 January 1924, aged 53), a long line of mourners patiently gathered in winter’s harshness for weeks to glimpse the body as it lay in state. Inspired by the spectacle, Stalin proposed that the father of Soviet communism should continue to serve the cause as a holy relic. So the decision was made to preserve Lenin’s corpse for perpetuity, against the vehement protests of his widow, as well as his own expressed desire to be buried next to his mother in St Petersburg.
Boris Zbarsky, a biochemist, and Vladimir Vorobyov, an anatomist, were issued a political order to put a stop to the natural decomposition of the body. The pair worked frantically in a secret laboratory in search of a long-term chemical solution. In the meantime, the body’s dark spots were bleached, and the lips and eyes sewn tight. The brain was removed and taken to another secret laboratory, to be sliced and diced by scientists for the next 40 years in the hope of uncovering its hidden genius.
In July 1924 the scientists hit upon a formula to successfully arrest the decaying process, a closely guarded state secret. This necrotic craft was passed on to Zbarsky’s son, who ran the Kremlin’s covert embalming lab for decades. After the fall of communism, Zbarsky came clean: the body is wiped down every few days, and then, every 18 months, thoroughly examined and submerged in a tub of chemicals, including paraffin wax. The institute has now gone commercial, offering its services and secrets to wannabe immortals for a mere million dollars.
Every so often, politicians express intentions to heed Lenin’s request and bury him in St Petersburg, but it usually sets off a furore from the political left as well as more muted objections from Moscow tour operators. It seems that the mausoleum, the most sacred shrine of Soviet communism, and the mummy, the literal embodiment of the Russian revolution, will remain in place for at least several more years.
Incidentally, the name ‘Krasnaya ploshchad’ has nothing to do with communism: krasny in old Russian meant ‘beautiful’ and only in the 20th century did it come to mean ‘red’, too.
Enter Red Square through the Resurrection Gate (Map). Rebuilt in 1995, it’s an exact copy of the original completed on this site in 1680, with its twin red towers topped by green tent spires. The first gateway was destroyed in 1931 because Stalin considered it an impediment to the parades and demonstrations held in Red Square. Within the gateway is the bright Chapel of the Iverian Virgin (Map), originally built in the late 18th century to house the icon of the same name.
LENIN’S MAUSOLEUM
Visit this granite tomb (Map; 495-623 5527; admission free; 10am-1pm Tue-Thu, Sat & Sun; Ploshchad Revolyutsii) while you can, since the former leader may eventually end up beside his mum in St Petersburg. For now, the embalmed leader remains as he has been since 1924 (apart from a retreat to Siberia during WWII).
From 1953 to 1961 Lenin shared the tomb with Stalin. In 1961 at the 22nd Party Congress, the esteemed and by then ancient Bolshevik, Madame Spiridonova, announced that Vladimir Ilych had appeared to her in a dream, insisting that he did not like spending eternity with his successor. With that, Stalin was removed, and given a place of honour immediately behind the mausoleum.
Before joining the queue at the northwestern corner of Red Square, drop your camera and knapsack at the left-luggage office in the State History Museum, as you will not be allowed to take it with you. After trouping past the embalmed, oddly waxy figure, emerge from the mausoleum and inspect the burial places along the Kremlin wall of Stalin, Brezhnev and other communist heavy hitters.
ST BASIL’S CATHEDRAL
No picture can prepare you for the crazy confusion of colours and shapes that is St Basil’s Cathedral (Map; 495-698 3304; adult/student R100/50; 11am-5pm Wed-Mon; Ploshchad Revolyutsii), technically Intercession Cathedral. This ultimate symbol of Russia was created between 1555 and 1561 (replacing an existing church on the site) to celebrate the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible. Its design is the culmination of a wholly Russian style that had been developed building wooden churches.
The cathedral’s apparent anarchy of shapes hides a comprehensible plan of nine main chapels: the tall, tent-roofed one in the centre; four big, octagonal-towered ones, topped with the four biggest domes; and four smaller ones in between.
The misnomer ‘St Basil’s’ actually refers only to the northeastern chapel, which was added later. It was built over the grave of the barefoot holy fool, Vasily (Basil) the Blessed, who predicted Ivan’s damnation. Vasily, who died while Kazan was under siege, was buried beside the church that St Basil’s soon replaced. He was later canonised.
The interior is open to visitors: besides a small exhibition on the cathedral itself, it contains lovely frescoed walls and loads of nooks and crannies to explore. A joint ticket (adult/student R230/115) with the State History Museum is also available.
Out the front of St Basil’s is a statue of Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky (Map), the butcher and the prince who together raised and led the army that ejected occupying Poles from the Kremlin in 1612. The round, walled Place of Skulls (Map) was reputedly used for public executions. Most famously, this is apparently where Peter the Great executed the traitorous Streltsy, the sharpshooting guardsman who revolted against him in 1682.
STATE HISTORY MUSEUM
At the northern end of the square, the State History Museum (Map; 495-692 3731; www.shm.ru, in Russian; adult/student R150/60, audio guide R110; 10am-5pm Wed-Sat & Mon, 11am-7pm Sun; Ploshchad Revolyutsii) has an enormous collection covering the whole Russian empire from the Stone Age on. The building, dating from the late 19th century, is itself an attraction – each room is in the style of a different period or region, some with highly decorated walls echoing old Russian churches. A joint ticket (adult/student R230/115) allowing access to the State History Museum and St Basil’s Cathedral is available at either spot.
Across the street, the former Central Lenin Museum (Map; pl Revolyutsii 2; Ploshchad Revolyutsii) was once the big daddy of all the Lenin museums, but was closed in 1993 after the White House shoot-out (Click here). It is sometimes used for special exhibits.
GUM
The elaborate 19th-century facade on the northeastern side of Red Square is the Gosud-arstvenny Universalny Magazin (State Department Store). GUM (Map; 495-788 4343; www.gum.ru; Krasnaya pl 3; 10am-10pm; Ploshchad Revolyutsii) once symbolised all that was bad about Soviet shopping: long queues and empty shelves, bar a few drab goods. A remarkable transformation has taken place since perestroika and today GUM is a bustling place with more than 1000 fancy shops (Click here).
KAZAN CATHEDRAL
Opposite the northern end of GUM, the tiny Kazan Cathedral (Map; ul Nikolskaya 3; admission free; 8am-7pm; Ploshchad Revolyutsii) is a 1993 replica. The original was founded in 1636 in thanks for the 1612 expulsion of Polish invaders; for two centuries it housed the Virgin of Kazan icon, which supposedly helped to rout the Poles. Three hundred years later the cathedral was completely demolished, allegedly because it impeded the flow of cele-brating workers in May Day and Revolution Day parades.
City Centre
The heart of the city lies in the area immediately surrounding the Kremlin and Red Square. The centre is bound by an arc: Mokhovaya ul, Okhotny ryad, Teatralny proezd and Lubyansky proezd. The Moscow River encloses the arc on the south side.
MANEZHNAYA PLOSHCHAD
At the northern end of Red Square, the underground Okhotny Ryad (Map) shopping mall appears as a series of half-domes and balustrades, with a network of fountains and sculptures. Meanwhile, the infamous 1930s-era Hotel Moskva on Manezhnaya pl was finally demolished in 2004 and replaced with a new high-class hotel in 2008 (see the boxed text, Click here).
At the base of the once and future Hotel Moskva is the entrance to the Archaeological Museum (Map; 495-692 4171; www.mosmuseum.ru; Manezhnaya pl 1; admission R60; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun; Okhotny Ryad). An excavation of the Voskresensky Bridge – which used to cross the Neglinnaya River and become the road to Tver – uncovered coins, clothing and other artefacts from old Moscow. The museum displaying these treasures is situated in an under-ground pavilion 7m deep, a pavilion that remains from the excavation itself.
The long, low building on the southwestern side of the square is the Manezh Exhibition Centre (Map; 495-692 4459; exhibits R200-300; 11am-6pm Tue-Sun; Biblioteka imeni Lenina), housing local art exhibitions. West of the square are the fine old edifices of the Moscow State University (Map), built in 1793, and Le Royal Meridiean National Hotel (Click here).
TEATRALNAYA PLOSHCHAD
Teatralnaya pl opens out on both sides of Okhotny Ryad, 200m from Manezhnaya pl. The northern half of the square is dominated by the Bolshoi Theatre (Map), where Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake premiered (unsuccessfully) in 1877. For ticket information, Click here. The busy streets behind the Bolshoi constitute Moscow’s main shopping area (Click here).
Across ul Petrovka from the ‘big’ Bolshoi is the ‘small’ Maly Theatre (Map; Click here for ticket information), a drama establishment. On the southern half of Teatralnaya pl is the tiled, sculptured facade of luxurious Hotel Metropol (Click here).
Along Teatralnaya proezd, archaeologists uncovered the 16th-century fortified wall that used to surround Kitay Gorod, as well as foundations of the 1493 Trinity Church. Coins, jewellery and tombstones were also excavated at the site, called Starie Polya (Map; Teatralnaya). The gated walkway of Tretyakovsky proezd leads into Kitay Gorod.
AROUND LUBYANSKAYA PLOSHCHAD
For several decades the broad square at the top of Teatralny proezd was a chilling symbol of the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security), better known as the KGB.
In the 1930s, the Lubyanka Prison (Map) was the feared destination of thousands of victims of Stalin’s purges, but today the grey building is the headquarters of the KGB’s successor, the FSB (Federal Security Service). The building is not open to the public.
From 1926 to 1990 Lubyanskaya pl was known as pl Dzerzhinskogo, after Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Cheka (the KGB’s ancestor). A tall statue of Dzerzhinsky that dominated the square was memorably removed by angry crowds when the 1991 coup collapsed. Now you can see the statue in all its (somewhat reduced) glory in the Art Muzeon Sculpture Park (Click here), where it stands among others fallen from grace. The much humbler Memorial to the Victims of Totalitarianism (Map) stands in the little garden on the square’s southeastern side. This single stone slab comes from the territory of an infamous 1930s labour camp on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea.
The little Moscow City History Museum (Map; 495-624 8490; www.mosmuseum.ru; Novaya pl 12; admission R70; 11am-5.30pm Tue-Sun; Lubyanka) shows how the city has spread from its starting point at the Kremlin. Across the street, the huge Polytechnical Museum (Map; 495-623 0756; www.polymus.ru; Novaya pl 3/4; adult/child R200/80, excursion R300; 10am-5pm Tue-Sat; Lubyanka) covers the history of Russian science, technology and industry. Descriptions are in Russian only.
Kitay Gorod
The narrow old streets east of Red Square are known as Kitay Gorod. It translates as ‘Chinatown’, but the name actually derives from kita, meaning ‘wattle’, and refers to the palisades that reinforced the earthen ramp erected around this early Kremlin suburb. Kitay Gorod is one of the oldest parts of Moscow, settled in the 13th century as a trade and financial centre.
AROUND NIKOLSKAYA ULITSA
Kitay Gorod’s busiest street was once the main road to Vladimir and used to be the centre of a busy trade in icons. The dilapidated Church of the Zaikonospassky Monastery (Map; Ploshchad Revolyutsii), built between 1661 and 1720, stands in the courtyard of No 9. The ornate green-and-white building at No 15 is the old Synod Printing House (Map; Ploshchad Revolyutsii). It was here in 1563 that Ivan Fyodorov reputedly produced Russia’s first printed book, The Apostle. (The first Russian newspaper, Vedomosti, was also printed here in 1703.)
The nearby Monastery of Epiphany (Map; Bogoyavlensky per; Ploshchad Revolyutsii) dates, to the 13th century (the second oldest in Moscow) although its Epiphany Cathedral was constructed in the 1690s.
AROUND ULITSA VARVARKA
From the 16th century Kitay Gorod was exclusively the home of merchants and craftsmen, as evidenced by the present-day names of its lanes: Khrustalny (Crystal), Rybny (Fish) and Vetoshny (Rugs). Along ul Ilynka, one block north of ul Varvarka, the old stock exchange (Map; ul Ilinka 2; Ploshchad Revolyutsii) designates Moscow’s financial heart.
Ul Varvarka has Kitay Gorod’s greatest concentration of interesting buildings. They were long dwarfed by the gargantuan Hotel Rossiya, which was finally demolished in 2006. At the time of research, it was still a mystery what would be built in its place.
The pink-and-white St Barbara’s Church (Map; Kitay-Gorod) dates from the years 1795 to 1804 and is now given over to government offices. The reconstructed 16th-century Old English Court (Map; 495-698 3952; www.mosmuseum.ru; admission R35; 11am-6pm Tue-Sun; Kitay-Gorod), white with peaked wooden roofs, was the residence of England’s first diplomats and traders sent to Russia.
Built in 1698, St Maxim the Blessed’s Church (Map; ul Varvarka 4; Kitay-Gorod) is now a folk-art exhibition hall. Next along is the pointed bell tower of the 17th-century Monastery of the Sign (Map; ul Varvarka 8; Kitay-Gorod), with accompanying golden domed cathedral and monks’ quarters.
The small, though interesting, Romanov Chambers in Zaryadiye (Map; 495-692 1256; ul Varvarka 10; admission R100; 10am-5pm Thu-Mon, 11am-6pm Wed) is devoted to the lives of the Romanov family, who were mere boyars (nobles) before they became tsars. The house was built by Nikita Romanov, whose grandson Mikhail later became the first tsar of the 300-year Romanov dynasty. Enter from the back.
The colourful St George’s Church (Map; ul Varvarka 12; Kitay-Gorod), another crafts gallery, dates from 1658. Opposite St George’s Church, Ipatevsky per leads to the 1630s Church of the Trinity in Nikitniki (Map), one of Moscow’s finest. The church’s onion domes and lovely tiers of red-and-white spade gables rise from a square tower, while the interior is covered with 1650s gospel frescoes by Simon Ushakov and others.
At the southern end of Slavyanskaya pl is All Saints Cathedral on the Kulishka (Map), built in 1687. In 1380 Dmitry Donskoy built the original wooden church on this site, commemorating those who died in the Battle of Kulikovo.
The building of a synagogue was banned inside Kitay Gorod, so Moscow’s oldest and most prominent synagogue – the Choral Synagogue (Map; 495-940 5557; www.keroor.ru/ru/synagogue, in Russian; Bolshoy Spasoglinishchevsky per 10; 9am-6pm; Kitay-Gorod) – was built just outside the city walls, not far from the Jewish settlement of Zaryadye. Construction started in 1881, but it dragged on for years due to roadblocks by the anti-Semitic tsarist government. It was finally completed in 1906 and was the only synagogue that continued to operate throughout the Soviet period, in spite of Bolshevik demands to convert it into a workers’ club.
Basmanny & Krasnoselsky Districts
This area encompasses the streets east and northeast of Kitay Gorod and Lubyanka pl, between Myasnitskaya ul and pr Akademika Sakharova in the north and the little Yauzie River in the south.
ANDREI SAKHAROV MUSEUM
South of Kursky vokzal is a two-storey house in a small park, which contains the Andrei Sakharov Museum (Map; 495-623 4401; www.sakharov-center.ru, in Russian; Zemlyanoy val 57; admission free; 11am-7pm Tue-Sun; Chkalovskaya). Its displays cover the life of Sakharov, the nuclear-physicist-turned-human-rights-advocate, detailing the years of repression in Russia and providing a history of the dissident movement. Temporary expositions cover current human-rights issues. Look for a piece of genuine Berlin Wall in front of the building.
Curators at the Sakharov are frequently in the news for the controversy surrounding their exhibits (Click here).
CHISTYE PRUDY
In the late 17th century, this part of town was dominated by the meat industry (Myasnitskaya means ‘butchers’). When Peter the Great gave the area to his pal Alexander Menshikov, he launched a PR campaign, cleaning up the local waterway and renaming it ‘Chistye Prudy’ (Clean Ponds). The area boasts the first Moscow post office, founded in 1783 in one of the houses of the former Menshikov estate.
Hidden behind the post office is the famous Menshikov Tower (Map; Krivokolenny per; Turgenevskaya), built from 1704 to 1706 by the order of Menshikov at his newly founded estate. The tower was the tallest building in Moscow at the time of its construction (originally 3m taller than the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Kremlin) and was one of Moscow’s first baroque buildings. Its upper storey, once topped with an archangel statue, was never restored after it collapsed during a thunderstorm in 1723. Nonetheless, the tower today houses the working Church of Archangel Gabriel (Map).
Chistoprudny bul is a pleasant stroll. The Chisty Prud pond has paddle boats in summer and an ice-skating rink in winter, or you can simply pick a café and watch the boats or skaters go by.
BOTANICAL GARDEN
When you need an escape from the city’s hustle and bustle, the MGU Botanical Garden (Map; 495-680 5880; www.hortus.ru, in Russian; pr Mira 26; adult/child R50/10; 10am-10pm; Prospekt Mira) offers a wonderful retreat. There have been gardens on this site for hundreds of years. Established in 1706, it was owned by the Moscow general hospital to grow herbs and other medicinal plants. These days, it is operated by the university. Visitors can wander along the trails, enjoy an exhibition of ornamental plants and explore three greenhouses containing plants from various climate zones.
Tverskoy District
It’s hard to imagine Moscow without Tverskaya ul, the beginning of the road to Tver, and therefore to St Petersburg. The bottom end of the street, near Manezhnaya pl, is the city’s hub: numerous places to eat, sleep and shop dot the slope up to Pushkinskaya pl. Trolleybuses 12 and 20 go up and down Tverskaya ul as far as Belorussky vokzal.
The streets around Tverskaya ul comprise the vibrant Tverskoy district, characterised by old architecture and new commerce. Small lanes such as Kamergersky per and Stoleshnikov per are among Moscow’s trendiest places to sip a coffee or a beer and watch the big-city bustle.
ULITSA PETROVKA
Now restored to its prerevolutionary fashionable status, ul Petrovka constitutes Moscow’s glossiest central shopping area (Click here).
In the midst of all these swanky shops, an archway leads to a courtyard strung with barbed wire and hanging with portraits of political prisoners. This is the entrance to the Gulag History Museum (Map; 495-621 7346; www.museum-gulag.narod.ru, in Russian; ul Petrovka 16; 11am-4pm Tue-Sat; Chekhovskaya). Guides dressed like camp guards describe the vast network of labour camps that existed in the former Soviet Union and recount the horrors of camp life. The museum also serves as a memorial to the millions of victims of the system.
The Upper St Peter Monastery (Map; cnr ul Petrovka & Petrovsky bul; admission free; 8am-8pm; Chekhovskaya) was founded in the 1380s as part of an early defensive ring around Moscow. The grounds are pleasant in a peaceful, near-deserted way. The loveliest structure is the brick Cathedral of Metropolitan Pyotr in the middle of the grounds, restored with a shingle roof. (When Peter the Great ousted the Regent Sofia in 1690, his mother was so pleased she built him this church.)
A pet project of the ubiquitous Zurab Tsereteli, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA; Map; 495-694 2890; www.mmoma.ru; ul Petrovka 25; adult/student R200/100; noon-7pm; Chekhovskaya) is housed in a classical 18th-century merchant’s home. It contains 20th-century paintings, sculptures and graphics, including some works by Marc Chagall, Natalia Goncharova, Vasily Kandinsky and Kasimir Malevich. Don’t bypass the whimsical sculpture garden in the courtyard.
INNER TVERSKAYA ULITSA
Through the arch across the start of Bryusov per is the unexpected little gold-domed Church of the Resurrection (Map; Okhotny Ryad). The main building, built in 1629, is full of fine icons saved from churches torn down during the Soviet era; the refectory and bell tower date from 1820.
Tverskaya pl is recognisable by its Yury Dolgoruky statue (Map), the man traditionally considered Moscow’s founder. The buffed-up five-storey building that faces it is the Moscow Mayor’s Office (Map). Behind the statue is the 17th-century Church of SS Cosma and Damian (Map).
Up the road, Pushkinskaya pl is dom-inated by a statue of the great poet, Pushkin, with the tent-roofed 1652 Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Putinki (Map; Malaya Dmitrovka ul 4; Pushkinskaya) in the background.
North of Pushkinskaya pl is the Contemporary History Museum (Map; 495-699 6724; www.sovr.ru; Tverskaya ul 21; adult/student R100/70; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun; Pushkinskaya), which provides an account of Soviet history from the 1905 and 1917 revolutions up to the 1980s. The highlight is the extensive collection of propaganda posters, in addition to all the Bolshevik paraphernalia.
BEYOND THE GARDEN RING
Just beyond the Garden Ring, the Museum of Decorative & Folk Art (Map; 495-623 7725; Delegatskaya ul 3 & 5; 10am-5pm Sat-Thu; Tsvetnoy Bulvar) has a good two-room palekh (painted lacquerwork) collection, as well as lots of regional folk art.
Musicologists will be amazed by the massive collection of musical instruments at the Glinka Museum of Musical Culture (Map; 495-639 6226; ul Fadeeva 4; admission R50; noon-7pm Tue-Sun; Mayakovskaya). The museum holds over 3000 instruments – handcrafted works of art – from the Caucasus to the Far East. Recordings accompany many of the rarer instruments (there is no info in English, but at least visitors can experience what the instruments sound like).
Although Dostoevsky is more closely associated with St Petersburg, the renowned author was actually born in Moscow. On the grounds of the Marinsky Hospital, his family lived in an apartment, which is now the Dostoevsky House-Museum (Map; 495-681 1085; ul Dostoevskogo 2; admission R40; 11am-6pm Thu, Sat & Sun, 2-7pm Wed & Fri; Novoslobodskaya). The family’s flat has been recreated according to the written descriptions of Fyodor’s brother.
Covering the history of the Soviet and Russian military since 1917, the Armed Forces Museum (Map; 495-681 6303; www.cmaf.ru, in Russian; ul Sovetskoy Armii 2; admission R70; 10am-4.30pm Wed-Sun; Novoslobodskaya) occupies 24 exhibit halls, plus open-air exhibits. It houses more than 800,000 military items, including uniforms, medals and weapons. Among the highlights are remainders of the American U2 spy plane (brought down in the Urals in 1960) and the victory flag raised over the Reichstag in 1945. Unfortunately descriptions are in Russian only, but you can book an English-language tour for R1500. Take trolleybus 69 (or walk) 1.25km west from the Novoslobodskaya metro.
Presnensky District
The Presnensky District encompasses the large area southwest of Tverskaya ul and Tverskaya-Yamskaya ul, including Patriarch’s Ponds, Kudrinskaya pl and the lick of land now known as Moskva-City. The southern border is the Moscow River and the Novy Arbat.
AROUND PATRIARCH’S PONDS
This peaceful Patriarch’s Ponds (Patriarshy Prudy; Map) was immortalised by writer Mikhail Bulgakov, who had the devil appear here in The Master and Margarita, one of the most loved 20th-century Russian novels. The building on the Garden Ring where Bulgakov wrote the novel and lived up until his death now contains the Bulgakov House-Museum (Map; 495-970 0619; www.dombulgakova.ru, in Russian; Bolshaya Sadovaya ul 10; admission free; 1-11pm Sun-Thu, 1pm-1am Fri & Sat; Mayakovskaya). The flat itself used to be a hang-out for dissidents and hooligans, but is now off limits. Instead, there is a small exhibition and a funky café on the first floor. A black cat hangs out in the courtyard.
Around the corner, there is a Moscow Museum of Modern Art branch (Map; 495-694 2890; www.mmoma.ru; Yermolayevsky per 17; adult/student R200/100; noon-8pm; Mayakovskaya) that hosts temporary exhibits. Another branch (Map; 495-694 2890; www.mmoma.ru; Tverskoy bul 9; noon-8pm; Pushkinskaya) is on the Blvd Ring.
AROUND KUDRINSKAYA PLOSHCHAD
The neighbourhood surrounding the intersection of Bolshaya Nikitskaya ul with the Garden Ring at Kudrinskaya pl is sometimes called Barrikadnaya (Barricade), so-called because it saw heavy street fighting during the 1905 and 1917 uprisings. The skyscraper at this intersection is one of the Stalinist ‘Seven Sisters’ neo-Gothic monstrosities.
‘The colour of the house is liberal, ie red’, Anton Chekhov wrote of his house on the Garden Ring, where he lived from 1886 to 1890. Appropriately, the house now contains the Chekhov House-Museum (Map; 495-291 6154; ul Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya 6; admission R80; 11am-5pm Tue-Sun; Barrikadnaya), with bedrooms, drawing room and study intact. One room is dedicated to Chekhov’s time in Melikhovo (Click here), showing photographs and manuscripts from his country estate.
Behind Kudrinskaya pl is the main entrance to the big Moscow Zoo (Map; 499-255 5375; www.moscowzoo.ru; cnr Barrikadnaya & Bolshaya Gruzinskaya uls; adult/child R150/free; 10am-7pm Tue-Sun May-Sep, 10am-5pm Tue-Sun Oct-Apr; Barrikadnaya). Popular with families, highlights include big cats and polar bears, as well as special exhibits featuring animals from each continent.
South of the square, is the Russian White House (Map; Krasnopresnenskaya nab 2; Barrikadnaya), scene of two crucial episodes in recent Russian history. It was here that Boris Yeltsin rallied the opposition to confound the 1991 hardline coup, then two years later sent in tanks and troops to blast out conservative rivals. These days, things are relatively stable around the White House, where Prime Minister Putin now has his office.
BOLSHAYA NIKITSKAYA ULITSA
Bolshaya Nikitskaya ul runs from the Moscow State University building, on Mokhovaya ul, to the Garden Ring. In the back streets many old mansions have survived – some renovated, some dilapidated. Most of those inside the Blvd Ring were built by the 18th-century aristocracy; those outside by rising 19th-century industrialists. With little traffic, Bolshaya Nikitskaya ul is excellent for a quiet ramble.
Pl Nikitskye Vorota, where Bolshaya Nikit-skaya ul crosses the Blvd Ring, is named after the Nikitsky Gates in the city walls, which the ring has replaced. In 1831 the poet Alexander Pushkin married Natalya Goncharova in the Church of the Grand Ascension (Map; Arbatskaya) on the western side of pl Nikitskye Vorota. The couple is featured in the Rotunda Fountain (Map), erected in 1999 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the poet’s birthday.
Immediately north of the church is the fascinating 1906 art nouveau Gorky House-Museum (Map; 495-690 5130; Malaya Nikitskaya ul 6/2; admission free; 11am-6pm Wed-Sun; Pushkinskaya), designed by Fyodor Shekhtel. Gifted to Gorky in 1931, the house is a visual fantasy with sculpted doorways, ceiling murals, stained glass, a carved stone staircase, and exterior tile work. Besides the fantastic decor, it contains many of Gorky’s personal items, including his extensive library.
Converted to a theatre in the 1930s, the Lyubovicheskaya Synagogue (Map; 495-202 4530; Bol Bronnaya ul 6; Pushkinskaya) was still used for gatherings by the Jewish community throughout the Soviet period. The rug on the altar hides a trapdoor leading to a small cell where Jews used to hide from the communists.
MOSKVA-CITY
This strip along the Moscow River is the site of one of Moscow’s largest ongoing urban projects, known as Moskva-City. The neighbourhood is truly up-and-coming, with an emphasis on ‘up’. Skyscrapers of glass and steel tower 20 stories over the rest of the city, shining like beacons to Moscow’s wheelers, dealers and fortune seekers. Mayor Luzhkov has grand plans to move much of the city administration to this new centre.
Ice sculpture has a long history in Russia, but it’s not usually a year-round attraction. Until now. Cool off in the first-ever year-round Ice Sculpture Gallery (Map; 495-220 4619; Krasnaya Presnya Park; adult/student/child R470/250/250; 11am-8pm; Ulitsa 1905 goda). The price includes a special down vest and warm fuzzy foot-covers to protect you from the −10°C climate. The changing exhibit is small but spectacular – the frozen masterpieces enhanced by colourful lights and dreamy music.
Arbat District
Bound by the Moscow River on both sides, this district includes the area south of ul Novy Arbat.
NOVY ARBAT
The start of the road west to Smolensk is formed by ul Vozdvizhenka (running west from the Kremlin) and ul Novy Arbat (the continuation to the Moscow River).
The 19th-century writer Nikolai Gogol spent his final tortured months in the small apartment now known as the Gogol Memorial Rooms (Map; 495-291 1224; Nikitsky bul 7; admission free; noon-7pm Mon, Wed-Fri, noon-5pm Sat & Sun; Arbatskaya). The rooms are arranged as they were when Gogol lived here, including the fireplace where he infamously threw his manuscript of Dead Souls.
The ‘Moorish Castle’, studded with seashells, was built in 1899 for Arseny Morozov, an eccentric merchant who was inspired by the real thing in Spain; the inside is sumptuous and equally over the top. Morozov’s home is now the House of Friendship with Peoples of Foreign Countries (Map; ul Vozdvizhenka 16; Arbatskaya), which is not normally open to the public, although exhibitions are sometimes held here.
ULITSA ARBAT
Ul Arbat is a 1.25km pedestrian mall stretching from Arbatskaya pl on the Blvd Ring to Smolenskaya pl on the Garden Ring. Moscow’s most famous street, it’s something of an art market, complete with instant portrait painters, soapbox poets, jugglers and buskers.
ARBAT, MY ARBAT
Arbat, my Arbat, You are my calling
You are my happiness and my misfortune.
Bulat Okudzhava
For Moscow’s beloved bard Bulat Okudzhava, the Arbat was not only his home, it was his inspiration. Although he spent his university years in Georgia dabbling in harmless verse, it was only upon his return to Moscow – and to his cherished Arbat – that his poetry adopted the freethinking character for which it is known.
He gradually made the transition from poet to songwriter, stating that, ‘Once I had the desire to accompany one of my satirical verses with music. I only knew three chords; now, 27 years later, I know seven chords, then I knew three.’ While Bulat and his friends enjoyed his songs, other composers, singers and guitarists did not. The ill-feeling subsided when a well-known poet announced that ‘…these are not songs. This is just another way of presenting poetry’.
And so a new form of art was born. The 1960s were heady times – in Moscow as elsewhere – and Okudzhava inspired a whole movement of liberal-thinking poets to take their ideas to the streets. Vladimir Vysotsky and others – some political, some not – followed in Okudzhava’s footsteps, their iconoclastic lyrics and simple melodies drawing enthusiastic crowds all around Moscow.
The Arbat today – crowded with tacky souvenir stands and overpriced cafés – bears little resemblance to the hallowed haunt of Okudzhava’s youth. But its memory lives on in the bards and buskers, painters and poets who still perform for strolling crowds on summer evenings.
The evocative names of nearby lanes – Khlebny (Bread), Skaterny (Tablecloth), Serebryany (Silver), Plotnikov (Carpenters) – and that of the peaceful quarter south of the Arbat, called Staraya Konyushennaya (Old Stables), identify the area as an old settlement of court attendants (who were eventually displaced by artists and aristocrats).
Near ul Arbat’s east end, the Wall of Peace (Map; Arbatskaya) is composed of hundreds of individually painted tiles on a theme of international friendship.
In a side street stands the refreshingly bizarre Melnikov House (Map; Krivoarbatsky per 10; Smolenskaya). This concoction of brick, plaster and diamond-shaped windows was built in 1927 by Konstantin Melnikov, the great constructivist architect who was denounced in the 1930s. Melnikov continued to live in the house, one of the few privately owned homes in the USSR, until his death in 1974. There are now plans to turn it into a public museum.
The statue at the corner of Plotnikov per is of Bulat Okudzhava (Map), a 1960s cult poet, singer and songwriter, much of whose work was dedicated to the Arbat (he lived at No 43; see the boxed text, opposite).
At the western end of the street is the Pushkin Arbat House-Museum (Map; 499-241 9293; www.pushkinmuseum.ru, in Russian; ul Arbat 53; admission R80; 10am-5pm Wed-Sun), a house where the Pushkins lived after they married. Just next door is the Andrey Bely Memorial Apartment (Map; 499-241 9293; ul Arbat 55; admission R80; 10am-5pm Wed-Sun), Silver Age author of the surreal novel Petersburg.
Khamovniki
The Moscow River surrounds this district on three sides, as it dips down south and loops back up to the north.
ART MUSEUMS
The Pushkin Fine Arts Museum (Map; 495-203 7998; www.museum.ru/gmii; ul Volkhonka 12; adult/student R300/150, audio tour R200; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun; Kropotkinskaya) is Moscow’s premier foreign-art museum, showing off a broad selection of European works mostly appropriated from private collections after the revolution. The highlight is perhaps the Dutch and Flemish masterpieces from the 17th century, including several Rembrandt portraits. The Ancient Civilisation exhibits also contain a surprisingly excellent collection, complete with ancient Egyptian weaponry, jewellery, ritual items and tombstones, as well as two haunting mummies. Another room houses the impressive Treasures of Troy, with excavated items dating to 2500 BC.
The Pushkin has moved its amazing collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings next door to the new Gallery of European & American Art of the 19th & 20th Centuries (Map; 495-203 1546; ul Volkhonka 14; adult/student R300/150; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun, 10am-8pm Thu; Kropotkinskaya). The new gallery contains the famed assemblage of French Impressionist works, including Degas, Manet, Renoir and Pisarro, with an entire room dedicated to Monet. The gallery displays many of the most famous paintings by Matisse, such as Goldfish; sculptures from Rodin’s Gates of Hell, amongst others; some lesser-known pieces by Picasso; a few exquisite primitive paintings by Rousseau; several amazing paintings by Van Gogh; an entire room dedicated to Gauguin; and works by Miró, Kandinsky and Chagall.
On the opposite side of the Pushkin, the Museum of Private Collections (Map; 495-203 1546; ul Volkhonka 10; adult/student R50/25; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun; Kropotkinskaya) shows off art collections donated by private individuals, many of whom amassed the works during the Soviet era. The collectors/donors are featured along with the art. A collective ticket (adult/student R500/300) to the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum, the Gallery of European & American Art and the Museum of Private Collections is available at any site.
Nikolai Rerikh (known internationally as Nicholas Roerich) was a Russian artist from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, whose fantastical artwork is characterised by rich, bold colours and mystical themes. Tucked behind the Museum of Private Collections, the Rerikh Museum (Map; 495-203 6419; Maly Znamensky per 3/5; adult/student R220/110; 11am-5pm Wed-Sun; Kropotkinskaya) gives a fascinating overview of his artwork as well as the spiritual doctrine and archaeological interests that inspired it.
The elaborate empire-style mansion opposite the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum houses the Glazunov Gallery (Map; 495-291 6949; www.glazunov.ru; ul Volkhonka 13; adult/student R160/80; 11am-6pm Tue-Sun; Kropotkinskaya). Ilya Glazunov is famous for huge, colourful paintings that depict hundreds of people and places and events from Russian history in one monumental scene.
LEAVING A MARK ON MOSCOW
As the chief architect of the Okhotny Ryad shopping mall and the massive Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Zurab Tsereteli has been criticised for being too ostentatious, too gaudy, too overbearing and just too much.
The most controversial of Tsereteli’s masterpieces is the gargantuan statue of Peter the Great, which now stands in front of the Krasny Oktyabr (Red October) chocolate factory. At 94.5m (that’s twice the size of the Statue of Liberty, without her pedestal), Peter towers over the city. Questions of taste aside, Muscovites were sceptical about the whole idea: why pay tribute to Peter the Great, who loathed Moscow and even moved the capital to St Petersburg? Some radicals even attempted – unsuccessfully – to blow the thing up. After that, a 24-hour guard had to stand watch.
Mixed reactions are nothing new to Zurab Tsereteli. An earlier sculpture of Christopher Columbus has been rejected by five North American cities for reasons of cost, size and aesthetics. (Some believe that the Peter the Great statue is actually a reincarnation of homeless Chris.) Despite his critics, who launched a ‘Stop Tsereteli’ website, this favourite artist of Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov does not stop. He launched the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA) and took over the Russian Academy of Arts. He then opened the aptly named Tsereteli Gallery (below), which houses room after room of the artist’s primitive paintings and elaborate sculptures.
To see where all these whimsical creatures originate, stroll down Bolshaya Gruzinskaya ul, north of the zoo, to Gruzinskaya pl, where you’ll find the Zurab Tsereteli studio (Map). You can’t miss the mint-green baroque facade, its front door flanked by crazy clowns and its front yard littered with leftovers – St George killing the dragon and other historical figures.
CATHEDRAL OF CHRIST THE SAVIOUR
Now dominating the skyline along the Moscow River, the gargantuan Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Map; 495-202 4734; www.xxc.ru, in Russian; admission free; 10am-5pm; Kropotkinskaya) sits on the site of an earlier and similar church of the same name. The original church was built from 1839 to 1860 to commemorate Russia’s victory over Napoleon, but it was destroyed during Stalin’s orgy of explosive secularism. Stalin planned to replace the church with a 315m-high ‘Palace of Soviets’ (including a 100m statue of Lenin) but the project never got off the ground – literally. Instead, for 50 years the site served an important purpose: as the world’s largest swimming pool.
This time around, the church was completed in a mere two years, in time for Moscow’s 850th birthday in 1997, and at an estimated cost of US$350 million. Much of the work was done by Luzhkov’s favourite architect Zurab Tsereteli, and it has aroused a range of reactions from Muscovites, from pious devotion to abject horror. Muscovites should at least be grateful they can admire the shiny domes of a church instead of the shiny dome of Lenin’s head.
ULITSA PRECHISTENKA
Heading southwest from Kropotkinskaya metro, ul Prechistenka is virtually a museum of classical mansions; most date from empire-style rebuilding after the great fire of 1812.
The Pushkin Literary Museum (Map; 495-637 5674; ul Prechistenka 12; admission R80; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun; Kropotkinskaya) is one of the most beautiful examples of the Moscow empire architectural style; the exhibit inside is devoted to Pushkin’s life and work. In another mansion across the street, the Tolstoy Museum (Map; 495-637 7410; www.tolstoymuseum.ru; ul Prechistenka 11; adult/student R200/100; 11am-6pm Tue-Sun; Kropotkinskaya) contains Leo Tolstoy’s manuscripts, letters and sketches. These museums focus on literary influences and output, as opposed to the authors’ personal lives, which are on display at the house-museums (Click here and opposite, respectively).
Another endeavour of the tireless Zurab Tsereteli is the aptly named Tsereteli Gallery (Map; 495-637 4150; ul Prechistenka 19; admission R200; noon-7pm Tue-Sat; Kropotkinskaya), housed in the 18th-century Dolgoruky mansion. The Russian Academy of Arts (Map; 495-637 2569; www.rah.ru; ul Prechistenka 21; admission R80; 11am-8pm Tue-Sun; Kropotkinskaya) holds rotating exhibits next door.
TOLSTOY ESTATE-MUSEUM
Leo Tolstoy’s winter home during the 1880s and 1890s now houses the interesting Tolstoy Estate-Museum (Map; 499-246 9444; www.tolstoymuseum.ru; ul Lva Tolstogo 21; adult/student R200/50; 10am-5pm Wed-Sun; Park Kultury). Exhibits demonstrate how Tolstoy lived; see the salon where Sergei Rachmaninov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov played piano, and the study where Tolstoy himself wove his epic tales.
At the south end of ul Lva Tolstogo, the beautiful Church of St Nicholas of the Weavers (Map) vies with St Basil’s Cathedral as the most colourful in Moscow. It was commissioned by the Moscow weavers’ guild in 1676.
NOVODEVICHY CONVENT & CEMETERY
A cluster of sparkling domes behind turreted walls on the Moscow River, Novodevichy Convent (Map; 499-246 8526; adult/student R150/60; grounds 8am-8pm daily, museums 10am-5pm Wed-Mon; Sportivnaya) was founded in 1524 to celebrate the taking of Smolensk from Lithuania, an important step in Moscow’s conquest of the old Kyivan Rus lands. Novodevichy was later rebuilt by Peter the Great’s half-sister Sofia, who used it as a second residence when she ruled Russia as regent in the 1680s.
When Peter was 17, he deposed Sofia and confined her to Novodevichy; in 1698 she was imprisoned here for life after being implicated in the Streltsy rebellion. (Legend has it that Peter had some of her supporters hanged outside her window to remind her not to meddle.) Sofia was joined in her retirement by Yevdokia Lopukhina, Peter’s first wife, whom he considered a nag.
Enter the convent through the red-and-white Moscow-baroque Transfiguration Gate-Church, built in the north wall between 1687 and 1689. The first building on the left contains an Exhibition Room. Yevdokia Lopukhina lived in the Lopukhin Building against the north wall, while Sofia probably lived in the chambers adjoining the Pond Tower.
The oldest and most dominant building in the grounds is the white Smolensk Cathedral, its sumptuous interior covered in 16th-century frescoes. The huge iconostasis – donated by Sofia – has icons from the time of Boris Godunov. The tombs of Sofia, a couple of her sisters and Yevdokia Lopukhina are in the south nave.
The bell tower, against the convent’s east wall, was completed in 1690 and is generally regarded as the finest in Moscow. Other churches on the grounds include the red-and-white Assumption Church (1685 to 1687), and the 16th-century St Ambrose’s Church.
Boris Godunov’s sister Irina lived in the building adjoining the latter church. Today, the Irina Chambers hold a permanent exhibit of 16th- and 17th-century religious artwork such as icons and embroidery.
Adjacent to the convent, Novodevichy Cemetery (Map; admission free; 9am-5pm; Sportivnaya) is among Moscow’s most prestigious resting places – a veritable ‘who’s who’ of Russian politics and culture. You will find the tombs of Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Konstantin Stanislavsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Eisenstein, Andrei Gromyko, and many other Russian and Soviet notables.
In Soviet times Novodevichy Cemetery was used for eminent people, whom the authorities judged unsuitable for the Kremlin wall – most notably, Khrushchev. The intertwined white-and-black blocks round Khrushchev’s bust were intended by sculptor Ernst Neizvestny to represent Khrushchev’s good and bad sides.
The tombstone of Nadezhda Alliluyeva, Stalin’s second wife, is surrounded by unbreakable glass to prevent vandalism. The most recent notable addition is former President Boris Yeltsin, who died of congestive heart failure in 2007. The cemetery’s entrance is on Luzhnetsky proezd. If you want to investigate it in depth, buy the Russian map on sale at the kiosk, which pinpoints nearly 200 graves.
Zamoskvorechie
Zamoskvorechie (meaning ‘Beyond the Moscow River’) stretches south from opposite the Kremlin, inside a big river loop. The Vodootvodny canal slices across the top of Zamoskvorechie, preventing spring floods in the city centre and creating the sliver of Bolotny Island opposite the Kremlin. Zamoskvorechie is a varied, intriguing area. From almost any place here you can see the giant statue of Peter the Great (Map).
BOLOTNY ISLAND
After more than a century of producing chocolates and other sweets, the famed Krasny Oktyabr (Red October) factory opposite the Church of Christ the Saviour was finally forced to close, as a part of an effort to remove industry from the historic centre of the capital. This prime real estate, which boasts the best views of the Kremlin, is being converted into high-rent apartments. In a rare and enlightened move, however, the historic industrial building is being preserved. The garages and other out-buildings have already been taken over by artists for gallery and studio space, known as Art Strelka (Click here). The Krasny Oktyabr Museum (Map; 499-255 5352; www.uniconf.ru, in Russian; Bersenevskaya nab 6; tours 10am & 3pm; Novokuznetskaya) will remain open to document the history of the complex and the company.
Northeast of here, Dom na Naberezhnoy (Map; 495-959 0317; www.museumdom.narod.ru, in Russian; ul Serafimovicha 2; admission free; 5-8pm Wed, 2-6pm Sat; Novokuznetskaya) was the residence of many old Bolsheviks and Civil War heroes. The life histories of its many noteworthy residents tell a fascinating tale, which is recounted at the Museum of Repression on site. Unfortunately hours are sporadic and information is only in Russian.
TRETYAKOV GALLERY
Nothing short of spectacular, the State Tretyakov Gallery (Map; 495-951 1362; www.tretyakovgallery.ru, in Russian; Lavrushinsky per 10; adult/student R250/150, audio tour R300; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun; Tretyakovskaya; 
) holds the world’s best collection of Russian icons, as well as an outstanding collection of other prerevolutionary Russian art, particularly from the 18th-century Peredvizhniki (Click here).
The original part of the Tretyakov building is a likeness of an old boyar castle, and was created by Viktor Vasnetsov between 1900 and 1905. The collection is based on that of the 19th-century industrialist brothers Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov (Pavel was a patron of the Peredvizhniki).
Within the museum grounds, the Church of St Nicholas in Tolmachi (Map; noon-4pm) is the church where Pavel Tretyakov regularly attended services. It was transferred to the museum grounds and restored in 1997, and now functions as exhibit hall and working church. The exquisite five-tiered iconostasis dates back to the 17th century. The centrepiece is the revered 12th-century Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, protector of all of Russia.
It’s worth showing up early in order to beat the queues. The entrance to the gallery is through a lovely courtyard; the Engineer’s Building (Map; Lavrushinsky per 12) next door is reserved for special exhibits.
GORKY PARK
Part ornamental park, part funfair, Gorky Park is one of Moscow’s most festive places to escape the hubbub of the city. Officially the Park of Culture (Park Kultury; Map; 495-237 1266; ul Krymsky val; adult/child R80/20; 10am-10pm; Park Kultury), it’s named after Maxim Gorky, and stretches almost 3km along the river upstream of Krymsky most. You can’t miss the showy main entrance, marked by colourful flags waving in the wind and the happy sounds of an old-fashioned carousel.
Gorky Park has a small Western-style amusement park with two roller coasters and almost a dozen other terror-inducing attractions (aside from the Peter the Great statue). Space buffs can shed a tear for the Buran, a Soviet space shuttle that never carried anyone into space. Most of the rides cost between R50 and R200.
In winter the ponds are frozen for ice skating and tracks are made for cross-country skiing. Skis and skates are also available for rental.
NEW TRETYAKOV
The premier venue for 20th-century Russian art is the State Tretyakov Gallery on ul Krymsky val, better known as the New Tretyakov (Map; 499-238 1378; adult/student R225/150; 10am-6.30pm Tue-Sun; Park Kultury). This place has much more than the typical socialist realist images of muscle-bound men wielding scythes and busty women milking cows (although there’s that too). The exhibits showcase avant-garde artists such as Malevich, Kandinsky, Chagall, Goncharova and Lyubov Popova.
In the same building as the New Tretyakov, the Tsentralny Dom Khudozhnikov (Central House of Artists; Map; 499-238 9843; admission R100, special exhibits R200; 11am-7pm Tue-Sun; Park Kultury) is a huge exhibit space used for contemporary art shows.
Behind the complex is the wonderful, moody Art Muzeon Sculpture Park (Map; 499-238 3396; ul Krymsky val 10; admission R100; 9am-9pm; Park Kultury). Formerly called the Park of the Fallen Heroes, this open-air sculpture park started as a collection of Soviet statues (Stalin, Dzerzhinsky, a selection of Lenins and Brezhnevs) put out to pasture when they were ripped from their pedestals in the post-1991 wave of anti-Soviet feeling. These discredited icons have now been joined by fascinating and diverse contemporary works.
ULITSA BOLSHAYA ORDYNKA & PYATNITSKAYA ULITSA
The atmosphere of 19th-century Moscow lives on in the low buildings, crumbling courtyards and clusters of onion domes along narrow ul Bolshaya Ordynka, which runs 2km down the middle of Zamoskvorechie to Serpukhovskaya pl. Pyatnitskaya ul is roughly parallel, 200m to the east. The many churches here make up a scrapbook of Muscovite architectural styles. The name ‘Ordynka’ comes from orda (horde); until the 16th century, this was the start of the road to the Golden Horde’s capital on the Volga, where Tatar ambassadors lived.
If you head south from Maly Moskvoretsky most, the first lane on the right contains the tall Resurrection Church in Kadashi (Map; Tretyakovskaya), a restoration centre for other churches. Its rich, late 17th-century decoration is a fine example of ‘Moscow baroque’. The tall and elegant belfry earned the nickname ‘the candle’.
The small, white SS Mikhail & Fyodor Church (Map; Chernigovsky per; Tretyakovskaya), dating from the late 17th century, has two rows of spade gables and five domes on a thin tower. The larger St John the Baptist Church (Map), from the same period, has a landmark bell tower that was added in 1753.
The empire-style Virgin of Consolation of All Sorrows Church (Map; ul Bolshaya Ordynka 20; Tretyakovskaya) dates from the 1830s. Klimentovsky per leads to St Clement’s Church (Map; Pyatnitskaya ul 26; Tretyakovskaya), built between 1742 and 1774, and a rare Moscow example of the true baroque style favoured by Empress Elizabeth.
The blue-and-white Church of St Nicholas in Pyzhi (Map; ul Bolshaya Ordynka 27A; Tretyakovskaya), a working church, is a typical five-domed, mid-17th-century church, with spade gables and thin onion domes. SS Martha & Mary Convent (Map; ul Bolshaya Ordynka 34A; Tretyakovskaya), with its pretty, single-domed Intercession Church, now houses church restoration offices. The church and gates were built between 1908 and 1912 in neo-Russian style. The interior frescoes are worth a visit.
DANILOVSKY MONASTERY
The headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church stand behind white fortress walls. The Danilovsky Monastery (Map; 495-955 6757; Danilovsky val; admission free; 7am-7pm; Tulskaya) was built in the late 13th century by Daniil, the first Prince of Moscow, as an outer city defence. It served as a factory and a detention centre during the Soviet period. However, it was restored in time to replace Sergiev Posad as the Church’s spiritual and administrative centre and to become the official residence of the patriarch during the millennial celebrations of Russian Orthodoxy in 1988. Today it radiates an air of purpose befitting the Church’s role in modern Russia.
On holy days in particular, the place fills with worshippers murmuring prayers, lighting candles and ladling holy water into jugs at the tiny chapel inside the gates. Enter beneath the pink St Simeon Stylite Gate-Church on the north wall. Its bells are the first in Moscow to ring on holy days.
The monastery’s oldest and busiest church is the Church of the Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, where worship is held continuously from 10am to 5pm daily. The yellow, neoclassical Trinity Cathedral, built in the 1830s, is an austere counterpart to the other buildings.
DONSKOY MONASTERY
Founded in 1591, the Donskoy Monastery (Map; 495-952 1646; Donskaya ul; Shabolovskaya) is the youngest of Moscow’s fortified monasteries. It was built to house the Virgin of the Don icon (now in the Tretyakov Gallery), which was credited with bringing victory in the 1380 Battle of Kulikovo (Click here). It’s also said that in 1591 the Tatar Khan Giri retreated without a fight after the icon showered him with burning arrows in a dream.
Most of the monastery, surrounded by a brick wall with 12 towers, was built between 1684 and 1733 under Regent Sofia and Peter the Great. The Virgin of Tikhvin Church over the north gate, built in 1713 and 1714, is one of the last examples of Moscow baroque. When burials in central Moscow were banned after a 1771 plague, the Donskoy Monastery became a graveyard for the nobility, and it is littered with elaborate tombs and chapels.
Taganka
Taganskaya pl on the Garden Ring is a monster intersection – loud, dusty and crowded. It’s the hub of this district south of the little Yauza River. Taganka was the territory of the 17th-century blacksmiths’ guild; later it became an Old Believers’ quarter. The square’s character disappeared with reconstruction in the 1970s and 1980s, but traces remain in the streets radiating from it.
ZKP TAGANSKY COLD WAR MUSEUM
On a quiet side street near Taganskaya pl, a nondescript neoclassical building is the gateway to the secret Cold War era communications centre, ZKP Tagansky (Map; 495-500 0554; www.zk; 5-ya Kotelnichesky per 11; admission R1000-2000; by appointment; Taganskaya). Operated by Central Telephone & Telegraph, the facility was meant to serve as the communications headquarters in the event of a nuclear attack. As such, the building was just a shell and entryway to the 7000-sq-metre space that is 60m underground.
Now in private hands, the facility is being converted into a sort of museum dedicated to the Cold War. Unfortunately, not much remains from the Cold War days. The vast place is nearly empty, except for a few exhibits set up for the benefit of visitors, such as a scale model of the facility. Visitors watch a 20-minute film about the history of the Cold War, followed by a guided tour of the four underground ‘blocks’. Price of admission varies according to the size of your group.
AROUND TAGANSKAYA PLOSHCHAD
Behind metro Taganskaya is the sombre Taganka Gates Church of St Nicholas (Map), from 1712. More fetching is the Potters’ Church of the Assumption (Map; ul Goncharnaya 29; Taganskaya), built in 1654, with its star-spangled domes and impressive tile work.
Goncharnaya ul leads north to the Church of St Nikita Beyond the Yauza (Map), which has 15th-century foundations, 16th-century walls, 17th-century chapels and an 18th-century bell tower. The church is dwarfed by the Kotelnicheskaya apartment block, one of the Stalinist Gothic ‘Seven Sisters’ skyscrapers built around 1950.
Northeast of Taganskaya, you can’t miss the grand Cathedral of St Martin the Confessor (Map; Bolshaya Kommunisticheskaya ul 15; Taganskaya), built in 1792.
ANDRONIKOV MONASTERY
On the grounds of the former Andronikov Monastery, the Andrei Rublyov Museum of Early Russian Culture & Art (Map; 495-678 1467; Andronevskaya pl 10; adult/student R150/75; 11am-5.30pm Thu-Tue; Ploshchad Ilicha) exhibits icons from the days of yore and from the present. Unfortunately, the museum does not include any work by its namesake artist.
It is still worthwhile, not the least for its romantic location. Andrei Rublyov, the master of icon painting, was a monk here in the 15th century; he’s buried in the grounds, but no one knows quite where.
In the centre of the grounds is the compact Saviour’s Cathedral, built in 1427, the oldest stone building in Moscow. The posy of kokoshniki (colourful tiles and brick patterns) is typical of Russian architecture from the era. To the left is the combined rectory and 17th-century Moscow-baroque Church of the Archangel Michael. To the right, the old monks’ quarters house the museum.
NOVOSPASSKY MONASTERY
Another 15th-century fort-monastery is 1km south of Taganskaya pl – the Novospassky Monastery (Map; 495-676 9570; Verkhny Novospassky pro; admission free; 7am-7pm Mon-Sat, 8am-7pm Sun; Krestyanskaya Zastava).
The centrepiece, the Transfiguration Cathedral, was built by the imperial Romanov family in the 1640s in imitation of the Kremlin’s Assumption Cathedral. Frescoes depict the history of Christianity in Russia; the Romanov family tree, which goes as far back as the Viking Prince Rurik, climbs one wall. The other church is the 1675 Intercession Church. Under the river bank, beneath one of the monastery towers, is the site of a mass grave for thousands of Stalin’s victims.
OLD BELIEVERS’ COMMUNITY
One of Russia’s most atmospheric religious centres is the Old Believers’ Community (Map; Staroobryadcheskaya Obshchina; admission free; 9am-6pm Tue-Sun), located 3km east of Taganskaya pl. Old Believers split from the main Russian Orthodox Church in 1653 when they refused to accept certain reforms. They have maintained old forms of worship and customs ever since (Click here).
In the late 18th century, during a brief period free of persecution, rich Old Believer merchants founded this community, among the most important in the country. To get here, take trolleybus 16 or 26, or bus 51, east from Taganskaya pl; get off after crossing a railway. The tall, green-domed 20th-century bell tower of Rogozhskoe Cemetery is clearly visible to the north.
The yellow, classical-style Intercession Church contains one of Moscow’s finest collections of icons, all dating from before 1653, with the oldest being the 14th-century Saviour with the Angry Eye (Spas Yaroe Oko), protected under glass near the south door. The icons in the deesis row (the biggest row) of the iconostasis are supposed to represent the Rublyov school, while the seventh, The Saviour, is attributed to Rublyov himself.
Visitors are welcome at the church, but women should take care to wear long skirts (no trousers) and headscarves.
Moscow Outskirts
ALL-RUSSIA EXHIBITION CENTRE (VDNKH)
No other place sums up the rise and fall of the Soviet dream quite as well as the All- Russia Exhibition Centre (Vserossisky Vystavochny Tsentr, VVTs; Map; 495-544 3400; www.vvcentre.ru, in Russian; pavilions 10am-7pm, grounds 8am-10pm; VDNKh). The old initials by which it’s still commonly known, VDNKh, tell the story – they stand for Vystavka Dostizheny Narodnogo Khozy-aystva SSSR (USSR Economic Achievements Exhibition).
Originally created in the 1930s, VDNKh was expanded in the ’50s and ’60s to impress upon one and all the success of the Soviet economic system. Two kilometres long and 1km wide, it is composed of wide pedestrian avenues and grandiose pavilions, glorifying every aspect of socialist construction from education and health to agriculture, technology and science. The pavilions represent a huge variety of architectural styles, symbolic of the contributions from diverse ethnic and artistic movements to the common goal. Here you will find the kitschiest socialist realism, the most inspiring of socialist optimism and, now, the tackiest of capitalist consumerism.
RUBLE ROAD
West of Moscow, just outside MKAD, the outer ring road, the swanky street called ‘Rublyovka’ is the residence of choice for the movers, the shakers, the big money-makers…Moscow’s mega-rich.
In Soviet times, high-level political officials and cultural figures were awarded modest cottages in this ecologically pure district. These days, the Moscow River provides a picturesque backdrop for multimillion-dollar mansions. The average cost of a house in this high-rolling ’hood is upwards of 100 million roubles, and prices are climbing. Home to former President Putin and current President Medvedev, Rublyovka is the pinnacle of prestige in Moscow.
But it’s not only Russians that are here: Armani, Dolce & Gabana, Ferrari, Gucci and Lamborghini all have outlets along this strip, as do Ralph Lauren and Harley Davidson. For a spot of shopping, stop in at Barvikha Luxury Village (Rublyovo-Uspenskoe sh 8, Barvikha). This is where local folk might pop in to pick up a Prada handbag, an Armani suit or – why not – a Ferrari Testarossa. There is also a hotel in this swanky shopping centre: Barvikha Hotel & Spa (www.barvikhahotel.com), due open at the end of 2008.
There is not a whole lot to see along Rublyovka, as most of the mansions are hidden behind birch forests and high fences. But there is plenty to eat. Multimillionaire restaurateur Arkady Novikov is right at home here, with his elaborate ethnic menus and matching over-the-top decor.
Tsarskaya Okhota (Tsar’s Hunt;
About 15km further west from Zhukovka, the village of Nikolina Gora is Moscow’s original elitny district, where you can actually see the Soviet-era dachas that were so sought-after back in the day. It is no longer so exclusive, and you can wander down to the banks of the Moscow River, where you will find the beach that was prominently featured in the Oscar-winning film Burnt by the Sun. Apparently, director Nikita Mikhalkov has a place around here, and is sometimes spotted swimming in the river himself.
The grounds are huge, so you may wish to catch a ride on the tourist train (R30) that leaves from the front gate. Otherwise, you can rent bicycles and inline skates (per hour/day R100/300) just outside.
The soaring 100m titanium obelisk is a monument to Soviet space flight. In its base is the Memorial Museum of Cosmonauts (Map; 495-683 8197; 10am-7pm Tue-Sun; VDNKh), a high-concept series of displays from the glory days of the Soviet space program. The museum was closed for renovations at the time of research, so times of operation are estimates.
OSTANKINO
The pink-and-white Ostankino Palace (Map; 495-683 4645; www.museum.ru/ostankino; admission R80, excursion R150; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun mid-May–Sep) was built in the 1790s as the summer pad of Count Nikolai Sheremetyev, probably Russia’s richest aristocrat of the time and son of Count Pyotr Sheremetyev. Note that the palace is closed on days when it rains or when humidity is high, to protect the art and the interiors.
The lavish interior, with hand-painted wallpaper and intricate parquet floors, houses the count’s art treasures. The ornate rooms include the Italian Pavilion and the Egyptian Hall. The centrepiece is the oval theatre-ballroom built for the Sheremetyev troupe of 250 serf actors (Click here). In 1801 Count Nikolai married one of the troupe, Praskovia Zhemchugova, and the two retired to Ostankino to avoid court gossip. These days, the Theatre of Ostankino (Map; 495-683 4645; www.museum.ru/ostankino; tickets R200-750) hosts a summer music festival, featuring intimate concerts.
After a fire in the late 1990s, the 540m Ostankino TV Tower (Map) is no longer open to the public, although it still provides a distinctive landmark for the area.
To reach the Ostankino Palace, walk west from VDNKh metro, across the car parks, to pick up tram 7 or 11, or trolleybus 13, 36, 69 or 73 west along ul Akademika Korolyova.
PARK POBEDY & AROUND
Following a vicious but inconclusive battle at Borodino (Click here) in August 1812, Moscow’s defenders retreated along what are now Kutuzovsky pr and ul Arbat, pursued by Napoleon’s Grand Army. Today, about 3km west of Novoarbatsky most (formerly Kalininsky most) is the Borodino Panorama (Map; 495-148 1967; Kutuzovsky pr 38; adult/student R50/30; 10am-5pm Sat-Thu; Park Pobedy), a pavilion with a giant 360-degree painting of the Borodino battle. Standing inside this tableau of bloodshed – complete with sound effects – is a powerful way to visualise the event.
The Triumphal Arch (Map), further out, celebrates Napoleon’s eventual defeat. Demolished at its original site outside Belarus Station in the 1930s, it was reconstructed here in a fit of post-WWII public spirit.
A short distance west is Park Pobedy (Map), or Victory Park, a huge memorial complex celebrating the Great Patriotic War. The park includes endless fountains and monuments and the memorial Church of St George (Map). The dominant monument is a 142m obelisk (each 10cm represents a day of the war).
The Museum of the Great Patriotic War (Map; 495-142 4185; ul Bratiev Fonchenko 10; adult/child R100/40; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun Nov-Mar, til 7pm Apr-Oct; Park Pobedy) has a diorama of every major WWII battle involving Soviet troops. Exhibits highlight the many heroes of the Soviet Union, as well as show weapons, photographs, documentary films, letters and many other authentic wartime memorabilia.
At the far end of the park, the Memorial Synagogue at Poklonnaya Hill (Map) houses the Museum of Jewish Legacy History and Holocaust (495-148 1907; Minskaya ul; admission free; 10am-6pm Tue-Thu, noon-7pm Sun; Park Pobedy). Admission is with a guide only, so you must make arrangements in advance, especially if you want a tour in English.
VOROBYOVY GORY
The best view over Moscow is from Universit-etskaya pl on Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills). Behind the square is the 36-storey spire of Moscow State University (Map; Moskovsky Gosudarstvenny Universitet; Vorobyovy Gory), one of the ‘Seven Sisters’ that is visible from most places in the city thanks to its elevated site.
It’s also a convenient access point for the Vorobyovy Gory Nature Preserve (Map; 499-739 2708; www.vorobyovy-gory.ru, in Russian; admission free; Vorobyovy Gory). Following the south shore of the Moscow River, the narrow strip of land contains a network of wooded trails and a sandy beach. An ecotrain runs along the bank of the river; you can also rent bicycles or inline skates at the southeastern entrance. From the river, the walking trails lead up to Universitetskaya pl, as does the ski lift (R100).
Return to beginning of chapter
KOLOMENSKOE MUSEUM-RESERVE
Set amid 4 sq km of parkland, on a bluff above a Moscow River bend, Kolomenskoe Museum-Reserve (Map; 499-615 2768; www.mgomz.ru, in Russian; grounds admission free, museum adult/child R300/100; grounds 8am-9pm, museum 10am-5pm; Kolomenskaya) is an ancient royal country seat and Unesco World Heritage site. Many festivals are held throughout the year here.
From Bolshaya ul, enter through the 17th-century Saviour Gate (Map) to the white-washed Kazan Church, both built in the time of Tsar Alexey. The church faces the site of his great wooden palace, which was demolished in 1768 by Catherine the Great. Ahead, the white, tent-roofed 17th-century front gate and clock tower mark the edge of the old inner palace precinct.
The adjacent buildings house an interesting museum with a bit of everything: a model of Alexey’s wooden palace, material on rebellions associated with Kolomenskoe, and Russian crafts from clocks and tiles to woodcarving and metalwork.
Outside the front gate, overlooking the river, rises Kolomenskoe’s loveliest structure, the quintessentially Russian Ascension Church (Map). Built between 1530 and 1532 for Grand Prince Vasily III, it probably cele-brated the birth of his heir Ivan the Terrible. It is actually an important development in Russian architecture, reproducing the shapes of wooden churches in brick for the first time, and paving the way for St Basil’s 25 years later. Immediately south of it are the round 16th-century St George’s Bell Tower and another 17th-century tower.
Some 300m further south across a gully, the white St John the Baptist Church was built for Ivan the Terrible in the 1540s or 1550s. It has four corner chapels, which make it a stylistic ‘quarter-way house’ between the Ascension Church and St Basil’s.
Among the old wooden buildings on the grounds is the cabin of Peter the Great (adult/child R200/100), in which he lived while supervising ship- and fort-building at Arkhangelsk in the 1700s.
Ferry boats leave from Kolomenskoe landing for the seven-hour excursion (495-225 6070; www.cck-ship.ru, in Russian; tickets R2000; dep 10am May-Sep) to Nikolo-Ugreshsky monastery, a 14th-century monastery founded by Dmitry Donskoy on the outskirts of Moscow, in the town of Dzerzhinsky.
TSARITSYNO
On a wooded hill in far southeast Moscow, Tsaritsyno Palace (off Map; 495-355 4844; www.tsaritsyno-museum.ru; grounds free; Tsaritsyno) is a modern-day manifestation of the exotic summer home that Catherine the Great began in 1775 but never finished. Architect Vasily Bazhenov worked on the project for 10 years before he was sacked. She hired another archi-tect, Matvey Kazakov, but the project was eventually forgotten as she ran out of money. For hundreds of years, the palace was little more than a shell, until the government finally decided to finish it in 2007.
Nowadays, the Great Palace (admission R150) is a fantastical building that combines old Russian, Gothic, classical and Arabic styles. Inside, exhibits are dedicated to the history of Tsaritsyno, as well as the life of Catherine the Great. The nearby kitchen building, or khlebny dom (admission R100), also hosts rotating exhibits, sometimes culinary, and sometimes less tantalising topics such as icons and art. The khlebny dom is a pleasant place to hear classical concerts (499-725 7291; tickets R150-300; 5pm Sat & Sun) in summer.
The extensive grounds include some other lovely buildings, including the Small Palace, the working Church of Our Lady Lifegiving Spring, the cavalier buildings and some interesting bridges. A pond is bedecked by a fantastic fountain set to music.
KUSKOVO PARK
When Count Pyotr Sheremetyev married Varvara Cherkassakava in 1743, their joint property amounted to 1200 villages and 200,000 serfs. They turned their country estate at Kuskovo, 12km east of the Kremlin, into a mini-Versailles, with elegant buildings scattered around formal gardens, as well as an informal park.
The main wooden mansion, Kuskovo Mansion (Map; 495-370 0160; ul Yunosti 2; admission per exhibit R30-100; 10am-4pm Wed-Sun Nov-Mar, 10am-6pm Wed-Sun Apr-Oct), overlooks a lake where the count staged mock sea battles to entertain Moscow society. Across the lake to the south is the informal park. North of the mansion in the formal grounds are: an orangery, now housing an exhibition of 18th- to 20th- century Russian ceramics; an open-air theatre, where the Sheremetyev troupe of serf actors performed twice weekly; a pond-side grotto with exotic ‘sea caverns’; a Dutch house, glazed inside with Delft tiles; an Italian villa; a hermitage for private parties; and a church with a wooden bell tower.
Buildings are closed when humidity exceeds 80% or when it’s very cold, counting out much of the winter, to protect the furnishings. To get to the park, head to Ryazansky Prospekt metro station, then take bus 133 or 208.
IZMAYLOVO
Izmaylovo is best known for its extensive arts and crafts market (Click here), held every weekend. After shopping, however, Izmaylovsky Park and the crumbling royal estate are nice for a picnic or more-serious outdoor activity.
A former royal hunting preserve 10km east of the Kremlin, Izmaylovsky Park (Map) is the nearest large tract of undeveloped land to central Moscow. Its 15 sq km contain a recreation park at the western end, and a much larger expanse of woodland (Izmaylovsky Lesopark) east of Glavnaya alleya, the road that cuts north to south across the park. Trails wind around this park, making it a good place to escape the city for hiking or biking.
The Izmaylovo royal estate (Map) is on a small, moated island. Tsar Alexey had an experimental farm here in the 17th century, where Western farming methods and cottage industries were sampled. It was on the farm ponds that his son Peter learnt to sail in a little boat, a boat that came to be called the Grandfather of the Russian Navy.
Past an extensive 18th-century barracks (now partly occupied by the police) is the beautiful, five-domed 1679 Intercession Cathedral (off Map), an early example of Moscow baroque. The nearby triple-arched, tent-roofed Ceremonial Gates (1682) and the squat brick bridge tower (1671) are the only other original buildings remaining. The latter contains an exhibition hall (499-166 5881; 11.30am-5pm Wed-Sun; Partizanskaya).
ACTIVITIES
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Banya
Click here for a full description of the banya experience.
Banya on Presnya (Map; 495-253 8690; Stolyarny per 7; general admission R700-800; 8am-8pm Wed-Mon, noon-8pm Tue; Ulitsa 1905 Goda) Although lacking the old-fashioned decadent atmosphere of Sanduny, this pleasant, efficient place has an excellent, segregated banya as well as spa services and an on-site café.
Sanduny Baths (Map; private 495-628 4633, general 495-625 4631; www.sanduny.ru; Neglinnaya ul 14; private room per hr from R1300, general admission per 2hr R600-800; 8am-10pm; Chekhovskaya) The oldest and most luxurious banya in the city. A work of art in itself, the Gothic Room has rich woodcarving, and the main shower room has an almost aristocratic Roman feel to it.
River Trips
For new perspectives on Moscow neighbourhoods, fine views of the Kremlin, or just good old-fashioned transportation, a boat ride on the Moscow River is one of the city’s highlights. The main route runs between the boat landings at Kievsky Vokzal (Map) and Novospassky most (Map) 1km west of Proletarskaya metro (near the Novospassky Monastery). There are six intermediate stops: Vorobyovy Gory landing (Map), at the foot of Sparrow Hills; Frunzenskaya (Map), towards the southern end of Frunzenskaya nab; Gorky Park (Map); Krymsky most (Map); Bolshoy Kamenny most opposite the Kremlin (Map); and Ustinsky most (Map) near Red Square.
The boats are operated by the Capital Shipping Company (495-225 6070; www.cck-ship.ru, in Russian). They run from May to September (adult/child R400/150, 1½ hours, every 20 minutes).
EXTREME MOSCOW
When it comes to ‘extreme sports’, most Muscovites get enough adventure from dodging the Beamers that are trying to park on the sidewalk. Nonetheless, there are a few hearty souls who are pioneering daredevil sports in Moscow. Here are a few options for the extreme-ly adventurous:
Skydiving
If you have an unquenchable desire to jump out of an aeroplane, head to Kubinka Aerodrom (
Ski Jumping
Another option for high-flyers is to join Team Vorobey (
Shooting
Think you’re a good shot? Hone your skills at Central Sport Shooting Club (
Swimming
Public pools are difficult places to take the plunge if you are a foreigner because they all insist on a Russian doctor’s certificate of your good health before they’ll let you in. Fortunately, the pools generally have somebody on hand who can issue the certificate on the spot (for a small fee).
Chayka swimming pool (Map; 499-246 1344; Turchaninov per 1/3; 1hr R400-600, 2hr R600-700, unlimited R1000; 7am-10pm Mon-Sat, 8.30am-8pm Sun; Park Kultury) Prices vary according to time of day and access to other facilities, such as exercise machines.
Kva-Kva Park (off Map; 495-258 0683; www.kva-kva.ru; XL Shopping Centre, Yaroslavskoe sh; 2hr admission adult R710-1040, child R380-550; 10am-10pm; VDNKh) This huge complex features seven long and winding water slides, a terrific ‘tsunami’ water ride, waterfalls and wave pools. From VDNKh metro station, take any outward-bound bus to Furazhnaya, which is about 1km past MKAD (the outer ring road).
Luzhniki swimming pool (Map; 495-637 0764; Luzhnenskya nab 24; 8.30am-8pm; Vorobyovy Gory) The vast complex built for the 1980 Olympics has indoor and outdoor swimming facilities.
On hot summer days you can join much of the city and head to the beaches at Serebryany Bor, a series of lakes and channels on the Moscow River, 20km north of the city. There are areas that are unofficially dedicated to families, gays, nudists and even disco dancers. Take the metro to Sokol and then ride trolleybus 65 to the end of the line.
Winter Sports
There’s no shortage of winter in Moscow, so take advantage of it. You can rent ice skates and see where all those great Russian figure skaters come from at Gorky Park (Click here) or Chistye Prudy (Click here). Bring your passport.
Izmaylovsky Park (Click here) has both ski and skate rental. To get there, take bus 7 or 131 from Partizanskaya metro and get off at the third stop.
WALKING TOUR
Spanning from the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour to Moscow State University, this river-side walking route passes architectural gems, fast-changing neighbourhoods and peaceful parks. In case of tired feet, river boats ply this route from the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour to Vorobyovy Gory (Click here).
WALK FACTS
Start Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
Finish Moscow State University
Distance 10km
Duration Four to eight hours
Start at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (1; Click here), from where a pedestrian bridge leads across the Moscow River to Bolotny Island, the small slice of land south of the Kremlin. The bridge offers a fantastic panorama of the Kremlin towers and of the cathedral itself.
On Bolotny Island, south of the bridge is the Red October chocolate factory (2; Click here), now being refurbished into luxury lofts. The cluster of galleries known as Art-Strelka (3; Click here) is immediately below the bridge.
Make a detour north along Sofiyskaya nab to the Dom na Naberezhnoy (4; Click here), which was a prestigious residential building during Soviet times. Turn right on ul Serafimovicha and stroll across to Bolotnaya pl. The centre-piece of this small park is an intriguing sculpture by Mikhail Shemyakin (5), Children are Victims of Adults’ Vices (with all the vices depicted in delightful detail).
Return to the pedestrian walkway, which continues across the Vodootvodny Canal into the Yakimanka District, where many 19th-century factories have been converted to office buildings and banks. The Tretyakov Gallery (6; Click here) is a few blocks to the east. But if you don’t want to be sidelined for the rest of the day, turn right instead and head south along Yakimanskaya nab, passing Zurab Tsereteli’s unmistakeable sculpture of Peter the Great (7; Click here) – ‘Peter the Ugly’ according to some sources.
Opposite the statue, enter the Art Muzeon Sculpture Park (8; Click here), an art museum and history lesson all in one. From here, you can enter the New Tretyakov (9; Click here), the branch dedicated to 20th-century art, and the Tsentralny Dom Khodozhnikov (10; Click here) or Central House of Artists, which is filled with galleries and exhibitions. On weekends, artists’ stalls line the embankment.
As you exit the park, cross Krymsky val using the underpass (where there is more art for your perusal). You will reappear above ground at the entrance to Gorky Park (11; Click here), marked by colourful flags and an old-fashioned carousel. Stroll across the fun-filled theme park, stopping to eat ice cream or ride the ferris wheel.
As you exit Gorky Park at its southern end, it may be time to take a break. Choose from cool summer cafés such as the exotic Uzbek Chaikhona No 1 (Click here) or the pondside Lebe-dinoe Ozero (Swan Lake; Click here). Or for something more substantial, walk across the pedestrian bridge to Frunzenskaya nab and dine aboard the boat at Skazka Vostoka (Click here).
Continue your walk along the Moscow River, following the trails through Neskuchny Sad (12), which means ‘not-so-boring garden’. In the 19th century, this woodsy area contained three country estates, but only a few dilapidated buildings remain.
Pass under the Third Ring bridge, where you will be rewarded with the discovery of the romantic Andreevsky Monastery (13), which dates to 1648. Enter through the wooden door to explore the baroque bell tower and the tile-domed gate-church. Behind the monastery, the skyscraper complex with the funky top is the Russian Academy of Science (14), affectionately dubbed ‘The Brains.’
From here, you enter the Vorobyovy Gory Nature Preserve (15; Click here), a newly developed ecological zone that is criss-crossed by walking trails. An ‘ecotrain’ runs along the embankment, passing a grassy slope that serves as a beach. If you wish to explore on wheels, rollerblades and bicycles are available for rent.
After crossing beneath the Komsomolsky pr bridge, Luzhniki stadium comes into view on the other side of the Moscow River. You can follow the trails or ride the chair-lift (R100) up to the observation platform at Universitetskaya pl (16; Click here). Here, you will find souvenir stands, food stalls and a spectacular view of the Moscow city skyline. The massive wedding-cake building towering above is Moscow State University (17; Click here), one of Stalin’s Seven Sisters. On a clear day, the other six of these Stalinist skyscrapers are visible from here.
From here, you can walk to Lomonsovsky pr on the other side of the university compound, from where buses 103 and 130 go to Park Pobedy. Otherwise, walk back down to the embankment. You can backtrack to Vorobyovy Gory or ride the river boat to Kievsky vokzal.
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COURSES
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Language
Check the Moscow Times for advertisements for Russian tutors and short-term courses.
Centre for Russian Language & Culture (Map; 495-939 1463; www.ruslanguage.ru; Moscow State University, MGU; 20hr course €95) Caters mostly to students, offering semester-long courses and dormitory lodging. Special weekly courses for expats (lodging not included) also available.
CREF Language Centre (Map; 495-621 9486; www.cref.ru; Bolshoy Kharitonevsky per 14; 40hr course €840) Two-week course includes lodging with a Russian family.
Liden & Denz Language Centre (Map; 495-254 4991; www.lidenz.ru; Gruzinsky per 3; 12hr course R4920) These more-expensive courses service the business and diplomatic community, with less-intensive evening courses.
Russian Village (495-225 5001; www.rusvillage.com; weekend-/week-/month-long course from €390/900/2910) An upscale ‘country resort’ language school located in the village of Pestovo, north of Moscow. Prices include lodging and meals.
Ziegler & Partner (Map; 495-939 0980; www.studyrussian.com; Moscow State University, MGU; 2-/4-week course €1040/1860) A Swiss group offering individually designed courses from standard conversation to specialised lessons in business, law, literature etc. Price includes 20 to 24 hours of lessons per week as well as dorm lodging.
MOSCOW FOR CHILDREN
Got kids with you in Moscow? They may not appreciate an age-old icon or a Soviet hero, but Moscow still has plenty to offer the little ones.
For starters, the city is filled with parks. Patriarch’s Pond (Click here) has a playground and plenty of room to run around. Or take them to Gorky Park (Click here) – thrilling rides in summer and ice skating in winter make it the ultimate Russian experience for children. For a more post-Soviet experience, VDNKh(Click here) also has amusement-park rides and video games.
Russia excels at circus, and crazy clowns and daring acrobatics are all the rage at two locales: the huge Bolshoi Circus on Vernadskogo (Click here), and the more atmospheric Nikulin Circus on Tsvetnoy bul (Click here).
Another Russian favourite is the puppet theatre. Obraztsov Puppet Theatre & Museum (Map; 495-699 7972; www.puppet.ru; Sadovaya-Samotechnaya ul 3; adult R300-1000, child R200-600; box office 11am-2.30pm & 3.30-7pm; Tsvetnoy Bulvar) runs performances of colourful Russian folk tales and adapted classical plays; kids can get up close and personal with the incredible puppets at the museum.
What better entertainment for kiddies than performing kitties? At the Kuklachev Cat Theatre (Map; 499-249 2907; Kutuzovsky pr 25; tickets R200-700; Kievskaya), Yuri Kuklachev’s acrobatic cats do all kinds of stunts to the audience’s delight. Kuklachev says, ‘We do not use the word train here because it implies forcing an animal to do something; and you cannot force cats to do anything they don’t want to. We play with the cats’. Performances take place from Tuesday to Sunday at noon, 2pm or 4pm.
Big cats are the highlight at the Moscow Zoo(Click here), an obvious destination for children. For a trip out of the city, try the bison nursery at the Prioksko-Terrasny Biosphere Reserve (Click here), where highly informative educational programs are designed especially for kids.
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TOURS
Capital Tours (Map; 495-232 2442; www.capitaltours.ru; Gostiny Dvor, ul Ilinka 4; Kitay-Gorod) This spin-off of Dom Patriarshy offers a twice-daily Kremlin tour (adult/child R1400/700, 11am & 2pm Fri-Wed) and Moscow city bus tour (adult/child R750/360, 10.30am & 2.30pm daily). Tours depart from Gostiny Dvor.
Hop On Hop Off (Map; 495-787 7335; www.hoponhopoff.ru; ul Shchipok 1; adult/child R750/400; 10am-5pm; Serpukhovskaya) This colourful bus circulates around the city centre, stopping at designated points, including stops along Tverskaya ul, Teatralnaya pl, Novaya pl, Moskovoretsky most, Bolotnaya pl, ul Volkhonka and Gogolevsky bul. As the name implies, you can hop on and off as many times as you like within a 24-hour period. Buses run every 30 minutes.
Patriarshy Dom Tours (Map; 495-795 0927; www.russiatravel-pdtours.netfirms.com; Moscow school No 1239, Vspolny per 6; Barrikadnaya) Provides unique English-language tours on just about any specialised subject; some provide access to otherwise-closed museums. Day tours within Moscow range from R500 to R1000 per person, while trips out of the city are usually more. Look for the monthly schedule at Western hotels and restaurants or online.
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FESTIVALS & EVENTS
While Mayor Luzhkov is a keen pro-ponent of bread and circuses for the masses, the festivals are an ever-changing lot from year to year; consult the Moscow newspapers for what’s on. Click here for a list of Russia-wide spectaculars.
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December & January
December Nights Festival (www.museum.ru/gmii) Perhaps Moscow’s most prestigious music event, this annual festival is hosted at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, with a month of performances by high-profile musicians and an art exhibit to accompany it.
Winter Festival An outdoor fun-fest during the first two weeks in January, for those with antifreeze in their veins (though plenty of people use vodka for this purpose). Teams compete to build elaborate ice sculptures in front of the Pushkin Museum and on Red Square. In 2007, Pushkinskaya pl was the sister site of the first-ever international ice chess tournament, which took place simultaneously on Trafalgar Square in London.
March & April
Golden Mask Festival (www.goldenmask.ru) Two weeks of performances by Russia’s premier drama, opera, dance and musical performers, culminating in a prestigious awards ceremony. Brightens up otherwise dreary March and April.
Moscow Biennale (www.moscowbiennale.ru) Aimed at making Moscow a centre for contemporary art, this month-long program hosts exhibits at venues around the city. Odd years only.
June & July
Moscow International Film Festival (www.moscowfilmfestival.ru) Russia’s premier film festival attracts filmmakers from around the world, although the highlight is often the retrospective on the great Soviet artists.
Moscow International Beer Festival (www.beer-festival.ru, in Russian) This week-long beer-drinking fest gives participants a chance to sample local brews and vote for their favourites. The price of admission also includes live music and other entertainment.
September & October
City Day (Den Goroda) Celebrates the city’s birthday on the first weekend in September. The day kicks off with a festive parade, followed by live music and plenty of food, fireworks and fun.
Moscow Forum (www.ccmm.ru) A contemporary music festival held every year at the Moscow Conservatory.
SLEEPING
Moscow is not a cheap place to stay. While many international luxury hotels have rushed to fill the void in accommodation, smaller, simpler and more affordable hotels are few and far between. Fortunately, a slew of hostels have opened around the city in recent years, so budget travellers have plenty of options. It is only the midrange travellers who are left high and dry, stranded in old Soviet-era properties that have weathered the transition to a market economy with varying degrees of grace.
Staying within the Garden Ring guarantees easy access to major sights and plenty of dining and entertainment options. The Tverskoy and Arbat Districts are particularly lively. If you do find yourself far from the centre (which may be the case if you are on a tighter budget), look for easy access to the metro. An underground ride will whisk you from almost any stop into the centre in 20 minutes or less.
For the purposes of this chapter, budget accommodation is less than R3000. Budget accommodation is usually dorm-style, although there are some private rooms available in this range. Midrange accommodation falls between R3000 and R10,000 per night. This wide-ranging category includes a var-iety of Soviet-era properties that have not come completely into the 21st century (at the bottom of the price range). It also includes some smallish, stylish hotels, most of which are recent additions (at the top of the price range). Top end starts at R10,000 and goes all the way up.
Prices listed include the 20% VAT (value-added tax) but not the 5% sales tax that’s charged mainly at luxury hotels.
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Budget
In recent years, dozens of hostels have opened in Moscow, much to the delight of budget travellers. Many of them have been converted from flats or communalky (communal apartments), so they are often located in innocuous, unmarked buildings on residential streets. All hostels offer English-speaking staff, internet access, linens, kitchens and laundry facilities. Prices include coffee and tea but no breakfast. Registration is also available, but there is usually an extra charge (R600 to R800).
BASMANNY & KRASNOSELSKY
Trans-Siberian Hostel (Map; 495-916 2030; www.transsiberianhostel.com; Barashevsky per 12; dm R630-700, d R1750; Kurskaya; 
) If you can snag one of the two double rooms in this tiny hostel, you’re getting one of the capital’s best bargains: you won’t find a private room at this price anywhere else in central Moscow. There are also two dorm rooms, one with four heavy wooden bunks and one with eight. The only common space is the kitchen, but it’s spacious and modern. A train-themed decor brightens the place up, starting from the moment you step off the street.
Suharevka Mini-Hotel (Map; +8-910-420 3446; www.suharevkahotel.ru; Bolshaya Sukharevskaya pl 16/18; dm R650-850, d R2500; Sukharevskaya; ) Making the transition from hostel to mini-hotel, this place occupies two side-by-side flats in a big block on the Garden Ring. The ‘hostel side’ is cramped and cluttered, with no real common space. Some travellers will appreciate the relative spaciousness and serenity across the hall on the ‘hotel side’. Although the private rooms are also small, they evoke an atmosphere of ‘Old Moscow’ with high ceilings, heavy drapes and rich fabrics.
FIND A FLAT
Hotels in Moscow could easily break your bank. In response to the shortage of affordable accommodation, some entrepreneurial Muscovites have begun renting out flats on a short-term basis. Flats are equipped with kitchens, and sometimes with other useful amenities like internet access. Often, a good-sized flat is available for the price of a hotel room or less. It is an ideal solution for travellers in a group, who can split the cost.
Apartments are around €80 to €100 per night, with prices decreasing for longer stays. Expect to pay more for fully renovated, Western-style apartments.
- www.cheap-moscow.com Heed the disclaimers, but this site has loads of listings for apartments to rent direct from the owner.
- www.enjoymoscow.com Rick’s apartments are off the Garden Ring between Sukharevskaya and Tsvetnoy Bulvar metro stations. Studios start at US$135, or pay about US$215 for a two-bedroom.
- www.evans.ru Caters mainly to long-term renters, but also offers some apartments for US$150 to US$250 per night.
- www.flatmates.ru/eng A site for travellers looking for somebody to share short- or long-term accommodation in Russia.
- www.hofa.ru Apartments from €62 per night and a variety of homestay programs.
- www.moscowapartments.net Not-too-fancy-but-fully-furnished apartments for €85 to €100.
- www.moscow4rent.com Most flats are centrally located, with internet access, satellite TV and unlimited international phone calls. Prices start at US$150 per night.
Nova House (Map; 495-623 4659; [email protected]; Devyatkin per 4, apt 6; dm R680, d R2600-2800; Kitay-Gorod; ) It’s hard to say who at Nova House is friendlier: Oleg, the owner, or Vasya, the loveable resident cat. Both ensure a homey atmosphere, enhanced by the funky contemporary decor, mural-painted ceilings and walls, and a beautiful upright piano in the common living room. Rooms are in two adjacent flats (one is cat-free) – each with its own kitchen, bathroom and laundry facilities. Bonus: bikes!
Napoleon Hostel (Map; 495-628 6695; www.napoleonhostel.com; Maly Zlatoustinsky per 2, 4th fl; dm R800-1000; Kitay-Gorod; ) Ignore the decrepit entryway and climb to the fourth floor, where you’ll find a fully-renovated hostel: the light-filled rooms have six to 10 wooden bunks, for a total of 47 beds (but only two toilets and two showers); plus a clean kitchen and a comfy common room that is well-stocked with board games and a plasma TV. Helpful staff are on hand all the time (which is not the case in some of the smaller hostels).
Comrade Hostel (Map; 495-628 3126; www.comradehostel.com; ul Maroseyka 11; dm R840; Kitay-Gorod; ) It’s hard to find this tiny place – go into the courtyard and look for entrance No 3, where you might spot a computer-printed sign in the third-floor window. Inside, there is a great, welcoming atmosphere, although the place is packed. Ten to 12 beds are squeezed into the dorm rooms, plus mattresses on the floor if need be. There is not really any common space, except the small foyer and kitchen, but everybody seems to get along like comrades.
TVERSKOY & PRESNENSKY
Godzillas Hostel (Map; 495-699 4223; www.godzillashostel.com; Bolshoy Karetny per 6; dm/d/tr R725/1740/2175; Tsvetnoy Bulvar; ) Godzillas is the biggest and most professionally run hostel in Moscow, with 90 beds spread out over four floors. The rooms come in various sizes, but they are all spacious and light-filled and painted in different colours. To cater to the many guests, there are bathroom facilities on each floor, three kitchens and a big living room with satellite TV.
Kremlin Hostel (Map; 495-253 5038; www.hostel-kremlin.com; Malaya Gruzinskaya ul 38; dm R770, d R2200; Krasnopresnenskaya; ) Just behind the zoo, this little hostel offers two six-bed dorm rooms and a private double. The rooms are pretty standard, with the welcome addition of big closets. Look for parquet floors, sheer curtains and white-washed walls. The only common hang-out area is a spacious kitchen, which looks like something out of suburban USA.
Yellow Blue Bus (Map; 495-250 1364; [email protected]; 4-ya Tverskaya-Yamskaya 5, apt 8; dm R850-1000, d/tr/q R3250/4125/4500; Mayakovskaya; ) Yellow Blue Bus is all about the love (Ya lyublyu vas means ‘I love you’ in Russian). It’s a fun and friendly place, though the informal atmosphere may be a bit lackadaisical for some. (Staff are not necessarily on-site at all times – make sure you know your code or you may not be able to get in.) Dorm rooms have four or eight wooden bunks, lockers, fresh paint and cool light fixtures. The spacious private rooms are in a separate nearby flat, which is much more grown-up, with plush purple furniture and oriental rugs.
Sokol Exclusive (Map; 8-916-572 3664; www.moscowhostel.org; Leningradsky pr 71, apt 109; dm/r R900/2700; Sokol; ) This newish place is trying to cash in on the capital’s obsession with exclusivity. But as hostels go, Sokol Exclusive really is a step up. The two spacious light-filled rooms have only three beds, wood floors and attractive minimalist Tudor-style decor. One room has twin beds and a gorgeous grand piano, while the other features a full-size bed and a balcony overlooking the busy street below. The rooms share access to a fully-equipped kitchen and a cosy common room with computer and TV. It’s well outside the Garden Ring, but only a few steps from the metro.
ARBAT
Home from Home Hostel (Map; 495-229 8018; www.home-fromhome.com; ul Arbat 49, apt 9; dm R700-800, d R2000; Smolenskaya; ) In an attempt to make this your ‘home away from home’ the owners have spruced up the entryway, putting comfy couches and potted plants on the landing and creating a pleasant first impression – rare indeed in Moscow! Once inside, original art and mural-painted walls create a bohemian atmosphere, enhanced by ceiling medallions and exposed brick. Dorm rooms have three to six beds, plus there are two double rooms and a comfy cosy common area with kitchen facilities. The building is opposite the Hard Rock Café but you must enter the courtyard from Plotnikov per and look for entrance No 2.
Also recommended:
Sweet Moscow (Map; 8-910-420 3446; www.sweetmoscow.com; ul Arbat 51, apt 31; dm R750; Smolenskaya; ) Standard hostel facilities (bunkbeds, lockers etc). What sets it apart is the fantastic location on the Arbat.
HM Hostel (Map; 495-291 8390; www.hostel-moscow.com; Maly Afanasevsky per 1/33, apt 14; dm R875; Arbatskaya; ) Friendly staff, though not exactly fluent in English. A-plus for location.
ZAMOSKVORECHIE
Camelot Hostel (Map; 495-238 8652; www.hostel-camelot.com; ul Malaya Polyanka 10, apt 5; dm R770-800; Polyanka; ) Although this flat has been updated, it still retains a slightly Soviet feel, thanks to the papered walls and linoleum floors. Three rooms (16 beds total) share access to the fully equipped and modern kitchen, which is the only common space in the little flat.
Midrange
Midrange hotels tend to be old Soviet hotels that have gone through varying degrees of renovations, as well as a few new additions. Prices include breakfast, unless otherwise noted. Midrange travellers should remember that many hostels (listed under Budget) also offer private rooms, although they tend to share bathrooms.
BASMANNY
Hotel Sverchkov (Map; 495-625 4978; Sverchkov per 8; [email protected]; s/d from R3800/4400; Chistye Prudy) On a quiet residential lane, this is a tiny 11-room hotel in a graceful 18th-century building. The hallways are lined with green-leafed plants, and paintings by local artists adorn the walls. Though rooms have old-style bathrooms and faded furniture, this place is a rarity for its intimacy and hominess.
Kazakh Embassy Hotel (Map; 495-608 0994; [email protected]; Chistoprudny bul 3; s/d R5500/7400; Chistye Prudy; ) Caters – as you might guess – to guests and workers of the nearby Kazakh embassy. But anyone can stay in this grand, modern building that fronts the prestigious Blvd Ring. The recent revamp has brought rooms into line with a generic international style.
Hotel Volga (Map; 495-783 9109; Bolshaya Spasskaya ul 4; s/d R5950/6475; Sukharevskaya; 
) This characterless but comfortable hotel complex, run by Moscow’s city government, is on a quiet corner northeast of the centre. The location is just outside the Garden Ring and not far from the metro. Most of the rooms are actually suites with several rooms or a kitchen, making the Volga ideal for small groups or families. Breakfast is not included.
TVERSKOY & PRESNENSKY
Alexander Blok (Map; 499-255 9278; www.nakorable.ru, in Russian; Krasnopresnenskaya nab 12A; r from R2840; Delovoy Tsentr; ) You wanted to go on a cruise, but somehow you ended up on vacation in Moscow instead. If this is you, consider staying on board the good ship Alexander Blok, named after the esteemed Soviet poet. Restaurant, bar, nightclub, casino and hotel – all are housed within this cruise ship moored on the Moscow River. The cabins are clean but cramped – unless you spring for the captain’s quarters (R6000).
Kita Inn (Map; 8-926-664 4118, 8-919-772 4002; www.kitainn.com; 2-ya Tverskaya-Yamskaya 6/7, apt 9-10; r R3325; Mayakovskaya; ) Finally, somebody opened a proper pension in Moscow. It’s a modest place, offering private rooms that are simple and sweet – Ikea beds, pos-ters on the walls and windows overlooking a shady courtyard. Three rooms share access to a small, remodelled kitchen and a brand new bathroom. The owner has a few flats in the area, all offering similar facilities.
Hotel Peking (Map; 495-234 2467, 495-650 2442; www.hotelpekin.ru; Bolshaya Sadovaya ul 5/1; s R5400-6400, d R7950; Mayakovskaya; ) This Stalinist building boasts a prime location towering over Triumfalnaya pl. It’s hard to see past the flashing lights and raucousness of the casino, but this place is blessed with high ceilings, parquet floors and a marble staircase. All rooms have been renovated in attractive jewel tones with modern furniture. Discount available on weekends.
Sovietsky Hotel (Map; 495-960 2000; www.sovietsky.ru; Leningradsky pr 32/2; r from R7200; Dinamo; 
) Built in 1952, this historic hotel shows Stalin’s tastes in all of its architectural details, starting from the gilded hammer and sickle and the enormous Corinthian columns flanking the front door. The sumptuous lobby is graced with grand sweeping staircases, crystal chandeliers and plush carpets, and even the simplest rooms have ceiling medallions and other ornamentation. The legendary restaurant Yar – complete with old-fashioned dancing girls – is truly over the top. The location is not super convenient, but this throwback is still fun for a Soviet-style splurge.
AIRPORT ACCOMMODATION
Recommended for transit travellers who need to crash between flights. Both hotels operate free shuttle buses from their respective airports:
- Aerotel Domodedovo (495-795 3868; www.airhotel.ru; Domodedovo airport; s/d R6500/7000; ) Bog standard but satisfactory rooms, plus a fitness centre and billiards room.
- Atlanta Sheremetyevo Hotel (498-720 5785; www.atlantahotel.ru; 36/7 Tsentralnaya ul, Sheremetyevsky; s/d from R5450/5675; ) Friendly, small and convenient, the Atlanta is an anomaly in the airport world. Reduced rates available for six-hour and 12-hour layovers.
Hotel Budapest (Map; 495-925 3050; www.hotel-budapest.ru; Petrovskie linii 2/18; s R7400-8400, d R9900; Kuznetsky Most; ) This 19th-century neoclassical edifice is a perfect retreat after strolling in the surrounding swanky shopping district. Have a drink in the plush bar or dine under the crystal chandelier in the restaurant, Grand Opera. Unfortunately, the grandeur does not extend to the rooms unless you dish out some extra cash for a suite (from R10,800).
East-West Hotel (Map; 495-232 2857; www.eastwesthotel.ru; Tverskoy bul 14/4; s/d R9000/10,000; ; Pushkinskaya) Located on the loveliest stretch of the Blvd Ring, this small hotel evokes the atmosphere of the 19th-century mansion it once was. It is a kitschy but charming place with 24 individually decorated rooms and a lovely fountain-filled courtyard. The price comes down significantly on weekends; it goes up if you do not pay in advance.
ARBAT
Hotel Belgrad (Map; 495-248 9500; www.hotel-belgrad.ru; Smolenskaya ul 8; s/d/ste R4300/5900/6600; Smolenskaya; ) The big block on Smolenskaya-Sennaya pl has no sign and a stark lobby, giving it a ghost-town aura. Rooms are similar – poky but functional – unless you upgrade to ‘tourist’ or ‘business-class’ accommodation, costing R7500 to R9300. The advantage is the location, which can be noisy but is convenient to the western end of ul Arbat. Breakfast is R580.
Melody Hotel (Map; 495-723 5246; www.melody-hotel.ru, in Russian; Skatertny per 13; s/d R5500/6900; Arbatskaya) Unique for its small size, Melody has only 46 small but comfortable rooms. Fantastic location on a residential street just off the Arbat.
Assambleya Nikitskaya Hotel (Map; 495-933 5001; www.assambleya-hotels.ru, in Russian; Bolshaya Nikitskaya ul 12; s R7110-7900, d R9450-10,500; Okhotny Ryad; ) Nikitskaya offers a rare combination: superb location, reasonable prices and Russian charm. While the building and rooms are freshly renovated, it preserves an anachronistic atmosphere, with heavy floral drapes and linens. But it’s all very cosy and comfortable. And with Coffee Mania (Click here) across the street and Kvartira 44 (Click here) around the corner, you can’t beat the location.
Hotel Arbat (Map; 499-271 2801; www.president-hotel.net; Plotnikov per 12; s/d from R8500/10,000; Smolenskaya; ) One of the few hotels that manages to preserve some appealing Soviet kitsch – from the greenery-filled lobby to the mirrors behind the bar. The guest rooms are decorated tastefully and comfortably, but the whole place has an anachronistic charm. Its location is also excellent – on a quiet residential street, just steps from the Arbat. Reserve online for the best rates.
KHAMOVNIKI & ZAMOSKVORECHIE
Hotel Yunost (Map; 499-242 4860; [email protected]; Khamovnichesky val 34; s/d from R3350/3600; Sportivnaya) Yunost – meaning ‘youth’ – looks decidedly middle-aged (it was built in 1961, after all). The humourless security guard at the front and the slow-moving staff at reception also hearken back to these times. The Soviet-style rooms are clean and comfortable, but won’t win any design awards; some have been upgraded (s/d R5200/5800). In any case, this place is a decent option for the money. It’s just around the corner from Novodevichy Convent.
THE ONCE & FUTURE HOTEL MOSKVA
The story goes that Stalin was shown two possible designs for the Hotel Moskva on Manezhnaya pl. Not realising they were alternatives, he approved both. The builders did not dare to point out his error, and so built half the hotel in constructivist style and half in Stalinist style. The incongruous result became a familiar and beloved feature of the Moscow landscape, even gracing the label of Stolichnaya vodka bottles.
After years of rumours, the infamous Hotel Moskva was finally demolished in 2003, one in a long list of Soviet-era institutions to bite the dust. At the time of research, Moscow was anticipating the opening of a new Four Seasons Hotel on this site. Happily, the new, high-class hotel is expected to re-create its predecessor’s architectural quirks.
The more things change…
Warsaw Hotel (Map; 495-238 7701; [email protected]; Leninsky pr 2/1; s R3600-4100, d R4750-5000; Oktyabrskaya; ) The Warsaw sits at the centre of Oktyabrskaya pl, which was voted by Muscovites as the ugliest square in the city. Nevertheless, the location is the main drawcard here: it offers lots of restaurants, easy access to the metro and a short walk into the heart of Zamoskvorechie. The hotel’s facade does not exactly add to the aesthetics of the square. However, the interior has under-gone extensive renovations, as evidenced by the sparkling, space-age lobby, which is adorned with lots of chrome, blue leather furniture and spider-like light fixtures. The new rooms are surprisingly good value for the location.
Ozerkovskaya Hotel (Map; 495-951 7644; www.cct.ru; Ozerkovskaya nab 50; s/d from R5400/6300; Paveletskaya; ) This comfy, cosy hotel has only 25 rooms, including three that are tucked up under the mansard roof. The rooms are simply decorated, but parquet floors and comfortable queen-sized beds rank it above the standard post-Soviet fare. Add in attentive service and a central location (conveni-ent for the express train to Domodedovo airport), and you’ve got an excellent-value accommodation option.
Hotel Danilovsky (Map; 495-954 0503; www.danilovsky.ru; Bul Starodanilovsky per; s/d/ste R5500/6000/9000; Tulskaya; ) Moscow’s holiest hotel is on the grounds of the 12th-century monastery of the same name – where the exquisite setting comes complete with 18th-century churches and well-maintained gardens. The modern five-story hotel was built so that nearly all the rooms have a view of the grounds. The recently renovated rooms are simple but clean, and breakfast is modest: no greed, gluttony or sloth to be found here.
OUTER MOSCOW
Hotel Izmaylovo (Gamma-Delta) (Map; 495-737 7000; www.izmailovo.ru; Izmaylovskoe sh 71; standard s/d R2900/3000, business s/d/ste R3400/3600/5000, 1st-class s/d/ste R4500/5100/7400; Partizanskaya; ) Built for the 1980 Olympics, this hotel has 8000 beds, apparently making it Europe’s biggest hotel. Gamma-Delta is the snazziest and most service-oriented of the five buildings. If you need to escape the frenetic atmosphere that surrounds Izmaylovo market, it’s just a few steps to lovely Izmaylovsky Park.
Sputnik Hotel (Map; 495-930 3097; www.hotelsputnik.ru; Leninsky pr 38; s/d R4040/4890; Leninsky Prospekt; ) This hulk of a hotel is rather Soviet, but its setting south of the centre has some appeal. It’s just a short walk to Vorobyovy Gory and the leafy campus of Moscow State University. Among the many services available, the on-site Indian restaurant, Darbar, is one of the best of its type in Moscow.
Oksana Hotel (Map; 495-980 6100; www.dinaoda.ru; Yaroslavskaya ul 15, bldg 2; s R5100-5950, d R7550; VDNKh; 
) In a classical, six-storey building near the All-Russia Exhibition Centre, Oksana caters mostly to business travellers, but this place offers good value for anyone. Its 63 rooms benefit from natural sunlight and spacious interiors. The well-manicured miniature golf course is perhaps out of place in this elegant setting, but your kids will appreciate it.
Hotel Cosmos (Map; 495-234 1000; www.hotelcosmos.ru; pr Mira 150; standard s/d R5250/5750, renovated s/d R6250/6750; VDNKh; ) This gargantuan hotel opposite the All-Russia Exhibition Centre is a universe unto itself (appropriately enough, for a place called Cosmos). The glass and steel structure houses over 1700 rooms, countless restaurants and bars, a bowling alley and a state-of-the-art fitness centre. Not surprisingly, a wide range of rooms is available, some with fantastic views.
Top End
There is no shortage of top-end accommodations in Moscow, including historic hotels that have been around for a century or more, and brand new international chains that bring a whole new meaning to the word luks. Most of these hotels cater to business travellers, so prices tend to be lower on weekends and holidays. Breakfast is included unless otherwise indicated.
Kebur Palace (Map; 495-733 9070; www.hoteltiflis.com; ul Ostozhenka 32; s R5175-9660, d R12,040; Park Kultury, Kropotkinskaya; ) Georgians know hospitality. The proof is in this refined, four-star hotel (formerly Hotel Tiflis). With 80 rooms, the hotel offers an intimate atmosphere and personalised service. The small singles are excellent value – ask for one with a balcony overlooking the fountain-filled patio.
Akvarel Hotel (Map; 495-502 9430; www.hotelakvarel.ru; Stoleshnikov per 12; s/d R10,500/12,250; Chekhovskaya; ) Stoleshnikov per is one of Moscow’s most prestigious lanes, home to exclusive boutiques, upmarket restaurants and the grand Marriott Royal Aurora Hotel. Set amidst all this grandeur is this intimate business-class hotel, offering 23 simple but sophisticated rooms, adorned with watercolour paintings. The friendly Akvarel is tucked in behind Simachyov Bar & Boutique (Click here). There are reduced rates on weekends.
Alrosa on Kazachy (Map; 495-745 2190; www.alrosa-hotels.ru; 1-ya Kazachy per 4; s/tw/d/ste R10,500/12,600/14,200/16,100; Polyanka; ) Set in the heart of Zamoskvorechie, one of the oldest and most evocative parts of Moscow, the Alrosa re-creates the atmosphere of an 18th-century estate. The light-filled atrium, bedecked with crystal chandelier, and 15 classically decorated rooms provide a perfect setting for old-fashioned Russian hospitality. Reduced rates on weekends.
Sretenskaya Hotel (Map; 495-933 5544; www.hotel-sretenskaya.ru; ul Sretenka 15; s/d R11,220/11,880; Sukharevskaya; ) Special for its relatively small size and friendly service, the Sretenskaya boasts a romantic, Russian atmosphere. Rooms have high ceilings and tasteful, traditional decor. This place is particularly welcoming in winter, when you can warm your bones in the sauna, or soak up some sun in the tropical ‘winter garden’. Discounts are available on weekends.
Golden Apple (Map; 495-980 7000; www.goldenapple.ru; ul Malaya Dmitrovka 11; s/d from R12,000/12,500; Pushkinskaya; ) ‘Moscow’s first boutique hotel.’ A classical edifice fronts the street, but the interior is sleek and sophisticated. The rooms are decorated in a minimalist, modern style – subdued whites and greys punctuated with contrasting coloured drapes and funky light fixtures. Comfort is also paramount, with no skimping on luxuries such as heated bathroom floors and down-filled duvets. This is the best of New Russia: contemporary, creative and classy.
MAMONTOV’S METROPOL
The Hotel Metropol, one of Moscow’s finest examples of art nouveau architecture, is a contribution by famed philanthropist and patron of the arts, Savva Mamontov. The decorative panel on the hotel’s central facade, facing Teatralny proezd, is based on a sketch, Princess of Dreams, by the artist Mikhail Vrubel. It depicts the legend in which a troubadour falls in love with a kind and beautiful princess and travels across the seas to find her. He falls ill during the voyage and is near death when he finds his love. The princess embraces him but he dies in her arms. Naturally, the princess renounces her worldly life. The ceramic panels were made at the pottery workshop at Mamontov’s Abramtsevo estate (Click here).
The ceramic work on the side of the hotel facing Teatralnaya pl is by the artist Alexander Golovin. The script is a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche: ‘Again the same story: when you build a house you notice that you have learned something’. During the Soviet era, these wise words were replaced with something more appropriate for the time: ‘Only the dictatorship of the proletariat can liberate mankind from the oppression of capitalism’. Lenin, of course.
Hotel Metropol (Map; 499-501 7800; www.metmos.ru; Teatralny proezd 1/4; s/d from R12,744/14,868; ; Teatralnaya) Nothing short of an art nouveau masterpiece, the historic Metropol brings an artistic touch to every nook and cranny, from the spectacular exterior (see the boxed text, Click here) to the grand lobby to the individually decorated rooms. The place dates to 1907, so rooms are small by today’s standards; if you need your space, upgrade to a suite.
Le Royal Meridien National (Map; 495-258 7000; www.national.ru; Okhotny ryad 14/1; s/d from R12,744/17,700; ; Okhotny Ryad) For over a century, the National has occupied this choice location at the foot of Tverskaya ul, opposite the Kremlin. The handsome building is somewhat of a museum from the early 20th century, displaying frescoed ceilings and antique furniture. The rooms are decorated and laid out uniquely – the singles are tiny, but the pricier rooms have spectacular views into the Kremlin. While the place reeks of history, the service and amenities are up to modern-day five-star standards.
EATING
In Soviet days eating out meant either a cheap meal at the local cafeteria or, for special occasions, nearly identical food at a cheesy hotel restaurant. Perhaps the current situation in Moscow is a reaction to this dreary sameness. These days, theme restaurants are all the rage. From the Uzbek restaurant with the hookah pipes to the seafood restaurant filled with fish tanks, restaurateurs are going all out to ensure that their patrons’ dining experience is at least interesting.
Today many restaurants in Moscow allow the diner to experience Russian food as it is meant to be – exquisite haute-russe masterpieces once served at fancy feasts and extravagant balls, as well as the tasty and filling meals that have for centuries been prepared in peasant kitchens with garden ingredients. When you tire of borscht and beef stroganoff, you will be able to find excellent European, American and Asian cuisine (indeed, sushi seems to find its way onto almost every menu). Cuisine from former Soviet republics – including Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine – is also popular and delicious.
Many restaurants, especially top-end eat-eries, accept credit cards, and almost all restaurants have English-language menus. Discounted ‘business lunch’ specials are often available weekdays before 4pm. This is a great way to sample some of the pricier restaurants around town. Most upscale places require booking a table in advance, especially on weekends.
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Restaurants
RUSSIAN & UKRAINIAN
Botanika (Map; 495-254 0064; Bolshaya Gruzinskaya ul 61; meals R500-700; 11am-10pm; Belorusskaya; 
) Rare is the restaurant in Moscow that is both fashionable and affordable. Somehow Botanika manages to be both, offering light, modern fare, with plenty of soups, salads and grills. Wood furniture and subtle floral prints complement the garden-themed decor, which makes for an enjoyable, all-natural eating experience.
Dymov No 1 (Map; 495-951 7571; Sofiyskaya nab 34; meals R600-1000; noon-midnight; Borovitskaya) Restaurant-ruler Arkady Novikov teamed up with meat-mogul Vadim Dimov to create this pub and grill. Universally described as ‘democratic’, the menu is relatively affordable for a Novikov affair, featuring an endless array of sausages. Dimov brews only two beers (one light and one red), but there are plenty of other interesting options on draught. Other outlets are in Presnensky (Map; 492-641 3222; ul 1905 goda 11; Ulitsa 1905 goda) and in Tverskoy (Map; 495-699 0770; ul Malaya Dmitrovka 6; Tverskaya).
Mari Vanna (Map; 495-650 6500; Spiridonevsky per 10; meals R800-1200; 9am-11pm; Pushkinskaya) Remember when the best Russian food was served in somebody’s crowded living room, on tiny mismatched plates, on a table cluttered with dried flowers in vases and framed photographs? Mari Vanna invites you to recall these days – don’t look for the sign (there is none), just ring the doorbell at No 10. You will be ushered into these homey environs – complete with overstuffed bookcases and black-and-white TV showing old Soviet shows. You will be served delicious Russian home cooking. And – just when you begin to think it is 1962 – you will be handed your bill with the prices of modern-day Moscow. Ouch.
Shinok (Map; 495-255 0204; ul 1905 goda 2; meals R1000-1200; Ulitsa 1905 Goda; ) In case you didn’t think that Moscow’s theme dining was really over the top, Shinook has re-created an indoor Ukrainian peasant farm in the city centre. The staff wear colourfully embroidered shirts, speak with Ukrainian accents (probably lost on most tourists), and serve up the house speciality, vareniki (Ukrainian dumplings). As you dine, you can look out the window at a cheerful babushka tending the farmyard animals (who are very well taken care of, we are assured).
Café Pushkin (Map; 495-739 0033; Tverskoy bul 26a; business lunch R750, meals R1500-2000; 24hr; Pushkinskaya) The queen mother of haute-russe dining, with an exquisite blend of Russian and French cuisines; service and food are done to perfection. The lovely 19th- century building has a different atmosphere on each floor, including a richly decorated library and a pleasant rooftop café. Next door, a marble-trimmed, chandelier-bedecked ice-cream parlour (Click here) is an enticing destination for coffee or dessert.
CAUCASIAN
Skazka Vostoka (Map; 499-766 8343; Frunzenskaya nab; meals R400-600; 24hr; Frunzenskaya; ) This boat moored on the Moscow River provides the romantic setting for exotic eastern fare. Tables are laden with fruits, nuts and salads, while mystical-sounding music drifts through the air. Skazka Vostoka, or ‘Legend of the East’, has a huge menu, specialising in spicy Georgian and Azeri delights.
Karetny Dvor (Map; 495-291 6376; Povarskaya ul 52; meals R600-800; 24hr; Barrikadnaya; ) A classic Azeri place with private cabinets, so your party can enjoy its dolmas and lamb kebabs in complete privacy. Otherwise, select a table in the leafy courtyard and imagine yourself in the foothills of the Caucasus.
Genatsvale on Arbat (Map; 495-203 9453; ul Novy Arbat 11; meals R600-800; Arbatskaya; ) Moscow’s favourite Georgian restaurant has a new outlet on the Arbat. Subtle, it is not. Bedecked with fake trees and flowing fountains, it conjures up the Caucasian countryside, leaving little to the imagination. But what better setting to feast on khachipuri (cheesy bread) and lamb dishes.
If you prefer a more intimate atmosphere, head to the original Genatsvale on Ostozhenka (Map; 495-202 0445; ul Ostozhenka 12/1; meals R600-800; Kropotkinskaya), located in Khamovniki.
EUROPEAN
Bavarius (Map; 495-699 4189; Sadovaya Trium-falnaya ul 2/30; meals R400-600; Mayakovskaya) German-style brew pubs are popping up all over Moscow, confirming the Russian penchant for salty sausages and thirst-quenching beer. Bavarius competes with the best of them, offering pork chops, sauerkraut and plenty of cold, delicious draughts. It’s particularly inviting in summer, when there is seating in the shady courtyard.
Il Patio (Map; 495-201 5626; ul Volkhonka 13a; meals R400-600; Kropotkinskaya; ) This ubiquitous chain has a slew of outlets, each representing a different Italian city. The most inviting one – near the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour – has a large glass-enclosed seating area, making a perfectly pleasant setting for feasting on wood-oven pizzas and fresh salads.
Jean-Jacques (Map; 495-290 3886; Nikitsky bul 12; breakfast R100, meals R400-800; 7am-midnight Sun-Thu, 7am-1am Fri & Sat; Arbatskaya) In a prime location on the Blvd Ring, this friendly wine bar welcomes everybody wanting a glass of wine, a bite to eat, a few songs and a few smiles. The basement setting is cosy but not dark, making it an ideal spot to share a bottle of Bordeaux and nibble on brie. Bottles of wine start at R350, although most are priced around R1000 – still refreshingly reasonable in this town.
Mayak (Map; 495-291 7503; Bolshaya Nikitskaya ul 19; meals R600-800; Okhotny Ryad) Named for the Mayakovsky Theatre downstairs, this is a remake of a much beloved club that operated in this spot throughout the 1990s. The reincarnated version is more café than club, exuding the air of a welcoming old-fashioned inn. But it still attracts actors, artists and writers, who come to see friendly faces and to eat filling European fare.
Akademiya (business lunch R280, meals R600-1000; 9am-midnight Mon-Fri, 11am-midnight Sat & Sun) Teatralnaya (Map; 495-692 9649; Kamergersky per 2; Teatralnaya; ) Arbat (Map; 495-662 1442; Gogolevsky bul 33/1; Arbatskaya) Tverskoy (Map; 495-203 8978; Bol Bronnaya ul 2/6; Tverskoy) Somebody at Akademiya knows real estate. That’s the only way to explain how this upscale pizzeria is able to find all the sweetest spots. The obvious example is the outlet on Kamergersky per – the pedestrian strip prime for people-watching. You’ll also find Akademiya near the Arbat and the Blvd Ring.
Simple Pleasures (Map; 495-607 1521; ul Sretenka 22; meals R1000-1500; noon-midnight Mon-Fri, 2pm-midnight Sat & Sun; Sukharevskaya) For a place called ‘Simple Pleasures’ this place is unexpectedly chic, with plush couches and low tables taking this café scene up a level. The menu is varied, featuring the chef’s selection specialty cheeses and wines, as well as grilled fish and meats, pastas and salads. The common denominators are fresh ingredients and simple cooking techniques, an ideal match for this uncluttered space.
Scandinavia (Map; 495-937 5630; Maly Palashevsky per 7; lunch R600-800, meals R1500-1800; Pushkinskaya) In most parts of the world, Swedish cuisine is not really celebrated; in Moscow, it is. Much beloved of Moscow expats, Scandinavia offers an enticing interpretation of what happens ‘when Sweden meets Russia’. A delightful summer café features sandwiches, salads and treats from the grill (including the best burgers in Moscow, by some accounts). Inside, the dining room offers a sophisticated menu of modern European delights.
NORTH AMERICAN
Pancho Villa (Map; 495-238 7913; ul Bolshaya Yakimanka 52; business lunch R120, meals R300-600; 24hr; Oktyabrskaya) Located near Oktyabrskaya pl, this is Moscow’s top choice for ‘Meksikansky’ food. If the fajitas and margaritas aren’t enough of a draw, come for breakfast burritos, happy hour specials (before 7pm, Monday to Thursday) or live Latin music nightly (from 9pm).
Skromnoe Obayanie Burzhuazi (Modest Charms of the Bourgeoisie; Map; 495-623 0848; ul Bolshaya Lubyanka 24; meals R400-600; 24hr; Lubyanka; ) The main draw of ‘Bourgeoisie’ is the cool, casual setting. It’s an attractive space, with its arched ceiling, tiled floor and sun motif – ideal for settling into the comfy couches and reading the newspapers that are left lying about. The menu is reasonably priced and wide-ranging, from pizza to sushi to sandwiches, but don’t expect gourmet fare.
Starlite Diner (meals R500-700; 24hr; ) Tverskoy (Map; 495-690 9638; Bolshaya Sadovaya ul 16; Mayakovskaya) Zamoskvorechie (Map; 495-959 8919; ul Korovy val 9; Oktyabrskaya) Outdoor seating and classic diner decor make the Tverskoy outlet a long-time favourite of expats. The breakfast menu includes all kinds of omelettes, French toast and freshly squeezed juice. You can’t go wrong with the burgers and milkshakes, any time of day or night. A less atmospheric outlet is near Oktyabrskaya pl.
Correa’s (brunch R400-600, sandwiches R200-300, meals R600-1000; 8am-midnight) Presnya (Map; 495-605 9100; Bolshaya Gruzinskaya ul 32; Belorusskaya; ) Zamoskvorechie (Map; 495-725 6035; ul Bolshaya Ordinka 40/2; Tretyakovskaya) The Presnya outlet’s a tiny space – only seven tables – but large windows and an open kitchen make it feel cosy, not cramped. The menu features nothing too fancy (sandwiches, pizzas and grills), but everything is prepared with the freshest ingredients and the utmost care. The Zamoskvorechie outlet is roomier, but reservations are still recommended for Sunday brunch. Enter from the courtyard.
ASIAN
Vostochny Kvartal (Map; 499-241 3803; ul Arbat 45/24; meals R400-600; Smolenskaya; ) Vostochny Kvartal used to live up to its name, acting as the ‘Eastern Quarter’ of the Arbat. Uzbek cooks and Uzbek patrons assured that this was the real-deal place to get your plov (pilaf rice with diced mutton and vegetables). The place has since gone the way of the Arbat itself, drawing in more English-speakers than anything else. Nonetheless, it still serves some of the best food on the block.
Druzhba (Map; 495-973 1234; Novo-slobodskaya ul 4; meals R600-800; 11am-11pm; Novoslobodskaya) Druzhba earns high marks for authenticity, and as far as Szechuan cuisine goes, that means spicy. Chinese restaurants in Moscow are notorious for turning down their seasoning to appeal to Russian tastebuds, but Druzhba is the exception, which goes a long way toward explaining why this place is often packed with Chinese patrons. The chicken with peppers gets red-hot reviews.
Sushi Vyosla (Map; 495-937 0521; ul Nikolskaya 25; meals R600-800; noon-1am Sun-Thu, to 3am Fri & Sat; Lubyanka) Sushi is all the rage in Moscow these days. To get in on it, head to this hip Japanese café in the basement of the Nautilus building (enter from Teatralnaya proezd). Dishes are colour-coded to indicate price; at the end of the meal the server clears the empty plates and uses them to calculate the bill.
Maharaja (Map; 495-621 7758; Starosadsky per 1; meals R600-1000; 11am-11pm; Kitay-Gorod; ) Moscow’s oldest Indian restaurant features lots of spicy tandoori specialities, including several variations of kebabs and rotis hot from the tandoori oven. Vegetarians have no shortage of options here.
VEGETARIAN
During Lent (the 40-day period before Ortho-dox Easter), vegetarians will have a plethora of eating options, as many restaurants offer special Lenten menus that feature no meat or dairy products. Only a few restaurants are exclusively veggie all year round.
Avocado (Map; 495-621 7719; Chistoprudny bul 12/2; breakfast R80-100, business lunch R180, meals R200-400; 10am-11pm; Chistye Prudy; ) Less atmospheric than Jagannath, Avocado has a more diverse menu, drawing on dishes from the world’s cuisines. No-meat versions of soups and salads, pasta and pelmeni are all featured. Grab a seat near the window to watch the passers-by on the boulevard, because the place is otherwise rather austere.
Jagannath (Map; 495-628 3580; Kuznetsky most 11; meals R300-500; 10am-11pm; Kuznetsky Most; ) If you are in need of vitamins, this is a funky vegetarian café, restaurant and shop. Its Indian-theme decor is more New Agey than ethnic. Service is slow but sublime, and the food is worth the wait.
Cafés
Moscow temperatures occasionally call for a warming drink, so it’s nice to know you’re never far from a fresh brewed cup o’ joe. A few of the Russian chains have followed their Western counterparts and opened up outlets on every corner. Rest assured, you will never be far from a Kofe Khaus or a Shokolodnitsa. But the following places earn higher marks for atmosphere and artistry (not to mention coffee).
Coffee Bean(coffee drinks R100-200, desserts & sandwiches R100-200; 8am-11pm Mon-Sat, 9am-10pm Sun) Tverskoy (Map; 495-788 6357; Tverskaya ul 10; Pushkinskaya; ) Chistye Prudy (Map; 495-623 9793; ul Pokrovka 18; Chistye Prudy) Zamoskvorechie (Map; 495-953 6726; Pyatnitskaya ul 5; Tretyakovskaya). One could claim that Coffee Bean started the coffee thing in Moscow, as the original outlet on Tverskaya ul has been around for years. It’s still one of the coolest cafés in the city, with high ceilings, fantastic architectural details and large windows looking out onto the main drag. Additional outlets near Chistye Prudy and Zamoskvorechie.
Pushkin Konditerskaya (Map; 495-739 0033; Tverskoy bul 26; desserts R100-300; Pushkinskaya) If you want to impress your date, but you can’t afford the Café Pushkin for dinner, head next door to the konditerskaya (confectioner) for dessert. It’s every bit as opulent as the restaurant, from the crystal chandeliers down to the marble floors, with plenty of embellishments in between (not least of which is the glass case displaying the sweets).
Coffee Mania (meals R600-800; 24hr; ) Arbat (Map; 495-775 4310; Bolshaya Nikitskaya ul 13, Moscow Conservatory; Alexandrovsky Sad) Kuznetsky Most (Map; 924 0075; Pushechnaya ul; 8am-11pm; Kuznetsky Most) and Barrikadnaya (Map; 290 0141; Kudrinskaya pl 46/54; 8am-midnight; Barrikadnaya). With all of Moscow’s opportunities for high stepping, fine dining and big spending, where is the most popular place for the rich and famous to congregate? Can you believe it’s a place called Coffee Mania? The friendly, informal café is beloved for its homemade soups, fresh-squeezed juices and steaming cappuccino, not to mention its summer terrace overlooking the leafy courtyard of the conservatory. Additional outlets near Kuznetsky Most and Barrikadnaya.
Stolle (Map; 499-246 0589; Malaya Pirogovskaya ul 16; meals R200-500; 9am-9pm; Sportivnaya; ) This is one of Moscow’s coolest places to come for coffee, although you’d be a fool to leave without sampling one of its magnificent pirogi (pies). In fact, the entire menu is excellent, but the pies are irresistible. A ‘stolle’ is a traditional Saxon Christmas cake: the selection of sweets and savouries sits on the counter, fresh from the oven. It may be difficult to decide (mushroom or meat; apricot or apple?) but you really can’t go wrong.
Volkonsky Keyser (meals R200-400) Tverskoy (Map; 495-699 4620; Bolshaya Sadovaya ul 2/46; Mayakovskaya) Chistye Prudy (Map; 495-741 1442; ul Maroseyka 4/2; Kitay-Gorod) The queue at the Tverskoy outlet often runs out the door, as patrons wait their turn for the city’s best fresh-baked breads, pastries and pies. It’s worth the wait, especially if you decide on a fruit-filled croissant or to-die-for olive bread. Choose something sweet or savoury from the glass case, then head next door to the big wooden tables for big bowls of coffee or tea.
Quick Eats
A few chain restaurants have brought the Soviet concept of stolovaya (cafeteria) into the 21st century.
Prime Star (meals R200-300; 7am-11pm) Basmanny (Map; 495-781 8080; ul Maroseyka 6/8; Kitay-Gorod) Tverskoy (Map; 495-692 1276; Kamergersky per; Teatralnaya) Arbat (Map; 495-290 4481; ul Arbat 9; Arbatskaya) Here’s a novel concept: a sandwich shop. And not only that, a healthy sandwich shop, also serving soups, salads, sushi and other ‘natural food’. Everything is pre-prepared and neatly packaged, so you can eat in or carry out.
Grably (meals R200-300; 10am-11pm) Dorogomilovo (Map; 495-229 1977; Kievskaya pl 2, Evropeysky Shopping Centre, 4th fl; Kievskaya) Zamoskvorechie (Map; 495-545 0830; Pyatnitskaya ul 27; Novo-kuznetskaya) The big buffet features an amazing array of fish, poultry and meat, plus salads, soups and desserts. After you run the gauntlet and pay the bill, take a seat in the elaborate winter-garden seating area. The Zamoskvorechie outlet is particularly impressive, with two levels of tiled floors, vines draped over wrought-iron rails and chandeliers suspended from the high ceilings. Beer and wine are available at the bar upstairs.
Moo-Moo (meals R200-300; 9am-11pm) Basmanny (Map; 495-623 4503; Myasnitskaya ul 14; Lubyanka) Khamovniki (Map; 495-245 7820; Komsomolsky pr 26; Frunzenskaya) Arbat (Map; 495-241 1364; ul Arbat 45/24; Smolenskaya) You will recognise this place by its black-and-white Holstein-print decor. The cafeteria-style service offers an easy approach to all the Russian favourites.
Drova (meals R200-400, buffet R350; 24hr) Kitay Gorod (Map; 8-901-532 8252; Nikolskaya ul 5; Teatralnaya) Basmanny (Map; 495-916 0445; ul Pokrovka 17; Chistye Prudy); Arbat District (Map; 495-202 7570; Nikitsky bul 8a; Arbatskaya) The self-serve, all-you-can-eat buffet features offerings ranging from solyanka (a salty vegetable and meat soup) to sushi to sweet-and-sour pork. It’s not the best place to sample any of these items, but the price is right. Hungry student types really take advantage of the all-you-can-eat option: it’s not always pretty.
Self-Catering
SUPERMARKETS
Yeliseev Grocery Store (Map; Tverskaya ul 14; 8am-9pm Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm Sun; Pushkinskaya) Peek in here for a glimpse of prerevolutionary grandeur, as the store is set in the former mansion of the successful merchant Yeliseev. It now houses an upscale market selling caviar and other delicacies.
The well-stocked Seventh Continent (495-777 7779; 24hr) Zamoskvorechie (Map; ul Serafimovicha 2; Kropotkinskaya) Arbat (Map; ul Arbat 54/2; Smolenskaya) Basmanny (Map; ul Bol Lubyanka 12/1; Lubyanka) supermarkets are the most convenient and reasonable places to stock up on foodstuffs.
The more affordable, Turkish-owned Ramstore Khamovniki (Map; 495-771 7092; ul Usachyeva 35; 8am-11pm; Sportivnaya) Krasnoselsky (Map; 495-207 0241; Komsomolskaya pl 6, Moskovsky Univermag; 24hr; Komsomolskaya) Presnensky (Map; 495-255 5412; Krasnaya Presnya 23; 24hr; Ulitsa 1905 Goda) includes three shopping malls, as well as a number of self-serve supermarkets in and around Moscow. ‘Club card’ holders (R25) are eligible for discounts of 20% to 30% on some products. The selection is impressive, but these places can be overwhelming due to their size and the number of shoppers they attract.
MARKETS
Danilovsky Market (Map; Mytnaya ul 74; Tulskaya)
Dorogomilovsky Market (Map; Mozhaysky val 10; 10am-8pm; Kievskaya)
Rizhsky Market (Map; pr Mira 94-96; Rizhskaya)
DRINKING
These days, there are coffee houses and beer pubs sprouting up all over Moscow. Traditionally, ul Arbat is a prime spot for the café scene, especially as it is closed to automobile traffic. Likewise, the newer and trendier Kamergersky per is a pedestrian-only street, which makes it a hot spot for strollers and drinkers.
Club Che (Map; 495-621 7477; Nikolskaya ul 10/2; meals R800-1000; 24hr; Lubyanka; ) The revolution lives on at this popular, divey bar. The walls are covered with revolutionary graffiti and photos of the iconic hero. Patrons get their groove on the dance floor to salsa and meringue music. The cuisine is more Tex-Mex than Cuban, but nobody is complaining about the huge plates of nachos and the spicy chilli. Bartenders also mix a mean mojito (rum drink with lime, sugar and mint) with Havana Club rum.
Mon Café (Map; 495-250 8800; 1-ya Tverskaya-Yamskaya ul 4; meals R800-1200; 24hr; Mayakovskaya) The hot-to-trot clientele is the decor at this otherwise minimalist French café. The vaguely European fare is tasty, if somewhat overpriced. Don your short skirts and black shirts and take a seat on the upper level for the best view of the activity below.
HOT TOWN, SUMMER IN THE CITY
Summer doesn’t last very long in Moscow, so locals know they need to take advantage of the warm weather. That’s why every restaurant worth its salt opens a letnoe kafe, or ‘summer café’. They take over the courtyard, or the sidewalk, or the rooftop – because they know that people want to be outside. Gone are the days when letnoe kafe referred to a tent in the park with a few tables and a lot of beer. Of course, these still are the crucial parts of the letnoe kafe – tent, tables, beer – but Muscovites have really refined the concept. Here are a few of our favourites (open from May to September):
Shatyor (Map;
Chaikhona No 1 Hermitage Gardens (Map;
Lebedinoe Ozero (Map;
Café Margarita (Map; 495-699 6534; Mal Bronnaya ul 28; meals R400-600; noon-2am; Mayakovskaya) With walls lined with bookshelves and a location opposite Patriarch’s Pond, this offbeat café is popular with a well-read young crowd. These bookworms are pretty quiet during the day, but the place livens up in the evening, when it often hosts live music.
Kvartira 44 (noon-2am Sun-Thu, noon-6am Fri & Sat) Tverskoy (Map; 495-291 7503; Bolshaya Nikitskaya ul 22/2; Okhotny Ryad) Zamoskvorechie (Map; 495-238 8234; ul Malaya Yakimanka 24/8; Polyanka) Somebody had the brilliant idea to convert an old Tverskoy apartment into a crowded, cosy bar, with tables and chairs tucked into every nook and cranny. It may be a little ‘too close to home’ for many Muscovites, but it’s wildly popular with expats. Jazz and piano music on Friday nights at 10pm. There is another apartment in Zamoskvorechie.
Tinkoff (Map; 495-777 3300; Protochny per 11; ½-litre beer R180, meals R600-800; noon-2am; Smolenskaya) Moscow’s branch of this now nationwide microbrewery features sport on the big screen, lagers and pilsners on draught, and a metre-long sausage on the menu (yikes). This hip and happening venue is a great place to watch sports and sample seven different brews.
Apshu (Map; 495-953 9944; Klimentovsky per 10; 24hr; Tretyakovskaya; ) A little fishing village on the Baltic coast inspired this trendy place. Once discovered by worldly Muscovites, the village was transformed into a bohemian beacon – a magnet for artists and other creative types. This so-called club-café tries to do the same in Moscow, offering inexpensive food and drinks, board games, art exhibitions, concerts…basically something for everyone.
GQ Bar (Map; 495-956 7775; ul Balchug 5; 24hr; Novokuznetskaya) Anything that Arkady Novikov touches, seems to turn to gold. Which may explain why this joint project with Condé Naste is currently Moscow’s hippest destination for drinks, dinner and other early evening socialising. The contemporary decor features an open kitchen and subtle Asian theme, which is echoed in the menu. If you actually intend to sit down and eat, be sure to reserve a table and bring a bucket of money.
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ENTERTAINMENT
Moscow can keep anyone entertained for months. The key to finding out what’s on is the weekly magazine element and the comprehensive weekly entertainment section in Friday’s Moscow Times.
The classical performing arts remain a relative bargain. Highly acclaimed professionals stage productions in a number of elegant theatres around the city. While the Bolshoi is Moscow’s most famous theatre, other venues host productions of comparable quality, with tickets at a fraction of the Bolshoi’s price.
Theatre and concert programs are displayed at venues and ticket kiosks. Aside from the Bolshoi, you can usually purchase tickets directly from box offices on the day of the performance. Most theatres are closed between late June and early September.
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Classical Music
Moscow International House of Music (Map; 495-730 1011; www.mmdm.ru; Kosmodamianskaya nab 52/8; tickets R200-2000; Paveletskaya) A graceful, modern, glass building, this venue for the Russian Philharmonic towers over the Moscow River. It has three halls, including Svetlanov Hall, which holds the largest organ in Russia. Needless to say, organ concerts held here are impressive.
Tchaikovsky Concert Hall (Map; 495-232 5353, box office 495-699 0658; www.classicalmusic.ru; Triumfalnaya pl 4/31; tickets R100-1000; Mayakovskaya) Home to the famous State Symphony Orchestra, which specialises in the music of its namesake composer and other Russian classics.
Moscow Conservatory (Map; 495-629 9410, box office 629 8183; www.mosconsv.ru; Bolshaya Nikitskaya ul 13; Okhotny Ryad, Arbatskaya) Russia’s largest music school has two venues: the Great Hall (Bolshoy Zal) and the Small Hall (Maly Zal). Every four years, the conservatory hosts hundreds of musicians at the presti-gious International Tchaikovsky Competition, which will be held next in summer 2010.
Opera & Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre (Map; 495-250 7317, hotline 8-800-333 1333; www.bolshoi.ru; Teatralnaya pl 1; tickets R200-2000; Teatralnaya) An evening at the Bolshoi is still one of Moscow’s most romantic options, with an electric atmosphere in the glittering six-tier auditorium. Both the ballet and opera companies perform a range of Russian and foreign works. At the time of research, the Bolshoi was preparing to re-open its main stage after a multiyear renovation. In the meantime, the smaller New Stage (Novaya Stsena) has been hosting performances.
Tickets can be reserved by phone or internet, or purchased directly from the box office. It’s usually necessary to buy them well in advance, especially during peak tourist periods. Otherwise, the easiest way to get tickets to the Bolshoi is to go there on the day of the performance and buy them from a tout. Expect to pay several times face value unless you purchase your tickets directly from the box office.
Kremlin Ballet Theatre (Map; 495-620 7729; www.kremlin-gkd.ru; ul Vozdvizhenka 1; Alexandrovsky Sad) The Bolshoi does not have a monopoly on ballet and opera in Moscow. Leading dancers also appear with the Kremlin Ballet, which performs in the State Kremlin Theatre (inside the Kremlin).
Stanislavsky & Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre (Map; 495-629 2835; www.stanislavskymusic.ru, in Russian; Bol Dmitrovka ul 17; Chekhovskaya) Another opera and ballet company with a similar classical repertoire and high-quality performances. This historic theatre company was founded when two legends of the Moscow theatre scene – Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko – combined forces in 1941.
Novaya Opera (Map; 495-200 0868; www.novayaopera.ru; ul Karetny Ryad 3; Tsvetnoy Bulvar) This ‘New Opera’ in the Hermitage Garden performs a wide variety of productions based on the choreography of founder and director Evgeny Kolobov.
Folk Music
While opera and ballet dominate the playbills at the top Moscow venues, there are also a few elaborate folk shows, with Cossack dancing, gypsy music and traditional costumes.
Russian National Dance Show (Map; 495-234 6373; www.nationalrussianshow.ru; Cosmos Hotel, pr Mira 150; tickets R1400; 7.30pm Jun-Sep only; VDNKh) The Kostroma Dance Co puts on quite a show, with 50 performers, dozens of ensembles and 300 costumes. It amounts to a history of Russian song and dance. Summer months only.
Russian Ball at Yar (Map; 495-960 2004; Sovietsky Hotel, Leningradsky pr 32/2; tickets R1000 plus dinner; Dinamo) Everything about Yar is over-the-top, from the vast, gilded interior to the traditional Russian menu to the Moulin Rouge–style dancing girls.
Theatre
Moscow has around 40 professional and numerous amateur theatres, with a wide range of plays – contemporary and classic, Russian and foreign – staged each year. Most performances are in Russian. Some of the best drama venues:
Fomenko Studio Theatre (Map; 499-249 1136; www.fomenko.theatre.ru; Kutuzovsky pr 30/32; Kutuzovskaya) Peter Fomenko is known for his experimental productions, which used to take place in a rundown old cinema house. In 2008, he moved his troupe into fancy new digs overlooking the Moscow River – a marble-and-glass beauty built by architect Sergei Gnedovsky.
Lenkom Theatre (Map; 495-699 9668, box office 495-699 0708; www.lenkom.ru, in Russian; Malaya Dmitrovka ul 6; Pushkinskaya) Flashy productions and a lot of musicals keep non-Russian speakers happy.
Maly Theatre (Map; 495-623 2621; Teatralnaya pl 1/6; Teatralnaya) A lovely theatre founded in 1824, performing mainly 19th-century works.
MKhAT (Map; 495-629 8760; www.art.theatre.ru, in Russian; Kamergersky per 3; Teatralnaya) Also known as the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre, this is where method acting was founded more than 100 years ago. Watch for English-language versions of Russian classics performed by the American Studio.
Taganka Theatre (Map; 495-915 1217; www.taganka.org, in Russian; Zemlyanoy val 76; Taganskaya) A legendary theatre famous for its rebellious director, Yury Lyubimov, and the unruly actor Vladimir Vysotsky. Stages top-notch contemporary productions.
Circus
Moscow has two separate circuses, putting on glittering shows for Muscovites of all ages. The show usually mixes dance, cabaret and rock music with animals and acrobats. Performance schedules are subject to change.
Bolshoi Circus on Vernadskogo (Map; 495-930 0300; www.bolshoicircus.ru; pr Vernadskogo 7; tickets R100-1000; shows 7pm Wed, Fri & Sun, 3pm Sat & Sun; Universitet) With 3400 seats, this circus is near Moscow University and has the best reputation, especially for its animal acts and clowns.
Nikulin Circus (Map; 495-625 8970; www.circusnikulin.ru; Tsvetnoy bul 13; tickets R250-2000; shows 7pm Thu-Mon & 2.30pm Sat; Tsvetnoy Bulvar) Named for the beloved actor, director and clown Yury Nikulin, this building has housed the circus since 1880 (though it has been thoroughly modernised). Its thematic shows are also acclaimed.
Nightclubs
Propaganda (Map; 495-624 5732; www.propagandamoscow.com; Bolshoy Zlatoustinsky per 7; meals R500-700; noon-6am; Kitay-Gorod) This long-time favourite looks to be straight from the warehouse district, with exposed brick walls and pipe ceilings. It’s a café by day, but at night they clear the dance floor and let the DJ do his stuff. This is a gay-friendly place, especially on Sunday nights.
Krizis Zhanra (Map; 495-623 2594; www.kriziszhanra.ru; ul Pokrovka 16/16; concerts 9pm daily, 11pm Fri & Sat; Chistye Prudy) Everybody has something good to say about Krizis: expats and locals, old-timers and newcomers, young and old. What’s not to love? Good cheap food, copious drinks and rockin’ music every night, all of which inspires the gathered to get their groove on.
Simachyov Boutique & Bar (Map; 495-629 8085; www.denissimachev.com; Stoleshnikov per 12/2; 11am-last guest; Chekhovskaya) By day, it’s a boutique and café, owned and operated by the famed fashion designer of the same name. By night, this place becomes a hip-hop-happening nightclub that combines glamour and humour. The eclectic decor includes leopard-skin rugs tossed over tile floors, toilet stools pulled up to a wash-basin bar, Catholic confessionals for private dining, and more. You still have to look sharp to get in, but at least you can be bohemian about it.
The Most (Map; 495-660 0706; ul Kuznetsky Most 6/3; 11pm-last guest; Kuznetsky Most) If you want to party like the novy russky (New Russians) this is the place for you. It is certainly among the most expensive, the most exclusive and the most extravagant clubs in Moscow. Located in the basement of a fancy French restaurant, its post-industrial space is decorated with baroque architectural elements (think gold-framed mirrors bedecking red brick walls, and crystal chandeliers suspended alongside black iron pipes). Girls in gowns groove along the catwalk overlooking the dance floor. The place is co-owned by Roman Abramovich, the most rich and famous of all New Russians. P.S. Face control: The Most.
TOP TIPS FOR GETTING PAST FACE CONTROL
- If possible, book a table.
- Dress up. Women, wear high heels and short skirts; men, wear black.
- Arrive by car. The bigger the better.
- Arrive in a group. Women should try to arrive in a group with men. If you’re alone, imply that you’re meeting somebody, even if you’re not.
- Speak English. Foreigners are not as special as they used to be, but they’re still pretty special. And they still (supposedly) have money.
CLUB-CAFéS
Some places are hard to categorise. The full menu would indicate that it’s a restaurant, yet many people just come for drinks. There is live music in one hall and some people are dancing, but elsewhere people are playing board games or (gasp!) reading. Such diverse offerings under one roof have sparked a new concept in entertainment: the club-café. Here are a few of our favourites:
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Live Music
Sixteen Tons (Map; 495-253 1550; www.16tons.ru; ul Presnensky val 6; cover R300-800; 11am-6am, concerts 10pm or 11pm Thu-Sat; Ulitsa 1905 Goda) Downstairs, the brassy English pub has an excellent house-brewed bitter. Upstairs, the club gets some of the best local and foreign bands that play in Moscow.
Chinese Pilot Dzhao-Da (Map; 495-623 2896; www.jao-da.ru, in Russian; Lubyansky proezd 25; cover R300-500; concerts 10pm Thu, 11pm Fri & Sat; Kitay-Gorod) A relaxed and relatively inexpensive place to hear live music. The divey basement hosts lots of different bands – from around Europe and Russia – so check out the website in advance. Look out for free concerts on Monday nights.
BB King (Map; 495-699 8206; www.blues.ru; Sadovaya-Samotyochnaya ul 4/2; cover R350; noon-midnight, music from 8.30pm; Tsvetnoy Bulvar) This old-style blues club hosts an open jam session on Wednesday night, acoustic blues on Sunday and live performances other nights. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, when you can listen to jazz and blues on the old-fashioned jukebox.
Roadhouse (Map; 499-245 5543; www.roadhouse.ru; ul Dovatora 8; noon-midnight, concerts 9pm; Sportivnaya) If your dog got run over by a pick-up truck, you can find some comfort at the Roadhouse Blues Bar, with down-and-out live music every night, plus cold beer and a whole menu of salty cured meats.
Gay & Lesbian Venues
Besides the venues listed here, there is a great gay-night at Propaganda (Click here). For more information, Click here.
Tri Obezyani New Age (Map; 495-916 3555; www.gaycentral.ru, in Russian; Nastavnichesky per 11/1; 10pm-7am Thu-Sun; Chkalovskaya) The biggest and best club on the gay scene. Besides the dance floor, which is hopping, the club has drag queens and go-go boys, an internet café and a cinema. The clientele comes dressed to kill. Go in a group or take a taxi from the metro: there have been reports of attacks on the surrounding streets.
12 Volts (Map; 495-933 2815; www.12voltclub.ru, in Russian; Tverskaya ul 12; meals R400-600; 6pm-6am; Mayakovskaya) The founders of Moscow’s lesbian movement opened this welcoming café-cum–social club, tucked in the courtyard off Tverskaya ul.
Tsifri (Map; 495-692 2911; Glinishchevsky per 3; noon-2am; Pushkinskaya) Formerly known as ‘911’, this used to be a straight bar with a gay night, but it has grown into a gay bar with some straight guests – ‘gay expansion’ is how one local described it. Although the place has a small dance floor and a drag show on Saturday nights, it’s really more of a café scene.
Dyke Cafe (Map; 8-903-759 5944; www.dyke-cafe.ru, in Russian; Pokhodny proezd 4; cover R600 (men); Tushinskaya) More of a club than a café, this place is way out on the northwest edge of town. Dancing, games and erotic performances…it’s all about the women.
Cinema
Dome Cinema (off Map; 495-931 9873; www.domecinema.ru; Renaissance Moscow Hotel, Olympiysky pr 18/1; tickets R250; Prospekt Mira) This is one of Moscow’s first deluxe American-style the-atres. These days films are shown in the original language – usually English – with dubs in Russian on the headphones.
Sport
FOOTBALL
Vysshaya Liga, the premier football league, has five Moscow teams: Spartak (www.spartak.com), Lokomotiv (www.fclm.ru, in Russian), Central Sports Club of the Army (CSKA; www.pfc-cska.com), Dynamo (www.fcdynamo.ru) and FC Moskva (www.fcmoscow.ru), each with a loyal following.
You can buy tickets online at the club websites. Otherwise, it’s usually possible to buy tickets immediately before games, played at the following venues:
Dynamo Stadium (Map; 495-612 7172; Leningradsky pr 36; Dinamo) Seats 51,000 and hosts Dynamo and CSKA. However, at the time of research, a new state-of-the-art stadium was being constructed for the Army team.
Lokomotiv Stadium (Map; 499-161 4283; Bolshaya Cherkizovskaya ul 125; Cherkizovskaya) Reconstructed in 2002, it seats 30,000.
Luzhniki Sports Palace (Map; 495-785 9717; www.luzhniki.ru; Luzhnetskaya nab 24; Sportivnaya) Seats 80,000 and hosts Spartak.
ICE HOCKEY
Moscow’s main entrant in the Super Liga, the top ice-hockey league, is Dinamo (www.dynamo.ru), which plays at the stadium of the same name.
After the 2007–08 season, the Russian Super League was disbanded and replaced by the Continental Hockey League (KHL). Three non-Russian teams joined the league during its first year, with more international teams expected in the future. Moscow’s main entrant in the KHL is HC CSKA (www.cska-hockey.ru), or the Army team. HC CSKA has won more Soviet championships and European cups than any other team in history. The Army team plays at CSKA Arena (Map; 495-225 2600; Leningradsky pr 39A; Aeroport).
The other Moscow team, HC Dynamo (www.dynamo.ru), plays at Luzhniki Sports Palace (left). As recently as 2006, Dynamo won the European Champions Cup.
BASKETBALL
Men’s basketball has waned in popularity since its days of Olympic glory in the 1980s. But Moscow’s top basketball team, CSKA (www.cskabasket.com), still does well in European league play. Often called the ‘Red Army’, CSKA were Euroleague champions in 2006 and again in 2008. CKSA plays at the arena of the same name (above).
SHOPPING
Although Moscow shops are packed with designer goods, there are few bargains here. Foreign goods cost significantly more than they would in their home countries. Local items you may want to purchase are crystal, linen, traditional crafts and woollen shawls. Local designers are beginning to make a name for themselves, and a few have boutiques around the capital. Soviet paraphernalia is a fun novelty souvenir. If you are interested in taking home vodka or caviar, Click here.
If you’d like to take home antiques or anything else that’s more than 25 years old, Click here for details on export restrictions.
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Shopping Streets
Now restored to its prerevolutionary fashionable status, ul Petrovka is Moscow’s main shopping strip. It begins beside the Bolshoi Theatre and heads north, lined with upmarket boutiques, as well as a large department store (Click here) and a fancy shopping centre. It culminates in Stoleshnikov per, a pedestrian strip given over to the most exclusive shops.
Kitay Gorod is a charming area to stroll and shop, starting with the old arcades at Gostiny Dvor. Nikolskaya ul is lined with shops, terminating at the gated fashion fantasy world inside Tretyakovsky proezd.
Ul Arbat has always been a tourist attraction and so is littered with souvenir shops and stalls.
Markets
Izmaylovo Market (Map; admission R15; 9am-6pm Sat & Sun; Partizanskaya) This sprawling area is packed with art, handmade crafts, antiques, Soviet paraphernalia and just about anything you may want for a souvenir. You’ll find Moscow’s biggest original range of matryoshky (nesting dolls), palekh and khokhloma (lacquer ware), as well as less traditional woodworking crafts. There are also rugs from the Caucasus and Central Asia, pottery, linen, jewellery, fur hats, chess sets, toys, Soviet posters and much more. Feel free to negotiate, but don’t expect prices to come down more than 10%.
Shopping Malls & Department Stores
GUM (Map; 495-788 4343; www.gum.ru; Krasnaya pl 3; 10am-10pm; Ploshchad Revolyutsii) On the eastern side of Red Square, this place has made the transition to a market economy in fine form: it’s often called a ‘department store’, but that’s a misnomer as it is really a shopping mall of individual designer shops.
Okhotny Ryad (Map; 495-737 8449; Manezhnaya pl; 11am-10pm; Okhotny Ryad) This zillion-dollar mall was built in the 1990s. Although it was originally filled with expensive boutiques and no people, times have changed. Now the stores cater to all income levels and they are usually packed. There is a big, crowded food court on the ground floor.
Detsky Mir (Map; Lubyanskaya pl; Lubyanka) As of 2008, ‘Children’s World’ is closed for a complex and highly controversial renovation project. Developers have promised not to alter the building’s art deco exterior, which is considered a Moscow landmark. But the interior will be completely revamped, with the addition of underground parking, an internal atrium, a multiplex cinema and a family-focused entertainment zone. Stay tuned.
TsUM (Map; 495-933 7300; ul Petrovka 2; 10am-10pm Mon-Sat, 11am-10pm Sun; Teatralnaya) TsUM stands for Tsentralny Universalny Magazin (Central Department Store), which was built in 1909 as the Scottish-owned Muir & Merrilees. It was the first department store aimed at middle-class shoppers. It no longer is, as it is now filled with designer labels and luxury items.
Evropeysky Shopping Centre (Map; 495-229 6187; Kievskaya pl 1; 10am-10pm; Kievskaya) At the time of construction this was the largest urban shopping centre in the world. It does not compare to the mega malls on the city outskirts, but it is big. Besides the hundreds of shops and restaurants, highlights include an ice-skating rink, a movie theatre and a supermarket.
Boutiques
While the European fashion houses still rule the roost, Moscow designers are attracting increasing attention, thanks to designs that incorporate uniquely Russian elements, including furs, fabrics and styles. Beware of sticker shock.
Masha Tsigal (Map; 495-915 8464; www.mashatsigal.com; ul Pokrovka 11; Kitay-Gorod) Masha Tsigal’s boutique sells mostly casual clothes in skimpy styles, bright colours and bold designs – very playful and a little trampy. Masha has outfitted Russian pop stars tATu, amongst others.
Atman (Map; 495-917 4640; ul Pokrovka 31; Kitay-Gorod) This boutique of Siberian designer Veronika Samborskaya features free-flowing, rough-hewn styles, often from Russian linen. Samborskaya’s unique designs somehow manage to combine rusticity and elegance.
Simachyov Boutique & Bar (Map; 495-629 5701; www.denissimachev.com; Stoleshnikov per 12/2; Chekhovskaya) The wild child of Russian fashion, Denis Simachyov has become a household name in Moscow, thanks to his popular nightclub and irreverent clothing. His collections have been inspired by themes as diverse as Russian sailors, Chechen war victims, Siberian peasants, hip-hop gangsters and gypsy nomads.
Bukle (Map; 495-291 6624; www.vereteno.com, in Russian; ul Arbat 27/47; Arbatskaya) The collection of Lyudmila Mezentsevaya, called Vereteno, is on display at this little café-cum-boutique. It’s not so outrageous – but no less creative – than some other Russian fashion.
Valentin Yudashkin Boutique (Map; 495-240 1189; www.yudashkin.com; Kutuzovsky pr 19; Kievskaya) The best-known Russian designer is Valentin Yudashkin, whose clothes are on display at the Louvre and the Met, as well as the State History Museum in Moscow (look but don’t touch!). If you wish to try something on, head to this swanky boutique, which seems like a museum but you can in fact buy.
Speciality Shops
Many smaller, more specialised stores offer plenty of opportunities for souvenirs:
Gus-Khrustalny Factory Store (Map; 495-232 5658; www.ghz.ru; Gostiny Dvor; 10am-8pm; Ploshchad Revolyutsii) Beautiful and reasonably priced glassware and crystal from the nearby town of Gus-Khrustalny.
Vologda Linen (Map; 495-604 5915; www.linens.ru, in Russian; Gostiny Dvor; 10am-8pm; Ploshchad Revolyutsii) Fine clothes and linen made according to traditional Russian methods. The stuff is beautiful and good value.
Artists Co-op (www.buro-nahodok.ru; 10am-9pm Mon-Fri, 11am-9pm Sat, 11am-8pm Sun) Ministerstvo Podarkov – Tverskoy (Map; 495-69 9732; Maly Gnezdnikovsky per 12/27; Pushkinskaya) Podarky, Dekor y Podarky – Tverskoy (Map; 495-203 0417; Malaya Bronnaya ul 28/2; Mayakovskaya) Bureau Nakhodok – Arbat (Map; 495-244 7697; Smolensky bul 7/9; Smolenskaya) Apteka Podarkov y Zayztsy – Zamoskvorechie (Map; 495-238 9374; ul Bolshaya Ordinka 68; Novokuznetskaya) For quirky, clever souvenirs, stop by this network of artists cooperatives. Each outlet has a different name, but the goods are more or less the same: you’ll find uniquely Russian gifts, such as artist-designed tapki (slippers) and hand-woven linens. Most intriguing, artist Yuri Movchan has invented a line of funky, functional fixtures (lights, clocks etc) made from old appliances and other industrial discards.
THE ARTIST’S LIFE: STANISLAV SHURIPA
Stanislav Shuripa is an artist who has been living and working in Moscow for 25 years. We spoke with Stas about the artist’s life in Moscow.
What is it like to live in Moscow as an artist?
In recent years, the life of artists in Moscow has become more interesting because there is a boom in public interest. The record growth in the art scene means a growth of institutions, media, up-and-coming artists and young curators. It is exciting when you feel like what you do is interesting for other people.
Does this also mean there is a boost in creative energy, producing new ideas and new forms of art?
As for creative energy it is precisely true. There are a lot of possibilities for creative work – not only in my area of work but in many spheres. As for new ideas, it is more difficult to say. There are many ideas. Time will tell how new they are, and how important. It’s an exciting environment, but it’s also difficult, because it’s moving so fast.
How has Moscow’s art scene changed in recent years?
Ten years ago, nobody would have imagined that this would be happening. In the 1990s we had few structures or institutions – the art world was practically nonexistent. Now the scene takes on many different shapes – the art world has many levels. For example, right now there is the huge biennale of emerging art (Click here), with many high-quality exhibitions of up-and-coming artists. There are new private museums, and other new structures showing exhibitions. So it means there are many more outlets for artists.
Do you feel that political pressure limits artistic expression?
Personally, I do not feel this. In general, in terms of government oppression, nobody would say they feel it. There are incidents – you read about it in the newspapers. But the critical discussion arises between art and society, not between art and state. In general, all three players are trying to find a common language. The state sponsors exhibitions; it helps young artists to find studio space and funding.
I do notice the news [reporting] – both here and in the West – that Russia is taking some steps toward dictatorship. We are not necessarily happy with the way things are progressing. But on a practical level, it’s not an oppressive environment. Artists are more or less able to express whatever they want.
Where is the best place for visitors to Moscow to see and buy contemporary art?
If they are thinking of buying, I would advise them to go to one of the leading galleries. Four of them are in Winzavod (Click here). They are the most experienced and most professional galleries in Moscow. Art Strelka (Click here) is a little bit different place. It is also meant to be public, but it has a more festive atmosphere. They have openings every three weeks on Sundays. The kind of art is similar, but Winzavod is more upscale, the events are more formal and prepared. Art Strelka is more democratic.
Stanislav Shuripa acted as a curator at the Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art and his sculptures have been exhibited at Winzavod, among other venues.
Galleries
Moscow’s art world is developing at an exponential rate, thanks to the economic boom. Witness the creative energy firsthand at a few post-industrial art centres:
Art Strelka (Map; 8-916-112 7180; Bersenevskaya nab 14/5; 4-8pm; Novokuznetskaya) The garages at the old Red October candy now serve as studio and gallery space. The place is perhaps less polished than Winzavod, but that may be part of the appeal.
Artefact Gallery (Map; 495-933 5176; ul Prechistenka 30; Kropotkinskaya) Near the Russian Academy of Arts, this is a sort of art mall, housing several galleries under one roof. Look for paintings, sculptures, dolls, pottery and other kinds of art that people actually buy, as opposed to the more avant-garde exhibits at Winzavod.
Winzavod (Map; 495-917 4646, www.winzavod.ru; 4- Siromyatnichesky per 1; noon-8pm Tue-Sun; Chkalovskaya) This former wine-bottling factory was converted into exhibit space and is now home to five of Moscow’s most prestigious art galleries.
There are also many galleries within the Tsentralny Dom Khudozhnikov (Central House of Artists; Click here).
GETTING THERE & AWAY
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Air
International flights from Moscow’s airports incur a departure tax, which is sometimes split between arrival and departure. In any case the taxes are included in the price of the airline ticket.
AIRPORTS
Moscow has four main airports servicing international and domestic flights. Note that the destinations served by different airports can vary, so confirm your airport when you buy your ticket. Arrive at least 90 minutes before your flight in order to navigate check-in formalities and security.
Moscow’s main international airport is Sheremetyevo-2 (495-232 6565; www.sheremetyevo-airport.ru), 30km northwest of the city centre. It services most flights to/from places outside the former USSR. Nearby Sheremetyevo-1 (495-232 6565; www.sheremetyevo-airport.ru) services flights to/from St Petersburg, the Baltic states, Belarus and northern European Russia. The airport is across the runways from Sheremetyevo-2: bus 517 and an airport shuttle bus run between them.
Domodedovo (495-933 6666; www.domodedovo.ru), 48km south of the city centre, has undergone extensive upgrades in recent years in order to service more international flights. Most not-ably, all British Airway flights now fly in and out of Domodedovo, as do some flights with American Airlines, Lufthansa and many other European airlines. It also services many flights to/from the Far East and Central Asia.
Vnukovo (495-436 2813; www.vnukovo-airport.ru) serves most flights to/from the Caucasus, Moldova and Kaliningrad. About 30km southwest of the city centre, this airport has also undergone substantial renovation and is expanding its services significantly. Specifically, the new budget airline Sky Express (495-648 9360, 495-580 9360; www.skyexpress.ru) flies in and out of Vnukovo.
TICKETS
You can buy domestic airline tickets from most travel agents (Click here) and at Aeroflot and Transaero offices all over town. Convenient ticket offices:
Aeroflot (www.aeroflot.ru; 9am-8pm Mon-Sat, to 4pm Sun)Tverskoy(Map; 495-223 5555; ul Petrovka 20/1; Chekhovskaya) Kuznetsky Most (Map; 495-924 8054; ul Kuznetsky Most 3; Kuznetsky Most) Zamoskvorechie (Map; 495-223 5555; Pyatnitskaya ul 37/19; Tretyakovskaya)
Transaero (788 8080; www.transaero.com; 9am-6pm Mon-Sat) Krasnoselsky (Map; Sadovaya-Spasskaya ul 18/1; Krasnye Vorota); Zamoskvorechie (Map; Paveletskaya pl 2/3; Paveletskaya)
Boat
Moscow is a popular start or end-point for cruises that ply the Volga River (Click here).
Bus
Buses run to a number of towns and cities within 700km of Moscow. Bus fares are similar to kupeyny (2nd-class) train fares. Buses tend to be crowded, although they are usually faster than the prigorodnye poezdy (suburban trains).
To book a seat go to the long-distance bus terminal, the Shchyolkovsky Bus Station (off Map; Shchyolkovskaya), 8km east of the city centre. Queues can be bad, so it’s advisable to book ahead, especially for travel on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Buses also depart from outside the various train stations, offering alternative transport to the destinations served by the train. These buses do not run according to a particular schedule, but rather leave when the bus is full. Likewise, they cannot be booked in advance.
Car & Motorcycle
Click here for advice about driving in Russia.
Ten major highways, numbered M1 to M10 (but not in any logical order), fan out from Moscow to all points of the compass. Most are in fairly good condition near the city, but some get pretty bad further out:
M1 The main road to/from Poland via Brest, Minsk and Smolensk.
M2 Heads southwest toward Oryol and Ukraine.
M7 Heads east to Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod.
M8 Heads northeast to Yaroslavl, via Sergiev Posad.
M10 The road to St Petersburg; dual carriageway as far as Tver.
Moscow has no shortage of petrol stations selling all grades of fuel. Most are open 24 hours and can be found on the major roads in and out of town.
HIRE
While there’s little reason for the average traveller to rent a car for getting around Moscow (as public transport is quite adequate), you may want to consider it for trips out of the city. Be aware that some firms won’t let you take their cars out of the Moscow Oblast.
The major international rental firms have outlets in Moscow (at either Sheremetyevo or Domodedovo airport, as well as in the city centre). Prices start at R1700 per day, although you may be able to cut this price by reserving in advance. The major car rental agencies will usually pick up or drop off the car at your hotel for an extra fee.
Avis (Map; 495-744 0733; www.avis-moscow.ru; Meshchanskaya ul 7/1; Sukharevskaya)
Europcar (off Map; 495-775 7565; www.europcar.ru; Mozhayskoe sh 166) Cars prohibited from leaving Moscow Oblast.
Hertz (Map; 495-232 0889; www.hertz.ru; Tverskaya Zastava pl 2; Belorusskaya)
Thrifty (495-788 6888; www.thrifty.ru) Outer North (off Map; Leningradskoe sh 63B; Rechnoy Vokzal) Outer South (Map; ul Obrucheva 27, bldg 1; Kaluzhskaya) Mileage limited to 200km per day.
Train
Moscow has rail links to most parts of Russia, most former Soviet states, many Eastern and Western European countries, plus China and Mongolia. For representative schedules and fares, see the boxed text, below. Click here for general information on train travel, fares and deciphering timetables.
STATIONS
Moscow has nine main stations. Multiple stations may service the same destination, so be sure to confirm the arrival/departure station.
Belorussky vokzal (Belarus Station; Map; Tverskaya Zastava pl; Belorusskaya) Serves trains to/from Smolensk, Kaliningrad, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland and Germany; some trains to/from the Czech Republic; and suburban trains to/from the west including Mozhaysk, Borodino and Zvenigorod.
Kazansky vokzal (Kazan Station; Map; Komsomolskaya pl; Komsomolskaya) Serves trains to/from Kazan, Izhevsk, Ufa, Ryazan, Ulyanovsk, Samara, Novorossiysk and Central Asia; some trains to/from Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, the Ural Mountains, Siberia, Saratov and Rostov-on-Don; and suburban trains to/from the southeast, including Bykovo airport, Kolomna, Gzhel and Ryazan.
Kievsky vokzal (Kyiv Station; Map; Kievskaya pl; Kievskaya) Serves Bryansk, Kyiv, western Ukraine, Moldova, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Prague, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Greece, Venice; suburban trains to/from the southwest, including Peredelkino and Kaluga.
Kursky vokzal (Kursk Station; Map; pl Kurskogo vokzala; Kurskaya) Serves Oryol, Kursk, Krasnodar, Adler, the Caucasus, eastern Ukraine, Crimea, Georgia and Azerbaijan. It also has some trains to/from Rostov-on-Don, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod and Perm; and suburban trains to/from the east and south, including Petushki, Vladimir, Podolsk, Chekhov, Serpukhov and Tula.
Leningradsky vokzal (Leningrad Station; Map; Komsomolskaya pl; Komsomolskaya) Serves Tver, Novgorod, Pskov, St Petersburg, Vyborg, Murmansk, Estonia and Helsinki; and suburban trains to/from the northwest including Klin and Tver. Note that sometimes this station is referred to on timetables and tickets by its former name, Oktyabrsky.
Paveletsky vokzal (Pavelets Station; Map; Paveletskaya pl; Paveletskaya) Serves Yelets, Lipetsk, Voronezh, Tambov, Volgograd, Astrakhan; some trains to/from Saratov; and suburban trains to/from the southeast, including Leninskaya and Domodedovo airport.
Rizhsky vokzal (Riga Station; Map; Rizhskaya pl; Rizhskaya) Serves Latvia, with suburban trains to/from the northwest, including Istra and Novoierusalimskaya.
Savyolovsky vokzal (Savyolov Station; Map; pl Savyolovskogo vokzala; Savyolovskaya) Serves Cherepovets; some trains to/from Kostroma and Vologda; suburban trains to/from the north, including Sheremetyevo airport.
Yaroslavsky vokzal (Yaroslavl Station; Map; Komsomolskaya pl; Komsomolskaya) Serves Yaroslavl, Arkhangelsk, Vorkuta, the Russian Far East, Mongolia, China, North Korea; some trains to/from Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Kostroma, Vologda, Perm, Urals, Siberia; and suburban trains to/from the northeast, including Abramtsevo, Khotkovo, Sergiev Posad and Aleksandrov.
SUBURBAN TRAINS
When taking trains from Moscow, note the difference between long-distance and ‘suburban’ trains. Long-distance trains run to places at least three or four hours out of Moscow, with limited stops and a range of accommodation classes. Suburban trains, known as prigorodnye poezdy or elektrichki, run to stops within 100km or 200km of Moscow. These slow trains stop almost everywhere, and have a single class of hard bench seats. You simply buy your ticket before the train leaves, and there’s no capacity limit – so you may have to stand part of the way.
Most Moscow stations have a separate ticket hall for suburban trains, usually called the Prigorodny Zal and often tucked away beside or behind the station building. These trains are usually listed on separate timetables, and may depart from a separate group of platforms.
TICKETS
For long-distance trains it’s best to buy your tickets in advance, especially in summer. Always take your passport along when buying a ticket.
Tickets are sold at the train stations themselves, but it is much easier to buy tickets from a travel agent (Click here) or kassa zheleznoy dorogi (railway ticket office). These are often conveniently located in hotel lobbies. One agency selling aeroplane and train tickets with many outlets around town is Glavagentstvo-Service Tverskoy (Map; 495-745 6548; 1-ya Tverskaya-Yamskaya ul 15; Belorusskaya); Zayauzie (Map; 495-967 8665; Taganskaya ul 19; Marksistskaya). Additional outlets are in Sheremetyevo-1 airport, Hotel Yunost (Click here) and Belorussky and Leningradsky vokzaly.
GETTING AROUND
The central area around the Kremlin, Kitay Gorod and the Bolshoi Theatre is best seen on foot. Otherwise, the fastest, cheapest and easiest way to get around is almost always on the metro, though buses, trolleybuses and trams are useful sometimes.
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To/From the Airports
As of 2008, all four major airports are accessible by a convenient Aeroexpress train (8-800-700 3377; www.aero-express.ru). If you have a lot of luggage and you wish to take a taxi, it is highly recommended to book in advance (Click here) to take advantage of fixed rates offered by most companies (usually R1000 to R1500 to/from any airport).
SHEREMETYEVO
In 2008, the new express train line to Sherem-etyevo opened with much fanfare, followed by much embarrassment, when the initial trains were delayed by hours. Presumably, the kinks will be worked out by the time of publication, in which case the Aeroexpress train should leave Savyolovsky vokzal for Sheremetyevo airport (adult/child R250/65, 30 minutes) every hour between 5.30am and midnight. Check the schedule online in advance, as the departure times are sort of random.
DOMODEDOVO
The Aeroexpress train leaves Paveletsky vokzal for Domodedovo airport (adult/child R150/40, 45 minutes) every hour between 6am and 11pm, every half-hour during the busiest times. This route is particularly convenient for domestic flights, as you can check in for your flight at the train station.
UNDERGROUND ART
The Moscow metro is justly famous for the art and design of many of its stations. Many feature marble, bas-reliefs, stucco, mosaics and chandeliers. Diversity of theme is not their strongest point – generally, it’s history, war, the happy life of the Soviet people, or all of the above.
Ring Line Stops
- Taganskaya Features a war theme, with the heads of unknown war heroes set in luscious, floral stucco frames made of white-and-blue porcelain with gold linings.
- Prospekt Mira Also decorated in elegant gold-trimmed white porcelain. The bas-reliefs depict happy farmers picking fruit, children reading books, and so on.
- Novoslobodskaya Features brightly illuminated stained-glass panels with happy workers, farmers, artistic types and lots of flowers.
- Belorusskaya Mosaics on the ceiling depict yet more happy workers, along with farmers milking cows, dancing and taking oaths. All wear Belarusian national shirts for the occasion.
- Komsomolskaya A huge stuccoed hall, its ceiling covered with mosaics depicting past Russian military heroes: Peter the Great, Dmitry Donskoy, Alexander Suvorov and more.
- Barrikadnaya Done in dramatic red-and-white marble, it features bas-reliefs depicting the fateful events of 1905 and 1917.
- Kievskaya The hall is decorated with labelled mosaics depicting events in Ukrainian history and goodwill between Ukrainians and Russians.
Radial Line Stops
- Mayakovskaya Grand Prize winner at the 1938 World’s Fair in New York. It has a central hall with sky-themed mosaics on the ceiling.
- Novokuznetskaya Features military bas-reliefs done in sober khaki, and colourful ceiling mosaics depicting pictures of the happy life. The elegant marble benches came from the first Church of Christ the Saviour.
- Ploshchad Revolyutsii Life-sized bronze statues in the main hall and beside the escalators illustrate the idealised roles of common men and women. Heading up the escalators the themes, in order, are revolution, industry, agriculture, hunting, education, sport and child-rearing.
- Partizanskaya Features floral bas-reliefs decorated with AK-47 machine guns.
VNUKOVO
The Aeroexpress train runs between Kievsky vokzal and Vnukovo airport (adult/child R120/30, 35 minutes, hourly) between 7am and noon and between 5pm and 8pm, with a few trains running in the middle of the day. Outside these hours, you can take a marshrutka (minibus) from Yugo-Zapadnaya metro (R50, 30 minutes).
Bus, Trolleybus & Tram
Buses, trolleybuses and trams are useful along a few radial or cross-town routes that the metro misses, and are necessary for reaching sights away from the city centre. Tickets (R25) are usually sold on the vehicle by a conductor.
Metro
The Moscow metro (www.mosmetro.ru) is the easiest, quickest and cheapest way of getting around Moscow. Many of the elegant stations are marble-faced, frescoed, gilded works of art (see the boxed text, above). The trains are generally reliable; you will rarely wait on the platform for more than three minutes. Nonetheless, they get packed during rush hour. Up to nine million people a day ride the metro, more than the London and New York City systems combined.
The 150-plus stations are marked outside by large ‘M’ signs. Magnetic tickets are sold at ticket booths (R19). Queues can be long, so it’s useful to buy a multiple-ride ticket (10 rides for R155 or 20 for R280).
Stations have maps of the system (Click here) at the entrance and signs on each platform showing the destinations. Maps are generally in Cyrillic and Latin script, although the signs are usually only in Cyrillic. The carriages also have maps inside that show the stops for that line in both Roman and Cyrillic letters.
Interchange stations are linked by underground passages, indicated by perekhod signs, usually blue with a stick figure running up the stairs. Be aware that when two or more lines meet, the intersection stations often have different names.
Taxi
Almost any car in Moscow can be a taxi if the price is right, so get on the street and stick your arm out. Many private cars cruise around as unofficial taxis (‘gypsy cabs’), and other drivers will often take you if they’re going in roughly the same direction. Expect to pay R150 to R200 for a ride around the city centre. Official taxis – which can be recognised by the chequerboard logo on the side and/or a small green light in the windscreen – charge higher rates.
Don’t hesitate to wave on a car if you don’t like the look of its occupants. As a general rule, it’s best to avoid riding in cars that already have two or more people inside. Be particularly careful taking a taxi that is waiting outside a nightclub or bar.
Some reliable taxi companies (all with websites in Russian only):
Central Taxi Reservation Office (Tsentralnoe Byuro Zakazov Taxi; 495-627 0000; www.cbz-taxi.ru)
MV Motors (495-232 5232, 8-800-200 8294; www.7756775.ru)
New Yellow Taxi (495-940 8888; www.nyt.ru)
Taxi Bistro (495-961 0041; www.taxopark.ru)
Taxi Blues (495-105 5115; www.taxi-blues.ru)
Normally, the dispatcher will ring back within a few minutes to provide a description and licence number of the car. It’s best to call at least an hour before you need the taxi.
AROUND MOSCOW ПОДМОСКОВЬЕ
As you leave Moscow, the fast-paced modern capital fades from view and the slower-paced, old-fashioned countryside unfolds around you. The subtly changing landscape is crossed by winding rivers and dotted with peasant villages – the classic provincial Russia immortalised by artists and writers over the centuries. For more short trip possibilities from Moscow see the Golden Ring chapter (Click here).
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ISTRA ИСТРА
49631
In the 17th century, Nikon – the patriarch whose reforms drove the Old Believers from the Orthodox Church – decided to show one and all that Russia deserved to be the centre of the Christian world. He did this by building a little Holy City right at home, complete with its own Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Thus, the grandiose New Jerusalem Monastery (Novo-Iyerusalimsky monastyr; 49 787; www.ierusalim.ru, in Russian; per exhibit adult/child R80/40, guided tour R500; 10am-4pm Tue-Sun) was founded in 1656 near the picturesque Istra River.
Unlike other Moscow monasteries, this one had no military use. In WWII the retreating Germans blew it to pieces but it’s being reconstructed. After years as a museum, the monastery is now in Orthodox hands and attracts a steady stream of worshippers.
COUNTRY ESTATES
Moscow’s elite have long escaped the heat and hustle of city life by retreating to the surrounding regions. The quintessential aristocratic getaway is Prince Yusupov’s palatial estate at Arkhangelskoe. On a more modest scale, Tchaikovsky, Chekhov and Pasternak all sought inspiration in the countryside around Moscow, not to mention the countless painters and sculptors who retreated to the artists’ colony at Abramtsevo. Even Lenin maintained a country estate on the outskirts of Moscow. All of these properties are now house-museums to inspire the rest of us:
Abramtsevo Абрамцево
Railway tycoon and art patron Savva Mamontov built this lovely estate 45km north of Moscow. Here, he hosted a whole slew of painters and musicians, including Ilya Repin, landscape artist Isaak Levitan, portraitist Valentin Serov and ceramicist Mikhail Vrubel, as well as opera singer Fyodor Chaliapin. Today the Abramtsevo Estate Museum-Preserve (
Suburban trains run every half-hour from Yaroslavsky vokzal (R100, 1½ hours). Most trains to Sergiev Posad or Aleksandrov stop at Abramtsevo. There are also regular buses between Abramtsevo and Sergiev Posad (R50, 20 minutes).
Arkhangelskoe Архангельское
In the 1780s the wealthy Prince Nikolai Yusupov purchased this grand palace on the outskirts of Moscow and turned it into a spectacular estate(
From Tushinskaya metro, take bus 541 or 549 or marshrutka 151 to Arkhangelskoe (30 minutes).
Peredelkino Переделкино
Boris Pasternak – poet, author of Doctor Zhivago and winner of the 1958 Nobel Prize for literature – lived for a long time on Moscow’s southwestern outskirts, just 5km beyond the city’s outer ring road, where there is now the Pasternak House-Museum (
Frequent suburban trains go from Moscow’s Kievsky vokzal to Peredelkino (R20, 20 minutes) on the line to Kaluga-II station. From Peredelkino station, follow the path west along the train tracks past the cemetery (where Pasternak is buried) and over the bridge. After about 400m ul Pavlenko is on the right-hand side.
Gorki Leninskie Горки Ленинские
In Lenin’s later years, he and his family spent time at the 1830s Murozov manor house, set on lovely wooded grounds, 32km southeast of the capital. Designed by Fyodor Shekhtel, it now houses a Lenin museum (
Bus 439 (R50, 30 minutes) leaves every 90 minutes for the estate from the Domodedovskaya metro station in Moscow. By car, follow the M4 highway (Kashirskoe sh) to 11km beyond MKAD, then turn left to Gorki Leninskie.
Klin Клин
From 1885, Pyotr Tchaikovsky spent his summers in Klin, 75km northwest of Moscow. In a charming house on the edge of town, he wrote the Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, as well as his famous Pathetique Symphony No 6. After he died in 1893, the estate was converted into the Tchaikovsky House-Museum (
Suburban trains from Moscow’s Leningradsky vokzal run to Klin (R120, 1½ hours) throughout the day. Most of these continue to Tver (R84, two hours). From the station, take marshrutka 5 to Tchaikovsky’s estate.
Melikhovo Мелихово
‘My estate’s not much,’ wrote playwright Anton Chekhov of his home at Melikhovo, south of Moscow, ‘but the surroundings are magnificent’. Here, Chekhov lived from 1892 until 1899 and wrote some of his most celebrated plays, including The Seagull and Uncle Vanya. Today the estate houses the Chekhov Museum (
Suburban trains (R100, 1½ hours) run frequently from Moscow’s Kursky vokzal to the town of Chekhov, 12km west of Melikhovo. Bus 25 makes the 20-minute journey between Chekhov and Melikhovo, with departures just about every hour.
In the centre of the grounds is the Cathedral of the Resurrection (Voskresensky sobor), intended to look like Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Like its prototype, it’s really several churches under one roof, including the detached Assumption Church (Uspensky tserkov) in the northern part of the cathedral. Here, pilgrims come to kiss the relics of the holy martyr Tatyana, the monastery’s patron saint. The unusual underground Church of SS Konstantin & Yelena (Konstantino-Yeleninskaya tserkov) has only its belfry peeping up above the ground. Patriarch Nikon was buried in the cathedral, beneath the Church of John the Baptist (Tserkov Ioanna Predtechi).
The refectory exhibits weapons, icons and artwork from the 17th century, including personal items belonging to Patriarch Nikon. In the monastery walls, there is additional exhibit space displaying 20th-century drawings and handicrafts from around the Moscow region. On weekends you can sample fresh-brewed tea and homemade pastries in the tearoom.
Just outside the monastery’s north wall, the Moscow region’s Museum of Wooden Architecture (May-Sep) is a collection of picturesque peasant cottages and windmills set along the river.
Suburban trains run from Moscow’s Rizhsky vokzal to Istra (R80, 1½ hour, hourly), from where buses run to the Muzey stop by the monastery. A 20-minute walk from the Istra train station is a pleasant alternative.
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BORODINO БОРОДИНО
49638
In 1812 Napoleon invaded Russia, lured by the prospect of taking Moscow. For three months the Russians retreated, until on 26 August the two armies met in a bloody battle of attrition at the village of Borodino, 130km west of Moscow. In 15 hours more than one-third of each army was killed – over 100,000 soldiers in all. Europe would not know such devastating fighting again until WWI.
The French seemed to be the winners, as the Russians withdrew and abandoned Moscow. But Borodino was, in fact, the beginning of the end for Napoleon, who was soon in full, disastrous retreat.
The entire battlefield – more than 100 sq km – is now the Borodino Field Museum-Preserve, basically vast fields dotted with dozens of memorials to specific divisions and generals (most erected at the centenary of the battle in 1912). Start your tour at the Borodino Museum (51 546; www.borodino.ru; admission R50; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun), where you can study a diorama of the battle before setting out to see the site in person.
The front line was roughly along the 4km road from Borodino village to the train station: most of the monuments are close to the road. The hilltop monument about 400m in front of the museum is Bagration’s tomb, the grave of Prince Bagration, a heroic Georgian infantry general who was mortally wounded in the battle.
Further south, a concentration of monuments around Semyonovskoe marks the battle’s most frenzied fighting; it was here that Bagration’s heroic Second Army, opposing far larger French forces, was virtually obliterated. Apparently Russian commander Mikhail Kutuzov deliberately sacrificed Bagration’s troops to save his larger First Army, opposing lighter French forces in the northern part of the battlefield. Kutuzov’s headquarters are marked by an obelisk in the village of Gorky. Another obelisk near Shevardino to the southwest, paid for in 1912 with French donations, marks Napoleon’s headquarters.
Every September, the museum-complex hosts a re-enactment of the historic battle, complete with Russian and French participants, uniforms and weapons.
Ironically, this battle scene was re-created during WWII, when the Red Army confronted the Nazis on this very site. Memorials to this battle also dot the fields, and WWII trenches surround the monument to Bagration. Near the train station are two WWII mass graves.
The Saviour Borodino Monastery (51 057; admission R15; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun) was built by the widows of the Afghan War. Among its exhibits is a display devoted to Leo Tolstoy and the events of War and Peace that took place at Borodino.
The rolling hills around Borodino and Semyonovskoe are largely undeveloped, due to their historic status. Facilities are extremely limited; be sure to bring a picnic lunch.
Suburban trains leave from Moscow’s Belorussky vokzal to Borodino (R140, two hours) at 7.15am, 10.45am and 12.40pm. Only a few trains return to Moscow in the evening at 5pm and 8.20pm. There is more frequent transportation to/from the nearby village of Mozhaysk, from where you can catch a taxi to Borodino for about R350.
Since the area is rural, visiting by car is more convenient and probably more rewarding. If driving from Moscow, stay on the M1 highway (Minskoe sh) until the Mozhaysk turn-off, 95km beyond the Moscow outer ring road. It’s 5km north to Mozhaysk, then 13km west to Borodino village.
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PRIOKSKO-TERRASNY BIOSPHERE RESERVE
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Приокско-Террасный Заповедник
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Covering 50 sq km bordering the northern flood plain of the Oka River, a tributary of the Volga, the Prioksko-Terrasny Biosphere Reserve (Map; 707 145; www.danki.ru, in Russian; admission R100, guided tour R350; 9am-3pm) is a meeting point of northern fir groves and marshes with typical southern meadow steppe. The reserve’s varied fauna includes a herd of European bison, brought back from near extinction since WWII.
WANNA GET AWAY?
These days, most Muscovites do not have country estates, but they still need an occasional break from the urban madness. Here’s where you can get yours:
- Uncle Pasha’s Dacha (8-910-932 5546; www.russian-horse-rides.com; Dubrovki village; r per person R1000-1500) For an authentic dacha experience, visit Uncle Pasha in the tiny village of Dubrovki (in Tver region) – the setting on the Volga is magnificent. Accommodation is rustic, as it should be (read: outside toilet); meals are vegetarian. Prices include meals, unlimited horse riding, and plenty of other dacha activities. This place is hard to reach, so be sure to contact Uncle Pasha in advance.
- Zavidovo Holiday Complex (495-982 5270; www.zavidovo.ru; Shosha village, Novo-Zavidovo; d weekdays/weekends from R6900/7400; ) At a beautiful spot at the confluence of the Volga and Shosha Rivers, this resort offers all kinds of recreational activities, such as horse- riding, water-skiing, golf, tennis, boating and fishing. Afterwards, soothe your weary body in the tiled Turkish bath or the lakeside banya. Suburban trains from Moscow’s Leningradsky vokzal to Tver stop in Zavidovo (R150, two hours, hourly).
- Istra Holiday Country Hotel (495-739 6198 in Moscow; www.istraholiday.ru; Trusovo; d weekdays/weekends from R5300/7400; ) The quaint wooden cottages that make up this hotel sit on the shores of the lovely Istra water reserve, 45km northwest of Moscow. The place offers all the sports and outdoor activities you could hope for, from skiing to swimming to lounging on the beach.
You cannot wander freely around the reserve by yourself, so it’s useful to make advance arrangements for a tour. Otherwise, you could tag onto a prescheduled group tour. There is also a small museum near the office, with stuffed specimens of the reserve’s fauna (typical of European Russia) including beavers, elk, deer and boar.
The reserve’s pride, and the focus of most visits, is its European bison nursery (pitomnik zubrov). Two pairs of bison, one of Europe’s largest mammals (some weigh over a tonne), were brought from Poland in 1948. Now there are about 60 and more than 200 have been sent out to other parts of the country.
If you leave by 8am, you can take a suburban train from Moscow’s Kursky vokzal to Serpukhov (two hours), then a rare bus (25, 31 or 41) to the reserve. Drivers from Moscow should follow Simferopolskoe sh (the extension of Varshavskoe sh). At 98km, look for the sign to the reserve or to the village of Danki.
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Golden Ring Золотое Кольцо
PERESLAVL-ZALESSKY ПЕРЕСЛАВЛЬ-ЗАЛЕССКИЙ
Before Moscow was capital – before Russia was even a nation – the towns of the Golden Ring were the seats of power of medieval Rus. For over 300 years, these northern Slavic principalities jousted for power, shaping Russia’s early history.
The region was eventually united under Muscovy; the once-powerful principalities faded into another part of provincial Russia. But their modern-day successors still boast archetypal art and architecture: grassy hills indicate the ramparts that once protected their territories; white-washed walls surround their ancient monasteries, many of which are active again; and spires of ancient churches mark the horizon, their interiors covered with faded frescoes.
Some of these towns are now prosperous cities, with industry existing alongside history. Yaroslavl, Kostroma and Vladimir are thriving urban centres, where the golden domes have a little bit of grit on them. Others – Suzdal, Uglich, Rostov-Veliky and Pereslavl-Zalessky – evoke a feeling of time standing still. Dogs and children play in the streets, undisturbed by traffic. Residents live in dilapidated but darling wooden houses, their gardens bursting with flowers.
Capitalism is bringing changes, however. Cruise ships ply the Volga, dropping passengers in Plyos and Uglich, small towns now suddenly transformed into holiday resorts. Suzdal, especially, has captured the hearts of many Muscovites in search of a rural retreat. Tourist dollars are fuelling the construction of resorts and restaurants, bowling alleys and bani (bathhouses).
And so the Golden Ring, full of art and history, magic and mystery, pursues the precarious balance between the 12th and 21st centuries.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Browsing the galleries in Rostov-Veliky (Click here)
- Enjoying the same Volga views that inspired painter Isaac Levitan in Plyos (Click here)
- Perusing the quirky collection at Music & Time (Click here) in Yaroslavl
- Climbing the bell tower of Resurrection Church (Click here) for a bird’s-eye view of the Suzdal skyline
- Wandering through the wildflowers for a glimpse of the Church of Intercession on the Nerl (Click here) in Bogolyubovo
History
In the 9th century, Slavic tribes migrated into the hilly forest land of the Volga headwaters. They established small farming communities, eventually absorbing the Finno-Ugric tribes that already occupied the region. These Slav settlements made up the easternmost reaches of Kyivan Rus and bordered the formidable Turkic Bulgar state of the Middle Volga.
Wary of his eastern rival, the Kyivan Grand Prince, Vladimir I, defeated the Bulgars in combat and secured his sovereignty over these Slavic tribes. Vladimir then made his son Yaroslav the regional potentate, responsible for collecting tribute and converting pagans among the locals. Upon his death in 1015, Vladimir’s realm was divided among his sons, ushering a prolonged period of violent sibling rivalry and fragmented power.
The victors who eventually emerged from this fratricidal competition were the descendants of Yaroslav’s son Vsevolod, who had inherited the Rostov-Suzdal principality. As a result, the locus of power in medieval Russia gradually shifted eastward. In this period, the Golden Ring towns prospered and expanded under a string of shrewd and able princes.
In the early 12th century, Vladimir Mono-makh founded the fortress city of Vladimir, entrusting the eastern lands to his young son, Yury Dolgoruky. Taking the title of Grand Prince, Yury declared Suzdal the northern capital of Rus. In 1157, Yury’s son, Andrei Bogolyubsky, then moved the Grand Prince’s throne to Vladimir, which grew into the dominant city-state in the region. Andrei and his brother Vsevolod III (r 1176–1212) brought builders and artists from as far away as Western Europe to give Vladimir a Kyiv-like splendour. When the Mongols paid a visit in the 13th century, Alexander Nevsky, Russia’s first war hero, rebuilt Vladimir and restored the city’s political status.
The heirs of Vladimir Monomakh sought to create a realm that rivalled Kyiv, the cradle of eastern Slavic civilisation. Under the reign of Andrei Bogolyubsky, in particular, the region experienced a building frenzy. Golden gates, fortified monasteries and elegant churches were constructed to match the cultural ambitions of its political rulers. Rostov-Veliky, Suzdal, Vladimir and Sergiev Posad each played an important part in making the Golden Ring the spiritual centre of Russian Orthodoxy.
The heyday of the Golden Ring towns was short-lived. Marauding Mongol invaders overran the towns’ realm and forced their princes to pay them homage. With this change in regional politics, the erstwhile lesser principality of Muscovy in the west rose in prominence. Gradually, the once proud principalities of the Golden Ring were absorbed into the expanding Muscovite state.
Getting There & Around
The larger towns in the Golden Ring are accessible by train from Moscow, but it is necessary to travel by bus to visit some of the region’s highlights. Cruise ships also stop at many of the Golden Ring towns; Click here for more information.
The most efficient (albeit expensive) way to visit the Golden Ring is by car, which will allow trips to some small, off-the-beaten-track destinations (see the boxed text, Click here). Local Moscow-based tour agencies such as Dom Patriarshy Tours (Click here) also organise excursions to these destinations.
VLADIMIR ВЛАДИМИР
4922 / pop 340,000 / Moscow
High up on Vladimir’s slope, above the Klyazma River, sits the solemnly majestic Assumption Cathedral, built to announce Vladimir’s claim as capital of Rus. These days, Vladimir – 178km east of Moscow – feels more like a modern, provincial town than an ancient capital. Nonetheless, the grandeur of medieval Vladimir shines through the commotion of this busy, industrial town. Exquisite examples of Russia’s most formative architecture, along with some entertaining museums, make Vladimir one of the jewels in the Golden Ring.
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Orientation
Vladimir’s main street is Bolshaya Moskov-skaya ul (or just Moskovskaya ul), although it sometimes goes by its former name, ul III Internatsionala. The train and bus stations are 500m east of the centre, at the bottom of the slope on Vokzalnaya ul.
Information
Internet@Salon (326 471; cnr ul Gagarina & Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul; per hr R60; 9am-9pm)
Post & telephone office (ul Podbelskogo; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri)
Sberbank (Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 27; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm Sat) Exchange facilities and ATM.
Vladimir Oblast Tourist Information (447 191; www.welcome33.ru, in Russian; Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 2; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat) Distributes some questionably useful tourist brochures.
Sights
ASSUMPTION CATHEDRAL
Construction on this white-stone version of Kyiv’s brick Byzantine churches, the Assumption Cathedral (325 201; Sobornaya pl; admission R100; 7am-8pm Tue-Sun) began in 1158 – its simple but majestic form adorned with fine carving, innovative for the time. The cathedral gained the four outer domes when it was extended on all sides after a fire in the 1180s.
Inside the working church, a few restored 12th-century murals of peacocks and prophets can be deciphered about halfway up the inner wall of the outer north aisle; this was originally an outside wall. The real treasures though are the Last Judgment frescoes by Andrei Rublyov and Daniil Chyorny, painted in 1408 in the central nave and inner south aisle, under the choir gallery towards the west end.
The church also contains the original coffin of Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod, the 13th-century military leader who was also Prince of Vladimir. He was buried in the former Nativity Monastery east of the cathedral, but his remains were moved to St Petersburg in 1724 when Peter the Great awarded him Russian hero status.
Adjoining the cathedral on the northern side are an 1810 bell tower and the 1862 St George’s Chapel.
CATHEDRAL OF ST DMITRY
A quick stroll to the east of the Assumption Cathedral is the smaller Cathedral of St Dmitry (Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 60), built between 1193 and 1197, where the art of Vladimir-Suzdal stone carving reached its pinnacle.
The church is permanently closed, but the attraction here is the cathedral’s exterior walls, covered in an amazing profusion of images. The top centre of the north, south and west walls all show King David bewitching the birds and beasts with music. The Kyivan prince Vsevolod III, who had this church built as part of his palace, appears at the top left of the north wall, with a baby son on his knee and other sons kneeling on each side. Above the right-hand window of the south wall, Alexander the Great ascends into heaven, a symbol of princely might; on the west wall appear the labours of Hercules.
PALATY
The grand building between the cathedrals is the Palaty (323 320; Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 58; admission R150; 10am-4pm Tue-Sun); it contains a children’s museum, art gallery and historical exhibition. The former is a welcome diversion for little ones, who may well be suffering from old-church fatigue. The art gallery features art since the 18th century, with wonderful depictions of the Golden Ring towns.
Across the small street, the History Museum (322 284; Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 64; admission R50; 10am-4pm Wed-Mon) displays many remains and reproductions of the ornamentation from the Cathedrals of the Assumption and St Dmitry.
GOLDEN GATE
Vladimir’s Golden Gate, part defensive tower, part triumphal arch, was modelled on the very similar structure in Kyiv. Originally built by Andrei Bogolyubsky to guard the western entrance to his city, it was later restored under Catherine the Great. You can climb the narrow stone staircase to check out the Military Museum ( 322 559; admission R50; 10am-4pm Fri-Wed) inside. It’s a small exhibit, the centrepiece of which is a diorama of old Vladimir being ravaged by nomadic raiders in 1238 and 1293. Across the street to the south you can see a remnant of the old city wall that protected the city.
HIDDEN TREASURES
One of the charms of the Golden Ring is the proliferation of tiny villages – each populated with a handful of simple wooden houses and dominated by a jaw-dropping, majestic church. Recent history has not been kind to many of these idyllic spots though, and the churches are in various states of disrepair. But they stand as witness to the strength of spirit, the persistence of beauty and, perhaps, the wisdom of history. If you have your own transport, it is worth making a detour to discover some of these lesser-explored gems of the Golden Ring.
Aleksandrov Александров
First documented in 1328, this village, 60km northeast of Sergiev Posad, gained prominence when Grand Prince Vasily III chose it as the site for his splendid royal palace. The palace site now houses the Assumption Monastery, but little remains from the original structure. Only the 1513 Trinity Cathedral harks back to the village’s glorious history.
Murom Муром
Locals boast that Murom, 137km southeast of Vladimir, is among the prettiest towns in Russia. Indeed, writer Maxim Gorky apparently agreed when he wrote ‘Whoever has not seen Murom from the Oka River, has not seen Russian beauty’. The town is littered with 16th- to 18th-century churches and monasteries, including the elegant 1552 Saviour-Transfiguration Cathedral.
Palekh Палех
This small village, 65km east of Ivanovo on the Nizhny Novgorod road, is famous for its artistry. Its namesake lacquer boxes are on display in the local museum. The Raising of the Cross Church also shows off the local craft with a fine display of restored icons from the 14th to 19th centuries.
Yuriev-Polsky Юрьев-Полский
Founded by Yury Dolgoruky in 1152, his namesake village sits on the Kaluksha River about halfway between Vladimir and Pereslavl-Zalessky. It is still surrounded by 12th-century ramparts, with the elaborately carved St George’s Church (1230) contained within.
The red-brick building one block west of the Golden Gate was built in 1913 to house the Old Believers’ Trinity Church. Now it is a Crystal, Lacquer Miniatures & Embroidery Exhibition ( 324 872; Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 2; admission R60; 10am-4pm Wed-Mon), which features the crafts of Gus-Khrustalny and other nearby towns. The shop in the basement has a decent selection of crystal for sale.
OLD VLADIMIR EXHIBIT
The red-brick water tower atop the old ramparts houses the Old Vladimir Exhibition ( 325 451; ul Kozlov val; admission R50; 10am-4pm Tue-Sun), a nostalgic collection of old photos, advertisements and maps, including a photo of a very distinguished couple taking a ride in Vladimir’s first automobile in 1896. The highlight is the view from the top.
The nearby St George Church (Georgievskaya ul 2a) houses the Vladimir Theatre of Choral Music, where performances are often held on summer weekends.
Sleeping
Hotel prices include breakfast.
Hotel Vladimir ( 324 447; www.vladimir-hotel.ru; Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 74; s R1700, d R1850-2050, ste R2450; ) This hotel near the train station used to be a state-run establishment, but it has successfully survived the transition to a privately owned, efficiently run hotel. All the rooms have been renovated with new bathrooms and furniture, but retaining a hint of old-fashioned Soviet charm in the choice of wallpaper and draperies. It is a big place with a slew of services.
U Zolotikh Vorot (At the Golden Gates; 420 823; www.golden-gate.ru, in Russian; Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 17; s R2000-2300, d R2800-3300) The 14 rooms at this sweet little hotel are spacious and comfortable, with large windows overlooking the activity on the main street – or a central courtyard if you prefer. The attached restaurant is popular with tour groups and hotel guests.
Monomakh Hotel ( 440 444; www.monomahhotel.ru; ul Gogolya 20; s R2100-2700, d R3200, ste R4100-5100;
) Off the main drag, this newish hotel has only 16 rooms that are simply decorated but fully equipped. If you have your own vehicle, inquire here about the out-of-town Hotel Revyaki, a rustic wooden cottage surrounded by pines on the banks of the Klyazma River on the outskirts of Vladimir.
Eating & Drinking
All of the hotels have restaurants on site.
Stary Gorod ( 325 101; Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 41; meals R300-400; 11am-2am) One of two side-by-side establishments on the main drag. Choose from the cosy bar, the elegant dining room or – if the weather is fine – the lovely terrace with views of the Cathedral of St Dmitry.
Tokyo ( 376 227; Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul 16; meals R400-600) Sushi is not only for the big cities. You can get your raw fish fix right here in Vladimir, in this cosy second-floor sushi bar. Noodles, curries and other Japanese fare are also on the menu.
Traktir ( 324 162; Letneperevozinskaya ul 1A; meals R300-500; 11am-last guest) This quaint wooden cottage, serving a simple menu of Russian food, is the liveliest place in town. In summer, the terrace opens up for cold beer and grilled shashlyk. With live music on weekends (8pm to 11.30pm, Thursday to Saturday), it’s a popular spot for people to congregate and celebrate.
Getting There & Away
The daily express train between Moscow’s Kursky vokzal (seat R340, 2½ hours) and Nizhny Novgorod (seat R400, 2½ hours) stops in Vladimir, as do many slower trains. Privately run buses (R200, 3½ hours) also leave regularly from Kursky and Kazansky vokzaly to Vladimir. They do not run on a timetable, but leave as they fill up.
There are also scheduled buses to/from Moscow’s Shchyolkovsky bus station (R190 to R225, four hours, four daily), as well as Kostroma (R300, five hours, three daily), Yaroslavl (R320, 5½ hours, twice daily), Ivanovo (R120, two hours, half-hourly) and Suzdal (R40, one hour, half-hourly). There are seven buses a day to Nizhny Novgorod (R235 to R280, 4½ hours). You can also catch a bus from Vladimir to some of the smaller destinations in the Golden Ring, such as Murom, Alexandrov, Gus-Khrustalny and Bogolyubovo.
Getting Around
Trolleybus 5 from the train and bus stations runs up and along Bolshaya Moskovskaya ul, passing the main sights and hotels.
BOGOLYUBOVO БОГОЛЮБОВО
4922 / pop 3900 / Moscow
According to legend, when Andrei Bogo-lyubsky was returning north from Kyiv in the late 1150s, his horses stopped where Bogolyubovo now stands, 11km east of Vladimir. Apparently, they wouldn’t go another step, so Andrei was forced to establish his capital in Vladimir, and not his father’s old base of Suzdal.
Whatever the reasoning, between 1158 and 1165, Andrei built a stone-fortified palace at this strategic spot near the meeting of the Nerl and Klyazma Rivers. Nearby, he built the most perfect of all old Russian buildings, the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl. Bogolyubovo is accessible most easily from Vladimir.
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Sights
PALACE & MONASTERY
Fragments from Andrei Bogolyubsky’s palace survive amid a renovated and reopened 18th-century monastery. Driving along the Vladimir-Nizhny Novgorod road, you can’t miss the monastery in the middle of Bogolyubovo.
The dominant buildings today are the monastery’s 1841 bell tower beside the road, and its 1866 Assumption Cathedral. Just east of the cath-edral there is the arch and tower, on whose stairs – according to a chronicle – Andrei was assassinated by hostile boyars (nobles). The arch abuts the 18th-century Church of the Virgin’s Nativity.
CHURCH OF THE INTERCESSION ON THE NERL ЦЕРКОВЬ ПОКРОВАНАНЕРЛИ
The church’s beauty lies in its simple but perfect proportions, a brilliantly chosen waterside site (floods aside) and the sparing use of delicate carving. Legend has it that Andrei had the church built in memory of his favourite son, Izyaslav, who was killed in battle against the Bulgars. As with the Cathedral of St Dmitry in Vladimir, King David sits at the top of three facades, the birds and beasts entranced by his music. The interior has more carving, including 20 pairs of lions. If the church is closed (from October to April the hours are more sporadic), try asking at the house behind.
To reach this famous church, walk down Vokzalnaya ul, immediately east of the monastery. At the end of the street, cross the railroad tracks and follow the cobblestone path across the field. You can catch a ride in the horse-drawn carriage for R100 per person.
Getting There & Away
To get to Bogolyubovo, take trolleybus 1 east from Vladimir and get off at Khimzavod. Walk along the main road for 100m to the bus stop, where you can catch a marshrutka (fixed-route minibus) to Bogolyubovo (second stop).
Drivers heading from central Vladimir should head straight out east along the main road to Nizhny Novgorod. Coming from Suzdal, turn left when you hit Vladimir’s northern bypass and go 5km.
SUZDAL СУЗДАЛЬ
49231 / pop 12,000 / Moscow
The gently winding waterways, flower-drenched meadows and dome-spotted skyline make this medieval capital the perfect fairy-tale setting. Suzdal, 35km north of Vladimir, was bypassed by the railroad and later protected by the Soviet government, all of which limited development in the area. As a result, its main features are its abundance of ancient architectural gems and its decidedly rural atmosphere.
Under Muscovite rule, Suzdal was a wealthy monastic centre, with incredible development projects funded by Vasily III and Ivan the Terrible. In the late 17th and 18th centuries, wealthy merchants paid for 30 charming churches, which still adorn the town. Judging by the spires and cupolas, Suzdal may have as many churches as it does people.
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Orientation
The main street, ul Lenina, runs from north to south through Suzdal. The bus station is 2km east along Vasilievskaya ul.
Information
There is an ATM on international networks located at the Pushkarskaya Sloboda hotel (Click here).
Labyrinth computer club ( 23 333; ul Lenina 63; per MB R4, per hr R20; 24hr) Enter from the courtyard inside the trading arcades.
Post & telephone office (Krasnaya pl; 8am-8pm) Open 24 hours for phone calls.
Sberbank (ul Lenina; 8am-4.30pm Mon-Fri) Exchange office.
Sights
KREMLIN
The 1.4km-long earth rampart of Suzdal’s kremlin, founded in the 11th century, encloses a few streets of houses and a handful of churches, as well as the main cathedral group on Kremlyovskaya ul.
The Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral, its blue domes spangled with gold, was founded in the 1220s. Only its richly carved lower section is original white stone though, the rest being 16th-century brick. The inside is sumptuous, with 13th- and 17th-century frescoes and 13th-century damascene (gold on copper) west and south doors.
The Archbishop’s Chambers houses the Suzdal History Exhibition ( 21 624; admission R60; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon). The exhibition includes the original 13th-century door from the cathedral, photos of its interior, and a visit to the 18th-century Cross Hall (Krestovaya palata), which was used for receptions. The tent-roofed 1635 kremlin bell tower on the east side of the yard contains additional exhibits.
Just west of this group stands the 1766 wooden St Nicholas Church, brought from Glatovo village near Yuriev-Polsky. There’s another St Nicholas (ul Lebedeva), just east of the cathedral group – it’s one of Suzdal’s own fine small 18th-century churches.
DETOUR: KIDEKSHA
In the quiet village of Kideksha, 4km east of Suzdal, the Church of SS Boris & Gleb (Borisoglebskaya tserkov) is the oldest in the district, dating to 1152. It was built for Yury Dolgoruky, who had a small wooden palace here. The palace has disappeared and the church has been rebuilt many times, but a few fragments of 12th-century frescoes remain. The two figures on horseback probably represent Vladimir’s sons, Boris and Gleb, who were the first Russian saints.
TORGOVAYA PLOSHCHAD
Suzdal’s Torgovaya pl (Trade Sq) is dom-inated by the pillared Trading Arcades (1806–11) along its western side. The arcades now house a variety of shops and cafés, as well as the excellent Yarmarka Remesyol ( 20 314; ul Lenina 63A; 8am-5pm), a shop specialising in arts and crafts made in Suzdal.
There are four churches in the immediate vicinity, including the Resurrection Church (admission R50). Make the precarious climb to the top of the bell tower and be rewarded with wonderful views of Suzdal’s gold-domed skyline. The five-domed 1707 Emperor Constantine Church in the square’s northeastern corner is a working church with an ornate interior. Next to it is the smaller 1787 Virgin of All Sorrows Church.
SAVIOUR MONASTERY OF ST EUTHYMIUS
Founded in the 14th century to protect the town’s northern entrance, Suzdal’s biggest monastery ( 20 746; exhibits R60-100 each, all-inclusive R400; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) grew mighty in the 16th and 17th centuries after Vasily III, Ivan the Terrible and the noble Pozharsky family funded impressive new stone buildings, and big land and property acquisitions. It was girded with its great brick walls and towers in the 17th century.
Inside, the Annunciation Gate-Church houses an interesting exhibit on Dmitry Pozharsky (1578–1642), leader of the Russian army that drove the Polish invaders from Moscow in 1612.
A tall 16th- to 17th-century cathedral bell tower stands before the seven-domed Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour. Every hour on the hour from 11am to 5pm, a short concert of chimes is given on the bell tower’s bells. The cathedral was built in the 1590s in 12th- to 13th-century Vladimir-Suzdal style. Inside, restoration has uncovered some bright 1689 frescoes by the school of Gury Nikitin from Kostroma. The tomb of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky is by the cathedral’s east wall.
The 1525 Assumption Church, facing the bell tower, adjoins the old Father Superior’s chambers, which houses a display of Russian icons. The monks’ quarters across the compound contain a museum of artistic history.
The old monastery prison, set up in 1764 for religious dissidents, is at the north end of the complex. It now houses a fascinating exhibit on the monastery’s military history and prison life, including displays of some of the better-known prisoners who stayed here. The combined hospital and St Nicholas Church (1669) features a rich museum of 12th- to 20th-century Russian applied art, much of it from Suzdal itself.
Across ul Lenina from the southeastern corner of the monastery is Our Lady of Smolensk Church (Smolenskaya tserkov; 1696–1707), along with Suzdal’s only surviving early-18th-century town house ( 10am-6pm Tue-Thu, Sat & Sun).
INTERCESSION CONVENT
This convent ( 20 889; Pokrovskaya ul; admission free; 9.30am-4.30pm Thu-Mon) was founded in 1364, originally as a place of exile for the unwanted wives of tsars. Among them was Solomonia Saburova, the first wife of Vasily III, who was sent here in the 1520s because of her supposed infertility. The story goes that she finally became pregnant, but she was too late to avoid being divorced. A baby boy was born in Suzdal. Fearing he would be seen as a dangerous rival to any sons produced by Vasily’s new wife, Solomonia secretly had him adopted, pretended he had died and staged a mock burial. This was probably just as well for the boy since Vasily’s second wife did indeed produce a son – Ivan the Terrible.
The legend received dramatic corroboration in 1934 when researchers opened a small 16th-century tomb beside Solomonia’s in the crypt underneath the Intercession Cathedral. They found a silk-and-pearl shirt stuffed with rags, but no bones. The crypt is closed to visitors.
MUSEUM OF WOODEN ARCHITECTURE & PEASANT LIFE
This open-air museum ( 23 567; Pushkarskaya ul; grounds R60, exhibits R60 each, all-inclusive R160; 9.30am-7pm Wed-Mon May-Oct), illustrating old peasant life in this region of Russia, is a short walk across the river, south of the Kremlin. Besides log houses, windmills, a barn and lots of tools and handicrafts, its highlights are the 1756 Transfiguration Church (Preobrazhenskaya tserkov) and the simpler 1776 Resurrection Church (Voskresenskaya tserkov).
OTHER SUZDAL BUILDINGS
The dilapidated Monastery of the Deposition of the Holy Robe, with the landmark monastery bell tower and exquisite entrance turrets, was founded in 1207 but the existing buildings date from the 16th to 19th centuries. The central 16th-century Deposition Cathedral (Rizopolozhensky sobor), with its three helmet domes, is reminiscent of the Moscow Kremlin’s Archangel Cathedral (Click here).
Almost every corner in Suzdal has its own little church with its own charm. The little white Alexandrovsky Convent at the top of the river embankment stands out for its simple beauty. Some other gems include the shabby but graceful Predtechenskaya Church (ul Lenina), built in 1720, and the slender, multicoloured tower of St Lazarus Church (Staraya ul), from 1667. The SS Kosma & Damian Church (1725) is picturesquely placed on a bend in the river, east of ul Lenina. St Basil’s Monastery (Vasilevsky monastyr) is Suzdal’s fifth monastery – from the 17th century, it’s on the Kideksha road. No doubt you’ll find your own favourite.
Activities
The rolling hills and attractive countryside around Suzdal are ideal for outdoor adventures, including horse riding and mountain biking. The Hotel Tourist Complex (GTK; 23 380; ul Korovniki 45; 10am-6pm) rents bicycles, snowmobiles and skis, as well as offering horse-riding tours.
Rural Suzdal is a great place to cleanse body and soul in Russian banya (bathhouse). Beautiful, lakeside bani are available for rental at Goryachie Klyuchi ( 24 000; www.parilka.com, in Russian; 11am-1am) starting at R880 for up to four people.
Sleeping
Suzdal is experiencing a tourist boom, which means many more options for top-end travellers. All prices include breakfast unless otherwise noted.
BUDGET
Gostevoy Dom ( 23 264; Pokrovskaya ul 29; per person R500) If you wander around town, you’re likely to see signs in private homes advertising Gostevoy Dom (or ‘guest house’) such as this one near the Intercession Convent. This is usually an excellent option for budget travellers, who will enjoy simple, homey accommodation with shared bathrooms. Breakfast is not included, but there is a fridge and microwave at your disposal.
Godzillas Suzdal ( in Moscow 495-699 4223; www.suzdalhostel.com; Naberezhnaya ul 12; per person R600; ) The popular Moscow-based Godzillas Hostel has expanded into the countryside, opening a big beautiful log cabin facility overlooking the river. Each dorm room has its own bathroom and balcony. Guests can also enjoy the blooming garden and Russian banya (bathhouse), as well as the chill-out lounge and the bar in the basement.
Rizopolozhenskaya Hotel ( 24 314; ul Lenina; s/d R1100/1700) Housed in the decrepit Monastery of the Deposition, this hotel is overdue for some repairs (as is the rest of the monastery). Rooms are poorly lit, brightened only by the multicoloured toilet fixtures in the bathroom. Considering the peeling wallpaper and shoddy furnishings, it’s arguably overpriced, although it is one of the cheapest places in town.
MIDRANGE
Likhoninsky Dom( 21 901; ul Slobodskaya 34) Suzdal’s most appealing place to stay is on a quiet street near the town centre. This 17th-century merchant’s house has five charming rooms and a pretty garden. Closed for renovation at the time of research, it is expected to re-open in early 2009.
Motel Suzdal ( 21 530; www.suzdaltour.ru, in Russian; economy s/d/tr R1670/1960/2250, ‘modern’ s/d/tr R2960/3250/3540;
) One of three hotels within the GTK, this place is low on charm but high on facilities. The complex includes a fitness centre, a bowling alley, several restaurants, and a slightly more expensive hotel with upgraded rooms.
Hotel Sokol ( 20 088; www.hotel-sokol.ru; Torgovaya pl 2a; s R1900-2260, d R2480-2620, ste R3020-3940; ) Ideally located opposite the trading arcades, this is a traditional hotel in a classical 19th-century building. Its 40 rooms are all simply decorated and fully equipped, with new wooden furniture and modern bathrooms. The pricier ones are slightly bigger but not really worth the price of the upgrade.
Goryachie Klyuchi ( 24 000; www.parilka.com, in Russian; ul Korovniki 14; d R2600, ste R3350;
) On the outskirts of Suzdal, surrounded by farmland, the tall towers and waving flags of this new complex are unmistakeable. This is the latest in a series of high-end resorts that are popping up around Suzdal, catering to travellers who like a few frills with their rural charm. Accommodation is in the modern main building or the wood towers of the bashenki (towers). Other facilities include restaurant, spa, banya, well-stocked fishing pond and more.
Pushkarskaya Sloboda ( 23 303; www.sloboda-gk.ru, in Russian; ul Lenina 45; s/d in inn R2400/2700, s/d in village R3300/3600;
) This holiday village has everything you might want from your Disney vacation – accommodation in the log-cabin ‘Russian inn’ or the reproduction 19th-century ‘Gunner’s Village’; three restaurants, ranging from the rustic country tavern to a formal dining room; and every service you might dream up. It’s an attractive, family-friendly, good-value option, though it might be too well-manicured for some tastes.
Traktir Kuchkova ( 20 252; Pokrovskaya ul 35; s/d R2800/3000; ) On a quiet street opposite the Intercession Convent, this guest house has a ‘New Russian’ ambience that doesn’t fit in old-fashioned Suzdal, but it is not a bad option. Its 17 rooms are comfortable but overdecorated. It also has a nice banya and an excellent restaurant.
Kremlyovsky Hotel ( 23 480; www.kremlinhotel.ru, in Russian; ul Tolstogo 5; s/d from R3950/4400;
) This white stone hotel mirrors the tall towers of the kremlin on the opposite bank of the river. The rooms are contemporary and comfortable, without a lot of fancy stuff, but they offer lovely views of the winding waterway and the rustic wooden architecture in the vicinity.
Eating & Drinking
In addition to the places listed below, all of the hotels have restaurants.
Mead-Tasting Hall ( 20 803; tasting menu R120-150; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-8pm Sat & Sun) Hidden away at the rear of the trading arcades, this hall is done up like a church interior – floor-to-ceiling frescoes, arched ceilings and stained-glass windows. The menu features different varieties of medovukha, a mildly alcoholic honey ale that was drunk by the princes of old.
Kremlin Trapeznaya ( 21 763; meals R300-500; 11am-11pm) The attraction here is the choice location inside the Archbishop’s Chambers. This place has been serving tasty, filling Russian favourites for 300 years.
Pokrovskaya Trapeznaya ( 20 199; Intercession Convent; meals R400-600; 10am-10pm) On the grounds of the Intercession Convent, the old refectory is now a rustic restaurant, serving hearty Russian fare in an atmospheric old wooden building.
Other recommendations in the trading arcades:
Gostiny Dvor ( 21 778; meals R600-800; 11am-midnight) Enjoy the lovely vista from the outside tables, especially at sunset.
Traktir Zaryadie ( 24 319; meals R400-600) Enter from the backside of the trading arcades.
Getting There & Away
The bus station is 2km east of the centre on Vasilievskaya ul. Some long-distance buses continue on past the bus station into the centre; otherwise, a marshrutka will take you there.
Buses run every half-hour to/from Vladimir (R40, one hour). Otherwise, most of the buses originate elsewhere. Buses from Vladimir go to Yaroslavl (R280, five hours, twice daily) and Kostroma (R300, 4½ hours, daily), but it’s often easier to go to Ivanovo (R120, two hours, four daily) and change there. A daily bus goes directly to/from Moscow’s Shchyolkovsky bus station (R250, 4½ hours).
IVANOVO Иваново
4932 / pop 413,000 / Moscow
Ivanovo, 78km north of Suzdal on the road to Kostroma, has long been a centre of the cotton textile industry. Ivanovo is a relatively dreary mill town, but it’s a useful transportation hub. If you have to change buses here and have some time to spare, you can entertain yourself at the Ivanovo Textile Museum ( 416 426; ul Baturna 11/42; admission R45; 11am-5pm Tue-Sun), which illustrates the development of the town’s main industry, with a special exhibit on fashion designer Slava Zaitsev, who hails from Ivanovo.
From the train station, at the northern end of ul Engelsa, trains run to Yaroslavsky vokzal in Moscow (R420, seven hours, four daily). The bus station, south of town, is more useful. Hourly buses go north to Plyos (R100, 2½ hours) and Kostroma (R173, three hours) and south to Vladimir (R120, two hours) via Suzdal.
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PLYOS ПЛЁС
49339 / pop 3000 / Moscow
Plyos, a tranquil town of wooden houses and hilly streets winding down to the Volga waterfront, is halfway between Ivanovo and Kostroma. Though fortified from the 15th century, Plyos’ renown stems from its role as a late-19th-century artists’ retreat. Isaak Levitan, Russia’s most celebrated landscape artist, found inspiration here in the summers of 1888 to 1890. The playwright Anton Chekhov commented that Plyos ‘put a smile in Levitan’s paintings’.
The oldest part of town is along the river, as evidenced by the ramparts of the old fort, which date from 1410. The hill is topped by the simple 1699 Assumption Cathedral (Uspensky sobor), one of Levitan’s favourite painting subjects.
The Levitan House-Museum (Dom-Muzey Levitana; 43 782; ul Lunacharskogo 4; admission R60; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun) displays works by Levitan and other artists against the background of the Volga. To see how this setting inspires contemporary artists, visit the Landscape Museum (Muzey Peyzazha; admission R40; 10am-2pm, 3-5.30pm Tue-Sun) at the far end of the embankment.
If you wish to spend the night, Fortetsia Rus ( 43 781; www.fortecia.ru, in Russian; ul Lenina 90; r from R2800) is a sweet riverside resort. Full family-sized dachas are available, or you can rent a contemporary room with a balcony overlooking the Volga.
Plyos is not so easy to reach unless you have your own vehicle. Buses run regularly from Ivanovo (R100, 2½ hours, hourly), but only occasionally from Kostroma (R113, Friday and Saturday only).
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KOSTROMA КОСТРОМА
4942 / pop 274,500 / Moscow
This historic town sits 300km northeast of Moscow (95km north of Ivanovo), where its namesake river – the Kostroma – converges with the Volga. Kostroma was founded by Yury Dolgoruky in 1152, but the delightful historic centre dates back to the 18th century, when the old wooden structures were demolished by fire. The pride of Kostroma is the 14th-century Monastery of St Ipaty, which poses majestically on the right bank of the Kostroma River. Young boyar Mikhail Romanov was in exile here when he was elected tsar.
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Orientation
The town centre lies along the northern bank of the Volga, with the bus and train stations some 4km east. The Monastery of St Ipaty is west of the centre across the Kostroma River, a Volga tributary. The central square is Susaninskaya pl.
Information
Post & telephone office (cnr uls Sovetskaya & Podlipaeva; 9am-9pm)
Sberbank (ul Sovetskaya 9; 9am-4pm Mon-Fri) Conveniently located bank with ATM.
Telecom Centre ( 621 162; cnr uls Sovetskaya & Podlipaeva; per hr R60; 8am-8pm) To access the internet, buy a card at window No 5 and stick it in the slot at the computer of your choice.
Sights
MONASTERY OF ST IPATY
Legend has it that a Tatar prince named Chet (who later founded the house of Godunovs) fell ill as he was returning to Moscow in 1330. At this time, he had a vision of the Virgin Mary and the martyr Ipaty of the Ganges that aided his recovery. When he returned to Moscow, he was baptised and he founded the Monastery of St Ipaty ( 312 589; admission R85; 9am-5pm) to mark the occasion.
In 1590, the Godunovs built the monastery’s Trinity Cathedral (Troitsky sobor), which contains over 80 old frescoes by a school of 17th-century Kostroma painters, headed by Gury Nikitin, as well as some 20th-century additions. The fresco in the southern part of the sanctuary depicts Chet Godunov’s baptism by St Ipaty. The bell tower, modelled after the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in Moscow, chimes concerts every hour. In summer, a choir performs for groups in the building east of the cathedral.
The monastery’s more recent history is closely tied to the Godunov and Romanov families, fierce rivals in high-level power games before the Romanovs established their dynasty. In 1600, Boris Godunov exiled the head of the Romanov family, Fyodor, and his son Mikhail to this monastery. Mikhail Romanov was here in 1613 when the all-Russia Council came to insist that he accept his position as tsar, thus ending the Time of Troubles. In honour of the event, all successive Romanov rulers came here to visit the monastery’s red Romanov Chambers (Palaty Romanova), opposite the cathedral.
The monastery is 2.5km west of the town centre. Take bus 14 from the central Susanin-skaya pl and get off once you cross the river.
MUSEUM OF WOODEN ARCHITECTURE
Behind the monastery is an attractive outdoor museum ( 373 872; admission R70; dawn to dusk May-Oct) of northern-style wooden buildings, including peasant houses, windmills and churches (one built without nails). Some of the buildings house small exhibits, and the grounds are pleasant for strolling, listening to the chirping of resident frogs and admiring the handiwork of the artists.
The museum is nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding neighbourhood, which consists of storybook houses, blossoming gardens and pretty churches, including a domed wooden church directly north of the monastery.
TOWN CENTRE
Picturesque Susaninskaya pl was built as an ensemble under Catherine the Great’s patronage after a fire in 1773. Clockwise around the northern side are: a 19th-century fire tower (still in use and under Unesco protection); a former military guardhouse, housing the new, revamped Kostroma
Museum of History, Art & Architecture ( 316 837; ul Lenina 1; per exhibit R25-50; 9.30am-5pm); an 18th-century hotel for members of the royal family; the palace of an 1812 war hero, now a courthouse; and the town hall.
In the streets between there are many merchants’ town houses. The Art Museum ( 513 829; pr Mira 5 & 7; admission to each bldg R50; 10am-6pm) comprises two elaborate neo-Russian buildings. No 5 contains 16th- to 19th-century portraits and landscapes, as well as appropriately decorated 19th-century rooms such as the White Hall (Bely Zal). No 7, built in 1913 to celebrate 300 years of Romanov rule, houses a collection of ancient artwork.
The Susanin monument in the park between the arcades is to local hero Ivan Susanin, who guided a Polish detachment hunting for Mikhail Romanov into a swamp, and to their deaths. In 1967, the Soviet regime tore down the original Susanin monument and replaced it with this revolutionary figure.
CHURCHES
The Monastery of the Epiphany (ul Simanovskogo 26) is now the Archbishop of Kostroma’s residence. The large cathedral in this 14th- to 19th-century complex is the city’s main working church. The 13th-century icon of Our Lady of St Theodore, on the right-hand side of the iconostasis, is supposedly the source of many miracles.
The 17th-century Church of the Resurrection (ul Nizhnyaya Debrya 37), near Hotel Volga, has a bright, patterned exterior and was partly financed with a load of gold coins mistakenly shipped from London.
Sleeping
Ipatyevskaya Sloboda ( 371 224; www.i-sloboda.narod.ru, in Russian; ul Beregovaya 3a; d R1700-2600, ste R3000-4200;
) Kostroma’s most atmospheric lodging choice is this old-fashioned wooden house, opposite the monastery entrance. Wood-panelled walls and brick fireplaces lend a rustic atmosphere, which is softened by stencilled designs and floral tapestries. While some of the pricier rooms feature perks like a Jacuzzi or private banya, all guests can enjoy the small beach fronting the Kostroma River.
Hotel Volga ( 394 242; www.gkvolga.ru; ul Yunosheskaya 1; standard s/d/tr R1700/2100/2250, comfort s/d R2300/2800;
) Kostroma’s former Intourist hotel overlooks the Volga about 2km southeast of the centre, near the bridge. The standard rooms are the same old Soviet fare (old furniture, skinny beds), but the two floors of ‘comfort’ rooms feature dark wood furniture, rich fabrics and flat-screen TVs. The highlight of this place is the vista: the Volga is exquisite in the morning light with the Church of the Resurrection in the foreground. The buses that approach Kostroma from Yaroslavl or Ivanovo pass the Volga Hotel; ask your driver to drop you off to save yourself the trek back into town from the bus station.
Hotel Mush ( 312 400; ul Sovetskaya 29; r incl breakfast R1800-2800) This tiny guest house has a central location and hospitable atmosphere, which explains why it is so often booked out. Its four rooms (two small and two big) are furnished in an old-fashioned Soviet style. Enter through the courtyard.
Eating & Drinking
There is a row of inexpensive cafés and fast- food restaurants inside the trading arcades south of Susaninskaya pl.
Roga & Kopyta ( 315 240; ul Sovetskaya 2; meals R200-300; 9am-midnight) Step off the 18th-century streets into the ‘Horn & Hoof’ coffee shop – it also harks back to eras past. Wrought-iron furniture and B&W photos set the atmosphere. The menu has a good selection of soups, salads and main dishes, as well as pastries and coffee drinks.
Beloe Solntse ( 373 137; Lesnaya ul 2; meals R400-600) The decor evokes the name of this spicy, Central Asian restaurant – the ‘White Sun’. When the season is right, the prime location next to the river station offers outdoor seating with views of the river. Live music nightly.
Karetny Dvor ( 313 798; pr Mira 4; meals R400-600; 11am-midnight) There is a slightly stuffy atmosphere in this dark, formal restaurant (sit outside for fresh air). But, the menu features a nice selection of river fish, and live folk music perks things up on weekends.
Getting There & Away
The bus station is 4.5km east of Susaninskaya pl on Kineshemskoe sh, the continuation of ul Sovetskaya. There are buses to/from Moscow (R580, eight hours, six daily), Yaroslavl (R141, two hours, 14 daily), and Ivanovo (R173, three hours, 16 daily). There are also two or three buses a day to Nizhny Novgorod (R560, 9½ hours) and Vladimir (R340, five hours) via Suzdal (R300, four hours).
There are three or four daily suburban trains to/from Yaroslavl (R420, three hours) and two long-distance trains to/from Yaro-slavsky vokzal in Moscow (R1200 to R1700, 6½ hours).
Getting Around
Buses 1, 2, 9, 9 Expres, 14K, 19 and others run between the bus station and Susaninskaya pl, along the full length of ul Sovetskaya. Trolleybus 2 runs between the train station and Susaninskaya pl.
YAROSLAVL ЯРОСЛАВЛЬ
4852 / pop 604,000 / Moscow
Yaroslavl, 250km northeast of Moscow, is the urban counterpart to Suzdal. This is the biggest place between Moscow and Arkhangelsk, and it has a more urban feel than anywhere else in the Golden Ring. Its big-city skyline, however, is dotted with onion domes and towering spires, not smoke stacks and skyscrapers.
In 1010, the Kyivan prince Yaroslav the Wise took an interest in a trading post called Medvezhy Ugol (Bear Corner). According to legend, Yaroslav subjugated and converted the locals by killing their sacred bear with his axe. The town was founded, and its coat of arms bears both the beast and the weapon (no pun intended).
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Yaroslavl developed as the first port on the Volga, growing fat on trade with the Middle East and Europe. Rich merchants competed to build churches with elaborate decoration and bright frescoes on contemporary themes. To this day, churches are hidden around every corner. The poet Apollon Grigoryev wrote: ‘Yaroslavl is a town of unsurpassed beauty; everywhere is the Volga and everywhere is history’. And everywhere, everywhere, are churches.
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Orientation
The city centre lies at the crux of the Volga and Kotorosl Rivers, inside the ring road, Pervomayskaya ul. The centre is Sovetskaya pl, from which streets radiate out to three squares: Bogoyavlenskaya pl with the landmark Transfiguration monastery; pl Volkova with the classical facade of the Volkov Theatre; and Krasnaya pl near the river station.
Information
Alfa-Bank ( 739 177; ul Svobody 3; 9am-6pm Mon-Thu, 9am-4.30pm Fri) Exchange office and ATM.
Dom Knigi ( 304 751; ul Kirova 18; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat) Has a good selection of maps and books.
Post & telephone office (Komsomolskaya ul 22; 8am-8pm Mon-Sat, 8am-6pm Sun)
Sights & Activities
MONASTERY & AROUND
Founded in the 12th century, the Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Saviour ( 303 869; www.yarmp.yar.ru, in Russian; Bogoyavlenskaya pl 25; grounds R20, exhibits R40-50 each; exhibits 10am-5pm Tue-Sun year-round, grounds 8am-8pm daily Oct-May) was one of Russia’s richest and best-fortified monasteries by the 16th century. The oldest surviving structures, dating from 1516, are the Holy Gate near the main entrance by the river, and the Cathedral of the Transfiguration (admission R60; Thu-Mon).
Although closed at the time of research, you can normally climb the bell tower for a panorama of the city and a close-up view of the spiky gold bulbs that top the monastery buildings. Other buildings house exhibitions on history, ethnography, icons and the newest, ‘Treasures of Yaroslavl’ (admission R100), featuring works of gold, silver and precious gems.
Opposite the kremlin, the vaulted, red-brick Church of the Epiphany (Bogoyavlenskaya pl) was built by a wealthy 17th-century merchant. Its rich decoration includes bright exterior ceramic tiles (a Yaroslavl speciality), vibrant frescoes and a carved iconostasis. The Yaroslav the Wise statue stands in the centre of the square.
CHURCH OF ELIJAH THE PROPHET
The exquisite church (Sovetskaya pl; admission R70; 10am-1pm & 2-6pm Thu-Tue May-Sep) that dom-inates Sovetskaya pl was built by prominent 17th-century fur dealers. It has some of the Golden Ring’s brightest frescoes by the ubi-quitous Yury Nikitin of Kostroma and his school, and detailed exterior tiles. The church is closed during wet spells.
RIVER EMBANKMENTS
The Volga and Kotorosl embankments make for an enjoyable 1.5km walk. A pedestrian promenade, Volzhskaya nab, runs along the bank of the Volga below the level of the street.
From the Church of Elijah the Prophet, head towards the river on Narodny per. Here, the Church of St Nicholas the Miracle-Worker (Narodny per; 10am-5pm) was the first of Yaroslavl’s stone merchant churches, built in 1622. It has a sparkling baroque iconostasis and frescoes showing the life and works of the popular St Nicholas.
The unique and private collection Music & Time ( 328 637; Volzhskaya nab 33a; adult/child R100/60; 10am-7pm) is a complex of three private museums located within the little house north of the church. Here, John Mostoslavsky enthusiastically guides visitors through his original collection of clocks and musical instruments. There are two additional exhibits on the grounds – one featuring ceramic figures (adult/child R60/50) and another showcasing antiques and icons (adult/child R60/50). Joint tickets are available.
South along the embankment is the old Governor’s Mansion, which now houses the Yaroslavl Art Museum ( 303 504; http://artmuseum.yar.ru; Volzhskaya nab 23; admission R60; 10am-5pm), with 18th- to 20th-century Russian art. On the next block, the History of Yaroslavl Museum ( 304 175; Volzhskaya nab 17; admission R35; 10am-6pm Wed-Mon) is in a lovely 19th-century merchant’s house. A monument to victims of war and repression in the 20th century is in the peaceful garden.
A little further along the embankment are the Volga Bastion, built as a watchtower in the 1660s, and a fine early-19th-century church. Continuing along the river, the 17th-century former metropolitan’s chambers houses the old Yaroslavl art collection of the Art Museum ( 729 287; Volzhskaya nab 1; admission R40; 10am-5pm Sat-Thu), with icons and other work from the 13th to 19th centuries.
In the leafy park behind the museum, a stone-slab monument marks the spot where Yaroslav founded the city in 1010. The park stretches right onto the tip of land between the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. Above the Kotorosl, the raised embankments indicate the site of Yaroslavl’s old kremlin.
The more time you spend in Yaroslavl, the more churches you will discover, most dating from the 17th century. There are three clustered around the sports stadium, three more along the embankment, and several south of the Kotorosl River in the settlements of Korovniki and Tolchkovo. For more information about the town and its churches, pick up the brochure Yaroslavl (available in several languages) at one of the museum gift shops.
RIVER TRIPS
There are summer services from the river station on the Volga at the northern end of Pervomayskaya ul, including a range of slow prigorodny (suburban) boats to local destinations. The best trip is to Tolga, one hour from Yaroslavl on the Konstantinovo route. Here, near the river, you’ll find a convent with lovely buildings from the 17th century.
Sleeping
Yaroslavl suffers from a shortage of accommodation options, so you might want to make a hotel reservation beforehand, especially if you are arriving in the evening.
Volzhskaya Zhemchuzhina ( 727 717; www.riverhotel-vp.ru, in Russian; Volzhskaya nab; s R2400-3000, d R4000-4800;
) The ‘Volga Pearl’ is an atmospheric ship that is docked at the river bank – pricier rooms have water views. Polished maple furniture and plenty of natural light ensure that the place doesn’t feel too cramped. Double rooms have access to a shared balcony (which is actually the ship’s dock). Also on site is the lovely open-air Café Dacha.
Hotel Yubileynaya ( 309 259; www.yubil.yar.ru; Kotoroslnaya nab 26; s/d incl breakfast from R2500/3500;
) Overlooking the Kotorosl River, this is the city’s largest centrally-located hotel, a leftover from Soviet times. It’s the usual concrete slab building, but rooms are completely renovated, simply decorated and comfortably furnished. The only drawback is the fluorescent blue light that illuminates the facade (and the rooms) facing the river.
Ring Premier Hotel ( 581 158; www.ringhotel.ru; ul Svobody 55; r/ste incl breakfast R4200/7000;
) This modern, six-storey building offers predictable but plush rooms with heated bathroom floors and king-size beds. The slick business hotel also contains a well-equipped fitness centre and an Irish pub (a must for any four-star hotel).
Other recommendations:
Hotel Kotorosl ( 212 415; fax 216 468; www.kotorosl.yaroslavl.ru; Bolshaya Oktyabrskaya ul 87; s/d without bathroom R1500/1800, r with bathroom R2400/2600, s/d ste R4000/4200;
) A mammoth hotel that is within walking distance of the train station.
Hotel Yuta ( 218 793; www.utah.yaroslavl.ru, in Russian; Respublikanskaya ul 79; s/d incl breakfast R2500/3000) It looks sketchy from the outside, but the service is friendly and the recently-renovated rooms are up-to-snuff.
Eating & Driking
The pedestrian street, ul Kirova, is lined with cafés and restaurants, most of which have outdoor seating in summer months.
Mario ( 732 232; ul Kirova 8/10; meals R200-300; 10am-11pm Mon-Fri, noon-11pm Sat & Sun) Evoking an Italian café, this pizzeria has tile tables and Tiffany lamps. In summer, you can enjoy the sidewalk seating.
Actor ( 727 543; ul Kirova 5; meals R200-400; 10am-2am) Garden furniture and imitation gas lamps create a trattoria ambience – without the fresh air. The place attracts an artsy clientele who like to smoke. The walls are covered with whimsical frescoes and theatre posters, and the air is filled with sounds of live rock, jazz and blues.
Van Gogh ( 729 438; ul Kirova 10/25; meals R400-600; noon-midnight) The menu requires some deciphering, as all the choices are named after technical terms and geographic landmarks from the life of the artist. Once you figure it out though, the soups, salads and pastas are excellent and innovative. This funky café livens up on Friday and Saturday nights, with local bands and free-flowing drinks.
Sobranie ( 303 132; Volzhskaya nab 33; meals R600-800; 10am-11pm) On the grounds of the museum complex Music & Time, this traditional Russian restaurant is decorated with stained glass, artwork and antiques that look like they might be part of the collection. This quaint place caters to hungry tourists in search of trad-itional Russian cuisine. Much of the cooking is done in the old-fashioned stone oven.
Poplavok ( 314 343; meals R800-1000; noon-1am) Housed on a boat on the Kotorosl River, Poplavok is Yaroslavl’s only truly waterside dining and drinking establishment. Seafood specials are skilfully prepared and artfully presented. Additional perks include live music and alfresco dining when the weather is fine.
Getting There & Away
BUS
The bus station is on Moskovsky pr, 2km south of the Kotorosl River and near Yaroslavl’s Moskovsky vokzal. One or two buses go daily to/from Moscow’s Shchyolkovsky station (R350, six hours), plus about five buses stopping in transit. Most of these stop at Pereslavl-Zalessky, Rostov-Veliky and Sergiev Posad. Other departures include: Ivanovo (R210 to R260, three hours, three daily); Kostroma (R125, two hours, 10 daily); Uglich (R150, three hours, 12 daily); Pereslavl-Zalessky (R212, three hours, four daily); and Vladimir (R420, six hours, three daily) via Suzdal (R250, five hours). You can also go north to St Petersburg (R1000, one daily) or Vologda (R264, five hours, four daily).
TRAIN
The main station is Yaroslavl Glavny, on ul Svobody 3km west of the centre. The lesser Yaroslavl Moskovsky vokzal is near the bus station, 2km south of town. Trains run frequently to/from Yaroslavsky vokzal in Moscow (R500, four hours) – many en route to/from other destinations further north. There’s also a service twice-daily to/from St Petersburg (R1600 to R2000, 12 hours), as well as Nizhny Novgorod (R1120, nine to 10 hours) en route to Ufa. For closer destinations such as Rostov-Veliky or Kostroma, it’s easiest to take suburban trains.
Getting Around
From Yaroslavl Glavny vokzal, head 200m to the right for the tram stop on ul Ukhtomskogo. Tram 3 goes along Bolshaya Oktyabrskaya ul to the tram terminal west of Bogoyavlenskaya pl; trolleybus 1 runs along ul Svobody to pl Volkova and on to Krasnaya pl. From the bus station and Yaroslavl Moskovsky train station, trolleybus 5 or 9 goes to Bogoyavlenskaya pl.
UGLICH УГЛИЧ
48532 / pop 36,500 / Moscow
Uglich is a quaint but shabby town on the Volga, 90km northwest of Rostov-Veliky. It was here, in 1591, that the son of Ivan the Terrible, Dmitry (later to be impersonated by the string of False Dmitrys in the Time of Troubles), was murdered, probably on the orders of Boris Godunov.
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Sights & Activities
Within the waterside kremlin ( 53 678; each site R50; 9am-5pm), the 15th-century Prince’s Chambers (Knyazhyi palaty) house a historical exhibit that tells the sordid tale of Dmitry. The star-spangled Church of St Dmitry on the Blood (Tserkov Dmitria-na-krovi) was built in the 1690s on the spot where the body was found. The church now displays the bell that was used to call an insurrection on the murder of the tsarevitch in 1591. The 300kg bell was banished for many years to the Siberian town of Tobolsk (this, after Godunov ordered it to be publicly flogged and have its tongue ripped out); but the bell has since returned to its rightful location in Uglich. The impressive five-domed Transfiguration Cathedral (Preobrazhensky sobor) and an Art Museum are also in the kremlin.
A few blocks over from the kremlin, you can learn about the history of Russia’s favourite drink at the Vodka Museum ( 23 558; ul Berggolts 9; admission R100; 9pm-8pm). Price of admission includes samples!
Recommended for children:
Museum of City Life (Muzey gorogskogo byta; 24 414; Uspenskaya pl 5; www.uglich.ru, in Russian; admission R40, concert R250; 9am-5pm) This interactive museum has costumes and musical instruments that are often put to use in concerts and other special programs for children.
Gallery of Dolls (Galereya Kukol; 23 075; ul Berggolts 1/2; admission R50; 9am-5pm) Featuring more than 100 dolls made by local artist Olga Pavlichevaya.
Uglich Bells (Uglich Zvony; 29 866; ul Bakhareva 27; 9am-5pm) Located in the private home of collector Alexei Kulagin. Besides the impressive collection of bells, he has also put together an assortment of whimsical papier-mâché figures depicting real and fantastical figures from Russian history and literature.
Sleeping & Eating
If you get stuck in Uglich, you can stay at the Uspenskaya Hotel ( 51 870; Uspenskaya pl; r R1300-1900, ste R2200-2500), a cheery place with slightly dilapidated rooms, opposite the kremlin. Otherwise, spring for a room at the fancy, white-washed Intourist Hotel Moskva ( 41 414; www.intourist-hotels.ru, in Russian; Naberezhnaya ul 4; r R2400-3000, ste R3800-4200;
). The big riverfront resort seems out of place in little Uglich, but the facilities are classy and comfortable.
Getting There & Away
The easiest way to get to Uglich by bus is from Yaroslavl (R150, three hours, 12 daily). Buses to Rostov-Veliky run sporadically, so you may have to travel via Borisoglebsky.
ROSTOV-VELIKY РОСТОВВЕЛИКИЙ
48536 / pop 33,200 / Moscow
For a place called Rostov-Veliky, or ‘Rostov the Great’, this place seems like a sleepy village. It could be because of this that the magnificent Rostov kremlin catches visitors off guard when its silver domes and whitewashed stone walls appear amid the dusty streets. Rostov is among the prettiest of the Golden Ring towns, idyl-lically situated on shimmering Lake Nero. It is also one of the oldest, first chronicled in 862.
Rostov is about 220km northeast of Moscow. The train and bus stations are together in the drab modern part of Rostov, 1.5km north of the kremlin.
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Sights & Activities
KREMLIN
Rostov’s main attraction is its unashamedly photogenic kremlin ( 61 717; www.rostmuseum.ru, in Russian; grounds R20, exhibits R20-35 each, all-inclusive R200; 10am-5pm). Though founded in the 12th century, nearly all the buildings here date to the 1670s and 1680s.
With its five magnificent domes, the Assumption Cathedral dominates the kremlin, although it is just outside the latter’s north wall. Outside service hours, you can get inside the cathedral through the door in the church shop on ul Karla Marksa. The cathedral was here a century before the kremlin, while the belfry was added in the 1680s. Each of 15 bells in the belfry has its own name; the largest, weighing 32 tonnes, is called Sysoy. The monks play magnificent bell concerts (which can be arranged through the excursions office, in the west gate) for R500.
The west gate (the main entrance) and the north gate are straddled by the Gate-Church of St John the Divine and the Gate-Church of the Resurrection, both of which are richly dec-orated with 17th-century frescoes. Enter these churches from the monastery walls (admission R45), which you can access from the stairs next to the north gate. Like several other buildings within the complex, these are only open from May to September. Between the gate-churches, the Church of Hodigitria houses an exhibition of Orthodox Church vestments and paraphernalia.
The metropolitan’s private chapel, the Church of the Saviour-over-the-Galleries, contained within the metropolitan’s house, has the most beautiful interior of all, covered in colourful frescoes. Other rooms in the house are filled with exhibits: the White Chamber displays religious antiquities, while the Red Chamber shows off finift (luminous enamelled miniatures), a Rostov artistic speciality.
MONASTERIES & OTHER CHURCHES
The restored Monastery of St Jacob is the fairy-tale apparition you’ll see as you approach Rostov by road or rail. Take bus 1 or 2 or walk alongside Lake Nero 2km west from the kremlin. Heading east of the kremlin, bus 1 will also bring you to the dilapidated Monastery of St Avraam, with a cathedral dating from 1553. There are a cluster of other churches along the lakeshore, including the Nativity Convent and the Church of St Nicholas.
BOAT RIDES
For a different perspective on this pan-orama, board the ferry Zarya ( 8 906 631 1925; adult/child R150/50; 11am-6pm May-Sep) for a float around Lake Nero. The hour-long trip leaves from the pier near the western gate of the kremlin, and cruises past both monasteries. For the same price, smaller boats do the same tour in about 15 minutes, departing from the smaller dock to the west.
Sleeping
Rostov is a popular weekend destination, meaning that hotel prices are generally lower between Sunday and Thursday. All prices include breakfast unless otherwise indicated.
Khors ( 62 483; www.khors.org; per person R500; ) Also containing an art gallery of the same name, this complex has a handful of tiny rustic rooms with shared access to a bathroom and kitchen (which means you make your own breakfast). Tip: drag your mattress up onto the roof to awake to the sunrise over Lake Nero.
Dom na Pogrebakh ( 61 244; www.rostmuseum.ru, in Russian; s/d/tr without bathroom R700/1000/1500, d with bathroom R2000-2500) Right inside the kremlin, near the east gate, this place has clean, wood-panelled rooms with heavy doors and colourful tapestries. The location within the building varies, but if you can snag a room with a view of the west gate it is charming indeed.
Boyarsky Dvor ( 60 446; www.reinkap-hotel.ru, in Russian; ul Kamenny most 4; standard r R1200-2000, upgraded r R1800-2200) Just outside the western wall of the Kremlin, this is a vast rambling place with plain but functional rooms. The downstairs café is a pleasant place for an evening drink.
Hotel Lion ( 64 949; www.lion-hotel.ru, in Russian; ul 50-letiya Oktyabrya 9/6; r R1300-1800, ste R1800-2050) This big and basic hotel offers affordable rooms and a convenient location. The drab decor does not do much for the dark interior; but the place is clean and comfortable enough.
Usadba Pleshanova ( 76 440; www.hotel.v-rostove.ru; Pokrovskaya ul 34; r weekday R1700-2700, weekend R2000-3100; ) This 19th-century manor house, once the residence of a merchant and philan-thropist family, is now a welcoming inn with a nice restaurant, cosy library and wood sauna. Beware the 20% reservation fee.
Eating
All of the hotels have restaurants or cafés on site.
Trapeznaya Palata ( 62 871; meals R400-600; 9am-5pm, later in summer) The draw to the refectory is the atmospheric location inside the kremlin, near the metropolitan’s house. The grand dining room is often crowded with tour groups supping on traditional Russian fare.
Also recommended:
Café Rus ( 65 951; ul Pokrovskaya; meals R200-300) A small café serving soups, salads and hot meals. Good for a quick bite.
Slavyansky ( 62 228; Sovietskaya ul 8; meals R400-500; 11am-1am) About 100m east of the kremlin, this semi-swanky place gets recommendations from locals.
Shopping
Don’t leave without stopping at the gift shop ( 61 717; 10am-5pm)in the kremlin to shop for finift souvenirs and to sample the home-brewed medovukha.
Named after a pagan sun god, Khors ( 62 483; ul Podozerka 30; admission free; 3-8pm Mon-Fri, 10am-9pm Sat & Sun) is a private gallery on the lakeshore behind the kremlin. The eclectic collection includes some antique household items, models of wooden churches and some exquisite enamelwork by local artist Mikhail Selishchev. Khors also occasionally hosts international exhibits and conducts symposia on sculpture, enamel, glass and tilework.
East of the kremlin, there are two side-by-side galleries on the lakeshore. Tvorcheskaya Masterskaya ( 8-910-663 8127; ul Petrovicheva 19/3; 10am-7pm) features landscapes and still-lifes by painter Oleg Yenin, as well as more interesting work by other local and regional artists. Nearby, Dom Remyosol ( 64 452; Tolstovskaya nab 16; 10am-7pm) has more crafty and souvenir-type items, such as dolls, ceramics, watercolours and prints.
Getting There & Away
BUS
The most convenient option from Rostov to Yaroslavl (or vice versa), is by bus, either transit or direct (R50 to R95, 1½ hours, hourly). Transit buses also pass through on the way to Moscow (R350, four to five hours, hourly), some of which go via Pereslavl-Zalessky and Sergiev Posad. One lone bus goes to Uglich (R100, three hours).
TRAIN
The fastest train from Moscow is the express service from Yaroslavsky vokzal (R430, three hours, twice daily). Otherwise, some long-distance trains stop at Rostov-Veliky en route to Yaroslavl. Bus 6 runs between the train station and the town centre.
PERESLAVL-ZALESSKY ПЕРЕСЛАВЛЬЗАЛЕССКИЙ
48535 / pop 42,700 / Moscow
On the shore of Lake Pleshcheevo, almost halfway between Moscow and Yaroslavl, Pereslavl-Zalessky is a popular dacha destination for Muscovites who enjoy the peaceful village atmosphere. The southern half of the town is characterised by narrow dirt lanes lined with carved izby (log houses) and blossoming gardens.
Pereslavl-Zalessky (Pereslavl Beyond the Woods) was founded in 1152 by Yury Dolgoruky. The town’s main claim to fame is as the birthplace of Alexander Nevsky. Its earthen walls and the little Cathedral of the Transfiguration are as old as the town itself.
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Orientation
Pereslavl-Zalessky is pretty much a one-street town, with the bus station at the southwestern end, 2km from the centre. Apart from the few churches in the kremlin area, most of the historic sights are out of the centre.
Information
Sberbank (Rostovskaya ul 27; 9am-7pm Mon-Sat) Exchange facility in the lobby of Hotel Pereslavl.
Yartelekom Service Centre ( 31 595; Rostovskaya ul 20; per hr R60; 8.30am-5.30pm Mon-Thu, 8.30am-4pm Fri) Has internet and telephone facilities.
Sights
CENTRE
The walls of Yury Dolgoruky’s kremlin are now a grassy ring around the centre of town. The 1152 Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour (admission R40; 10am-6pm), one of the oldest buildings in Russia, is inside this green ring. A bust of Alexander Nevsky stands out in front, while three additional churches across the grassy square make for a picturesque corner. These include the tent-roofed Church of Peter the Metropolitan, built in 1585 and renovated in 1957, and the 18th-century twin churches fronting the road.
The Trubezh River, winding 2km from the kremlin to the lake, is fringed by trees and narrow lanes. You can follow the northern riverbank most of the way to the lake by a combination of paths and streets. The Forty Saints’ Church sits picturesquely on the south side of the river mouth.
Southwest of the kremlin, the Nikolsky Women’s Monastery has undergone a massive renovation. Since its founding in 1350, this monastery has been on the brink of destruction, whether from Tatars, Poles or communists, more than seems possible to survive. In 1994, four nuns from the Yaroslavl Tolga Convent came to restore the place, and today it looks marvellous.
SOUTH PERESLAVL-ZALESSKY
The Goritsky Monastery ( 38 100; http://museum.pereslavl.ru in Russian; grounds R10, exhibits R40-50 each, all- inclusive R150; 10am-6pm May-Oct, 9am-5pm Nov-Apr) was founded in the 14th century, though the oldest buildings today are the 17th-century gates, gate-church and belfry. The centrepiece is the Assumption Cathedral (Uspensky sobor; admission R40), with its beautiful, carved iconostasis. The other buildings hold art and history exhibits.
The 1785 Purification Church of Alexander Nev-sky is a working church across the main road from the Goritsky Monastery. The Danilovsky Monastery, whose tent-roofed Trinity Cathedral (Troitsky sobor) dates back to the 1530s, is to the east, on a hillock overlooking fields and dachas.
BOTIK MUSEUM & KUKUSHKA.RU
Besides the birthplace of Alexander Nevsky, Pereslavl also claims to be the birthplace of the Russian Navy: Lake Pleshcheevo is one of the places where Peter the Great developed his obsession with the sea. As a young man, he studied navigation here and built a flotilla of more than 100 little ships by age 20. You can explore some of this history at the small Botik Museum ( 22 788; exhibits R30 each; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun), situated 4km along the road past the Goritsky Monastery at the southern end of the lake. Its highlight is the sailboat Fortuna, one of only two of Peter the Great’s boats to survive fire and neglect; the other is in the St Petersburg Naval Museum.
There is a turn-off to Kukushka.ru ( 49 479; www.kukushka.ru, in Russian; adult/child R60/30; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun Apr-Oct, 10am-5pm Sat & Sun Nov-Mar), a unique railway museum, a further 12km along. The collection of locomotives occupies the tracks and depot that were used up until the middle of the 20th century. Don’t miss the opportunity to ride on the hand cart (adult/child R60/30).
Sleeping
Hotel Pereslavl ( 31 559; Rostovskaya ul 27; r R2000, studio R2500, ste R2900-3500) Despite the drab exter- ior, this central hotel has updated its rooms – they now sport new furniture, carpeting and, most importantly, bathrooms. The rooms are crowded but they feel fresh.
Albitsky Sad Motel ( 31 430; [email protected]; ul Kardovskogo 21; d R2500-2900, tr R3500-3900;
) Just west of the centre, ‘Albitsky Garden’ resembles an old manor house, its yellow exterior adorned with white trim. The motel offers about 16 tastefully decorated rooms (and at least one honeymoon suite that is not quite so tasteful), as well as an inviting restaurant. Service is extremely friendly, if not super efficient.
Art Hotel ( 98 130; www.pereslavl.ru; Bol Protechnaya 45; apt R6000-8000) Sure, it’s pricey. But for your money, you get a fully equipped, artistically designed apartment, set amidst flowering gardens, with an art gallery and a banya on site. The two apartments (sleeping two to six people each) are lovingly decorated in a funky, contemporary style featuring original artwork by the owners.
Eating & Drinking
Traktir na Ozernoy ( 35 009; Rostovskaya ul 27; meals 300-600; 9am-last guest) Gnaw on shashlyk to your heart’s desire at this Caucasian-food eatery. Pork, chicken, beef and sturgeon – they’re all grilled up in plain view and served hot and spicy.
Cafe Botik ( 98 085; Podgornaya ul; meals R400-600; 11am-11pm) This waterfront café (shaped like a boat) is in a prime location opposite the Botik museum. Stop here for lake views and lunch before or after your excursion. Or, come for the full afternoon and take advantage of beach access, billiards and the banya.
Getting There & Around
Pereslavl-Zalessky is not on the train line, but buses travel frequently to Moscow (R230, 2½ hours). Not all of these stop at Sergiev Posad (one hour, three daily). Others travel to Yaroslavl (R214, three hours, seven daily) via Rostov-Veliky (1½ hours).
Bus 1 runs up and down the main street from just south of the bus station; heading out from the centre, you can catch it just north of the river. Taxis wait at Narodnaya pl.
SERGIEV POSAD СЕРГИЕВ ПОСАД
496 / pop 112,700 / Moscow
According to old Russian wisdom, ‘there is no settlement without a just man; there is no town without a saint’. The town of Sergiev Posad pays tribute to St Sergius of Radonezh, founder of the local Trinity Monastery and Russia’s patron saint. The monastery, today among the most important and active in Russia, exudes Orthodoxy. Bearded priests bustle about; babushkas fill bottles of holy water; crowds of believers light candles to St Sergius, Keeper of Russia. This mystical place is a window into the age-old belief system that has provided Russia with centuries of spiritual sustenance.
Often called by its Soviet name of Zagorsk, Sergiev Posad is 60km from the edge of Moscow on the Yaroslavl road. It is an easy day trip from Moscow and is a rewarding option for travellers who don’t have the time to venture further around the Golden Ring.
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History
St Sergius of Radonezh began his calling as a hermit monk in the forest wilderness. In 1340, he founded a monastery at Sergiev Posad which soon became the spiritual centre of Russian Orthodoxy. Prince Dmitry Donskoy’s improbable victory in battle against the Mongols in 1380 was credited to the blessing of Sergius. Soon after his death at the age of 78, Sergius was named Russia’s patron saint. Since the 14th century, pilgrims have been journeying to this place to pay homage to St Sergius.
Although the Bolsheviks closed the monastery, it was reopened following WWII as a museum, residence of the patriarch and a working monastery. The patriarch and the church’s administrative centre moved to the Danilovsky Monastery in Moscow in 1988, but the Trinity Monastery of St Sergius remains one of the most important spiritual sites in Russia.
Orientation
Pr Krasnoy Armii is the main street, running north to south through the town centre. The train and bus stations are on opposite corners of a wide square to the east of pr Krasnoy Armii. The monastery is about 400m north of there.
Information
Post & telephone office (pr Krasnoy Armii 127A) Outside the southeastern wall of the monastery.
Sberbank (pr Krasnoy Armii; 9am-4pm Mon-Fri) Exchange facilities and ATM available.
Sights
TRINITY MONASTERY OF ST SERGIUS
The monastery (Troitse-Sergieva Lavra; 544 5356, 544 5350; admission free; 10am-6pm) is an active religious centre with a visible population of monks in residence. Visitors should refrain from photographing the monks, female visitors should wear headscarves, and men are required to remove hats before entering the churches. Guided tours cost R600 and photos R150.
Built in the 1420s, the squat, dark Trinity Cathedral is the heart of the Trinity Monastery. The tomb of St Sergius stands in the southeastern corner, where a memorial service for St Sergius goes on all day, every day. The icon-festooned interior, lit by oil lamps, is largely the work of the great medieval painter Andrei Rublyov and his students.
The star-spangled Cathedral of the Assumption was modelled on the cathedral of the same name in the Moscow Kremlin. It was finished in 1585 with money left by Ivan the Terrible in a fit of remorse for killing his son. Outside the west door is the grave of Boris Godunov, the only tsar not buried in the Moscow Kremlin or St Petersburg’s SS Peter & Paul Cathedral.
Nearby, the resplendent Chapel-at-the-Well was built over a spring that is said to have appeared during the Polish siege. The five-tier baroque bell tower took 30 years to build in the 18th century, and once had 42 bells, the largest of which weighed 65 tonnes.
The Vestry (admission R250; 10am-5.30pm Wed-Sun), behind the Trinity Cathedral, displays the monastery’s extraordinarily rich treasury, bulging with 600 years of donations by the rich and powerful – tapestries, jewel-encrusted vestments, solid-gold chalices and more.
The huge block with the ‘wallpaper’ paint job is the Refectory Church of St Sergius, so called because it was once a dining hall for pilgrims. Now it’s the Assumption Cathedral’s winter counterpart, holding morning services in cold weather. It is closed outside of services, except for guided tours. The green building next door is the metropolitan’s residence.
OTHER MUSEUMS
A number of other museums around town showcase the monastery’s rich artistic traditions.
Art Museum ( 544 5356; pr Krasnoy Armii 144; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun) Two exhibition halls featuring local artists’ works.
Konny Dvor ( 544 5356; ul Udarnoy Armii; 10am-5pm Wed-Sun) Exhibits on the ethnological and archaeological history of Sergiev Posad.
Toy Museum ( 544 4101; pr Krasnoy Armii 123; 11am-5pm Wed-Sun) Toys from throughout history and around the world. The museum houses a particularly good collection of nesting dolls, as Sergiev Posad was the centre of matryoshka production before the revolution.
Sleeping & Eating
All room rates include breakfast:
Russky Dvorik ( 547 5392; www.zolotoe-koltso.ru, in Russian; ul Mitkina 14/2; s/d weekdays from R1500/1900, weekends from R1700/2100) Some of the rooms at this delightful hotel boast views of the onion domes peeking out above whitewashed walls. The place is quite modern, despite its rustic style. The fanciest room even has a Jacuzzi. The affiliated restaurant ( 45 114; pr Krasnoy Armii 134; meals R500-800; 10am to 9pm) is a charming, kitschy place decked out like a Russian dacha.
Konny Dvor ( 549 9066; ul 1-y Udarnoy Armii 2a; meals R400-800) Upstairs from the Konny Dvor museum, this lovely little restaurant evokes the atmosphere of a 19th-century estate inside, while outside it offers views of Bely prud (pond) and the monastery bell tower. The menu calls itself European, but the speciailty is traditional Russian favourites.
Trapeza na Makovtse ( 540 6101; pr Krasnoy Armii 131; meals R500-800; 10am-9pm) The highlight of this ‘refectory’ is alfresco dining in the shadow of the monastery’s spires and cupolas. Dining is also pleasant inside, where live music plays nightly.
Gnezdishko ( 540 4214; ul Voznesenskaya 53; r R1900-2500) With only eight rooms, this little inn is quaint, clean and convenient to the bus and train stations. Some rooms have views of the monastery bell tower.
Getting There & Away
BUS
Services to Sergiev Posad from Moscow’s VDNKh metro station depart every half-hour from 8.30am to 7.30pm (R100, 70 minutes). Three daily buses start at Sergiev Posad and run to Pereslavl-Zalessky (1½ hours). Nine daily buses stop here in transit to Yaroslavl, Kostroma or Rybinsk; all these will take you to Pereslavl-Zalessky, Rostov-Veliky or Yaroslavl if you can get a ticket.
TRAIN
The fastest transport option is the express train that departs from Moscow’s Yaroslavsky vokzal (R293, one hour, twice daily) at 8.24am, returning in the afternoon. Suburban trains also run every half-hour (R110, 1½ hours); take any train bound for Sergiev Posad or Aleksandrov. To go north to Rostov-Veliky (3½ hours) or Yaroslavl (five hours), you may have to change at Aleksandrov.
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St Petersburg
LOMONOSOV (ORANIENBAUM) ЛОМОНОСОВ
STRELNA & AROUND СТРЕЛЬНА И ОКРЕСТНОСТИ СТРЕЛЬНЫ
PUSHKIN (TSARSKOE SELO) ЦАРСКОЕ СЕЛО
Beautiful, complex and imperious, with a hedonistic, creative temperament, St Petersburg is the ultimate Russian diva. From its early days as an uninhabited swamp, the 300-year-old city has been nurtured by a succession of rulers, enduring practically everything that history and nature’s harsh elements could throw at her. Constantly in need of repair but with a carefree party attitude, Piter (as she’s affectionately known by locals) still seduces all who gaze upon the grand facades, glittering spires and gilded domes.
Visual arias come naturally to Europe’s fourth largest city. The Neva River and surrounding canals reflect unbroken facades of 18th- and 19th-century palaces, mansions and churches and a spellbinding collection of cultural storehouses, especially the incomparable Hermitage. Such an environment inspired many of Russia’s greatest artists, including writers Pushkin, Gogol and Dostoevsky and musical maestros Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich.
‘St Petersburg is Russia, but it is not Russian.’ The words of Tsar Nicholas II still resonate. St Petersburg remains a ‘window on the West’, a fascinating hybrid where one day you can attend a Russian folk-music show or view an awe-inspiring Orthodox church, and the next dance in an underground nightclub or peruse contemporary art in a renovated bakery.
The long summer days of the White Nights season are particularly special – the fountains flow, parks and gardens burst into colour and Piter’s citizens hit the streets to party. With a little preparation, though, the icy depths of winter have their own magic, and are the perfect time for warming body and soul in all those museums and palaces.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Losing yourself amid the artistic treasures and imperial interiors of the Hermitage (Click here)
- Cruising the canals (Click here) for a boatman’s perspective of the city’s architecture and pretty bridges
- Enjoying a world-class opera or ballet performance at the beautiful Mariinsky Theatre (Click here)
- Admiring the Grand Cascade’s symphony of fountains at Petrodvorets (Click here)
- Taking St Petersburg’s contemporary pulse at the modern art gallery complex of Loft Project Floors (Click here) and the legendary Pushkinskaya 10 (Click here)
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HISTORY
The area around the mouth of the Neva River may have been a swamp but it’s been long fought over. Alexander of Novgorod defeated the Swedes here in 1240 – earning the title Nevsky (of the Neva). Sweden retook control of the region in the 17th century – it was Peter the Great’s desire to crush this rival and make Russia a European power that led to the founding of St Petersburg. At the start of the Great Northern War (1700–21), he captured the Swedish outposts on the Neva, and in 1703 he began his city with the Peter & Paul Fortress.
After Peter trounced the Swedes at Poltava in 1709, the city he named, in Dutch style, Sankt Pieter Burkh (after his patron saint) really began to grow. In 1712 Peter moved the capital here from Moscow. Because nobody lived here before, Peter drafted armies of peasants to work as forced labour, many dying of disease and exhaustion; it’s still known as the city built upon bones. Architects and artisans came from all over Europe. By Peter’s death in 1725, the city had a population of 40,000 and 90% of Russia’s foreign trade passed through it.
Peter’s immediate successors moved the capital back to Moscow but Empress Anna Ioanovna (1730–40) returned it to St Petersburg. Between 1741 and 1825, during the reigns of Empress Elizabeth, Catherine the Great and Alexander I, it became a cosmopolitan city with an imperial court of famed splendour. These monarchs commissioned great series of palaces, government buildings and churches, turning it into one of Europe’s grandest capitals.
The emancipation of the serfs in 1861 and industrialisation, which peaked in the 1890s, brought a flood of poor workers into the city, leading to squalor, disease and festering discontent. St Petersburg became a hotbed of strikes and political violence and was the hub of the 1905 revolution, sparked by ‘Bloody Sunday’ on 9 January 1905, when a strikers’ march to petition the tsar in the Winter Palace was fired on by troops. In 1914, in a wave of patriotism at the start of WWI, the city’s name was changed to the Russian-style Petrograd.
In 1917 the workers’ protests turned into a general strike and troops mutinied, forcing the end of the monarchy in March. Seven months later Lenin’s Bolshevik Party had prevailed and the Soviet government came into being (Click here). Fearing a German attack on Petrograd, the new government moved the capital back to Moscow in March 1918.
Renamed Leningrad after Lenin’s death in 1924, the city became a hub of Stalin’s 1930s industrialisation program. By 1939 its population had grown to 3.1 million and it accounted for 11% of Soviet industrial output. Stalin feared it as a rival power base, however, and the 1934 assassination of the local communist chief Sergei Kirov at Smolny was the start of his 1930s Communist Party purge.
When Germany attacked the USSR in June 1941, it took it only two and a half months to reach Leningrad. As the birthplace of Bolshevism, Hitler swore to wipe it from the face of the earth. His troops besieged the city from 8 September 1941 until 27 January 1944 (Click here) – Leningrad survived and, after the war, was proclaimed a ‘hero city’. It took until 1960 for the city’s population to exceed pre-WWII levels.
During the 1960s and ’70s, Leningrad developed a reputation as a dissidents’ city with an artistic underground spearheaded by the poet Joseph Brodsky and, later, rock groups such as Akvarium (Click here). In 1989 Anatoly Sobchak, a reform-minded candidate, was elected mayor. Two years later, as the USSR crumbled, the city’s citizens voted to bring back the name of St Petersburg (though the region around the city remains known as Leningradskaya oblast).
In the anarchic post-Soviet years of the early 1990s, it often seemed like the local ‘Mafia’ were more in charge than the city’s elected officials, who also proved to be equally corrupt. Romanov ghosts also returned to the city on 17 July 1998, when the remains of Tsar Nicholas II and some of his family were buried in the crypt at the SS Peter & Paul Cathedral within the fortress of the same name (see the boxed text, Click here).
Five years later enormous sums were budgeted to spruce up the city for its tricentenary celebrations. Local boy made good Vladimir Putin didn’t waste the opportunity to return to his birthplace and show it off to visiting heads of state and other dignitaries. His presidential successor Dmitri Medvedev, also a St Petersburg native, is sure to do likewise.
Remaining in office as the city’s governor is Valentina Matvienko, an ally of Putin’s. She has done much to capitalise on the injection of foreign interest in Russia and business is booming, even as the city continues to suffer entrenched problems of pollution, ill-health, drug abuse and a disturbing level of racist attacks. Rather than politics and social problems, though, what inspires most citizens to take to the streets are the fortunes of local football team Zenit, UEFA champions for 2008, and plans to insert contemporary architecture into the city’s historic heart (Click here).
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ORIENTATION
St Petersburg sprawls across and around the delta of the Neva River, at the end of the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Finland. The river’s two biggest branches, which diverge where the Winter Palace stands on the south bank, are the Bolshaya (Big) Neva and Malaya (Small) Neva; they flow into the sea either side of Vasilevsky Island.
The Historic Centre of St Petersburg spreads back from the Winter Palace and the Admiralty on the south bank, its skyline dominated by the dome of St Isaac’s Cathedral. Nevsky pr, heading east–southeast from here, is the main drag, along and around which you’ll find many of the city’s sights, shops and restaurants. North of Nevsky and east of the Fontanka River are the areas of Liteyny and Smolny while to the south of Nevsky and east of the Fontanka River are Vladimirskaya and Vosstaniya. Gorokhovaya ul is the dividing line between the Historic Centre and, to the west, the districts of Sennaya and Kolomna stretching to the Finnish Gulf.
The northern side of the city comprises three main areas. Vasilevsky Island is the westernmost, with many of the city’s fine early buildings still standing at the eastern end – the Strelka. The middle area is Petrograd Side, a cluster of delta islands whose southern end is marked by the tall gold spire of the SS Peter & Paul Cathedral. The third, eastern, area is Vyborg Side, stretching along the north bank of the Neva.
STREET NAMES
St Petersburg has two streets called Bolshoy pr: one on Petrograd Side, one on Vasilevsky Island. The two sides of some streets on Vasilevsky Island are known as lines (linii), and opposite sides of these streets have different names – thus 4-ya linia (4th line) and 5-ya liniya (5th line) are the east and west sides of the same street – which collectively is called 4-ya i 5-ya linii (4th and 5th lines).
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Maps
There’s no shortage of maps covering the city, all available both abroad at any good travel bookshop and in the city itself. Dom Knigi (below) has a good selection, including maps of transport routes (including marshrutky, fixed-route minibuses) and several street directories.
INFORMATION
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Bookshops
Anglia Books (Map; 579 8284; nab reki Fontanki 30; 10am-7pm; Gostiny Dvor) English-language bookshop.
Dom Knigi (Map; 448 2355; www.spbdk.ru, in Russian; Nevsky pr 28; 9am-midnight; Nevsky Pr) A good selection of guidebooks and maps of the city are available on the first floor of this bookshop in the elegant Singer Building.
John Parsons Bookshop (Map; 331 8828; http://bookshop.centercom.ru, in Russian; nab reki Fontanki 38; 10am-10pm; Gostiny Dvor) If they don’t have the English book you’re looking for at Anglia, check at this place next door.
Staraya Kniga (Map; 312-1151; Nevsky pr 3; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat, 11am-7pm Sun; Nevsky Pr) Tucked away in the courtyard off Nevsky, this cluttered antiquarian bookstore and art shop also has old prints, posters and postcards. They stock foreign and Russian books.
Cultural Centres
Goethe Institute (Map; 363 1125; www.goethe.de/ins/ru/pet/; nab reki Moyki 58; 9.15am-7pm Mon-Fri; Gostiny Dvor) Has a well-stocked German-language library.
Institut Francais (Map; 371 0995; www.fr.spb.ru; Nevsky pr 12; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri; Nevsky Pr) Has a library with over 12,000 French-language books, magazines, videos and CDs. It also organises numerous cultural events.
Emergency
All of the following numbers have Russian-speaking operators. If you need to make a police report and don’t speak Russian, first contact the City Tourist Information Centre (Click here). For serious matters contact your embassy or consulate as well (Click here).
Ambulance
03
Fire
01
Gas leak
04
Police
02
Internet Access
Internet cafés and wifi access are common across the city. For wi-fi many places use the Peterstar (www.peterstar.com in Russian), Quantum (www.wifizone.ru in Russian), or Yandex (http://wifi.yandex.ru in Russian) networks; the last is free. Internet access cards can be bought at computer shops. Café Max (Map;273 6655; www.cafemax.ru; Nevsky pr 90/92; per hr R40; 24hr; Mayakovskaya) Wi-fi available here. Also has a branch in the Hermitage.
FM Club (Map;764 3674; ul Dostoevskogo 6A; per hr R35; 10am-8am; Vladimirskaya)
Players’ Internet Club (Map; Kazanskaya ul 28; per hr R60; 24hr; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl)
Quo Vadis (Map; 333 0708; Nevsky pr 66; per hr R100; 24hr; Gostiny Dvor) Enter from Liteyny pr.
Internet Resources
Try the following, as well as seeing the Media section (Click here) and the individual sections in the chapter for more suggestions, and Click here for other handy sites.
City Tourist Information Centre (www.visit-peters burg.com) The city’s tourist information bureau’s site is best used for its downloadable walking tours. Sadly, other info-rmation can be inaccurate, out-of-date or too brief to be of much use.
Encyclopaedia of St Petersburg (www.encspb.ru) This website is encyclopaedic in its coverage of art, architecture, geography, society, economy and more.
Official Portal of the City Government (http://eng.gov.spb.ru) History, statistics and official information.
Other St Petersburg (www.other.spb.ru) Most visitors miss ‘the other side’ of the city, but you won’t want to after reading this strange and hilarious account. Alas, it may already be too late.
REIMAGINING THE CITY
Ever since Peter I, the St Petersburg powers-that-be have traditionally deferred to foreign architects for major construction projects. Governor Valentina Matvienko and city-based corporate giants have proved no different. Among the modern-day successors to the Swiss Domenico Trezzini and the Italian Batolomeo Rastrelli are Dominique Perrault from France and the British firms Foster & Partners and RMJM.
Perrault is the designer of the new Mariinsky (Map), currently under construction behind the present theatre. This black marble building wrapped in a vast, irregular golden glass dome, the so-called ‘golden envelope’, will totally break with St Petersburg’s architectural tradition, and in doing so has inevitably enraged conservative residents. Suffering long-running construction delays, it’s now scheduled to open in 2010.
Just around the corner, the 18th-century island of New Holland (Novaya Gollandiya; Map) is being converted into a 21st-century urban space, combining retail, cultural and residential buildings. Sir Norman Foster’s firm has promised to restore the old timber warehouses and to maintain the low-rise norm of the neighbourhood, but sceptics are suspicious. All promises to be revealed again in 2010.
Another UK design office, Wilkinson Eyre Architects, is the lead architect for the US$1.5 billion redevelopment of the Apraksin Dvor market (Click here), currently underway and expected to be completed in 2012. The 14-hectare site’s vast stock of decaying buildings are being totally revamped, several to be turned into hotels and apartments. A major feature will be the enormous glazed roof covering the heart of site. The 1960s Publishing Building on Fontaka canal has been demolished to create a new gateway to the area. In front of the market, there will be a new footbridge across the Fontaka canal, also covered with a cloud-like glass structure. Just how these design elements will hold up to St Petersburg’s savage winter weather is anyone’s guess.
Most controversial is the Okhta Centre (Map; www.ohta-center.ru), a €1.6-billion project mainly funded by Gazprom, Russia’s largest oil company – it’s planned to rise from the site of an abandoned factory on the Vyborg Side, just opposite Smolny Cathedral. Designed by RMJM, the complex will include a 396m-tall rocketlike glass-and-steel tower, three times higher than the spire of the SS Peter & Paul Cathedral and nearly 100m taller than the TV tower, which is well removed from the historic centre.
There is a small contingent of supporters who cite the project’s economic benefits and architectural innovation, but most residents are against this intrusion on the historic city skyline. Unesco has raised objections, indicating that continuing with construction could lead to the inclusion of St Petersburg on its ‘World Heritage in Danger’ list.
ST PETERSBURG IN…
Two Days
It would be easy to devote a day to the Hermitage (Click here), but drag yourself away in the afternoon to stroll in the nearby Summer Garden (Click here) or, if the weather is poor, to peek inside the beautifully restored Sheremetyev Palace (Click here) along the Fontanka River. From here you’re well placed to hop on a boat for an early evening cruise (Click here). If you’re quick, you could also squeeze in a visit to St Isaac’s Cathedral (Click here), climbing its colonnade for a bird’s-eye view of the city.
Kick off day two by exploring the splendid Russian Museum (Click here). Move on to the polychromatic Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood (Click here), and then after lunch head across the Neva River to explore the Peter & Paul Fortress (Click here). If you have time, continue around to the Strelka (Click here) to see the museums, or at least take in the view.
Five Days
Following on from the previous two-day itinerary, spend a day exploring one of the imperial parks and palaces – Petrodvorets (Click here) and Tsarskoe Selo (Click here) are both impressive. On day four, discover the city’s contemporary art scene in the galleries of Loft Project Floors (Click here) and Pushkinskaya 10 (Click here) and schedule an off-the-beaten track walking tour (Click here). Head to the north of the city on day five for a peek inside the Hermitage’s Storage Facility (Click here), the nearby Buddhist Temple (Click here) and the peaceful, traffic-free park on Yelagin Island (Click here). Cap it all off with a performance at the Mariinsky Theatre (Click here).
Petersburg City (http://petersburgcity.com/for-tourists) The official English-language portal.
Saint Petersburg (www.saint-petersburg.com)One of the best places to start – there’s information on sights, current events and listings, a virtual city tour, online hotel booking, and an up-to-date travellers’ message board.
Wandering Camera (www.bcam.spb.ru) Peter Sobolev’s excellent website includes some 400 albums of photos.
Yellow Pages (www.yell.ru/spbeng)
Laundry
Most hotels offer a laundry service.
Prachechnaya (Map; 305 0886; 11-ya liniya 34; 9am-9pm; Vasileostrovskaya) A 3kg wash costs R200; ironing is an extra R140.
Stirka (Map; 314 5371; www.40gradusov.ru; Kazanskaya ul 26; 11am-11pm; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) Café, bar and laundrette – what a good idea! A 5kg wash costs R140; the dryer is R90.
Media
NEWSPAPERS & MAGAZINES
Apart from the following English-language media (all of which are available free, except as noted, at many hotels, restaurants and bars across the city), there are a couple of useful Russian-language listing magazines. Both Afisha (http://spb.afisha.ru/spb; R50) and Time Out (www.spb.timeout.ru; R50) are published every two weeks, with Afisha generally reckoned to have the edge in terms of features and coverage.
In Your Pocket (www.inyourpocket.com/city/st_petersburg.html) Monthly listings booklet with useful up-to-date information and short features.
Pulse (www.pulse.ru) Slick colour monthly with fun features and reviews.
St Petersburg Times (www.sptimes.ru) Published every Tuesday and Friday (when it has an indispensable listings and arts review section), this plucky little newspaper has been fearlessly telling it like it really is for over 15 years.
RADIO & TV
Among the more interesting FM stations are the all-jazz Radio Hermitage (90.1 FM; www.rhfm.ru), Eldoradio (101.4 FM; www.eldoradio.ru) and Maximum (102.8 FM; www.maximum.ru) for pop music, and Klassika Petersburg (88.9 FM) for classical music.
As well as the main state TV channels, St Petersburg has several local channels, including Channel 5 (www.5-tv.ru). Satellite TV is available at all major hotels.
Medical Services
The clinics listed below are open 24 hours and have English-speaking staff.
American Medical Clinic (Map;740 2090; www.amclinic.ru; nab reki Moyki 78; Sadovaya)
Medem International Clinic & Hospital (Map; 336 3333; www.medem.ru; 6 ul Marata; Mayakovskaya)
PHARMACIES
Look for the sign apteka, or the usual green cross to find a pharmacy.
36.6 Pharmacy (http://spb.366.ru) A chain of 24- hour pharmacies around the city.
Apteka Petrofarm (Map; 314 5401; Nevsky pr 22; 24 hr; Nevsky Pr)
Money
ATMs are ubiquitous and there are currency exchange offices all the way along and around Nevsky pr.
Post
Post office branches are scattered throughout St Petersburg and they vary in services, usually in proportion to size. American Express (Click here) will hold mail (letters only) for cardholders and holders of travellers cheques for up to 30 days; the mailing address is American Express, PO Box 87, SF-53501 Lappeenranta, Finland. All the major air courier services have offices in St Petersburg.
Central post office (Map; 312 8302; www.spbpost.ru; Pochtamtskaya ul 9; 24 hr; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) The city’s central post office has been sensitively renovated – it’s worth visiting just to admire its elegant Style Moderne interior. The express mail service EMS Garantpost is available here.
DHL (Map; 326 6400; www.dhl.ru; Izmail-ovsky pr 4; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat & Sun; Tekhnologichesky Institut)
WARNING! DON’T DRINK THE WATER
Tiny traces of Giardia lamblia, a nasty parasite that causes stomach cramps, nausea, bloated stomach, diarrhoea and frequent gas, have been found in St Petersburg’s water. There’s no preventative drug so the best advice is not to drink straight from the tap.
To be absolutely safe, drink only water that has been boiled for 10 minutes or filtered through an antimicrobial water filter (PUR brand makes a good portable one) and treat ice with suspicion. While accepting tea or coffee at someone’s house should be safe, it’s best to always stick to bottled water. Brushing your teeth, bathing, showering and shaving with tap water should cause no problems.
Click here if you do develop any of the above symptoms.
FedEx (Map; 325 8825; www.fedex.com/ru/; per Grivtsova 6; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl)
UPS (Map; 327 8540; www.ups.com; Shpalernaya ul 51; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat; Chernyshevskaya)
Westpost (Map; 327 3211; www.westpost.ru; Nevsky pr 86; 9.30am-8pm Mon-Fri, noon-8pm Sat; Mayakovskaya) Privately run, international mail service. Mail is transported daily to Lappeenranta in Finland, and mailed from there. It has a full range of delivery and courier services. For mail delivery in St Petersburg, they offer post boxes in Lappeenranta, with daily pick-up or delivery to the Westpost office or, for corporate clients, to an address in St Petersburg.
Telephone
MOBILE PHONES
You can buy a local SIM card at any mobile phone shop, such as Dixis (www.dixis.ru) or Euroset (www.spb.euroset.ru), both chains with several branches across the city, from as little as R150, including R100 of credit. Click here for information on the main mobile providers.
PHONECARDS & CALL CENTRES
Local phonecards (telefonnaya karta) are available from shops, kiosks and metro stations and can be used to make local, national and international calls from any phone. Using a call centre (Click here) is better value for international calls – look for the sign Mezhdunarodny Telefon.
Toilets
Portakabin-type toilets (R10) outside metros and the major sights are common. Shopping centres and chain cafés, such as Kofe Khaus and Chaynaya Lozhka, are the best places to look for a clean, odour-free bathroom.
Tourist Information
City Tourist Information Centre (Map; 310 8262; www.visit-petersburg.com; Sadovaya ul 14/52; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat; Gostiny Dvor) The English-speaking staff are vague about most things but they’ll do their best to help, particularly if you are a crime victim (as we can personally attest). There’s also a booth outside the Hermitage (Map; Dvortsovaya pl 12; 10am-7pm daily; Nevsky Pr) and branches at the Pulkova-1 and Pulkova-2 air terminals (10am-7pm Mon-Fri).
Also, from May to September the city sponsors ‘angels’ (ie guides) who roam Nevsky Prospekt, Palace Square and the like ready to assist tourists. Instead of feathery wings they’re identified by a T-shirt and a welcoming smile.
Travel Agencies
All the following agencies have English-speaking staff.
American Express (Map; 326 4500; Malaya Morskaya ul 23; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri; Nevsky Pr) Only offers travel, not financial, services.
Budget Travel (www.budget-travel.spb.ru) Apart from visa support, transfers and buying transport tickets, this small agency also offers inexpensive guides and, hopefully, will have found new premises for its budget hostel by the time of publication.
City Realty (Map; 570 6342; www.cityrealty.ru; Muchnoy per 2; Nevsky Pr) Can arrange all types of visas (tourist visas from US$25) including business ones, as well as accommodation and transport tickets. Very reliable.
Ost-West Kontaktservice (Map; 327 3416; www.ostwest.com; Nevsky pr 105; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri; Pl Vosstaniya) The multilingual staff here can find you an apartment to rent and organise tours and tickets.
Parallel Sixty (Map; 928 0739; www.parallel60.ru; ul Avtogennaya 6, office 415; Elizarovskaya) Friendly and efficient agency that can arrange visas, accommodation and tours. They also run VB Excursions Walking Tours (Click here).
Sindbad Travel (Map; 332 2020; www.sindbad.ru; 2-ya Sovetskaya ul 12; 9am-10pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat & Sun; Pl Vosstaniya). A genuine Western-style discount air-ticket office, staffed by friendly, knowledgeable people. They also sell train tickets and ISIC/ITIC/IYTC cards and can book youth hostel accommodation through the IBN system.
Unifest (Map; 494 5088; www.unifest.ru; Hotel D’Angleterre, Bolshaya Morskaya ul 39; 10am-6.30pm Mon-Fri, 11am-3pm Sat; Nevsky Pr) Efficient and friendly travel agency that can book train and air tickets.
DANGERS & ANNOYANCES
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Crime & Violence
Watch out for pickpockets, particularly along Nevsky pr and in crowded places such as theatres and cinemas. It’s also wise to avoid crossing directly in front of Moskovsky vokzal unless you have to, since the police there have a nasty habit of trying to shake down foreigners for supposed infringements of visa registration rules. The same goes if you are a foreigner staggering around Nevsky pr late at night.
St Petersburg is notorious for its incidence of race-related violent attacks. Precautions for non-Caucasians to take include not wandering around alone late at night or venturing out to the suburbs solo at any time of day.
Environmental Hazards
It’s not just the ice on the streets that you have to look out for in winter – every year in early spring and during winter thaws, several people die when hit by child-sized, sword-shaped icicles falling from rooftops and balconies. Keep your eyes peeled to make sure one of these monsters is not dangling above your head.
From May to September mosquitoes are a nightmare. Bring along industrial-strength repellent that’s at least 95% DEET (although if travelling with children its best to use low- or no DEET repellent). Alternatively, make sure you keep covered up. The plug-in gizmos that slowly heat repellent-saturated cardboard pads are available everywhere in the city and are pretty effective.
SIGHTS
Unless otherwise mentioned, museums and sights in St Petersburg will have English labelling and/or an English printed guide will be available.
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Historic Centre
Covered in this section are the major sights, in order of potential interest, found between the Neva River, the Admiralty Gardens to the west and the Fontanka River to the east and south. Bisecting the area is St Petersburg’s pivotal thoroughfare Nevsky pr. The most convenient metro station is Nevsky Pr/Gostiny Dvor. Unless otherwised mentioned, all sights are located on the Historic Centre map on Click here.
THE HERMITAGE
Mainly set in the magnificent Winter Palace – a stunning mint green, white and gold profusion of columns, windows and recesses with its roof topped by rows of classical statues – the State Hermitage (571 3465; www.hermitagemuseum.org; Dvortsovaya pl 2; adult R350, ISIC cardholders & under 17 free, use of camera/camcorder R100/350; 10.30am-6pm Tue-Sat, to 5pm Sun) fully lives up to its sterling reputation. You can be absorbed by its treasures for days and still come out wanting more.
The enormous collection (over three million items) almost amounts to a comprehensive history of Western European art, and for as much as you see in the museum, there’s about 20 times more in its vaults, part of which you can visit (Click here). The vastness of the buildings – of which the Winter Palace alone has 1057 rooms and 117 staircases – demands a little planning. Consider making a reconnaissance tour first, then returning another day to enjoy your favourite bits.
THE CURATOR’S CHOICE: DR DIMITRI OZERKOV
‘I first visited the Hermitage when I was five or six years old. At that time what I liked the most were the Egyptian mummies (Rm 100). They were displayed at a low height so I could see them well and read their names, such as Pa De Ist. I have a personal relationship with this mummy as I’ve known him for over 20 years – of course, for him it’s nothing!
‘Visitors to the Hermitage shouldn’t miss Raphael’s Loggia (Rm 227) – Catherine the Great commissioned Giacomo Quarrengi in the 1780s to create this copy of a gallery she admired at the Vatican. It was made exactly to scale, so not only is it a great event of art, but also of technique and design. It’s actually in better shape than the original, thus has become the major reference for the work.
‘The Hermitage has lots of works by Rubens, many of them from his studio – he was like the Damien Hirst of his day presiding over a factory of artists. One piece that undoubtedly was done by his hand, though, is Perseus and Andromeda (Rm 246). It’s a masterpiece. You look at Medusa’s eyes and you feel afraid and the horse looks so real you feel you could touch it.
‘From the 20th century works I recommend Matisse’s Dance and Music (Rm 344), a magnificently vibrant pair of paintings commissioned by his patron Sergei Shchukin. Originally the genitalia of the nude male dancers were shown, but Shchukin, concerned with what polite Moscow society may say about such a scandalous work gracing a house in which his young female ward lived, had them painted over. If the light is right, it’s possible to see the painting as Matisse intended. It’s a dilemma for the Hermitage whether to restore it to as it was.’
Dr Dimitri Ozerkov, Chief Curator, Hermitage 20/21 Project
The State Hermitage consists of five linked buildings along riverside Dvortsovaya nab. From west to east they are the Winter Palace, the Little Hermitage, the Old and New Hermitages (sometimes grouped together and called the Large Hermitage) and the State Hermitage Theatre (open only for special events, mainly concerts). The art collection is on all three floors of the Winter Palace and the main two floors of the Little and Large Hermitages.
There are also separate sections of the museum in the east wing of the General Staff Building (Click here), the Menshikov Palace on Vasilevsky Island (Click here), the Winter Palace of Peter I further east along the embankment from the main Winter Palace, the Imperial Porcelain factory (Click here) and the Konstantinovsky Palace at Strelna (Click here). All have separate admission unless you purchase a ticket online for US$25.95, which gives you access to all the facilities over a two-day period. Click here for more on tickets.
History
The Winter Palace was commissioned from Bartolomeo Rastrelli in 1754 by Empress Elizabeth. Catherine the Great and her successors had most of the interior remodelled in a classical style by 1837. It remained an imperial home until 1917, though the last two tsars spent more time in other palaces.
The classical Little Hermitage was built for Catherine the Great as a retreat that would also house the art collection started by Peter the Great, which she significantly expanded. At the river end of the Large Hermitage is the Old Hermitage, which also dates from her time. At its south end, facing Millionnaya ul, is the New Hermitage, which was built for Nicholas II to hold the still-growing art collection. The Hermitage Theatre was built in the 1780s by the classicist Giacomo Quarenghi, who thought it one of his finest works.
The Hermitage’s collection really began with Catherine the Great, one of the greatest art collectors of all time. Nicholas I also greatly enriched the collection, which he opened to the public for the first time in 1852. It was the postrevolutionary period that saw the collection increase threefold, as many valuable private collections were seized by the state, including those of the Stroganovs, Sheremetyevs and Yusupovs. In 1948 it incorporated the renowned collections of Post-Impressionist and Impressionist paintings of Moscow industrialists Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov.
Throughout the 1990s, the museum was, partially thanks to partnerships with foreign museums and donors, able to renovate its heating and temperature control system, install a new fire detection system, fit its windows with UV-filtering plastic, and begin a digitised inventory of its mammoth collection. Under the ‘Hermitage 20/21’ project, scheduled for completion in 2014 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the museum’s foundation, galleries of modern and contemporary art will be set up in the General Staff Building.
Admission & Tours
The main entrance is through the courtyard of the Winter Palace from Palace Sq (Dvortsovaya ploshchad). The ticket counters are just inside, flanking a useful information booth where you can get free colour maps of the museum in most major European languages. Groups enter from the river side of the Winter Palace.
Queues for tickets, particularly from May to September, can be horrendous. The museum can also be very busy on the first Thursday of the month when admission is free for every-one. Apart from getting in line an hour or so before the museum opens, or going late in the day when the queues are likely to be shorter, there are a few strategies you can use. The best is to book your ticket online through the Hermitage’s website (www.hermitagemuseum.org): US$17.95 gets you an entrance to the main Hermitage buildings plus use of camera or camcorder, US$25.95 is for the two-day ticket to all the Hermitage’s collections in the city (except the storage facility). You’ll be issued with a voucher that allows you to jump the queue and go straight to the ticket booth.
Joining a tour is another way to avoid queuing. These whiz round the main sections in about 1½ hours but at least they provide an introduction to the place in English. It’s easy to ‘lose’ the group and stay on until closing time. To book a tour call the museum’s excursions office (571 8446; 11am-1pm & 2-4pm); they will tell you when they are running tours in English, German or French and when to turn up.
Also contact the excursions office if you plan to visit the Gold and Diamond Rooms (Rooms 41–45) special collections in the Treasure Gallery. English tours of both rooms costs an extra R300 each and places are limited, so book early if you’re interested. The focus is a hoard of fabulously worked Scythian and Greek gold and silver from the Caucasus, Crimea and Ukraine, dating from the 7th to 2nd centuries BC.
Membership of the Friends of the Hermitage Society allows you access to special events hosted by the Hermitage, either at a reduced cost or for free. A US$100 annual donation will get you free entry to the Hermitage plus a 20% discount at the museum’s shops. See the Hermitage’s website for more details.
There is a special entrance for the physically disabled from Dvortsovaya pl (the museum also has a few wheelchairs) – call in advance if you need this.
Highlights
It would takes days to fully do justice to the Hermitage’s collection. If your time is limited, apart from the highlights mentioned by Dr Dimitri Ozerkov (Click here), head straight to the following rooms:
Jordan Staircase Directly ahead when you pass through the main entrance inside the Winter Palace
Rooms 178-98Imperial stateroom and apartments including the Malachite Hall, Nicholas Hall, Armorial Hall and Hall of St George
Room 204The Pavilion Hall
Rooms 207-238 Italian art, 13th to 18th centuries
Room 229 Raphael and his disciples
Rooms 239-40 Spanish art, 16th to 18th centuries
Rooms 244-47 Flemish art, 17th century
Rooms 249-52 & 254 Dutch art, 17th century
Room 271 The imperial family’s cathedral
Concentrate the rest of your time on the 2nd floor, particularly rooms 333–50 for late-19th-century and early-20th-century European art, including works by Matisse and Picasso.
DVORTSOVAYA PLOSHCHAD (PALACE SQUARE)
To get to the Hermitage, you’ll pass through the monumental Dvortsovaya ploshchad (Palace Square), one of the most impressive and historic spaces in the city. Stand well back to admire the palace and the central 47.5m Alexander Column named after Alexander I and commemorating the 1812 victory over Napoleon. It has stood here, held in place by gravity alone, since 1834. It was in this square that tsarist troops fired on peaceful protestors in 1905 (on a day now known as Bloody Sunday), sparking the revolution of that year. At least once a year, in summer, the square is used for free outdoor concerts; the Rolling Stones and Roger Waters have played here.
General Staff Building
Curving around the south of the square is the Carlo Rossi–designed General Staff Building of the Russian army (1819–29). Comprising two great classical blocks joined by arches, which are topped by a chariot of victory, it is another monument to the Napoleonic wars. Occupying the building’s east wing is a branch of the Hermitage (314 8246; www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_11.html; Dvortsovaya pl 6-8; adult/student R200/free; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun; Nevsky Pr).
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE RUSSIAN MUSEUM
Mikhailovsky Palace, 2nd floor
Room 11 The White Hall, the most ornate in the palace, with period furniture by Rossi, is where Strauss and Berlioz, as guests, performed concerts.
Room 14 Karl Bryullov’s massive Last Day of Pompeii (1827–33), which was, in its time, the most famous Russian painting ever; there were queues for months to see it. Ivan Aivazovsky’s Crimea seascapes also stand out, most frighteningly The Wave.
Room 15 Alexander Ivanov’s most famous work, Christ’s Appearance to the People.
Mikhailovsky Palace, 1st floor
Rooms 23-38 The Wanderers (Peredvizhniki) and associated artists, including 26 Nikolai Ghe’s fearsome Peter I Prosecuting Tsarevitch Alexey in Peterhof; 31 KA Savitsky’s To the War; 32 Vasily Polenov, including his Christ and the Adultress.
Rooms 33-35 and 54 Works by Ilya Repin (1844–1930), probably Russia’s best-loved artist; 33 has portraits and Barge Haulers on the Volga, an incomparable indictment of Russian ‘social justice’; 54 contains Meeting of the State Council, Repin’s panoramic rendering of the meeting at the Mariinsky Palace on 7 May 1901 (it’s full of tsarist hotshots; there’s a scheme in the room to help you tell who’s who).
Room 36 Mikhail Mikeshin’s small bronze model of the Millennium of Russia.
Room A-G Off room 48, these rooms house a lovely collection of folk arts and crafts.
Benois Building, 2nd & 1st floors
Rooms 67 Highly stylised works of Nikolai Roerich, including the Stroganov Frieze Suite in the stairwell.
Room 70 Boris Kustodiev’s smug Merchant’s Wife at Tea.
Rooms 77-82 Twentieth century art including cubist, futurist and avant-garde works by Natan Altman, Vasily Kandinksy, Natalya Goncharova, Lyubov Popova and Alexander Rodchenko.
Only a fraction of the complex’s 800 rooms are open but those that are are well worth seeing – not least because you’re likely to have the galleries to yourself. On display are beautiful Art Nouveau pieces, Empire-style decorative art and magnificent works by the post-Impressionists Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis, as well as temporary exhibitions, such as contemporary works from the Saatchi Collection. The General Staff Building is the focus of the Hermitage 20/21 project (Click here), which will add new 20th- and 21st-century works to the museum’s existing collection.
CHURCH OF THE SAVIOUR ON SPILLED BLOOD
Officially known as the Church of the Resurrection (Spas na Krovi; 315 1636; http://eng.cathedral.ru/saviour; Konyushennaya pl; adult/student R300/150; 11am-7pm Thu-Tue; 10am-8pm Thu-Tue May-Sep; Nevsky Pr), this multidomed dazzler, partly modelled on St Basil’s in Moscow, was built between 1883 and 1907 on the spot where Alexander II, despite his reforms, was blown up by the People’s Will terrorist group in 1881 (hence its gruesome name).
It’s now most commonly known as the church that took 24 years to build and 27 to restore. In August 1997, with much fanfare, it finally opened its doors after the painstaking work by over 30 artists to restore the interior’s incredible 7000 sq metres of mosaics – they fully justify the entrance fee. On the very spot of the assassination is the marble bust Shatrovy Cen, a monument to Alexander.
RUSSIAN MUSEUM & AROUND
The former Mikhailovsky Palace, now the Russian Museum (Russy Muzey; 595 4248; www.rusmuseum.ru; Inzhenernaya ul 4; adult/student R350/150; 10am-5pm Mon, to 6pm Wed-Sun; Gostiny Dvor), houses one of the country’s finest collections of Russian art. After the Hermitage you may feel you’ve had your fill of art, but try your utmost to make some time for this gem of a museum.
The palace was designed by Carlo Rossi and built between 1819 and 1829 for Grand Duke Mikhail (brother of Tsars Alexander I and Nicholas I) as compensation for not being able to have a chance on the throne. The museum was founded in 1895 under Alexander III and opened three years later.
The Benois building, now connected to the original palace, was constructed between 1914 and 1919. Note that the facade of the palace is illuminated at night, making it a good time to take a photograph. The building is also impressive when viewed from the back on a stroll through the lovely Mikhailovsky Gardens (the main entrance is opposite the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood with another on Sadovaya ul just south of the Moyka River).
The museum owns another three city palaces where permanent and temporary exhibitions are also held: the Marble Palace (Click here), the Mikhailovsky Castle (also known as the Engineers’ Castle, Click here) and the Stroganov Palace (right). A ticket for R600, available at each palace, covers entrance to them all within a 24-hour period.
The museum’s main entrance is through a tiny door on the far right side of the main building, off Inzhenernaya ul. You can also enter via the Benois wing off nab kanala Griboedova. Call 314 3448 to book an English guided tour.
Immediately in front of the museum is the pretty ploshchad Iskusstv (Arts Square), in the middle of which stands a statue of Pushkin, erected in 1957. Both the square and Mikhaylovskaya ul, which joins the square to Nevsky pr, were designed as a unit by Rossi in the 1820s and 1830s.
NEVSKY PROSPEKT
‘Is there anything more gay, more brilliant, more resplendent than this beautiful street of our capital?’
Nikolai Gogol, 1835
Nevsky pr is and always will be Russia’s most famous street, running 4km from the Admiralty to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, from which it takes its name. The inner 2.5km to Moskovsky vokzal is St Petersburg’s seething main avenue, the city’s shopping centre and focus of its entertainment and street life.
Nevsky pr was laid out in the early years of St Petersburg as the start of the main road to Novgorod and soon became dotted with fine buildings, squares and bridges. At the beginning of the 1900s, it was one of Europe’s grandest boulevards, with cobblestone footpaths and a track down the middle for horse-drawn trams. On either side of the tracks were wooden paving blocks to muffle the sound of horse-drawn carriages – an innovation that was a world first and for which the prospekt was dubbed the quietest main street in Europe.
Today, things are quite a bit noisier. The traffic and crowds can become oppressive and, after a while, you’ll find yourself going out of your way to avoid the street. However, walking Nevsky is an essential St Petersburg experience, and if you’re here on a holiday evening (such as 27 May – City Day), the sight of thousands of people pouring like a stream down its middle is one you’ll not soon forget.
The following are the main points of interest as you’ll encounter them from the Admiralty to the Anichkov almost across the Fontanka River.
Stroganov Palace
Next to the Moyka river, Rastrelli’s baroque, salmon-pink-painted Stroganov Palace (312 9054; www.rusmuseum.ru; Nevsky pr 17; adult/student R350/150; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun; Nevsky Pr) houses a branch of the Russian Museum. Some beautiful examples of imperial-era porcelain are displayed in a series of splendidly restored rooms. Temporary exhibitions are held downstairs, while in the courtyard you’ll find a café and the luxury restaurant Russian Empire.
Kazan Cathedral
The great colonnaded arms of the Kazan Cathedral (Kazansky Sobor; 571 4826; Kazanskaya pl 2; admission free; 10am-7pm, services 10am & 6pm; Nevsky Pr) reach out towards Nevsky. Built between 1801 and 1811, its design, by Andrei Voronikhin, a former serf, was influenced by St Peter’s in Rome. His original plan was to build a second, mirror version of the cathedral opposite. This highly atmospheric church is well worth entering but be aware that it is a working cathedral, so please show some respect for the local customs (Click here).
Singer Building
Opposite the cathedral is the Singer Building (Nevsky pr 28; Nevsky Pr), a Style Moderne beauty recently restored to the splendour of its past as the headquarters of the sewing machine company. Since Soviet times it’s been the home of Dom Knigi (Click here); a branch of the coffee shop Shokoladnitsa is on the first floor with a great view over Nevsky pr.
THE BRIDGES OF ST PETERSBURG
Some 340 bridges span St Petersburg’s network of canals and waterways. With the exception of the new Big Obukhovsky, all of the mosty (bridges) across the Neva are drawbridges. From the end of April to the end of September they are raised every evening at designated times to let the ships pass, a spectacle that is worth seeing (Click here for the schedule). Some of the most charming bridges, though, are the smaller structures that span the canals around the city. Here are a few of our favourites:
- Anichkov most (Map) Features rearing horses at all four corners, symbolising humanity’s struggle with, and taming of, nature.
- Bankovsky most (Bank Bridge; Map) Suspended by cables emerging from the mouths of golden-winged griffins. The name comes from the Assignment Bank (now a university), which stands on one side of the bridge.
- Most Lomonosova (Map) Four Doric towers contain the mechanism that pulls up the moveable central section, allowing tall boats to pass along the Fontanka underneath.
- Lviny most (Bridge of Four Lions; Map) Another suspension bridge, this one is supported by two pairs of regal lions.
- Panteleymonovsky most (Map) At the confluence of the Moyka and the Fontanka, this beauty features lamp posts bedecked with the double-headed eagle and railings adorned with the coat of arms.
- 1-y Inzhenerny most (First Engineer Bridge; Map) While there is no shortage of adornment on the cast-iron bridge leading to Mikhailovsky Castle (Click here), the highlight is the Chizhik-Pyzhik, the statue of the little bird that hovers over the Moyka.
Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor
One of the world’s first indoor shopping malls, Bolsoy Gostiny Dvor (Big Merchant Yard; Nevsky pr 35; Gostiny Dvor) is another Rastrelli creation dating from 1757 to 1785. Occupying an entire block, the completely restored perimeter of the department store (Click here) is over 1km long. The clock tower of the former Town Duma, seat of the prerevolutionary city government, stands opposite.
Pl Ostrovskogo & around
Commonly referred to as the Catherine Gardens, after the enormous Catherine the Great statue at its centre, Pl Ostrovskogo (Gostiny Dvor) is the scene of many a chess, backgammon and sometimes even mah-jong game. The square was designed by Carlo Rossi in the 1820s and 1830s. At the empress’s heels are some of her renowned statesmen, including her lovers Orlov, Potemkin and Suvorov.
The square’s western side is taken up by the lavish National Library of Russia, St Petersburg’s biggest with some 31 million items, nearly a sixth of which are in foreign languages. Rossi’s Aleksandrinsky Theatre (Click here) at the southern end of the square is one of Russia’s most important theatres. In 1896 the opening night of Chekhov’s The Seagull was so badly received here that the playwright fled to wander anonymously among the crowds on Nevsky pr.
Yeliseyevsky
On the corner of Malaya Sadovaya ul is Yeliseyevsky (Nevsky pr 56; Gostiny Dvor), another Style Moderne beauty built between 1901 and 1903 that once housed the city’s most elegant grocery store. At the time of research the building was closed but its grand exterior is well worth a look.
ST PETERSBURG STATE MUSEUM OF THEATRE AND MUSIC & AROUND
Behind the Aleksandrinsky Theatre, appropriately enough, you’ll find the St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music (Sankt-Peterburgsky Gosudarstvenniy Muzey Teatralnogo i Muzikalnogo Iskusstva; 571 2195; www.theatremuseum.ru; Ostrovskogo pl 6; adult/child R100/50; Thu-Mon 11am-6pm, Wed 1-7pm, closed Tue and last Fri of month; Gostiny Dvor), a treasure-trove of items relating to the Russian Theatre including model sets, posters and costumes. A section aimed at children has great models of the Mariinksy stage and antique contraptions used to create effects like the sound of wind, rain and trains.
The museum also has branches in the Sheremetyev Palace (opposite) and the former homes of composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Click here) and the opera singer Fyodor Chaliapin (Click here).
A continuation of Rossi’s ensemble running towards pl Lomonosova, ulitsa Zodchego Rossi is proportion deified: it’s 22m wide, lined by buildings 22m high and 220m long. Vaganova School of Choreography is situated here and is the Mariinsky Ballet’s training school where Pavlova, Nijinsky, Nureyev and others learned their art; it is not open to the public.
SUMMER GARDEN
Perhaps St Petersburg’s loveliest park, the Summer Garden (Letny Sad; 10am-10pm May-Sep, 10am-8pm Oct–mid-Apr, closed mid to late-Apr; Gostiny Dvor) is between the Mars Field and the Fontanka River. You can enter at either the north or south end.
Laid out for Peter the Great with fountains, pavilions and a geometrical plan to resemble the park at Versailles in France, the garden became a strolling place for St Petersburg’s 19th-century leisured classes. Though changed since that era, it maintains a formal elegance, with thousands of lime trees shading its straight paths and lines of statues. Look out for the intriguing 12 Chairs ensemble commemorating the classic satirical novel by Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov.
St Petersburg’s first palace is the modest, two-storey Summer Palace (Muzey Letny Dvorets Petra 1; 314 0374; adult/student R300/150; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon early May-early Nov; Gostiny Dvor) in the garden’s northeast corner. Built for Peter from 1710 to 1714, it is pretty well intact with little reliefs around the walls depicting Russian naval victories. Inside it’s stocked with early-18th-century furnishings of limited appeal.
MIKHAILOVSKY CASTLE
A much greater Summer Palace used to stand across the canal from the southern end of the Summer Garden. But Rastrelli’s fairy-tale wooden creation for Empress Elizabeth was knocked down in the 1790s to make way for the bulky Mikhailovsky Castle (Mikhailovsky Zamok; 595 4248; www.rusmuseum.ru; Sadovaya ul 2; adult/student R350/150; 10am-5pm Mon, to 6pm Wed-Sun; Gostiny Dvor). The pale-orange-painted building was briefly home to Paul I, who was suffocated in his bed only a month after moving into the castle. Later it became a military engineering school (hence its more common name Engineers’ Castle). Inside are some finely restored state rooms, including the lavish burgundy throne room of the tsar’s wife Maria Fyodorovna and some of the original statues from the Summer Garden.
MARBLE PALACE
Between Mars Field and the Neva is another branch of the Russian Museum, the Marble Palace (Mramorny Dvorets; 312 9196; www.rusmuseum.ru; Millionnaya ul 5; adult/student R350/150; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon; Nevsky Pr), built for Catherine the Great’s lover, Grigory Orlov, from 1768 to 1785. Designed by Antonio Rinaldi, the palace is so named because it uses 36 different kinds of marble in its construction, both inside and out. Check out the grey-and-blue marble staircase and the fantastic Marble Hall. The art on display here is eclectic, ranging from 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century works done by foreign artists in Russia to the splendid Ludwig Museum, part of the modern art collection of chocolate billionaire Peter Ludwig. This is one of the few chances to see such a large collection of contemporary artwork in the city. The monstrous equestrian statue outside the museum of Alexander III is by the sculptor Paolo Trubetskoy, who famously quipped that he ‘simply depicted one animal on another’.
ADMIRALTY
The gilded spire of the old Admiralty (Admiralteysky proezd 1; closed to the public; Nevsky Pr), at the western edge of Dvortsovaya pl, is an unmistakable city landmark. It was here that the Russian navy had their headquarters from 1711 to 1917, and today the building houses the city’s largest naval college. Constructed from 1806 to 1823 to the designs of Andreyan Zakharov, it’s a prime example of the Russian Empire style of classical architecture, with its rows of white columns and plentiful reliefs and statuary. Check out the nymphs holding giant globes flanking the main gate. The gardens and fountain here are particularly lovely in summer.
RUSSIAN MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY
To learn about Russia’s intricate ethnic mosaic, drop by the fascinating Russian Museum of Ethnography (Rossysky Muzey Etnografii; 570 5421; www.ethnomuseum.ru; Inzhenernaya ul 4/1; adult/student R350/150, gold & jewellery exhibition R100/50; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun; Gostiny Dvor). There’s a bit of leftover Soviet propaganda going on here, but it’s a marvellous collection highlighting the traditional crafts, customs and beliefs of the more than 150 peoples covered by the former USSR. The museum’s centrepiece is the magnificent Marble Hall, a 1000-sq-metre gallery surrounded by pink Karelian marble columns.
PUSHKIN FLAT-MUSEUM
Beside one of the prettiest curves of the Moyka River is this little house where the poet Pushkin died after his duel in 1837 (Click here). Now the Pushkin Flat-Museum (Muzey-Kvartira A C Pushkina; 314 0006; www.museumpushkin.ru; nab reki Moyki 12; adult/student R200/60; 11am-5pm Wed-Mon; Nevsky Pr), it has been reconstructed to look as it did in the poet’s time and includes (for morbid fans) Pushkin’s death mask, a lock of his hair and the waistcoat worn on the day he died. Admission includes an audio guide.
MARS FIELD
Once the scene of 19th-century military parades, the grassy Mars Field lies immediately east of the Summer Garden. An eternal flame burns at its centre for the victims of the 1917 revolution and the ensuing civil war. Don’t take a shortcut across the grass – you may be walking on the graves of the communist luminaries also buried here.
Liteyny & Smolny
This section covers sights east of the Fontanka Canal and north of Nevsky pr. It includes Smolny, a governmental region and one of less-touristed areas of the city, running east from Liteyny pr towards Smolny Cathedral. All sights are on the Liteyny & Smolny map on Click here.
MUSEUM OF DECORATIVE & APPLIED ARTS
Also known as the Stieglitz Museum (273 3258; Solyarnoy per 13; adult/student R300/60; 11am-5pm Tue-Sat; Chernyshevskaya), this must-see establishment is in the block opposite the eastern side of the Summer Garden; the entrance is through the Sol-Art gallery (Click here). There’s no English labelling but the gorgeous objects displayed, from medieval handcrafted furniture to a rare collection of 18th-century Russian tiled stoves to the contemporary works of the students of the arts school, speak for themselves. Their surroundings merely match their magnificence.
In 1878, millionaire Baron Stieglitz founded the School of Technical Design and wanted to surround his students with world-class art to inspire them. He began a collection, continued by his son, that includes a unique array of European and Oriental glassware, porcelains, tapestries, furniture and paintings. Between 1885 and 1895, a building designed by architect Max Messmacher was constructed to house the collection – the building itself also became a masterpiece. Each hall is decorated in its own, unique style, including Italian, Renaissance, Flemish and baroque. The Terem Room, in the style of the medieval Terem Palace of Moscow’s Kremlin, is an opulent knockout.
After the revolution, the school was closed, the museum’s collection redistributed to the Hermitage and Russian Museum, and most of the lavish interiors brutally painted, plastered over, or even destroyed (one room was used as a sports hall). The painstaking renovation continues to this day, despite receiving no funding from the Ministry of Education under whose direction it falls (being connected to the Applied Arts School next door).
SHEREMETYEV PALACE
Splendid wrought-iron gates, facing the Fontanka River, guard the entrance to the Sheremetyev Palace (1750–55), which houses two lovely little museums. In the palace itself is the Museum of Music (272 3898; www.theatremuseum.ru/eng; nab reki Fontanki 34; adult/student R180/90; noon-6pm Wed-Sun; Gostiny Dvor), which has a collection of musical instruments from the 19th and 20th centuries, some beautifully decorated.
The Sheremetyev family was famous for the concerts and theatre it hosted at the palace. The rooms upstairs have been wonderfully restored and you get a great sense of what cultured life must have been like here. Check the local press for notices of concerts, which are occasionally still held here.
In a separate wing of the palace, reached from Liteyny pr, is the charming Anna Akhmatova Museum at the Fountain House (579 7239; www.akhmatova.spb.ru; Liteyny pr 53; adult/student R120/80; 10.30am-6.30pm Tue-Sun, 1pm-9pm Wed, closed last Wed of month; Mayakovskaya). Even if you know little about this celebrated early-20th-century poet, you will find yourself moved by the lovingly curated exhibits here. The evocative apartment on the 2nd floor is filled with mementos of the poet and her family, all of whom were persecuted during Soviet times. Outside, in a corner of the quiet garden, is a video room where you can watch Russian-language documentaries on her life.
OFF-BEAT ST PETERSBURG
Had your fill of St Petersburg’s grand vistas and plethora of palaces and museums? Here are some suggestions for those who wish to swim against the tide:
- Sniff out Major Kovalyov’s nose – the elusive character in Nikolai Gogol’s celebrated story set in St Petersburg, The Nose, is immortalised in a sculpture on the corner of pr Rimskogo-Korsakova and Voznesensky pr (Map).
- Inspect Rasputin’s Penis – the mad monk’s meaty 30cm-long member is the chief attraction at the otherwise eminently missable Museum of Erotica (Map; 320 7600; Furshtatskaya ul 47; admission R50; 8am-10pm; Chernyshevskaya) housed in a venereal disease clinic.
- Stimulate your subconscious – the Sigmund Freud Museum of Dreams (Map; 380 7650; www.freud.ru; Bolshoy pr 18A; adult/student R20/10; noon-5pm Tue & Sun; Sportivnaya) is housed in the Psychoanalytic Institute. The displays in the dimly lit two-room exhibition symbolise the dreams on which Freud based his theories.
- Board an ice breaker and a sub – tours on the hour are available at the Ice Breaker Krasin (Ledokol Krasin; Map; 325 3547 www.krassin.ru/en; cnr nab Leytenanta Shmidta & 23-ya liniya; adult/student R200/50; 10am-6pm Apr-Oct, 11am-5pm Nov-Mar; Vasileostrovskaya;
) and People’s Will D-2 Submarine Museum (Map; 356 5277; Shkipersky protok 10; adult/student R300/150; 11am-5pm Wed-Sun; Vasileostrovskaya), two workhorses from the Soviet glory days, which are sure to be a hit with the young ’uns. - Go mosaic crazy – St Petersburg’s hidden courtyards hold many surprises but few are as pleasant as that fronting the Small Academy of Art (Malaya Akademiya Iskusstv; Map) tucked away off ul Chaykovskogo near the Fontanka River: it’s been decorated in all manner of mosaic sculptures and is an enchanting place for children and adults alike.
Admission also includes the Josef Brodsky ‘American Study’. The poet did not live here, but his connection with Akhmatova was strong. His office has been recreated here, complete with furniture and other ‘artefacts’ from his adopted home in Massachusetts.
SMOLNY CATHEDRAL
The sky-blue Smolny Cathedral (577 1421; http://eng.cathedral.ru/smolny; pl Rastrelli 3/1; Chernyshevskaya), one of the most fabulous of Rastrelli’s buildings, is the centrepiece of a convent built mostly to the Italian architect’s designs from 1748 to 1757. His inspiration was to combine baroque details with the forest of towers and onion domes typical of an old Russian monastery. There’s special genius in the proportions of the cathedral (it gives the impression of soaring upward), for which the convent buildings are a perfect foil.
The cathedral is mainly used as an exhibition and concert hall, but it’s also possible to climb up one of the 63m belfries,which provide sweeping views of the city. If you don’t want to make the long walk from the metro station, trolleybuses 5 and 7 from Nevsky pr end up here.
BLOCKADE MUSEUM
Next door to the Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts is the grim but engrossing Blockade Museum (275 7208; Solyarnoy per 9; admission R100; 10am-4pm Tue, to 5pm Thu-Mon; Chernyshevskaya), opened just three months after the blockade was lifted. At that time it had 37,000 exhibits, including real tanks and aeroplanes, but three years later, during Stalin’s repression of the city, the museum was shut, its director shot, and most of the exhibits destroyed or redistributed. It reopened in 1989 and the displays now contain donations from survivors, including propaganda posters from the time and an example of the sawdust-filled tiny piece of bread Leningraders had to survive on. Book in advance for English excursions.
SUVOROV MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Laying claim to being the first museum in Russia dedicated to the memory of an outstanding individual, the Suvorov Memorial Museum (579 3914; www.suvorovmuseum.ru; ul Kirochnaya 43; adult/student R250/150; 10am-6pm Thu-Mon; Chernyshevskaya) celebrates Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov (1729–1800), one of Catherine the Great’s most illustrious soldiers. Stylistically modelled after an old Russian fortress, the handsome building is notable for its large exterior mosaics and its collection of military memorablia inside, including Suvorov’s personal effects. There’s no English labelling.
CATHEDRAL OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR
The interior of this beautifully restored yellow cathedral (Spaso-preobrazhensky Sobor; 272 3662; Preobrazhenskaya pl; services 10am & 6pm; Chernyshevskaya) is one of the most gilded in St Petersburg. The grand gates bear the imperial double-headed eagle in vast golden busts, reflecting the fact that Empress Elizabeth ordered its construction in 1743. This is where the Preobrazhensky Guards (the monarch’s personal protection unit) had their headquarters. Rebuilt in 1829 to a neoclassical design by Vasily Stasov, the cathedral is dedicated to the victory over the Turks in 1828–29; note the captured guns in the gate surrounding the church!
WORLD OF WATER MUSEUM
The handsomely restored brick complex of 19th-century buildings between the Tauride Gardens and the Neva River house St Petersburg’s water treatment company, Vodakanal, and its World of Water Museum (Muzey Mir Vody; 271 9479; Shpalernaya ul. 56; adult/student R60/20; 10am-5pm Wed-Sun; Chernyshevskaya). The view from the top of the water tower is grand and, if you can read the Russian-only captions, the slick, modern displays elsewhere in the museum are informative. Otherwise you can admire antique water pipes, commodes and photos of luxurious long-gone banya.
TAURIDE GARDENS & TAURIDE PALACE
The Tauride Gardens (Tavricheskii Sad; entrance on Potyomkinskaya ul; Chernyshevskaya) is a great place for a stroll, and there are some rusty rides for the kiddies. The view across the lake towards the Tauride Palace, built between 1783 and 1789 for Catherine the Great’s lover Potemkin, is a fine sight. The palace (closed to the public) takes its name from the Ukrainian region of Crimea (once called Tavriya), which Potemkin was responsible for conquering. Between 1906 and 1917, the State Duma, the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet all met here.
Vladimirskaya & Vosstaniya
South of Nevsky pr and east of the Fontanka River is Vladimirskaya, dominated by the gold-domed cathedral of the same name. Further east of here, across the swathe of tracks leading up to Moskovsky vokzal, is Vosstaniya, bordered on its far west side by the Neva River. All sights in this section can be found on the map on Click here.
PUSHKINSKAYA 10
The story of Pushkinskaya 10 (764 5371; www.p10.nonmuseum.ru; Ligovsky pr 53; free; 3-7pm Wed-Sun; Pl Vosstaniya) goes back to 1988, when a group of artists/squatters took over this condemned apartment block. The decrepit building became ‘underground central’, as artists and musicians moved in to set up studios.
Now a fully legit non-profit organisation (officially the Free Culture Society), this legendary locale has become a required stop for anyone who is interested in the city’s contemporary art and music scenes. Here you’ll find studio and gallery spaces, as well as the cool music clubs Fish Fabrique (Click here) and Experimental Sound Gallery (GEZ-21) (Click here) and an assortment of other shops. It offers a unique opportunity to hang out with local musicians and artists who are always eager to talk about their work.
The main galleries – the Museum of Non-Conformist Art and the New Academy of Fine Arts Museum – are on the 4th floor. Other smaller galleries are scattered throughout the building, and the artists often open their studios to visitors, especially on Saturday afternoons. A highlight is the Temple of Love, Peace & Music (764 5353; 6-8pm Fri & specially designated ‘high holidays’) on the ground floor, housing an amazing array of John Lennon paraphernalia collected by Kolya Vasin (Russia’s most famous Beatles’ fan) .
While the art centre commonly goes by the name ‘Pushkinskaya 10’, note that the entrance is through the archway at Ligovsky pr 53.
LOFT PROJECT FLOORS
Creating the biggest buzz in St Petersburg’s thriving contemporary art scene recently has been the complex Loft Project Floors (Loft Proekt Etazhi; Ligivosky pr 74; free; 2pm-10pm Tue-Sat; Ligovsky Pr). Hidden away, off the main road, in the former Smolensky Bread Bakery, Floors consists of four large and industrial-looking gallery spaces, the main one being Globe Gallery (www.globegallery.ru) on the fifth floor where the complex’s creators, architects Savelij Arkhipenko and his brother Egor also have their design office. At the time of research there were plans to create a summer café and viewing space on the roof and to install a wine bar at the rear of the gallery.
The complex’s largest exhibition space is on the second floor, where steel girder columns frame art to a dramatic effect. On the third floor a more intimate gallery is sometimes used to screen video art and there’s also the boutique Backstage (812 611 0095; www.backstage-gallery.ru) showing creations by Russian and Baltic designers by appointment only. Formula, on the fourth floor, is the private gallery of Irina Kuksenajte, the Vilnius-born artist whose joint show with Andrew Logan from the UK opened up the Globe Gallery in 2007.
ALEXANDER NEVSKY MONASTERY
This working monastery (Ansambl Aleksandro-Nevskoi Lavra274 1702; www.larva.spb.ru; Nevsky pr 179/2; admission free; grounds 6am-10pm; Pl Aleksandra Nevskogo), where you’ll find the graves of some of Russia’s most famous artistic figures, is entered from Pl Alexandra Nevskogo opposite Hotel Moskva. It was founded in 1713 by Peter the Great, who wrongly thought this was the location where Alexander of Novgorod had beaten the Swedes in 1240. In 1797 it became a lavra (superior monastery). The quiet grounds are open to the public; don’t come wearing shorts.
For most visitors the main reason for coming here is to view the graveyards (adult/student R140/70; 9.30am-5pm Fri-Wed) either side of the main entrance; tickets are sold outside the main gate (to your right as you enter). The Tikhvin Cemetery, on the right, contains the most famous ones. Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov (check out his wild tomb!), Borodin, Mussorgsky and Glinka all rest here. Turn right after entering and you’ll reach the tomb of Dostoevsky. The Lazarus Cemetery, on the left, contains several late, great St Petersburg architects – among them Starov, Voronikhin, Quarenghi, Zakharov and Rossi.
Across the canal just outside the main lavra complex, the first main building on the left is the 1717–22 baroque Annunciation Church, now the City Sculpture Museum (274 2517; adult/student R70/35; 11am-5pm Wed-Sun), featuring a large collection of the original models and designs for the city.
About 100m further on is the monastery’s classical Trinity Cathedral (open for worship from 6am Sat, Sun & holidays), built between 1776 and 1790. Hundreds crowd in on 12 September to celebrate the feast of St Alexander Nevsky. His remains are in the silver reliquary in the main iconostasis.
Opposite the cathedral is the St Petersburg Metropolitan’s House, built from 1775 to 1778. On the far right of the grounds facing the canal you’ll see St Petersburg’s Orthodox Academy, one of only a handful in Russia (the main one is in Sergiev Posad).
VLADIMIRSKAYA CHURCH
The 18th-century Vladimirskaya Church (312 1938; Vladimirsky pr 20; 8am-6pm; Vladimirskaya), designed by Quarenghi, was used as an underwear factory during Soviet times. It was reconsecrated in 1990 and is now one of the busiest churches in town. For a brilliant view of its amazing onion domes, have a drink in the 7th floor bar of the Hotel Dostoevsky across the road, part of the Vladimirsky Passazh shopping mall. The church’s interiors are also stunning (go upstairs to see the main body of the church).
DOSTOEVSKY MUSEUM
Dostoevsky lived in flats all over the city (mainly in the Sennaya area) but his final residence, where he penned most of The Brothers Karamazov, is preserved at the engrossing Dostoevsky Museum (571 4031; www.md.spb.ru; Kuznechny per 5/2; adult/student R120/60; 11am-6pm Tue-Sun, closed last Wed of month; Vladimirskaya). It all looks just as it did before the writer died in 1881. There’s also a rather gloomy statue of Dostoevsky outside the Vladimirskaya metro.
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV FLAT-MUSEUM
The charming Rimsky-Korsakov Flat-Museum (713 3208; www.theatremuseum.ru/eng; Zagorodny pr 28; adult/student R50/30; 11am-6pm Wed-Sun; Vladimirskaya) remains as it was when the composer lived here in the early 20th century. Check at the museum and on the website for details of concerts that are occasionally held here.
ARCTIC & ANTARCTIC MUSEUM
Learn all about Soviet polar explorations at the Arctic & Antarctic Museum (571 2549; www.polarmuseum.sp.ru; ul Marata 24A; adult/student R100/50; 10am-5pm Wed-Sat, 10am-4pm Sun; Vladimirskaya). Apart from stuffed polar bears and the like, the most impressive exhibit is a wooden boat plane hanging from the ceiling. Check out the informative website, though, for details of Vicaar, an Arctic expedition and tourism agency linked to the museum. The exterior of the former Old Believers’ Church of St Nicholas in which the museum is based has been recently restored to its former glory.
PLOSHCHAD VOSSTANIYA
Marking the division of Nevsky pr and Stary (old) Nevsky pr is ploschad Vosstaniya (Uprising Square; Pl Vosstaniya), whose landmarks are the giant granite pillar with the communist star, and Moskovsky vokzal (Click here). The Cyrillic on top of Hotel Oktyabrskaya across from the station translates as ‘Hero City Leningrad’; several cities were designated ‘hero cities’ for their heroism, stoicism and losses during WWII.
BELOSELSKY-BELOZERSKY PALACE
The photogenic salmon-pink backdrop to the Anichkov most is provided by the 1840s rococo Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace (315 5236; Nevsky pr 41; Mayakovskaya). Check the posters outside for details of the concerts that are occasionally held in the palace’s grandly oak-panelled and stuccoed concert hall.
Kolomna & Sennaya
This area, south and west of St Isaac’s Cathedral, contains some interesting sights but is also fine just for casual wandering, particularly around the meandering Griboedova Canal which flows close to Sennaya pl (Dostoevskyland), the Mariinsky Theatre and through Kolomna. All the sights are plotted on the map on Click here.
ST ISAAC’S CATHEDRAL
The golden dome of St Isaac’s Cathedral (315 9732; http://eng.cathedral.ru; Isaakievskaya pl; adult/student R300/150; 10am-8pm Thu-Mon, closed last Mon of the month; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl), looming just south of pl Dekabristov, dominates the St Petersburg skyline. Its obscenely lavish interior is open as a museum, although services are held in the cathedral on major religious holidays.
The French architect Ricard de Montferrand won a competition organised by Alexander I to design the cathedral in 1818. It took so long to build – until 1858 – that Alexander’s successor Nicholas I was able to insist on a more grandiose structure than Montferrand had planned. Special ships and a railway had to be built to carry the granite from Finland for the huge pillars. There’s a statue of Montferrand holding a model of the cathedral on the west facade.
You’ll need a separate ticket to climb the 262 steps up to the colonnade (adult/student R150/100; 10am-7pm Thu-Mon, closed last Mon of the month) around the drum of the dome; the panoramic city views make the climb worth it.
YUSUPOV PALACE
In a city of glittering palaces, the sumptuous interiors of the Yusupov Palace (314 9883; www.yusupov-palace.ru; nab reki Moyki 94; adult/student R500/280; 11am-5pm; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) more than hold their own. A series of sumptuously decorated rooms, each more spectacular than the last, culminate in a gilded jewel box of a theatre, where classical music, ballet and opera performances are still held; check the website for details. Attending such a performance is recommended as it includes a tour of the palace first (minus the tour group crowds that can descend on the place in the summer) and a viewing of the cellar room where the plot to murder Rasputin was hatched (Click here), complete with hokey waxworks of the mad monk and his nemesis Felix Yusupov.
Admission includes an audio tour in English as well as several other languages. You have to pay extra for the Murder of Rasputin tour (adult/student R300/150); be warned that places are limited to 20 daily and it’s conducted in Russian (although there are English explanations in each of the rooms), so book ahead if you’re interested. There’s also a very upmarket souvenir shop here, tucked away near the ticket office.
PLOSHCHAD DEKABRISTOV & AROUND
Between the Neva River and St Isaac’s Cathedral is ploshchad Dekabristov (Decembrists’ Square; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl), named after the first attempt at a Russian revolution, the Decembrists’ Uprising of 14 December 1825 (Click here), which kicked off and then quickly fizzled here.
HISTORIC RAILWAY STATIONS
As the birthplace of Russia’s railway system, it’s not surprising that St Petersburg has some grand stations. The oldest and most elegant is Vitebsky vokzal (Vitebsk Station; Map;
While at Moskovsky vokzal(Moscow Station; Map;
Finlyandsky vokzal (Finland Station; Map;
The most famous statue of Peter the Great (practically a trademark image of the city) stands at the river end of the square. The Bronze Horseman has Peter’s mount rearing above the snake of treason and was sculpted over 12 years for Catherine the Great by Frenchman Etienne Falconet. The inscription reads ‘To Peter I from Catherine II − 1782’.
Most of the square’s western side is occupied by the former Senate and Synod buildings, built in 1829–34, which are being turned into Russia’s new constitutional court. The Manege Central Exhibition Hall (312 2243; www.manege.spb.ru, in Russian; Isaakievskaya pl 1; admission varies R50-100; 11am-6pm Fri-Wed) across the street used to be the Horse Guards’ Riding School (constructed in 1804–07 from a design by Quarenghi). It now hosts rotating art exhibitions.
SENNAYA PLOSHCHAD & AROUND
Once known as Haymarket, frenetic Sennaya ploshchad (Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl), crowded with giant kiosks and surrounded by glitzy shopping malls, is the gateway to ‘Dostoevskyland’. Crime and Punishment was set in this area and although the cathedral that once dominated the square in Dostoevsky’s time has long been demolished, the writer would still recognise something of the area’s former raffishness, if not the squalor.
Just west of the square, across the Griboedova Canal, is the flat (Kaznacheyskaya ul 7) where the peripatetic writer (he occupied around 20 residences in his 28-year stay in the city) wrote Crime and Punishment; the route taken by the novel’s antihero Raskolnikov to murder the old woman moneylender passed directly under the author’s window. The old woman lived at flat 74, naberezhnaya kanala Griboedova 104; you can visit the hallway outside the flat (residents are quite used to it). Entering from the canal side, walk straight back to entrance No 5 (apartments 22–81); the flat’s on the 3rd floor.
AS POPOV CENTRAL MUSEUM OF COMMUNICATIONS
Housed in the grand 18th-century palace of Chancellor Bezborodko, this excellent new museum (Tsentralny Muzey Svyazei imeni AS Popova; 315 4873; www.rustelecom-museum.ru; Pochtamtsky per 4; admission R50; 10.30am-6pm Tue-Sat; Sadovaya; ) is named for Professor AS Popov, inventor of the radio. It covers all manner of communication, from the Pony Express up through the modern era (on-site computers offer internet access to all visitors). Exhibits are interactive and interesting, including an antique telephone switchboard that still works; the first civil communications satellite Luch-15, occupying a prominent place in the atrium; and plenty of multimedia explanations of how things work. Stamp collectors will have a field day admiring the national philatelic collection and kids will be intrigued by the technology new and old.
MUSEUM OF RAILWAY TRANSPORT
Every trainspotter’s dream is realised at the Museum of Railway Transport (315 1476; http://railroad.ru/cmrt, in Russian; Sadovaya ul 50; adult/student R100/50; 11am-5pm Wed-Sun, closed last Thu of month; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl). This fascinating collection features scale locomotives and model railway bridges that were often made by the same engineers who built the real ones. The oldest such collection in the world (the museum was established in 1809, 28 years before Russia had its first working train!), it includes models of Krasnoyarsk’s Yenisey Bridge, the ship that once carried passengers and trains on the trans-Siberian route across Lake Baikal, and a sumptuous 1903 Trans-Siberian wagon complete with piano salon and bathtub. To see full-sized vintage trains, visit the Museum of Railway Technology (Click here).
GRAND CHORAL SYNAGOGUE
Restored to its full Byzantine-styled glory, the Grand Choral Synagogue (713 8186; www.jewishpetersburg.ru; Lermontovsky pr 2; 11am-3pm Mon-Wed, 11am-2pm Thu & Fri, services 10am Sat; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) was designed by Vasily Stasov and opened in 1893. Its lavishness (particularly notable in the highly unusual and decorative wedding chapel to the left as you enter) indicates the pivotal role Jews played in imperial St Petersburg. All men and married women should cover their head on entering the building. There’s a good kosher restaurant, Lechaim (Click here), in the basement.
MARIINKSY THEATRE
The pretty green-and-white Mariinsky Theatre (Click here) has played a pivotal role in Russia’s cultural scene ever since it was built in 1859 as the home of the Imperial Russian Opera and Ballet companies. Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker both premiered here. In 1935 the Soviets renamed it the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre, and while the theatre has reverted to its prerevolutionary name, the company is still called the Kirov outside Russia.
The Mariinsky has undergone an artistic renaissance under dynamic, workaholic artistic director Valery Gergiev. However, the 19th-century theatre is clapped out, with ancient equipment unable to cope with modern productions in desperate need of renovation. In 2004, ambitious plans were signed off to build a second stage for the theatre behind the current building (Click here). Although this is still under construction, in the meantime, the new Mariinsky Concert Hall (Click here) provides a second stage for the company’s orchestra and invited guests to play.
Outside performance times you can usually wander into the foyer, and maybe peep into its lovely auditorium. To organise a full tour fax a request to Dr Yury Schwartzkopf (326 4141; fax 314 1744) and call back for an answer.
NIKOLSKY CATHEDRAL
Its picture-perfect canalside setting, baroque spires and golden domes make the ice-blue Nikolsky Cathedral (Nikolsky Sobor; Nikolskaya pl 1/3; 9am-7pm; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl), just south of the Mariinsky Theatre, one of the city’s best-loved churches. Nicknamed the Sailor’s Church (Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors), it contains many 18th-century icons and a finely carved wooden iconostasis. A graceful bell tower overlooks the canal, which is crossed by the Staro-Nikolsky most (from this bridge, you can see at least seven bridges, more than from any other spot in the city).
NABOKOV MUSEUM
From his birth in 1899 until 1917, when his family fled Russia, Vladimir Nabokov, author of Lolita and arguably the most versatile and least classifiable of modern Russian writers, lived at this lovely 19th-century townhouse now turned into a small museum (571 4502; www.nabokovmuseum.org; Bolshaya Morskaya ul 47; adult/student R100/20, admission free 11am-3pm Thu; 11am-6pm Tue-Fri, noon-5pm Sat & Sun; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl). In Nabokov’s autobiography Speak, Memory, he refers to it as a ‘paradise lost’ and it’s easy to imagine why after seeing the charming carved oak interiors. There are various displays of Nabokov-related artefacts, but the museum is more of a cultural centre hosting festivals and special events.
RUMYANTSEV MANSION
The majestic Rumyantsev Mansion (1826) is home to the superb State Museum of the History of St Petersburg (571 7544; www.spbmuseum.ru; Angliyskaya nab 44; adult/student R60/30; 11am-6pm Thu-Tue; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl). Although its main focus is the Blockade (it has the city’s largest repository of documents from that time), the museum also has other interesting displays. The mansion’s fixtures, including staircases in Carrara marble and carved oak, are beautiful. Ask for an English guide at the ticket office.
Vasilevsky Island
The most convenient metro station for this area is Vasileostrovskaya but for sights around the Strelka you’d do just as well to walk over the Neva from the Hermitage or catch one of the numerous buses that run there from Nevsky pr. All the sights are found on the map on Click here.
STRELKA
Some of the best views of St Petersburg can be had from Vasilevsky Island’s eastern ‘nose’ known as the Strelka (Tongue of Land). Peter the Great’s plan was to have his new city’s administrative and intellectual centre here. In fact, it became the focus of St Petersburg’s maritime trade, symbolised by the white colonnaded Stock Exchange (now the Central Naval Museum, right). The two Rostral Columns on the point, studded with ships’ prows, were oil-fired navigation beacons in the 1800s; on some holidays, Victory Day for one, gas torches are still lit on them. From May to October a massive floating musical fountain, shooting jets up to 60m into the air, is anchored in the Neva just opposite here.
MENSHIKOV PALACE
Another branch of the Hermitage is in the riverside Menshikov Palace (Menshikovsky Dvorets; 323 1112; www.hermitagemuseum.org; Universitetskaya nab 15; adult/student R200/100; 10.30am-6pm Tue-Sat, 10.30-5pm Sun; Vasileostrovskaya), built in 1707 for Alexander Menshikov, a close friend (many now say lover) of Peter the Great. Menshikov effectively ran Russia from here for three years between Peter’s death and his own exile. The palace’s impressively restored interiors are filled with period art and furniture. Fact sheets in English on each of the rooms are available.
MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY & ETHNOGRAPHY
The city’s first museum (Kunstkamera; 328 1412; www.kunstkamera.ru; entrance on Tamozhenny per; adult/student R200/100; 11am-6pm Tue-Sat, to 5pm Sun; Vasileostrovskaya) was founded in 1714 by Peter himself. It’s infamous for its ghoulish collection of monstrosities, notably preserved freaks, two-headed mutant foetuses and odd body parts, all collected by Peter with the aim of educating the common people against superstitions. Sadly, most people rush to see these sad specimens, largely ignoring the other interesting (though not well displayed) exhibits on native peoples from around the world. Here you’ll also find an exhibition devoted to the scientist and renaissance man Mikhail Lomonosov (whose statue stands beside the nearby Twelve Colleges building of the city university) with a recreation of his study-laboratory.
ACADEMY OF ARTS MUSEUM
Guarded by two imported Egyptian sphinxes said to be about 3500 years old, the Academy of Arts Museum (Muzey Akedemin Khydozhyestv; 323 6469, excursions 213 3578; www.nimrah.com.ru; Universitetskaya nab 17; adult/student R300/150, English excursions R1500; 11am-6pm Wed-Sun; Vasileostrovskaya) is certainly worth a look if you are interested in Russian art. Inside are works done by academy students and the faculty since its founding in 1775, including many studies and temporary exhibitions. Boys would live in this building from the age of five until they graduated at age 15 – it was an experiment to create a new species of human: the artist. With graduates including Ilya Repin, Karl Bryullov and Anton Losenko, something must have worked.
See models of the original versions of Smolny, St Isaac’s and the Alexander Nevsky monastery on the 3rd floor. Also take a peek into the fabulous old library.
CENTRAL NAVAL MUSEUM
Housed in what was once the Stock Exchange, the impressive Central Naval Museum (Tsentralny Voenno-Morskoi Muzey; 328 2502; www.museum.navy.ru/index_e.htm; Birzhevoy proezd 4; adult/student R320/110; 11am-6pm Wed-Sun, closed last Thu of the month; Vasileostrovskaya), is packed with maps, excellent model ships, flags and photos relating to the Russian navy up to the present – it’s a must for maritime enthusiasts and boat-crazy kids.
MUSEUM OF ZOOLOGY
One of the biggest and best of its kind in the world, the city’s Museum of Zoology (Zoologichesky Muzey; 328 0112; www.zin.ru/mus_e.htm; Universitetskaya nab 1; adult/child R150/50, free Thu; 11am-6pm Sat-Thu; Vasileostrovskaya) was founded in 1832 and has some amazing exhibits. Amid the dioramas and the tens of thousands of mounted beasties from around the globe is a complete woolly mammoth, thawed out of the Siberian ice in 1902, and a live insect zoo! Pay your entrance fee at the microscopic cash window just west of the main entrance.
TEMPLE OF THE ASSUMPTION
The attractive 1895 neo-Byzantine Temple of the Assumption (Uspenskoe Podvore Pustin; 321 7473; nab Leytenanta Shmidta 27; 8am-8pm; Vasileostrovskaya) is again a working church, although restoration of the interior’s beautiful murals continues. Closed during the Soviet period from 1957, it was turned into the city’s first year-round skating rink. You’ll find a good church shop here selling choral music and freshly baked cakes.
Petrograd Side
Petrograd Side (Petrogradskaya storona) is a cluster of delta islands between the Malaya Neva and Bolshaya Nevka channels, including little Zayachy Island, where Peter the Great first broke ground for the city. All sights below are marked on the map on Click here.
PETER & PAUL FORTRESS
Set aside a chunk of time to explore the Peter & Paul Fortress (Petropavlovskaya krepost; 238 4550; www.spbmuseum.ru/peterpaul; grounds 6am-10am, exhibitions 11am-6pm Thu-Mon, 11am-5pm Tue; Gorkovskaya) as there’s plenty to do and see. Individual tickets are needed for each of fortress’s attractions so the best deal is the combined entry ticket (adult/student R250/130), which allows access to all the exhibitions on the island (except the bell tower) and is valid for 10 days.
Dating from 1703, the hexahedral fortress is the oldest building in St Petersburg, planned by Peter the Great as a defence against the Swedes. It never actually saw any action and its main use up to 1917 was as a political prison; famous residents included Dostoevsky, Gorky, Trotsky and Lenin’s older brother, Alexander. To get a sense of the scale of the place, and for wonderful river views, first walk the Nevskaya Panorama (adult/student R100/60), along part of the battlements, then head inside the SS Peter & Paul Cathedral (adult/student R170/80) whose 122m-tall, needle-thin gilded spire is one of the defining landmarks of St Petersburg. Its magnificent baroque interior is the last resting place of all of Russia’s prerevolutionary rulers from Peter the Great onward, except for Peter II and Ivan VI. The St Petersburg male choir gives concerts here on Mondays and Fridays at 7pm.
The 122.5m-high bell tower (498 0505; adult/student R100/60; tours noon, 1.30pm, 3.30pm & 4pm May-Sep) remains the city’s tallest structure. It offers a small exhibition about the renovation of the tower, as well as an up-close inspection of the bell-ringing mechanism. The main reason to climb all these steps, of course, is for the magnificent 360-degree panorama. The bell tower is open only with a guided tour, so call in advance or check the information office for the schedule, which is likely to change. Tickets are sold at the boathouse.
Among the other sights within the fortress worthy of a look is the fascinating history of St Petersburg exhibition inside the Commandant’s House (adult/student R100/60). Covering up to the 1917 revolution, there are some very good displays here including a vivid painting of the great flood of 1824 that all but swept the city away, and a model showing how the Alexander Column in Palace Sq was erected. Outside the house look for Mikhail Shemyakin’s controversial Peter the Great statue with its out-of-proportion head and hands.
At noon every day a cannon is fired from the Naryshkin Bastion. Nevsky Gate, in the south wall, is where prisoners were loaded onto boats for execution. Note the plaques showing the water levels of famous floods. Along the walls on any sunny day – including the rare ones in winter and spring – you’ll see standing sunbathers (standing’s said to give you a proper tan). In winter even hardier souls come here to swim at the Walrus Club (Click here).
ARTILLERY MUSEUM
Across the moat from the Peter & Paul Fortress, and housed in its original arsenal, this museum (Voyenno-istorichesky Muzey Artilerii; 232 0296; Alexandrovsky Park 7; adult/student courtyard R50/20, museum R300/150, photos R100; 11am-6pm Wed-Sun; Gorkovskaya) is always a hit with the kids. It chronicles Russia’s military history, with examples of weapons dating all the way back to the Stone Age. The centrepiece is Lenin’s armoured car, which he rode in triumph from Finland Station. Even if you are not impressed by guns and bombs, who could resist climbing around on the tanks and trucks that adorn the courtyard?
CATHEDRAL MOSQUE
This working mosque (Sobornaya Mechet; 233 9819; Kronverksky pr 7; Gorkovskaya), built between 1910 and 1914, is modelled on Samarkand’s Gur Emir Mausoleum. Although a serious place of worship, and decidedly not a tourist attraction, its fluted azure dome and minarets have emerged from a painstaking renovation and are stunning to view from outside.
MUSEUM OF POLITICAL HISTORY
Way more interesting than it sounds, the Museum of Political History (233 7052; www.polithistory.ru; ul Kuybysheva 2-4; adult/student R150/70; 10am-5pm Fri-Wed; Gorkovskaya) occupies two elegant, connected Style Moderne palaces – one of them once belonged to Matilda Kshesinskaya, famous ballet dancer and one-time lover of Tsar Nicholas II. The Bolsheviks made it their headquarters and Lenin often gave speeches from the balcony. Although the main exhibit details Russian politics (with English captions) to the present day, you’ll also come across some of the best Soviet kitsch in town and incredibly rare satirical caricatures of Lenin published in magazines between the 1917 revolutions (the same drawings a few months later would have got the artist imprisoned, or worse).
HOUSE-MUSEUMS
This quartet of house-museums make for an offbeat tour of the Petrograd Side. All are lovingly tended by squadrons of babushkas who take as much care (if not more) of them as they would their own homes. Walking between each of the following will also allow you to enjoy some of the lovely Style Moderne architecture in the area.
The Sergei Kirov Museum (346 0217; www.kirovmuseum.spb.ru; Kamennoostrovsky pr 26/28; admission R50; 11am-6pm Thu-Tue; Petrogradskaya) is in the 4th and 5th-floor apartment where one of Stalin’s henchmen spent his last days. Kirov’s murder started a wave of deadly repression throughout Russia. Don’t miss the Party leader’s death clothes, hung out for reverence: you can see the tiny, bloodstained hole in the back of his cap where he was shot, and the torn seam on his jacket’s left breast where doctors tried to revive his heart. The comfy apartment shows how the Bolshevik elite really lived and there’s also a charming section on the daily lives of St Petersburg’s children from 1917 to 1940.
Also having a very bourgeois time of it was Lenin, who holed up for a while before the revolution at an apartment owned by his wife’s family. This is now preserved as the Yelizarov Museum (235 3778; flat 24, ul Lenina 52; adult/student R200/50; 10am-6pm, closed Sun & Wed; Chkalovskaya), housed in a striking ocean-liner-like building built in 1913. The flat’s delightful turn-of-the-20th-century fittings have again been preserved intact.
Also known as the House of Matiushin, the Petersburg Avant-garde Museum (Muzey Peterburgskogo Avantgarda Dom Matooshina; 234 4289; ul Professora Popova 10; adult/student R70/50; 11am-6pm Mon, Thu-Sun, 11am-5pm Tue; Petrogradskaya) occupies a charming grey-painted wooden cottage (rare for the city centre) dating from the mid-19th century that was once the home of avant-garde artist Mikhail Matiushin (1861–1934) and a couple of his wives. Displays relating to Matiushin’s work and that of his coterie can be found inside.
Opera buffs will be thrilled with the Chaliapin House-Museum (234 1056; www.theatremuseum.ru; ul Graftio 2B; adult/student R100/50; noon-6pm Wed-Sun), where the great singer Fyodor Chaliapin last lived before fleeing postrevolutionary Russia in 1922. The kindly attendants will happily play the singer’s recordings as you wander around.
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KIROVSKY ISLANDS
This is the collective name for the outer delta islands of Petrograd Side – Kamenny, Yelagin and Krestovsky. Once marshy jungles, the islands were granted to 18th- and 19th-century court favourites and developed into bucolic playgrounds. Still mostly parkland, they remain huge leafy venues for picnics, river sports and White Nights cavorting.
Kamenny Island
This island’s charm, seclusion and century-old dachas (now inhabited by the wealthy), combined with winding lanes and a series of canals, lakes and ponds, make a stroll here pleasant at any time of year. At the eastern end of the island, the Church of St John the Baptist, built between 1776 and 1781, has been charmingly restored. Behind it, the big, classical Kamennoostrovsky Palace, built by Catherine the Great for her son, is now a weedy military sanatorium.
Kamenny Island is a short walk south of metro Chyornaya Rechka (turn right as you exit, cross the bridge and you’re there).
Yelagin Island
The centrepiece of this pedestrian-only, 2km-long island (admission R10 Sat & Sun) is the Yelagin Palace (430 1131; www.elaginpark.spb.ru; adult/student R100/50; 10am-5pm Wed-Sun; Krestovsky Ostrov), built for his mother by Tsar Alexander I, who had architect Carlo Rossi landscape the entire island while he was at it. The palace, with beautifully restored interiors, is to your right as you cross the footbridge from Kamenny Island.
The rest of the island is a lovely park, with a plaza at the western end looking out to the Gulf of Finland. You can rent rowing boats in the northern part of the island.
Krestovsky Island
The biggest of the three islands, Krestovsky (Krestovsky Ostrov) consists mostly of the vast Seaside Park of Victory (Primorsky Park Pobedy), dotted with sports fields and, close to the metro, Divo Ostrov (323 9707; www.divo-ostrov.ru/en; rides R20-370, all-day pass adult/child R1700/550; 2-9pm Mon, 11am-9pm Tue-Sun). It’s an amusement park with thrill rides that kids will adore and that Disneyland should get its lawyers onto for blatant copying of signs. You can also rent bikes and in-line skates here (Click here). At the island’s far western end, the giant Kirov Stadium is being rebuilt to a design by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa.
BOTANICAL GARDENS
Once the second-biggest botanical gardens in the world, behind London’s Kew Gardens, the botanical gardens (234 0673; ul Professora Popova 2; grounds R50; all greenhouses R150; 10am-6pm May-Oct, 11am-4pm Sat-Thu Nov-Apr; Petrogradskaya) contains giant dilapidated greenhouses on a 22-hectare site and, although very much faded since its glory days, it’s still a pleasant place to stroll. A highlight is the ‘tsaritsa nochi’ (Selenicereus pteranthus), a flowering cactus that blossoms only one night a year, usually in mid-June, when the gardens stay open all night for visitors to gawk at the marvel.
THE LENINGRAD BLOCKADE
The defining event of the 20th century for St Peterburg was the Blockade of WWII. Around a million people died from shelling, starvation and disease in what’s called the ‘900 Days’ (actually 872). By comparison, the USA and UK suffered about 700,000 dead between them in all of WWII.
The Nazi plan, as indicated in a secret directive, was to ‘wipe the city of Petersburg from the face of the earth’. After the war began on 22 June 1941, with the Germans fast approaching, many residents fled. Art treasures and precious documents from the Hermitage and other museums were shipped out; factories were evacuated and relocated to Siberia; historical sculptures were buried or covered with sandbags. Yet no-one could have predicted the suffering yet to come.
A fragile ‘Road of Life’ across frozen Lake Ladoga was the only (albeit heavily bombed) lifeline the city had for provisions and evacuations. Food was practically nonexistent, and at one point rations were limited to 175g of sawdust-laden bread a day. People ate their pets, rats and birds. The paste behind wallpaper was scraped off and eaten, leather cooked until chewable and, eventually, the most desperate souls turned to cannibalism.
Despite the suffering and the 150,000 shells and bombs that rained down on the city, life went on. Concerts and plays were performed in candlelit halls, lectures given, poetry written, orphanages opened, brigades formed to clean up the city. Most famous was the 9 August 1942 concert of Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony by the Leningrad Philharmonic, broadcast nationally by radio from the besieged city. According to survivors, random acts of kindness outnumbered incidents of robbery and vandalism, and lessons learned about the human spirit would be remembered for a lifetime.
For a detailed, harrowing description of the blockade, read Harrison Salisbury’s 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad. Otherwise, a visit to one or all of these Blockade-related sites – St Petersburg History Museum (Click here), Blockade Museum (Click here) and the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad (opposite) – would greatly enrich your understanding of its history.
CRUISER AURORA
Built in 1900, the Cruiser
Aurora (230 8440; Petrovskaya nab; admission free; 10.30am-4pm Tue-Thu, Sat & Sun; Gorkovskaya) saw action in the Russo-Japanese War and is now a museum that will appeal to naval enthusiasts and kids. It was from this ship that the shot marking the start of the October Revolution was fired. So hallowed was the cruiser that during WWII the Russians sank it to protect it from German bombs.
LENINGRADSKY ZOO
West of Aleksandrovsky Park is the city’s Zoo (Leningradsky Zoopark; 232 4828; www.spbzoo.ru; Aleksandrovsky Park 1; adult/child R250/60; 10am-5pm). The lack of funds is pitifully evident, but all things considered, it’s pretty well kept and has had remarkable success in breeding polar bears in captivity (over 100 have been born here since 1993).
Vyborg Side
Attractions on the north bank of the Neva are few and far between – several of the ones that do exist, though, are worth seeing.
HERMITAGE STORAGE FACILITY
On the tour of the Hermitage’s state-of-the art Storage Facility (Map;344 9226; www.hermitagemuseum.com; 37A Zausadebnaya ul; adult R300; tours at 11am, 1pm, 1.30pm & 3.30pm Wed-Sun; Staraya Derevnya), you’ll be led through a handful of rooms housing but a fraction of the museum’s collection. This is not a formal exhibition as such but the guides are knowledgeable and the examples chosen for display – paintings, furniture, carriages – are wonderful. The highlight is the gorgeous wool and silk embroidered Turkish Ceremonial Tent presented to Catherine the Great by Sultan Selim III in 1793 (and not opened for over 200 years!). Beside it stands an equally impressive modern diplomatic gift – a massive wood carving of the mythical Garuda bird, given by Indonesia to the city for its 300th anniversary. The storage facility is directly behind the big shopping centre opposite the metro station.
BUDDHIST TEMPLE
A short walk south from the storage facility, overlooking Yelagin Island, is the colourfully decorated Buddhist temple (Map; 239 0341; http://dazan.spb.ru; Primorsky pr 91; 10am-7pm; Staraya Derevnya), built between 1909 and 1915 at the instigation of Pyotr Badmaev, a Buddhist physician to Tsar Nicholas II. Like many other religious buildings it was closed during the Communist period; however, the damage was not particularly profound and the datsan was returned to the city’s small Gelugpa, or Yellow Hat, Buddhist community in 1990. Visitors are welcome, although it’s best to avoid service times (10am). There’s a small café downstairs serving Buryat dishes.
SAMPSONIEVSKY CATHEDRAL
Brightening up the drab industrial area of Vyborg Side is this delightful pea-green baroque cathedral (Map; 315 4361; http://eng.cathedral.ru/sampsonievsky; 41 Bolshaya Sampsonievsky pr; adult/concession R200/100; 11am-6pm Thu-Tue; Vyborgskaya) dating from 1740. Catherine the Great is believed to have married her one-eyed lover Grigory Potemkin here in 1774 in a secret ceremony attended by just a couple of other people.
The church’s most interesting feature is the calendar of saints, two enormous panels on either side of the nave, each representing six months of the year, with every day decorated by a mini-icon of its saint(s). The enormous silver chandelier above the altar is also something to behold, as is the stunning baroque, green and golden iconostasis.
Southern St Petersburg
Stalin tried to relocate the city centre to the south, and you can see some of the grand Soviet master plan along Moskovsky pr and south of the Narva Gate along pr Stachek leading to the Kirovsky Zavod heavy engineering plant. Elsewhere, dotted around southern St Petersburg, there are a few other worthwhile attractions.
MONUMENT TO THE HEROIC DEFENDERS OF LENINGRAD
On the way to or from the airport you won’t miss the awe-inspiring Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad (Map; 293 6036; pl Pobedy; admission free; 10am-6pm Thu-Tue; Moskovskaya). Centred on a 48m-high obelisk, the monument is a sculptural ensemble of bronze statues symbolising the heavy plight of defence and eventual victory.
On a lower level, a bronze ring 40m in diameter symbolises the city’s encirclement. Haunting symphonic music creates a sombre atmosphere to guide you downstairs to the underground exhibition in a huge, mausoleum-like interior, where 900 bronze lamps create an eeriness matched by the sound of a metronome – the only sound heard by Leningraders on their radios throughout the war save for emergency announcements. Twelve thematically assembled showcases feature items from the war and Blockade. Ask to see the two seven-minute documentary films, played on large screens at the touch of a button.
MUSEUM OF RAILWAY TECHNOLOGY
Trainspotters should hasten to view the impressive collection of decommissioned locomotives at this outdoor museum (Tsentralny Muzey Oktyabrskoy Zheleznoy Dorogi; Map; 768 2063; nab Obvodnogo Kanala 118; adult/student R150/80; 11am-5pm; Baltiyskaya) behind the old Warsaw Station. Some 75 nicely painted and buffed engines and carriages dating back to the late 19th century are on display, as well as a mobile intercontinental nuclear missile launcher.
CHESMA CHURCH
East off Moskovsky pr is the striking red-and-white 18th-century Gothic Chesma Church (Map; 443 6114; ul Lensoveta 12; admission free; 10am-7pm; Moskovskaya), built from 1774 to 1780 in honour of Russia’s victory over the Turks at the Battle of Çesme (1770). Its relatively remote location is due to the fact that Catherine the Great was on this spot when news arrived of the victory, so that’s where she ordered the church to be built.
MOSKOVSKY PROSPEKT
This long avenue, heading due south from Sennaya ploshchad to the airport, is the start of the main road to Moscow. Along it you’ll find the iron Moscow Triumphal Arch (Map; Moskovskiye Vorota), built in 1838 to mark victories over Turks, Persians and Poles, demolished in 1936, then rebuilt from 1959 to 1960.
Further south is Moskovskaya ploshchad, with its statue of Lenin and imposing House of Soviets (Map; Moskovskaya), which was intended to become the new centre of St Petersburg under a 1930s plan, replacing the old tsarist centre. In a testament to the stubbornness of St Petersburgers during Stalin’s terror, this plan was universally ignored.
ACTIVITIES
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Banya
Tired? Frustrated by Russian bureaucracy? A good beating may be all you need – or all you need to give! Here are a few of the better bani (bathhouses; Click here for correct banya etiquette):
Coachmen’s Banya (Yaskiye Bani; Map; 312 5836; www.yamskie.ru; ul Dostoevskogo 9; admission R150-500; men: 8am-10.30pm Mon, Wed-Sun, women: 8am-10.30pm daily, lux class: 9am-11pm; Vladimirskaya) Multilevel complex with both ordinary and lux banya as well as private rooms and saunas for you to rent with up to eight friends. The attendants are friendly and the patrons take their bathing very seriously. Last entry to all baths is 9pm.
Kruglye Bani (Circle Baths; Map; 550 0985; Karbysheva ul 29A; communal per person R25, lux per person R320, private R800; 8am-10pm Fri-Tue; Pl Muzhestva) One of the city’s best baths; has a unisex heated circular open-air pool. There are private facilities, too. The banya is opposite the metro; look for the round building across the grassy traffic island.
Mitninskaya Bani (Map; 274 5455; ul Mytninskaya 17-19; admission from R110; 8am-10pm Fri-Tue, last entry 8.30pm; Pl Vosstaniya) One of the few banya in the city to be heated with a wood furnace, just like in the countryside.
Second Courtyard (Vtoroy Dvor; Map; 321 6441; www.dvor.boom.ru in Russian; nab Leytenanta Shmidta 29; public per person R300, private per hr R1100; public 10am-4pm, private bookings 4pm-10am; Vasileostrovskaya) Tucked into the second courtyard behind an apartment block on the Vasilevsky Island embankment. The small but sparkling facility includes a Finnish sauna and Russian steam room, as well as a small plunge pool. A public banya by day, in the evening you can book the whole place out for your private party (up to eight people).
Usachovskie Bani (Map; 714 3984; per Makarenko 12; ordinary baths R100, lux R360; men: 9am-9pm Wed & Fri, 8am-8pm Sun, women: 9am-9pm Tue & Thu, 8am-10pm Sat; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) Top-grade communal baths in a handsome old red-brick building just south of the Mariinsky. Their lux section keeps slightly later hours and are also open from 5 to 11.30pm Monday .
Boating, Yachting & Kayaking
Rowboats can be rented (around R200 per hour) on Yelagin Island near the bridge to the Vyborg Side. For more serious sailing contact:
St Petersburg River Yacht Club (Map; 235-6636; http://yachtsman.spb.ru; Petrovskaya kosa 9; Krestovsky Ostrov) Established in 1860, Russia’s oldest yachting club is located at the western tip of Petrovsky Island on the Petrograd Side. They organise regattas and have a fleet of over 100 yachts. The chic restaurant More is also located here.
Solnechny Parus (Map; 327 3525; www.solpar.ru; ul Vosstaniya 55; 10am-8pm Mon-Fri, 11am-6pm Sat; Chernyshevskaya) This agency organises yacht cruises in the Gulf of Finland.
Yachting and kayaking on Lake Ladoga can also be arranged through the friendly and capable guys at Wild Russia (Map; 313 8030; www.wildrussia.spb.ru; nab reki Fontanki 59; Gostiny Dvor). They can also arrange many other outdoor activities including off-road biking, parachuting, quad biking and rock climbing outside the city.
Cycling & In-line Skating
Avoid the major traffic-choked roads and pancake-flat St Petersburg is a great city for cycling around. You can either rent a bike from the outlets below or join one of the Sunday morning cycle tours offered by Peter’s Tours (Click here). A good website with information on cycling events in the city is www.velopiter.spb.ru (in Russian). In-line skating is also popular; there’s usually an organised mass skate/cycle around the city on Friday nights, starting around 11pm from Dvortsovaya pl.
Listed below are places to rent both bikes and skates: remember to take along your passport and a sizeable chunk of roubles (up to R4000) for a deposit.
Jet Set (Map; 973 2145; www.jet-set.ru.net; Morskoy pr; bike rental per hr from R150, per day R350, in-line skate rental per hr R350; 11am-11pm Mon-Thu, 11am-midnight Fri, 10am-midnight Sat & Sun; Krestovsky Ostrov) Also rents helmets, pads and skateboards.
Skatprokat (Map; 717 6836; www.skatprokat.ru; Goncharnaya ul 7; rental per day R500; 24hr; Pl Vosstaniya) Peter’s Tours Sunday morning bike tours depart from here. They also sell second-hand bikes and rent out skis and snowboards for R500 per day.
Gyms & Swimming Pools
In winter hardy souls may want to consider joining the ice swimmers, known as morzhi (walruses), who meet at the Walrus Club at the southeastern corner of the Peter & Paul Fortress where a pool is cut into the frozen Neva. Word has it that an icy plunge is good for the health and libido!
Planet Fitness (Map; 315 6220; www.spb.fitness.ru; Kazanskaya ul 37; one-time entry R1000; 7am-11pm Mon-Fri, 9am-9pm Sat & Sun; Sado-vaya/Sennaya Pl) A central branch of a major gym chain with multiple locations citywide including a branch in the Grand Hotel Europe.
Sports Complex (Map; 238 1632; Kronverksky pr 9A; admission R300; 7am-11pm; Gorkovskaya) The Russian version of the YMCA has a heavenly 25m pool, under a glass roof. If you look clean, the staff will generally let you in without the required medical certificate. There’s also a weights room.
VMF (Map; 322 4505; Sredny pr 87; admission R350; 7am-9pm; Vasileostrovskaya) At 50m this is the city’s largest pool, rennovated in 2007.
Ice Skating & Skiing
In the winter of 2007–08, an outdoor rink was set up in Dvortsovaya Pl, igniting a storm of protest. Nonetheless, the rink proved popular so it might become a regular winter fixture. Other, less controversial, places to spin round the ice are:
Dvorets Sporta SKA (Map; 237 0073; Zhdanovskaya nab 2; entry R250, skate rental per hr R100; noon-5am Fri-Sun; Sportivnaya) Has both indoor and outdoor rinks.
Ice Palace (Ledovy Dvorets; Map; 718 6620; www.newarena.spb.ru, in Russian; pr Pyatiletok1; per hr incl skates R300; Pr Bolshevikov) Fancy arena built for the 2000 World Ice Hockey Championships. Although mainly used for concerts now, it does have a public skating rink. Hours are irregular, so call for more details.
Ski resorts and areas within day-trip distance of St Petersburg include Krasnoe Ozero (Red Lake; 347 56 18; www.krasnoeozero.ru/main.htm) and Kurort Snezhny (Snowy Resort; 320 7073; www.snegny.ru), about one hour’s drive north of St Petersburg in the village of Korobitsino, which can also be accessed on the K678 bus from Ozerki metro; and Tuutari Park (715 35 99; www.tyytari.spb.ru), which has hosted the snowboarding world cup and is in Restselya, less than an hour’s drive south of the city and also accessible by elektrichka from Baltisky vokzal to Krasnoe Selo, then by marshrutka 636 to the resort.
WALKING TOUR
Follow this walking tour from St Isaac’s Cathedral to Palace Sq along the loop of the Moyka River and down the Griboe-dova Canal.
Stand in Isaakievskaya ploshchad (1) and admire the golden-domed cathedral (2; Click here) and the surrounding buildings, including the Hotel Astoria (3; Click here) and the Mariinsky Palace (4; not open to the public), home of the City Legislative Council. The bronze statue (5) is of Nicholas I on horseback, its plinth decorated with bas-reliefs and figures representing Faith, Wisdom, Justice and Might.
From the square’s northeast corner walk down Malaya Morskaya ul; this area was one of the wealthiest during imperial times, hosting many financial institutions (several banks have now returned and, at No 24 Bolshaya Morksaya, the famed jewellers Fabergé (6) is now the jewellers Yakhont (314 6415; Bolshaya Morskaya ul 24; 10am-8pm). The writers Ivan Turgenev and Nikolai Gogol both lived at No 17 Malaya Morskaya, and Tchaikovsky died at No 13 in 1893.
On the corner of Malaya Morskaya and Nevsky pr, note Wawelburg House (7), a highly decorative greystone building designed after both the Doge’s Palace in Venice and Florence’s Palazzo Medici-Riccardi. The building is now occupied by airline and transport ticket offices. Cross Nevsky pr here, walk 50m east and turn left (north) at Bolshaya Morskaya ul. On the way keep an eye out for the wall of the school at No 14 (8), bearing a blue-and-white stencilled sign in Cyrillic maintained since WWII. It translates as ‘Citizens! At times of artillery bombardment this side of the street is most dangerous!’
The most perfect way of seeing Dvortsovaya ploshchad (9; Click here) for the first time is to approach it via Bolshaya Morskaya ul. As you turn the corner, behold the Alexander Column (10), with the Hermitage (11; Click here) in the background, perfectly framed under the triumphal double arch of the General Staff Building (12; Click here). Continue walking towards the square, keeping your eyes fixed on the columns and enjoy the visual magic tricks as the perspective changes the closer you get to the arches’ opening.
Head northeast across the square to Millionnaya ul, and into the porch (13) covering the south entrance of the New Hermitage and supported by semiclad musclemen. This was the museum’s first public entrance when it opened in 1852. A favourite tourist shot is from here looking west towards St Isaac’s Cathedral, past the Winter Palace – you can usually fit in a few of the Atlantes, or at least a calf or two.
WALK FACTS
Start St Isaac’s Cathedral
Finish Krasny most
Distance 3km
Duration around two hours
Walking northeast again, take the first right turn and walk along the Zimny Canal (14) the short block to the Moyka River (glance behind you towards the Neva for another great view). This stretch of the Moyka is lovely: cross to the east bank by the Pevchesky most and admire the views as you walk past Pushkin’s last home (15; Click here), where the poet died in 1837.
Cross the river again and head east beside the water; on the opposite bank you’ll see what used to be the Court Stables (16; not open to the public), dating from Peter the Great’s time but rebuilt in the early 19th century. One of imperial St Petersburg’s flashiest streets, Bolshaya Konyushennaya ul (Big Stables St) extends south from here.
Continue along the river until you come to a very picturesque ensemble of bridges where the Moyka intersects at right angles with the start of the Griboedova Canal. While crossing over the Malo-Konyushenny most (17) and the pretty Teatralny most (18), you’ll see the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood (19; Click here) across the top of the touristy souvenir kiosk canopies. Head towards the church.
Having run the gauntlet of the souvenir sellers, circle the church; to your left will be the striking Style Moderne wrought-iron fence of the Mikhailovsky Gardens (20). Walk south along Griboedova Canal until you reach the sweet footbridge that crosses it. Called the Italyansky most (21), it dates from 1896 but was redesigned in 1955. Its main purpose seems to be to afford photographers a postcard-perfect view of the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood. Note the amazing building on the west side of the street at No 13. Originally the House of the Joint Credit Society (22; not open to the public) and built in 1890, its central cupola was placed to give the appearance of a grand palace.
Continue down to Nevsky pr, where the Style Moderne Singer Building (23; Click here) stands regally on the corner. Admire the grand sweep of the Kazan Cathedral (24; Click here) opposite, cross Nevsky pr and head south along the Griboedova Canal to the next bridge, no doubt St Petersburg’s most picturesque and most photographed, the Bankovsky most (25). The bridge is named after the building behind it, formerly the Assignment Bank, now the University of Economics (26).
If you’re feeling peckish at this point continue along the canal past the wrought-iron footbridge Muchnoy most to the Kamenny most, around which there are several great eating or drinking options, including the Armenian restaurant Kilikia (27; Click here) or, slightly to the northwest along Gorokhovaya ul, Zoom Café (28; Click here) and Fasol (29; Click here).
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COURSES
See the St Petersburg Times for private tutor and language class ads.
Herzen State Pedagogical University (Map; 314 7859; www.herzen.spb.ru; ul Kazanskaya 3A; Nevsky Pr) Runs excellent Russian-language courses, from two weeks to graduate programs several years long, 20 hours per week.
Liden & Denz (Map; 334 0788; www.lidenz.ru; Transportny per 11; Ligovsky Pr) Offers a wide range of well-structured language courses, staring at €565 for 15 one-on-one lessons per week.
My Tasty Life (Moya Vkusnaya Zhizn; Map; 295 1743; www.avkusa.ru; Lesnoy pr 73; Lesnaya) Learn to cook traditional Russian dishes at this modern culinary school. A three-hour lesson is R1500 and it’s all in Russian.
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ST PETERSBURG FOR CHILDREN
There’s heaps to do with kids in St Petersburg – there are even museums your kids will like! For starters, Museum of Anthropology & Ethnography (Click here) is an all-time favourite with its display of mutants in jars, as is the Museum of Zoology (Click here) for its stuffed animals and the Artillery Museum (Click here) for its collection of tanks. For live animals there’s the Zoo (Click here) and an Oceanarium (Map; 448 0077; www.planeta-neptun.ru; ul Marata 86; admission R80-550; 10am-9pm; Pushkinskaya) home to sharks and seals that perform in shows at 11.30am and 4pm daily.
The city’s parks are first rate, and many have kids’ playgrounds with swings, roundabouts and climbing frames: check out the Tauride Gardens (Click here) and the Mikhailovsky Gardens (Click here). There’s also the mosaic-covered playground that’s in the courtyard beside the Small Academy of Art (Click here). For more high-tech amusements there’s always the Divo Ostrov amusement park (Click here) on Krestovsky Island. And if you need the little darlings to burn off even more energy, check out the boat, bicycle and in-line skate hiring opportunities listed on Click here.
Theatres in town catering to kids include a couple offering puppet shows and, of course, the circus (Click here). Several restaurants also have children’s play sections, particularly good ones being at Botanika (Click here), Makarov (Click here), Sadko (Click here), Stroganoff Steak House (Click here) and Teplo (Click here).
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TOURS
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Bus & Walking Tours
The following operations can arrange city tours and excursions either on foot or by bus. Also contact Budget Travel (Click here) about their city guides service, which starts at R1120 for four hours for up to four people.
Anglo Tourismo (Map; 8-921-989 4722; [email protected]; nab reki Fontanki 21; Gost-iny Dvor) Apart from boat tours, this company also offers walking tours (adult/student R500/400) from early April to October departing daily at 10am from Café Rico, just off Nevsky pr at Pushkinskaya ul. There’s no fixed route – it depends on what the people who turn up would like to see. Pre-booked themed tours start at R2500 for a group of up to four.
Eclectica (Map; 710 5942; www.eclectica-guide.ru; Office 4, 5th fl, Nevsky pr 44;Nevsky Pr/Gostiny Dvor) Booths outside Gostiny Dvor sell tickets for English-language tours around the city and to major sights outside the city such as Petrodvorets and Tsarskoe Selo. Their year-round City Bus tour (1½ hrs; departs noon daily) goes to St Issaac’s, Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, the Cruiser Aurora, Peter and Paul Fortress and the Strelka. From 19 May to 19 August the same bus operates as a hop-on, hop-off all-day service for tours between 10am and 4pm.
Liberty (Map; www.libertytour.ru; Novoizmailovsky pr 24/3 − 26; Moskovskaya) Specialising in wheelchair-accessible tours in and around St Petersburg, this unique-in-Russia company has specially fitted vans. They can also advise on and book hotels with rooms for the disabled.
Peter’s Walking Tours (943-1229; www.peterswalk.com) In business for over 12 years, Peter Kozyrev and his brilliant band of guides can give you an insight into the city like no one else. The standard walking tour (R500) departs from the HI St Petersburg Hostel (Click here) at 10.30am. Also on offer are lots of cool itineraries, around themes like Dostoevsky, Rasputin, the Great October Revolution and food, all in English, as well as a regular bike tour. Private tours kick off at R900 per hour for up to four people from May to November.
VB Excursions (Map; 8-911-999 5678; www.vb-excursions; ul Avtogennaya 6, office 415; Elizarovskaya) Offers excellent walking tours with clued-up students on themes including Dostoevsky and revolutionary St Petersburg. Their ‘Back in the USSR’ tour (R925 per person) includes a visit to a typical Soviet apartment for tea and bliny.
Helicopter Tours
Baltic Airlines (Map; 104 1676; www.balticairlines.ru; 2nd fl, Nevsky pr 7/9; 10-15 US$35; Nevsky Pr) offers helicopter flights over the Neva between the Admiralty and Smolny, which take off at regular intervals from in front of the Peter & Paul Fortress every weekend from May to October. They also fly weekends to Petrodvorets (Click here) and back (US$35 one-way). You can also arrange a tandem parachute jump with the same company for US$200.
River & Canal Trips
Viewing St Petersburg from a boat is an idyllic way to tour the city, and during the main tourist season (May to October) there are plenty of boats offering to help you do this – typically found at the Anichkov most landing on the Fontanka River, just off Nevsky pr; on the Neva outside the Hermitage and the Admiralty; beside the Kazansky most over the Griboedova Canal; and along the Moyka River at Nevsky pr.
If you need a guided tour in English the easiest way is to use Anglo Tourismo (Click here) who, from 2 May to 30 September, run one-hour cruises with English commentary at 11am, 1, 5 and 8pm from near the Anichkov Bridge (Map; adult/student R450/350). Most trips follow a route out to the Neva, but the recommended 8pm tour (adult/student R550/450; 1½ hours) heads down to the Kolomna area near the Nikolsky Cathedral. From 16 May to 31 August they also offer a 12.20am tour to enjoy the White Nights and the raising of the bridges over the Neva.
For something more private there are many small boats that can be hired as private water taxis. You’ll have to haggle over rates: expect to pay around R2000 an hour for a group of up to six people.
FESTIVALS & EVENTS
Whether it be through the carnival atmosphere of White Nights or merrymaking during the freezing, dark winter days, rarely more than a week or two passes without St Petersburg throwing some sort of festival or special event. Click here for general Russian holidays.
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February
Mariinsky Ballet Festival (www.mariinksy.ru) The city’s principal dance theatre (Click here) hosts this week-ong international festival, usually in mid- to lateFebruary.
April
Sergei Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF; www.kuryokhin.ru) Three-day avant-garde festival in late April bringing together an array of international figures. Named after the eclectic Russian musician Sergei Kuryokhin, a key part of the Leningrad rock and jazz underground of the 1970s who died in 1996, it features alternative modern music and performance.
Easter (Paskha) Head to Kazan Cathedral (Click here) to see Russia’s most important religious festival in full Russian Orthodox style.
May
International Labour Day/Spring Festival The vast Soviet-era parades down Nevsky pr to Dvortsovaya pl may now be smaller and more subdued, but they still happen − 1 May remains a time for Communist demonstrations and merrymaking.
Victory Day (1945) On 9 May, St Petersburg celebrates not only the end of WWII but also the breaking of the Nazi blockade. The highlight is a victory parade on Nevsky pr, culminating in soldiers marching on Dvortsovaya pl and fireworks over the Neva in the evening.
City Day Mass celebrations and merrymaking are held throughout St Petersburg on or around 27 May, the city’s official birthday.
GAY & LESBIAN ST PETERSBURG
There’s a small but reasonably vibrant gay scene in St Petersburg, including Russia’s only lesbian club, 3L (Click here). The main gay club is the glamorous Central Station (Click here) and there’s also the long-running Cabaret (Click here). Dali Café (Map;
Useful sources of information on the gay scene include the rather earnest Krilija (Wings;
Multivision (www.multivision.ru/english) This international festival of animation sees crowds flock to the Neva in the early hours of the morning to watch free screenings on the raised Dvortsovy and Troitsky bridges.
June & July
Festival of Festivals (www.filmfest.ru) Annual international film festival held in late June; it’s a noncompetitive showcase of the best Russian and world cinema.
Stars of the White Nights Festival (www.mariinsky.ru) Held at the Mariinsky, the Conservatoire and the Hermitage Theatre, this festival, from late May until July, has become a huge draw and now lasts far longer than the White Nights (officially the last 10 days of June) after which it is named.
KlezFest (713 3889;www.klezfest.ru) Music festival in late June or early July celebrating klezmer, or Eastern European Jewish folk music, with a busy program of concerts, walking tours about Jewish history and lectures.
September & October
Early Music Festival (www.earlymusic.ru) Held from mid-September until early October, this ground-breaking musical festival includes performances of forgotten masterpieces from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the baroque era. Musicians come from around the world to perform here.
Defile on the Neva (www.defilenaneve.ru) This major fashion event is held in mid-October at the boutique Defile (Map). A week of fashion shows, parties and symposia allows both established and up-and-coming designers to showcase their latest lines. A second fashion show takes place in April.
St Petersburg Open (www.spbopen.ru) Since 1995, St Petersburg has hosted this men’s tennis tournament at the end of October, attracting players from around the world to compete at Petrovsky Stadium (Click here), though the 2008 tournament was held at the Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex (SKK Peterburgsky), next to Primorsky Park Pobedy (Click here).
December
Arts Square Winter Festival (www.artsquarewinterfest.ru) A musical highlight of the year, this festival, held from late December to early January at the Philharmonia (Click here), takes different themes each year. Both classical and contemporary opera and orchestral works are staged.
SLEEPING
We quote high season rates below, which generally cover the period from mid-May through to the end of August. Sometimes rates can peak even higher during the White Nights of June or if the city is hosting a special event such as Russia’s Economic Forum. Rates drop substantially during the November to March low season.
At the budget end of the spectrum (under R3000), more Western-style hostels have continued to open up – which is great news for cash-strapped travellers since St Petersburg remains a pricey city in which to bed down. If cost is an issue, consider homestays and apartment rentals: the latter can work out as the best deal for groups of travellers sharing or families.
Of the scores of mini-hotels (basically small, often family-run, B&B operations offering anything from three to 30 rooms) that have sprouted across St Petersburg, many are bland and interchangeable. The selection here includes ones that have made a bit more of an effort with design and facilities. They occupy the middle-ground price-wise (which for St Petersburg means anything from R3000 to R10,000 per night for a double room in high season), along with a handful of the old Soviet dinosaurs that have got their act together under new commercially minded management. There’s no shortage of top-end places with many of the international hotel chains being represented and several more slated to open up branches in the coming years.
Location is a factor in St Petersburg. Generally, for sightseeing and access to the pick of restaurants and bars, somewhere in the Historic Centre is preferable. While there are several appealing properties across the Neva on Vasilevsky Island and the Petrograd Side, the raising of the bridges during the summer months means that late-night revelers will have to do some pre-planning if they want to reach their beds without waiting several hours or paying a hefty fare for a circuitous taxi trip. If you want to be close to the city but not in it, look out for the few hotels listed in the Around St Petersburg section (Click here).
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Homestays & Apartment Rentals
As well as Zimmer Nice (right), the following places can arrange apartment rentals and homestays:
Andrey & Sasha’s Homestay (Map; 315 3330; [email protected]; nab kanala Griboedova 49; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) Legendary hosts on the St Petersburg homestay and apartment scene, photographer Andrey and doctor Sasha have a couple of apartments they rent rooms in, including this one, which is also their delightfully decorated home. Rates are around €60 for a double room – all but one have shared facilities. They can arrange visa invitations and registration, too.
City Realty (Click here) Has a good range of short- and long-term rental apartments, and can help you buy a place should you really like the city.
Host Families Association (HOFA; cell 901-305 8874; www.hofa.ru) The most established and reliable agency for homstays and rental of private flats with rates for a s/d/apt starting at €29/44/118.
Nevsky Prostor (Map; 325 3838; www.spb-estate.com/eng/; 5th fl, Galerny proezd 3, Vasilevsky Island; Primorskaya) Professional agency that can help you locate the ideal apartment.
Ost-West Kontaktservice (Click here) This agency also arranges homestays and short-term apartment rentals from about R2000 a day.
Budget
HISTORIC CENTRE
Cuba Hostel (Map; 921 7115, 315 1558; www.cubahostel.ru; Kazanskaya ul 5; dm R550; ; Nevsky Pr) This funky hangout presses all the right buttons in terms of atmosphere, friendliness, price and location. Each of the dorms – holding from four to 10 beds – is painted a different colour, and arty design is used throughout.
Zimmer Nice (Map; 973 3757; www.zimmer.ru; apt 7, Malaya Morskaya ul 8; dm/s/d from R750/1300/2000; ; Nevsky Pr) Tucked away in a quiet courtyard planted with trees, this simple hostel in a renovated apartment is hung with eye-catching works of art. It’s in an ideal location and has a good choice of rooms, and you’ll get a pleasant welcome from the English-speaking staff. If it’s full there’s another very similar hostel at Sovetskaya 2ya 19, apt 86, as well as several centrally located apartments for rent that are organised by Zimmer Nice.
Nord Hostel (Map; 571 0342; www.nordhostel.com; Bolshaya Morskaya ul 10; dm/d incl breakfast €24/65; ; Nevsky Pr) An ideal budget base for exploring the city. The spacious dorms in this elegant old building have newish Ikea fittings. Other pluses include free internet and international calls.
LITEYNY & SMOLNY
St Petersburg Puppet Hostel (Map; 272 5401; www.hostelling-russia.ru; ul Nekrasova 12; dm/d incl breakfast R690/1740;; Mayakovskaya) Offering pretty basic dorms and doubles, it’s also an ideal choice if you’re travelling with kids because staying here usually includes free tickets to the puppet theatre next door.
HI St Petersburg International Hostel (Map; 329 8018; www.ryh.ru; 3-ya Sovetskaya ul 28; dm/d incl breakfast R700/1620; ; Pl Vosstaniya) St Petersburg’s longest-running hostel offers clean, simply furnished dorms with three to six beds; all rates are slightly cheaper from November to March and for ISIC and HI cardholders. There’s also a kitchen for self-catering and a video room. Note it’s cash only for payment in the hostel.
Also recommended are these two Soviet old-timers:
Hotel Mercury (Map; 576 7343; fax 576 7977; Tavricheskaya ul 39; s/d from R1920/2220; Chernyshevskaya) Offers old-fashioned rooms with a nostalgic charm.
Hotel Neva (Map; 278 0500; www.nevahotel.spb.ru; ul Chaykovskogo 17; s/d incl breakfast unmodernised rooms R1100/1600, modernised rooms from R2460/3300; ; Chernyshevskaya) If you can afford it, it’s much better to opt for the spruced-up ‘comfort’ rooms here which include a morning sauna, rather than the very tired economy rooms.
VLADIMIRSKAYA & VOSTANNIYA
Hostel Pilau (Map; 572 2711; www.hostelpilau.ru; apt 12, ul Rubinsteyna 38; dm/s or d from R550/2100; ; Vladimirskaya/Dostoevskaya) Occupying a renovated 19th-century flat, the 10-bed dorm here is in the best appointed room, with beautiful plaster mouldings on the walls and ceiling. Smaller dorm rooms are simpler in design but all have newly polished parquet flooring, high ceilings and big windows.
KOLOMNA & SENNAYA
Seven Bridges Hostel (Map; 572 5415; http://7bridges.night.lt; apt 34, ul Labutina 36; dm/s/d $18/23.50/26; ; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) Run by an English Trans-Siberian tour guide and his Russian girlfriend, this convivial place is named after the seven bridges that tether Pokrovsky Ostrov – the hostel’s location – to the rest of St Petersburg. It’s in an apartment block that was once one of the poet Alexander Pushkin’s many digs in the city. The two dorm rooms have four beds each, and there’s a very comfy lounge well stocked with books and videos.
Crazy Duck (Map; 310 1304; www.crazyduck.ru; apt 4, Moskovsky pr 4; dm from R750; ; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) This cheery newcomer to the city’s hostel scene offers plenty of home comforts to supplement its eight-, six- and four-bed dorms, including a fab lounge, kitchen with top-notch facilities and Jacuzzi bath. A visa invitation from them is €20.
Domik v Kolomne (Map; 710 8351; www.colomna.nm.ru; nab kanala Griboedova 174A; s/d with shared bathroom R2300/2460;Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) Pushkin’s family also rented rooms in this house, and the atmosphere of a large flat remains. Rooms, some with lovely views across the canal, have a homely Russian feel. The same company also runs the slightly more upmarket Golden Mean Retro Hotel (Zolotaya Seredina; Map; 571 8942; www.retrohotel.ru; Stolyarny per 10-12; s/d with shared bathroom from R1900/2300, s/d with bathroom R3000/3300; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl).
SOUTHERN ST PETERSBURG
Petrovskogo College Student Hostel (Map; 252 7563; www.petrocollege.edu.ru, in Russian; Baltiyskaya ul 26; s/d/tr R400/800/1200; Narvskaya) The cheapest accommodation deal in town is here, in the dorms of this college. You’ll meet plenty of young students eager to practise their English. The shared showers and toilets are OK, and there’s a cafeteria. From the metro walk south down pr Stachek away from the Narva Triumphal Gates to Baltiyskaya ul, where you turn left and continue for another 500m.
Midrange
HISTORIC CENTRE
Polikoff Hotel (Map; 314 7925; www.polikoff.ru; Nevsky pr 64/11; r incl breakfast from R3000; ; Gostiny Dvor) Tricky to find (the entrance is through the brown door on Karavannaya ul – you’ll need to punch in 26 for reception), the Polikoff Hotel is worth hunting out for its quiet but central location, pleasant service and rooms brimming with contemporary cool décor.
Nevsky Prospekt B&B (Map; 325 9398; www.bnbrussia.com; apt 8, Nevsky pr 11; s/d incl breakfast €80/100;; Nevsky Pr) This delightfully decorated B&B has just five rooms and is among the city’s most charming, with tiled stoves, antique furnishings and the oldest functioning radio and TV you’re likely to see anywhere. The only downside is the shared bathroom facilities. Airport transfers are included in the price, but visa support is additional.
Rachmaninov Antique-Hotel (Map; 327 7466; www.hotelrachmaninov.com; 3rd fl, Kazanskaya ul 5; s/d/ste incl breakfast R4400/4550/12,680; ; Nevsky Pr) Super stylish mini-hotel where minimalist décor is offset by antiques. There are contemporary photography and painting displays throughout the premises (and in the hotel’s gallery in the neighbouring courtyard) and a romantic suite with a circular bed.
Anichkov Pension (Map; 314 7059; www.anichkov.com; apt 4, Nevsky pr 64; s/d incl breakfast from R5860/7200, apt s/d R8280/9980; ; Gostiny Dvor) On the 3rd floor of a handsome apartment building with an antique lift, this elegant pension has just six rooms and a gorgeous apartment. All are decorated in soft shades of beige and cream with walnut veneer furniture and antique-themed wallpaper. The lounge offers balcony views of the bridge from which the pension takes its name.
Rossi Hotel (Map; 635 6333; www.rossihotels.com; nab reki Fontanki 55; s/d/ste incl breakfast from R5000/8500/14,500; ; Gostiny Dvor) For the price of a standard room at St Petersburg’s luxury establishments, you can live it up in grand pre-revolutionary style in one of the two suites at this small midrange hotel with impeccable standards. Deluxe rooms offer a contemporary look accessorised by exposed beams and brick walls that tie into the building’s heritage, but the business singles are cramped.
LITEYNY & SMOLNY
Pio on Mokhovaya (Map; 273 3585; www.hotelpio.ru; apt 10 & 12, Mokhovaya ul 39; s/d/tr/q incl breakfast €100/120/150/170; ; Chernyshevskaya) Split across two apartments, the rooms at this appealing guesthouse are named after Italian towns. They’re simply but elegantly furnished with modern fixtures and dusky pastel-coloured walls. There’s also a small sauna on site. There’s a sister property, the Pio on Griboedov (Map; nab kanala Griboedova 35, apt 5),with canal views and a few cheaper rooms sharing bathrooms.
Hotel Repin (Map; 717 9976; www.repin-hotel.ru; Nesky pr 136; s/d incl breakfast R2800/3700; ; Pl Vosstaniya) The Repin’s jolly flower-bright colours makes it one of city’s more pleasant mini-hotels, with bigger than usual rooms, preserved original features including antique ceramic wall stoves, and a spacious lounge area decorated with reproductions of the artist’s most famous works.
Arbat Nord Hotel (Map; 703 1899; www.arbat-nord.ru; Artilleriyskaya ul 4; r incl breakfast R6980; ; Chernyshevskaya) Sleek, professionally run establishment offering comfortable rooms, friendly English-speaking staff and a restaurant downstairs.
VLADIMIRSKAYA & VOSSTANIYA
Brothers Karamazov (Map; 335 1185; www.karamazovhotel.ru; Sotsialisticheskaya ul 11A; s/d incl breakfast R4500/5500; ; Vladimirskaya/Dostoevskaya) Even though the 28 uniformly large rooms at this appealing hotel are furnished in a vaguely antiquey way, the overall feel is contemporary. It’s professionally run and in a quiet, but handy location.
Fifth Corner Hotel (Pyatiy Ugol; Map; 380 8181; www.5ugol.ru; Zagorodny pr 13; s/d incl breakfast from R5200/5900; ; Vladimirskaya/Dostoevskaya) This hotel’s stylish rooms, decorated in warm colours and with huge beds, overlook the trendy hub of streets at the ‘Five Corners’ intersection. Staff are polite and efficient, rates include free internet access, and breakfast is served in the trendy café Xren downstairs, which is worth visiting in its own right.
Nevsky Forum (Map; 333 0222; www.forumhotel.ru; Nevsky pr 69; s/d with breakfast from R6900/7500, designer rooms s/d R7800/8400; ; Mayakovskaya) Above-average business hotel offering spacious rooms with king-size beds, big double-paned windows and environmentally friendly cork flooring. Their different ‘designer’ rooms have huge headboards printed with offbeat designs.
KOLOMNA & SENNAYA
Swiss Star (Map; 929 2793; www.swiss-star.ru; nab reki Fontaki 93-26; s/d without bathroom €65/80; with bathroom €80/99; ; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) With its pristine white-washed walls and pine floors, the Swiss Star is a light, bright and spotlessly clean mini-hotel. It feels like a breath of fresh alpine air, even though the atmosphere outside along the Fontanka embankment may be choked with traffic fumes. There’s another similar branch at 5-ya Sovetskaya ul 21 (Map; www.rentroom.ru; single/double including breakfast €65/80; Pl Vosstaniya).
Casa Leto (Map; 314 6622; www.casaleto.com; Bolshaya Morskaya ul 34; s/d incl breakfast €160/225; ; Nevsky Pr) Ultra discreet and stylish mini-hotel, the five rooms, each named after a famous St Petersburg architect, are all spacious, beautifully decorated in soft pastel shades and furnished with tastefully chosen antiques. Rates include internet access and light refreshments throughout the day.
Alexander House (Map; 575 3877; www.a-house.ru; nab Krukova kanala 27; s/d incl breakfast from R7140/7820, apt s/d R12,920/13,600; ; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) The 19 spacious rooms at this lovely boutique hotel are named and tastefully styled after the world’s top cities. There’s a comfortable lounge area with an attached kitchen for guests’ use, a library, banya, restaurant and lush garden. They also run Alexander House Inspiration (Map; 334 3540; 14A Bolshaya Monetnaya ul; s/d incl breakfast R5440/6120, apt R11,220; Petrogradskaya), a more business-traveller-oriented property.
VASILEVSKY ISLAND
Art Hotel Terezinni (Map; 332 1035; www.trezzini-hotel.com; Bolshoy pr 8; s/d incl breakfast from R2500/3360; ; Vasileostrovskaya) A striking mural of Renaissance Italy graces the lobby of this charming 17-room hotel, which has plenty more art scattered throughout. All the rooms are very appealing, even the compact economy singles. Stand-outs are rooms 201 and 214, which have little balconies and overlook the neighbouring St Andrew’s Cathedral.
Our Hotel (Nash Otel; Map; 323 2231; www.nashotel.ru; 11ya-liniya 50; s/d from R7900/8900, studio R14,300; ; Vasileostrovskaya) Taking its inspiration from poppies, irises and tiger lilies, Our Hotel is an explosion of floral hues. Occupying a brand-new eight-floor building, the property offers spacious, comfortable rooms, plenty of contemporary style and welcoming, professional staff.
PETROGRAD & VYBORG SIDE
Hotel St Petersburg (Map; 380 1919; www.hotel-spb.ru; Pirogovskaya nab 5/2; s/d incl breakfast from R2800/4400; Pl Lenina) If you’re going to stay in an old Soviet dinosaur, you may as well make it this one as many of its rooms, both unrenovated and renovated, have glorious views across the Neva towards the Hermitage, and are not badly priced for what they offer.
Apart Hotel Kronverk (Map; 703 3663; www.kronverk.com; ul Blokhina 9; r/apt incl breakfast R4290/8400; ; Sportivnaya) Occupying the upper floors of a business centre, the Kronverk offers appealingly modern rooms with self-catering facilities. The standard rooms with large twin beds are more spacious than you’ll find in similar mini-hotel properties in the heart of the city, and they’re decorated in a pleasant, no-frills style.
Top End
At all the top end places, rates are boosted by a further 18% VAT. None of the rates include breakfast, which can cost up to US$34 for the buffet spread at the Grand Hotel Europe.
HISTORIC CENTRE
Grand Hotel Europe (Map; 329 6000; www.grandhoteleurope.com; Mikhaylovskaya ul 1/7; r/ste from R18,200/45,000; ; Nevsky Pr/Gostiny Dvor) This historic hotel has long been esteemed for its elegance and luxury. Deservedly popular are the 17 terrace rooms, which afford spectacular views across the city’s rooftops. The beautiful Style Moderne décor of some of its bars and restaurants (particularly Europe) are worth a look in their own right.
Kempinski Hotel Moyka 22 (Map; 335 9111; www.kempinski-st-petersburg.com; nab reki Moyki 22; r/ste from R16,850/30,650; ; Nevsky Pr) Although its rooms are on the small side, this is a fine addition to St Petersburg’s portfolio of luxury hotels. It’s practically on the doorstep of the Hermitage.
KOLOMNA & SENNAYA
Hotel Astoria (Map; 494 5757; www.roccofortecollection.com; Bolshaya Morskaya ul 39; s/d/ste from R17,150/19,250/24,500; ; Nevsky Pr) The very essence of old-world class, the pricier rooms and suites here are decorated with original period antique furniture. Consider dropping by for afternoon tea (€16, 2.30-6.30pm) in the lounge with harp music accompanying cakes, sandwiches and a range of teas.
Also recommended:
Hotel D’Angleterre (Map; 494 5666; www.angleterrehotel.com; ul Malaya Morskaya 24; s/d/suite from R14,700/16,300/31,500; ; Nevsky Pr)
VASILEVSKY ISLAND
Holiday Club (Map; 335 2200; www.holidayclubhotels.ru; Birzhevoi per 2-4; s/d from R16,200/17,496; ; Vasileostrovskaya) This Finnish-managed hotel marries modern comfort with a property newly built around the former wine store of Eliseev’s, the elite imperial era grocers. A star feature is its luxurious spa complex – one of the city’s largest – with seven kinds of sauna and glass-sided swimming pools. The rooms are all extra spacious and decorated to the highest standards in warm red tones and natural wood finishes.
EATING
St Petersburg has an outstanding restaurant scene with places to suit all budgets and tastes. Many places have business lunch deals for around R200 to R300. Telephone numbers are included for places where booking is advisable and opening hours where they differ significantly from the standard, as shown on the inside front cover.
Cheaper eats and cafés are listed on Click here and Click here where you’ll find listings for several bars that are also good for a meal. For picnic or breakfast supplies, we list some central supermarkets and markets on Click here.
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Restaurants
HISTORIC CENTRE
Soup Vino (Map; 312 7690; Kazanskaya ul 24; mains R90-250; Nevsky Pr) This cute, tiny place does exactly what it says on the label. The menu features Mediterrenean-influenced soups, pasta and salads, perfect washed down with glasses of wine.
Dve Palochki (Map; 335 0222; www.dvepalochki.ru; Nevsky pr 22 & Italianskaya ul 6; mains R200-500; 11am-6am; Nevsky Pr/Gostiny Dvor) This local chain is one of the most sophisticated of the ubiquitious sushi bars in the city, these central branches always being packed with a trendy crowd. Other branches are found at Sredny pr 16 (Map); ul Vosstaniya 15 (Map); and Bolshoy pr 74 (Map).
Terrassa (Map; 337 6837; www.terrassa.ru; Kazanskaya ul 3; mains R300-700; Nevsky Pr) Atop the Vanity shopping centre, this cool bistro boasts unbelievable views towards Kazan Cathedral. In the open kitchen, chefs busily prepare fusion cuisine, exhibiting influences from Italy, Asia and beyond.
Le Borshch (Map; 314 0056, nab reki Fontanki 11; mains R300-790; Gostiny Dvor) There’s a white-washed Scandinavian feel to this stylish Russian–French fusion restaurant with views across the Fontanka River. Their borsch is excellent, as is the salad topped with homemade smoked salmon and quails eggs.
Baku (Map; 941 3756; www.baku-spb.ru; Sadovaya ul 12; mains R300-1000; Gostiny Dvor) Tiled walls, arched doorways and scatter cushions whisk you away to Azerbaijan. Indulge in plov, the traditional dish of rice and lamb, spiced with cumin and sprinkled with raisins. Their teas are served with dried fruit and nuts.
Restaurant Garçon (Map; 570 0348; www.garcon.ru; nab kanala Griboedova 25; mains R400-1000; Nevsky Pr) New branch for the city’s best-value French restaurant, providing a relaxed Parisienne atmosphere. The chef makes his own foix gras. The original Bistrot Garçon (Map; 277 2467; Nevsky pr 95; 9am-1am; Pl Vosstaniya) is also open for breakfast, while nearby you can grab delicous pastries at their bakery/café (Click here).
Yerevan (Map; 703 3820; www.erivan.ru; nab reki Fontanki 51; mains R500-1000; Gostiny Dvor) Top-class Armenian restaurant with an elegant ethnic design and delicious traditional food made with ingredients they promise are from ‘ecologically pure’ regions of Armenia.
Bellevue (Map; 335 9111; www.kempinski-st-petersburg.com; nab reki Moyki 22; mains R1000; Nevsky Pr) The 360-degree panorama from the relaxed rooftop brasserieof the Kempinski Hotel Moyka 22 is amazing – enjoy it with a tasty Kamchatka crab salad and a crisp glass of Chardonnay.
Lumiere (Map; 449 9482; www.lumiere-spb.ru; Italianskaya ul 15; mains R1000-1500; Gostiny Dvor) Glam it up to dine beneath thousands of Swarovski crystals at this beautiful French restaurant atop the Grand Palace mall with a panoramic view across Arts Square. The inventive food is equally fabulous.
Taleon Club (Map; 312 5373; www.taleon.ru; nab reki Moyki 59; Sunday brunch R2200; noon-4am; Nevsky Pr) The place to splurge on Sunday brunch, the Taleon Club is a voluptuous affair with as much caviar, oysters and Shampanskoye as you can guzzle. Dress smartly and take along some ID so you can be made a member for entry.
Also recommended:
Sukawati (Map; 312 0540; Kazanskaya ul 8; mains R150-500; noon-5am; Nevsky Pr) There’s Bali-chic décor at this Indonesian restaurant, serving reasonably authentic fare. Their rijsttafel set meal (R460) provides a taste of several dishes.
Kilikia (Map; 327 2208; Gorokhovaya ul 26/40; mains R200-300; noon-3am; Nevsky Pr) Excellent-value tasty Caucasian dishes at this cosy Armenian place. Has live music most evenings.
Kharbin (Map; 311 1732; nab reki Moyki 48; mains R300-400; Nevsky Pr) Inexpensive, reliable Chinese restaurant.
Tandoori Nights (Map; 312 8772; Voznesensky pr 4; mains R300-400; Nevsky Pr) Stylish Indian restaurant offering a mix of tasty traditional and modern recipes, road-tested by a top London-Indian chef.
Park Dzhuzeppe (Map; 318 6289; nab kanala Griboedova 2B; mains R500-700; 11am-3am; Nevsky Pr) Dine on crispy pizza and creamy pasta dishes at this appealing Italian restaurant overlooking the Mikhailovsky Gardens. It has a pleasant outdoor area in summer.
LITEYNY & SMOLNY
Botanika (Map; 272 7011; www.cafebotanika.ru; ul Pestelya 7; mains R200-300; Chernyshevskaya) They do a mean falafel wrap at this stylish vegetarian restaurant where the moss-green colour scheme is jazzed up with pretty decorative touches by students from the art academy across the road. There’s a very cute play area for children.
Makarov (Map; 327 0053; www.makarov-rest.com; Manezhny per 2; mains R400-500; noon-11pm Sun & Mon, 8am-11pm Tue-Fri,11am-midnight Sat; Chernyshevskaya) Charming place, overlooking the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of our Saviour, serving traditional Russian with a twist in a relaxed setting. There’s a good kids play area at the back and a ping-pong table out front.
Mechta Molokhovets (Molokhovets’ Dream; Map; 929 2247; www.molokhovets.ru; ul Radishcheva 10; mains R800-1500; Pl Vosstaniya). Inspired by the cookbook of Yelena Molokhovets, the Russian Mrs Beeton of the 19th century, the menu at this compact, elegant restaurant covers the classics from borsch to beef Stroganov. Their speciality is koulibiaca, a golden pastry pie of either fish or rabbit and cabbage – pre-order or be prepared to wait an hour as they cook it fresh.
Vladimirskaya & Vostanniya
Schaste (Happiness; Map; 572 2675; www.schaste-est.com; ul Rubinshteyna 15/17; mains R250-400; 9am-midnight Mon-Thu, 9-7am Fri, 10-7am Sat, 10am-midnight Sun; Dostoevskaya/Vladimirskaya) Romantic cherubs are the motif of this charming café-bar, even on the dot-to-dot puzzles that are printed on the placemats. The vaguely Russian food is tasty and their three-course lunch for R250 is a deal.
Simple Bar (Map; 941 1744; www.probka.org; ul Degtyarnya 1; mains R300-900; Pl Vosstaniya) This leading contender in the city’s current crop of contemporary Italian joints is also notable for serving a wide range of wines by the glass.
Mops (Map; 572 3834; www.mopscafe.ru; ul Rubinshteyna 12; mains R300-600; Mayakovskaya) Mops’ Thai chef turns out excellent Thai food at this super-chic designer restaurant. If it doesn’t appeal, ul Rubinshteyna offers up plenty of appealing dining alternatives.
Also recommended:
Imbir (Map; 713 3215; Zagorodny pr 15; mains R300-400; noon-2am; Dostoevskaya) Savvy locals have long flocked to this still-trendy place for its good coffee and reasonably priced menu.
Kafé Kat (Map; 311 3377; Stremyannaya ul 22; mains R300-500; Mayakovskaya) Eternally popular and reliable Georgian restaurant. A selection of appetisers plus the cheese bread will fill you up.
Marius Pub (Map; 315 4880; ul Marata 11; mains R300-1000; 24hr; Mayakovskaya) Justly popular, Marius Pub is more of a restaurant than a bar. It serves hearty Russian and European food at all hours, and also does a mean breakfast buffet.
KOLOMNA & SENNAYA
Taverna Olivia (Map; 314 6563; www.tavernaoliva.ru; Bolshaya Morskaya ul 31; mains R200-400; Nevsky Pr) A cavernous place, decorated in Greek-island style. The menu is traditional and the food is both excellent value and extremely good – especially the salad bar.
Lechaim (Map; 972 2774; www.lehaim-spb.ru; Lermontovsky pr 2; mains R200-400; noon to last guest Sun-Thu, noon to sunset Fri; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) Chances are you’ll have this classy kosher restaurant beneath the Grand Choral Synagogue (Click here) to yourself despite it being the city’s best place for traditional Jewish cooking, which is served in hearty portions. Profits go towards food for elderly and needy.
Teplo (Map; 570 1974; Bolshaya Morskaya ul 45; mains R246-500; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) You’ll instantly warm to Teplo’s cosy living-room atmosphere, liberally scattered with cuddly soft toys. The food – roast chicken, salmon in savoy cabbage, sweet and savoury pies and pastries baked daily – is equally comforting.
Sadko (Map; 920 8228; www.probka.org; ul Glinki 2; mains R246-650; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) Serving all the Russian favourites, this impressive restaurant’s décor applies traditional floral designs to a slick contemporary style. It has a great children’s room and is ideal as a pre– or post–Mariinsky Theatre dining option. They make their own piroggis (pies) and cranberry mors. The waiters, many of them music students at the local conservatory, give impromptu vocal performances.
Stroganoff Steak House (Map; 314 5514; www.stronganoffsteakhouse.ru; Konnogvardeysky bul 5; mains R400-1000; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) Beef lovers can indulge their habit at this 12,000-sq-metre restaurant, this city’s biggest. Thanks to clever design, though, it doesn’t feel like it. The steaks are large enough to share. Apart from the children’s playroom they also have a child’s-size toilet.
Noble Nest (Dvoryanskoye Gnezdo; Map; 312 3205; www.dvgnezdo.ru; ul Dekabristov 21; mains R1000-2000; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) Set in the intimate summer pavilion of Yusupov Palace, this visiting VIPs’ choice serves some of the finest Russian and European cuisine in town. Indulge in their four-course menu for R4900.
Also recommended:
Fasol (Map; 571 0907; Gorokhovaya ul 17; mains R250-400; Nevsky Pr) Designer café with a relaxed atmosphere, serving a wide range of Russian and European dishes and drinks.
VASILEVSKY ISLAND
Restoran (Map; 327 8979; Tamozhenny per 2; mains R500-700; Vasileostrovskaya) The chic minimalist décor provides an ideal setting for a well-presented range of traditional Russian dishes. Offers a good table of appetisers and salads as well as homemade, flavoured vodkas.
Russky Kitsch (Map; 325 1122; www.concordcatering.ru; Universitetskaya nab 25; mains R400-600; noon-2am; Vasileostrovskaya) Soviet kitsch is raised to a fine art at this cheeky place. Check out Brezhnev smooching with Castro on the ceiling of the ‘kissing room’ and menus secreted in works by Lenin and Stalin. Most dishes (especially the salad bowl) are fine. Come for a drink and a gawp, if nothing else.
PETROGRAD SIDE
Tbiliso (Map; 232 9391; www.tbiliso.ru; Sytninskaya ul 10; mains R250-500; Gorkovskaya) Behind the Sytny market this St Petersburg institution has recently been given a sophisticated upgrade to match its top-class Georgian cuisine. Try the home-made cheese, khachapuri (cheese bread) and kharcho (hearty soup).
Chekhov (Map; 234-45-11; ul Petropavlovskaya 4; mains R290-680; Petrogradskaya) Perfect for imagining yourself a guest at the great author’s dacha, this charming restaurant trades on pre-revolutionary nostalgia. Traditional Russian dishes are prepared with aplomb and can be washed down with homemade flavoured vodkas, fruit juices and kvas (a non-alcoholic beer).
Chin Chin Café (Map; 232 1042; Mitninskaya nab 3; mains R300-1000; Sportivnaya) Evoking the salubrious atmosphere of pre-WWII Shanghai (they even have the Tintin comic The Blue Lotus on hand to read) is this elegant restaurant serving well-executed Chinese and pan-Asian dishes.
Leningrad (Map; 644 4446; Kamennoostr-ovsky pr 11A; mains R350-1100; Gorkovskaya) Occupying a heritage red-brick building, Leningrad offers dining on a grand scale, mixing Soviet high style with new Russian glitz. Their Olivier salad, made with crayfish, is excellent. Come on Friday or Saturday night if you want to join other guests kicking up their heels to the house band.
Also recommended:
Salkhino (Map; 232 7891; Kronverksky pr 25; meals R400-500;Gorkovskaya) A justly popular Georgian restaurant, it serves big portions of delicious food in a convivial, arty setting enlivened by the motherly service of its owners.
Na Zdorovye (Map; 232 4039; Bolshoy pr 13; meals R400-600; Sportivnaya) Fun and colourful; a heady mix of both Soviet and Russian folk culture dictates the décor and menu here.
Aquarium (Map; 326 8286; Kamennoostrovsky pr 10; mains R600-800; Gorkovskaya) Slick upmarket Chinese restaurant serving a good range of seafood, including abalone, in a Fu Man Chu lair-like setting.
Cafés & Quick Eats
Reliable Russian fast-food chains include Chaynaya Lozhka (Map; www.teaspoon.ru, in Russian; Nevsky pr 44; mains R100-200; 9am-10pm; Gostiny Dvor), which does excellent bliny and salads and a wide range of loose-leaf teas and infusions, and Teremok (Map; www.teremok.ru; cnr Malaya Sadovaya & Italiyanskaya ul; bliny R50-100; 10am-10pm; Gostiny Dvor) serving all kinds of bliny out of kiosks and cafés. We’ve listed one central outlet; see both of their websites for the many other locations across the city.
HISTORIC CENTRE
Bushe Malaya Morskaya ul (Map; Malaya Morskaya ul 7; snacks R50-100; 9am-10pm, Mon-Fri, 10am-10pm Sat & Sun; Nevsky Pr); ul Razyezzhaya (Map; ul Razyezzhaya 13; snacks R50-100; 9am-10pm, Mon-Fri, 10am-10pm Sat & Sun; Vladimirskaya) A baked-goods paradise that’s ideal for breakfast or a snack. Look out for the mobile food stands selling their products elsewhere in the city.
Sever (Map; Nevsky pr 44; cakes R50; 10am-9pm Mon-Sat, to 8pm Sun; Gostiny Dvor) Beneath the glitzy Grand Palace mall lies this legendary Soviet-era cake shop, chock-full of cookies and oddly coloured pastries and cakes – there’s an area for stand-up eating and drinking.
Herzen Institute Canteen (Map; Herzen Institute courtyard, nab reki Moyki 48; mains R50-100; noon-6pm Mon-Sat; Nevsky Pr) This no-frills outlet, which uses the same kitchen as Kharbin (Click here), caters to the students of the Herzen Institute who come here in droves at lunch. Things are basic – plastic plates and cutlery – but you’ll not eat better at these prices.
Stolle (www.stolle.ru; pies R60-100; 8am-10pm); Konyushennaya per (Map; Konyushennaya per 1/6; Nevsky Pr); ul Vosstaniya (Map; ul Vosstaniya 32; Chernyshevskaya) ul Dekabristov (Map; ul Dekabristov 33;Sadovaya/Sennaya Ploshchad); ul Dekabristov (Map; ul Dekabristov 19 Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl); Vasilevsky Island (Map; Syezdovskaya & 1-ya linii 50; Vasileostrov-skaya); Petrograd Side (Map; Kamennoostrovsky pr 54; Petrogradskaya) We can’t get enough of the traditional Russian savoury and sweet pies at this expanding chain of cafés, and we guarantee you’ll also be back for more. It’s easy to make a meal of it with the soups and other dishes that can be ordered at the counter.
Zoom Café (Map; www.cafezoom.ru; Gorokhovaya ul 22; mains R200-400; ; Nevsky Pr)Popular boho/student hangout with regularly changing art exhibitions. Serves unfussy tasty European and Russian food; has wi-fi access, a very relaxed ambience and a no-smoking zone.
Face Café (Map; www.facecafe.ru; nab kanala Griboedova 29; meals R200-500; 9am-midnight; Nevsky Pr) This subterranean space is also a hit with the student crowd. Pass the engraved art deco bar and settle into one of their cosy booths. The menu offers a little bit of every-thing, but the food is well prepared and artistically presented.
Stray Dog Café (Map; pl Iskusstv 5; meals R200-500; Nevsky Pr) Once a hang-out for poets and playwrights, the crowd isn’t quite so bohemian these days. Still, this quirky café, decorated with soft toy pooches, is a convenient and cosy place to stop for a drink or snack before or after the theatre.
LITEYNY & SMOLNY
Olyushka & Russkye Bliny (Map; Gagarinskaya ul 13; mains R70-100; 11am-6pm Mon-Fri; Chernyshevskaya) The students at the nearby university quite rightly swear by these authentic canteens that hark back to the simplicity of Soviet times. Olyushka serves only pelmeni, all handmade, while Russkye Bliny has a fine line of melt-in-the-mouth pancakes.
VLADIMIRSKAYA & VOSTANNIYA
Boulangerie Garçon (Map; www.garcon.ru; Nevsky pr 103; pastries R30-100; 9am-9pm; Pl Vosstaniya) An outstanding bakery–café serving delicious pastries, quiche and coffee.
Lakomka (Map; ul Pushinskaya 16; pies R60-100; 9am-10pm; Pl Vosstaniya) Overlooking a small square graced by a statue of Pushkin, this self-service café offers delicatable sweet and savoury traditional pies and other dishes to match the delightful tiled interior.
Bliny Domik (Map; 315 9915; Kolokolnaya ul; meals R125-320; 8am-11pm; Vladimirskaya) There’s more than bliny on the menu and it’s all pretty good. This long-running favourite is set up like a country home but isn’t too kitsch. Live piano music (8–10pm from Thursday to Sunday) adds to the atmosphere in the evenings.
Troitsky Most (www.t-most.ru); Zagorodny pr (Map; Zagorodny pr 38; mains R150-200; 9am-11pm; Dostoevskaya); Kamennoostrovsky pr (Map; Kamennoostrovsky pr 9/2; Gorkovskaya) The Zagorodny pr branch is by far the nicest in this chain of vegetarian cafés, with the Indian spiritual-style Trang Café attached and overlooking a small park. The Petrograd Side branch on Kamennoostrovsky pr, facing the bridge after which it is named, is the original; see the website for three other branches around the city. The mushroom lasagne is legendary.
Also recommended:
Baltic Bread (Map; www.baltic-bread.ru/eng/; Vladimirsky pr 19; snacks R50-100; 10am-9pm; Dostoevskaya) In the Vladimirsky Passage shopping mall, they serve some 80 different types of baked goods, sandwiches and drinks. Their original branch is at Grechesky pr 25 (Map).
KOLOMNA & SENNAYA
Pelmeny Bar (Map; Gorokhovaya ul 3; meals R200-540; Nevsky Pr) Dine with witches and a very dapper wolf at this whimsical dacha-style café specialising in pelmeny (dumplings). It’s a favourite with the naval recruits from the nearby Admiralty.
Fresh FM (Map; www.simplyfresh.ru; salads R246; ul Gorokhovaya 11; 9am-9pm; Nevsky Pr) Billing itself as an ‘interactive salad bar’, this trendily designed place allows you to build your own meal – you start with your choice of mixed lettuce greens (choose Daytona or Houston!) and can add five other ingredients from a list of 39 and a sauce from a list of 10. There are preset recipes if your imagination fails you. Drinks include reasonably priced wine and beer.
Café Idiot (Map; 315 1675; nab reki Moyki 82; meals R400; 11am-1am; ; Sennaya Pl) This long-running vegetarian café charms with its pre-revolutionary atmosphere. It’s an ideal place to visit for a nightcap or supper after attending the Mariinksy, as its kitchen stays open late. They also have free wi-fi.
VASILEVSKY ISLAND
Cheburechnaya (Map; 323 8028; 6-ya liniya i 7-ya liniya 19; meals R100-200; Vasileostrovskaya) An authentic stolovaya (canteen) that continues to do what it has been doing well for decades. Bypass the sit-down restaurant and head straight into the nondescript cafeteria (on the right), where you can place your order at the cash register. Try the namesake cheburechka, a delicious Georgian meat-stuffed pastry. Take your receipt and pick up your food at the kitchen window for one of the city’s cheapest meal deals.
PETROGRAD SIDE
Flamand
Rose (Map; 498-53-11; Malaya Posadskaya ul 7/4; mains R130-250; 11am-11pm; Gorkovskaya) Attached to an interior design shop, this darkly beautiful café-bar, dominated by a magnificent glass chandelier, specialises in Belgian cuisine and beers. Their waffles are delish and they also serve a European-style breakfast (11am-2pm).
Self-Catering
SUPERMARKETS
There are dozens of Western-style supermarkets dotted all over the city. Some of the more central ones, all located in the basement of their respective buildings, are:
Lend (Map; Vladimirsky Passage, Vladmirsky pr 19; 24hr; Dostoevskaya/Vladimirskaya)
Passazh (Map; Nevsky pr 48; 10am-10pm; Gostiny Dvor)
Perekrestok (Map; PIK, Sennaya pl 2; 24hr; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl)
MARKETS
These are fascinating venues to visit, and not only for the choice of exotic and fresh produce (the meat is so fresh that in some cases it’s still being hacked off the carcass). Bargaining, even if the price is marked, is encouraged, and you’ll often be beckoned to try samples of honey, cream products and pickles, with no obligation to buy. Try the following:
Kuznechny (Map; Kuznechny per; 8am-8pm; Vladimirskaya) Best and most expensive market in town.
Maltsevsky (Map; ul Nekrasova 52; 9am-8pm Mon-Sat, 9am-6pm Sun; Pl Vosstaniya)
Sennoy (Map; Moskovsky pr 4-6; 8am-8pm; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl)
Sytny (Map; Sytninskaya pl 3/5; 8am-6pm; Gorkovskaya) The city’s first market dating back to 1710.
DRINKING
St Petersburg is certainly not short of bars, with several live music venues (Click here) being good places for a drink or a bite earlier in the evening. There are plenty of appealing modern cafés to choose from, among them the ubiquitous Starbucks Kofe Khaus (Coffee House; Map; www.coffeehouse.ru; Nevsky pr 7 & Bolshaya Konyushennaya ul 13; 24hr; Nevsky Pr); the equally profilic Shokoladnitsa (Map; www.shoko.ru; Nevsky pr 18; 24hr; Nevsky Pr), which runs the café with a view in Dom Knigi at Nevsky pr 23; and Idealnaya Chashka (Map; www.chashka.ru; Sadovaya ul 25; 9am-11pm), which has five other central outlets around town. Chaynaya Lozhka (Click here) serves a wonderful range of teas, while Stolle (Click here) is also a convivial place for a drink, both soft and alcoholic.
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Coffee & Tea Houses
The following are some of the more distinctive places to get your caffeine or tea fix, and several of them serve alcohol, too.
Le Goga (Map; ul Razyezzhaya 6; 11am-6am; Vladimirskaya) At the heart of the ‘Five Corners’ area, this contemporary café-bar does a nice line of creamy cakes and fortifying drinks with a side order of groovy atmosphere.
Café Rico (Map; Nevsky pr 77/1, enter on Pushkinskaya ul; Pl Vosstaniya) The coffee is well made at this laid-back café with South American–influenced décor. It also offers a wide range of coffee cocktails and snacks.
James Cook Pub (Map; Shvedsky per 2; café from 9am, pub from noon to last customer; Nevsky Pr)The best reason for showing up at this convivial expat-ish pub is to sample its fantastic range of coffees, teas and home-baked pastries.
Untsiya (Ounce; Map; Nevsky pr 63; 10am-10pm; Mayakovskaya) Hiding behind this tea shop there’s a very chic tea salon looking out onto a quiet courtyard. Sample from among 100 different teas from R150 to R200 a pot.
Chayny Dom (Map; ul Rubinshteyna 24; Dostoevskaya) Laid-back Oriental-style place with many teas on offer (from R180 a pot), as well as Turkish coffee, nice desserts, alcohol and hookah pipes (from R400).
Tsely Mir (Whole World; Map; 3-ya linia 48; 11am-11pm; Vasileostrovskaya) On Vasilevsky Island, this is a tranquil place where you can lounge on cushions on the floor and choose from 120 different types of tea; a pot for two starts from R180.
Chainaya Khizhina (Map; Bolshaya Konyushen-naya 19/8; Nevsky Pr) The entrance to this cosy place serving a wide range of teas and snacks in a relaxed dacha-style setting is actually on Volynsky per.
Nebo (Map; 449 2488; 5th fl, PIK, Sennaya pl 2; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) From low grey sofas you can gaze out at a splendid panorama towards the Neva. It’s actually a restaurant but there’s nothing to stop you just sipping a coffee here out of main meal hours and enjoying the view.
Bars
HISTORIC CENTRE
Achtung Baby (Map; Konyushennaya pl 2; admission after 10pm Fri & Sat R300; 6pm-6am; Nevsky Pr) The best of several bars and clubs that have taken over the old tsarist-era stables, Achtung Baby makes great use of the vast, high-ceiling space. We love the furry globes that hang over the bar. Dancing is guaranteed as the night wears on.
Sochi (Map; Kazanskaya ul 7; 6pm-6am; Nevsky Pr) Occupying one half of the same building as Tinkoff (see below), this new venture is by the woman who launched St Petersburg’s DJ-bar scene. Prop yourself at the long bar or groove along with the hipsters to bands and eclectic selections from the DJs.
The Other Side (Map; www.theotherside.ru; Bolshaya Konyushennaya ul 1; noon to last customer, concerts 8pm Sun-Thu, 10pm or 11pm Fri & Sat; Nevsky Pr) There’s live music most nights at this fun and funky bar as well as decent food (mains R200 to R500), but most people turn up to enjoy the seven beers on tap and other alcoholic libations.
Tinkoff (Map; www.tinkoff.ru; Kazanskaya ul 7; noon-2am; Nevsky Pr) Set inside a gigantic, contemporary brewery, this place attracts people who want to sample one of eight freshly microbrewed beers, including the delicious White Unfiltered. There’s also good, pricey food, including a sushi bar.
Sakvoyazh Beremennoi Shpionki (Map; Bolshaya Konyushennaya ul 13; noon-2am; Nevsky Pr) In a city of bizarrely designed drinking and dining halls, the ‘Pregnant Spy’s Suitcase’ is one of the wackiest. The food is notionally Mexican and European – you don’t come here for that, though, but more for the outlandish décor ranging from the Kama Sutra room to the torture chamber.
SevenSkyBar (Map; www.sevenskybar.ru; Italiyanskaya 15, noon-2am Sun-Thu, noon-6am Fri & Sat; Nevsky Pr) Hyper-fashionable DJ bar atop the Grand Palace mall, SevenSkyBar acts like a magnet for the city’s body beautiful crowd at weekends, when there’s a R400 cover charge after 10pm.
LITEYNY & SMOLNY
City Bar (Map; www.citybar.ru; Furshtatskaya ul 20; 11am-2am; Chernyshevskaya) Always busy with expats, travellers and locals who enjoy their company; people come for free wi-fi access, fine food and live entertainment. Music, poetry readings and stand-up comedy are all on the agenda, depending on the day. Also available: English-language books and DVDs from the lending library.
Sunduk (Map; www.cafesunduk.ru; Furshtatskaya ul 42; 10am-11pm; Chernyshevskaya) Cosy grotto space with good food, a great atmosphere and the funkiest bathrooms in the city. There’s an R100 charge for the live music (mainly jazz), which is performed nightly after 8.30pm.
Probka (Map; www.probka.org ul Belinskogo 5; Gostiny Dvor) Small, romantic and sophisticated – what more could you ask of a wine bar that features a choice selection from around the world? Several wines are available by the glass, and there’s a menu of light snacks or a more expensive Italian restaurant upstairs.
VLADIMIRSKAYA & VOSSTANIYA
Che (Map; Poltavskaya ul 3; 24hr; Pl Vosstaniya) The smart set may have largely moved on from this Euro-trendy café-bar, but it still serves good coffee, wine and snacks; there’s often live jazz in the evenings and it also does a good breakfast.
Solod i Khmel (Malt & Hops; Map; ul Marata 56; noon-2am; Ligovsky Pr) This pub and restaurant with a second Vasilevsky Island branch (Bolshoy pr 68; Vasileovstovskaya) is another welcome addition to the city’s microbrewery scene. The beer halls are large and a good place to catch a TV football game in a rowdy atmosphere.
KOLOMNA & SENNAYA
Bardak (Map; www.bardak-bar.com; ul Grivtsova 11; noon-3pm Mon-Thu, till 6am Fri & Sat, 3pm-3am Sun; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) The exposed brick walls plastered with photos, rickety mezzanine level and dishevelled but hip student crowd add up to explain why this groovy little bar was named after the Russian word for ‘mess’.
Ryumochnaya Uspekh (Map; ul Dekabristov 53; 9am-11pm; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) Make the heads of vodka-soaked locals turn by pitching up for sto grammov (a 100g shot) at this quirky dive bar, with benches and the odd stuffed bird and set of antlers for decoration.
Dickens (Map; nab reki Fontanki 108; 8am-2am; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) With its red telephone box outside and wood and brass fittings inside, it is worth dropping by this neat facsimile of a British pub for its ales, whisky selection, humming atmosphere and good food, including a slap-up traditional breakfast.
Stirka (Click here) is also a very popular student hang-out with foot-tapping music from the DJs.
VASILEVSKY ISLAND
Die Kneipe (Map; Grad Petrov; 326 0137; www.die-kneipe.ru; Universitetskaya nab 5; noon to last customer; Vasileostrovskaya) The refreshing ales are reason enough to stop by this fine microbrewery with a view across the Neva from its outdoor tables. The food – majoring in German-style sausages – is also the business.
ENTERTAINMENT
Check Friday’s St Petersburg Times for up-to-date listings.
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Tickets
Box offices at some of the city’s venues, including the Mariinsky, Mikhailovsky and Hermitage Theatres, charge higher foreigners’ prices. If you can prove that you’re working or studying in Russia, you’ll pay the Russian price.
If you purchase a Russian ticket and your cover is blown inside the theatre (an embarrassing experience), you’ll be made to pay the difference by rabid babushkas. Scalpers usually sell last-minute tickets outside the theatre an hour before the show. These will be Russian tickets, and if they’re for a sold-out show, there will be a hefty mark-ups. Check the ticket carefully and make sure that the date and seat position promised are correct – there are fakes around. Click here for useful words to help you when buying tickets.
There are ticket-booking kiosks and offices all over the city; one of the handiest for all types of performance is the Theatre Ticket Office (Map; 314 9385; Nevsky pr 42; 10am-9pm; Gostiny Dvor).
Cinemas
Check out Friday’s St Petersburg Times for full cinema listings. Movie theatres line Nevsky pr, but practically all of the Western films played at them are dubbed. Check out the following:
Avrora (Map; 315 5254; www.avrora.spb.ru; Nevsky pr 60; Gostiny Dvor) Young Dmitry Shostakovich once played piano accompaniment to silent movies here.
Dom Kino (Map; 314 0638; www.domkino.spb.ru; Karavannaya ul 12; Gostiny Dvor) Arty Russian and foreign films, as well as some higher-brow Hollywood productions screen here. This is also where the British Council holds its British Film Festival. In the same building you’ll also find the art-house cinema Rodina (www.rodinakino.ru).
Live Music
BANDS
Check the websites of the following (all in Russian) for details on current gigs. Bands also play at the Other Side and Sochi (Click here).
Fish Fabrique (Map; 164 4857; www.fishfabrique.spb.ru; Ligovsky pr 53; cover R100-150; 3pm-late; Pl Vosstaniya) This legendary bar is set in the building that’s the focus of the avant-garde art scene – it attracts an interesting crowd who give this cramped space its edge. Live bands kick up a storm at 10pm nightly.
Mod Club (Map; 881 8371; http://modclub.spb.ru; Konyushennaya pl 2; cover Fri & Sat R200; 6pm-6am; Nevsky Pr) There’s a groovy mix of live and spun music at this fun, invariably packed place, with two bars and little balconies for a prime view of the stage.
Place (Map; 252 4683; www.placeclub.ru; ul Marshala Govorova 47; cover R200-500; Baltiyskaya) One of the city’s most upscale venues, with balconies overlooking the stage and an inviting veranda. Music ranges from folk to funk.
Zoccolo (Map; 274 9467; www.zoccolo.ru; 3-ya Sovetskaya ul 2/3; cover R200-300; 7pm-midnight Sun-Thu, 7pm-6am Fri & Sat, concerts 8pm; Pl Vosstaniya) Urgently orange and green underground space with a positive vibe and a great line-up of sounds including indie rock, latin, hiphop, reggae and, even, ‘if-Radiohead-played-punk’.
Experimental Sound Gallery (GEZ-21; Map; 764 5258; www.tac.spb.ru; Ligovsky per 53, 3rd fl; cover R100-150; concerts from 9pm; Pl Vosstaniya) You know that a place called ‘experimental’ is going to be out there, especially as it is part of the alternative art complex at Pushkinskaya 10 (Click here). Music ranges from jazz to rock to undefinable, and there are also film screenings, readings and other expressions of creativity. The toilet contains quite an interesting gallery (of sorts) and the attached café is a very groovy hangout.
Art-Vokzal (Map; 495 9004; www.artvokzal.ru; nab kanala Obvodnogo 138; cover R250-400; 11am-6am; Baltiyskaya) In a former factory, this industrial space also hosts cutting-edge performance art and music; check the program before you commit.
Red Club (Map; 717 0000; www.clubred.ru; Poltavskaya ul 7; cover R200-400; 7pm-6am; Pl Vosstaniya) This warehouse venue, behind Moskovsky vokzal, is a mainstay for local groups.
CLASSICAL, BALLET & OPERA
The main performing season runs from September to the end of June – many companies are away on tour in summer, but plenty of performances are still staged. Also check the website of the Yusupov Palace (Click here) for details of the performances held in the gilded theatre there.
Mariinsky Theatre (Map; 326 4141; www.mariinsky.ru; Teatralnaya pl 1; box office 11am-7pm; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) Home to the world-famous Kirov Ballet and Opera company, a visit here is a must, if only to delight in the sparkling glory of the interior. Use the website to book and pay for tickets in advance of your visit to the theatre and to the acoustically splendid new concert hall (ul Pisareva 20), which is nearby. Click here for details of the theatre’s history.
Shostakovich Philharmonia Bolshoy Zal (Big Hall; Map; 710 4257; www.philharmonia.spb.ru; Mikhailovskaya ul 2; Gostiny Dvor) The St Petersburg Philharmonica’s Symphony Orchestra is particularly renowned, and this grand venue is one of its two concert halls, the other being the Maly Zal imeni Glinki (Small Philharmonia; Map; 571 8333; Nevsky pr 30; Nevsky Pr).
Glinka Capella (Map; 314 1058; http://glinka-capella.ru; nab reki Moyki 20; Nevsky Pr) This venue also has high standards, focusing on choral, chamber and organ concerts.
Mikhailovsky Opera & Ballet Theatre (Map; 585 4305; www.mikhailovsky.ru; pl Iskusstv 1; Nevsky Pr) Challenging the Mariinksy in terms of the standards and range of its performances is this equally historic and beautifully restored theatre.
State Hermitage Theatre (Map; 579 0226; www.rus-ballet.com; Dvortsovaya nab 34; Nevsky Pr) Classic Russian ballets and gala concerts are part of the very tourist-friendly repertoire at this intimate, charming venue that’s part of the Hermitage.
Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory (Map; 312 2519; www.conservatory.ru; Teatralnaya pl 3; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) This illustrious music school opposite the Mariinsky is worth checking out for its performances by up-coming musicians.
Maltiskaya Capella (Map; 498-06-69; www.maltacapella.ru; ul Sadovaya 26; Gostiny Dvor) Look out for one of the rare concerts here for a chance to see inside the stunning Maltese chapel that’s part of the Vorontsov Palace now used as a military school for young cadets.
JAZZ
Petersburgers have a particular love of jazz. As well as the suggestions below, you can hear live jazz at the café-bars Che (Click here) and Sunduk (Click here).
JFC Jazz Club (Map; 272 9850; www.jfc.sp.ru; Shpalernaya ul 33; cover R150-300; from 7pm; Chernyshevskaya) This intimate club is the best of its kind in the city and features jazz, blues and improv bands from Russia and around the world.
Jazz Philharmonic Hall (Map; 764 8565; www.jazz-hall.spb.ru; Zagorodny pr 27; cover R150-300; concerts from 8pm; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) Representing the traditional side of jazz, it has two resident bands performing straight jazz and Dixieland. Foreign guests appear doing mainstream and modern jazz.
Circus & Puppets
Contact the theatres to check on performance times.
St Petersburg State Circus (Map; 570 5390; www.circus.spb.ru; nab reki Fontanki 3; tickets R200-600; Gostiny Dvor) One of Russia’s leading circus companies has had a permanent home here since 1877.
Bolshoy Puppet Theatre (Map; 272 8215; ul Nekrasova 10; tickets R50-100; Gostiny Dvor) This is the main venue for puppets; there are 16 different shows in the repertoire, including two for adults.
Demmeni Marionette Theatre (Map; 571 2156; Nevsky pr 52; tickets R50-100; Gostiny Dvor) The oldest professional puppet theatre in Russia has been in business since 1917.
Nightclubs
In the summer, big dance parties are held across the city, the most famous being Fort Dance (www.fortdance.com), out on one of the island forts in the Gulf of Finland near Kronshtadt (Click here).
Griboedov (Map; 764 4355; www.griboedovclub.ru; Voronezhskaya ul 2A; cover R100-400, free noon-8pm; café-bar noon-6am, club 8pm-6am; Ligovsky Pr) This eternally hip club in an artfully converted bomb shelter is a fun place most nights. For something different try Wednesday nights for 1970s and ’80s Russian disco. It’s recently been extended above ground with the groovy café/bar Griboedov Hill, which hosts live music performances in the evenings.
Underground Club (Map; 572 1551; www.undergroundclub.ru; cnr Lyubansky per & Zverinskaya ul; cover R250-350; midnight-6am Fri & Sat; Gorkovskaya) Quite literally underground, since this club’s four dance floors occupy a sprawling bomb shelter. Come here for hard-core electronic dance music.
Central Station (Map; 312 3600; www.centralstation.ru; ul Lomonosova 1/28; admission before midnight free, after midnight R100-300; h6pm-6am; Gostiny Dvor) This glamtastic gay club features two dance floors, several bars, a café and a souvenir shop (in case you have such a good time that you need a pair of Central Station boxer shorts). Open-minded straights will feel very comfortable here too as most people just want to dance.
3L (Tri El; Map; 710 2016; www.triel.spb.ru; 5-ya Sovetskaya ul 45; cover free-R150; 5pm-midnight Tue, 10pm-6am Wed-Sun; Pl Vosstaniya) This lesbian club remains a fun, laid-back place with dancing, live music at 7pm Thursdays and billiards. The crowd is pretty down-to-earth and diverse. Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday are women-only.
Purga (Map; 570 5123; www.purga-club.ru; nab reki Fontanki 11; cover R100-300; 4pm-6am; Gostiny Dvor) You can celebrate New Year Russian-style every night in one room of this intimate fun-packed club, while in the other a traditional wedding celebration is in full flow.
Decadance (Map; 947 7070; Shcherbakov pre 17; cover R500-1000; 6pm-1am Wed & Thu, 6pm-6am Fri & Sat; Dostoevskaya/Vladimirskaya) Think you have what it takes to rub shoulders with St Pete’s bold and beautiful clubbing glitterati? Then front up to the face control at this self-important lounge club.
Sports
Petrovsky Stadium (Map; 328 8903; www.petrovsky.spb.ru; Petrovsky ostrov 2; Sportivnaya) Petersburgers are fanatical about the fortunes of local soccer team Zenit (www.fc-zenit.ru) who usually play here. Tickets (R100 to R800) can be purchased at theatre ticket booths or at the stadium, three days before a game. Be sure to be wearing Zenit’s light-blue colours if you want to avoid getting into any bothersome situations.
Theatre, Cabaret & Dance Shows
Drama is taken very seriously in St Peters-burg and there are dozens of theatrical performances each night, all in Russian. Even if you don’t speak the language, some of the theatres are visual treats in themselves. We’ve also included a cabaret and a dance show that require little in the way of language skills for appreciation.
Feel Yourself Russian Folkshow (Map; 312 5500; www.folkshow.ru; Nikolayevsky Palace, ul Truda 4; ticket incl drinks & snacks R1200; show 6.30pm; Nevsky Pr) Terrible title, but actually a very entertaining show of traditional Russian folk dancing and music by enthusiastic, professional troupes. Plus you get to enjoy the grand interior of the Nikolayevsky Palace.
Aleksandrinsky Theatre (Map; 710 4103; www.alexandrinsky.ru; pl Ostrovskogo 2; Gostiny Dvor) The city’s premier drama theatre, where Chekhov’s The Seagull saw its premier, is an architectural treat.
Bolshoy Drama Theatre (Map; 310 0401; www.bdt.spb.ru; nab reki Fontanki 65; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) This is another top mainstream theatre, showcasing innovative productions.
Lensovet Theatre (Map; 764 0187; Vladimirsky pr 12; Mayakovskaya) One of the more versatile theatre companies in town, staging classical plays as well as bold new experimental works.
Maly Drama Theatre (Map; 713 2078; www.mdt-dodin.ru; ul Rubinshteyna 18; Dostoevskaya) The theatre with the best international reputation, built up under the directorship of Lev Dodin whose productions of Dostoevsky’s The Devils and Chekhov’s Play Without a Name have been widely acclaimed.
Cabaret (Kabare; Map; 575 4512; www.cabarespb.ru; nab kanala Obvodnogo 181; men/women R200/400; Baltiyskaya) Cabaret and karaoke club with a fun, friendly vibe, open to anyone who is entertained by a little gender-bending. The highlight is the 2am drag show, which is among the best in the city if you enjoy seeing men dressed as ageing Soviet pop divas.
SHOPPING
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Antiques & Soviet Memorabilia
Udelnaya Fair (Udelnaya Yarmarka; Map; 9am-6pm; Udelnaya) Antique-lovers and second-hand scavengers will be thrilled with this vast, informal flea market, where neat piles of cast-offs hide treasures. To get there, exit the metro station to the right and cross the train tracks. Best visited at the weekend.
La Russe (Map; 572 2043; www.larusse.ru; Stremyannaya ul 3; 11am-8pm; Mayakovskaya) Lots of rustic old whatnots and genuine antiques at this quirky, arty store where you can unearth everything from a battered samovar to beautifully decorated sleighs and traditional wool-spinning devices.
Komissionnaya Torgovlya (Map; 714-0698;ul Dekabristov 49; 10am-2.30pm & 3-7pm; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) A great place to find antiques and unusual souvenirs, stocking furniture, old gramophones, accordions, jewellery and paintings among other things.
Art
St Petersburg’s vibrant art scene ensures that commercial galleries are never short of interesting canvases. Apart from the galleries at Pushkinskya 10 (Click here), check out the following:
Artists’ Union of Russia Exhibition Centre of Graphic Arts (Map; 315 7474; Bolshaya Morskaya ul 38; 1-7pm Tue-Sun; Nevsky Pr) Displays the more establishment side of the St Petersburg arts scene. Check out the lovely carved wooden doors on the 3rd floor. Some exhibitions here have an entrance fee.
Borey Art Centre (Map; 273 3693; Liteyny pr 58; noon-8pm Tue-Sat; Mayakovskaya)
Pechatnya (Map; 238 0742; Peter & Paul Fortress; 11am-5pm; Gorkovskaya) Yet another reason for visiting the fortress is this great shop making and selling unique prints.
Sol-Art (Map; 327 3082; Museum of Decorative & Applied Arts, Solyanoy per 15; 10am- 6pm; Chernyshevskaya)
Department Stores & Shopping Malls
Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor (Map; www.bgd.ru; Nevsky pr 35; Gostiny Dvor) The granddaddy of all St Pete’s department stores is looking mighty fine after years of restoration. You’ll find a great selection of nearly everything here, including fashion and souvenirs, at reasonably competitive prices.
Apraksin Dvor (Map; Sadovaya ul 30; Gostiny Dvor) While the exterior and surrounds of this sprawling market are getting a billion-dollar facelift (see the boxed text, Click here), the interior, a chaotic warren of stalls selling mainly cheap clothes, shoes and leather goods, continues as usual. Worth a mooch for bargains and gritty Dostoevsky-style atmosphere before the whole place becomes a sanitised mall.
Other shopping malls include:
Baltiysky (Map; www.fashiongallery.spb.ru; Bolshoy pr 68; Vasileostrovskaya) One floor here is devoted to Russian fashion designers.
PIK (Map; Sennaya pl; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl)
Sennaya (Map; ul Yefimova 3; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl)
Vladimirsky Passage (Map; Vladimirsky pr 19; Dostoevskaya/Vladimirskaya).
Music & Photography
One-hour drop-off places for prints are common in St Petersburg. For digital photo needs, slide film, professional rolls, equipment and development, your best option is Yarky Mir (Map; www.ym.spb.ru; Nevsky p 6; Nevsky Pr), with several branches around the city; see the website for details.
Lomographic Embassy (Map; 327 3416; www.lomography.ru; Nevsky pr 105; Pl Vosstaniya) Buy both new and old Lomo cameras direct from the official Russian supplier of this St Petersburg– made photographic icon.
Open World (Otkrity Mir; Map; Malaya Morskaya ul 13; 10am-10pm; Nevsky Pr) Sells a huge range of classical, jazz and world music, all licensed but still very reasonably priced.
Souvenirs
There’s a well-stocked souvenir market (Map; 10am-dusk; Nevsky Pr) diagonally across the canal from the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, as well as stalls selling matryoshka dolls and the like outside other major tourist sights, such as the Hermitage and St Isaac’s. At each of these places, a certain amount of bartering is perfectly acceptable.
Tovar dlya Voennikh (Map; Sadovaya ul 26; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat; Gostiny Dvor) In a city with men in uniform on every street corner, this is where you get yours (the uniform, that is!). Buy cool stripey sailors tops, embroidered badges, boots, camouflage jackets and caps at decent prices. Look for the circular green and gold sign with ‘Military Shop’ written in English; the entrance is inside the courtyard.
Imperial Porcelain (Map; 560 8544; www.ipm.ru; pr Obukhovskoy Oborony 151; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm Sun; Lomonosovskaya) This famous factory has an outlet shop on site, where you get anything from the company catalogue at prices lower than in the department stores. You’ll also find a branch of the Hermitage here. From the metro, turn left (east), walk under the bridge to the embankment, then left – the factory’s ahead. If you don’t want to drag yourself this far out, go to either of its city centre shops, Nevsky pr (Map; 10am-8pm; Nevsky pr 160; Pl Alexandra Nevskogo) or Vladimirsky pr (Map; Vladimirsky pr 7; 10am-8pm; Vladimirskaya).
Gallery of Dolls (Galereya Kukol; Map; Bolshaya Morskaya 53/8; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl) Featuring incredibly detailed dolls of ballerinas, babushkas, clowns, knights and former president Putin in off-duty dacha mode.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
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Air
Pulkovo-1 and Pulkovo-2 (Map; Pulkovo-1 704 3822, Pulkovo-2 704 3444; www.pulkovoairport.ru/eng) are, respectively, the domestic and international terminals that serve St Peters-burg. If you have connecting flights it’s worth knowing that the terminals are quite some distance apart. Pulkovo-2 is the main international terminal, while Pulkovo-1 handles all internal flights and those to CIS countries.
St Petersburg has direct air links with most of the major European capitals and the largest Russian cities; check the fares of local budget airline Sky Express and KD Avia (Click here) for deals. Airline offices, generally open from 9.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday, in St Petersburg include:
DOMESTIC FLIGHTS FROM ST PETERSBURG
Aeroflot (Map; 438 5583; Rubinshteyna ul 1/43; Gostiny Dvor)
Air France (Map; 336 2900; Malaya Morskaya ul 23; Nevsky Pr)
British Airways (Map; 380 0626; Malaya Konyushennaya ul 1/3A; Nevsky Pr)
Finnair (Map; 303 9898; Malaya Konyushennaya ul 1/3A; Nevsky Pr)
KLM (Map; 346 6868; Malaya Morskaya ul 23; Nevsky Pr)
Lufthansa (Map; 320 1000; Nevsky pr 32; Nevsky Pr)
Rossiya Airlines (Map; 333 2222; Nevsky pr 61; Mayakovskaya)
Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS; Map; 326 2460; Nevsky pr 25; Nevsky Pr)
S7 Airlines (S7; Map; 718 6876; Nevsky pr 32; Nevsky Pr)
Transaero (Map; 331 5570; 10ya Sovetskaya ul 4/6; Mayakovskaya)
Tickets for all airlines can be purchased from travel agencies (Click here) and from the Central Airline Ticket Office (Map; 315 0072; Nevsky pr 7; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm Sat & Sun; Nevsky Pr), which also has counters for train and international bus tickets.
Boat
Between early April and late September, international passenger ferries leave from the Morskoy vokzal (Map; 322 6052; pl Morskoy Slavy 1; Primorskaya). It’s a long way from the metro, so either take bus 7 or trolley bus 10 from outside the Hermitage.
From June to August, Kaliningrad-based DFDS Lisko (4012-660 404; www.dfdslisco.ru) runs a weekly ferry service on the George Ots, travelling between Baltiysk and St Petersburg. Trans-Eksim (4012-660 468; www.transexim.ru) also runs weekly car ferries between Baltiysk and Ust-Luga, 150km west of St Petersburg. Also in the summer, regular river cruises depart from the River Passenger Terminal (Map; 262 0239, 262 6321; pr Obukhovskoy Oborony 195; Proletarskaya) and float along the Neva to inland Russia, including cruises to Valaam, Kizhi and Moscow. Prices and schedules vary, so book through a travel agency such as Solnechny Parus (Click here) or Baltic Tours (Map; 320 6663; www.baltictours.ru; per Sergeya Tyulenina 4-13; Nevsky Pr).
Bus
St Petersburg’s main bus station, Avtovokzal No 2 (Map; 766 5777; www.avokzal.ru, in Russian; nab Obvodnogo kanala 36; Ligovsky Pr) – there isn’t a No 1 – has both international and European Russia services. The website has current timetables and routes.
Other international buses are offered by a number of companies:
Ardis Finnord (Map; 314 8951; Italiyanskaya ul 37; Gostiny Dvor) Two buses daily run from its offices to Helsinki (R1400).
Ecolines (Map; 314 2550; www.ecolines.ru; Podyezdny per 3; Pushkinskaya) Daily overnight bus from the Vitebsky vokzal to Rīga (R900) and Kyiv (five a week), Minsk (twice a week) and Odessa (four a week).
Eurolines (Map; 441 3757; www.eurolines.ru; Admiral Business Centre, Mitrofanievskoe sh 2; 9am-9pm; Baltiyskaya) From outside the Baltisky vokzal, its buses run to Tallinn (R7700-900, five daily) and Rīga (R1000, daily). You can also buy tickets at its kiosk inside the Central Airline Ticket Office (left).
Sovavto (Map; 740 3985; www.sovavto.ru; Vitebsky pr 3; Moskovskie Vorota) Daily departures from the Park Inn–Pulkovskaya and Grand Hotel Europa to Helsinki (eight hours) and Turku (11 hours). Buses are timed to the arrivals and departures of the Silja Line and Viking Line ferries from Turku to Stockholm.
BUSES FROM ST PETERSBURG
RAISING THE BRIDGES
From the end of April to November all major bridges rise at the following times nightly to let seagoing ships through. The following schedule (which every year changes by five minutes here or there) governs the lives of the city’s motorists and nighthawks trying to get from one area to another.
Aleksandra Nevskogo most (Map) 2.20-5.10am
Birzhevoy most (Map) 2.00am-4.55am
Bolsheokhtinsky most (Map) 2.00am-5.00am
Dvortsovy most (Map) 1.35am-2.55am & 3.15am-4.50am
Leytenanta Shmidta most (Map) 1.40am-4.55am
Liteyny most (Map) 1.40am-4.45am
Troitsky most (Map) 1.40am-4.50am
Tuchkov most (Map) 2.00am-2.55am & 3.35am-4.55am
Car & Motorcycle
Click here for general driving information. Take it slowly; not only are there numerous speed traps (there’s one just outside the city limits, towards Vyborg, where the speed limit becomes 60km/h), but also the state of some roads can easily lead you to the repair shop in no time.
RENTAL
Agencies offering self-drive and chauffeured vehicles include:
Astoria Service (Map; 712 1583; www.astoriaservice.ru; Borovaya ul 11/13; Ligovsky Pr)
Avis (Map; 600 1213; www.avis-rentacar.ru; pl Alexandra Nevskogo 2; Pl Alexandra Nevskogo)
Europcar (703 5104; www.europcar.ru; Pulkovo-2 Airport)
4 Drive (Map; 335 2323; www.4drive.ru; Stremyannaya ul 10; Mayakovskaya) Rents Smart microcars for R1350 per day; weekend rate R3000 from 5pm Fri to Mon 10am.
Hertz (Map; 326 4505, 324 3242; www.hertz.ru; Malaya Morskaya ul 23; Nevsky Pr)
Train
The four major long-distance train stations are Finlyandsky vokzal (Finland station; Map; 768 7687; pl Lenina 6; Pl Lenina) for services to/from Helsinki; Ladozhsky vokzal (Ladoga station; Map; 768 5304; Zanevsky pr 73; Ladozhskaya), also for services to/from Helsinki, the far north of Russia and towards the Urals; Moskovsky vokzal (Moscow station; Map; 768 4597; pl Vosstaniya; Pl Vosstaniya) for Moscow, Siberia, Crimea and the Caucasus; and Vitebsky vokzal (Vitebsk station; Map; 768 5807; Zagorodny pr 52; Pushkinskaya) for the Baltic states, Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Belarus. Suburban services also run from these stations, as they do from Baltisky vokzal (Baltic; Map; 768 2859; Obvedny Kanal 120; Baltiyskaya).
Tickets can be purchased at the train stations, the Central Train Ticket Office (Map; 762 33 44; nab kanala Griboedova 24; 8am-8pm Mon-Sat, 8am-4pm Sun; Nevsky Pr), the Central Airline Ticket Office (opposite) and many travel agencies around town.
MOSCOW
There are 12 to 14 daily trains to Moscow, all departing from Moskovsky vokzal: see the boxed text, Click here for a table that lists the most popular services. The overnight sleepers will save a night’s accommodation costs (and for a small extra charge you’ll also get breakfast or a light meal thrown in). If you want to save money, four services (19, 27, 29 and 55) have platskartny (dorm) carriages with tickets for R940.
FINLAND & OTHER INTERNATIONAL DESTINATIONS
There are two daily direct trains between St Petersburg and Helsinki: the Russian-operated Repin, and the Sibelius run by Finnish Railways (www.vr.fi). The Leo Tolstoy service between Moscow and Helsinki also transits via Ladozhsky vokzal. For details on services going to Helsinki see the table, Click here; check online or at the stations for current departure times. Services in both directions stop at Vyborg (Click here), so you can save yourself some money if you take a bus or local train there and then catch the train to Helsinki. There are plans to launch an extra four daily high-speed services (cutting the journey time to 3½ hours) between Helsinki and St Petersburg by the end of 2010.
RAIL ROUTES FROM ST PETERBURG
Trains from St Petersburg to Moscow
Domestic Trains from St Petersburg
International Trains from St Petersburg
Note that services to Berlin, Budapest, Kalinin-grad, Kyiv, Prague and Warsaw pass through Belarus, for which you’re required to hold a transit visa. The train to Smolensk in Russia also passes through Belarus. Border guards have been known to force people off trains and back to where they came from if they don’t have a visa. For more information on Belarus visas see www.belarusembassy.org.
GETTING AROUND
St Petersburg’s excellent public transport system makes getting around simple and inexpensive. Pack a good pair of walking shoes: the centre is best seen on foot.
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To/From the Airport
St Petersburg’s airport is at Pulkovo, about 17km south of the centre. This is easily and (very) cheaply accessed by metro and bus. From Moskovskaya metro, bus 39 runs to Pulkovo-1, the domestic terminal, and bus 13 runs to Pulkovo-2, the international terminal. There are also plenty of marshrutky. The trip takes about 15 minutes and costs just R16 to R22, or you can take the buses and marshrutky K3 all the way from the airport to Sennaya pl in the city centre or K39 to pl Vosstaniya (R35). Buses stop directly outside each of the terminals.
If you do opt for a taxi you should be looking at around R600 to get to the city (R400 is the price from the city to the airport). Most taxi drivers will request much more from foreigners so be prepared to haggle or take the bus. Practically all hotels and hostels can arrange transfers, generally for a more expensive fee than a regular taxi.
Bus, Marshrutka, Trolleybus & Tram
Tickets (R17 to R25 depending on the service) are bought inside the vehicle. Bus stops are marked by roadside ‘A’ signs (for avtobus), trolleybus stops by ‘ Ш ‘ (representing a handwritten Russian ‘T’), tram stops by a ‘T’, all usually indicating the line numbers too. Stops may also have roadside signs with little pictures of a bus, trolleybus or tram. Marshrutky stop anywhere you hail them (except on Nevsky Prospekt, where they’re banned from operating). Most transport runs from 6am to 1am.
The following are some useful routes across the city:
Along Nevsky pr between the Admiralty and Moskovsky vokzal Buses 7 and 22; trolleybuses 1, 5, 7, 10 and 22. Trolleybuses 1 and 22 continue out to pl Alexandra Nevskogo. Trolleybuses 5 and 7 continue to Smolny.
From Ligovsky pr via Troitsky most to Peter & Paul Fortress and Petrograd Side Marshrutka K76
From Vitebsky vokzal via Sennaya pl and Mariinsky Theatre to Vasilevsky Island Marshrutka K124
From the Hermitage to the Pribaltiyskaya Hotel on Vasilevsky Island Bus 7; trolleybus 10.
TOURING LINE 1
If you’ve had your fill of museums and palaces in St Petersburg, an ideal way to spend a rainy or cold day is to take a tour of metro Line 1 – that’s the red line on the official metro map. Along the section between pl Vosstaniya and Avtovo, opened in 1955, you’ll find a striking selection of station designs. Here are the things to look out for:
Ploshchad Vosstanniya (Map) Lenin and Stalin are depicted together in the rondels at either end of the platform, as well as Lenin on a tank, Lenin alone and the Kronshtadt sailors.
Pushkinskaya (Map) A statue of the poet rests at the end of the platform and a moulding of his head is above the escalators. Nip out of the station to view the nearby Style Moderne Vitebsky vokzal (see the boxed text, Click here).
Tekhnologichesky Institut (Map) On the platform heading south are reliefs of famous Russian scientists. Then read the dates of Russia’s major scientific achievements along the columns on the northbound platform.
Baltiyskaya (Map) A naval theme with a wavy motif on the mouldings along the platform ceiling and a vivid marble mosaic at the end of the platform depict the volley from the Aurora in 1917.
Narvskaya (Map) One of the best stations, with a fantastic sculpted relief of Lenin and rejoicing proletariat over the escalators and lovely carvings of miners, engineers, sailors, artists and teachers on the platform columns.
Kirovsky Zavod (Map) Named after the nearby heavy-engineering plant; the decoration along the platform also takes its inspiration from oil wells and industry. A scowling bust of Lenin can just be seen at the platform’s end, half hidden by scaffolding.
Avtovo (Map) Scaffolding also unfortunately obscures the red and gold mosaic at the end of this station’s platform, but it doesn’t distract from the otherwise Babylonian lavishness of the marble and cut-glass clad columns holding up the roof, the relief of soldiers in the ticket hall and the temple-like entrance.
To the Kamenny Islands Bus 10 from the corner of Bolshaya Morskaya ul and Nevsky pr.
Metro
The metro (R17; 5.30am-midnight) is usually the quickest way around the city and you’ll rarely wait more than three minutes for a train. The grandest stations are on Line 1 (Click here).
Zhetony (tokens) can be bought from the booths in the stations. You’re supposed to buy an extra ticket if you’re carrying a large amount of luggage. If you are staying more than a day or two, however, it’s worth buying a ‘smart card’ (a plastic card that the machine reads when you touch the circular light), which is good for multiple journeys over a fixed time period. There’s around a R30 deposit for the card on top of which you’ll pay R140 (10 trips/7 days), R280 (20 trips/15 days) and R560 (40 trips/30 days).
Taxi
Official taxis (four-door Volga sedans with a chequerboard strip down the side and a green light in the front window) have meters that drivers sometimes use, though you most often pay a negotiated price. If you want to book a taxi in advance try Peterburgskoe taksi 068 (Petersburg Taxi; 068, 324 7777; www.taxi068.spb.ru, in Russian), Taxi Blues (271 8888; www.taxiblues.ru, in Russian) or Taxi-Million (700 0000).
Most often, though, people use unofficial taxis, ie any car you can stop. Negotiate the price for your destination before getting in; most short rides around the city centre shouldn’t cost more than R200. Click here for safety rules on taking unofficial taxis.
AROUND ST PETERSBURG
There are several grand imperial palaces and estates surrounding St Petersburg, of which Petrodvorets and the palace–park ensembles at Tsarskoe Selo and Pavlovsk are the best. A visit to St Petersburg is not really complete without a trip to at least one of these palaces, but be warned that at the height of summer the endless crowds of tourists can be horrific. If your time is short, or you wish to avoid the long queues, book yourself on a guided tour of either palace with a travel agency (Click here) and make sure that they prebook your entry ticket. Peter’s Walking Tours (Click here) can do this for you.
If you have more time, several other options, most requiring an overnight stay, are outlined in the Western European Russia chapter, including the charming old Finnish town of Vyborg (Click here), the sleepy village of Staraya Ladoga (Click here) and the monastery town of Tikhvin (Click here).
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PETRODVORETS ПЕТРОДВОРЕЦ
It’s a tough call, but the gilded fountains and gardens of Petrodvorets (Map; 427 0073; www.peterhof.ru, in Russian; Razvodnaya ul 2) give it a slight edge over St Petersburg’s other suburban palace. Hugging the Gulf of Finland,29km west of St Petersburg, this ‘Russian Versailles’ is a far cry from the original cabin Peter the Great had built here to oversee construction of the Kronshtadt naval base (Click here). He liked the place so much he built a villa, Monplaisir, and then a whole series of palaces across an estate originally called Peterhof (pronounced Petergof), which has been called Petrodvorets (Peter’s Palace) since 1944. All are surrounded by leafy gardens and a spectacular ensemble of gravity-powered fountains.
What you see today is largely a reconstruction since Petrodvorets was a major casualty of WWII. Apart from the damage done by the Germans, the palace suffered the worst under Soviet bombing raids in December 1941 and January 1942 because Stalin was determined to thwart Hitler’s plan of hosting a New Year’s victory celebration here.
Inexplicably, many museums within the estate have different closing days, although all the buildings are open from Friday to Sunday (and, with the exception of the Grand Palace, most buildings are open only at weekends between October and April). In any case, it’s time-consuming and expensive to see all of the attractions from the inside, as they each charge separate hefty admission fees. You’re better off spending the bulk of your time enjoying the grounds.
The lovely Upper Garden is free. Admission to the Lower Park is payable at the cash booths on the jetty and outside the gates leading to the Grand Cascade; hold on to your ticket when exiting this area so you can go back in later if you need to.
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Sights
GRAND CASCADE, LOWER PARK & GROTTO
Petrodvorets’ masterpiece is the Grand Cascade, a symphony of over 140 fountains and canals engineered partly by Peter himself. To see the fountains you have to pay to enter the Lower Park (Nizhny Park; adult/student R300/150; 9am-8pm Mon-Fri, to 9pm Sat & Sun) and although they work only from mid-May to early October (11am–5pm Monday to Friday and 11am–6pm Saturday and Sunday), the gilded ensemble looks marvellous at any time of the year. The central statue of Samson tearing open a lion’s jaws celebrates – as do so many things in St Petersburg – Peter’s victory over the Swedes. If you’re interested in knowing how the fountains work, pay a visit to the Grotto (adult/student R150/80; 11am-4pm Mon-Fri, to 6pm Sat & Sun) beneath the Grand Cascade, where you can also see some trick fountains.
GRAND PALACE
Forming an impressive backdrop to the cascade is the Grand Palace (Bolshoi Dvorets; adult/student R520/250; 10.30am-6pm Tue-Sun, closed last Tue of month). Despite its name, the 30-odd-room palace is small compared to other typical tsarist abodes. Expect it to be packed with tour groups in summer.
Finished just before Peter’s death, the palace was grossly enlarged by Rastrelli for Empress Elizabeth and later redecorated in lavish style for Catherine the Great. Anything not nailed down was removed before the Germans arrived, so the paintings, furniture and chandeliers are original.
Highlights include the Chesma Hall, full of huge paintings of Russia’s destruction of the Turkish fleet at Çesme in 1770. Of some 20 rooms, the last, without a trace of Catherine, is the finest – Peter’s simple, beautiful study was apparently the only room to survive the Germans. The study has 14 fantastic carved-wood panels, of which six reconstructions (in lighter wood) are no less impressive; each took 1½ years to do. Peter the Great still looks like the tsar with the best taste.
MONPLAISIR
Peter’s outwardly more humble, sea-facing villa Monplaisir (adult/student R300/150; 10.30am-6pm Thu-Tue end May-Oct, closed last Thu of month) remained his favourite. It’s easy to see why: it’s wood-panelled, snug and elegant, peaceful even when there’s a crowd – which there used to be all the time, what with Peter’s mandatory partying (‘misbehaving’ guests were required to gulp down huge quantities of wine).
The Rastrelli-designed Catherine Wing (Ekaterinsky korpus; adult/student R300/150; 10.30am-6pm Fri-Wed May-Oct, 10.30am-5pm Sat & Sun Oct-May, closed last Tue of month) was added on the west side of Monplaisir by Empress Elizabeth in the 1740s; Catherine the Great was living here (conveniently) when her husband Peter III was overthrown. It has some pleasant period interiors. On Monplaisir’s east side is Quarenghi’s 1800 Bath Building (Banniy korpus; adult/student R300/150; 10.30am-6pm Thu-Tue, closed last Tue of the month), which is nothing special inside. Look out for some more trick fountains in the garden in front of the buildings.
HERMITAGE & MARLY PALACE
On the west side of the Lower Park, near the shore, the Hermitage (adult/student R150/80; 10.30am-6pm Tue-Sun) is a two-storey pink-and-white box featuring the ultimate in private dining: special elevators hoist a fully laid table into the imperial presence on the 2nd floor, thereby eliminating any hindrance by servants. The elevators are circular and directly in front of each diner, whose plate would be lowered, replenished and replaced. It was closed for renovations at the time of research. Further west is the modest Marly Palace (adult/student R150/80; 10.30am-6pm Tue-Sun), inspired by a French hunting lodge.
ALEKSANDRIYA PARK
To escape the crowds, even at summer weekends, wander through the rambling Aleksandriya Park (admission free), immediately east of the Lower Park. Built for Tsar Nicholas I (and named for his tsarina), it features a neo-Gothic chapel (Kapella; adult/student R110/60; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun), the ruined Farmer’s Palace (1831), which vaguely resembles a stone farmstead, and the Cottage (adult/student R250/130; 10.30am-4pm Tue-Sun May-Sep, Sat & Sun Oct-Apr), a small palace dating from 1829 and modelled on an English country cottage, also with neo-Gothic interiors.
THE TOWN
If you’re in the mood to explore further, the town itself has a few more interesting sites. The eye-catching five-domed SS Peter & Paul Cathedral (Sobor Petra i Pavla), across the road and east of Petrodvorets’ Upper Garden, is impossible to miss. Built in neo-Byzantine style, it dates from the turn of the 20th century.
Behind the cathedral, the Kolonistsky Park surrounds Olga’s Pond (Olgin Prud). Footbridges link a couple of small islands in the pond on which you can visit the recently restored Tsaritsyn & Olgin Pavilions (adult/student R450/230; 10.30am-5pm end May-Sep). Nicholas I had these simple Italian-style pavilions built for his wife (Alexandra Fedorovna) and daughter (Olga Nikolaevna) respectively.
Sleeping & Eating
Samson Hotel (320-9996; www.samsonhotel.ru; Peterburgsky pr 44; s or d from €100; ) About to open at the time of research, this hotel and restaurant complex is bang opposite the Upper Garden should you wish to beat the tour groups into the palace in the morning. The rooms are spacious and blandly modern. There’s a large cellar-like restaurant on the ground floor serving Russian and European cuisine.
Shtandart (952 7430; mains R500-700; 10am-8pm) For a sit-down meal this is the fanciest of an indifferent and overpriced bunch of tourist-oriented cafés and restaurants scattered around the Lower Park. Note that they add 10 per cent service to the bill.
Grand Orangerie (snacks R100-200; 10am-6pm) The self-serve side of this restaurant is as good a spot as any to grab light refreshments while touring the park, with the added bonus of outdoor tables overlooking one of the fountains.
Getting There & Away
Buses and marshrutky to Petrodvorets (R45, 30 minutes) run frequently from St Petersburg outside metro stations Avtovo (424), Leninsky Prospekt (103) and Prospekt Veteranov (N639B or K343). There’s also the K404 bus from outside the Baltisky vokzal (R50, 40 minutes). All stop near the main entrance to the Upper Garden, on Sankt Peterburgsky pr.
There’s also a reasonably frequent suburban train (R48, 30 minutes) from the Baltisky vokzal to Novy Petrodvorets, from where you can walk (around 20 minutes) or take any bus except 357 to the fifth stop, which will take another 10 minutes.
From May to September, the Meteor hydrofoil (one-way/return R400/700, 30 min) from the jetty in front of St Petersburg’s Hermitage goes every 20 to 30 minutes from 9.30am to at least 7pm. And if you’re really in a hurry, there are also helicopter flights from the Peter & Paul Fortress (Click here).
LOMONOSOV (ORANIENBAUM) ЛОМОНОСОВ
While Peter was building Monplaisir, his right-hand man, Alexander Menshikov, began his own palace, Oranienbaum (Orange Tree), 12km down the coast from Peterhof. This grand enterprise eventually bankrupted Menshikov. Following Peter’s death and Menshikov’s exile, the estate served briefly as a hospital and then passed to Tsar Peter III, who didn’t much like ruling Russia and spent a lot of time there before he was dispatched in a coup led by his wife Catherine (the Great).
Spared Nazi occupation and, after WWII, ruined by Soviet neglect, Oranienbaum and the surrounding town was renamed after the scientist-poet Mikhail Lomonosov. The palatial estate is once again known as Oranienbaum and doubles as a museum and public park (R100/50; 10am-7pm) with boat rides on the ornamental lake. Bypassed by tour groups, it’s a pleasant setting for a picnic or a tranquil walk away from the crowds.
Menshikov’s impressively large but decrepit Great Palace (Bolshoy dvorets; 423 1627; adult/student R400/200) is undergoing major renovation as are some of the other smaller pavilions in the park; call ahead to check what is open for tours and when. One of the ground’s buildings open for inspection is Peter III’s Palace (Dvorets Petra III; adult/student R300/150), a boxy miniature palace, with rich, uncomfortable-looking interiors and some Chinese-style lacquer-on-wood paintings. It is approached through the Gate of Honour, all that remains of a toy fortress where Peter amused himself drilling his soldiers.
The suburban train from St Petersburg’s Baltisky vokzal to Petrodvorets continues to Lomonosov (R60). Get off at Oranienbaum-I (not II) train station, an hour from St Petersburg. From the station it’s a short walk south, then west at the Archangel Michael Cathedral (Sobor Arkhangela Mikhaila) along Dvortsovy pr until you reach the palace entrance. Marshrutky to Lomonosov also run from outside metro Avtovo.
Opposite the palace entrace there’s a reasonably good restaurant, Okhota (422 0659; Dvortsoviy pr 65A; mains R200-600; noon-midnight), that’s big on taxidermy for its hunting-themed décor. It has an English menu.
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STRELNA & AROUND СТРЕЛЬНА И ОКРЕСТНОСТИ СТРЕЛЬНЫ
Six kilometres east of Petrodvorets is the town of Strelna, where you’ll find two more palaces originally built for Peter. The butterscotch-painted Konstantinovsky Palace was chosen by Vladimir Putin as his St Petersburg residence, renovated to host 2003’s Russia–EU summit and reopened as the Palace of Congress (Dvorets Kongressov; 438 5702; www.konstantinpalace.ru; Beryozovaya alleya 3; admission R220 Thu, Fri, Mon, Tue, R180 Sat & Sun, plus R1500 for Russian-language tour, R2500 for English-language tour per group of 15; 10am-5pm Thu-Tue). It’s best to call ahead to book a tour as the palace is often used for official functions. Not a must-see sight, the palace nonetheless provides a fascinating glimpse of how a modern-day Russian leader likes to entertain his guests. There’s a small collection of medals from the Hermitage’s collection here and some reconstructed rooms from the time of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstanovich, the palace’s last imperial owner and something of a poet and musician.
Opposite the entrace to the palace and scoring high on the modern kitsch factor is Lindstrem’s Dacha (438 5831; www.dachalindstrema.ru; ul Glinka 7; admission R200; 10am-6pm), once the home of the Grand Duke’s doctor Peter I von Lindstrem. Restored for the 2005 G8 summit, also hosted at the Konstantinovsky Palace, the modest-sized building was used by Putin to entertain his opposite numbers and their wives. One can only wonder what they thought of the garish nouveaux Russe interior, which has since been supplemented by a small shrine to all things Putin including a chance to have a three-minute audience with a life-sized hologram of the former prez. The stairwell is hung with a massive portrait of the G8 leaders, including Silvio Berlesconi rather than Romano Prodi, who was actually the Italian leader of the time.
A short walk to the west of the Palace of Congress lies the compact, and infinitely more charming, Peter I’s Palace at Strelna (Dvorets Petra I; 427 7425; www.peterhof.org/museums/strelny/; adult/student R150/80; 10.30am-5pm Tue-Sun). This is one of the first palaces that Peter the Great built out this way while supervising his far grander enterprise down the road. It has some well-furnished interiors with interesting exhibits, most notably a combined travelling chest and camp bed belonging to Alexander III.
Midway between Strelna and Petrodvorets is the tourist ‘village’ Shuvalovka (331 9999; www.shuvalovka.ru/english.htm; Sankt-Peterburgskoe sh 111; 10am-10pm Sat & Sun). The quaintly kitsch complex of traditional-style wooden buildings does have plus points, namely an excellent restaurant, a traditional banya and the opportunity to see Russian craftspeople in action.
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Sleeping & Eating
All those visiting VIPs need somewhere to stay, so next to the Palace of Congress is the luxurious Baltic Star Hotel (438 5700; www.balticstar-hotel.ru; Berlozovaya alleya 3; s/d from R9280/9920 prices in units;
). It’s a fancy enough place, but there’s really no compelling reason for staying this far out of St Petersburg. Its elegant European restaurant Northern Venice is worth a look if you’re hungry. Otherwise, beneath the Palace of Congress, there’s the Rákóczi Wine Cellar (438 5425; same as Palace of Congress), specialising in Hungarian wines – you can taste four wines for R750.
The ground floor of Lindstrem’s Dacha (left) is a café and restaurant (10am-10pm) serving nouvelle Russian cuisine of taste as dubious as the décor; stick to coffee and light snacks and you should be fine. At weekends it’s worth checking out the traditional Russian restaurant Sobraniye at Shuvalovka where, apart from Russian classic cuisine, you can sample many flavoured vodkas. If you get really sloshed, the complex also includes the cute Hotel Koshel (r incl breakfast from R2100).
Getting There & Away
Strelna is reached by the same trains and buses serving Petrodvorets (Click here).
PUSHKIN (TSARSKOE SELO) ЦАРСКОЕ СЕЛО
812 / pop 84,628
The grand imperial estate of Tsarskoe Selo (Tsar’s Village; Map; 465 2281; eng.tzar.ru; Sadovaya ul 7) in the town of Pushkin, 25km south of St Petersburg, is often combined on a day trip with the palace and sprawling park at Pavlovsk (Click here), 4km further south. This is a pity because both estates deserve a day each to be fully appreciated; if you have the time it’s best to see them separately.
The railway that connects Pushkin and Pavlovsk with St Petersburg was Russia’s first, opened in 1837 to carry the imperial family between here and the then capital. The town changed its name to Pushkin in 1937 after Russia’s favourite poet, who studied here and whose school and dacha you can also visit.
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Sights
CATHERINE PALACE
The centrepiece of Tsarskoe Selo, created under Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine the Great between 1744 and 1796, is the vast baroque Catherine Palace (Yekaterininsky dvorets; adult/student R500/250; 10am-6pm Wed-Mon, closed last Mon of the month), designed by Rastrelli and named after Elizabeth’s mother, Peter the Great’s second wife. As at the Winter Palace, Catherine the Great had many of Rastrelli’s original interiors remodelled in classical style. Most of the gaudy exterior and 20-odd rooms of the palace have been beautifully restored – compare them to the photographs of the devastation left by the Germans.
Everyone has to go on a guided tour here but it’s easy to slip away once you’re inside the palace. Tours start with the white State Staircase (1860). South of here, only three rooms have been restored: the Gentlemen-in-Waiting’s Dining Room, the dazzling Great Hall, the largest in the palace, and an antechamber with some huge blue-and-white Dutch ovens.
The rooms north of the State Staircase on the courtyard side include the State Dining Room, Crimson and Green Pilaster Rooms, Portrait Room and the famous Amber Room (Click here), which is much smaller than it looks in publicity photos. This is the only room of the palace where photography is forbidden. (If you’d like to view, or even buy, amber pieces made by the same craftspeople who spent decades restoring this room, drop by the shop near the palace entrance on Sadovaya ul.)
Most of the palace’s north end is the early classical work of architect Charles Cameron, including the elegant Green Dining Room, the Blue Drawing Room, Chinese Blue Drawing Room and Choir Anteroom, whose gold silk, woven with swans and pheasants, is the original from the 18th century.
CATHERINE PARK
Around Catherine Palace extends the lovely Catherine Park (Yekaterininsky Park; adult/student R100/50; 6am-11pm). The main entrance is on Sadovaya ul, next to the palace chapel. On the edge of the park is the Cameron Gallery (adult/student R160/80; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon), which has changing exhibitions. Between the gallery and the palace, notice the south-pointing ramp, which Cameron added for the ageing empress to walk down into the park.
THE MYSTERY OF THE AMBER ROOM
The original Amber Room was created from exquisitely engraved amber panels given to Peter the Great by King Friederich Wilhelm I of Prussia in 1716. Rastrelli later combined the panels with gilded woodcarvings, mirrors, agate and jasper mosaics to decorate one of the rooms of the Catherine Palace. Plundered by the Nazis during WWII, the room’s decorative panels were last exhibited in Königsberg’s castle (Click here) in 1941. Four years later, with the castle in ruins, the Amber Room was presumed destroyed. Or was it?
In 2004, as Putin and German Chancellor Gerhardt Schröder presided over the opening of the new US$18 million Amber Room, restored largely with German funds, rumours about the original panels continued to swirl. There are those who believe that parts, if not all, of the original Amber Room remain hidden away (see www.amberroom.org). The mystery gained traction in February 2008 as attention focused on the possible contents of an artificial cavern discovered near the village of Deutschneudorf on Germany’s border with the Czech Republic. Nothing conclusive has yet to be unearthed here, though, so the mystery continues.
The park’s outer section focuses on the Great Pond, where you can rent boats in summer. This section is dotted with intriguing structures ranging from the Pyramid, where Catherine the Great buried her favourite dogs, to the Chinese Pavilion (or Creaking Summerhouse), Marble Bridge (copied from one in Wilton, England) and Ruined Tower, which was built ‘ready-ruined’ in keeping with a 1770s romantic fashion – an 18th-century empress’s equivalent of prefaded denim.
ALEXANDER PALACE & PARK
A short distance north of the Catherine Palace, and surrounded by the overgrown and tranquil Alexander Park (admission free) is the classical Alexander Palace (466 6071; www.alexanderpalace.org; Dvortsovaya ul 2; adult/student R246/130; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon, closed last Wed of the month). It was built by Quarenghi between 1792 and 1796 for the future Alexander I, but Nicholas II, the last tsar, was its main tenant. It’s a poignant place that doesn’t get many tourists and is a welcome contrast to the Catherine Palace.
Sleeping & Eating
Ekaterina Hotel (446 8042; www.hotelekaterina.spb.ru; ul Sadovaya 5; s & d incl breakfast €120; ) Staying at this small hotel inside the palace’s old servants’ block not only provides great views on the building’s gilded facade, but is also about your best chance of being first in line to get into the palace. The rooms lack glitz but they’re modern and reasonably spacious.
Staraya Bashnya (466 6698; Akademichesky pr 14, Pushkin; mains R650-800; noon-11pm) There are just four tables shoehorned into an old watchtower at this darling restaurant five minutes’ walk north of the Alexander Palace, so you must book. You’re bound to find something to please on its extensive menu.
Daniel (466 9116; Srednyaya ul 2/3; mains R750-1300; 11am-11pm) Fine dining doesn’t get much better than this. Swedish chef Eric Viedgård conjures culinary magic with his seasonally changing menu in an elegant contemporary space with heritage touches.
Getting There & Away
Marshrutky (R30, 30 minutes) regularly shuttle to Pushkin from outside metro Moskovskaya, many continuing the few kilometres on to Pavlovsk.
Infrequent suburban trains run from St Petersburg’s Vitebsk station. For Tsarskoe Selo, get off at Detskoe Selo station (R36), and for Pavlovsk (R48) at Pavlovsk station. It’s about half an hour to either place. From Detskoe Selo station marshrutky (R15) frequently run the 500 metres or so to Tsarskoe Selo.
PAVLOVSK ПАВЛОВСК
812 / pop 14,960
In 1777, Catherine the Great granted her son Paul land around the Slavyanka River, a few kilometres away from her own estate at Tsarskoe Selo – hence the palace and park’s name of Pavlovsk from Pavel, the Russian for Paul. A few years later Charles Cameron was commissioned to design the future tsar Paul I’s palace and the beautiful surrounding Pavlovsky Park (Map; adult/student R150/80; 9am-6pm), with woodland, rivers, lakes, tree-lined avenues, classical statues and temples. A delightful place to wander around at any time of year, the park swallows crowds easily compared to Tsarskoe Selo and is a splendid location for a picnic.
The interiors of Pavlovsk’s Great Palace (425 1214; www.pavlovskmuseum.ru; ul Revolyutsii; adult/student R400/250; 10am-6pm Sat-Thu, closed 1st Fri of month) were largely orchestrated by Paul’s second wife Maria Fyodorovna. The original palace was burnt down two weeks after liberation in WWII by a careless Soviet soldier’s cigarette that set off German mines (the Soviets blamed the Germans). As at Tsarskoe Selo, its restoration is remarkable.
The finest rooms are on the middle floor of the central block. Cameron designed the round Italian Hall beneath the dome and the Grecian Hall to its west, though the lovely green fluted columns were added by his assistant Vincenzo Brenna. Flanking these are two private suites mainly designed by Brenna – Paul’s along the north side of the block and Maria Fyodorovna’s on the south. The Hall of War of the insane, military-obsessed Paul contrasts with Maria’s Hall of Peace, decorated with musical instruments and flowers.
On the middle floor of the south block are Paul’s Throne Room and the Hall of the Maltese Knights of St John, of whom he was the Grand Master. At the weekends it’s also possible to visit the Costume Museum and Portrait Gallery (adult/student R100/50; 10.30am-6pm Fri-Sun) in separate, opposite wings of the palace.
Just outside the park grounds, a short walk northeast of Pavlovsk station, there’s the touristy Podvorye (465 1399; www.podvorye.ru; Filtrovskoye sh 16; mains R500-800; noon-11pm) in a traditional Russian log house on steroids. Huge portions of delicious Russian food are dished up (including a menu enjoyed by former President Putin in 2000 to celebrate his birthday for R2000), with a side-order of live Russian music and dancing.
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Getting There & Away
See Pushkin’s Getting There & Away (Click here) for information on direct trains and buses to Pavlovsk from St Petersburg. Marshrutky (R15 to R20) frequently shuttle between Pushkin and Pavlovsk; catch one from Pavolovskoe shosse near the southeast corner of Catherine Park, and get off either at Pavlovsk station (for entry to the park) or in front of Pavlovsk’s palace. Walking at least one way across the park is recommended.
GATCHINA ГАТЧИНА
81371 / pop 88,420
Far less touristy than other country palaces close to St Petersburg, Gatchina (13492; adult/child R200/100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun), 45km southwest of the city, can make for a very pleasant half-day trip. The prime attraction is the palace’s attractive park, which has many winding paths through birch groves, past follies such as the ruined Eagle Pavilion (Pavilion Orla), and across crumbling bridges to islands in an ornamental lake across which it’s possible to row in a rented boat.
Shaped in a graceful curve around a central turret and notable for its plain weathered limestone exterior, the palace was a gift from Catherine the Great to her lover Grigory Orlov for helping her get rid of her husband Peter III. It was later passed on to Catherine and Peter’s son Paul I. Gutted during WWII, only a small portion of the palace has been reopened since restoration work began in 1985. The handful of state rooms on the first floor are impressive, as is the small chapel still under restoration. The most interesting feature is a 120m-long tunnel running from the palace cellar to the ornamental lake; the entrance is beside the small exhibition of antique firearms.
Take time to explore the adjacent town. You’ll find several attractive wooden buildings and a couple of interesting churches. The baroque Pavlovsky Sobor (ul Sobornaya), at the end of the pedestrianised shopping street off the central pr 25 Oktyabrya, has a grandly restored interior with a soaring central dome. A short walk west is the Pokrovsky Sobor, a lofty red-brick building crowned with bright blue domes.
If you haven’t packed a picnic to enjoy in the park, ul Sobornaya has several inexpensive cafés including the appealing Kafe Piramida (ul Sobornaya 3A; mains R150; 10am-11pm), serving a wide range of dishes as well as delicious cakes and coffees. They have an English menu, as does the the handsomely decorated restaurant Pavel Pervy (pr 25 Oktyabrya 3; mains R350; noon-midnight) attached to Hotel Gakkel House (34499; www.gakkel.ru), opposite the west side of the palace park. One more option is Slavyanskiy Dvor (ul Dostoevskogo 2; 94985; mains R250; 11am-midnight Mon-Thu, 11-3am Fri-Sun) in a restored historic building near the Pokrovsky Sobor.
Suburban trains run roughly every hour to Gatchina (R72, one hour) from Baltisky vokzal; note that of Gatchina’s three stations, Gatchina Balt is the closest to the palace entrance. It’s far quicker to take the metro to Moskovskaya vokzal and then hop on express bus K18 (R50, 40 mins), which runs roughly every half-hour to the palace entrance. Alternatively there are frequent marshrutky (R50, 40 mins) shuttling between Moskovskaya vokzal and Gatchina, stopping along pr 25 Oktyabrya from where the park and palace are immediately to the west.
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KRONSHTADT КРОНШТАДТ
812 / pop 45,100
Within a year of founding St Petersburg, Peter – desirous of protecting his new Baltic toehold – started work on the fortress of Kronshtadt on Kotlin Island, 29km out in the Gulf of Finland. It’s been a pivotal Soviet and Russian naval base ever since, and was closed to foreigners until 1996.
In 1921 the hungry and poor Red Army sailors stationed here organised an ill-fated mutiny against the Bolsheviks. They set up a Provisional Revolutionary Committee and drafted a resolution demanding, among other things, an end to Lenin’s harsh War Communism. On 16 March 1921 the mutineers were defeated when 50,000 troops crossed the ice from Petrograd and massacred nearly the entire naval force. The sailors’ stand wasn’t entirely in vain as afterwards Lenin did scrap War Communism, marking the end of the Russian revolutionary movement.
Kronshtadt’s key sight is the unusual and beautiful Naval Cathedral (Morskoy Sobor). Built between 1903 and 1913 to honour Russian naval muscle, this neo-Byzantine wonder stands on Yakornaya pl (Anchor sq), where you’ll also find an eternal flame for all of Kronshtadt’s sailors, and the florid art nouveau monument of Admiral Makarov. The intricately detailed facade (anchors and all) repays close inspection, while inside a section of the cathedral houses the mildly interesting Central Naval Museum (236 4713; admission R300/100; 11am-5.15pm Wed-Sun).
In the harbourside Petrovsky Park, 700m southwest of the cathedral, there’s a statue of Peter the Great, and you can glimpse Russian warships and even some submarines: be careful about taking photographs, though. For a drink or snack try Skazka (pr Lenina 31; 10am-11pm), a cute café on the main drag decorated with Disney characters.
Catch bus 510 to Kronshtadt from metro Staraya Derevnya (R20, 30 minutes) or take a marshrutka from metro Chyornaya Rechka; exit the station to your left and cross the street to find the stop. In Kronshtadt, the bus stop is on the corner of ul Grazhdanskaya and pr Lenina. From there it’s about a 1km walk southeast to the Naval Cathedral.
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REPINO Репино
812 / pop 2011
Come summer St Petersburgers stream out of the city whenever they get the chance to relax on the beaches to the north between Sestoretsk and Zelenogorsk on the Finnish Gulf. Between these two towns you’ll find the village of Repino, 45km from the city. From 1918 and WWII, this area was part of Finland and the village was known as Kuokkala. In 1948, back in Russian hands, the village was renamed in honour of its most famous resident, Ilya Repin (Click here).
The artist’s charming house and small estate, Penates (432 0828; adult/student R300/100; museum 10.30am-5pm Wed-Sun), are now a museum and park and make for a pleasant day-trip any time of year. You can also visit the nearby beach and even stay in one of the area’s many resort-style hotels and sanatoria in the summer.
Repin bought land here in 1899, named the estate after a Roman household god and designed the light-flooded house in an arts and crafts style. The artist executed many of his later works here and several of his paintings still hang on the walls. The furnishings have been left just as they were during Repin’s residence, which was up to his death in 1930. His grave, marked by a simple Russian Orthodox wooden cross, is in the park, along with a couple of wooden follies also designed by Repin.
Next to Penates there’s a decent café, also called Penates (432 0777; Primorskoye Shosse 411A; mains R300-450; 11am-5pm), serving a range of Russian dishes including salads, soups and various shashlyks. Closer to the heart of Repino village, both the sleek new beachside resort Club Hotel Repino (702 2828; www.orangeclub-repino.ru; Primorskoye Shosse 394; s/d incl breakfast & dinner from R3500/4500; ) and the Soviet-style but convivial Baltiets Hotel (329 3932; www.turris-hotels.ru; Primorskoye Shosse 427; s or d from R1600; ) also have restaurants.
The easiest way of getting to Repino is to take either the frequent mashrutka 400 (R60; 90 min) beside Finlyandsky vokzal or bus 211 (R32; 1 hr) from beside Chernya Rechka metro. The buses stop outside Penates. Otherwise there’s the infrequent elektrichka from Finlyandsky vokzal (R60; 1hr). From Repino station, you’ll need to cross the tracks and the main road, and go past the shopping complex towards the coast. When you hit Repino village and Primorskoye Shosse turn right to reach Penates – it’s around a 30- minute walk or you could take a minibus for the three stops from Repino village.
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Western EuropeanRussia
SPASSKOE-LUTOVINOVO СПАССКОЕ-ЛУТОВИНОВО
Moscow and St Petersburg may wield modern might, but a thousand years ago economic and political power in Western European Russia lay elsewhere, with the first Rus settlements. Most of the old wooden forts easily fell to Mongol invaders, but more lasting brick walls and citadels built later remain to this day, attesting to the longevity of settled life here.
One of the earliest princedoms of political importance, Novgorod, is the major drawcard for visitors. The fortresses, ramparts and onion-domed churches floating over the city offer tantalising reminders of a former age. Other kremlin towns such as Pskov and Smolensk are well worth visiting for their stunning views and decidedly off-the-beaten path attraction. North of St Petersburg, Tikhvin’s elaborate monastery is a unique legacy of Ivan the Terrible.
The region has bred a disproportionate share of Russia’s cultural icons. Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote The Brothers Karamazov while exiled in sleepy little Staraya Russa. In Mikhailovskoe, Pushkin’s ancestral home, visitors can stroll along the serene lake shore that inspired one of Russia’s greatest poets. The man who gave us War and Peace, Count Leo Tolstoy, called Yasnaya Polyana home, and the great author Ivan Turgenev hails from Oryol. Lovers of orchestral music will certainly be familiar with the works of composer Mikhail Glinka, a Smolensk native.
While Novgorod is a popular stopover for travellers between St Petersburg and Moscow, the rest of the region remains off main touring itineraries – which makes it all the more unique for anyone hoping to avoid the tourist throngs. It’s also a convenient entry or exit point for Europe via border crossings with the Baltics, Belarus and Ukraine.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Take the Yasnaya Polyana express (Click here) from Moscow direct to the home of Leo Tolstoy, the man who gave us War and Peace
- Light a candle and enter the spooky underground tombs of Pechory Monastery (Click here) where solemn monks show you their dead
- Immerse yourself in 1000 years of Russian history at the striking kremlin town of Novgorod (Click here)
- Stroll along the banks of the Polist River in Staraya Russa (Click here) to visit the modest wooden home once owned by literary giant Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Visit Tikhvin Monastery (Click here), Ivan the Terrible’s elaborate monastery, which houses a famed icon said to be painted by the apostle Luke
History
Slavs, migrating from the west, first settled in the region between the 6th and 8th centuries AD. At the same time Varangians (Vikings) from Scandinavia began trading and raiding across the region en route to the Black Sea. In 862, apparently at the invitation of local Slavs, Varangians under Prince Rurik came to rule, establishing order in the land of ‘Rus’. Their first permanent settlement, Novgorod, is seen by many as the birthplace of Russia.
By the 12th century Novgorod was a European political and commercial centre, expanding aggressively and increasingly attracting the attention of the Swedes, who held sway in most of present-day northwest Russia. The friction, at first economic, took on a religious tenor as Swedish crusaders tried to push back the Orthodox ‘heathens’. Novgorod’s Prince Alexander Nevsky is considered a Russian hero for thrashing both the Swedish and Teutonic crusaders in the 1240s, putting an end to Christian intentions in Russia.
Though the Mongol Tatars got only as far as the swamps outside Novgorod, the city’s princes sensibly accepted the Tatars as rulers. By 1480 Ivan III had driven them out and annexed Novgorod and all its northern lands for Moscow. South of Moscow, towns such as Oryol and Voronezh were founded to serve as fortifications against the Tatars.
War consumed the region during the 16th and 17th centuries as Russia’s power-ful neighbours Sweden and Poland took bits of western Russian territory, including Smolensk and the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland. The Great Northern War (1700–21) marked a turning point for Russia when Peter the Great regained its lost territories, plus the Baltic coastline down to Latvia.
In 1920 Soviet Russia recognised the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. During the early stages of WWII secret deals that had been struck with Nazi Germany allowed the USSR’s western European border to expand again. Hitler subsequently invaded the western USSR, including the Baltic States, and the German war machine devastated many cities in this region.
After the end of WWII, Russia reimposed its control over the Baltic region. The tumultuous events of 1990–91 saw the new independence of the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine, and Russia’s western bound-aries became borders between countries, rather than just between republics of the Soviet Union.
The economy of Western European Russia limped along during bleak times in the 1990s but has since rebounded on the back of Moscow subsidies and local manufacturing. Voronezh remains the largest economic driver in the area, thanks to its aircraft manufacturing plant and nuclear facility, while Novgorod does brisk business in the tourism trade.
SOUTH & WEST OF MOSCOW
The grassy steppes south and west of Moscow have played a key role in Russian history, being home to some of the earliest settlements in ancient Rus. Some towns, such as Yelets, seem to have changed little since the days of the Mongol invasions while others, like Voronezh and Kursk, are icons of the postindustrial age. Aspiring novelists could make a fine pilgrim circuit in the area, visiting literary-minded Oryol, Turgenev’s estate at Spasskoe-Lutovinovo and the Tolstoy estate at Yasnaya Polyana.
The major towns listed here are easily accessible by train. The main routes from Moscow are the eastern route to Yelets and Voronezh; the central route through Oryol, Kursk and Belgorod en route to Kharkiv in Ukraine; and the western route, through Smolensk heading towards Minsk (Belarus).
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TULA ТYЛA
4872 / pop 482,000 / Moscow
Tula is one of Russia’s earliest centres for manufacturing. Blacksmiths, ironmongers and gunmakers churned out everything from samovars to swords to small arms, making it one of the oldest centres of industry in Europe. Production moved elsewhere during the 20th century but Tula’s illustrious past has been preserved in several museums, the best of which is an armaments museum housed inside the red-brick kremlin.
Most people come to Tula to honour its most famous resident – Leo Tolstoy, author of classics such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Tolstoy spent his most creative years just south of the city at his estate Yasnaya Polyana (Click here), also his last resting place. The Tolstoy home can be visited on a long day trip from Moscow, but there is enough to see in Tula itself to make this an overnight destination. Besides the kremlin and Arms Museum, you can visit museums dedicated to samovars, metallurgy and the wildly popular local cake, prianik.
A useful city website (in Russian) is www.gotula.ru.
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Orientation
Tula’s train station lies at the northwest edge of town. The kremlin and other main sites are 2km to the east, connected by pr Krasnoarmeysky. The southwest side of the main square (the top end of pr Lenina) is the main shopping and eating area. The main bus station is located 3km down Lenina, next to Hotel Tula.
Information
Biblio Sfera (358 933; pr Lenina 88) Sells tourist books and maps of Tula. Located 500m northeast of the Tula Hotel.
Forabank (307 952; pr Lenina 17) Exchange window changes US dollars and euros. Located in the Paradise Mall, which also has an ATM.
Post & 24-hour telephone office (360 287; pr Lenina 33) ATM inside. It also has an internet café. Located 400m southwest of the main square.
Yasnaya Polyana Tour Office (393 599; [email protected]; ul Oktyabrskaya 14) Arranges tours to Tolstoy’s estate and final resting place (Click here). The office can organise English-language guided tours, cart rides, tea parties, folk music performances and, if you want to get your hands dirty, stable work.
Sights & Activities
A former church within the kremlin has been converted into the impressive Arms Museum (312 406; Kremlin; adult/student R100/70; 9am-5pm Wed-Sun), showing off all manner of guns, swords and other armaments dating back to medieval times. The first weapons workshop was built here in 1712 under the patronage of Peter the Great. Tula provided a good deal of the weaponry used in Peter’s 21-year war with Sweden. In the 1890s mass production commenced on the Mossin-Nagant rifle, one of the world’s most popular rifles for decades to come. Exhibits upstairs are given over to the weapons of modern warfare.
The museum is accessed through the Kremlin (admission R20; 9am-5pm Tue-Sun), but the city plans to move it to a new site across the river in 2009. The current museum will be converted back to its original function as a church.
Just outside the gate of the Kremlin, facing the square is the Samovar Museum (312 538; ul Mendeleevskaya 8; adult/student R40/20; 9am-5pm Tue-Sat), which gives a cursory overview of samovar production in the city, for which Tula is famous. ‘To take one’s own samovar to Tula’, a well-known Russian idiom coined by Anton Chekov, is similar to the Western saying, ‘carrying coals to Newcastle’. Production was started in the late 18th century by a local gunsmith, Fedor Lisitsyn. His popular product spurred competition and by the 1830s there were dozens of samovar workshops in Tula. At the behest of Stalin, samovar production was ramped up in the early 20th century and the small samovar workshops turned into mega-factories, the largest was the Shtamp Factory in Tula.
Tula is also renowned for its prianiky (inscribed honey cakes), a fact that is cele-brated at the small and overpriced Prianik Museum (347 070; ul Oktyabrskaya 45a; admission R50; 9am-5pm Tue-Sat). The sweet cakes, reputedly invented in the 9th century, were a symbol of the aristocracy because the high cost of production (which required the carving of customised wooden moulds) kept it out of peasant hands. Some could well be Guinness World Record holders – check out the 16kg monster loaf. Animal themes are popular while others denote historical events and tributes to important personalities. You can buy a cake and enjoy it with coffee at the attached shop. Plenty of prianiky are also available for sale at kiosks outside the train station.
Tula’s newly renovated Antiquities Exhibition Centre (361 663; admission R15; pr Lenina 47; 10am-5pm, closed last Wed of the month) contains Stone Age and Bronze Age finds from the Tula area, including arrowheads, fish hooks and jewellery. Displays are labelled in Russian, but English tours may be available (preferably by advance notice). Behind the museum is a log cabin reconstruction of a 19th-century Tula home, complete with a period kitchen and workshop. Entry to the home requires purchase of a separate ticket (R15).
Tula’s long history as a centre of metal working and gun manufacture is also told through displays at the small Metal Working Museum (427 831; admission R15; Demidovskaya Plotina 13; 10am-5pm Tue-Sat) on the north side of the river.
On weekends in summer the Central Park is filled with locals licking ice cream and strolling. You can rent a pair of roller blades for R70.
Sleeping
Hotel Tula (352 312, 351 960; pr Lenina 96; s without bathroom R450-600, s/d with bathroom R1200/1500) This Soviet relic hasn’t been renovated since Brezhnev was in office. Rooms with a shared bathroom are small and decidedly grim, while the rooms with a private bathroom are decent but overpriced. If the cheap rooms at the Moscva are unavailable, this may be your only budget option. From the train station, take trolleybus 5.
Hotel Moscva (208 952; ul Puteiskaya 3; s R550-1600, d R1100-3200; ) The Moscva has a variety of renovated and unrenovated rooms and a convenient location opposite the train station. Budget rooms on the 8th floor have bathrooms and showers, but are in high demand so you may need to call ahead to reserve one. Renovated rooms have new furnishings and a lick of paint, but they’re probably not worth paying triple the price. Wi-fi is available on the 5th floor and the price includes breakfast.
Hotel Dvor (250 600; ul Sovetskaya 47; r 3700-3900; ) With kremlin views, modern rooms and a primo location on the main square this ranks as the best Tula can muster. Breakfast costs R200 extra. Wi-fi is available.
Eating & Drinking
Podkre Pizza (pr Lenina 12; meals R120-200; 10am-10pm) Popular pizza and pasta place with views of the main square and the kremlin walls.
Skovoroda (364 707; pr Lenina 57; dishes R200-350; noon-midnight) Locals swear by this place, claiming it has the best borsch this side of Kyiv. It’s more customer-orientated than most places, with nice touches like complimentary bread, spicy spreads and even a shot of vodka! Service can be a bit slow.
Bibloteka (305 076; pr Lenina 91; dishes R250-400; noon-11pm) This French kitchen prepares succulent baked chicken, tornado Rossini (beef tenderloin scaloppini) and foie gras, among other dishes. The svelte cutlery, rows of Russian novels and English study atmosphere lend an air of sophistication. If Tolstoy seems like a bit too much to tackle over lunch you can leaf through stacks of newspapers and magazines.
Café Chocolate (pr Lenina 31; snacks R80-150; 10am-11pm) Chocolate attracts a smart crowd of locals for its artfully designed cakes and caffeinated beverages. Wi-fi available.
Time Out Sports Bar (307 500; pr Lenina 23; 9am-1am) Football fans can down a pint and catch European football action at this dedicated downtown sports bar.
You can pick up fresh fruit, imported goods and deli snacks at Egori Ebskii Centre (pr Krasnoarmeysky 1), a gleaming new gourmet supermarket. Attached is the Tokyo Sushi Bar (366 269; sushi from R200; 11am-midnight), a casual spot with sushi, yakitori and Japanese soups.
Entertainment
Drama and opera are held a couple of nights a week at the Drama Theatre (367 332; pr Lenina 34a), located near the Telecom office. Tickets are less than R100.
The Prember Centre (357 606; ul Englesa 66), a complex located just outside Central Park, houses a cinema, a couple of bars, a nightclub and a patio restaurant. While the club gets going late on weekends, the patio is a nice place for a drink on summer afternoons.
Getting There & Away
On the Moscow–Kharkiv railway, Tula train station (357 433) has several daily services to Moscow (platskartny/kupe R300/500, 2½ to three hours) and Oryol (platskartny/kupe R300/500, three hours). The best train to Moscow (R250, 2½ hours) is a modern elektrichka departing at 7.20am. For Yelets take the fast train at 9.15am (platskartny/kupe R400/650, four hours). There is a 24-hour left luggage room next to the station (after-hours entrance around the side).
From the bus station (355 650) there are eight buses a day to/from Oryol (R187, four hours), between 6.30am and 6pm. Five daily buses go to/from Moscow (R160, three hours) between 6am and 2.45pm, but outside the bus and train stations there are private buses (R200, three hours) that leave at least hourly. Three morning buses go to Yelets (R195, four hours) at 6am, 6.40am and 9am.
Getting Around
Marshrutky 35 and 37 travel from the train station along pr Krasnoarmeysky, to Lenina pl and then up pr Lenina. For the Hotel Tula at the top of pr Lenina, take trolleybus 5 from outside the station. Bus 16 from behind the Hotel Moscva also goes to Lenina pl.
AROUND TULA
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Yasnaya Polyana Ясная Поляна
Located 14km south of central Tula, Yasnaya Polyana is the estate (393 599; www.yasnayapolyana.ru; admission R70; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun May-Oct, 9.30am-3.30pm Tue-Sun Nov-Apr) where the great Russian writer Count Leo Tolstoy was born and buried.
Tolstoy spent much of his life in this house, which is a simple place filled with many of his possessions. Of Yasnaya Polyana, he wrote: ‘All [my grandfather] had built here was not only solid and comfortable, but also very ele-gant. The same is true about the park he laid out near the house’. Tolstoy’s nearby grave is unmarked except for bouquets of flowers left by newlyweds.
Horse riding is available on the estate grounds. One hour on horseback costs R400, a 20-minute wagon ride costs R150. Russian language courses are also available at the estate; contact [email protected] for details.
Multiday trips to the estate and surrounding areas are organised by the Yasnaya Polyana Tour Office (Click here) in Tula.
SLEEPING & EATING
Yasnaya Polyana Hotel (48751-76 146; s/d R1200/1700) Located 1.5km from the Tolstoy Estate, this small hotel offers clean, comfortable rooms in peaceful surrounds.
Café Preshpekt (meals R200-250) is a highly recommend eatery featuring hearty home-cooked Russian fare. House specialities are prepared according to recipes by Sofia Andreevna, Leo’s devoted wife. Hours of operation are the same as the estate’s (see above).
GETTING THERE & AWAY
On weekends the specially outfitted Yasnaya Polyana express train from Moscow’s Kursky vokzal (R200, three hours, departs 9am, returns 6.10pm) travels to Kozlova Zaseka train station, 3.5km from Tolstoy’s estate. While waiting for the shuttle bus to the museum, you can amuse yourself by perusing the exhibit that shows the railway as it was during Leo Tolstoy’s time.
From Tula, take marshrutka 114 (R20, 20 minutes) from the train station or anywhere along pr Lenina. You’ll need to tell the driver to let you off at Yasnaya Polyana – it’s a 1km walk from the main road to the estate.
Kulikovo Pole Куликово Поле
Amateur historians may want to consider a trip out to Kulikovo Pole (‘field’, pronounced po-lay), a nature reserve and memorial complex that honours one of Russia’s most important battlefields. The military confrontation in question occurred on 8 September 1380, when a coalition of Russian princes, under the leadership of Moscow’s Dmitry Ivanovich, took on the mighty army of the Golden Horde. The Russians won the day, marking the first military victory by a joint Russian army, putting the princedoms on course for ultimate unification. In other words, Russia has the Mongols to thank for their unified nation.
Kulikovo Field is located 300km southeast of Moscow. A stone column built on the site in 1850 honours the medieval soldiers who died here and the three museums describe the history of the battle as well as local ethnog-raphy. Group tours of the area usually include lunch and an exhibition of archery. Each year in September historical clubs come here to re-enact the battle. The only practical way of visiting is with a tour organised by the Kulikov Travel Department (4872-362 834; www.kulpole.ru) based at the Tula Antiquities Exhibition Centre (Click here). Tours cost R495 per person, including transport, guide and museum tickets, and usually require a minimum of 10 people, so you’ll be grouped with others. Note that some trips depart from Moscow, with the option of stopping off in Tula. If no group is available, the travel department may be able to arrange a car – but if you’re serious about making a trip here you’d be wise to contact the travel department ahead of time.
YELETS ЕЛЕЦ
4732 / pop 119,000 / Moscow
Located on the tranquil Sosna River, Yelets stands out as one of the early Rus settlements to have retained some of its original character. It was founded in 1146 as a fortification against the Turkic invaders from the east and then became a punching bag for the Mongol Tatars, who devastated it half a dozen times during the Middle Ages. Modern Yelets is an easygoing place where most days the only thing stirring on the lone pedestrian main street are the pigeons fluttering over Lenin’s granite pate. The visual highlight is beautiful Ascension Cathedral, visible from kilometres around. There’s also a well-stocked regional museum and a museum devoted to Soviet composer Tikhon Khrennikov.
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Orientation
Yelets’ centre is laid out in a grid, with ul Kommunarov connecting City Park in the east with Ascension Cathedral in the west. Further west (downhill) lies the Sosna River. The train station and long-distance bus stop are about 3km southeast of the centre. Ul Mira, the main shopping street, runs into pl Lenina. Near the square is a small souvenir shop (ul Mira; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-3pm Sat) that sells town maps (R30) and Russian crafts.
Information
Knizhni Klub (ul Mira 92) Bookshop that sells maps.
Main post office (26 458; ul Lenina 83; per hr R30; 8am-8pm Mon-Sat, 8am-7pm Sun) Has two computers for internet use. If they’re unavailable, try the telephone office across the street.
Sberbank (ul Mira) Best place in town to change money (US dollars and euros only).
Telephone office (ul Lenina 84; 8am-8pm Mon-Sat, 8am-7pm Sun) Phone access and slow internet computers.
Yelets Travel Bureau (20 618; ul Mira 121; 8.30am-5pm Mon-Fri) This office can arrange tours around town (in Russian only) for around R250 per person.
Sights
CHURCHES
Beneath the gleaming dome of Ascension Cathedral (foot of ul Kommunarov; services 8-11am & 5-7pm) you’ll find a fantastical, multicoloured interior, with gilt-framed iconography stacked high on each wall. It was designed by Konstantin Ton (1794–1881), the archi-tect who designed both St Petersburg’s Moscow and Moscow’s Leningrad train stations. There’s a great view of the cathedral from the bridge crossing the Sosna, just east of town.
Vvedenskaya Church (Vvedensky spusk), a tiny jewel box of a church, stands near a cluster of photogenic late 17th- and early 18th-century wooden houses. At the bottom of the hill, a path under the trees bearing right leads to a floating footbridge over the river to the local beach.
Built during the early 1900s, Great Count’s Church (ul Sovetskaya) has a distinctly modernist, even art-nouveau flair, with an exotically tiled interior of metallic hues. The cross on the top is made of crystal, supposedly donated from the local glassware factory.
Rozhdestva Khristova church (ul Gorkogo; services 8-11am & 5-7pm), completed in 1864, is going through laborious and extensive renovations, but its whitewashed interior is now open for services.
From Rozhdestva Khirstova church it’s a 10-minute walk north, across the small valley, to the early 19th-century Znamensky Monastery. The white steeple and gold-domed church are easily recognisable from afar. The monastery fell into ruin during the 20th century but was restored in 2007. At the bottom of the hill near the steps is a natural spring and small ablution hall.
OTHER SIGHTS
The town’s City Park (Gorodskoy Park) is quite relaxing, with a Ferris wheel that spins during summer. There’s a small Children’s Park (Detsky Park) across the street, with basic playground equipment, the chassis of a MiG fighter jet and a café.
For a fine view of the town’s gilded cupolas, ask the firefighters at the antique red brick fire station to let you climb up their fire observation tower (ul Kommunarov).
Yelets’ Regional Museum (ul Lenina 99; admission R25; 9.30am-5pm Tue-Sat) houses artefacts from its colourful past. Particularly interesting are the model of ancient Yelets and the collection of Russian coins from the 4th century BC to the Soviet era. The second room is dedicated to the Mongol cavalry that ran roughshod over Yelets in the 13th century. Upstairs is a collection of paintings by local 19th-century artist Meshchkov and information on Yelets’ devastating WWII experience. Beware of overcharging for entry tickets.
The Khrennikov Museum (49 476; ul Mayakovskogo 16; admission R30; 9.30am-4.30pm Tue-Sat) pays homage to the successful Soviet composer on the site where he grew up and first studied music. Original furniture, photos and artefacts fill the small house; because Khrennikov was favoured by the Soviet state, the documentation is also interesting as a history of Soviet aesthetics.
The writer, poet and 1933 Nobel laureate Ivan Bunin (1870–1953) spent some of his childhood in Yelets, studying at the town’s gymnasium. The small Ivan Bunin Museum (24 329; ul Gorkogo 16; admission R15; 9am-4.30pm) chronicles his life and works. The man was obviously a travel fiend; check out the wall map that has pins demarking the places he visited – Mogadishu, Sri Lanka and Spain to name a few.
Sleeping
Hotel Yelets (22 235; ul Kommunarov 14; per person without bathroom R500, per person with bathroom R700) This nine-storey monstrosity is the only hotel in town. It’s well worn, with ageing wallpaper and dated fixtures, but rooms have nice views of the cupolas and the staff are grateful, if somewhat astonished, to see tourists. There is a small café downstairs and a decent restaurant attached to the hotel (outside and to the left). Take bus 1 or 8 from bus stop No 2 (avtostantsiya-2).
Eating
Svezhy Khleb (ul Mira at pl Lenina; 7.30am-7pm) This no-frills bakery serves dark bread, croissants and jam-filled bulochki (buns).
Milano Pizza (ul Mira at ul Tolstogo; dishes R45-60; 10am-10pm) Local fast-food place with surprisingly good pizza slices, pasta and shwarma (chopped meat and vegies served in a pita).
Flamingo (60 873; ul Kommunarov 11; meals R250-450; 11am-2am) Battle axes, coats of arms, stone walls and the general feel of a medieval dungeon pervade this atmospheric restaurant. The European-inspired menu includes Nottingham stewed beef and Irish-style meat with mushrooms (the local interpretations of these dishes, anyway). Look for the small red door opposite the fire station.
Getting There & Away
On the Moscow–Donetsk railway, Yelets has several services each day to Moscow (platskartny/kupe R450/800, eight to 10 hours), Tula (platskartny/kupe R400/650, four hours) and Oryol (platskartny/kupe R200/300, 3½ hours). The train station (75 109) has lockers (R40 per day) and a banner-waving collection of Soviet socialist realist oil paintings in the main hall.
From the bus station (21 407) there are several buses a day to/from Voronezh (R150, two hours), Moscow (R420, 7½ hours), Tula (R195, four hours) and Oryol (R230, five hours). There are two long-distance bus stops in Yelets: one is near the train station on the main highway; the other is 2.5km west of City Park off ul Kommunarov. From here to town, bus 1 runs every 15 minutes and stops just past Hotel Yelets on ul Kommunarov; it’s a 10-minute ride. From the train station to the centre, walk to the west end of the platform and cross the tracks to the bus stop. Buses to local destinations as well as some buses to Voronezh leave from bus stop No 1 (avtostantsiya-1) next to the train station. For other destinations, head to bus stop No 2 (avtostantsiya-2). A taxi to Hotel Yelets should cost about R50.
VORONEZH ВОРОНЕЖ
4732 / pop 841,000 / Moscow
First impressions of Voronezh reveal a city of leafy parks, renovated churches and a vibrant student population. Linger a little longer and you’ll inevitably encounter its industrial outskirts and satanic-looking smokestacks. While there is little reason to go out of your way for Voronezh, some travellers may want to stop here to break up the long journey between Kyiv and Moscow.
The city owes its birth to Tsar Fyodor I, who built a fort in the 16th century to defend the upper Voronezh from Tatar attack. Peter the Great expanded the city and in 1695 built a navy shipyard (the first in Russia) to raise a fleet for his assault on the Crimean khanate in the Azov campaign. Voronezh soon developed into the largest city in southern Russia and a major centre for agriculture and manufacturing.
Voronezh rose from the ashes of WWII and grew into a major industrial hub, but fell on hard times when Moscow subsidies dried up in the 1990s. The economy has been picking up in recent years and the new shopping plazas, restaurants and boutiques are a testament to its rapid growth. For a contemporary account of the city, read Charlotte Hobson’s Black Earth City, which describes the year she spent studying at the local university.
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Sights
If you’ve some time to kill between trains, check out the excellent IN Kramskoy Regional Fine Arts Museum (Khudozhestvenny muzey IN Kramskogo; 553 867; pr Revolyutsii 18; admission R100; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun), reached through a passage leading into a courtyard; look for the large green structure. Russian painting and sculpture, Greek and Roman sculpture and an Egyptian sarcophagus form the bulk of the collection, with exhibitions of modern local artists behind the main building.
Well stocked if not well lit, the Regional Museum (Kraevedchesky muzey; 521 647; ul Plekhan-ovskaya 29; admission R60; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun) has permanent exhibits on Peter the Great and the history of the region from the pre-Bronze Age to the Soviet era. The museum is closed on the first Wednesday of each month. Postcards of old Voronezh are on sale at the ticket office.
The large green-domed church in the centre, visible from many points in town, is the Voskresevesky Khram (ul Ordzhonikidze 15). It boasts a colourful fresco-covered interior that now hosts regular choral services.
The recently restored St Alexey of Akatov women’s monastery (Svyato Alekseevo-Akatov zhensky monastyr; ul Osvobozhdeniya Truda 1) is worth visiting. The interior of the monastery church is covered entirely with frescos; if you come at 7.30am or 5pm you’ll hear the intensely beautiful service. The monastery, founded in 1674, is near the river on lovely grounds, which include a tiny graveyard, and surrounded by colourful, lopsided cottages.
Sleeping
Voronezh has a limited range of sleeping options, especially for budget travellers. Both hotels listed below are convenient, just off pl Lenina.
Hotel Brno (965 249; ul Plekhanovskaya 9; s/d from R800/1600; ) This giant, unattractive building looming over the city hides smallish but fairly clean rooms. It’s a busy place and you’ll def-initely need reservations for the cheap rooms, which sell out fast.
Art Hotel (399 299; www.arthotelv.ru; ul Dzerzhin-skogo 5; s/d from R3900/4500; ) This upmarket option with medium-sized rooms also offers a buffet breakfast, fitness centre and spa. The English-speaking staff is very helpful. Portofino, a European-style restaurant attached to the hotel, is one of the best in town.
Eating
Yolki-Palki (399 074; pr Revolutsii 51; meals R250; 11am-11pm) This chain of restaurants is well known for its ‘traditional’ Russian cuisine and atmosphere. It’s done up like a little Russian village, complete with faux dachas, roosters sitting atop fences and waitresses in frilly white dresses. The speciality is the all-you-can-eat salad bar (R255), crammed with sliced vegetables, fish and cold cuts.
Santa-Bin Café (ul Plekhanovskaya 2; 8.30am-10pm) This Starbucks knock-off scores points with excellent coffee, blended ice drinks and teas in takeaway cups. Wi-fi is available.
Getting There & Away
Voronezh is well connected by rail and bus. There are also several daily flights to/from Moscow (Domodedovo).
Several trains run daily to Moscow (platskartny/kupe R700/1200, 10 hours). Trains to other destinations include Saratov (18 hours), Kislovodsk (25 hours) and St Petersburg (24 hours) The train journey to Yelets (platskartny/kupe R250/400, 5½ hours) takes much longer than the bus.
From Voronezh bus station (460 415) there are buses to Moscow (R500, 12 hours) at 6.30am and 7pm; to Saratov (R600, 12 hours) at 7.20pm; to Volgograd (R600, 13 hours) at 8.50am, 8pm and 9pm; and Oryol (R367, seven hours) at 8.40am. There are hourly buses to Yelets (R150, two hours) and six buses per day to Kursk (R250, five hours).
Getting Around
Buses to the airport (40 minutes) depart from the train station or near Hotel Brno.
Outside the train station (pl Chernyakhovskogo) you’ll encounter buses, marshrutky (dedicated minibuses) and trams with destination points pasted to the window; to reach the centre, look for pl Lenina. Some trains may stop at Pridacha, a few kilometres outside the city. If you arrive there, follow the other arrivals 300m out of the station, where you’ll find a car park full of marshrutky to whisk you into town.
To get to the main bus station (Moskovsky pr 17) take tram 12. To reach the centre from the bus station, exit the station and catch a bus heading right; buses 5a, 6 and 7 are among those that run along ul Plekhanovskaya.
ORYOL ОРЁЛ
4862 / pop 345,000 / Moscow
Among the cities of Western European Russia, Oryol is the one that feels the most ‘European’. Its narrow pedestrian main street, riverside parks, old bridges and trolleys feel closer to the Baltics than any of the more Soviet-style post-industrial cities in neighbouring oblasti.
Founded in 1566 as a fortress against the Tatars, Oryol (arr-yol, meaning eagle) reached its peak during the 19th century, when a surprising number of gentry lived here (19,000 out of a population of 32,000 in 1853). The writer Ivan Turgenev was one of 12 writers who thrived here; their work is remembered at the several museums about town.
For lovers of 19th-century Russian literature, Oryol is bound to be rewarding. Others may simply enjoy people-watching – there is a large university here and student life is constantly on view around the main square and many cafés in town.
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Orientation
Oryol’s train station is 3.5km northeast of the centre, and the bus station is 3km south of pl Lenina. The pedestrian ul Lenina runs between pl Karla Marksa and pl Lenina, connecting the old city centre to Moskovskaya ul, the main commercial strip today. Both areas are of interest to the visitor, and footbridges make crossing back and forth between them easy.
Information
You can change money at Hotel Salyut or at a number of banks, especially on the east side of the river.
Main post office (ul Lenina 43, per hr R42) Two computers with internet access on the 1st floor.
Orelturist (435 882; [email protected]; ul Lenina 36) Travel company based in the Hotel Salyut. English-language town tours should be arranged in advance.
Svyaz Bank (731 717; ul Lenina 41) Changes cash and has an ATM. There’s also an ATM inside the Hotel Salyut.
Telephone office (ul Lenina 34; 8am-8pm) ATM inside.
Sights
LITERARY ATTRACTIONS
A cluster of literary museums (10am-5pm Sat-Thu) cover an awkward block off the unwieldy Georgievskiy per. Admission to each is R50.
Short-story writer Nikolai Leskov (1831–95), who immortalised an English jumping flea, is honoured at the Dom-muzey NS Leskova (763 304; ul Oktyabrskaya 9), a few blocks from the main cluster. Also set a bit apart, across the river, the birthplace of writer and dramatist Leonid Andreev is a sweet, late 19th-century cottage, now the Leonid Andreev House-Museum (764 824; ul 2-ya Pushkarnaya 41). The TN Granovskogo House-Museum (763 465; ul 7-go Noyabrya 24) presents materials and memorabilia relating to the eponymous historian, as well as to other 19th-century writers and thinkers.
Though materials on the writer Ivan Bunin are spread thin through provincial Russia, Oryol’s Muzey IA Bunina (760 774; Georgievskiy per 1) has a good collection of photos and other documents, plus a ‘Paris Room’ devoted to his years as an emigrant, including the bed in which he died. At the end of the one-hour excursion (the only way you’re going to make sense of all the curious photos and yellowed books), the guide flips on a tape player and the man himself reads one of his last poems, a typed copy of which lies near his typewriter. Still not sated? There’s a statue of Bunin (apparently it bears no resemblance to him) in front of the Bunin Public Library (ul Gorkogo 43; 10am-8pm Mon-Thu, 10am-6pm Sat & Sun), opposite the Park of Culture and Rest. The Greek Revival library itself is in beautiful condition and sees a good deal of scholarly activity.
Turgenev’s estate, Spasskoe-Lutovinovo (Click here), is the literary mecca. Not to be outdone, Oryol has its own Turgenev Museum (762 737; ul Turgeneva 11) filled with old photos and notes written by the man. You will find tributes to Turgenev throughout town, including a big statue of him overlooking the Oka on Turgenevsky spusk, the sloping street off pl Lenina, and a bust in the public garden.
OTHER SIGHTS
The Park of Culture and Rest (Park Kultury i Otdykha) is a typical small-city park, with an amusement park at the northeastern end. A walk down the steep embankment to the Oka, between the park and junction of the Oka and Orlik Rivers, brings you to the rental stand where you can rent rowing boats (9am-9pm) during the warmer months. The banks of the Oka draw huge crowds of bathers and carpet washers on sunny days.
The non-literary museums in Oryol are decidedly less interesting than the literary ones. The Regional Museum (766 791; ul Gostinaya 2; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) on Oryol’s fashionable shopping strip holds some good temporary exhibitions. The Great Patriotic War Museum (451 645; cnr uls Komsomolskaya & Normandiya Neman; admission R20; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) has a collection of weaponry, recruitment and propaganda posters and a panorama depicting the liberation of Oryol.
Ploshchad Mira (Peace Sq) is easily identified by its WWII tank. The fighting machine, perched atop a granite base, is a time-honoured spot for newlyweds to pose for photos on the big day. It’s also the site for city residents to pay their respects to those who fought and died in battle.
Sleeping
Hotel Rus (475 550; [email protected]; ul Gorkogo 37; s with/without shower R1500/750, d with bathroom from R2400) Oryol’s best accommodation option features small but clean, comfortable rooms, helpful staff and a good location on pl Lenina near the park. Quoted prices include breakfast (if you don’t take this option the price can drop by R100).
Hotel Salyut (764 207; www.salut.orel.ru, in Russian; ul Lenina 36; s/d from R1300/2000) The Salyut offers similar accommodation to the Rus but is a little pricier. Some rooms have been renovated with flashy pink or lime green wallpaper. Cheaper, unrenovated rooms can be hard to get without a reservation. A travel agency and money-changing facilities are available.
Hotel Oryol (551 560; pl Mira 4; s with/without bathroom R1600/650, d with bathroom R2500) Over-looking pl Mira, this solid, attractive hotel offers bright, airy rooms. The small single rooms without bathroom are the cheapest in town. Prices include breakfast.
Eating & Drinking
Orlovsky Karavay (ul Lenina 26; meals R20-50; 8am-8pm) This bakery and lunch counter offers quick, cheap bites.
Chester Pub (543 054; ul Komsomolskaya 36; meals R150-300; noon-1am) Decorated with bulldog statuettes, bobbies’ helmets and the like, this pub attempts to recreate a bit of England in the heart of Russia. Trout with almonds is a popular dish, while the more adventurous may opt for French quail with baked apples, prunes and walnuts. For dessert, try the tiramisu or apple puff pastry. English menu.
Eurasia (432 077; ul Lenina 39a; meals R300; noon-midnight) Japanese restaurant with plenty of sushi options, plus ramen, yakitori and grilled meat platters.
Labrint (426 532; ul Pushkina 6; meals R300-500; noon-1am) Fashionable restaurant and lounge serving up excellent salads, pastas and meat dishes like shashlyk and pork fillets. The house speciality is marinated duck for two. Great desserts are just icing on the cake, so to speak.
Santa Bin (ul Lenina 37; drinks R50-150; 8.30am-10pm) Starbucks has been replicated in this little coffee shop, right down to the cardboard cup holders and plastic lids. One hour of wi-fi is available with any drink purchase.
U Mosta (435 602; ul Lenina 13; dishes R120-150; noon-midnight) ‘The Bridge’ beer bar is a mellow basement grotto with a handful of wooden tables and unobtrusive music. Pub grub is available, plus a local ‘English ale’, which tastes surprisingly similar to dark Baltika.
Entertainment
Given the literary bent of Oryol, it’s no surprise to find a number of quality theatres paying tribute to the works of local luminaries. All tickets cost under R100.
Turgenev Teatr (761 639; pl Lenina) Hosts good Russian theatre several times a week. It is a clever modernist building, the facade mimicking the effect of a stage with the curtains drawn.
Teatr Russky Stil (762 024; ul Turgeneva 18) A fun, small-scale, occasionally experimental theatre. Most of the offerings are comedies, often with local colour.
1001 Nights (740 320; cnr ul MOPR & Shepnaya; admission R100; 10pm-5am Fri & Sat) This disco gets busy after midnight on weekends.
Getting There & Away
Oryol is on the Moscow–Kharkiv railway, with numerous daily services to the capital (platskartny/kupe R550/850, 5½ hours) via Tula (platskartny/kupe R300/500, three hours). Heading south the train stops in Kursk (platskartny/kupe R330/520, two hours). You could also take an elektrichka (R180, 3½ hours) to Kursk. Trains also go to Yelets (platskartny/kupe R200/300, 3½ hours). The train station (762 121) has a left luggage room (R57 per bag).
From June to August, on odd numbered days of the week, there is a train to Smolensk (platskartny/kupe R350/540, six hours). At other times of the year you could take an elektrichka to Bryansk (R140, three hours) and then switch to a bus for the final five hours.
From the bus station (721 111), there are buses to Moscow (R400, eight hours) at 5.30am, 8.20pm and 9pm. For Yelets (R230, five hours) there are buses at 7am and 7.30am. For Kursk (R167, 3½ hours) buses depart at 5.50am, 6.35am, 9am and 2.50pm. For Smolensk (R380, eight hours) buses leave at 9.40am and 2pm. For Voronezh (R367, seven hours) one bus leaves at 7.30am. There are more than a dozen departures for Tula (R187, four hours) and Mtsensk (R50, one hour). The station is several kilometres south of town, at the opposite end of the Moskovskaya ul and ul Komsomolskaya axis.
Getting Around
The best way to see the city is on foot. From the train station, trams 1 and 2 and trolleybus 3 (all R6) stop at ul Karla Marksa, on the southeastern end of the Alexandrovsky bridge leading to ul Lenina, before continuing on to the bus station. Trolleybuses 4 and 6, which run along ul Turgeneva, also provide convenient access to the bus station. Trolleybus 5 to the train station runs along ul Gorkogo.
Taxis to the train or bus station from pl Lenina charge about R100.
SPASSKOE-LUTOVINOVO СПАССКОЕ-ЛУТОВИНОВО
Surrounded by lovely countryside, the manor of 19th-century novelist Ivan Turgenev is a splendid place to pay homage to one of Russia’s great writers. In addition to the museum (48646-67 214; guided tour R150; grounds only R30; 10am-5pm), you’ll also get a chance to absorb the bucolic setting that inspired the master himself.
Turgenev, born in Oryol in 1818, grew up at his family’s estate here, which was originally given to the family by Ivan the Terrible. Though he spent much of his life in Moscow, St Petersburg, Germany and France, Turgenev thought of Spasskoe-Lutovinovo as his home and returned here many times. Turgenev was exiled here from St Petersburg in 1852–53 as a result of his work A Sportsman’s Sketches. He completed his most famous novel, Fathers and Sons, at Spasskoe-Lutovinovo.
The main house, restored in the 1970s, contains some original furniture, books and Turgenev’s personal effects. There’s an icon hanging in Turgenev’s study that was given to the family by Ivan the Terrible, and the chessboard is set ready to play (Turgenev was a masterful player).
Also on the grounds is the family church, which has been restored and holds regular services. The big oak tree planted as a sapling by Turgenev and the writer’s ‘exile house’, where he lived in 1852–53, are just away from the main house.
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Getting There & Away
The estate is 6km west of the Moscow–Oryol road from a turn-off 65km north of Oryol. To get there, take one of the dozen or so daily marshrutky that travel from Oryol to Mtsensk (R55, one hour, 6am to 9pm), then switch at Mtsensk’s bus station for an hourly Spasskoe-Lutovinovo bus (R18, 30 minutes). To save time, you can hire a taxi from Mtsensk to the estate for about R140. On the way back, try hopping onto one of the air-conditioned excursion buses.
KURSK КУРСК
4712 / pop 412,000 / Moscow
Set along the Tuskar River, Kursk is a working-class city that’s seen more than its fair share of destruction over its 1000-year history. Much of the city has been rebuilt since WWII and stands as an unsightly monument to Soviet urban planning, c 1967. Its importance in WWII is well documented in its museums, and the pride of its stolid residents lives on. Aside from this – and a few attractive churches – Kursk doesn’t draw many visitors.
Founded (most likely) in the 9th century, Kursk was destroyed by the Mongols in 1240. It then lay in Lithuanian territory for several centuries before being annexed by Moscow and later emerging as a southern frontier fort in the late 16th century. In the 18th and 19th centuries it became a grain-trade and industrial centre and an important railway junction. But its real fame rests on the nearby Battle of the Kursk Bulge (5 July to 5 August 1943), which was one of the Red Army’s most important victories in WWII.
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Orientation
Kursk’s centre is divided by the north–south running ul Lenina, with Krasnaya pl at the southern end. Ul Dzerzhinskogo heads quite steeply downhill from the western side of Krasnaya pl to the valley of a now invisible river, where you’ll find the busy central market.
Information
Dom Knigi (701 842; ul Lenina 11) Detailed city maps available.
Post office & 24-hour telephone office (561 460; Krasnaya pl) Three computers available for internet access.
Sberbank (ul Lenina 19) Good for changing money. ATMs also lie along ul Lenina north of Krasnaya pl.
Sights
The foot of ul Lenina opens into Krasnaya pl, at the south end of the square is Kursk’s most distinctive building, the domed 1816–28 Assumption Cathedral. The Soviets converted the cathedral into a cinema, but it’s recently been restored to its former glory. Behind the greenish-blue walls, you’ll find a mix of the lavishly ornate (gilded columns, an enormous chandelier) coupled with even larger paintings depicting scenes from Christ’s life.
Around ul Sonina from the cathedral is the two-room Kursk Battle Museum (566 290; ul Sonina; admission R50; 10am-4pm Wed-Sun), upstairs in the elaborate red-and-white former House of the Nobles, now the Officers House (Dom Ofitserov). Admission buys you good views over town, documentation and artefacts from the battle, and an enthusiastic former Red Army soldier who will tell you all about it and then some. Downstairs, you might be able to stir up a game of billiards with a military man. The tables are available to the public from 1pm to 9pm daily.
Nearby is the small Regional Museum (702 128; ul Lunacharskovo 6; admission R25; 10am-5.30pm Sat-Thu), which houses exhibits on the region’s natural and archaeological history, period furnishings from the 19th century and – beyond the red curtains – socialist artwork from the Soviet era.
A block east of ul Lenina, on a pleasant, tree-lined street, is the fine baroque Sergievo-Kazansky Cathedral (cnr uls Gorkogo & Zolotaya), built between 1752 and 1758 and designed by Elizabeth I’s court architect, Rastrelli. The construction was ordered by a wealthy merchant who sought repentance for a murder he committed (more or less in self-defence so the story goes).
At the top of ul Lenina the road forks left down ul Karla Marksa. About 1km from the fork is the Kursk WWII memorial. On the site is a new memorial honouring the 118 sailors lost when the Kursk submarine exploded and sank in August 2000. Twelve of the sailors are buried here.
Sleeping
Hotel Kursk (703 059; ul Lenina 24; s/d from R800/1000, ste R2000) Inside this uninspiring high-rise, you’ll find a range of renovated and unrenovated rooms. Friendly, English-speaking staff.
Hotel Tsentralnaya (569 048; Krasnaya pl; d without bathroom R600, d with bathroom R1380) This grand old place has high ceilings and tiled bathrooms in some rooms. Reaching the shared bathrooms requires quite an excursion through the rambling hallways.
Hotel Oktyabrskaya (566 521; ul Lenina 72; s/d from R1100/1400) Yet another eyesore on Kursk’s skyline, the Oktyabrskaya has a mishmash of rooms set off dim halls with creaking floorboards.
Eating
Dieteticheskoe Café (ul Lenina 61; meals R100-250; 10am-10pm) This cosy café and restaurant makes a lovely spot for a light meal or a drink in the evenings. Dishes include spaghetti, small sandwiches, goulash and zhorenaya riba (smoked fish). As is usual in Russian restaurants, the portions are small, but they are cheap enough so that you can order a few courses without having to run to the ATM.
Gornitsa (520 052; Krasnaya pl; meals R250-400) Quiet and colourful place that has recreated a Russian peasant yard inside a Soviet-style hotel. Friendly waitresses in red-fringed dress serve hearty fare: beefsteaks, grilled chicken and baked fish, with salads and potato or egg side dishes to round out the meals. It’s attached to the Hotel Tsentralnaya.
Getting There & Away
Kursk is well connected by bus and rail, and there are flights to/from Moscow and St Petersburg.
Like Oryol, Kursk is on the Moscow–Kharkiv railway with trains to Moscow (platskartny/kupe R600/1000, eight hours) at least seven times a day. There are also trains to Kharkiv (platskartny/kupe R500/800, five hours) in Ukraine, and to/from the Caucasus and Crimea daily. To Oryol you can go by train (platskartny/kupe R330/520, two hours) or elektrichka (R180, 3½ hours). The station (ul Internatsionalnaya) is about 3km northeast of Krasnaya pl.
The Kursk bus station (576 716) has frequent services to Oryol (R167, 3½ hours), Moscow (R500, 10 hours) and Voronezh (R250, five hours).
Getting Around
Numerous buses, trams, and marshrutky ply the route between the train station and Krasnaya pl for R8 to R10. Bus 1 and tram 2 go between the train station, past the corner of uls Karla Marksa and Perekalskogo (in front of the Medical University) and the bus station, northwest of the centre. Taxis charge around R100 from the station to Krasnaya pl.
SMOLENSK СМОЛЕНСК
4812 / pop 351,000 / Moscow
One of the oldest cities in Russia – contem-porary to Novgorod – Smolensk carries plenty of cultural baggage into the present day. Ancient walls, onion dome cathedrals and well-landscaped parks are strewn across the undulating hills of this mid-sized city. The highlight is the magnificent Assumption Cathedral but music lovers should also consider visiting for the renowned Glinka Festival in June.
Set on the upper Dnepr River, 360km southwest of Moscow, Smolensk was first mentioned in 863 as the capital of the Slavic Krivichi tribes. The town’s auspicious setting gave it early control over trade routes between Moscow and the west and between the Baltic and Black Seas – or in other words ‘from the Varangians to the Greeks’. By the late 1100s, Smolensk was one of the strongest principalities in Eastern Europe. It was at this time that the remarkable Svirskaya Church was built.
As Muscovy and Lithuania vied for power in the 13th century, Smolensk was literally caught in the middle and successively invaded from both sides.
There was a big battle between the Russians and Napoleon’s army outside Smolensk in 1812 (later immortalised in Tolstoy’s War and Peace) and heavy fighting in 1941 and 1943. In a sign of Soviet favour, much of the devastated centre was quickly rebuilt, often along original plans, resulting in the very complete feeling of the central area today. Long sections of the restored city walls boast fine towers reminiscent of the Moscow Kremlin.
Other areas of interest for the visitor include flax production and music. Smolensk was the regional hub of flax production during the Middle Ages, and you can still find fine locally made flax products. Meanwhile, composer Mikhail Glinka, regarded as the founder of Russian art music, grew up near Smolensk and performed frequently in the Nobles’ Hall, facing what is now the Glinka Garden. The statue of Glinka, installed in 1885, is surrounded by a fence with excerpts from his opera A Life for the Tsar wrought into the iron.
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Orientation
Central Smolensk, surrounded by lengths of ancient wall, stands on a hill on the south bank of the Dnepr. The formal city centre is pl Lenina with the Glinka Garden (Gorodskoy sad imeni MI Glinki) on its south side and the House of Soviets, Glinka Concert Hall and Hotel Tsentralnaya on the north side. The train station and Kolkhoznaya pl, site of the main market, are north of the river. Ul Bolshaya Sovetskaya leads across the river and up the hill from Kolkhoznaya pl to the centre.
Information
Central post, telegraph & telephone office (ul Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsii 6; per hr R34; 8am-8pm Mon-Sat) Internet access available.
Dom Knigi (ul Bolshaya Sovetskaya 12/1; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat, 11am-6pm Sun) Sells Russian-language maps (R40).
Mir Puteshestvii (328 358; ul Konenkova 4; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri) Near Hotel Tsentralnaya, this travel agent is unusually helpful. Staff can arrange a two- to three-hour English-language city tour (R250 per person).
Sberbank (cnr uls Glinki & Kommunisticheskaya) Money exchange. A 24-hour ATM sits across the street at No 33.
SKA bank (ul Bolshaya Sovetskaya 13a; 9.30am-5.30pm) Another money exchange.
Sights
FORTRESS WALLS
Built between 1596 and 1602, the impressive 6.5km-long, 5.5m-thick, 15m-high walls originally had 38 towers, with 17 still standing. The pleasant Central Park of Culture and Rest (Tsentralny Park Kultury i Otdykha) backs onto a longish southwest stretch of the walls. Overlooking the Spartak Stadium just outside the line of the walls on the west side of the park, the Korolevsky Bastion is a high earth rampart built by the Poles who captured Smolensk in 1611. It saw heavy fighting in 1654 and 1812. The park has a 26m-high cast-iron monument to the 1812 defenders.
At the foot of the walls southeast of the Glinka Garden you’ll find an eternal flame memorial to the dead of WWII and the graves of some of the Soviet soldiers who died in Smolensk’s defence, plus another monument to the heroes of 1812. A WWII museum (383 265; ul Dzerzhinskogo 4a; admission R20; 10am-5pm Tue-Sat) within the fortress walls nearby documents the invasion and widespread devastation; it is incredible to realise just how much of old Smolensk is actually reconstruction. A collection of tanks, artillery and a MiG fighter jet are parked behind the museum.
ASSUMPTION CATHEDRAL
Smolensk’s big green-and-white working Assumption Cathedral rises at the top of a flight of steps off ul Bolshaya Sovetskaya. A cath-edral has stood here since 1101 but this one was built in the late 17th and early 18th centuries; it is one of the earliest examples of the Russo–Greek revival in architecture following the Europeanisation trends of Peter the Great’s reign. Topped by five domes, it has a spectacular gilded interior, which was partially damaged by fire during WWII. According to legend, Napoleon was so impressed that he set a guard to stop his own men from vandalising the cathedral.
Immediately on your left as you enter, an icon of the Virgin is richly encrusted with pearls drawn from the Dnepr around Smolensk. Further on, a cluster of candles marks a supposedly wonder-working icon of the Virgin. This is a 16th-century copy of the original, said to be by St Luke, which had been on this site since 1103 and was stolen in 1923.
MUSEUMS
The pink former Church of Trinity Monastery now houses a small Flax Museum (383 611; ul Bolshaya Sovetskaya 11; admission R25; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun). Historically, flax production has been one of Smolensk’s main industries as the moderate climate sustains soil ideal for growing flax. Exhibits here are sparse, but you’ll get an idea of how the process works. Walk around the back to find the entrance. To get a souvenir of the distinctive local style, visit the unsigned flax shop (383 611; ul Przhevalskogo 6/25; 10am-6pm Mon-Sat) near the Central Park of Culture and Rest.
Smolensk’s History Museum (656 871; ul Lenina 8; admission R25; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) doubles as a fine-arts museum, displaying a hodgepodge of 18th- and 19th-century portraiture and 13th-century iconography and graffiti, along with battle maps and Soviet paraphernalia. Particularly interesting are the fragments from the 1812 war, including a French uniform from one of Napoleon’s soldiers.
The town’s Art Gallery (381 591; ul Tenishevoy 7/1; admission R25), south of the fortress walls, has paintings by famous artists such as Rerikh and Ivanov, a good sampling of socialist realism, 14th- to 18th-century icons and works by Smolensk artists patronised by Princess Maria Tenisheva (Click here).
The Konenkov Sculpture Museum (382 029; ul Mayakovskogo 7; admission R25; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) contains playful woodworks by Sergei Konenkov; Lenin seems to have been captured in the midst of a ballet manoeuvre. The museum also has steel, bronze and aluminium works from some of the other noted artists who hail from Smolensk.
The one-room Museum of Russian Vodka (381 318; ul Studencheskaya 4; admission R20; 9am-5pm Tue-Sat) gives visitors a brief overview of the drink’s colourful history. Fifteen-minute guided tours (in English or Russian) end at the makeshift bar where you can purchase a glass (or better yet a bottle) of some noteworthy Smolenskiy brands. There’s a good restaurant next door.
Festivals & Events
The Glinka Festival, which runs from 1 to 10 June, showcases Russian music and attracts a wide range of classical talent. Symphony orchestras, choral groups and string quartets perform nightly in various venues with free concerts held beside Glinka Park. Stop by Mir Puteshestvii for details.
Sleeping
At the time of writing the Hotel Smolensk, right in the centre of town, was undergoing major renovations. It might worth checking out as a midrange option.
Hotel Rossiya (655 970; ul Dzerzhinskogo 23/2; s/d from R1300/2500) This Soviet relic was built to house Olympians on their way to Moscow in 1980. Rooms are small but functional. There’s a bar-restaurant on the 2nd floor and a cinema next door.
Hotel Patriot (383 936; ul Kirova 22; r R1300-2800) This former apartment block has been converted into a hotel. It’s not particularly nice and the location is a little out of the centre, in short, consider this place a back-up if the others are full. It’s set back from the street.
Hotel Tsentralnaya (383 604; http://smolensk-otel.keytown.com, in Russian; near pl Lenina & ul Konenkova; s 1100-1400, d 2200-2800) Set on the edge of the Glinka Garden, this centrally located hotel has clean, bright rooms. Luggage storage is not available. Cheaper rooms are unrenovated but still decently maintained.
Eating & Drinking
Russky Dvor (683 499; Glinka Garden; mains R80-130; 9am-11pm; ) Try to imagine a cross between St Basil’s Cathedral and McDonald’s and you’ll start to have some idea of what this place looks like. Despite catering towards a fast-food crowd, it maintains a uniquely Russian atmosphere with decor that thrills small children. Food quality is surprisingly high, which may explain the long queues that form at lunch.
Domino (ul Dzerzhinskogo 16; meals R130-190; 10am-midnight) Though the log-cabin interior borders on kitsch, the food at this popular restaurant is actually quite good. In addition to Russian faves, Domino serves pizzas and salads, and the small front patio that opens in summer is good for a drink. English menu available. A smaller branch on ul Lenina serves mostly bliny and pizza.
French Café (326 968; ul Lenina 2/1; dishes R150-300; 11am-11pm) Brightly lit and friendly, this café serves coffee, small salads, caviar, sandwiches and many opportunities to satisfy your sweet tooth. Some uniquely French dishes are available – frogs’ legs anyone? It’s in the same building as the Hotel Tsentralnaya.
Chocolate Café (350 611; ul Oktyabrskoy Revoly-utsii; dishes R190-300; 10am-midnight) With dark wood walls, mirrors and brown leather seating, this place aims for a French bistro atmosphere with a menu that is anything but. Bliny, omelettes, porridge, sushi and pasta are a few of the eclectic range of items on offer.
Dvoinoe
Solntse (630 220; ul Barklaya-de-Tolli 7; meals R200-400 1pm-1am) A surprising find, this place attempts to replicate a traditional Japanese tea house, complete with floor seating, screens and low tables. Waiters spend inordinate amounts of time sitting at your table preparing, smelling and pouring your tea. Sushi is also available.
Smolenskaya Krepost (327 690; ul Studencheskaya 4; meals R250-300) Set in the old castle walls, this charming restaurant has plenty of character – from the stained-glass windows to the tiny fireplace and exposed brick walls – with lovely views of the Dnepr. The menu features well-prepared traditional Russian dishes.
Smolensk’s main market is the Zadneprovsky (Kolkhoznaya pl), north of the river. Pick up fresh vegies (or colourful undergarments) here. Near the Glinka Garden, Gastronom Pushkinsky (ul Lenina 7; 24hr) is a grocery store stocked with fresh bread, cheese, beer, wine and all the other items needed to put together a decent picnic.
Drinking in Smolensk is easier still than eating; there is at least one bar per block in the centre, though the ambience isn’t much to speak of.
MiG 24 (ul Bolshaya Sovetskaya 20) MiG fighter jets are the theme for this popular downmarket bar. Basic Russian meals are also served here til late.
Kafe 12 Stools (Dvenadtsat stulyev; ul Dzerzhinskogo 2) Near pl Smirnova, this is another tiny spot for a drink or a light bite, with a friendly bartender and Baltika on tap.
Entertainment
Glinka Concert Hall (32 984; ul Glinki 3; box office 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 1-7pm Sat & Sun) Attending a concert is the best way to get a look at the reconstructed hall where Glinka once entertained Russian nobility and launched the history of secular art music in Russia. The local orchestra uses balalaikas in lieu of violins and is quite good. Tickets run from R80 to R800, depending on who’s in town; some shows are free.
Getting There & Away
Smolensk is on the Moscow–Minsk–Warsaw railway with several daily trains to/from Minsk (R640, four hours) and Brest (R930, eight hours), as well as regular trains to Warsaw (R2536, nine hours), Prague (R4063, 24 hours) and Berlin (R4163, 41 hours). Among the departures for Moscow (platskartny/kupe R370/650, 5½ hours), a convenient day train departs at 2.13pm.
International rail tickets are sold from window 12 at the train station (395 285; 9am-6pm Mon-Thu, 9am-5pm Fri).
From June to August, on even numbered days of the week, there is a train to Oryol (platskartny/kupe R350/540, six hours). Throughout the year, an elektrichka departs for Bryansk (R240, five hours) at 5.18pm, every day except Monday and Wednesday. From Bryansk there are hourly buses to Oryol.
Smolensk’s bus station (270 952; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri, 3-6pm Sat) is just south of the train station, reached by a footbridge. Heading north, there are two daily buses to Pskov (R641, eight to 10 hours), departing at 8.50am and 9pm. Going south, there are five daily buses to Bryansk (R248, 5½ hours); the 9.30am bus continues to Oryol (R380, eight hours). Services to Moscow (R500, six hours) depart at least hourly from both the bus station and outside the train station.
Getting Around
From the train station, you can take the bus or tram (R8) to the centre of town. Many buses and trams stop in front of the station; choose one that stops by the green structure to the right beyond the carpark. Some buses stop at the bus station, across the footbridge from the train station. Marshrutka 41 from the train station is also a handy route into town. Taxis to town cost around R50.
AROUND SMOLENSK
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Flyonovo Флёново
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, top Russian art and music names such as Stravinsky, Chaliapin, Vrubel and Serov visit-ed the Flyonovo estate of singer Princess Maria Tenisheva, near Talashkino, 15km southeast of Smolensk on the Roslavl road. The visitors joined in applied-art workshops, which the princess organised for her peasants, and helped in building projects.
The most striking result is the dramatic, almost psychedelic murals and mosaics on the brick Holy Spirit Church – particularly the one of Christ over the entrance. Much of the painting is by well-known landscape painter Rerikh. One house called Teremok (361 505; admission R50; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun, closed last Thu of month), decorated with ornate peasant-style carving, is now a folk-art museum. A second building contains art produced in the workshop and some old sepia photos of the artists who gathered here. The colourful, L-shaped wood objects are distaffs, a tool used in spinning (it holds the unspun fibres). Distaff in Russian is prialka.
Take bus 104 or 130 (R17.50) from Smolensk’s bus station to Talashkino, from where it’s a pleasant 15-minute walk to the estate. You can also catch a marshrutka to Talashkino from pl Smirnova.
TVER REGION ТВЕРЬ БЛACTЬ
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TVER ТВЕРЬ
4822 / pop 450,000 / Moscow
On the Volga 150km northwest of Moscow, Tver has a long and storied history, dating to the 14th century, when this upstart ministate was Moscow’s chief rival. Little evidence of Tver’s medieval heyday remains, as it subsequently went through a series of upheavals. It was punished for rising against the Golden Horde, conquered by Ivan III, savaged by Ivan the Terrible and seized by the Poles.
Tver experienced a renaissance when Catherine the Great made it one of her rest stops between St Petersburg and Moscow. Today classical town houses from the 18th and 19th centuries line the main streets and riverbank of this mini-Petersburg on the Volga.
In 1990 Tver dumped its Soviet name, Kalinin (after Mikhail Kalinin, Stalin’s puppet president during WWII, who was born here). Though Tver is not in the same league as some of the towns of the Golden Ring, it is a charming provincial town, with enough churches and museums to keep visitors gaping for a day or so. You may want to stop here for the same reason as Catherine the Great – to rest during your journey between Moscow and St Pete.
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Orientation & Information
The Volga River runs roughly from west to east through Tver, and the town centre can be found on the southern side. Sovetskaya ul is the main east–west street. It intersects the north–south Tverskoy pr, which becomes pr Chaykovskogo further south. The train station is located 4km south of the centre, at the point where pr Chaykovskogo turns 90 degrees east and becomes ul Kominterna. The bus station is 300m east of the train station.
The main
post & telephone office (Sovetskaya ul 31; 8am-8pm Mon-Sat) is open for international phone calls 24 hours a day. You can go online at the Internet Club (8-920-157 0066; ul Zhelyabova 3; per hr R50-60; 9am-2am).
Sights & Activities
At the west end of Sovetskaya ul, fronted by a statue of Mikhail Kalinin, stands the town’s most imposing building – Catherine the Great’s 1775 Road Palace, bedecked with ornate mouldings, marble columns and crystal chandeliers. Besides the fancy 18th-century interiors, it houses Tver’s Art Gallery (346 243; Sovetskaya ul 3; admission R80; 11am-5pm Wed-Sun), exhibiting antique furniture and Russian paintings. The collection is not extensive, but it does feature some pieces by Levitan, Repin, Surikov and other Russian favourites. Next door, the Regional Museum (321 042; Sovetskaya ul 1; admission R75; 11am-5pm Wed-Sun) provides the standard overview of Tver’s history, geography and ecology. The City Park on the riverbank behind the palace often hosts live concerts on summer weekends. In summer, excursion boats sail every hour from the piers.
The quaintest part of town is west of the market on ul Bragina, where the old wooden houses have carved eaves and window frames. In this area is Tver’s oldest building, the stately Church of the White Trinity (Trudolyubia per), dating from 1564.
A promenade stretches along the north bank of the Volga, providing lovely views of the old houses on the southern bank. The Museum of Tver Life (318 404; ul Gorkogo 19/14; admission R80; 11am-5pm Wed-Sun) is housed in an 18th-century merchant’s manor house. It exhibits arts, crafts, furniture and other domestic artefacts from several centuries.
Sleeping
All hotels include breakfast in their rates.
Central Hotel (339 093; ul Novotorzhskaya 1; s/d R960/1200) The darkest and dreariest option is located on the city’s central square, opposite the circus. The place is badly in need of repairs beyond the new wallpaper that adorns the rooms.
Hotel Volga (348 100; www.volga-tver.ru; ul Zhely-abova 1; s/tw/d R1850/2200/2150, ste R3100-4500) Overlooking the Tmaka River, the Hotel Volga has been completely revamped, resulting in sharp-looking rooms and friendly service to go with its excellent convenient location.
Hotel Osnabruck (358 433; www.hotel.tver.ru; ul Saltykova-Shchedrina 20; s R2500-2900, tw R2900-4400, d R3300-5000, ste R4500-5400;
) This Western-style hotel is named for Tver’s sister city in Germany, the source of investment for its construction in the late 1990s. Its 34 spacious rooms are decorated with wood furniture and rose-toned tapestries. The hotel’s restaurant, fitness centre and business centre are all on par.
Eating & Drinking
Besides the hotel restaurants, you can dine at Cafe Dobrynya (321 500; Sovetskaya ul 7; meals R200-300), a convivial place with a rustic chalet interior and standard Russian food.
The pedestrian streets ul Radisheva and ul Tryokhsvyatskaya are pleasant places to stroll and shop and stop for a bite to eat. This is where you will find the retro Kalinin Bar (357 142; ul Tryokhsvyatskaya 29/25; meals R300-500), its walls plastered with Soviet-era newspapers and paintings. The place is relatively tasteful, with some cool artefacts like a 1940s radio and an Uralchik motorbike to complement the comfortable interior.
Getting There & Around
Tver (often still listed as Kalinin on timetables) is accessible by suburban train (R204, three hours, hourly) from Moscow’s Leningradsky vokzal. Faster, long-distance trains between Moscow and St Petersburg also stop at Tver. There are also buses (R200, three hours) to/from Moscow’s Yaroslavsky vokzal. Cruise ships and other long-distance river boats dock at the River Station on the north shore of the Volga.
Trams 2, 5, 6 and 11 run from the bus and train stations up Chaykovskogo and Tverskoy pr to the town centre.
NOVGOROD REGION 
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NOVGOROD НОВГОРОД
8162 / pop 240,000 / Moscow
The name Novgorod is synonymous with ancient Rus. From its humble beginnings as a trading town on the route between Byzantium and the Baltics, Novgorod (New Town) grew to become one of the most important political and cultural centres in northwest Russia, only to be eclipsed by the rise of nearby St Petersburg. Although something of a backwater these days, Novgorod’s magnificent cultural legacy can still be seen in its numerous churches and museums, many of them surrounded by the mighty walls of its kremlin.
Much of Novgorod’s early history is known through Norse sagas; this was the first perman-ent settlement of the Varangian Norsemen who established the embryonic Russian state. By the 12th century the city, called ‘Lord Novgorod the Great’, was Russia’s biggest: an independent quasidemocracy whose princes were hired and fired by an assembly of citizens, and whose strong, spare style of church architecture, icon painting and down-to-earth byliny (epic songs) would become distinct idioms.
Spared from the Mongol Tatars, who got bogged down in the surrounding swamps, Novgorod suffered most at the hands of other Russians. Ivan III of Moscow attacked and annexed it in 1477, and Ivan the Terrible, whose storm troopers razed the city and slaughtered 60,000 people in a savage pogrom, broke its back. The founding of St Petersburg finished it off as a trading centre.
Tourism is the biggest business in town these days and Novgorod is a popular weekend getaway for St Petersburg dwellers. To avoid the crowds try to plan your visit on a weekday. The city is also a perfect base for visiting Staraya Russa, Dostoevsky’s hometown.
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Orientation
Novgorod has two main centres: the kremlin on the west bank of the Volkhov River; and the old market district, Yaroslav’s Court, on the east bank. The kremlin side fans outward like a pheasant’s tail, while the east side is gridlike.
Though the Soviet street names were officially scrapped long ago, some locals still use them, so we’ve left the more prominent ones in parentheses. City maps in Russian and English are available at the tourist office behind the Novgorod Fine Arts Museum, or at bookshops, hotels and museums.
Information
Novgorod is ready and waiting for visitors. You will find English-language menus, hotels that welcome foreigners and plenty of ATMs. You can change money at hotels.
Main telegraph & telephone office (cnr ul Lyudogoshchaya/Sovetskaya & ul Gazon/Gorkogo; 8.30am-10pm) Internet access available.
Post offices (ul Bolshaya Dvortsovaya 2; 8am-8pm Mon-Sat, 10am-4pm Sun) There are many around town; this branch, just east of the bridge, has a small internet salon (per hr R20; 9am-7pm Mon-Sat).
Prometheus (ul Bolshaya St Peterburgskaya 13; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat) This bookshop sells Russian-language maps.
Sberbank (ul Bolshaya St Peterburgskaya 13; ul Bolshaya Moskovskaya 20) With several branches, including northwest of the kremlin and across from Yaroslav’s Court.
Tourist office (773 074; www.visitnovgorod.ru; Sennaya pl 5; 9.30am-6pm) Travellers who have been to other Russian towns will not believe their good luck in encountering this central tourist office, behind the Fine Arts Museum. Staff hand out Russian- and English-language maps (extensive maps available for R45) and provide comprehensive local advice. City tours in English, French or German can be arranged. A tour of the kremlin, the Cathedral of St Sophia and Yaroslav’s Court will cost R1000 per group. Solo travellers or small groups are usually referred to local tour operators, who charge about €8 per person. After hours you can contact the 24-hour hotline at 998 686.
Sights & Activities
KREMLIN
Overlooking the smooth Volkhov River, the kremlin (773 608; 6am-midnight) is one of Russia’s oldest. Formerly known as the Detinets, the fortification was first built in the 9th century, though it was later rebuilt with brick in the 14th century (which still stands today). It houses the city’s most famous sites, and is surrounded by a pleasant wooded park. It’s worth seeing with a guide. English-language tours can be arranged, usually a day or two in advance, through the tourist office.
Cathedral of St Sophia
Finished in 1050, the handsome, Byzantine Cathedral of St Sophia (8am-8pm) is the town’s centrepiece and one of the oldest buildings in Russia. The simple, fortresslike exterior was designed to withstand attack or fire (flames had taken out an earlier, wooden church on the site); ornamentation was reserved for the interior. The onion domes were probably added during the 14th century – even so, they are perhaps the first example of this most Russian architectural detail. The west doors, dating from the 12th century, have tiny cast-bronze biblical scenes and even portraits of the artists. The icons inside date from the 14th century, and older ones are in the museum. During the Soviet days, the church was turned into a museum of religion and atheism. Today, services are once again held in the church, usually taking place between 6pm and 8pm daily.
THE SAVIOUR OF NOVGOROD
The most important icon in the Cathedral of St Sophia is that of the patron saint of Novgorod, Our Lady of the Sign (Znameniya Bozhyey Materi), which, according to legend, saved the city from destruction in 1170. Accounts vary, but one colourful story goes something like this…
The Prince of Suzdal and his large army were preparing to attack Novgorod. Things looked pretty bleak for the Novgorodians, and the bishop desperately prayed for the city’s salvation. The night before the attack, he had a vision that an icon of the Virgin could save Novgorod, so he had the icon moved from the church to a pillar of the fortress. The next day Suzdal began the siege and, not surprisingly, the icon was hit with an arrow. It then turned back to face Novgorod; tears were in the virgin’s eyes. Darkness fell upon the land, and the army from Suzdal began attacking one another in confusion. The Novgorodians then rode out from the city and attacked, quickly dispatching their enemies.
If it all sounds a little far-fetched, take a close look at the icon while you’re in the church. You can still see a notch over the saint’s left eye, said to be where the original arrow hit. If you visit the Museum of History, you should also check out the 15th-century painting from the Novgorod School depicting three scenes from the battle. It’s one of the first icons ever painted to depict an event strictly from Russian history.
Belfry & Clock Tower
The 15th-century belfry and a leaning 17th-century clock tower poke above the city walls, close to the Cathedral of St Sophia. In summer it opens as a museum (admission R30; 9am-5pm) displaying enormous steel bells. The real reason to enter is for the spectacular views from the observation platform.
Millennium of Russia Monument
One of Novgorod’s most famous landmarks, this massive, 300-tonne sculpture was unveiled in 1862 on the 1000th anniversary of the Varangian Prince Rurik’s arrival. A veritable who’s who of Russian history over the last millennium, it depicts some 127 figures – rulers, statesmen, artists, scholars and a few fortunate hangers-on as well.
The women at the top are Mother Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church. Around the middle, clockwise from the south, are Rurik, Prince Vladimir of Kyiv (who introduced Christianity), tsars Mikhail Romanov, Peter the Great and Ivan III, and Dmitry Donskoy trampling a Mongol Tatar. In the bottom band on the east side are nobles and rulers, including Catherine the Great with an armload of laurels for all her lovers. Alexander Nevsky and other military heroes are on the north side, and literary and artistic figures are on the west.
The 16m-high statue is fortunate to have survived WWII. The Nazis cut it up, intending to ship it to Germany, but fled before realising their plan.
Chamber of Facets
The Gothic Chamber of Facets (adult/student R110/60; 10am-6pm Thu-Tue, closed last Fri of month), part of a palace built in 1433, has a collection of icons and lavish church booty from the region, including some beautiful illuminated manuscripts. It is under renovation until 2009.
Museum of History
The Museum of History (773 608; www.novgorodmuseum.ru; adult/student R110/60; 10am-6pm Wed-Mon) is said to be one of the best research museums of its kind in Russia. Birch-bark manuscripts, some of them 800 years old, are the most unique artefacts in the collection. Letters, documents and drawings on birch bark by people of all ages and social classes proves that literacy was widespread in medieval Novgorod.
The museum also preserves the rich collection of Novgorod’s gold treasury, with more than 200 applied arts exhibits dating back to the 6th century AD. In the Russian woodcarving exhibits you can see everything from the mundane (kitchen utensils and furniture) to more detailed religious objects, Russian medieval sculpture and elaborate crosses.
The hall of icons includes around 260 examples, making it one of the largest collections of Russian icons anywhere. The objects have been placed in chronological order, allowing you to see the progression of skills and techniques through the centuries. Early Novgorodian icons displayed strong Greek influences but you’ll note tendencies towards individualism in work that occurred from the 15th century. Novgorodian icons are noted for the use of bold colours, complex stylisation and red backgrounds.
The museum is located just south of the Millennium of Russia Monument.
YAROSLAV’S COURT
Across a footbridge from the kremlin is old Novgorod’s market, with the remnants of an 18th-century arcade facing the river. Beyond that is the market gatehouse, an array of churches sponsored by 13th- to 16th-century merchant guilds, and a ‘road palace’ built in the 18th century as a rest stop for Catherine the Great.
The 12th-century Kyiv-style Court Cathedral of St Nicholas (Nikolo-Dvorishchensky sobor; 636 187; adult/student R100/60; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun, closed last Fri of month) is all that remains of the early palace complex of the Novgorod princes, from which Yaroslav’s Court (Yaroslavovo dvorishche) gets its name. The cathedral holds church artefacts and temporary exhibitions of local interest. Downstairs you can see fragments from the church’s original frescos.
CHURCH OF OUR SAVIOUR-AT-ILINO
On the outside, the 14th-century Church of Our Saviour-at-Ilino (ul Ilina; adult/student R100/60; 10am-5pm Wed-Sun) has graffiti-like ornaments and lopsided gables that are almost playful. Inside are the only surviving frescoes by legendary Byzantine painter Theophanes the Greek (and they came close to extinction when the church served as a Nazi machine-gun nest). Recent restoration has exposed as much of the frescoes as possible, though they are still faint. A small exhibit upstairs includes reproductions with explanations in Russian. Note Theophanes’ signature use of white warlike paint around the eyes and noses of his figures, and their piercing expressions. The church itself, east of Yaroslav’s Court, is pure Novgorod style.
OTHER CHURCHES & SIGHTS
In contrast to the Church of Our Saviour-at-Ilino, the 17th-century Moscow-style Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign (adult/student R70/40; 10am-5pm Thu-Tue) across the street is more complex.
Another interesting study in contrasting styles, the 1557 Muscovite Trinity Church (ul Dukhovskaya 20) and the 1892 Novgorod-style Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit (ul Dukhovskaya 31) sit directly across the street from one another. Trinity Church, a dark brick edifice with silver-hued cupolas, is still closed and in rather bad shape; Holy Spirit Church opens erratically during the week. Other churches in Novgorod style include the 1406 Church of Peter & Paul on ul Bredova-Zverinaya near Hotel Intourist. It’s a small, crumbling brick structure occupying its own little field amid a neighbourhood in theprocess of Euro-transformation.
Nearby, the former Zverin Monastery, built in 1468, now houses the Novgorod House of Folk Costumes (739 607; ul Bredova-Zverinaya 14; admission R30; noon-6pm), which contains exhibits on Novgorod costume production. The craft shop sells some exquisitely woven dresses, dolls, hats and the like. Visitors can also participate in a short course on producing Russian crafts, including amulet making, birch-bark crafts and textiles. A two-hour workshop for one to five people will cost R420. Inquiries can be made at the tourist office (Click here).
Across the river, the 1361 Church of St Theodore Stratelates (ul Fyodorovsky Ruchey 19/pr Yuriya Gagarina; adult/student R70/40; 10am-6pm Thu-Tue) has some faded frescos and displays on the church’s history.
YUREV MONASTERY & MUSEUM OF WOODEN ARCHITECTURE
Set amid peaceful marshlands just outside of town, these two sights feel worlds away from the city, and make for a splendid excursion. The 12th-century Yurev Monastery (10am-8pm) still functions as a working Orthodox monastery. It features the heavily reconstructed Cathedral of St George and a clutch of 19th-century add-ons. Services are held in the Church of Exaltation of the Cross (1761), which is attached to the monks’ dorms. The monastery grounds are worth a visit, but what really warrants the trip out here is the windswept river setting, with gorgeous views out across the marshes and towards the centre of Novgorod.
Roughly 1km up the road is the beautiful Vitoslavlitsy Museum of Wooden Architecture (adult/student R100/60; park 10am-6pm, houses close at 4.30pm), an open-air museum of peasant houses and beautiful, intricate wooden churches from around the region. There’s a café and souvenir shop on the grounds.
To get to either place, take bus 7 (R10, 15 minutes) from opposite the Novgorod touristoffice. The bus route goes in a loop; it first stops at the monastery and then stops 600m later outside the gates to the museum before going back to town (so be aware that to get back to town, you continue on the bus heading in the same direction as the bus on which you arrived).
NOVGOROD FINE ARTS MUSEUM
The cool halls of Novgorod’s Fine Arts Museum (732 265; Sofiyskaya pl 2; adult/student R110/60; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) showcase paintings by 18th- and 19th-century Russian artists, including Andropov, Bryullov and Ivanov. The 3rd floor features Novgorod artists. The collection is a strong provincial one, though not spectacular. Local crafts are among the offerings at the art shop in the lobby.
RIVER TRIPS
The Volkhov River flows out of Lake Ilmen, about 10km south. On a good day, the surrounding marshes are lovely, with churches rising up majestically from the countryside. From May to September, you can catch a boat for a one-hour cruise (R150) at the dock below the kremlin. Summertime twilight booze-cruises cost around R300.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Outside the kremlin in summer you can rent rollerblades for R50 to R70. Another great activity is riding on an ATV (all terrain vehicle). Travel agents organise group ATV rides on the back roads around Novgorod, the three-hour trip ending at the Msta River, where you can go fishing. Lunch is usually included. Prices are R2800 for one person or R3100 for two people on one ATV. Contact the tourist office for details (Click here).
Festivals & Events
The second weekend in April sees the Alexander Nevsky Festival, which honours Novgorod’s best-known prince. During the festival, members of historical clubs dress up as knights, engage in mock battle and storm the kremlin walls.
If you are around in the first weekend of June, you can check out the Sadko Festival, which sees traditional folk art, dancing, singing and a crafts fair. A week later, parades are held in celebration of the Day of the City.
There are dozens of other events through the year and dates do change, so check the tourist office website (www.visitnovgorod.ru) for updates.
Sleeping
The tourist office keeps a list of local homestays, a great option for budget travellers. Expect to pay around R800 per person for a room.
Hotel Rossiya (634 185; nab Aleksandra Nevskogo 19/1; r from R1160) On the edge of the River Velikaya, the battered Rossiya looks abandoned at first glance (entry is around the back), but inside things are still holding together. Most rooms have been renovated, but if you don’t mind roughing it a little the unrenovated rooms are slightly cheaper. Some rooms have nice views of the river and the kremlin.
Hotel Novgorodskaya (772 260; www.novgorodskaya.nov.ru; ul Desyatinnaya 6a; s/d from R1250/1560) Resembling a dormitory, this low-key place has comfortable, well-maintained rooms and a good location. Most of the staff speak English.
Hotel Cruise (772 283; [email protected]; ul Prusskaya 24; dm per bed R400, lyux R1300-3300) The Cruise is an eerily quiet hostel with a var-iety of rooms. Three-bed rooms use a shared bathroom down the hall and are cheap if you have enough people. Solo travellers are required to pay for two beds (R800) if they want to stay alone. The ‘lux’ rooms have a bathroom and range from simple unrenovated rooms to newly refurbished rooms with double beds and hardwood floors. Foreigners pay an additional R50 for registration.
Hotel Intourist (775 089; www.intourist.natm.ru, in Russian; ul Velikaya 16; s/d R1500/1800; ) The Intourist is easily spotted by the fascinating but rather tacky mural of Mother Russia above the entranceway. The old Soviet stalwart has clean but unspectacular rooms with USSR-issued red curtains and red duvets. A buffet breakfast is an additional R240.
Hotel Akron (736 912; www.hotel-akron.ru, in Russian; ul Predtechenskaya 24; s/d from R1350/1960) This newly renovated hotel is similar to the Volkhov next door, but with lower prices. Rooms have modern bathrooms, shiny new wallpaper, cable TV and minifridge. Other pluses include friendly service and a good location.
Yurevskoe Podvore (946 060; www.novtour.ru, in Russian; r R2100; ) Peace and quiet are the main commodities at this out-of-town lodge. Large rooms have attractive wooden decor, free internet is available and there is a great restaurant downstairs. It’s opposite the Museum of Wooden Architecture. Take bus 7 from opposite the tourist office.
Hotel Volkhov (335 505; [email protected]; ul Predtechenskaya 24; s/d with breakfast from R1600/2300; ) Catering mostly to business travellers, the Hotel Volkhov has modern, nicely furnished rooms with lots of amenities. A sauna is available to guests. Slightly better service, free internet and a lift make it marginally better than the neighbouring Hotel Akron.
Beresta Palace Hotel (
940 910; ul Studench-eskaya 2; s/d with breakfast from R3000/3500; ) On the east bank of the Volkhov, the Beresta is Novgorod’s best hotel, with comfortable rooms and good service. It has a health club, sauna and tennis courts. Free wi-fi is available.
Eating & Drinking
During summertime, several open-air cafés facing the kremlin’s west side make pleasant spots for a drink.
Ilmen (778 374; ul Gazon 2; meals from R50; bistro 10am-10pm, restaurant noon-midnight) This place has something for everyone. The first floor has a little deli for takeaway snacks, and a bistro for cheap sit-down eats. Upstairs, the more formal restaurant has fresh-roasted meats, a good wine selection and a menu packed with Russian and Scandinavian dishes. English menu.
Pri Dvore (ul Lyudogoshcha 3; meals around R75; 10am-9pm) This popular, cheery little cafe-teria serves good prepared salads and hot dishes by the kilogram. Try the tasty pastries or fruit ice creams for dessert. Don’t confuse this cafeteria with a bland sit-down restaurant next door, of the same name.
Coffeeland & Tea Life (766 166; ul Chudintseva 7; dishes R130-250; 10am-11pm) As the name suggests, this place does caffeinated drinks but also serves up light meals, including stuffed bliny and vegetarian lasagne. It opens a bit late for breakfast, but they do serve porridge and omelettes. The friendly English-speaking owner is most proud of her delectable desserts.
Restoran Detinets (774 624; dishes R200-350; noon-5pm & 7-11pm) The medieval seems downright glamorous inside the kremlin’s Pokrovskaya Tower. Amid castle walls lit by iron chandeliers, you can sample classic Russian fare of pork chops, fish and stuffed bliny. The restaurant is on the top floor; at a little bar on the bottom floor you can sample medovukha, a honey-brewed ale. English menu available.
Yurevskoe Podvore (946 066; dishes R200-350; 8am-midnight) This place makes for a nice lunch break if you’re down by the Museum of Wooden Architecture (it’s on the opposite side of the road). Fill your table with salads, stuffed bliny, caviar and a range of meat or fish dishes. The home-made apple pie makes for a tasty dessert.
Napoli (636 307; ul Studencheskaya 21/43; dishes R220-400; noon-midnight) Novgorod’s best Italian kitchen bakes its pizzas in a brick oven and serves tasty delicacies such as beef carpaccio (R350) and pork chops in red wine sauce (R300). The dress code stipulates no shorts.
Kafe Charodeyka (730 879; ul Volosova-Meretskova 1/1; dishes R250-400; 11am-11pm) This sun-lit café has Tuborg on tap and features an eclectic menu with dishes like fresh salmon, breaded pork with vegetables, salad Rosalina (with king prawns) and chicken fingers (stuffed with prunes and dried apricots and baked in cream). In warmer weather, enjoy one of many cocktails at the open-air seating in front. There’s an English menu.
Café Le Chocolat (739 009; ul Lyudogoshcha 8; dishes R250-650; 9am-11pm) White leather couches, blood-red walls and black and white photos set the scene for this über-cool café. The English-language menu features some tantalising options. including Thai tuna, French duck and dozens of sushi platters. Meals can get pricey, but this is one place worth a splurge. Most people come here for the artsy desserts and tasty fruit teas. Two rooms are divided into smoking and non-smoking sections.
Entertainment
Concert Hall (773 748; Kremlin 8; tickets from R60) Novgorod’s Philharmonic Concert Hall is an excellent place to catch live symphony or opera.
Talisman Disco Club (789 139; ul Bol Sankt-Peterburgskaya; midnight-6am) This nightclub plays loud Euro pop and techno. Cover is R100 on weekdays and a steep R300 on weekends. It’s in the basement of a large shopping mall. In summer, a better option is the disco cruise (R300) on the Volkhov River, departing from below the kremlin.
Shopping
Souvenirs are plentiful around Novgorod. A row of vendors near the tourist office sell woven birch boxes, miniature wooden churches, matryoshka dolls and lacquer boxes. You can find a wider assortment of souvenirs at Sloboda (736 498; Kremlin 8; 10am-6pm) inside the kremlin and at Na Torgu (664 472; ul Ilina 2; 10am-7pm) near Yaroslav’s Court.
Getting There & Away
The train station (739 380) is 1.5km west of the kremlin, at the end of pr Karla Marksa. A fast elektrichka runs daily to St Petersburg’s Moscow Station (R287, three hours), departing at 8.05am. It goes back to Novgorod at 5.18pm. For Moscow (platskartny/kupe R600/1000; eight hours) a train departs at 9.20pm. There are also trains twice a week to Kyiv and three times a week to Murmansk.
The modern bus station (739 979), next to the train station, serves St Petersburg (R290, four hours) at least once an hour. There’s also a direct bus service to Pskov (R321, 4½ hours) at 8amand 4pm.
Getting Around
From the bus and train stations, buses 4 and 20 (R10) pass in range of the Hotel Volkhov (in between the first and second stops from the stations, or a 15-minute walk), Intourist (Universam Kremlyovsky/Kremlyovsky Park stop, about 500m from the hotel), and Beresta Palace. For the Beresta, get off at the stadium and cut through the park. Returning to the stations, you’ll need to catch bus 4 or 19 instead of bus 20. A taxi from the train station to the Beresta should cost about R100.
AROUND NOVGOROD
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Khutin Monastery
The working Orthodox convent (749 602; 9am-8pm) at Khutin was founded in the 12th century on sinful land. Early nuns prayed long and hard to exorcise evil spirits abiding here, and were so successful the site is now known for miracles and its holy water springs. Guests with a genuine interest in Christianity are welcome to stay on the monastery grounds for R200 per night, though you may be asked to do some chores. Ask at the Novgorod tourist office (Click here) for details. Buses from Novgorod station (R15, 30 minutes) run from 9am to 2.30pm daily.
STARAYA RUSSA СТАРАЯ РУССА
81652 / pop 40,000 / Moscow
Set along the banks of the tranquil Polist River, Staraya Russa has the idyllic charm of a 19th-century village. Here, Dostoevsky spent summers and wrote much of The Brothers Karamazov, and the town is still today something of a mecca for literary enthusiasts.
You can pick up a map at the Magazin Kniga (ul Lenina 6; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat & Sun) bookshop, near the main square.
The simple, two-storey Dostoevsky House (21 477; ul Dostoevskogo 42; adult/student R70/40; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun) on the small Pererititsa River is now open as a museum. The house never left the family’s possession before becoming a museum, and some original pieces remain. Dostoevsky’s desk has copies from his mazelike drafts, and you can see his doodlings on the pages. His bookcase holds books from the period, and his wife’s bedroom still contains her bed and chest. A keyboard instrument that Dostoevsky supposedly tinkered with sits by a window overlooking the river. You can take a tour in Russian, or do a self-guided tour using the English-language handout available at the ticket office.
You can get information (in Russian) from the Dostoevsky cultural centre (37 285; ul Dostoevskogo 8; 10am-6pm Tue-Fri & Sun). The centre offers Russian-language tours of the town (R300, two hours) and hosts temporary exhibitions (R70). Staraya Russa was the setting for The Brothers Karamazov, so fans will want to visit the streets and churches that the characters frequented.
Other attractions in Staraya Russa include the Local Lore Museum (Kraevedchesky muzey; 35 866; pl Timura Frunze 6; adult/student R70/40; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon), which is housed in a 12th-century church and displays old religious relics; you can also see fragments from the church’s original frescos.
Next door to the museum is the Kartinnaya
Gallery (35 989; adult/student R70/40; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon), with a small but noteworthy selection of paintings (and also a few sculptures) of artists who spent time in Staraya Russa. On the same street, ardent war buffs can check out the small but earnest Museum of the Northwest Front (35 285; ul Volodarskogo 20; adult/student R70/40; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon).
THE VODKA QUEEN OF NOVGOROD: CLAUDIA PETROVNA
Claudia Petrovna has worked at Novgorod’s 110-year-old Alkon Vodka Factory for 26 years, helping to produce Russia’s favourite tipple.
How did your career at the factory begin? I graduated from Machurinsky College in Tambov (480km southeast of Moscow), with a degree in Food and Drinks Product Engineering. In those days we were assigned jobs and I was sent here to work at the Alkon Plant. I started out at the laboratory analysing the vodkas.
What has changed most over the years since you started working here? The process for making the vodka has remained the same, only the equipment has changed. Now we buy our machinery from Western Europe, it’s better quality which means less maintenance is required.
Alkon is famous for its infused vodkas. What is the secret to your success? The secret is in the ingredients, we use only locally grown products for our infused vodkas. We buy fruits and honey from local producers to ensure freshness and quality control. We even send our own workers out to the forest to collect berries for the premium labels. We’ve been doing this for 110 years so this long experience in infusing vodka also helps to make the best possible product.
Have you always enjoyed vodka? And does working here make you drink more or less of it? Believe it or not, the first time I ever tasted vodka was in college, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t drink again until I started working here and slowly I acquired a taste for it. Now it’s an insepar-able part of me. Not only can I taste minute differences in vodkas, I can detect differences by smelling alone.
Is there a danger of addiction? Quite the opposite. There is a myth that anyone who works in a vodka factory must be an alcoholic, but the truth is that we really appreciate the taste without the need to drink too much. You could say we are connoisseurs.
Is there a changing attitude towards vodka in Russia? Yes, nowadays young people prefer to drink beer. We Russians now drink a lot of beer because it’s a more casual drink. But the older generation still swear by vodka, they consider it a health product and something that is good for the body if drunk in moderation.
Do you believe that? Of course. Vodka can cleanse the system and kill harmful bacteria. Too much, obviously, is dangerous.
How much vodka is produced here? We can produce around 30,000 litres per day. But we no longer run at capacity because we face more competition from both breweries and vodka distilleries that produce very cheap vodka. Our product is high end so we aim for a niche market of drinkers who appreciate quality spirits.
What do you do when you’re not at the factory? I go to my dacha, which is about 12km from Novgorod. I grow fruit and vegetables in the garden and look after my grandchildren. And of course, on special occasions I pour myself a glass of our famous vodka!
Claudia Petrovna is the chief manager of the Alkon Vodka Factory in Novgorod.
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Sleeping & Eating
For those who want to wake up to the same morning air that once inspired the master, the newly renovated Hotel Polist (37 547; ul Engelsa 20; s/d from R1000/1600) is an option. Rooms at this well-maintained hotel are small, but better value compared to hotels in Novgorod.
Dining options are scarce. Near the main square you can try Kafe Sadko (ul Lenina; mains R70-90; 9am-9pm), which serves small portions of fish, cutlet or goulash with mashed potato. The best place in town is probably the restaurant at the Hotel Polist.
Getting There & Away
Buses leave from Novgorod’s bus station (R146, two hours, eight daily), returning about every 90 minutes. The first departs at 6.40am and the last at 9.15pm. Going back to Novgorod, tickets tend to sell out fast so you may want to buy your return ticket when you arrive.
Staraya Russa train station has a connection to Moscow (platskartny/kupe R628/1020, nine hours) departing at 9.50pm. There is no train connection to Novgorod. You can store your gear in lockers (R57) at the train station.
Getting Around
From Staraya Russa bus station, buses 1, 4, 6 and 11 head to the centre, though expect long waits between buses. On foot, it takes about 30 minutes to walk to the main square. Once there, follow the river south to reach Dostoevsky’s house. A taxi from the bus station straight to the museum is far simpler and should cost about R50.
PSKOV REGION 
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PSKOV ПСКОВ
8112 / pop 202,800 / Moscow
Church-studded Pskov, just 30km from Estonia, makes for an impressive first sight if you are coming over from the Baltics; or a pleasant farewell from Russia should you be headed in the opposite direction.
The medieval city is dominated by its mighty riverside kremlin, an enormous bulwark that has seen its fair share of invading armies over its long history. Leafy lanes wriggle their way round the old quarter on the east bank – past weathered churches, crumbling city walls and handsome 19th-century brick residences. Another highlight is Pskov’s excellent museum, the Pogankin Chambers, where a great deal of the iconographic art from churches in the area has been collected and displayed.
As a border town, Pskov’s history is sat-urated with 700 years of war for control of the Baltic coast. German Teutonic knights captured it in 1240, but Alexander Nevsky routed them two years later in a famous battle on the ice of Lake Peipus. The Poles laid siege to it in the 16th century and the Swedes wrecked it the following century. Peter the Great used it as a base for his drive to the sea, and the Red Army fought its first serious battle against Nazi troops nearby.
This is also Pushkin country. The poet’s grave and Mikhailovskoe, his family’s estate, are a two-hour drive away. The fascinating remains at Stary Izborsk and the beautiful church at Pechory can be reached on a day trip or on your way to the border.
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Orientation
Hotel Rizhskaya is three long blocks west of the Velikaya River, while almost everything else is on the east side. The town’s axis is Oktyabrsky pr, ending at Oktyabrskaya pl.
Information
Baltiysky Bank (ul Yana Fabritsiusa 27) Near the train station, this bank with ATM changes money.
Books for You (Knigi dlya vas; Oktyabrsky pr 22) One of several bookshops on Oktyabrsky pr that sell maps of the town (R25).
Main post office (Oktyabrskaya pl; per hour R30; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat & Sun) In addition to postal services, you can change money here. Internet is available.
Sberbank (Oktyabrsky pr 23) With money exchange and 24-hour ATM.
Telephone office (Oktyabrsky pr 17; per hr R35; 8am-10pm Mon-Fri, 11am-9pm Sat) Two blocks from the main post office, this telephone office is also a pleasant place to get online. ATM inside.
Tourist office (724 568; www.tourism.pskov.ru; pl Lenina; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri) Pskov’s tourist office can give advice on how to get around and will direct you to local tour operators that do day trips to places like Izborsk or Pushkin’s House at Mikhailovskoe. It sells maps and has books on the area. It’s located on the side of the building that faces Lenin pl. Russian speakers can also look at this website: www.culture.pskov.ru.
Sights
OLD CITY
Pskov’s walls formerly had five layers, the overall length of which was 9.5 km. Only bits and pieces of the walls remain. The kremlin (krom) was the religious and ceremonial centre. Its stone walls and the southern annexe, Dovmont Town (Dovmontov gorod), date from the 13th century. The Central Town (Sredny gorod), around ul Pushkina, was the commercial centre, though little remains of it or its 14th-century walls. The walls and towers of the 15th- to 16th-century Outer Town (Okolny gorod) can still be seen along ul Sverdlova, the Velikaya River embankment and across the tributary Pskova River. You can walk along portions of the ramparts, including behind the kremlin.
The Pskov State Museum (Pskovskyy Gosudarstveny muzey; 724 574; adult/student R60/40; 11am-6pm), located near the entrance to the kremlin, is a spartan collection of archaeological finds from the Old Town. The first floor contains displays include knives, jewellery and old keys dating back to the settlement’s earliest days when Scandinavian Vikings lived in the area. An attached room has revolving displays by local artists. A second exhibit upstairs, the fairly dry Chancery Chamber, presents old documents on the administration of Pskov during the 17th century.
Kremlin & Dovmont Town
Dovmont Town (named after an early prince), is the walled-in area that can be seen from outside the Pskov State Museum. Here lie the foundations of a dozen 12th- to 15th-century churches. Through a passage is the actual kremlin, where the veche (citizens’ assembly) elected its princes and sent them off to war, and Trinity Cathedral where many of the princes are buried.
Getting a tour in English might require some advance notice; inquire at the Pskov State Museum. The Sotstourprof travel agency (723 257; [email protected]; 10am-6pm) next to the museum offers Russian-language kremlin tours (R400) and guided excursions further afield to Pechory Monastery (Click here) and Stary Izborsk (Click here). They might also be able to rustle up an English-speaking guide with enough warning.
Trinity Cathedral
The grandeur of the 1699 Trinity Cathedral, Pskov’s principal sight, is heightened by the simplicity of the skeletal kremlin surrounding it. The gilded centre dome, as high as a 28-storey building, can be seen from 30km away on a clear day. The interior contains a large collection of bejewelled icons of the Madonna – services occur most mornings.
POGANKIN CHAMBERS & MUSEUM
A very rich 17th-century merchant built his fortress-like house and treasury here in the heart of Pskov, with walls 2m thick. The ori-ginal building and a newer addition now house the Pskov National Museum of History, Architecture & Art (663 311; ul Nekrasova 7; combination ticket adult/student R150/80; 11am-6pm Tue-Sun, closed last Tue of month), which comprises three separate museums and a wide range of displays. The 2nd floor of the new building houses the war collection, with photos and artefacts from WWII, as well as information on more recent conflicts like Afghanistan and Chechnya. More interesting is the 1st-floor picture gallery, which has works from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, including paintings by Nikitin, Tropinin and Zhukovsky, as well as representations from the Russian avant-garde, including a couple of Petrov-Vodkins.
The original house showcases the real gems of the collection. The maze of galleries holds 13th- to 18th-century pottery, weaving and weaponry – including the original 15th-century sword of one of Pskov’s princes. A series of icons depicts the life of Christ, most from Pskov churches that have closed. It is a rare chance to thoroughly examine one particular style of iconography at close range. Note, for instance, the bulbous noses and otherwise harsh realism that characterises the Pskov school, as well as a predominance of subdued earth tones. One impressive 17th-century icon on display relates the history of Pskov’s development (it looks like an ancient map of the city).
Equally impressive is the collection of silver artefacts, including beautifully crafted baroque-style silver bible covers. The largest, a 25kg beast, was originally housed at Pskov’s Trinity Cathedral.
The museum entrance is located on Komsomolsky per.
MIROZHSKY MONASTERY
The attraction here is the Unesco-protected, nonworking Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour (Spaso-Preobrazhensky sobor; 567 301; adult/student R200/150, tours R900; 11am-5.30pm Tue-Sun), whose 12th-century frescos are considered to be one of the most complete representations of the biblical narrative to have survived the Mongols. The frescos have been partially restored after centuries of damage from flooding, whitewashing and scrubbing; 80% of what you see today is original. The artists are unknown but were almost certainly from Greece, based on the Byzantine-style of the frescos.
The cathedral was based on a 12th-century Greek model, formed around a symmetrical cross. Later additions and demolitions have altered the footprint, but you can still see traces of the original structure along exterior walls. As you walk out, note the damage above the door to the right, caused by a wayward WWII unexploded shell. The church closes often due to inclement weather: too hot, too cold or too wet; it’s best to call in advance.
The monastery is also a working iconog-raphy school; ask to see any current activity. The whole complex is across the Velikaya River from the centre; take bus 2 from the vicinity of Hotel Rizhskaya.
Although the guided tour is expensive, it is educational for students of art and history. The admission cost is likewise overpriced unless you have a particular interest in Byzantine frescos.
PARKS
Along the Pskova tributary, near a small spillway and the Epiphany Church, is a lovely stretch of park, nice for strolling, picnicking or short hikes. The church, built in 1494, includes a separately standing five-column belfry. The belfry’s open gables and large pillars are distinctive of the Pskovian style. Gremyachaya Tower, a decaying 16th-century fortress tower on the north bank, is open to explorers. Detsky Park, right in the centre of town, is less bucolic but still pleasant. During summer, children enjoy the park’s mechanised rides – and pony rides, no less.
Sleeping
Hotel Krom (739 007; www.hotelkrom.ru, in Russian; ul Metallistov 5; dm per person from R300, s/d with bathroom R1200-1350) This recently renovated hotel is a converted student dormitory. Service is curt but the rooms, with two, three or four beds, are surprisingly clean and comfortable. It’s unfortunate that they stick foreigners with a R300 registration fee. Also problematic is the lack of single rooms; solo travellers wanting privacy should give the Krom a miss.
Hotel Rizhskaya (462 223; Rizhsky pr 25; s/d R950/1700; ) Overlooking a small square a few blocks west of the Velikaya River, this old Intourist has renovated rooms, with decent furnishings, wood floors, good lighting and modern bathrooms. You’ll also find friendly staff (some speak English), a laundry and ATM. The hotel is 15-minute’s walk to pl Lenina, though bus 17 whisks you there in minutes. Foreigners are charged a one-time R30 registration fee.
Hotel Oktyabrskaya (664 246; [email protected]; Oktyabrsky 36 pr 36; s/d R950/1700) This place is more convenient than the Rizhskaya but only some of the rooms have been renovated and those sell out pretty quickly. Strangely, the older rooms are the same price as the new rooms. The R300 registration fee is another downside. Get there on bus 17 from the bus station.
Heliopark Old Estate (794 545; www.heliopark.ru, in Russian; ul Berkhne-Beregovaya 4; s/d R4900/5900; ) Pskov’s best hotel is an intimate place standing in a leafy street in the shadow of the Epiphany Church. Medium-sized rooms include a modern bathroom and the price comes with a tasty Swedish breakfast. Guests can use the spa, which has a sauna, Jacuzzi, splash pool and massage therapy. Evenings are whiled away at the Rubluv Bar, dressed up to resemble the interior of an old church. It’s a short walk from the central square and it has an English-speaking staff.
Eating & Drinking
Next door to the bus station is a simple restaurant (meals R30-60; 24hr) where you can grab a bite (eggs, bliny, open sandwiches) before catching your bus out of town.
Kafe Melnitsa (pl Lenina; dishes R50-100; 24hr) Bliny in all forms and flavours, plus cafeteria-style grub (schnitzel, meat patties, potato salad), are available at this low-priced eatery.
Kafe V’Gorod N (737 124; Oktyabrsky pr 19; dishes R120-200; 8am-1am) ‘The City N’ is a bright space with high ceilings, cosy nooks and friendly wait staff. Breakfast (served all day) includes pancakes, omelettes and tasty raisin porridge. Soups, salads and the usual range of meat and fish dishes are also available. Live music is played Monday through Friday. Free wi-fi is available.
Karl Freidrich (721 111; ul Lenina 3; dishes R120-250; noon-midnight) With its faux-fireplace and beer hall atmosphere, this place aims to recreate a little slice of Bavaria. The kitchen serves all kinds of calorie-laden dishes, including pork ribs (R190), pelmeni (R120) and cheese-stuffed veal (R320). Be aware that the prices on the English menu are lower than the Russian one (until you get the bill).
Kafe Arsenal (727 016; ul Sverdlova 43; dishes R130-280; 24hr) The obvious attraction of this place is the location – right on top of the ancient city wall. The menu contains old Russian favourites like fried fish and pork, although most locals seem to come here for the beer.
Restaurant Rus (720 090; meals R150-300) This restaurant, located atop the walls of the kremlin, is a throwback to medieval times. The cool stone interior is decorated with battle gear and the views of the Velikaya are taken through the crossbow slits in the walls. Dishes are unspectacular but fresh: marinated mushrooms and potatoes; crab and tomato salad; and salmon with tomatoes and mushrooms. English menu.
Chocolate Café (727 383; Yana Fabritsiusa ul 2/17; mains R130-200; 8am-11pm Mon-Fri, 11am-11pm Sat & Sun) Hip little café with a retro Americana atmosphere specialising in coffees, teas and light meals (salads, sandwiches, bliny and pastas).
Entertainment
Pskov has a small but friendly nightlife scene. The popular entertainment area at the moment is on Rizhsky pr, a few blocks west of the bridge.
Platforma (443 132; Rizhsky pr 16; noon-6am) This complex has a bowling alley (per hour R300 to R800), billiard tables (per hour R60 to R120), an internet café (per hour R50) and a tiny sports bar. It’s on the 4th floor.
R-16 (445 142; Rizhsky pr 16; admission R200-300; 10pm-6am) Booming nightclub with a big dance floor and attached lounge. It’s next to the Tokyo restaurant.
Bolshoy Kontsertny Zal (668 920; ul Nekrasova 22; tickets from R50; box office 1-7pm Mon-Sat) This venue stages musical theatre, comedy acts and concerts.
Shopping
Menshikovikh (661 575; ul Sovetskaya 50) This souvenir shop has a good selection of pottery (particularly teapots and teacups), photos of Pskov’s churches and the odd frog figurine. There’s also a small gift shop (11am-6pm) just inside the main gate to the kremlin. It sells jewellery and upmarket traditional crafts including Russian dolls.
Getting There & Away
The train station (707 427) has direct trains to St Petersburg (platskartny/kupe R440/650, five hours) departing at ungodly hours — 2.55am and 4.33am – at Vitebsky vokzal. During the day you have to travel to Luga and transfer. One night train goes to Moscow (platskartny/kupe R1200/1900, 12 hours) departing at 6pm. For Rīga (R1540, eight hours) the lone train departs at 2.58am, and for Vilnius (R1090, eight hours) the train leaves at 1.03am.
There are no easy train connections to Novgorod, but two buses daily (R321, 4½ hours) leave from the central bus station (735 502) at 9.25am and 3.10pm. A third bus departs at 5.30pm on weekdays.
There are at least nine buses per day to St Petersburg. Two buses a day go to Smolensk (R641, eight to 10 hours) departing at 2pm and 11.17pm.
If you are heading to Estonia, take the 8.20am bus to Tallinn (R700, six hours) or the 2pm bus to Tartu (R500, four hours). These buses both make stops in Izborsk and Pechory and you could theoretically catch them there rather than backtracking to Pskov. Some drivers insist on seeing a baggage ticket (bagazhi bilet), available from the station ticket window, before they let you on the bus.
The luggage room at the bus station charges R20 per bag.
Getting Around
Buses 1, 11 and 17 run from the train station past Hotel Oktyabrskaya and through the centre (R10). Bus 2 or 17 takes you to Hotel Rizhskaya from the station (taxis charge about R80).
AROUND PSKOV
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Stary Izborsk Старый Изборск
81148
On a ridge with wide views over the countryside, Stary Izborsk (Old Izborsk) was once the equal of Pskov, chosen as a base by one of the original Varangian princes who ruled over early Russia. Now it’s a sleepy village by the ruins of the oldest stone fortress in Russia. Inside the old walls is the 14th-century Church of St Nicholas, a small green-trimmed building. There’s also a stone tower (Bashnya Lukovka), older than the walls, which has a viewing platform (admission R30; 9am-6pm) at the top. A path around the back of the fortress walls leads down to a lake. The locals you’ll pass toting water bottles are coming from the 12 Springs of Happiness, Love, Health and nine other virtues.
Outside the fortress the 17th-century Church of St Sergius (admission R10; 9am-6pm) has a tiny exhibit on local archaeology; some pieces date from the 8th century. A second museum in town, the State Historic-Archaeological Museum ‘Izborsk’ (96 696; ul Pechorskaya 39; admission R20; 9am-6pm), houses archaeological finds from Stary Izborsk and contains written explanations, in Russian, of the town’s extremely rich history. Across the street, an Ethnography Museum (admission R20; 9am-6pm) offers a meagre display of traditional Russian clothing and samovars.
There are plenty of forest trails in the area for walking or you could explore the area on horseback. Horse-riding trips are run by appointment by two locals, Irina and Anna (8-921-210 9373), who charge R400 per hour.
SLEEPING & EATING
A crisp, modern cabin behind the fortress harbours an unlikely guest house (Gostevoy dom; 96 612; d without bathroom R1040, ste with bathroom R2070) overlooking the valley. Six of the rooms share a very nice bathroom, while the two-room ‘lux’ suite has a broad private balcony. Guests can use the communal kitchen. It’s a good find, though you’ll want to call in advance.
Beyond the kremlin walls, near the Church of St Sergius, is Blinnaya (96 713; bliny around R50; 9am-6pm), a sweet little bliny restaurant boasting ‘Izborskian’ bliny. You can order them with butter, jam, condensed milk or ham. Outdoor tables and benches are a good spot for an afternoon beer.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
It’s 32km from Pskov to Stary Izborsk on the road to both Latvia and Estonia. Buses run from Pskov’s bus station (R47, 45 minutes) four or five times a day; the first departure is at 8am. Some departures are local buses (including the 8am) and you can catch them as they go through town. For example, the 8am bus stops just past the Hotel Oktyabrskaya at 8.05am and just past the Hotel Rizhskaya at 8.15am. Make sure that you take the bus towards Stary (Old) Izborsk, not Noviy (New) Izborsk.
Leaving Stary Izborsk, there are buses to Pskov (R47, 45 minutes) at 8.30am, 10.11am, 1.05pm 2.02pm, 3.31pm and 6.22pm. To Pechory (R35, 20 minutes), there are buses at 9am, 11.45am, 2.20pm, 4.15pm and 7.30pm.
Mikhailovskoe Михайловское
246 (within Pskov region), 81146 (from elsewhere)
Russia’s most beloved poet, Alexander Pushkin, spent several years at his family estate Mikhailovskoe, near the small town of Pushkinskie Gory (Pushkin Hills). He is buried in the church nearby and these sights, combined with some lovely countryside, still attract hordes of dedicated Pushkin followers.
The site is by no means a must for travellers; it’s a long drive and can be a little disappointing if you’ve already been to the more interesting homes of Dostoevsky (Click here) or Tolstoy (Click here). Dedicated followers of Pushkin, however, will certainly be rewarded for their efforts.
Pushkin’s family house is open as part of the Pushkin Museum Reserve (22 560; [email protected]; admission R156; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun Dec-Mar, 9am-8pm Tue-Sun May-Oct, closed Apr & Nov), a 2½-hour bus ride from Pskov. The family first came to the area in the late 1700s, when Pushkin’s great-grandfather Abram Hannibal was given the land by Empress Elizabeth. The family house was destroyed during WWII and has since been rebuilt.
PUSHKIN: POET OF PASSION
Born in 1799, the son of nobility with a dollop of African blood in his lineage, Alexander Pushkin grew up in the French-speaking high society of St Petersburg. Before he reached puberty, this precocious youth was using his perfect pitch, sharp wit and flawless sense of timing to hit on court women, diplomats’ wives, peasant girls and the like. He and his school friends, many of them also poets, would spend their idle hours, between balls, composing odes and love poems. A child of his time, the Romantic Age, Pushkin was obsessed with obsessions – war, male honour, and beautiful and unattainable women – and he is said to have had a foot fetish. His heroes were Lord Byron and Napoleon.
Pushkin wrote everything from classical odes and sonnets to short stories, plays and fairy tales. He is best loved for his poems in verse, The Bronze Horsemen and Eugene Onegin, in which he nearly answered that eternal question – why do Russians (like to) suffer so much? Politically, he was a hot potato and the tsars exiled him from St Petersburg three times, once to his home estate in Mikhailovskoe and twice to the Caucasus, where his romping with the local beauties and war-loving men added more fuel to his poetic fire. At home in Mikhailovskoe, he is said to have spent long evenings drinking with his childhood nanny. Pushkin himself admitted she told him many of the tales that he then turned into national legends. While on long walks, he would compose aloud. To keep his arm in good shape for duelling, he carried a cane filled with rocks.
In the end, it didn’t help. In 1837, Pushkin was mortally wounded in a duel fought over the honour of his wife, the Russian beauty Natalia Goncharova. He lay dying for two days while all of St Petersburg came to pay homage, dramatically directing taxi drivers, ‘To Pushkin!’ Even today the Russian rumour mills are producing new versions of this scandal; only the theories about JFK’s assassination come close in weirdness and speculation. During the night, Pushkin’s body was carried from Chyornaya Rechka in St Petersburg and buried at the monastery near his home estate. For a riveting account of the duel and the events that preceded it, read Serena Vitale’s Pushkin’s Button.
The 20-hectare park is closed on the last Tuesday of the month. The attraction is Pushkin’s writing room with his comfy leather chair, portraits of Byron and Zhukovsky (Pushkin’s mentor, also a poet) and a small statue of Napoleon. The thick religious book on his writing table is the one he supposedly grabbed from the family bookcase and pretended to be reading whenever he saw the local priest coming for a visit. Two adjacent buildings were used as servants’ quarters.
At Pushkinskie Gory, about 800m north of the bus stop, is the Svyatagorsky Monastery, where Pushkin is buried.
SLEEPING
Hotel Druzhba (22 556; ul Lenina 8; s/d from R650/880) Not far from the monastery, this hotel has simple but nice rooms with bathrooms and showers. Odd-numbered rooms boast pleasant views of the forest. To get to the hotel, walk from the bus stop along the road away from the monastery and bear right.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Pushkinskie Gory is located 130km south of Pskov. Most agencies run excursions from Pskov; inquire at the hotel where you’re staying or contact the tourist office (Click here) to find one that matches your schedule. Alternatively, you can do it yourself by catching a bus to Pushkinskie Gory from the Pskov bus station. Buses depart at 7.10am, 10.25am, 11.30am, 12.30pm, 4.30pm, 5pm and 5.30pm (R167, 2½ hours).
The Pushkinskie Gory bus station is about 8km from the Pushkin house; there may or may not be a short-distance bus to cover the last leg. You could also hire a taxi (R120 one way) and return on foot as the walk is pleasant.
To get there, take a left out of the bus station and walk for 1km along the road –you’ll eventually see the Svyatagorsk Monastery on your left. From there a road leads off to the right, which leads to Mikhailovskoe; just keep following the signs from here.
Return buses to Pskov depart at: 6am, 7am, 8.40am, 9.30am, 10.25am, 1.30pm, 3.50pm and 6.40pm.
Pechory Monastery
Печорский Монастырь
Founded in 1473 in a ravine full of hermits’ caves, this monastery has been a working cloister ever since. With all the high ground outside, it’s an improbable stronghold, but several tsars fortified it and depended on it. A path descends under the 1564 St Nicholas Church (Nikolskaya tserkov) into a sea of colours and architectural styles, where several dozen monks still live and study. Taking photos of the buildings is acceptable if you make a contribution at the front gate; photographing the monks is taboo.
The central yellow church comprises two buildings. At ground level is the original Assumption Cathedral (Uspensky sobor), built into the caves; upstairs is the 18th-century baroque Intercession Church (Pokrovskaya tserkov). Below the belfry on the left is the entrance to the caves, where some 10,000 bodies – monks, benefactors and others – are bricked up in vaults.
You can wander the monastery grounds and visit most of the churches on your own. To visit the caves you’ll probably have to join a tour to lead you through the dark, spooky, nearly freezing sand tunnels. Everyone carries a candle, which in places you can thrust through holes in the tunnel walls to see a few of the wooden coffins lying lopsided on top of each other. You don’t necessarily have to ‘join’ a tour to visit the caves; it’s possible to tag onto a group that is entering, which won’t cost you anything. Bring a strong torch.
On the grounds is the summer carriage of Peter the Great’s daughter, the licentious Anna Ioanovna, who – as the story goes – came to have some summer fun with the monks and didn’t leave until winter. Before WWII, this area was in independent Estonia, thereby avoiding the frequent stripping or destruction of churches during that time; the 16th-century bells in St Nicholas Church are original, a rarity in Russia.
There’s a booth outside the monastery gates housing an excursion office (21 493; 10am-5pm). The office offers tours in Russian for about R400, depending on the number of people. On the monastery grounds, women must wear skirts and cover their heads and shoulders (shawls are available at the entrance). Men should wear long pants. It’s possible for men to stay at the monastery and eat with the monks in their modest cafeteria, with special permission. Ask at the front gate, and explain why you are interested in staying.
If you need a place to stay, the Hotel Planeta (21 061; s/d R700/1400) on the town square offers clean but simple rooms. It’s just around the corner from the bus stand.
Pechory is located 2.5km from the Estonian border. From the bus stand in the middle of town you can catch the 9am bus to Tallinn (R660, five hours) or the 3pm bus to Tartu (R450, three hours). Both buses originate in Pskov. Hourly buses shuttle between Pskov and Pechory (R60 to R90, one hour) between 8am and 11pm. At least eight buses a day make a stop in Stary Izborsk (R35, 20 minutes).
LENINGRAD REGION 
The region surrounding St Petersburg still retains its Soviet-era name. Several of its key sights are covered in the St Petersburg chapter (Click here), but those that are likely to be more than a day trip out of the city are detailed below. For more about the region see its official website http://eng.lenobl.ru.
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VYBORG ВЫБОРГ
81378 / pop 79,224 / Moscow
Pronounced Vih-bork, this Gulf of Finland port and rail junction, 174km northwest of St Petersburg and just 30km from the Finnish border, is an appealing provincial town dom-inated by a medieval castle and peppered with decaying Finnish art-nouveau buildings and romantic cobblestone streets.
The border has jumped back and forth around Vyborg for most of its history. Peter the Great captured it from the Swedes in 1710. A century later it fell within autonomous Finland, and after the revolution it remained part of independent Finland. Since then the Finns have called it Viipuri. Stalin took Vyborg in 1939, lost it to the Finns during WWII, and on getting it back at the end of the war deported all the Finns.
Today it remains resolutely a Russian town but the Finns are back by the coachloads, coming to shop and drink the town’s cheap booze. With the exception of Park Monrepo all Vyborg’s main sights are neatly arranged around a compact peninsula, making it an ideal town to explore on foot. The town’s official website is www.vyborg.ru.
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Sights
VYBORG CASTLE
Rising stoutly from a rock in Vyborg Bay, Vyborg Castle (Vyborgsky zamok; 21 515; admission to grounds R10, museum R70, tower R70; museum 11am-7pm Tue-Sun, tower 10am-10pm daily) is the city’s oldest building, built by the Swedes in 1293 when they first captured Karelia from Novgorod. Most of it now consists of 16th-century alterations. Inside the castle is a mildly diverting small museum on local history, including a tacky set-up of a border post; skip this and climb the many steps of the whitewashed St Olaf’s Tower for great views over the town. A great website with history of the castle and other fortifications across northern Russia is www.nortfort.ru.
PARK MONREPO
A lovely place to escape the world for a few hours if not most of the day is the 180-hectare Park Monrepo (20 539; www.oblmuseums.spb.ru/eng/museums/20/info.html; 10am-6pm), around 3km west of the train station. Laid out in a classical style, the sprawling park with curved bridges, arbours and sculptures, is as pretty as the grounds at Pavlovsk (Click here), only wilder. Read about the park’s interesting history on the website.
OTHER SIGHTS
Bordered by pr Lenina, Suvorovsky pr, ul Krespostnaya and ul Pionerskaya, leafy Park Lenina makes for a pleasant stroll. It’s peppered with intriguing brass statutes and carved trees. You can also see here the Alvar Aalto Library (Biblioteka A Aalto), designed by the famous Finnish architect in 1935 and badly in need of repair, at the park’s southeastern end and the Lutheran SS Peter & Paul Cathedral (Sobor Svyatogo Petra i Pavla) at its north-western end.
Apart from the castle, other relics of Vyborg’s Swedish times are found in the squat Round Tower (Kruglaya Bashnya; pl Rynochnaya), which now houses a restaurant; the Pantserlaks Bastion (ul Luzhskaya), dating from 1574, which contains a gallery; the City Hall Tower (Bashnya Ratushi; Vyborgskaya ul), which looks like it’s crowned with a giant metallic wizard’s hat; and the Clock Tower (Bashnya Chasov; ul Krepostnaya 5a; admission R50; 11am-7pm Sat & Sun May-Sept), first built in 1490, and worth climbing for the views of town.
Fronting onto Teatralnaya pl the blue-domed Transfiguration Cathedral (Spaso-Preobrazhensky Sobor) built in 1787, is well maintained and attended. On the far side of the Krepostnoy most are the walls of Anna Fortress built in the 18th century as protection against the Swedes and named after Empress Anna Ioanovna. On a hill, just above the restaurant Russky Dvor (see right), surveying the castle and town is a handsome statue of Peter the Great erected on the bicentenary of the city’s capture by Russia.
Sleeping
Vyborg is only a couple of hours’ journey from St Petersburg, but there are several decent hotels should you wish to stay over. Rates are often higher on Friday and Saturday when the carousing Finns hit town; come during the week if you’re looking for a quieter time. Unless mentioned, all rates include breakfast.
Korolenko Boat Hostel (/fax 34 478; cabins per person R600) While parts of this 1957 Volga River cruise boat have weathered time well, the tiny scruffy cabins with just a sink, have not. The staff are friendly and it is one of the more unusual hostels you’re likely to come across. There’s no breakfast but a 24-hour bar, which can get rowdy.
Atlantik (24 776; www.hotelatlantik.ru; ul Pod-gornaya 9; s/d without bathroom R1200/1600; s/d with bathroom from R1600/1900) Gaily patterned wallpaper sets a spruce tone for this small hotel, close to the castle. It offers a variety of rooms and has a restaurant opening onto a quiet courtyard.
Hotel Druzhba (22 383; [email protected]; ul Zheleznodorozhnaya 5; s/d from R2200/2600;
) Its exterior may be ugly but inside the views across the bay to the castle can’t be beaten. The cheapest rooms are unrenovated. Rates include a morning sauna.
Letuchaya Mysh (Bat Hotel; 34 537; www.bathotel.ru; ul Nikolaeva 3; s/d from R2400/3000;
) This charming boutique-style hotel occupies a small heritage building just off pr Lenina. All rooms have bathrooms and TVs, and the business class ones also have wi-fi access.
Apart-Hotel Ullberg (55 417; www.hotel-apart.ru; Leningradsky pr 10; d R3200;
) There are five brightly decorated, comfy rooms, all of which have mini-kitchens in this well-located guest house overlooking Park Lenina from inside a handsome 1915 building.
Eating & Drinking
Russky Dvor (36 369; ul Shturma; mains R200-300; noon-midnight) The terrace here overlooking the castle and town is an ideal spot to enjoy some palatable traditional Russian dishes. The high-ceiling castle-like interior is also impressive.
Café Respect (34 007; ul Podgornaya 10; mains R250; 9am-11pm) Cosy place with only a few tables and an old European feel. They only have a Russian menu but do the usual range of dishes such as salads and soups. Next door the proprietors also run the larger beer bar and restaurant U Borkharda.
Kamelot (55 322; ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 14; mains R300-500; 11am-midnight) Playing up to Vyborg’s medieval history, you can take your pick from either the vaulted interior or the outdoor summer garden to enjoy this restaurant’s hearty Russian fayre.
Round Tower Restaurant (Kruglaya Bashnya; 31 729; pl Rynochnaya 1; mains R400–600; 10am-midnight) On the top floor of the tower this atmospheric and long-running place is a safe option for traditional Russian cuisine.
Champion (20 247; pr Lenina; mains R230-450; 11-2am) Nicely done Western-style bar with ‘fussball’ and plenty of TVs screening sports and music videos. The menu (in English) roams the globe for inspiration, offering tom yam soup, chilli con carne and Irish stew.
Cafés for drinks and snacks are pretty common. Pull together supplies for a picnic from the Central Market (Rynok Tsentralny; Rynochnaya pl; 8am-6pm) just north of the Round Tower.
Getting There & Away
Plodding elektrichka (R160, three hours) leave roughly every hour from St Petersburg’s Finlyandsky vokzal. It’s better to take one of the faster and more comfortable express services (R182, 1½ hours, four daily) with handy services at 8.05am and 12.57pm, or the Helsinki-bound trains (Click here), all of which stop in Vyborg. Returning from Vyborg, good trains include ones at 10.30am, 3.20pm and 8.15pm.
For those moving on north to Sortavala (Click here), there are infrequent trains to Khiitola (R120, two hours), where you’ll need to change trains.
Buses (R150, 2½ hours) between St Peters-burg and Vyborg run at half-hourly intervals from 7am to 7.30pm. In St Petersburg, they leave from the bus stop on the west side of Finlyandsky vokzal and in Vyborg from the bus station opposite the train station.
STARAYA LADOGA
СТАРАЯ ЛАДОГА
81363 / pop 3000 / Moscow
Although you’d hardly guess it now, the tranquil village of Staraya (Old) Ladoga, 125km east of St Petersburg on the winding banks of the Volkhov River, was once an active participant in the very birth of the Russian nation (see the boxed text, opposite). Today its quiet streets yield up an ancient fortress, several churches and some prettily painted wooden cottages. It makes for a pleasant escape from St Petersburg, particularly in summer when a swim in the river adds to the charm.
Dating from around the 8th century, the town was known only as Ladoga until 1704 when Peter the Great founded Novaya (New) Ladoga to the north, as a transfer point for the materials arriving to build St Petersburg. Protected as a national reserve, the town’s basic structure and street patterns have remained virtually unchanged since the 12th century, give or take a few ugly Soviet blocks.
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Sights
Everything of interest lies along the main street Volkhovsky pr. The highlight is the fortress (49 331; admission free; 9.30am-6pm Tue-Sun May-Aug, 9.30am-4.30pm Tue-Sun Sep-Apr) at the southern end of the village and with an excellent view along the river. Within its partially ruined 7m-thick walls you’ll find the stone St George’s Church (admission R30), only open May to October, to protect the delicate 12th-century frescos still visible on its walls, and the cute wooden Church of Dimitri Solun. Inside the fortress’ main tower is the Historical-Architectural & Archaeological Museum (admission R25) housing an interesting retrospective of the area’s history, including a scale model of how the fortress once looked, items found on archaeological digs and English explanations.
At one time, six monasteries worked in this small region. Now only the Nikolisky Monastery (9am-7pm), 500m south of the fortress, remains; it’s in the process of being rebuilt, the main church and bell tower now looking quite handsome.
Atop the hill at the north end of the village the striking blue, onion-domed John the Baptist Church (9am-6pm), dating from 1694, is in much better repair, the frescos and iconostasis inside being particularly colourful. Nearby, beside the riverbanks, is an ancient burial mound and, beneath the church, caves where glass was once made.
Sleeping & Eating
There’s no hotel in Staraya Ladoga (and just a handful of eating options) but you could combine a trip here with one to Tikhvin (opposite), where there is accommodation; all buses to and from Tikhvin pass through Staraya Ladoga.
Nochnaya Ptitsa (Volkhovsky pr; mains R30; 3pm-3am Mon-Thu, noon-3am Fri-Sun) About 100m north of the fortress, the food at this café-bar is nothing to write home about, but the place is nicely decorated inside and has an outdoor seating area in summer.
RUSSIA’S ANCIENT CAPITAL
Just as the origins of Rus are continually debated, so will Staraya Ladoga’s status as ‘Russia’s first capital’. Nevertheless, its age (historians have given 753 as the village’s birth date) and significance remain uncontested.
When the Scandinavian Viking Rurik, along with his relatives Truvor and Sineus, swept into ancient Russia in 862, he built a wooden fortress at present-day Staraya Ladoga and made this his base. You can see Rurik in a colourful mosaic on the side of the village school. Locals even claim the tumulus on the banks of the Volkhov River at the northern end of the village is the grave of Oleg, Rurik’s successor.
Archaeological expeditions continue to uncover a wealth of information about the town’s past. In 1997, a second 9th-century fortress was discovered 2km outside the village. Evidence of Byzantine cultural influences in the frescos of the village’s 12th-century churches point to the town as a cultural as well as historical and commercial crossroads.
Getting There & Away
Take an elektrichka to Volkhov (the Volk-hovstroy I station) from Moskovsky vokzal in St Petersburg (R70, 2½ hours). From Volkhov, take the hourly bus K23 (R23, 20 minutes) headed towards Novaya Ladoga from the main bus stop outside the station, just across the square. Get off when you see the fortress. Buses to Tikhvin (right) also pass through Staraya Ladoga.
KONEVETS ISLAND
Around 100km north of St Petersburg, and 6km off the western shore of Lake Ladoga, is Konevets Island, home to the beautiful sky-blue domed monastery founded in 1393 by Arseny Konevetsky. The island was part of Finland between world wars, while in Soviet times, it became an off-limits military base. The monastery reopened in the early 1990s and has since undergone massive restoration with Finnish funding.
As well as the main Kremlin grounds there are several charmingly decorated wooden chapels in nearby forests, including one on a huge boulder; this was the site of pagan horse-slaughtering rituals. The rest of the island is very peaceful, with clean beaches and lots of forests to wander through.
The easiest way to explore the island is to take a one-day tour (R1020), which is held most Saturdays and organised by the monastery’s St Petersburg office (Map; 571 8079; www.konevets.spb.ru, in Russian; Zagorodny pr 7; Vladimirskaya). The tours depart around 7am from the metro station Ozerki. Two-day tours (R2850) are scheduled at least once a month and during festivals and include accommodation. You can also contact the monastery about overnight accommodation on the island; they run a couple of simple guest houses for pilgrims (R1000 per night).
By public transport take an elektrichka from St Petersburg’s Finlyandsky vokzal to Otradnoye, then a bus to Vladimirovka, where you’ll have to hire a boat to sail the 5km to the island, a total trip of around seven hours.
The monastery’s website has a good map of the island. Also check the Wandering Camera website (www.enlight.ru/camera/290/index_e.html) for a visual preview of what you’ll see there.
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TIKHVIN 
81367 / pop 63,338 / Moscow
Some 200km east of St Petersburg on the banks of the Tikhvinka River lies Tikhvin, home to a beautiful monastery established in 1560 by decree of Ivan the Terrible. There’s been a community here since the 14th century and for thousands of years before that the area formed part of the hereditary lands of the Finnic Veps (also known as Vepsians). Tikhvin is also the birthplace of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, whose music was inspired by the local nature, folk tunes and religious ringing of bells.
The town is easy to find your way around; either buy a map in St Petersburg bookshops before you leave or at the kiosk in the train station. Should you need assistance Tikhvin’s tourist office (53 372; [email protected]; ul Sovetskaya 43; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri) is opposite the bus station. The region’s official website (in Russian) is http://tikhvin.org.
DETOUR: NIZHNESVIRSKY NATURE RESERVE
НИЖНЕ CВИРСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ЗАПОВЕДНИК
On the southeastern shore of Lake Ladoga, the 416 sq km Nizhnesvirsky Nature Reserve (
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Sights
TIKHVIN MONASTERY OF THE MOTHER OF GOD
Rising like a fairy tale across the Tabory pond is this monastery (Tikhvinskiy Bogorodichniy Uspenskiy Muzhskoi Monastr) – it’s about 1km walk from the train station straight along Sovestskaya ul. At its heart is the onion-domed Assumption Cathedral (Uspenskiy Sobor; admission free; 8am-8pm), established in 1510, and painted inside with detailed frescos. Here is housed the famous icon of Mary and Jesus said to have been painted by the apostle Luke.
The complex’s nunnery, crowned by a five-spired belfry, is where Ivan the Terrible sent his fourth wife to be confined. Within the walls you’ll also find the Tikhvin Historical Memorial and Architectural Museum (52 080; admission R30; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun), which has interesting displays on the monastery’s history and examples of its religious art dating back to the 16th century. A procession is held here each 9 July to celebrate the return of the icon in Tikhvin.
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV HOUSE-MUSEUM
This early-19th-century wooden house was the composer’s childhood home until the age of 12. The museum (Gosudarstvenniy Memorialniy Dom-Muzey N A Rimskogo-Korsakova; 51 509; ul Rimskogo-Korsakova 12; admission R60; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun) inside dates from 1944, the centenary of Rimsky-Korsakov’s birth, and the rooms have been reconstructed to look as they would have done when his family was living there. The charming guides will point out all the original features, including a Becker grand piano on which concerts are sometimes given.
There’s a stone bust of the composer on a plinth in the small park next to the house, and opposite here is the tiny Church of All Saints Polkovaya (Tserkov Vsekh Svyatkh Polkovaya).
OTHER SIGHTS
Packed with wooden cottages, old Tikhvin is a delightful place in which to wander. The railway station dates from 1904–05, while a short walk east of the monastery spanning the Tikhvinka River you can see an early-19th- century lock. The are plenty of other churches doted around the town, including the attractive Transfiguration Cathedral (Spaso-Preobrazhenskiy Sobor) on one side of pl Svobody, where Lenin’s statue still stands.
Sleeping & Eating
It’s possible to see Tikhvin in a long-day trip from St Petersburg, but should you decide to linger there are a couple of accommodation options.
Podvorye (51 330; [email protected]; ul Novgorodskaya 35; r with breakfast from R2000) The interior of this new small hotel emulates a log house. The spacious rooms are thickly carpeted and clean. Its adjoining restaurant is an equally pleasant place for a meal with a menu (in English) of mainly Russian dishes (R200 to R400).
Verizhitsa (71 374; www.verizhitsa.ru; cabin from R7000) This appealing complex of wooden log cabins (each of which accommodates up to six people) has a leafy forest setting 5km east of Tikhvin. The cabins are comfortable and there’s a restaurant and traditional style banya (extra fee). A taxi from Tikhvin costs around R150.
Chainaya (snacks R40-150; 11am-6pm Tue-Sun) In the monastery grounds, you’ll find this simple tea house, serving delicious bliny, home-made pelmeni and kvas. In summer you can enjoy your refreshments on an outdoor terrace.
Getting There & Away
Trains to Tikhvin (platzkart R350, 4½ to five hours, two to three daily) leave from St Petersburg’s Ladozhsky vokzal. Taking the bus (R210, four hours, five daily) is also an option – the first bus leaves St Petersburg Avtovokzal No 2 at 9am and the last bus leaves Tikhvin at around 5.30pm. Tickets for buses in Tikhvin are purchased in the green-painted wooden building located just past the bus station and before pl Svobody, on ul Sovetskaya.
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Kaliningrad Region Калининградская Oбласть
The Kaliningrad region, surrounded by Poland to the south, Lithuania to the east and north and 148km of Baltic coastline to the west, is almost like another country. This small Russian island is intimately attached to the motherland, yet also remains a world apart.
It’s begun to realise its huge potential as a holiday destination. In ‘Little Russia’ you’ll find plenty of fine hotels and restaurants and a youthful outlook with all the traditions of the big parent, with a beautiful countryside, splendid beaches and fascinating historical sights, too.
Annexed by Russia in 1945, Kaliningrad was previously the German kingdom of Prussia, its roots stretching back to the Teutonic Knights who ruled the Baltic in the Middle Ages from the city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad). Stalin ethnically cleansed the land of all Germans, but centuries of Germanic culture and a legacy of castles and domestic architecture were not as easily removed. Now Kaliningrad’s old cathedral has been rebuilt (alongside glitzy new shopping malls), and there are plans to resurrect the castle and the obliterated medieval city core.
In summer, sunbathe on the soft sands of the Baltic coast, or enjoy fishing and boating trips on the Curonian and Kaliningrad lagoons and the region’s extensive and rarely toured river system. The pine forests, teeming with wildlife, and Sahara-like dunes of the Kurshskaya Kosa National Park are so special that this natural jewel is a Unesco World Heritage Site.
The region’s airport offers plenty of international connections, making fast access from Europe a breeze. Friendly, open-minded locals will only be too happy to assist you once you arrive – anyone familiar with the insular ways of big Russia will be amazed. Everyone else will be equally delighted to discover this Russian gem with a welcoming European face.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Pay your respects at the grave of philosopher Immanuel Kant at Kaliningrad’s reconstructed medieval cathedral
- Learn about Russian maritime history on former expedition vessels and a submarine at the fascinating World Ocean Museum
- Let the natural beauty of the Kurshskaya Kosa National Park soothe your soul
- Top up your tan on the beaches of Svetlogorsk or Zelenogradsk
- Explore ruined castles and saddle up at the Georgenburg Stud Farm in Chernyakhovsk.
HISTORY
The indigenous pagan population of the region, famous since Roman times for its amber deposits (Click here), were conquered in the 13th century by Teutonic Knights. By 1525 the area had become the Duchy of Prussia, Europe’s first Protestant state. Its capital was Königsberg, where Prussian kings were crowned in the castle. The city’s liberal atmosphere attracted scholars, artists, scientists and entrepreneurs from across Europe; in 1697 Peter the Great visited as part of Russia’s Grand Embassy and the 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant spent all his life there.
For four years of the Seven Years’ War (1756–63), East Prussia became part of the Russian Empire and, later, during the Napoleonic wars, Russia and Prussia were allies. After WWI, East Prussia was separated from the rest of Germany when Poland regained statehood. The three-month campaign by which the Red Army took it in 1945 was one of the fiercest of WWII, with hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides.
In 1946 the region was renamed Kaliningrad in honour of the recently deceased Mikhail Kalinin, one of Stalin’s more vicious henchmen; he authorised the massacre of thousands of Polish officers in Katyn forest. The surviving German population was either killed, relocated to far-flung corners of the Soviet Union or deported to Germany; it was one of the most effective ethnic cleansing campaigns in European history. The Russian Baltic fleet was headquartered in Baltiysk making the region a closed one to both foreigners and average Russians alike for over 40 years.
Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, the region struggled through extreme economic difficulties in the early 1990s. The discovery of oil off the coast and the granting of special economic zone status has helped it turn the corner. It also doesn’t hurt that ex-president Putin’s wife Ludmilla was born here and that the powerful couple frequently visit the region. One of the region’s biggest projects is the development of a huge marina at Pionersky between Zelenogradsk and Svetlogorsk.
There has been talk of Kaliningrad becoming an independent fourth ‘Baltic state’. The prospects for this are highly unlikely, as Russia would have much to lose by granting autonomy to this resource-rich region. The Baltic fleet remains headquartered in Baltiysk (still off limits to Western tourists unless on a specially arranged tour), and the area’s strategic importance is key, particularly in light of recent EU expansion east. Most importantly, the vast majority of Russians living here are proud of their Slavic heritage and ties to the motherland.
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Visas
Citizens of Shengen countries, the UK, Switzerland and Japan can enter Kaliningrad with an on-demand 72-hour tourist visa. These need to be arranged via local tourist agencies, such as those listed on right.
Unless you’re flying, you must be in possession of either a double or multiple-entry Russian visa and/or visas for its neighbouring countries to reach the Kaliningrad region from anywhere else in Russia. Multiple-entry visas need to be arranged in advance.
If you have any questions or problems regarding Russian visas during your stay in the region, contact the main UFMS
Office (563 809, 563 804; Sovetsky pr 13, room 9) – it’s also known as the PVU – in Kaliningrad. For general information on visas, Click here.
KALININGRAD КАЛИНИНГРАД
4012 / pop 423,000 / Moscow −1hr
A fascinating, affluent city that’s clearly going places, Kaliningrad is an excellent introduction to Russia’s most liberal region. Interesting museums and historical sights sprout in between the shiny new shopping centres and multitude of leafy parks and landscaped areas that soften the vast swathes of brutal Soviet architecture. Plentiful transport options and good hotels mean you can use the city as a base to see the rest of the region.
Old photos attest that the former Königsberg was once a Middle European architectural gem equal to Prague or Krakow. Unfortunately, the combined destruction of WWII and the Soviet decades put paid to all that. However, there are lovely pre-war residential suburbs that evoke the Prussian past and make for rewarding exploring. The authorities also have big plans to remodel Kaliningrad with a mix of futuristic and heritage-inspired building projects – watch this space!
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History
Founded as a Teutonic fort in 1255, Königsberg joined the Hanseatic League in 1340, and from 1457 to 1618 was the residence of the grand masters of the Teutonic order and their successors, the dukes of Prussia. The first king of Prussia, Frederick I, was crowned here in 1701. For the next couple of centuries the city flourished, producing citizens such as the 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant.
The city centre was flattened by British air raids in August 1944 and the Red Army assault from 6 to 9 April 1945. Renamed Kaliningrad on 4 July 1946 (City Day celebrations are held on the first weekend in July), the city was rebuilt in grand Soviet concrete style, albeit tempered by parks, a network of ponds and waterways and Kaliningrad Lagoon.
Following the successful reconstruction of the war-damaged cathedral (mainly thanks to donations from Germany), there’s a drive to rebuild more of Kaliningrad’s destroyed Prussian architecture. The Fish Village development is ongoing and there’s talk of resurrecting the castle (Click here).
Orientation
Leninsky pr, a north–south avenue, is the city’s main artery, running over 3km from the bus and main train station, Yuzhny vokzal (South Station), to Severny vokzal (North Station). About halfway it crosses the Pregolya River and passes the cathedral, the city’s major landmark. The city’s modern heart is further north, around pl Pobedy.
Information
INTERNET ACCESS, POST & TELEPHONE
Apart from the post offices, you’ll also find internet access at the Kings’ Castle TIC in Hotel Kaliningrad (see opposite).
Main
post office (ul Kosmonavta Leonova 22; 9am-8pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat & Sun) Located about 600m north of pr Mira.
Post office (ul Chernyakhovskogo 32; per hr R50;post office 10am-2pm & 3-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm & 3-6pm Sat, internet room 10am-2pm & 3-10pm Mon-Sat) Internet access and postal services.
Telekom (ul Teatralnaya 13; internet per hr R50; 9am-7pm) For long-distance calls, fax and internet access.
MEDICAL SERVICES
Emergency Hospital (466 989; ul Nevskogo 90; 24hr)
TOURIST INFORMATION
Russkaya Evropa (www.russeuropa.com) publish the free quarterly listings magazine Welcome to Kaliningrad, available in hotel lobbies – it has useful information in English on the city and region; see their website for more information.
German-Russian House (469 682; www.drh-k.ru; ul Yaltinskaya 2A; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri) Learn about the city’s German roots here. They also have a library, teach German classes and host German cultural events.
Kaliningrad Regional Informative Educational Centre of Tourism (655 055; www.tourismkaliningrad.ru; Fish Village, 2 ul Oktyabrskaya; 10am-8pm) Staffed by helpful, English-speaking staff; you can buy guides to the region here.
University Guides ([email protected]) Drop these guys an email if you’re looking for a student guide to show you around town.
TRAVEL AGENCIES
Baltma Tours (931 931; www.baltma.ru; pr Mira 94, 4th fl) The multilingual staff here can arrange visas, hotel accommodation, tailored city tours and a surprising array of local excursions, including one to Yantarny, home of what was once the world’s largest amber mine, and another to the military port city of Baltiysk (formerly Pillau), which requires a special permit to enter. Car hire with a driver is €35 per day.
King’s Castle (350 782; www.kaliningradinfo.ru; Hotel Kaliningrad, Leninskiy pr 81; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri; 9am-4pm Sat) A private tourist agency that also operates as a very efficient TIC. You can access the internet here and book city tours and tours to the Kurshskaya Kosa.
Königsberg (www.konigsberg.ru) Web-based tour agency through which you can arrange visas, including the 72-hour express visa, and book hotels.
Sights
CATHEDRAL & AROUND
A Unesco World Heritage site, the majestic red-brick Gothic cathedral (646 868; adult/student R100/50; 9am-5pm) dates back to 1333. For decades after WWII its ruins rose above the once densely populated Kant Island – it’s now all parkland dotted with sculptures. Rebuilt during the 1990s, the cathedral is occasionally used for concerts, and its ground floor has both small Lutheran and Orthodox chapels. Upstairs you’ll find the reconstructed carved wood Wallenrodt Library, interesting displays of old Königsberg and objects from archaeological digs. On the top floor is an austere room with the death mask of Immanuel Kant, whose rose-marble tomb lies outside, on the outer north side.
Crossing the nearby Honey Bridge, the oldest of the city’s bridges, you can ponder both how this footbridge was part of a tricky mathematical problem (Click here), as well as the many padlocks that hang off its iron railings: it’s customary for newlyweds to hang locks carved with their names off bridges. On the other side of the bridge is the half-timbered riverside development known as Fish Village (Ribnaya Derevnya). Disneylandish it may be, but this collection of hotels, tourist information office, shops and restaurants is a laudable attempt to reprise some of the city’s destroyed architectural heritage. The village’s first phase, including the handsome new Jubilee Footbridge, is complete.
Across the river south of the cathedral is the Former Stock Exchange (Leninsky pr 83), a fine Renaissance-style building built in the 1870s; it now houses a disco and various community clubs.
WORLD OCEAN MUSEUM
Two boats and a sub can be explored at the excellent World Ocean Museum (538 915; www.vitiaz.ru; nab Petra Velikogo 1; adult/student R200/120, individual vessels R120/80; 11am-6pm Wed-Sun Apr-Oct, 10am-5pm Wed-Sun Nov-Mar) strung along the banks of the Pregolya River. The highlight is the handsome former expedition vessel Vityaz, which, during its heyday, conducted many scientific studies around the world. It’s moored alongside the Viktor Patsaev, named after one of Kaliningrad’s famous cosmonauts; once part of the ‘space flotilla’, its exhibits relate to space research. Inside the B-413 submarine you can get an idea of what life was like for the 300 submariners who once lived and worked aboard.
Also part of the complex is the Maritime Hall. In a newly restored old storehouse building, it houses interesting displays on fishing, the sea-connected history of Kaliningrad, as well as a rare archaeological find of the remains of a 19th-century wooden fishing boat. There’s also a pavilion with the skeleton of a 16.8m-long sperm whale, and halls with small aquariums and general information about the ocean. Visits to the Vityaz and Viktor Patsaev are by guided tour (every 45 minutes or so); you can wander freely through the sub.
AMBER MUSEUM
On the edge of the Prud Verkhny (Upper Pond), the Amber Museum (466 888; www.ambermuseum.ru; pl Marshala Vasilevskogo 1; adult/student R90/60; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) has some 6000 examples of amber artworks, the most impressive being from the Soviet period. In addition to enormous pieces of jewellery containing prehistoric insects suspended within, some of the more fascinating works include an amber flute and a four-panelled amber and ivory chalice depicting Columbus, the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. You can buy amber jewellery in the museum or from the vendors outside.
CITY FORTIFICATIONS AND GATES
The Amber Museum is housed in the attractive Dohna Tower, a bastion of the city’s old defensive ring. The adjacent Rossgarten Gate, one of Köingsberg’s city gates, contains a decent restaurant.
Several other bits of the fortifications and gates remain scattered around the city. The impressively renovated King’s Gate (581 272; ul Frunze 112; student/adult R80/40; 11am-6pm Wed-Sun) houses a museum with cool models of old Königsberg and exhibits on the personalities who shaped the region’s history. A little south of here is the twin-towered Sackheim Gate (cnr pr Moscovsky & Litovsky Val).
Newly restored Friedland Gate (pr Kalinina 6; adult/child R20/10;10am-5pm Tue-Sun) contains a small museum with a great map plotting the locations of the 13 original city gates. There’s an intriguing arms display, and the original cobblestone road that ran through the gate is visible inside.
At the city’s northern border, along Sovetsky pr, is the Fifth Fort (Pyaty Fort). One of the city’s 15 forts, constructed between 1872 and 1892 as a second line of defence, it’s a heavily wooded ruin that’s fun to explore for hidden passages. Take trolleybus 1 to the Pyaty Fort stop.
AMALIENAU & MARAUNENHOF
Casual strolls through the linden-scented, tree-lined neighbourhoods of Amalienau to the city’s west along pr Mira and Maraunenhof at the north end of the Prud Verkhny are the best way to get an idea of genteel pre-WWII Königsberg. Amalienau is particularly lovely, with an eclectic range of villas, many designed by the architect Friedrich Heitmann along ul Kutuzova and the streets connecting prs Pobedy and Mira. In Maraunenhof you’ll find several appealing small hotels as well as the German consulate with its strikingly colourful visa section.
THE BRIDGES OF KÖNIGSBERG
The problem of Königsberg’s seven bridges is one known to mathematicians the world over. The 18th century Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler tackled the question of whether it was possible to walk a circular route crossing each bridge once only. Euler’s resulting graph theory has intrigued academics ever since. For background see http://kursinfo.himolde.no/lo-kurs/lo904/Laporte/BridgesPaper.pdf. Out of the seven bridges that formed part of original conundrum, only the Honey and Wood Bridges remain today.
OTHER MUSEUMS
The History & Art Museum (453 844; ul Klinicheskaya 21; adult/student R70/50; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun), housed in a reconstructed 1912 concert hall by the banks of the pretty Prud Nizhny (Lower Pond), is worth a visit. Though it mainly focuses on Soviet rule, the German past is not ignored in the many interesting displays. There are also chilling posters of the castle’s destruction.
Cross the footbridge over Prud Nizhny and walk west towards the university to discover the fascinating Bunker Museum (Muzei Blindazh; 536 593; Universitetskaya ul 2; adult/student R70/50; 10am-4pm Tue-Sun). The city’s last German commander, Otto van Lasch, capitulated to the Soviets from this buried German command post in 1945.
PLOSHCHAD POBEDY & PROSPEKT MIRA
Pl Pobedy is the site of several modern shopping centres and the new Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Kafedralny Sobor Khrista Spasitelya), its gold domes visible from many parts of the city.
Extending west of the square is pr Mira, lined with shops and cafés and leading to some of the city’s prettiest areas. Along here you’ll find the Zoo (Zoopark; 218 924; pr Mira 26; adult/student R100/40; 9am-9pm Jun-Aug, 10am-5pm Sep-May), which before WWII was considered the third best in the world but is now in a sorry state (donations accepted – and needed!).
Further west is the striking Cosmonaut Monument, a gem of Soviet iconography. This honours the several cosmonauts who hail from the region. Just west, as pr Pobedy branches out from pr Mira, is the entrance to Central Park (Tsentralny Park), a splendid, forestlike park on the grounds of an old German cemetery.
Sleeping
Kaliningrad is well served with midrange and top-end hotels but it’s crying out for a decent hostel or budget accommodation.
Resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; 586 447; pl Kalinina; s or d R800) Inside the south train station, these resting rooms are surprisingly quiet and clean, with OK shared bathrooms. Find them by turning right down the corridor after the ticket hall and walking up to the third floor.
Villa Severin (365 373; www.villa-severin.ru; ul Leningradskaya 9A; s/d from R950/1900;
) There’s a very homely atmosphere at this pretty villa, set back from the Prud Verkhny, with nine comfortably furnished rooms including simple student rooms. They also have a small sauna and café.
Hotel Moskva (352 300; www.hotel.kaliningrad.ru; pr Mira 19; s/d from R1950/2400) Kaliningrad’s oldest hotel has been reborn after extensive renovations and it now boasts bright spacious rooms, friendly atmosphere and a good location. Under the same management are the Hotel Kaliningrad and Chaika Hotel.
Glamour (340 000; www.glamour-hotel.ru; ul Verkhneozernaya 26; s or d incl breakfast from R2300;
) Aspiring to boutique hotel status, the Glamour offers romantically decorated rooms, some with balconies overlooking the Prud Verkhny.
Ubileiniy Luks (519 024; www.ubilejny-lux.ru; Universitetskaya ul 2; s or d/apt from R2500/3800;
) Atop a business centre, this hotel’s central quiet location is ideal. Their 13 rooms are all enormous, and most have kitchens. Wi-fi internet is available.
Dona Hotel (351 650; http://dona.kaliningrad.ru; pl Marshala Vasilevskogo 2; s/d incl breakfast from R2550/3050;
) Featuring design touches worthy of a Philippe Starck protégé, the Dona is a tribute to sleek modernism. It has friendly English-speaking staff, pleasant buffet breakfasts, and Dolce Vita, one of the city’s best restaurants.
Heliopark Kaiserhof (592 222; www.heliopark.ru; ul Oktyabrskaya 8; s/d incl breakfast from R3350/4150;
) Anchoring Fish Village, this is a very nicely designed and furnished hotel, with a central atrium and super-stylish rooms.
Cherepakha (957 500; www.turtle-hotel.ru; Zoologichesky Tupik 10; s/d incl breakfast & dinner from R3980/4800;
) In a peaceful, tree-lined neighbourhood behind the zoo, but the charming Turtle’s rates aren’t reduced if you don’t want dinner.
THE RETURN OF THE CASTLE?
Königsberg’s majestic castle, dating from 1255, once stood on Tsentralnaya pl. Severely damaged during WWII and dynamited out of existence in the late 1960s, it was replaced by the outstandingly ugly Dom Sovetov (House of Soviets). During the eyesore’s construction it was discovered that the land below it was hollow, with a (now-flooded) four-level underground passage connecting to the cathedral. The decaying half-finished building has never been used.
Kaliningrad’s chief planner Alexander Bazhin has put forward a plan, though, endorsed by none other than former President Putin, to rebuild the castle and some of the historical streets once surrounding it, as part of a scheme that also includes a clutch of modern skyscrapers and a convention centre to mask Dom Sovetov. The estimated US$100 million needed for the project has yet to be raised. In the meantime, it’s possible to peer down at the archaeological dig that has revealed the castle’s foundations (
Other options include:
Zolotaya Bukhta (645 777; www.goldenbay.ru; ul Bolshoy Khmelnitskogo 53; s/d from R1600/2200) Simple, clean rooms near the Philharmonic Hall.
Hotel Kaliningrad (350 500; www.hotel.kaliningrad.ru; Leninsky pr 81; s/d from R1900/2100; ) Charmless, but central. Rooms facing the main road suffer from traffic noise.
Skipper Hotel (Gastinitsa Shkiperskaya;592 000; www.skipperhotel.ru; ul Oktyabrskaya 4A; s or d from R2500; ) Cute hotel with rooms with wood furnishings. Attached is the pricey but excellent seafood restaurant Langust.
Eating
Self-caterers should visit the lively central market on ul Chernyakhovskogo or Viktoriya (Kaliningrad Plaza, Leninsky pr 30; 10am-10pm), a large Western-style supermarket that also has a handy branch opposite the bus and train station at pl Kalinina.
Croissant Café (pr Mira 24; meals R100; 9am-11pm Sun-Thu, 24 hrs Fri & Sat) A chic baked-goods heaven. Indulge in flaky pastries, quiche, muffins, biscuits and cakes, as well as omelettes and bliny for breakfast.
Don Chento (937 672; www.donchento.ru; Sovetsky pr 9-11; meals R100-200) No need to endure depressing Soviet throwback stolovaya for budget meals when you can dig in at the self-serve salad bar or pick up a slice of pizza at this stylish chain with several branches across the city. They sponsor a jazz festival each August.
Razgulyay (533 689; pl Pobedy 1; meals R100-200) The extensive buffet here features roast meats, salads, fresh juices and many other tasty selections in a cheery, folk-style setting. There’s also a more formal restaurant.
Zarya (213 929; pr Mira 43; meals R200-300; 10am-3am) Fashionable brasserie in the lobby of the Scala cinema, it also has an attractive outdoor area. Service can be hit and miss but the food is reliable.
Prichal (703 030; ul Verkhneozyornaya 2A; meals R200-500; noon-1am Sun-Thu, noon-2am Fri & Sat) Private huts in a pretty garden overlooking the Prud Verkhny make this spruced-up Soviet-era Georgian restaurant a memorable dining experience.
Gosti (384 747; Maliy per 32; meals R400-800; noon-midnight) Attached to the city’s technical college, this charming restaurant has a wonderful homely atmosphere, inventive food and attentive service. At lunch everything is half price.
Dolce Vita (351 612; http://dolcevita.kaliningrad.ru; pl Marshala Vasilevskogo 2; mains R500-1000; noon-midnight) Bust your budget for the fantastic food at this elegant restaurant next to the Dona Hotel. Their melon and mint gazpacho is inspired.
Also recommended:
Valencia (433 820; pl Pobedy 1; meals R300-600) Go with the paella at this elegant Spanish restaurant.
Solnechny Kamen (539 106; pl Marshala Vasilievskogo 3; meals R150-300) In the old Rossgarten Gate, this place specialises in seafood. There’s a pleasant outdoor terrace at the back.
Drinking
First Café (644 829; first-café.ru; ul Yepronovskaya 21) Kaliningrad’s answer to Starbucks has three other locations in the city other than this branch opposite Fish Village. It’s a stylish café-bar operation with a wide range of drinks, snacks and free wi-fi.
Untsiya (ul Zhitomirskaya 22 & pr Mira 58-60) This elegant, old-world tea shop and café has two outlets that serve all manner of black, green, white and fruit-flavoured teas and infusions.
Vostochny Kafe (147 121; ul Proletarskaya 3a; meals R150-300) Paper lanterns, cushions and New Age music set the scene for lounging over pipefuls of flavoured tobacco and potfuls of green tea at this basement spot.
12 Chairs Art Club (955 900; pr Mira 67; mains R200-300) Dark and atmospheric, this arty cellar with mismatched furniture in an old German house serves cocktails, coffee and tea as well as food.
Karamel (Kaliningrad Plaza, Leninsky pr 30; 24rs) On the 7th floor of a shopping centre, Karamel offers splendid city views, a DJ spinning top sounds and a wide range of drinks and dishes.
Sova (Fesivalnaya alleya 20) Overlooking the tram tracks at the corner of ul Kommun-alnaya, this relaxed place has a juke box, cheap drinks and palatable snacks. It’s a good spot to pass the time with friendly locals.
Reduit (461 951; Litovsky Val 27) Endure desultory service at this beer hall and restaurant to sample their tasty selection of ales brewed on the premises.
Entertainment
NIGHTCLUBS
Major DJs from Russia and Western Europe jet in for gigs at Kaliningrad’s many clubs. Top picks include:
Universal (952 996; www.club-universal.com; pr Mira 43; admission from R300) Kaliningrad’s classiest club.
Vagonka (956 677; www.vagonka.net; Stanochnaya ul 12; admission from R150) Best option for the under-21 crowd, and drinks are cheap.
Amsterdam (353 306; www.amsterdam-club.ru; 38/11 Litovsky Val; admission R100-400; 7pm-2am Sun-Thu, until 6am Fri & Sat) Hidden 200m down an unnamed side street off Litovsky Val, Kaliningrad’s sole gay club is best visited at weekends.
THEATRE, MUSIC & PUPPETS
Classical concerts are occasionally held at the cathedral. The Baltic Season (www.baltseasons.ru) is an international festival of arts that offers up a range of musical and theatrical productions from June to November each year. In August there’s also the Don Chento Jazz Festival (www.en.jazzfestival.ru). Other entertainment options:
Drama & Comedy Theatre (212 422; pr Mira 4; admission R150-200) Plays, ballets and classical concerts are staged in this handsomely restored building.
Philharmonic Hall (448 890; ul Bogdana Khmelnitskogo 61a; admission from R180) This beautifully restored neo-Gothic church, which boasts excellent acoustics, hosts organ concerts, chamber music recitals and the occasional symphony orchestra.
Teatr Kukol (214 335; pr Pobedy 1; admission R100) Housed in a 19th-century Lutheran church, this puppet theatre is a big hit with young and old alike. Performances take place on Saturdays and Sundays at noon.
Getting There & Away
AIR
Kaliningrad’s Khrabrovo Airport (459 426), 24km north of the city, is the hub of KD Avia (355 815; www.kdavia.eu; pl Pobedy 4) which has flights to 12 destinations in Russia, including Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and Ukraine. Other airlines serving Kaliningrad include Air Baltic (890-6216 6872; www.airbaltic.com) flying twice daily to Riga; Aeroflot (954 805; pl Pobedy 4) flying four times daily to Moscow; LOT (592 121; www.lot.com; ul Oktyabrskaya 4) flying daily to Warsaw; Rossiya (716 663; pl Pobedy 4) flying twice daily to St Petersburg; Skyexpress (495-580 9360; www.skyexpress.ru) flying three times daily to Moscow; and Utair (891-1475 6164; www.utair.ru) flying daily to Moscow. Expect to pay from around R1645 for a one-way fare to Moscow, R3100 to St Petersburg.
BUS
The bus station (643 635; Zheleznodorozhnaya ul 7) is next to Yuzhny vokzal. Buses depart from here to every corner of the region, including Svetlogorsk (R50, one hour, every 30 minutes) and Chernyakhovsk (R113, 1½hr, every half hour). International destinations served include: Klaipėda (R240, three hours, four daily), Kaunas/Vilnius (R465/640, six/eight hours, twice daily), Rīga (R660, nine hours, twice daily), Tallinn (R1192, 14 hours, daily), Olshtyn/Gdansk (R350/500, four/five hours, twice daily) and Warsaw (R650, nine hours, daily). König Auto (460 304), also at the station, has several buses weekly to Berlin (R2300) and many other German cities.
The best way to Svetlogorsk and Zelenogradsk is via mashrutky from the bus stop next to the Severny vokzal on Sovetsky pr. They run about every 15 minutes or so until about 8pm (to Zelenogradsk R45, 45 minutes; to Svetlogorsk R50, 1hr).
CAR & MOTORCYCLE
There are three border crossings from Poland and four from Lithuania.
SEA
DFDS Lisco (660 404; www.dfdslisco.ru; ul Suvorova 45) is the agent for the weekly ferry service on the George Ots, travelling between Baltiysk and St Petersburg, the Vilnius ferry between Baltiysk and Sassnitz in Germany, and the Lisco Patria ferry between Baltiysk and Klaipeda. Trans-Eksim (660 468; www.transexim.ru; ul Suvorova 45) also runs weekly car ferries between Baltiysk and Ust-Luga, 150km west of St Petersburg. Check the websites for the latest prices and schedules.
TRAIN
There are two stations in the city: Severny vokzal (North Station; 601 838) and the larger Yuzhny vokzal (South Station; 600 888). All long-distance and many local trains go from Yuzhny vokzal, passing through but not always stopping at Severny vokzal. It’s important to note that all trains, including local ones, run on Moscow time (–1hr), so if a train is scheduled to depart at 10am on the timetable it will leave at 9am Kaliningrad time.
Local trains include around 12 a day to Svetlogorsk (R45, 1¼ hours), seven to Zelenogradsk (R37, 30 minutes) and three to Chernyakhovsk (R90, 1¾ hours).
International services and those to greater Russia include four to Vilnius (R1700, six hours), one daily to Berlin (R2900, 14 hours), three daily to Moscow (R2700, 23 hours), two daily to Minsk (from R1096, 13 hours), one daily to St Petersburg (R3000, 26 hours) and one every other day to Kyiv (R2500, 25 hours).
Getting Around
Tickets for trams, trolleybuses, buses and minibuses are sold on board (R10). To get to the domestic airport, take bus 138 from the bus station (R30). Taxis ask at least R700 from the airport, and less to the airport.
If you’re planning on touring the region, Kaliningrad is good place to rent a car. Agencies include City-rent (509 191; www.city-rent39.ru; pr Mira 46 & Moskovsky pr 182A), which also has a branch at the airport as does Hertz (761 555; www.hertz.ru; Sovetsky pr 21A). Rates start at R800 per day.
SVETLOGORSK СВЕТЛОГОРСК
40153 / pop 10,950 / Moscow −1hr
Developed in the early 20th century into the spa resort of Rauschen, renamed Svetlogorsk in 1946, this pleasant, slow-placed town, 35km northwest of Kaliningrad, offers a narrow beach backed by steep sandy slopes, pretty old German houses, revamped sanatoriums, top-class hotels, a delightful shady forest setting scattered with artful sculptures, and a well-maintained promenade. Fairly untouched by WWII, Svetlogorsk has benefited from being declared a federal health resort, ie money has been spent on its infrastructure. However, if beaches are your thing, the ones at Zelenogradsk and Kurshskaya Kosa are far nicer and cleaner.
THE AMBER COAST
Svetlogorsk has a particularly wide selection of souvenirs made of amber – the hard resin of coniferous trees that grew in the region approximately 45-50 million years ago. Ninety per cent of the amber used for making jewellery and other decorative objects hails from Kaliningrad. The colour palette varies from white to yellow to orange in more than 200 different shades. Insects or plant material trapped in amber when it was still thick resin are called inclusions. At Svetlogorsk’s sanatoriums, they even offer ‘amber therapy’, said to combat fatigue and other health disorders.
Although a tiny percentage is recovered the traditional way from the beach, the main, open-cast mine is at Yantarny, 42km north west of Kaliningrad and 24km south west of Svetlogorsk, where more than 700 tonnes of amber is dug up annually. Apart from the mine, which it’s possible to visit, Yantarny’s wide sandy beaches are said to be among the best in Kaliningrad. There are a couple of hotels here should you choose to visit.
Svetlogorsk is quite spread out but easy to navigate on foot or by bicycle: rent one from Eksi Tur (ul Oktyabrskaya 10; per hr/day R50/350; 10am-5pm Mon-Sat). Svetlogorsk II, the train terminus, is on ul Lenina, the town’s major street running east–west, bisected by ul Oktyabrskaya. To the south, pr Kaliningradskiy runs past the tranquil Lake Tikhoe.
Svetlogorsk Tourist Information Centre (22 098; www.tourism.svetlogorsk.org, in Russian; ul Karla Marksa 7A; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-7pm Sat, 10am-4pm Sun) has helpful English-speaking staff who can assist with hotel bookings, tours, car rental etc. There’s also internet access here (R35 per hour).
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Sights
A 15-minute walk west of the town centre in the village of Otradnoe is the charming Herman Brachert House-Museum (Doma-Muzei Germana Brakheta; 21 166; www.brachert.ru; ul Tokareva 7; admission R100; 10am-5pm Sat-Thu), the former home of the sculptor whose work can be spotted all around Svetlogorsk; his bronze Nymph statue resides in a mosaic-decorated shell on the promenade. The house itself is small but the wild garden setting is lovely and decorated with more Brachert pieces, other works by contemporary sculptors and – looking forlorn in a corner – ruined statues of Lenin and Stalin.
Ul Oktyabrskaya is lined with handsome buildings including the striking 25m water tower built in Jugendstil (art nouveau) style; take a peep inside the sanatorium beneath to see the colourful murals. At the time of research a new art deco–style café was under construction next door. Nearby, at the attractive wooden Organ Hall (Organniy Zal; 21 761; http://organ-makarov.narod.ru; ul Kurortnaya 3; tickets R300), concerts are held throughout the week.
The east end of the promenade is graced by an impressive sundial, decorated with an eye-catching mosaic of the zodiac. And at the east end of ul Lenina, there is a blue- roofed Memorial Chapel on the former site of a kindergarten, built to commemorate the 23 children and 11 adults who died after a Soviet military transport plane crashed into the building in 1972.
Sleeping
The best deals are to be had at the sanatoriums where rates are typically full board. All the rates below include breakfast.
Yantarni Bereg (21 578; www.yantarbereg.ru; pr Kaliningradsky 79; s/d from R1500/3000) Locals recommend the therapies (including ones using amber) at this vast and very professionally run sanatorium. You’ll need to speak Russian and be prepared for a holiday camp-meets- hospital atmosphere.
Stary Doktor (21 362; www.alter-doctor.ru; ul Gagarina 12; s/d R2200/2400) In an old German home, this is one of Svetlogorsk’s more charming options. Rooms are simple and cosy.
Hotel Universal (743 658; www.hotel-universal.ru; ul Nekrasovsky 3; s/d R2200/2600) Conveniently close to the train station and set in its own quiet grounds, this small modern hotel is nicely designed and has a variety of spacious rooms.
Hotel Georensvaldye (8-911 867 7778; www.walde.ru; ul Tokareva 6; s/d R3000/3500) In Otradnoe, opposite the Herman Brachert House-Museum, this elegant place is ideal for those seeking peace and quiet.
Russ Hotel (777 787; www.russ-hotel.ru; ul Vereshchagina 10; s/d from R4000/4400;
) Evoking the jet-set 1970s – in a good way – is this lovely retro hotel, isolated at the east end of town. Shag pile carpet and silky bedspreads add a luxurious touch to the rooms. There’s also a roof-top lounge bar and Jacuzzi.
Falke Hotel Resort (21 605; www.falke-hotel.ru; ul Lenina 16; s/d from R4700/7000;
) With its tasteful luxury style, the Falke is a good choice for pampering. Their indoor pool, in a balmy winter garden, is big enough for a decent swim.
Grand Palace (33 232; www.grandhotel.ru; per Beregovoy 2; s/d from R5250/7000;
) Boasting five stars, this nouveau Russian, faux historical, bling-tastic hotel is the only one in Svetlogorsk with sea views. Residence gets you both indoor and outdoor pools and free entry to their private strip of beach (R200 for everyone else).
Eating & Drinking
All the hotels listed above have restaurants. At the intersection of ul Lenina and Oktyabrskaya are several pleasant open-air eating and drinking options serving shashlyk and the like.
Kafe Blinnaya (ul Oktyabrskaya 22; bliny R20-30; 9am-6pm) It’s self-serve for inexpensive bliny, salads etc at this simple café with street-side seating. The neighbouring bar (noon-3am) offers table service at higher prices.
Kuksi (21 364; ul Oktyabrskaya 3; mains R200–300) Russified oriental food is served in this contemporary-styled restaurant. Far from authentic, it’s made with fresh, tasty ingredients. They also have the local Reduit beers on tap.
Korvet (22 040; www.rk-korvet.ru, in Russian; ul Oktyabrskaya 36; pizza R200-300) This pizzeria and café based in the 1901 Kurhaus is a lovely place for a meal. Lounge in comfy sofas, listening to chill-out music, with rugs to keep warm if it gets too chilly. On Friday and Saturday nights it morphs into party central with DJs keeping things going into the early hours.
Getting There & Away
From Kaliningrad you can either take a train (R45, 1¼ hours, 12 daily) to Svetlogorsk II or the faster (R50, 45 to 60 minutes) and far more frequent buses and taxi buses, which leave from the bus station and stop outside the Severny vokzal on Sovetsky pr. There’s no bus station at present in Svetlogorsk; buses arrive and depart from either in front of the Svetlogorsk II station or along Kaliningradskiy pr.
ZELENOGRADSK
40150 / pop 12,509 / Moscow −1hr
The fine beach that made Zelenogradsk (formerly Kranz) a top-class resort during German times is still the town’s prime attraction. It’s a low-key place with a nostalgic atmosphere of carefree childhood holidays. Crumbling Soviet eyesores, lovely old German buildings and modern villas stand side by side – visit before it’s all tarted up, as it surely will be.
Apart from sunbathing, you can partake of the salty mineral waters at the drinking fountain on the promenade or go in search of the former St Adalbert’s Church, now an Orthodox cathedral. Zelenogradsk is also the gateway to the Kurshskaya Kosa National Park (see right).
Koshkin Dom (775 859; www.koshkin-dom.ru; ul Gagarina 1A; s/d incl breakfast from R1900/2300; ) Cats are the design motif of this appealing place, our favourite of the villas along ul Gagarina. There’s a sauna, a tiny swimming pool and a billiard room in the basement.
Hotel Renaissance (729 304; www.renessans_hotel.ru; ul Gagarina 17B; s or d incl breakfast from R2000; ) A decent-size outdoor pool, nice garden and comfortable, spacious rooms are pluses at this place where the décor is plush but verges on kitsch.
Villa Lana (33 410; www.villa-lana.ru; ul Gagarina 3A; s or d incl breakfast €55/75; ) The most modern and modest of the guesthouses along ul Gagarina offers colourfully decorated rooms, plus a separate self-catering cottage. The hotel is owned by the tour agency Septima (4012-533 727; www.septimatour.ru). They rent bicycles here for R500 per day.
Stalls along the promenade serve inexpensive shashlyk, snacks and drinks, or you can try U Neptuna (ul Tolstogo; main R200-350; noon-11pm). Offering tasty salads and grilled fish, and boasting sea views, this is the best of the town’s few restaurants.
Bus 141 runs here every half hour (R42, 30 minutes) from beside Kaliningrad’s North Station. There are also several trains daily (R37, 30 minutes) from Kaliningrad and at least four connecting services with Svetlogorsk (R27, 37 minutes).
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KURSHSKAYA KOSA
40150 / Moscow −1hr
Tall, windswept sand dunes and dense pine forests teaming with wildlife lie along the 98km-long Curonian Spit, a Unesco World Heritage Site that divides the tranquil Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. The 50 kilometres of the spit that lie in Russian territory are protected within the Kurshskaya Kosa National Park (www.kurshskayakosa.ru; admission per person R30, per car R200),and it’s a fascinating place to explore or to relax on pristine beaches.
Tranquil fishing and holiday villages dot the eastern coast. From south to north they are Lesnoy (formerly Sarkau); Rybachy (formerly Rossitten), the largest with a population of 1200; and Morskoe (formerly Pillkoppen), near where there are spectacular views of the dunes from raised platforms at Vistota Efa (42km mark; free). Also well worth stopping to see is the Dancing Forest (Tantsuyushchiy Les; 37km mark; free), where pines sculpted into twisting shapes by the elements do indeed appear to be frozen in mid-boogie.
To learn more about the park’s habitat and history, drop by the museum (45 119; 14km mark; entrance R30; 9.30am-4.30pm Tue-Sun May-Sep, 10am-4pm Tue-Sun Oct-April) where you can also see some deer and cute wood carvings by a local artist. Call the museum to prearrange an excursion to the Fringilla Field Station (23km mark; tour R50; 9am-6pm April-Oct), a bird-ringing centre in operation since 1957, where enormous funnelled nets can trap an average of 1000 birds a day.
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Sleeping & Eating
LESNOY
Kurshskaya Kosa (45 242; www.holiday39rus.ru; Tsentralnaya ul 17; s/d incl breakfast from R1800/1900; ) Cheery, modern and steps from the beach, this is one of the spit’s best deals. It also has a reli-able restaurant, internet access and a cash machine and rents bicycles for R100 per hour.
RYBACHY
Rossiten (41 391; ul Pobedy 24; s/d incl breakfast R2600/2800) This no-frills inn, at the heart of the village, offers simple accommodation and an OK café.
Traktir U Dorogi (41 290; www.rubachiy.ru; ul Lesnaya; s or d incl breakfast from R2650) At the entrance to Rybachy, this log-cabin style hotel has small but pleasant rooms. The charm can wane if a crowd descends on the adjoining restaurant (mains R300-500; 10am-midnight) – a hit with locals since ex-President Putin dropped by for a meal. Solid home-cooked meals are served on rustic pottery.
Al’trimo (41 139; www.altrimo.ru; ul Porganichnaya 11; s or d incl breakfast from R3600, apt R7000;
) The most upmarket place to stay on the Kurshskaya Kosa comes complete with a helipad. Its location right beside the lagoon can’t be beat, and the rooms are stylish and the staff very friendly. Facilities include a pleasant open-air restaurant and a giant replica fishing boat that’s part sauna, part kid’s playground. You can also rent a variety of craft here for sailing or fishing trips on the lagoon.
MORSKOE
Morskoe (41 330; www.morskoe.org; ul Dachnaya 6; s or d from R2350) Also near the beach, this handsome guesthouse with English-speaking staff has 13 nicely furnished rooms, a sauna and billiard table. Guests can rent bicycles or beach gear.
Getting There & Away
With an early start it’s possible to see most places on the Kurshskaya Kosa by public transport. Four buses a day from Kaliningrad (via Zelenogradsk) head up the spit en route to Klaipeda in Lithuania. There are at least three others that shuttle between Zelenogradsk and Morskoe (R57, 50min). All stop in Lesnoy and Rybachy.
For more flexibility, rent a car or arrange a tour in either Kaliningrad or Zelenogradsk, from where a car and driver for half a day should cost around R1500.
CHERNYAKHOVSK ЧЕРНЯХОВСК
40141 / pop 43,000 / Moscow −1hr
The ruins of two castles within its boundaries indicates how important Chernyakhovsk, Kaliningrad’s second largest city, once was. Founded by Teutonic Knights in 1336, the former Prussian city of Insterburg was thoroughly trashed during WWII. Both castles – their foundations dating back to the 14th century – remain in ruins, but are still worth visiting, particularly Georgenburg Castle, 3km north of the town centre, perched high above the Instruch (former Inster) river.
In 1812 the castle was bought by a Scottish family who established the Georgenburg Stud Farm (32 301; www.georgenburg.com, in Russian; ul Tsentralnaya 18) which remains here today. Tranken horses are bred in this state-of-the-art facility and equestrians shouldn’t miss the Georgenburg Cup, the international show-jumping tournament, typically held on the second weekend in September. Even if you’re not interested in horses or riding lessons, the castle ruins are fun to explore and walking out here from the town through the beautiful countryside is a pleasure.
Around 1km north of Chernyakhovsk’s train and bus stations along the main thoroughfare, ul Lenina, is the town pond overlooked by the ruins of Insterburg Castle (32 424; Zamkovaya ul 1; admission by donation). Here you’ll most likely encounter the eccentric hippy artist Andrei Smirnov – he’s set up his studio-gallery inside the castle’s remaining structure. You’ll also find a good photo and text display, in Russian and German, on the area’s history. Medieval fencing matches by the local knights’ club (adult/child R100/50; noon Sun 1 May-10 Oct), using handmade armour and weapons, are held in the central courtyard next to a kids’ playground.
Among Chernyakhovsk’s smatterings of pre-WWII architecture are the Orthodox St Michael’s Cathedral (SV Mikhailovskiy Sobor; ul Suvorova), the former Lutheran church built between 1886 and 1890, and the Catholic St Bruno’s Church (Katolicheskiy Prikhoa SV Bruno; ul Lenina) designed by Friedrich Heitmann in 1904.
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Sleeping & Eating
Chernyakhovsk is an easy day trip from Kaliningrad but, should you wish to stay, there are some good options.
Pivnoy Dvor (34 628; ul Suvorova 14; s or d €18-40) Opposite St Michael’s Cathedral, this cute cottage with a pretty garden offers basic but atmospheric accommodation in simply furnished rooms with wooden beams. Downstairs the pub serves equally unfussy food.
Georgenburg (33 901; ul Tsentralnaya 10; s/d from R1400/2200) Next to the stud farm, this small hotel offers very clean and pleasant accommodation, perfect if you’re here for the horses. Its restaurant is also good, serving reasonably priced Russian standards.
Hotel Kochar (52 493; www.hotel-kochar.ru; ul Lenina 9; s/d incl breakfast from R2400/3000) Very classy new hotel decked out with Italian furnishings. The English-speaking staff are very friendly and their restaurant, serving European food, is Chernyakhovsk’s most upmarket.
Getting There & Away
As a major railway junction, long-distance services to and from Moscow and St Petersburg pass through here. Elektrichka (R90, 1¾ hr, 3 daily) make the journey from Kaliningrad, but buses and minibuses (R113, 1½ hr, every half hour) are preferable. The train and bus stations are opposite each other at the southern end of ul Lenina. Taxis are plentiful; it shouldn’t cost more than R100 for a ride out to Georgenburg Castle.
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Northern European Russia
SOLOVETSKY ISLANDS
СОЛОВЕЦКИЕ ОСТРОВА
Visitors from neighbouring Finland and Norway are increasingly nipping across the border to enjoy northern European Russia’s unspoilt lakes, vast forests and world-beating fishing. International business-folk fill top hotels in Arkhangelsk and Murmansk discussing timber deals or Barents Sea gas fields. Geologists swoon over the Kola Peninsula’s extraordinary bonanza of unusual minerals. And domestic tourists from the ‘Russian heartland’ are arriving in ever greater numbers to rediscover the widely spaced historical towns and monasteries that were half-forgotten for two generations.
For most foreign travellers, Russia’s disconcertingly vast northern realm remains well off the radar. The main exception is Kizhi Island, hosting Russia’s most-photographed gem of wooden architecture. Spiritual and haunting, the Solovetsky Islands’ imposing monastery-cum-ex-Gulag is also a highlight for travellers with the perseverance to actually reach the islands.
Visiting in the midnight sun of mid-June is ideal. In mosquito-blighted July and August, hotel beds can be in short supply, while in May and September key boat connections are unlikely to operate so you’re likely to miss the star attractions, several of which are on islands. Winters are freezing cold, but the almost endless darkness is mitigated by the marvel of the northern lights.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Discover that the glorious wooden architecture of Kizhi (Click here) is not limited to the fabulous multidomed Transfiguration Church
- Be one of the first foreign travellers to explore the intriguing historic towns of Kargopol (Click here)and Totma (Click here)
- Gamble with uncertain flights or potentially rough seas to reach the memorable Solovetsky Islands (Click here)
- Use buses, hydrofoils and trains to hop between St Petersburg and Vyatka (Kirov) on the Trans-Siberian railway via Petrozavodsk (Click here), forgotten Vytegra (Click here), historic Vologda (Click here) and the bizarre Santa-city of Veliky Ustyug (Click here)
- Stay up late with white nights or northern lights on the Arctic Kola Peninsula (Click here)
HISTORY
Since the last ice age, hardy humans have created petroglyphs and mysterious stone labyrinths attesting to a now-mysterious religious life that existed as early as the 3rd millennium BC.
From the 11th century AD, Russians from Novgorod made hunting, fishing and trapping expeditions to the White Sea area. Some of their seasonal camps eventually became permanent settlements, the origin of towns such as Kandalaksha, Umba and Varzuga. These Pomors (coast-dwellers) developed a distinct material culture and their own lively dialect of Russian.
Moscow grabbed the Vologda area in the early 15th century and annexed the rest of the northwest from Novgorod in 1478. Shortly after, the unexpected arrival of English sailors seeking a northeast passage to China gave Ivan the Terrible the idea of founding a port and commencing trade with the west. That port, Arkhangelsk, bloomed, as did many towns on its river supply-route. All this changed, however, once Peter the Great founded St Petersburg in 1702, offering much easier access to the sea. Formerly forgotten Karelia was suddenly the supply centre for building Peter’s new capital, and Petrozavodsk was founded a year later to produce armaments for his wars with Sweden.
The northwest’s biggest city, Murmansk, was founded during WWI when embattled tsarist Russia was in desperate need of supplies from its Western allies. But no sooner had the Murmansk–Moscow railway been laid than the October Revolution changed circumstances entirely. The Western allies, who opposed the new Bolshevik regime, occupied Murmansk and Arkhangelsk for two years and at one point advanced south almost to Petrozavodsk.
From the 1920s the Murmansk railway helped Soviet governments unlock the Kola Peninsula’s vast mineral resources bringing new towns like Monchegorsk and Kirovsk into existence. Gulag prisoners were part of the force that built the region’s new factories and the White Sea–Baltic Canal, now integral to the Volga–Baltic waterway cruise route.
Stalin invaded Finland in 1939–40. Finland (independent from Russia only since 1917) allied with Germany to counter-attack along the entire Soviet–Finnish border, eventually occupying Petrozavodsk. Once again, anti-German allies fought desperately to prevent a Russian defeat, sending highly risky supply convoys from Scotland to embattled Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. Those ports held out but were both bombed to rubble by the Luftwaffe. In 1944 the Red Army fought back pushing the Nazis out of Norway and claiming a chunk of southeastern Finland, which remains part of Russia’s Republic of Karelia today. Many ethnic Finns and Karelians (a Finno-Ugric people related to Finns and Estonians) fled to Finland, and today only about 10% of the Republic of Karelia’s 720,000 population is actually Karelian.
In the 1990s the Kola Peninsula’s heavy industries and naval and military installations were especially hard hit by the collapse of the USSR’s command economy, and cities suffered a big population decline. Recently, however, soaring global prices for minerals and timber plus the development of the new Shtokman Gas Field have prompted a noticeable rebound. The region’s major cities have an unusually progressive air for provincial Russia, helped by strong ties with Scandinavia, especially Norway, which remains sentimentally grateful for its liberation by the Red Army at the end of WWII.
Climate
Murmansk’s typical temperatures range from −10°C to −15°C in January and from 8°C to 14°C in July. Arkhangelsk, with less Gulf Stream effect, experiences colder winters, perhaps -20°C in January. In May and June gorgeous, lingering sunsets merge into sunrises through much of the region while in northern Kola there’s two months of constant daylight. With the ice melted but mosquitoes not yet ubiquitous, June is the ideal month to visit, but weather can be remarkably variable at this time, warm sunshine transforming almost instantaneously into torrential rain or thick fog.
Getting There & Away
AIR
Murmansk and Arkhangelsk have four weekly Aeroflot-Nord (www.aeroflot-nord.ru) flights to Tromsø (Norway) from which Norwegian (www.norwegian.no) flies to London Stansted (from €105) daily in summer. Wideroe (www.wideroe.no) flies between Kirkenes (Norway) and Murmansk. From Helsinki (Finland) Severstal (http://airport.cpv.ru/avia.shtml) has flights thrice weekly to Petrozavodsk and Cherepovets. There are flights from Moscow and St Petersburg to all of the above plus Vologda, Kotlas (for Veliky Ustyug) and Khibiny (for Apatity and Kirovsk).
CAR
Driving in from Norway or Finland is increasingly popular, but crossing the borders by foot or bicycle is not permitted. A few intercity roads are in decent condition but distances are vast, back roads are rough and petrol stations are relatively rare.
BUS
The following (mini)bus services cross to/from Norway and Finland:
Booking is advisable. Private transfers and charter buses also operate.
TRAIN
Trains run to all major cities from Moscow, St Petersburg and beyond, several times daily on some routes.
BOAT
There are no long-distance passenger ferries but numerous six- to eight-night cruises between Moscow and St Petersburg follow the Volga–Baltic waterway and cross Europe’s largest lakes, Ladoga and Onega. Usual stops include Goritsy (for Kirillov, Click here), Vytegra (Click here) and Kizhi (Click here). Prices start at R15,000 with Mosturflot (www.mosturflot.ru) or Rechflot (www.rechflot.ru), which also offers Valaam and the Solovetsky Islands.
ROAD BORDER CROSSINGS FROM NORWAY & FINLAND
Getting Around
Overnight trains are ideal between major centres with buses linking railheads to smaller towns. Be aware that on some routes (eg Pudozh to Kargopol) there’s no public transport. Consider engaging a driver. Self-drive car-hire opportunities remain rare.
Boat services are restricted to the ice-free summer months, usually late May/early June to September. Domestic flights link Arkhangelsk to Murmansk, Kotlas, Petrozavodsk and, weather willing, to the Solovetsky Islands.
KOLA & KARELIA 
The Republic of Karelia is a flat, lake-dappled land of seemingly endless forests stretching almost to the Arctic Circle. Even further north, the Kola Peninsula juts out its 100,000-sq-km knob of tundra, bogs and low mountains between the White and Barents Seas. The Kola’s cities tend to be uninspired mining towns, mostly strung along the railway to Murmansk, the peninsula’s vibrant main city and port. But its mesmerising expanses of wilderness are fabulous places to be dazzled by northern lights or midnight sun. The peninsula also offers world-class, if specialist, opportunities for mineral hunters and sports fishing.
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PETROZAVODSK ПЕТРОЗАВОДСК
8142 / pop 282,000 / Moscow
Set on a bay of vast Lake Onega, Petrozavodsk (Petroskoi in Finnish) is the launching point for summer visits to fabulous Kizhi Island. The name (‘Peter’s factory’) refers to a munitions plant founded here by Peter the Great in 1703, superseded 70 years later by the Alexandrovskiy Ironworks (still standing). Don’t be put off: Petrozavodsk is by no means all industrial. Shady promenades, a large student population and connections with Finland all create a relatively European atmosphere while the centre’s various neoclassical facades are rather stately – compared to Olenegorsk, anyway. Arriving from St Petersburg (420km southwest) you might be less easily impressed.
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Orientation
The main commercial streets are pr Lenina and pr Marksa, which follows the narrow, park-swaddled Lososinka River to the hydrofoil terminal (Vodny Vokzal). City and regional maps are sold at kiosks in and around the train station and at ExLibris.
Information
BOOKSHOPS
ExLibris (763 376; ul Engelsa 13; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 11am-6pm Sat & Sun)
INTERNET ACCESS
Severo-Zapadny Telekom (opposite) has internet booths.
Internet-Tsentr (711 888; ul Anokhina 20; per hr from R33 plus per MB R1; 8am-11pm) Prepay in the corridor.
INTERNET RESOURCES
Intourist-Petrozavodsk (intourist.onego.ru/eng.html)
Karelia Cultural Tourism (culture.karelia.ru)
Karelia’s Museums (www.museums.karelia.ru, in Russian)
Karelia Tourism Portal (www.ticrk.ru)
Komart (www.komart.karelia.ru) Useful addresses and what’s-on listings.
Petromap (www.petromap.ru/map/) Detailed online street-map.
MONEY
There are 24-hour ATMs at most hotels, all down pr Lenina, outside the Karelia-Market Mall (ul Kirova 2) and at Sberbank (ul Kuybysheva 17 & ul Andropova).
POST
Post office (782 425; ul Sverdlova; 8am-9pm)
TELEPHONE
Severo-Zapadny Telekom (ul Sverdlova 31; 9am-9pm Mon-Fri, 11am-7pm Sat & Sun) Public phone office with internet booths (R33.60 per hour).
TOURIST INFORMATION
Tourist office (764 835; www.ticrk.ru; ul Kuybysheva 5; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat) Very helpful English-speaking staff offer plenty of information.
TRAVEL AGENCIES
Numerous agencies can help arrange fishing, skiing and adventure tours around Karelia. Useful contacts:
Intourist-Petrozavodsk (781 378, 766 306; http://intourist.onego.ru/eng.html; Hotel Severnaya, pr Lenina 21) Multilingual and obliging.
Lukomorie (786 150; www.lukomorie.ru, in Russian; ul Varlamova 13a)
Russia Discovery North-West (707 616; www.nwtb.ru, in Russian; ul Puteyskaya 5) Specialist in adventure and ecotours.
TK-BOP (775 070; www.welcome-karelia.ru; Hydrofoil Terminal) Passenger-boat company and tour agency.
Sights & Activities
CITY CENTRE
Low-rise pl Lenina is the original heart of neoclassical Petrozavodsk. It’s flanked by matching semicircular buildings built in 1784. One of these houses the Local Studies
Museum (780 240; pl Lenina 1; admission R50; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun) charting city and regional history plus everything you need to know about the Kalevala, Finland’s national epic, which was pieced together in the 19th century from northern Karelian song-poems. In the middle of the circular ‘square’ is a 1933 statue of Lenin who seems to be dragging himself out of a hole, hat in hand. Steps lead down beside an eternal flame into the pretty riverside park from which a bridge crosses to the surprisingly grand facade of the former Alexandrovskiy Ironworks, now part of the vast Onezhskiy Tractor Factory.
Unveiled to protests and arrests in 2005, a very youthful statue of Yury Andropov (ul Andropova) commemorates the USSR’s 1982–84 supremo who had been chief of Petrozavodsk’s Komsomol (Communist Party youth wing) some 50 years earlier. Andropov is best remembered as a long-term KGB director. Was the statue a sign of President Putin rehabilitating his former boss?
LAKESIDE AREA
At pr Marksa’s eastern end, Petrozavodsk’s grandest buildings include the splendid Musical & Russian Drama Theatre (784 364; theatre.karelia.ru; pl Kirova 1) and the Fine Arts Museum (773 723; pr Marksa 8; Russian/foreigner R30/100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) featuring medieval icons, folk art and works inspired by the Kalevala. A certain architectural grandeur continues along ul Pushkinskaya where an imposing facade hides Akvatika (per hr R250; 8am-10.30pm, closed Jun), a swimming pool complex including Jacuzzis, hamam (Turkish bath), sauna and waterslide. Keen geologists love the Geological Institute’s Pre-Cambrian Geology Museum (783 471; [email protected]; Pushkinskaya ul 11; admission free; by arrangement). However, nonspecialist tourists should think twice before dropping in and disturbing the busy academics who hold the keys: they work way up on the Institute’s 5th floor.
A striking feature of the pleasant lakeside promenade (Onezhskaya nab) is the skeletally modernist Fishermen Statue presented by one of Petrozavodsk’s twin towns, Duluth, Minnesota. Close to the hydrofoil terminal is a jaunty Statue of Peter the Great pointing to the spot where Petrozavodsk would be founded.
Sleeping
Resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; 714 074; train station; dm per hr/day R90/350) Typical station crash-pad, up the back stairs behind the main waiting room.
Hotel Severnaya (762 080, 780 703; http://severnaja.onego.ru; pr Lenina 21; s/d/tr without bathroom R700/1300/1800, s/d with bathroom from R2100/2400; ) Built in the 1930s, the classically columned entranceway creates a vaguely charming first impression of the Severnaya. Rooms range from creaky cheapies with battered desks through petite but modernised en suite rooms to fancy new suites at R5800. Helpful staff speak English.
Hotel Akvatika (765 004; [email protected]; Pushkinskaya ul 7; s/tw/d R1500/2600/3000) In one of Petrozavodsk’s more palatial buildings, attached to an eponymous pool complex (extra fee, above), this 18-room hotel has slightly cramped twins and a little wear on some carpets, but overall the rooms are brighter and fresher than most competitors’.
Hotel Nevskaya (572 979; http://nevskaya.karelia.ru; ul Volodarskogo 24; s/tw/d/ste R1900/2200/2500/3400; ) Unfussy modernish rooms are comfortable enough but lack any soul, and the fake wood effects are already wrinkling. The basement wine-cave–styled restaurant has considerably more atmosphere, and the location is reasonably central despite lacklustre residential surroundings.
Hotel Maski (/fax 761 478; http://maski.onego.ru; pr Marksa 3; s/d R2200/2300, polu-lyux R3200, lyux R3600-3900; ) Neat, presentable rooms shaped like pie slices in a circular building with balconies and theatrical motifs. Obliging staff speak English. West-facing rooms suffer road noise.
Spa-Hotel Karelia (733 333; www.karelia-hotel.ru; nab Gyullinga 2; s R2450-2950, d R3450-3950, superior r R3950-4950, ) This bustling, fully refurbished multistorey tower feels a little like an upmarket clinic. Indeed its basement hosts a health-spa complex offering various massages, baths and beauty treatments. Many rooms have good lake views and decor that seems copied from a generic European chain hotel. Rates include breakfast at the view-restaurant, there’s a 24-hour bar and staff are multilingual.
Hotel Fregat (764 163; www.fregat.karelia.ru; pr Marksa 1a; s/d/ste R2500/2900/3500) Behind a dreary grey exterior, the 14 over-green rooms are perfectly acceptable with good new bathrooms. Though not luxurious, the lakefront location and fine restaurant are big plusses. Buzz to be let in.
Hotel Prionezhsky (765 271; www.nikolaevskie-oteli.ru; ul Fedosovoy 46; ‘First Line’ s/d/ste R3190/4950/5720, ‘Second Line’ d R5500-7150, ste 7150-8250; pa) This lakeside boutique hotel’s fashionably upmarket ‘Second Line’ rooms are trendy coffee-and-chrome affairs. Smaller ‘First Line’ singles are much simpler. Service is obligingly professional, and there’s a sauna and restaurant but no lift. Take trolleybus 40 along ul Kirova to ‘Bolnitsa’ then walk northeast through the hospital grounds.
Eating
In addition to places listed, café-tents pop up along the waterfront and in the riverside park during summer.
Kafe 70-ye Gody (pr Lenina 10; snacks R13-30, mains R40-80; 9am-midnight) A few gently amusing mementoes of the ’70s including a laughing Brezhnev photo makes this more appealing than Petrozavodsk’s other plastic-cutlery stolovye.
Lozhka (pr Lenina; snacks R25-80; 9am-10pm) Bright, youthful chain for bliny, salads and various teas.
Dezhavyu (pr Lenina 20; mains R65-90; 9am-2am) Small but inexpensive meals served in an upbeat, youthful atmosphere where the déjà vu in question is the Eiffel Tower, a giant photo of which is echoed in ironwork motifs above the bar.
Kivach (pr Lenina 28; pizzas R70-150; 7am-4am) This congenial if somewhat plain late-night diner-style café has vague retro touches and serves cheap beers and thick-crust pizza.
La Parisienne (765 660; pr Marksa 22; pasta R80-130; 8am-midnight) Lounge in cream-leather armchairs around hefty central pillars in this grand yet comfortably contemporary café-restaurant serenaded by Piaf or Jean-Jacques Goldman. Ideal for a Bosnian coffee breakfast or artistically presented banana tempura (R80) but the sushi is a little limp.
Restoran Fregat (636 425; pr Marksa 1a; meals R250-580; noon-2am) A full-sized harp is the unexplained centrepiece of this suave, high-ceilinged restaurant with charcoal-grey walls and hip waiting staff dressed to match. There’s also a more casual café section and an upstairs bar featuring cubist-style art and various themed evenings.
Saloon Sanches (763 977; pr Lenina 26; Mexican mains R250-480, steaks R750-1070; 10am-1am) Swaying peppers and fake cacti announce an archetypal Tex-Mex resto-bar serving R150 Margaritas and wallet-busting 300g Argentinean steaks.
Karelskaya Gornitsa (785 300; www.gornica.ru; ul Engelsa 13a; mains R350-950, beer R150-190) Rustic-village atmosphere, efficient costumed waiters and excellent Karelian cuisine including a superbly creamy lokhikeytto (archetypal Karelian salmon soup, R230). Without a reservation you just might get a seat in the appealing if cramped bar area. Notice the frog-croak soundtrack in the toilets.
For self-caterers Lotos (ul Anokhina 37; 8am-midnight) is a well-stocked supermarket, and Lentorg (pr Lenina 31 & pl Gagarina; 24hr) is an all-night grocery.
Drinking
Bar XXXX (pr Marksa 3; beer from R50; noon-late) A vintage car bursts through the outer wall above the entrance to this appealing motor-themed rock-bar. On Friday and Saturday evenings there’s a DJ or live music and a R200 cover charge.
FM-Art Kafe (636 424; ul Kirova 12; beer R40, cocktails R110-180; 11am-6am Mon-Fri, 6pm-6am Sat & Sun) This large student-oriented basement beneath the Philharmonia isn’t really arty but each evening the theme varies wildly: jazz, chess, folk, iPod-battles… could be anything.
Spartak (ul Dzerzhinskogo 3; beer from R60; noon-4am) Lavished with soccer memorabilia, the football theme of this pub-style sports bar stretches as far as the hooligans’ welcome from offensively humourless bouncers.
Kaffee Haus (pr Lenina; coffee R60-140, cakes R30-70; 10am-1am) Widely acclaimed for Petro-zavodsk’s best coffee and cakes, there are also hubble-bubbles to smoke and there’s a pleasant outdoor terrace shared with the neighbouring Germanic pub, Bar Neubrandenburg (small/large beers from R30/50).
Kafe Ukuzmiya (pl Gagarina; beer R60; 10am-11pm Mon-Wed, 10am-3pm Thu-Sat, noon-11pm Sun) Curious ‘devil-forest’–effect bar handy for the train station.
Entertainment
Karelian National Theatre (769 586; http://teatr.onego.ru; pr Marksa 19; ticket office 2pm-7pm Tue-Sun) Performances of locally relevant Finnish/Karelian dramas, fairy tales and some ground-breaking musicals.
Musical & Russian Drama Theatre (784 364; http://theatre.karelia.ru; pl Kirova 1) Once renovation is complete, this magnificent Parthenon pile should once again stage light operas, plays, ballets and folk-group shows. The interior decor is a wild mixture of Ancient Greek, Roman and Soviet styles.
Philharmonia (769 208; http://philharmonia.onego.ru, in Russian; ul Kirova 12) The top place for classical music and ‘sympho-jazz’.
Klub Karelia/Cinema Pobeda (767 278; http://karelia-krc.ru/index.php; pr Lenina 27) Behind a pseudo-classical columned facade, the Pobeda Cinema shows movies by day but morphs into a double-level nightclub after 11pm.
Shopping
Amid some half-hearted ‘art’ are good value birch-bark, wood-burn and leatherwork souvenir crafts at Yuvelirnye Izdeliya (Karelia-Market Mall; 10am-8pm Mon-Sat, 11am-7pm Sun) and Khudozhestvenny Salon (ul Gertsena 41; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat & Sun).
Getting There & Away
For updated transport timetables (in Russian) consult http://ptz-trans.ru/.
PAVS (Petrozavodskoe Agentstvo Vozdushnykh Soobshcheny; ul Antikaynena 20; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm Sat & Sun) sells air and rail tickets.
AIR
From Besovets airport (764 566), 19km northwest of the centre (R300 by taxi), Severstal flies to Cherepovets (R2500) and to Helsinki (single/return €280/450), both on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. UTAir flies daily to Moscow Vnukovo (R3990 to R5200). Aeroflot-Nord flies to Arkhangelsk (R4280) on summer Saturdays.
BUS
Some useful services from the bus station (722 013; ul Chapaeva 3) are listed in the table, below.
TRAIN
The 24-hour ticket office is directly north of the elegantly spired station (765 743; pl Gagarina 1). The ideal overnight choice for Moscow is train 18, which departs at 7pm and arrives at 9am the next day, though the 7.50pm train 381 is cheaper and only an hour slower. The best timed of four services to St Petersburg is the 11pm train 657 (arriving at 7am). Between four and eight services run daily to/from Murmansk (platskart/kupe R935/2395, 19 to 24 hours). Of these, train 22 (departing at 0.57am) is the best of a bad lot for Kem (R1120, eight hours). Train 212 (departing at 6.32pm) is best for Kandalaksha (platskart/kupe R740/1860, 14¼ hours).
BOAT
In summer hydrofoils usually operate at least once or twice daily both to Kizhi and across Lake Onega to Shala (R750, 1¾ hours). From Shala buses run 40km to Pudozh whence you could engage a taxi to Lekshmozero in the Kenozero National Park for around R2500.
In 2008 hydrofoils also ran to Vytegra (R750, 3½ hours), departing at 9.30am Friday and Sunday. (As it was their first year of service, they may or may not be running by the time you read this, depending on their profitability.)
Getting Around
Trolleybus 5 runs from the bus station to the train station, then up pr Lenina. It then turns right on Kuybysheva and continues via pl Kirova to ul Pravdy. Trolleybus 4 runs across town on ul Kirova, sidesteps a block then follows the number 5 route down ul Pravdy before swinging southwest on pr A Nevskogo.
AROUND PETROZAVODSK
Stretching north and west of Petrozavodsk, Karelia is a beautiful and accessible region for hunting, fishing and hiking. Wild camping is permitted almost anywhere unless there are signs with the words ‘Не разбивать палатку’. Signs saying ‘Не разжигать костры’ mean ‘no campfires’. Lakes and rivers offer appealing canoeing opportunities, and some outfits offer rafting, albeit without many rapids.
SERVICES FROM PETROZAVODSK BUS STATION
By far the most rewarding day-trip destination from Petrozavodsk is Kizhi (see below). Many travel agencies also offer excursions to Martsialnye Vody, touted as Peter the Great’s original mineral spa, but Peter’s palace is no longer standing and the trip’s secondary attraction, the 10.7m Kivach Waterfall (Vodopad Kivach), isn’t exactly Niagara.
Unless you’re Jonathan Dimbleby with a BBC film crew in tow, chartering a boat across Lake Onega to the famous but isolated Besov Nos Petroglyphs is likely to cost you a packet. Contact Nordic Travel (www.nordictravel.ru) or try asking boatmen in Shala.
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Kizhi Кижи
8142 / pop 370 / Moscow
This narrow, 6km-long strip of rolling grassland is by far the most-visited of Lake Onega’s 1600-plus islands, thanks to its fairy-tale Transfiguration Church. Bubbling magnificently with 30 miniature domes, this is Russia’s most instantly recognisable wooden landmark and the centrepiece of the Kizhi Museum Reserve (519 825; http://kizhi.karelia.ru; Russian/foreigner R100/520; 8am-8pm Jun-Aug, 9am-4pm Sep–mid-Oct & 15-31 May, 10am-3pm mid-Oct–mid-May). The reserve also includes dozens more 18th- and 19th-century log buildings, some furnished in period style, which were moved here from other Karelian villages during Soviet times.
Three hours on the island is ideal for visiting the main reserve and strolling gently up to Yamka village where you’ll find additional antique buildings, in a more lived-in setting. Guided excursions are offered by various Petrozavodsk agencies but much of what you’ll see is pretty self-explanatory. A preponderance of poisonous snakes keeps wise visitors on the marked paths.
Despite numerous other tourists and the relatively high cost of a visit, Kizhi is genuinely one of Russia’s great delights.
While riding the hydrofoil, don’t get so engrossed in the video introductions to Karelia that you miss the lovely lakeside scenery in the last 20 minutes of the journey. The boat docks at a landing flanked by souvenir kiosks selling not-to-scale maps (R30). Tourists are expected to head south from here into the main reserve. Police on duty keep an eye out for those who might try to sneak north instead towards Yamka and Vasilyevo, avoiding the ticket booth.
SIGHTS
Main Reserve Area
An obvious coastal path loops around the main attractions, starting with the unmissable Kizhi Enclosure (Kizhsky pogost) containing a fabulous pair of churches and an 1862 wooden bell tower. The world-famous 1714 Transfiguration Church features a chorus of wooden domes, gables and ingenious decorations to keep water off the walls. Entry isn’t allowed as it’s leaning slightly and held up thanks only to a steel frame added inside. However, the lovely nine-domed Church of the Intercession (1764) next door hosts a rich collection of 16th- to 18th-century icons.
Directly south of the Kizhi Enclosure, the 1876 Oshevneva House is typical of larger historical Karelian rural homes where house and stable-barn were combined into one unit. Notice the ‘bed cupboard’.
Further south is a ‘black banya’, a small wooden bathhouse hut so known because there was no chimney to allow the escape of smoke from the heater-fires.
Outside the furnished 1880 Elizarov House a craftsman carves little animal figures while within the Chapel of the Archangel Michael music students often play the bells in an unusual form of busking!
The little 14th-century Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus from Murom monastery is the oldest structure on Kizhi: some claim it to be the oldest wooden building in Russia.
Just beyond a Blacksmith’s Shelter is an interesting Carpentry Exhibit showing very visually how wooden buildings were made without nails. From here you could return to the dock past a carved wooden cross of a type once common as a roadside waymarker in rural Karelia. Alternatively stroll on to Yamka.
Yamka & Around
Extravagantly bearded Old Believers, genuinely lived-in historic houses and a pretty east-coast setting make the hamlet of Yamka well worth the 15-minute walk. The reserve’s seasonal staff sleep communally here in the 1905 Pertyakov House with a traditional-style outdoor banya hut at the waterside. Two doors south, outside the Moshikova House is a curious blue-eyed pagan totem somewhat reminiscent of an Easter Island moai.
Walking west across the island towards Vasilyevo village takes you via the hilltop 17th-century Veronica’s Veil Chapel from which there are wonderful panoramas right across Kizhi. An alternative path from here leads back to the hydrofoil landing.
SLEEPING & EATING
A small café near the pier serves Kizhi’s only food and drinks. There’s no accommodation but, 7km away by chartered boat (R600 for up to four people) on a peninsula of Bolshoi Klimetskiy Island, the simple Potanevshchina Guest House (783 045; [email protected]; tw R1000-1600 depending on season, full board per person per day R850) has five double rooms sharing unsophisticated bathrooms.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
From June to August, hydrofoils make the 1¼-hour trip from Petrozavodsk between once and five times daily according to demand. The most likely departure times are at either 8.45am or 11.30am and at either 12.15pm or 1pm with returns typically at 1.25pm and 4.15pm. The website Tourholding Karelia (http://tourholding.ru/ru/trans_facil/sailings, in Russian) gives a more detailed timetable but that’s not always fully observed: it’s always worth double-checking (and booking) a day ahead at the Petrozavodsk hydrofoil terminal. In late May and from September to mid-October sporadic boats might run, but don’t count on a daily service. Note that, while Kizhi-bound hydrofoils cost R750 each way, most bound for Velikaya Guba also stop in Kizhi yet oddly charge only R500.
In winter some tour agencies can arrange visits to Kizhi by chartered helicopter from Peski airfield (747 566) 5km northwest of central Petrozavodsk.
NORTHERN LAKE LADOGA
The top attraction in this, Europe’s largest lake, is the monastery island of Valaam. Coming from Petrozavodsk, it’s most conveniently reached via Sortavala, though there’s an alternative hydrofoil connection from the historic castle town of Priozersk (formerly Käkisalmi) in Leningradsky Oblast. For Valaam’s ‘sister’ monastery on Konevets Island Click here.
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SORTAVALA Сортавала
81430 / pop 21,000 / Moscow
Founded by the Swedes in 1632, sleepy Sortavala became better known as Serdobol during its first Russian phase (1721 to 1812) when its quarries provided much of the stone for St Petersburg’s great palaces. It was part of Finland till WWII when, after severe bombing, its population evacuated and the area was forced into the USSR.
From the train station walk for three minutes left along the tracks then right at the crossing. After two blocks turn left and you’ve found ul Karelskaya. Walking east along this main street you’ll pass Ladoga Hotel (one block), the turn for the museum with its tourist information desk (two blocks) the main bridge, ul Lenina (turn right to the port), pl Kirova, the post office (Karelskaya 19; 8am-8pm) and ul Kirova. Turn right there for Bar Krona (ul Kirova 6; beer R50; 9am-3am), the bus station (911 415 8509; 9am-6pm), the market and Igromir Internet Kafe (ul Kirova; per hr 35R; 24hr). Just off central pl Kirova, Sberbank (ul Komsomolskaya 8) has a 24-hour ATM.
DiskusMedia (wwww.touristmaps.ru) publishes 1:240,000 road maps of southwestern Karelia (R75) including a Sortavala town plan.
SIGHTS
Sortavala is primarily a launch-point for reaching Valaam, but several century-old buildings give the low-rise centre a certain Teutonic presence. Good sturdy examples include Karelskaya 13, 19 and 27, plus the heavy, proto–art deco Bank Rossii Building (Vyanomyaynena 4). Gently attractive wooden structures include Karelskaya 15 and the little museum (22 627; Nab Ladozhskaya Flotili 3; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat & Sun), originally built in 1924 as a schoolroom. Around 2km east around the lakeside is a striking church.
SLEEPING & EATING
Consider booking ahead in summer when all hotels tend to fill fast.
Hotel Ladoga (40 244; fax 42 302; Karelskaya 12; dm/s/d/q without bathroom 300/850/1200/2000; d with bathroom R1700-2600) The Ladoga is old-fashioned and rather dreary but has the cheapest beds in town. A handful of 3rd-floor renovated rooms are contrastingly pleasant.
Hotel Piipun Pikha (Chimney Pipe; 23 240; www.kolmaskarelia.ru, in Russian; ul Promyshlennaya 44; s/d/’elegant’ 1400/2600/3600) Ingeniously converted from an old factory retaining its antique brick chimney (hence the name), the Piipun Pikha’s rooms are new, if unremarkable, and the lakeside dining terrace (mains R160 to R290) is appealing. The nightclub and 24-hour bar are very popular with Finnish tourists. From the bus station turn onto Oktyabrskaya at Bar Krona, walk three blocks east then, after crossing the railway sidings, turn right and follow the road for 10 minutes. When you cross the next tracks the (unmarked) hotel is in front of you.
Hotel Kaunis (24 910; www.ladogainfo.ru/page/info.php?id=22860; ul Lenina 3; s/d/tr R2050/2550/3600) The best of four options close to the port, the building looks like a warehouse and the interior paintwork is a pukey green, but the room standards are high with good linen and great new showers. English is spoken and the restaurant (mains R155 to R300), which is open from noon to 4pm and from 5pm to 10pm, has a narrow three-table balcony overlooking the port.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
From Sortavala’s bus station (911-451 8509; 9am-6pm) there’s an 8am bus to Joensuu, Finland (four hours) returning ex Joensuu at 5pm Finnish time. It runs at least three days a week, daily in summer. Buses to Petrozavodsk take four hours via Kolatselga (R280), seven hours via Olonets (R320). On odd-numbered days, overnight carriages from Petrozavodsk to Sortavala (platskart R417) are attached to the Kostomuksha train returning from Sortavala at 0.13am on odd-numbered days. That’s perfect timing for a one-day visit to Valaam. Trains from St Petersburg (six hours) are contrastingly poorly timed arriving at midnight and departing Sortavala at 7.15am.
Valaam Валаам
81430 / pop 500 / Moscow
This beautiful, mostly forested archipelago consists of around 50 tightly clustered isles around a 27.8-sq-km main island where the Valaam Transfiguration Monastery (Valaamsky Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastyr; 38 182, 38 233; www.valaam.ru) is the main attraction. If the crush of tourists here feels oppressive, explore a dozen other smaller churches, chapels and sketes (mini sub-monasteries) on pretty headlands, quiet inland bays or bridged islets.
HISTORY
Mystics like to claim that Valaam was visited by St Andrew within a generation of Christ’s crucifixion. True or not, a monastery was founded here around the late 14th century. Its dual role as fortress against Swedish invaders failed in 1611 when the Swedes destroyed it completely. Rebuilt in the 18th century with money from Peter the Great, the monastery burned down again in 1754. In the 19th century Valaam pioneered the idea of sketes, sort of halfway houses between hermitages and sub-monasteries, where novice monks could retreat and learn from more experienced peers without the distractions of the main monastic community.
When the Soviet Union took northern Lake Ladoga from Finland in WWII many of the monks and much of the monastery’s treasure were moved to a site near Karvio, Finland, where the Uusi Valamo (New Valaam) monastery remains active. The Soviet authorities turned the original Valaam monastery into a home for war invalids. Today there’s a renewed community of about 200 monks, the Transfiguration Monastery is beautifully restored and several outlying sketes have been rebuilt.
ORIENTATION
Most boats and hydrofoils from Sortavala arrive at the Monasterskaya landing, close to the main Transfiguration Monastery. However, most Priozersk hydrofoils and almost all cruise boats dock at Nikonovskaya Bay some 6km southwest along the island’s unsurfaced main track. Numerous souvenir stands at either port sell useful, if flawed, maps of the archipelago.
SIGHTS
The Main Monastery Area
Of minor interest opposite the Monasterskaya dock, Valaam Museum (admission free, camera R50) is an old barn displaying local tools and fishing nets. To the left, souvenir stalls line the short road leading, via short-cut steps, up to Valaam’s main attraction, the Transfiguration Monastery (admission free). The monastery plays nurse, dressed up in pale blue and white with red crosses. With a sturdy spire and five teated domes, it looks more Catholic than Orthodox at first glance, but that impression is totally dispelled once you go inside. A stairway, splendidly muralled with saints, leads to a truly spectacular upper chapel that’s a soaring masterpiece of gilt, icons and awe.
Directly southeast of the monastery cloister, the whitewashed Gostiny Dvor looks pretty grand from outside but the interior is far from renovated (except hotel sections).
For a great picnic site, stroll for about 20 minutes north to the quaint, heptagonal bell tower of Nikolski Skete.
Nikonovskaya Area
Amid trees directly above the Nikonovskaya jetty, the modest red-brick Resurrection Church (aka New Jerusalem) isn’t a real attraction but sporadic minibuses shuttle visitors to the main monastery (R50). If none shows up, the 6km walk is blissfully peaceful. Alternatively, walk 1km west along the main track then, just beyond the pretty wooden Gethsemane Skete church, take the forest footpath to the left, then soon after turn left again. This path winds round past the Ascension Chapel with lovely views down to a wood-lined bay, then curves down and back round past the recently rebuilt Konevsky Skete to the monastery farm complex. From here you can return to Gethsemane Skete or walk 2km back to the main track near Tikhvin Bridge and hope for a passing vehicle to pick you up (not assured).
Other Attractions
Map guides show various other interesting walks and attractions, but be aware that not all marked routes actually connect as shown so ask carefully before setting off on unknown paths: you’re unlikely to meet many fellow walkers en route.
SLEEPING
In summer, booking ahead is virtually essential (25% fee) at any of the three monastery hotels.
Hotel Igumenskaya (38 176; Monastery Cloister; s/d R1150/2300) Wood-panelled rooms with simple beds and acceptable shared bathrooms come complete with icon in a corner niche – don’t forget to light the candle. From the top of the main approach stairway, enter the first lilac-scented courtyard of the main monastery, turn right and press the buzzer at the third door. There’s no sign.
Hotel Zimnyaya (38 248; www.valaam.twell.ru/hotel, in Russian; Gostiny Dvor 2nd fl; s R2300-2600, d 2000-2900, tr R1700) Don’t be put off by the Gostiny Dvor building’s decrepit entrance and stairways: the Zimnyaya’s vaulted cell-rooms might be bare but they’re clean and neatly decorated. All but three have shared bathrooms.
Hotel Mansard (38 108; Gostiny Dvor 3rd fl) One floor higher in the eaves of the same 19th-century building as Zimnyaya, the Mansard accepts only groups, and only by advance arrangement. The large dorm rooms are crowded but pleasantly airy. Price by negotiation.
EATING
Stalls at the jetties serve beer (R80), soft drinks and biscuits. There’s a small grocery (10am-2pm & 4-8pm) at the top of the monastery access steps, a tea shack in the ‘old garden’ part up top and a tiny bakery window hidden deep within the northwest corner of the cloister.
Consider bringing a picnic from Sortavala as choice here is limited and comparatively pricey. If staying the night, prebook meals through your hotel.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
From June till early September it’s usually possible to reach the island daily from Sortavala, though not 100% guaranteed. As there’s no exact timetable try phoning the caretaker of the Sortavala dock, Yura Netrebenko (921-702 1603), to check departures (no English spoken). Or, if your Russian isn’t up to it, ask the Petrozavodsk tourist office. Alternatively risk simply showing up at Sortavala jetty around 8.30am. Most mornings there’s at least one 9am hydrofoil (R450, 45 minutes) and, even if that doesn’t run, smaller, slower supply boats like that of Captain Anatoli (40 898, 921-726 4708; €25 return) might still make the crossing (three hours each way). Do double-check if, when and from which port boats are due to return.
In February and March a hovercraft runs from Sortavala, ice conditions allowing. With a minimum of seven passengers tickets cost R1000 per person.
Many Petrozavodsk agencies (Click here) offer tours. Or contact the Excursions Bureau (42 481; Komsomolskaya 11; 9am-5pm Mon-Thu, 9am-3pm Fri) in Sortavala.
Overnight river cruises run very regularly in summer from St Petersburg (Click here).
KEM & RABOCHEOSTOVSK
81458 / pop 17,000 / Moscow
If you’re heading for the Solovetsky Islands (opposite) the most reliable boat connection is from tiny Rabocheostrovsk, 10km northeast of Kem – a logging town in which you’ll find the nearest railway station. Both Kem and Rabocheostrovsk have wooden churches and ramshackle waterfronts that, seen for a few minutes in passing, would seem attractive enough. However, most travellers get stranded here for a night or two, by which time Kem’s soulless centre can feel pretty depressing.
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Kem
КЕМЬ
Outside Kem train station is pl Kirova where Sberbank (pl Kirova 3) has a 24-hour ATM. Pl Kirova continues east as pr Proletarsky passing the post office (pr Proletarsky 27; internet per hr R54; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-2pm Sat) after 1.5km. Some 700m beyond, pr Proletarsky meets Kemskaya Bay at a T-junction with ul Lenina. Turning left would take you to Rabocheostrovsk (10km). Alternatively turn right and wind along the shore for 900m to find Kem’s greatest attraction, the fine 1711 log-frame Assumption Cathedral (Uspensky sobor; ul Vitsupa). Although currently half-hidden in scaffolding, its quadruple wooden spires have a charm similar to better-known equivalents around Kargopol. The setting amid the vegetable plots of typical older fishing-family homes is gently appealing. Across the road the little Museum Pomore (22 571; ul Vitsupa 12; 9am-1pm & 2-5pm Tue-Sat) has a nominal tourist information counter.
The former Hotel Kem has closed and the railway dormitory (obshchizhitye) at pl Kirova 1 refuses tourists. That leaves just the unfriendly, overpriced Hotel Kuzova (21 837; ul Frunze 9; s/d/tr for foreigners R2000/2800/3900) tucked lugubriously amid semiderelict workshops some 200m south of pr Proletarsky 57 (which is halfway between the train station and post office). Russians pay half price and might be allowed to sleep in the cheapest 3rd-floor rooms with shared bathrooms (R600–R1200 per bed). Better sleep in Rabocheostrovsk.
There’s a Kafe (ul Mosorina 6; 10am-midnight) around 200m from the post office; the station buffet is open until 11pm, and several bottle shops on pl Kirova keep local alkies hydrated.
At least six trains stop in Kem en route between Petrozavodsk (nine hours) and Murmansk (12 hours). However, to arrive early enough for a same-day boat connection to Solovki, the only sensible option is the overnight Vologda-bound train 373 from Murmansk (daily in summer, alternate days in off-season). From St Petersburg (17 hours), train 22 arrives infuriatingly just too late to connect with the boat.
Returning from the islands, don’t risk coronary-testing levels of stress by hoping to catch train 21 to St Petersburg (departs Kem at 8.23pm). You’ll probably fail anyway. The first day-train south to Petrozavodsk leaves around 5am.
Northbound trains are contrastingly well timed from Kem, mostly departing between 10.20pm and 1am, offering a good sleep en route to Murmansk.
Ticket windows are open 24 hours. Left luggage lockers are downstairs.
From the station to Rabocheostrovsk, ‘Vokzal-Port’ minibuses (R25, 25 minutes) run via the town centre every 20 to 40 minutes starting at 6.20am weekdays, 7am weekends. Board at the further of two unmarked ‘stops’ just beyond Sberbank on pl Kirova. Last service at 9pm.
A taxi to Rabocheostrovsk costs R200 to R250, or R300 if you add a short diversion to admire the church en route.
Rabocheostrovsk Рабочеостровск
This low-rise port village sports three relatively new wooden chapels, one of which has an attached, ultrabasic dorm for penniless pilgrims. Boats to the Solovetsky Islands depart from behind the Turkomplex Prichal (56 060; www.prichalrk.ru; Naberezhnaya 1; s R970-1080, d R1530-1950, tr R2160-2700; ), whose reception desk sells the tickets. Popular with tour groups, the Prichal has pine-furnished rooms in several chalet-style blocks. They’re fairly bright and outwardly new, though not all guests are impressed by the overall cleanliness. Staff are pleasant; prices include breakfast.
SOLOVETSKY ISLANDS
СОЛОВЕЦКИЕ ОСТРОВА
8183590 / pop 1000 / Moscow
Alternatively called Solovki, these lake-dappled White Sea islands are home to one of Russia’s most evocative and best-known monasteries. Transformed by Stalin into one of the USSR’s cruellest prison camps, this was also the Gulag Archipelago that Solzhenitsyn described as being so remote that a ‘scream would never be heard’.
One day’s enough to visit the main monastery site but taking two or three allows you to absorb the haunting loneliness of the forests, bays and outer islands. Bring mosquito repellent, warm clothes and plenty of patience.
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History
Many millennia ago, a now-forgotten people adorned these islands with ‘labyrinths’ and burial mounds, possibly considering Solovki a gateway to the spiritual world. Permanent occupation began in 1429 when monks Savvaty and Herman from Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery founded a wooden hermitage at Savvatevo. Zosima, a third ‘founder’ monk, arrived in 1436. Bequests and royal patronage meant the monastery rapidly grew into a rich landowner, and in the 1570s the complex became enclosed within vast fortress walls, useful as a defence against Swedish incursions. Ironically greater damage was self-inflicted when from 1668 the monastery endured a seven-year siege for opposing the ecclesiastical reforms of Patriarch Nikon – doubly ironic as Nikon had been a young monk here (on Anzer Island).
In the early 19th century the monastery was becoming dilapidated and few young men seemed interested in the harsh life of a Solovki hermit. What was needed was a good miracle. This came in 1854. In a bizarre sideshow to the Crimean War, two British frigates reportedly sailed by and bombarded the kremlin with nearly 2000 cannonballs. Somehow none did the slightest damage. This rather improbable ‘divine intercession’ put Solovki back into the minds of Russia’s faithful. Donations rolled in and monks arrived to repopulate the monastery, which remained vibrant until the Soviet government closed it in 1921.
Two years later the islands were declared a work camp for ‘enemies of the people’. This SLON (Solovetsky Lager Osobogo Naznachenia; Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp) at first had prisoners working fairly freely, keeping up the monastery’s botanical garden and libraries. Many of them were scientists, writers, artists or priests. In 1937 Stalin reorganised the SLON into one of his severest Gulag camps. Prisoners were kept in intolerable conditions and tortured or killed at will. The prison was closed in 1939, replaced by a naval training base.
Restoration work on the badly damaged monastery began in the 1960s. Monks started returning in the late 1980s and the islands acquired Unesco World Heritage listing in 1992. Today the monastic community is flourishing but reconstruction remains a long-term task.
Orientation
The archipelago has six main islands and over 500 lakes. By far the largest island, Bolshoy Solovetsky (24km by 16km) is home to the main monastery, which dominates the single low-rise Solovetsky Village. The ramshackle village suffers from the oppressive ‘helicopter’ drone of an insensitively located power station, but a short walk beyond in the virtually uninhabited hinterland you’ll find profound, all-enveloping silence.
Information
Post office (ul Sivko; 9am-1pm & 2-6pm Wed-Sat & Mon)
Sberbank (ul Sivko; 9am-noon & 2-4pm Mon-Fri) No exchange nor ATM but cash advances are theoretically possible. It’s much safer to bring plenty of roubles with you to Solovki.
SolovkiTur (www.solovky.com/en/) Tour agency with useful, wide-ranging website.
Village school (286) Internet by arrangement.
Visitor centre (321; http://solovky.ru, in Russian; Peterburgskaya Hostel; 9am-8pm mid-May–mid-Oct)) Information and wide range of tours (Click here). Olga speaks English. The office shifts into the monastery administration building (281) out of season.
Sights & Activities
SOLOVETSKY TRANSFIGURATION MONASTERY
This highly memorable monastery (240; www.solovky.ru; 8am-8pm, museums 10am-7pm Jun-Sep, 10am-5pm Oct-May) is the island’s heart and soul. It’s contained within a very impressive kremlin of massive boulder-chunk walls whose six sturdy fortress towers are topped with conical wood-shingle roofs. These, along with a quivering flurry of church towers and domes, reflect magnificently in Svyatoe Lake and look equally fine viewed across the port-bay from the 1882 Biological Station. It’s a mesmerising sight worth observing in various lights.
Entry to the kremlin yard and to some churches within is free. However, exhibition halls, linking corridors and fortress towers require tickets, purchased at the Svyate Vorota (main gate). In some cases ascertaining which section requires which ticket can be slightly confusing: spot checks occur but there are no barriers. A few minor sections are limited to those on guided tours, and unannounced section closures are fairly common. Dress code is typical for active monasteries, ie skirts and head-scarves for women, no shorts for men.
The iconic 1566 Transfiguration Cathedral (admission free) has distinctively powerful whitewashed walls, clusters of domes and a dazzling if very new six-level iconostasis upstairs.
With the ticket ‘Raznitsa’ (R70) you may take the corridor leading north to the majestic St Nicholas Church (1832–34) and bell tower (1777) but, as both were closed for renovation during research, the ticket’s main role was access to the sacristy where sad film footage of Stalin-era church destruction accompanies poignant exhibits of burnt and ravaged artefacts. The same ticket allows access to parts of the Assumption Church (Trapezny Kompleks), a cavernous former refectory with sparse photo-history boards focusing especially on the 1992 return of the relics of Saints Zosima, Savvaty and Herman. Those revered relics were recently moved to the relatively plain, easy to miss Filipuskam Church (admission free) from the tiny but gorgeously mural-covered 1601 Annunciation Church (admission free). That’s entered through an unmarked door, one floor above the Svyate Vorota. To continue down the 1st-floor Citadel Gallery walkway you’re supposed to have the ‘Gidrotekhnika’ ticket (R70). This entitles visits to the canon-decked White Tower and a 17th-century mill with fascinating (Russian only) exhibitions explaining the monastery’s medieval water and heating systems. If gates are open you can continue round to the Arkhangelsk Tower, descending near the toilets to reach the Archaeological Exhibition (admission R80).
The popular Gulag Section (admission R100) comprises two rooms documenting the horrors of the monastery’s 20th-century history. Disappointingly, all text is in Russian and, although joining a tour gives greater insight, guides tend to delve into excruciatingly detailed minutiae. Access is through the second door north of Svyate Vorota.
LABYRINTHS
Dating back around 4000 years, concentric swirls of shrub-covered stones known as labyrinths occur widely in northern Scandinavia, the Kola Peninsula and the outer Solovetsky Islands. Little Zayatsky Island alone has 13. A much more accessible example is just five minutes’ walk south of the Solovki Hotel. Take the middle (small) woodland path where the track splits in three and the labyrinth is near the shore to your right. (This labyrinth is actually a 1960s replica but to the untutored eye it’s just as good as the real thing.) The location is idyllic.
AROUND BOLSHOY SOLOVETSKY ISLAND
Booklets and maps suggest numerous minor attractions, and the visitor centre can get you to many of them if you can’t face the long, lonely bicycle rides.
Botanical Garden
Around 3km northwest of the village, the botanical garden (botanichesky sad; admission R100; 8am-8pm) enjoys a special microclimate where monks have grown vegetables and hothouse fruits for centuries. For views climb nearby Alexander Hill topped by the miniature Alexander Nevsky Chapel (1854).
Gora Sekirnaya
Literally translated as Hatchet Mountain, this infamous 71m hill was the site of alleged tortures in Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago. The unassuming hilltop Ascension Church (1857–62) was used for solitary confinement, and bodies of prisoners who died from cold and starvation were thrown down steep stairs. At the foot of those stairs a 1992 cross commemorates all who died on Solovki.
The site is about 10km from the village, 7km beyond the Botanical Garden towards Savvatyevsky minor monastery. Tours cost R320 (minimum 15 people).
Wildlife Spotting
In early summer belugas (white whales; belukha in Russian) breed off Cape Beluzhy (west coast). You might spot seals when crossing from Kem. Ask at the visitor centre about the possibility of organising a whale-watching trip.
ANZER ISLAND
In the 1630s monks on Anzer Island broke from the jurisdiction of the main monastery. What now seem minor religious disagreements would have been forgotten long ago had not one of the monks, taking the name ‘Vanquisher’ (Nikon), later become Patriarch of Moscow. Nikon’s church ‘reforms’ of the 1660s plunged the Orthodox church into its deepest ever crisis. For Solovki, the result was a seven-year siege.
For groups of 10, visits to Anzer cost R1400 per person including transport (inquire at the visitor centre).
Tours
The visitor centre has a whole menu of excursions. Thematic tours within the monastery (from R300) add insight if you speak enough Russian. Minibus trips to rural sites save exhausting pedal-power and avert the risks of getting lost in the forest. Tour pricing assumes a minimum of 10 (sometimes 15) people, but individuals can add their names to a sign-up list. In July and August there’s usually plenty on offer, and you might even find a tour in English.
Sleeping
Most places operate only from early June to early September, sometimes even closing by late August. Only the Hotel Priyut stays open year round, though you could try calling Andrei & Vika (8-921-245 8022; ul Severnaya 19) who, in previous years, have offered homestay rooms near Prichal Tamarin.
Don’t waste energy complaining to your hotel about brownish, discoloured tap water: it’s the same throughout the village. (It’s fine for washing, though.) And please don’t flush toilet paper: the sewers can’t cope.
SOLOVETSKI VILLAGE
The campsite (207; per person R45) north of the village rents tents for R150.
Peterburgskaya Hostel (321; dm R350-650, s/d/tr/q R900/1300/1750/2400) Once a 19th-century inn, this large wooden building offers a range of functional spartan rooms. Showers (available 7am–10am and 8pm–11.30pm) and big communal washrooms are clean, but several mattresses in our seven-bed dorm were home to a range of lively insect life.
Hotel Solo (246; [email protected]; ul Kovalyova 8; s/d/tr R600/1200/1800, s/d with bathroom from R1400/1700; ) Rooms here are mostly dowdy affairs, some with small musty bathrooms and fake brick-effect wallpaper, but the café (meals R120–R500) is appealing and has an open fire.
Hotel Priyut (297; [email protected]; ul Primorskaya 11; s R1320-1800, d R1760-2400; ) This friendly family accommodation comprises two charmingly homely converted houses. Dried flowers and old coffee grinders adorn the cheaper Yellow House where five attractive rooms share two toilets, one shower and a sweet, if tiny, sitting room. Decorated with patchwork or driftwood art, the Green House’s downstairs rooms have private facilities. Upstairs rooms 6 and 7 share a bathroom but have fabulous monastery views. The delightful café (breakfast/dinner R230/290) opens only for resident groups.
Green Village Solovki (Zelyonaya Derevnya Solovki; 283; www.solovky.com; ul Sivko 20; s/d/polu-lyux/lyux/ste R3800/4000/4700/5300/7400) Rooms in this upmarket chalet-hotel have rustic log walls, fine furnishings and excellent bathrooms. Unwind in the enticing lounge/library, in the (pricey) bar-restaurant or on the small balcony with perfect views across Svyatoe Lake to the monastery.
Solovki Hotel (331; ul Zaozyornaya 26; www.solovki-tour.ru, in Russian; s/d standard R4500/4800, s/d korpus 5 R7500/7800) A spacious restaurant and three pleasantly designed two-storey log houses are ranged around a woodland clearing comprising the islands’ fanciest hotel. Standard rooms are pleasant if slightly small. Better ones in korpus 5 have lovable pseudo-antique painted headboards and share a sitting room with a giant bearskin. Popular with tour groups despite rather dreamy service.
LAKE VARYAZHSKOE
Inconveniently located near little Lake Varyazhskoe, around 25 minutes’ walk from the kremlin, are two relatively uninspiring turbazy. You’re liable to end up here if you opt for cheaper Russian package tours. At the Turistichesky Kompleks Solovki (221; www.solovkibp.ru; per person from R600) most cottages are unsteady with peeling wallpaper and uneven floors. Korpus 7 (s/d/tr R1800/3000/4500; from 2nd week of Jun) is vastly better but hardly worth the walk-in rate.
Eating
The only nonhotel eatery, Kafe-Bar Kayut Kompania (ul Zaozyornaya 4; meals R60-100; 8am-9pm) is a fairly standard stolovaya serving whatever they’ve cooked that day slopped onto mashed potato. From early June the Solovki Hotel Restaurant & Bar (mains R290-320, beer R70; 9am-10pm) and cosy Hotel Solo Café (mains R110-190; 9am-10pm) are open to nonguests.
Marked simply ‘Produkty’, Solovetsky Raipo (9am-9pm, 9am-3am midsummer) is the best stocked grocery.
Getting There & Away
AIR
There are up to five weekly flights to/from Arkhangelsk. Small planes should leave from Arkhangelsk-Vaskovo at noon every Wednesday (plus Monday and Friday in summer), returning at 2.15pm. Reserve a seat directly at Solovki’s minuscule airport (311) then pay on departure (R3030, cash only). Bigger planes should leave Arkhangelsk-Talagi on Monday and Friday at 9.30am, returning at 3pm. For these Aeroflot North (236; post office Bldg; 9am-1pm Mon-Fri) will accept credit card payment if you prepay. However, be aware that all air transport is fraught with uncertainty. Neither plane can land in fog or strong winds. But as both are common and weather can change incredibly rapidly, departures from Solovki can be confirmed only an hour before, ie once the incoming plane has actually left Arkhangelsk. Still, if Arkhangelsk is really where you want to get to, even waiting two days won’t be much slower than taking the boat–train combination.
Midsummer flights to/from Petrozavodsk and tour agency charters from other cities operate sporadically.
BOAT
Some summers, weekend hydrofoils have been known to operate to Solovetsky from Belomorsk, an area locally famed for its petroglyphs. However, the only really dependable ferry service (Russian/foreigner each way R500/800; early Jun-late Aug) leaves from Rabocheostrovsk at 8am, returning from Solovki at 5.30pm. The crossing takes 2½ to three hours, depending on sea and weather conditions. There might be additional boats in peak season, but don’t count on any. Ice usually prevents sailings in May but sporadic ferry services might continue as late as October.
Solovetsky village has several jetties (prichaly). When tides oblige, the little Rabocheostrovsk ferry uses handy Muzeyny Prichal. Cruise boats from Moscow or St Petersburg moor at Prichal Tamarin, northwest of the village.
Getting Around
There are no taxis. To visit sites beyond the village, either join a tour offered by the visitor centre or hire a bicycle from one of several outlets marked Veloprokat (per hr from R50; mid-Jun–mid-Sep). Annoyingly no bikes are available in early June, which would otherwise be an ideal time to visit Solovki. Island roads are completely unpaved and pretty bumpy and suffer from sandy and muddy patches so it’s worth paying extra for a bike with gears.
KOLA’S WHITE SEA COAST
GONE FISHING
The swift rivers of the Kola Peninsula provide some truly world-class fly-fishing. The ultimate prize, Atlantic salmon, is found in remarkable abundance on the Varzuga River, while for bigger (if fewer) fish, head to the steeper rivers of northeast Kola. On the Iokanga and Varzina rivers, 18kg (40lb) salmon really have been caught. Occasionally. The delightful Ponoy River offers a halfway house between quantity and size of fish. Catch-and-release fishing is the norm.
The season runs from May to October with a peak catches usually in June. On the best rivers, fishing is generally controlled by companies whose inclusive packages include accommodation and food in comfortable lodges or camps, plus helicopter transfers from Murmansk and between fishing spots. Reckon around US$7000 to $15,000 for a week. Frontiers (
If you’re not obsessed by prize-winning salmon, vastly cheaper fishing opportunities on local rivers can be arranged through nonspecialist tour agencies.
Famous for amethysts, the Kola Peninsula’s completely unspoilt southern shore is one of the region’s offbeat delights. The main highlight is lonely Varzuga village, notable for its gorgeous pair of historic log churches and for world-class salmon fishing (see boxed text, Click here). Infuriatingly for independent travellers, however, the attractive little town of Umba, where you’d normally make public transport connections, is now closed to foreign visitors. Even with months of planning getting permits can’t be assured. Unless Umba reopens, the most sensible way to visit the coast is by joining a tour with Kola Travel (Click here) who have hut accommodation at Lodochnaya Tonya (www.kolatravel.com/lodochny.htm), a lovely oceanside site around 20km before Varzuga. Alternatively take a train to lacklustre Kandalaksha (two hours south of Apatity) and engage a taxi to Varzuga for around R4000/6000 one way/return with stops. Insist that the driver detours around Umba! Kandalaksha (‘Kantalahti’ in Finnish) has two basic hotels and a bus connection to Rovaniemi, Finland (R1640, 5½ hours), via Kemijärvi (R1220, 4½ hours) departing at 7am on Monday and Thursday.
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CENTRAL KOLA
Rocks beneath the Khibiny and Lovozero mountains contain a freak-show of exotic minerals that get the world’s geologists and rock-collectors salivating. Apatity has secret museums, Kirovsk has the region’s best skiing and attractively set Lovozero is Russia’s Sami cultural centre. For all that, nonspecialist tourists may find that Central Kola’s attractions are rather limited and certainly architecture here is wantonly uninspired. But for wilderness lovers the area’s understated Arctic majesty can prove addictive.
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Apatity Апатиты
81555 / pop 70,000 / Moscow
The Kola Peninsula’s second-largest town is a processing centre for Kirovsk’s apatite mines and home to nine research institutes. Several of those have ‘museums’, though only the bright new Geological Museum (79 274; ul Fersmana 16; admission R15; 9am-1pm & 2-6pm Mon-Fri) is open to drop-in guests. Labelled mineral fragments are sold here as souvenirs. By appointment, more specialist visitors can arrange a guided visit to a second Mineralogy Collection (79 739; ul Fersmana 14; admission free; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri by arrangement) on the top floor of the next-door Kola Scientific Centre. Friendly academics speak English but if you don’t have the geological background to pose relevant questions you’re likely to feel embarrassingly out of your depth.
Experienced tour firm Yug Kola (/fax 74 178; www.kolaklub.com/southkola; Room 114, Hotel Ametist; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 11am-5pm Sat) can get you into additional museums, including the interesting two-room North-Russian Exploration Museum (79 255; Akademgorodok 40A; admission R50; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri). Yug Kola also offers tailor-made mineral collecting, snowmobile and fishing tours. Its office is within Apatity’s conveniently central Hotel Ametist (74 501; fax 74 118; ul Lenina 3; s/d R600/900, polu-lyux d R1220), which has plain but survivable old Soviet rooms and a bar-café. Nearby, neat little Kafe Yantar (77 028; ul Kosmonavtov 8; mains R74-220, beer R53-85; ) serves OK bliny (from R28), but their R6 charge for the sugar lump in a R15 cup of tea seems cheeky.
For all transport bookings use MTA (Murmanskoe Transportnoe Agenstvo; 61 111; ul Lenina 2A; bus tickets 5.45am-1pm & 2-6pm, train tickets 10am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm Sat), oddly hidden at the base of a residential tower block.
Bus 130, originating in Kirovsk, runs to Khibiny airport (KVK; 77 369; www.airkirovsk.ru), 14km south of Apatity. Aeroflot-Nord flies to Moscow Sheremetyevo (at least thrice weekly), St Petersburg (Tuesday) and Arkhangelsk (Saturday in summer).
WELCOME, WELCOME! Mark Elliott
The invitations from friendly locals kept on coming. ‘You’re writing a book? How marvellous!’ gasped fellow train-passenger Svetlana in obligingly simplified Russian. Extolling the virtues of her home town, found between Apatity and Kandalaksha, she demanded: ‘You must visit our Poliyarnye Zori! It’s so clean. And so safe.’
Safe? That seemed an odd compliment. Safe from what?
‘Very safe,’ she reiterated. ‘Our nuclear power station is the best secured in the whole ex-USSR.’
Ah.
Note that, unlike its citizens, Poliyarnye Zori’s authorities are none too keen on visiting tourists.
Apatity’s train station (71 200), 3km west of the centre by rare bus 8 (R12), is on the main line between Murmansk (five hours) and Kem (seven hours). An electrichka to Kandalaksha (R48.20, 2¼ hours) departs at 5.15pm, returning at 9.30am.
Kirovsk-bound buses 101, 102 and 105 plus marshrutky (R25, 30 minutes) pick up just north of pl Lenina: pay on board. Four daily buses to Murmansk (R308, five hours) via Monchegorsk (R102, 1¼ hour) and Olenegorsk (R153, 1¾ hours) leave from the south side of pl Lenina, but tickets must be purchased in advance at MTA, often involving very lengthy queues.
Kirovsk Кировск
81531 / pop 30,000 / Moscow
Mountain-backed Kirovsk was founded in 1929 for mining the world’s purest deposits of apatite, a source of phosphate for fertilisers. But Kirovsk’s also the Kola region’s top ski resort. A central arc of Stalin-era neoclassical buildings frames a Lenin statue facing a modern clock tower. Behind is a mountain-ringed valley filled by an alpine lake whose picturesque quality isn’t entirely dispelled by the decaying industrial plants on its shore. Indeed, if you throw back a couple of shots and squint in the right direction, the scene is almost pretty.
INFORMATION
Khibiny (www.hibiny.ru/map/kirovsk.php) Interactive map.
Knigi-Kirovsk (pr Lenina 10a; 10am-6pm) Sells town and regional maps (R65).
Severo-Zapadny Telekom (pr Lenina 9; 10am-9pm Mon-Sat) Public phones and internet booths (R0.9 per minute)
Tourist office (55 506; pr Lenina 7; 9am-1pm & 2-5pm Mon-Fri) Tucked behind the central Lenin statue. Almost all the leaflets refer to Finland!
SIGHTS
Buses 1, 12, 16 or 105 (R12) from pr Lenina run through Kukisvumchorr (‘25km’) known for its ‘miraculous’ Kazan Church (Kazanskaya tserkov; 8am-6pm). Get off after 4km (ask the driver), turn left and continue 1.7km to find the lovely Polar-Alpine Botanical Gardens (Botanichesky sad; 51 436; 8.30am-4pm Mon-Fri by arrangement) where hothouses nurture tropical plants and a 2km summer-only trail climbs to the alpine tundra.
ACTIVITIES
Bolshoy Vudyavr ski station (34 614), just across the mountain east of Kirovsk but 12km away by road, is the best of three ski stations with modern lifts (R40 to R50 per ride) and half a dozen downhill runs. Bring ID: you’ll need it to hire equipment. The old ski station (95 474) immediately above town is slightly cheaper and saves the R300 taxi fare.
Divided by deep valleys, the bald, barren Khibiny mountains offer unusual summer hiking opportunities. Although they only rise to 1200m above sea level, weather can be extreme: a guide is essential.
For more urban pleasures there’s the modern Delfin Swimming Pool (55 595; ul Mira; per hr R300; 8am-2pm & 3-10pm Tue-Sun) and Bolshoy Vudyavr Bowling Centre (pr Lenina 8; bowling per hr R400-600, cover after 5pm R100; 1pm-1am Wed-Sun) with café-bar, billiards and a weekend disco.
SLEEPING & EATING
Hotel prices rise around 30% in ski season (November to May). At other times most places are half empty.
Hotel Sport (92 650; ul Dzerzhinskogo 7A; s/d/tr R750/1160/1500, s/d/tr off-season R650/960/1200) This drab, grey five-storey building contains utterly basic Soviet-era rooms with vinyl floors and simple shared bathrooms. Three R80 shuttles transport guests to the main ski station daily in season.
Hotel Gornitsa (59 111; ul Dzerzhinskogo 19; www.kirovsk.mels.ru; s/d/tr/q R1100/2000/2850/3600) This unpretentious, family-style 16-room hotel is better kept than any of the competition. It has underfloor heating in bathrooms and sweeping views that would be lovely but for the foreground of Soviet-era apartments.
Hotel Kaskad (95 603; www.kaskad.kirovsk.net; ul Yubileynaya 14B; s/d/tw R1150/1350/1600) Friendly minihotel with three cosy if not quite classy, over-colourful rooms and an inexpensive café (mains R65 to R190, beer R35).
Hotel Ekkos (32 716; pr Lenina 12B; s/d/tr/q/apt R1350/2200/2400/2800/3000) Six large homestay-style rooms on the 4th floor of a latter-day ‘castle’ behind the Kirov statue. Oddly, the cheaper rooms are the best furnished with good bathrooms. Avoid the tatty apartment.
Hotel Severnaya (33 100; pr Lenina 11; d R2400) This outwardly classy neoclassical-styled hotel has 61 good-sized rooms featuring bathtubs, bidets and kettles. However, the dark woodwork is scuffed, doors stick and plugs are missing. Cheaper 2nd-floor rooms (R2100) are above the noisy restaurant.
Kafe Vechernee (ul Khibinogorskaya 29; 10am-10pm Mon-Sat, noon-8pm Sun) Precooked point-and-pick foods, salads and breads sold by weight, with simple café tables at which to eat them.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Frequent marshrutky and local buses to Apatity (R25, 30 minutes) pick up along the main street.
Kola TAVS (94 160; ul Yubileynaya 13; 8.30am-7pm Mon-Fri, 8am-4pm Sat) sells tickets for buses to Murmansk (R238, 5½ hours) via Monchegorsk (R91, 1½ hours), leaving from outside Hotel Kaskad. It also sells train and plane tickets ex Apatity.
The derelict former train station, like many of Russia’s ‘Potyomkin villages’, was a monument to Soviet antilogic, constructed only to impress visiting officials. Locals joke that its first and last passenger was Josef Stalin.
Monchegorsk Мончегорск
81536 / pop 63,000 / Moscow
The main reason to come to this prosperous nickel-smelting city is to engage the services of experienced, multilingual Kola Travel (57 099, 921-287 1311; www.kolatravel.com; pr Lenina 15/2-11; call ahead), a Russo-Dutch travel firm offering an inspiring selection of Kola adventures including hiking, biking, rock-hunting, snowmobile safaris. Their 4WD trips include one to a middle-of-nowhere village where you can sleep in a comfy but traditionally styled turf hut.
Monchegorsk itself is set attractively between lakes and is the HQ of the Lapland Biosphere Reserve (www.lapland.ru). The town’s neat, widely spaced concrete-block architecture is hardly an attraction, but there’s a new, central Geological Museum (Muzey kamnya; pr Metallurgov 46; admission R30; noon-6pm Tue-Sun) and a 1997 Ascension Cathedral (katedralny sobor Vozneseniya; 52 043; Krasnoarmeyskaya ul 15) that’s impressive inside and out. It overlooks Bolshaya Imandra Lake 3km southeast of town.
Hotel Sever (/fax 72 655; pr Metallurgov 4; s/d without bathroom R450/840, s/d with bathroom R1100/2200) looks grand from outside and is close to three cafés but, though remodelled, the rooms aren’t exactly swish.
Near the other end of the long main street, easy-to-miss Hotel Metallurg (74 533; pr Metallurgov 45A; s/d/ste R1150/2010/3020) is more modern. Standard rooms have good shared bathrooms. It’s walking distance from Klub Planet Internet (pr Metallurgov 58; per hr R30 plus per MB R4; 24hr). See www.hibiny.ru/map/monchegorsk.php for a city map.
NICKEL-HEADED
Areas of stunted, defoliated trees down-wind of Monchegorsk, Nikel, (Click here) and Norilsk (Click here) show the ecological devastation wrought by noxious emissions from the Soviet nickel industry. The USSR’s main uses for nickel were military, but today the metal is in great demand for catalytic converters. That’s right, paradoxically to reduce polluting emissions everywhere else.
Murmansk–Olenegorsk–Apatity–Kirovsk buses stop at Monchegorsk’s dinky new bus station (72 150; ul Komsomolskaya 25B), one block off pr Metallurgov. You can buy rail tickets here but the nearest train station is Olenegorsk.
Marshrutky 1 and 10 run between the hotels then double back past Kola Travel (an unmarked apartment, not an office) with number 10 continuing past the cathedral.
Lovozero & Around
The low cleft peak of twin mountain Karnasut–Kedikvik Parkh gives an appealing visual focus to this traditional reindeer-herding area, noted for its mystical Lake Seydozero. Tiny Lovozero isn’t exotic but could make a fine base for hikes, enjoying midnight sun or observing the northern lights.
OLENEGORSK
OЛEHEГOPСК
81552 / pop 26,000 / Moscow
To reach Lovozero start from Olenegorsk bus/train station on the Murmansk–Kandalaksha–Kem main line. The 80km road to Lovozero passes close to the impressively vast (but hidden) Olenegorsk open cast iron-ore mine and right beside an antiquated if secretive tropospheric scattering watch-post for monitoring satellites. Otherwise the drive is wonderfully lonely and gives a real taste of central Kola’s awesome Arctic wilderness.
If you’re stranded in Olenegorsk, the unfriendly and overpriced Hotel Gornyak (55 281; ul Stroitelnaya 38; foreigner d without bathroom R1500-1800, s/d with bathroom R1500/2800) in the soulless city centre, is a convoluted 5km (R120) taxi ride from the train/bus station.
Buses to Revda (and thence Lovozero) leave at 11am and 6.20pm (sometimes 8pm). Monchegorsk–Murmansk buses stop here five times daily. For Kem, the perfectly timed train 373 (platskart R467, 10 hours) leaves Olenegorsk at 8.45pm (daily in summer, alternate days in the off-season).
REVDA 
81538 / pop 6300 / Moscow
With a lovely setting close to Mt Karnasut, Revda has an appealingly ramshackle old dacha/cottage area but, 2km beyond, the Soviet-vintage town centre is a faceless loop of nine-storey concrete apartments entirely hiding the little canon-fronted museum (33 333; ul Kuzhina 7/3; 10am-1pm & 2-7pm Mon-Fri, 1pm-3pm Sun) at the town’s furthest end. Behind the post office (ul Kuzhina 8; internet per hr R40; 10am-8pm Mon-Fri) is a WWII plane on a plinth. The simple hotel (Umbazirskaya ul 1; s/tw R400/900) won’t accept foreign guests.
From central pr Pobedy, dusty old buses run to Olenegorsk (R102, 1¼ hours) at 8.30am daily, at 5pm Monday to Saturday and at 4pm Sunday. Departures to Lovozero are at 8.10am, 1.20pm, 4.40pm and 7.55pm on weekdays, and 8.35am, 2.40pm and 7.55pm on weekends.
LOVOZERO 
81538 / pop 3500 / Moscow
Under Stalin, the once-nomadic Sami (Lapp) people were brutally suppressed and forcibly collectivised. Of Russia’s roughly 1600 Sami, some 900 now live in the tiny administrative village of Lovozero (Luyavvr) where a little Sami History & Culture Museum (31 477, 30 282; ul Sovetskaya 28; admission/camera/guided tour R25/50/750; 9am-1pm & 2-5pm Tue-Fri, 9am-4pm Sat) displays 2000-year-old petroglyphs and sells various Sami crafts including reindeer-fur slippers and carved bone-work. But the reindeer herders are away following their herds between March and December and outwardly the village doesn’t look much different from other small rural Soviet outposts. The exception is a pair of semimodern buildings nominally designed like stylised, oversized chumy (tepee-shaped tents). One of these is the Sami Cultural Centre. The other is the 11-room Hotel Koavas (31 515; www.covas.ru; ul Pionerskaya 13; s/d/tr R600/1000/1200, dinner R200) whose fresh, pine lobby-lounge is more appealing than the bright but unsophisticated rooms with ageing toilets. Staff can arrange English-speaking translator-guides.
In the five-storey block facing the Sami Cultural Centre, Hotel Lovozero (30 169, 921-605 2020; ul Pionerskaya 6; s/d/tr R600/1100/1500) has been converted from a private apartment but bathrooms are tiled, wallpaper new and ceilings reasonably high.
Buses to Revda (R35, 25 minutes) depart at 9.15am, 2.05pm, 5.30pm and 8.45pm on weekdays and at 9.25am, 3.30pm and 8.45pm on weekends.
LAKE SEYDOZERO 
Holy to the Sami, the beautiful 8km-long Lake Seydozero does seem to have a certain spiritual vibe. From Lovozero (22km) travel by boat (or skidoo in winter) followed by a 3km each-way walk. From Revda drive 8km then trek 12km – rough and possible only when fords aren’t too deep.
TOURS
Kola Travel (Click here) offers various exploratory trips to the region including day trips from Monchegorsk to Lovozero plus Lake Seydozero. Lovozero-based taxi driver Pavel Moshnin (921-166-9082) offers Olenegorsk–Revda–Lovozero transfers at R1000/1600 one way/return with limited stops and has a four-person boat for hire to Lake Seydozero (from R2000). He doesn’t speak English.
MURMANSK МУРМАНСК
8152 / pop 370,000 / Moscow
The world’s biggest Arctic city is a bustling, rapidly modernising place set to become very wealthy as the development of the massive Shtokman gas field gets under way in the Barents Sea. The majority of foreign visitors are Scandinavian businessmen paying almost Scandinavian prices. Tourism is an afterthought.
Murmansk’s raison d’être is its port, kept ice-free by comparatively warm Gulf Stream waters that sweep around the Norwegian coast. Founded in 1916 as Romanov-na-Murmanye, the city developed almost overnight during WWI (see boxed text, opposite), and was occupied till 1920 by pro-White allies fighting the Bolsheviks.
BUILDING A HUNGER
With Germany threatening to overrun Russia during WWI, allied convoys from Scotland desperately attempted to keep supplies flowing to imperial Russia. This required not only a warm-water port (Murmansk) but also a connecting railway. While it was being built in the summer of 1916, the severe rigours of track construction were compounded by an unexpected problem for the many Central Asian labourers who had been recruited: Ramadan fell in July. During Ramadan devout Muslims refrain from all food and drink during daylight hours. That’s fine in Uzbekistan. But in the 24-hour northern daylight the choice was effectively between suicidal hunger strikes, breaking the faith or running away.
Renamed Murmansk, the ‘hero city’ was bombed to bits in WWII and rebuilt with stolidly uninspired Soviet-era architecture.
From late May to late July the sun never sets – bring sunscreen and sunglasses in case the clouds clear. From 29 November to 15 January the sun doesn’t peep above the horizon, though you still get a few hours of murky daylight and, away from the city glare, the northern lights on the snow-covered landscape can be magical.
Return to beginning of chapter
Orientation
The central hub is pl Pyat Uglov (Five Corners Sq) with main thoroughfare pr Lenina extending many kilometres south as pr Kolsky. Parallel ul Shimdta/Kominterna/Chelyuskintsev extends past Lake Semyonovskoe into the northern suburbs. For city maps check the Murmansk phone book or download from murmansk.aspolru (http://murmansk.aspol.ru/maps/index.html, in Russian).
Information
ATMs are common along pr Lenina and available at most hotels. Internet access is also available at Hotel Polyarnye Zori’s business centre.
@kvatoriya (ul Profsoyuzov; per hr R35 plus per MB R2.5; 24hr) Internet access in a roadside outbuilding of the Sever Stadium.
Flait (Flight; 289 551; www.russia-media.ru; office 222/224, Hotel Polyarnye Zori; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm Sat) Professional, multilingual agency offering travel bookings, visa help, translation and business-support services. A few self-drive cars are available for hire.
Main post office (pr Lenina 82A; 9am-2pm & 3-7pm Mon-Sat,11am-2pm & 3-6pm Sun)
Murman (www.murman.ru) News, weather, flights and other useful service listings.
Murmanout (http://murmanout.ru/places, in Russian) Wide-ranging listings with customer comments. See http://murmanout.ru/events for what’s on.
Murmansk Tourism Portal (www.murmantourism.ru)
Polyarnye Zori Business Centre (2nd fl, Hotel Polyarnye Zori; per hr R60 plus per MB R5; 9am-1pm & 2-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-1pm & 2-6pm Sat-Sun) Internet available.
PYa (410 464; ul Gagarina 24/3; per hr R35 plus per MB R2; 24hr) Offers internet access near the northern terminus of trolleybus 3.
Severo-Zapadny Telekom (ul Leningradskaya 27; 24hr) Bright, modern public call office with internet booths (per hr R54).
Sights
ALYOSHA & AROUND
By far Murmansk’s most memorable sight is a gigantic concrete soldier figure nicknamed Alyosha. His sheer immensity and oddly placid half-smile are mesmerising. Commemorating the devastation of the Great Patriotic War (WWII), Alyosha’s hill-top perch surveys a vast sweep of Kola Inlet and snow-speckled Arctic moors beyond. To the south the city spreads out in all its magnificent pastel-concrete dreariness. The icy air carries a distant soundtrack of clanking cranes and rail wagons from the port where coal-mounds stick their gnarled black fingers into the battleship-grey waters.
Walking to the statue from one of the Ozero bus stops (trolleybus 4, bus 10 etc) takes 20 minutes. There are two routes around oft-frozen Lake Semyonovskoe. Walking anticlockwise takes you through a little funfair and past a mini, bubble-domed Oceanarium (315 884; adult/child R250/150; shows 11am, 3pm & 5pm Wed-Sun) that hosts splashy seal shows. Walking clockwise is better for city views: take the footpath opposite the 2002 Church of the Saviour on the Waters (11am-7pm). The nearby Lighthouse Monument (admission free; 11am-5pm Wed-Sun) commemorates lost sailors including the 118 crew of the Kursk nuclear submarine that sank in the Barents Sea in 2000.
MUSEUMS & GALLERIES
The Regional Studies Museum (422 617; pr Lenina 90; admission R25; 11am-5pm Fri-Tue) features geology, natural history and oceanography on the 2nd floor, and Kola Peninsula history on the 3rd floor. There’s a reasonable souvenir shop too.
TOP SECRET
During the Cold War the Murmansk area housed the world’s greatest concentration of military and naval forces. Despite drastic scale-backs the Kola Peninsula is still home to plenty of closed military zones known as ZATOs (Zakrytye Administrativo-Territorialnye Obrazovania, Closed Administrative-Territorial Formations):
- Severomorsk is headquarters of the Northern Fleet.
- Shtyukozero, 8km beyond, was the scene of a potentially catastrophic near-miss in 1984 when a fire swept through silos bristling with nuclear-tipped missiles.
- Polyarny and Gadzhievo are nuclear submarine bases, with over 50 decommissioned reactor compartments stored at nearby Sayda-Guba.
- Vidyaevo and Zaozersk nuclear submarine bases are west of the Kola Inlet. Vidyaevo was the home port of the ill-fated Kursk.
- Ostrovnoy on the Kola Peninsula’s remote eastern coast is a former submarine base that’s now a dumping and recycling centre for dismantled submarines and radioactive waste.
Naval buffs make the trek to the Museum of the Northern Fleet (Voenno-morskoy muzey Severnogo flota; 221 445; ul Tortseva 15; Russian/foreigner R50/100; 9am-4pm Thu-Mon) covering the founding of Russia’s first navy in Arkhangelsk, the Murmansk convoys of WWII and the modern fleet. The museum is 5km north of the centre within a turquoise, somewhat crumbling three-storey cultural centre fronted by anchors. Take bus 10 to the penultimate stop (‘Nakhimova’, opposite ul Admirala Lobova 43), walk on for 300m, then turn left and it’s 80m up ul Tortseva. Shimmy through the building’s foyer and the museum is to the left, within.
The 1927 Fine Arts Museum (450 385; ul Kominterna 13; admission per exhibit R20; 11am-6pm Wed-Sun) hosts temporary exhibitions of varying quality.
Activities
The annual 10-day Festival of the North (Praznik Severa; Mar-Apr) includes a ‘Polar Olympics’ with reindeer-sled races, ski marathons, ice hockey and snowmobile contests. Many events are held at Dolina Uyuta (Cosy Valley), 25 minutes south of the train station by bus 1.
Sleeping
With the vast Hotel Arktika in pl Pyat Uglov under total reconstruction, Murmansk has a serious shortage of hotel beds. Given the endless stream of business travellers arriving to gas about gas, booking is very wise despite the reservation fee (usually 25% of one night’s room rate). Most prices rise 30% during the trade exhibitions of May–June and mid-November.
Hotel Moryak (688 702; [email protected]; ul Knipovicha 23; s/d from R890/1110) The nearest Murmansk gets to budget accommodation, the Moryak’s quite passable repapered rooms have new if unlovely carpets and cheap new furniture. Frequently full.
Hotel Arktik-Servis (312 659; Verkhne-Rostinskoe 1; two/three-room apt R1500/2000) Within a rather gruesome-looking high-rise tower block, this is not really a hotel at all, but each simple, very spacious serviced apartment could sleep a football team. Astoundingly good value compared to anything else in Murmansk. Bus 18 passes by.
Hotel Gubernskiy (459 237; ul Sofyi Perovskoy 3; old/less-old d RR1600/2900) Hotel? Looks more like a Soviet bureaucrat’s office, and a KGB interrogation could be more fun. But with so little choice in Murmansk, you just might be desperate enough to take one of their ludicrously overpriced old cell-rooms.
Hotel Ogni Murmanska (554 000; www.ognimurmanska.ru; Sankt-Peterburgskoe sh km8; s/d R2050/2600, business class R2700/3500; ps) Overlooking the city from the eastern hills, this fairly classy place offers reasonable value, and while the location isn’t very convenient for town, the hotel does have its own ski slope.
Hotel Morskaya (428 624; Portovy proezd 25; s/d R2150/4550) Above the river terminal are four small but modern cosy singles, a double with private sauna and a pricier one with an inlet view (R4850).
Glarus (450 618; Komsomolskaya 15; d R2500-2800) A ‘house’ with six well-furnished minisuites seems to have been added as an afterthought to this modern fitness–medical–sauna complex. For reception, seek out the administrator on the top floor of the bigger main block.
Hotel Polyarnye Zori (289 500; www.russlandia.ru; ul Knipovicha 17; s/d standard R2900/3600, s/d business R3700/4200; pi) An understandable favourite for Westerners, the Polyarnye Zori has efficient English-speaking staff, a pub, restaurant, nightclub, saunas, internet room and in-room wi-fi (free up to 150MB). Most rooms are international business-style with cable TV and underfloor heating in the decent new bathrooms. Just a few ‘economy’ rooms (single/double R1500/2200) are less swish. Unusually there’s no booking fee. Nice touches include free in-room coffee and biscuits, but the buffet breakfast (included) is less appetising than it looks.
Hotel Meridian (288 650; www.meridian-hotel.ru; ul Vorovskogo 5/23; s/d/ste R3300/5000/5800) The Meridian sees itself as a top business hotel. It’s neat enough and wonderfully central, but corridors are bland, beds narrow and the new furniture rather lacklustre given the price. A few R1900 singles have shared bathrooms. There’s in-house bowling and a rather boisterous disco.
Eating
Chaynaya Lozhka (pr Lenina 80; snacks R26-82; 9am-10pm) Reliable, youthfully bright-orange chain café serving bliny, tea and salads cafeteria-style.
Mama Mia (450 060, takeaway 478 247; ul Yegorova 14; mains R117-395, pizzas R179-259, beer R70; noon-midnight) Cosy yet unpretentious and understandably popular, Mama Mia specialises in great, large pizzas and regional meat-and-berry dishes. Taste both by ordering reindeer (olenina) pizza.
Razgulyay (422 770; ul Oktyabrskaya 26; meals R135-320) Modest local restaurant with slight rustic touches and straightforward food at reasonable prices.
Traktir Kruzhka (478 026; ul Profsoyuzov 17/12; mains R140-275, beer R60) Jolly, bustling mid-market restaurant with rural-Russia feel upstairs and cherry-blossom oriental touches beneath. A giant log bar is decorated with pots, pans and the odd axe. Food curiosities include fruit-and-chocolate sushi.
Rvanye Parusa (452 495; ul Yegorova 13A; meals R165-450; noon-1am) The fun, slightly silly sailing-ship theme upstairs comes with netting and golden mermaids. Meals range from potted elk (R195) and reindeer in blueberries (R195) to some good-value creamy fish dishes (R220). Downstairs choose from pizza, kebabs or steak washed down with beer from their microbrewery.
Kai Sushi Bar (441 119; Somova 6; sushi set R350-750, sashimi set R1200, beer R180; noon-11pm) Murmansk’s top sushi served in an upmarket yet hip manga-themed bar-restaurant.
For self-catering, there’s Baltiyskiy Khleb (ul Samoylovoy 6;9am-10pm), a tempting European-style bakery, and the Produkty Santa (per Pionerskiy;24hr) all-night grocery.
Drinking
Café La Vita (ul Yegorova 13; coffee R44-120; 8am-1am Mon-Fri, 11am-1am Sat & Sun) Tasteful, gently upmarket coffee-house with old piano and typewriters as wall decor.
Purga (528 592; ul Geroev Rybachego 1; beer R75, cover R100; 5pm-3am) A naked derriere moons you at the top of the entry stairs forewarning of this place’s delightful craziness. Sit in cave-alcoves while bands play blues-rock and art students dressed up as fake grannies engage customers in hilariously nonsensical conversation. They also serve standard food (mains from R150), so you can make a night of it. Booking ahead is wise at weekends. It’s around 35 minutes south of the centre by trolleybus 6 then 30m west of bus stop Pervomayskaya.
Las Galletas (ul Polyarnye Zori 4; coffee R80-140, cocktails R130-220; 10am-midnight) Spacious modern café decorated in chocolate tones with bare-board floors and a selection of freshly squeezed seasonal juices (R100 to R130).
Leto (pr Lenina 86; espresso R80, mojito R100; noon-11pm Sun-Thu, noon-midnight Fri & Sat) Bright lime-green, blood-red and apricot-orange decor dangling with long conical funnel-lamps. They serve coffee, cocktails and café food.
Pivnoi Dom (ul Sofyi Perovskoy 25; 11am-2am) Smoky but characterful local sports bar with inexpensive beers.
Guten Morgen (455 935; ul Kominterna 7; noon-2am) Germanic bierkeller with occasional one-off live blues/folk minigigs.
Churchill (Samoylovoy ul 10a, noon-1am Sun-Thu, noon-3am Fri & Sat) Anglo pub decked with photos of Winston and other cigar smokers.
Fusion (pr Lenina 72; 10am-midnight) Mojito maniacs pose at glowing ice-blue tables in this minimalist-chic cocktail bar.
Red Pub (246 223; Molodyozhny proezd 12; noon-2am) Fun if out-of-centre Soviet-nostalgia pub. It’s ten minutes’ walk from the trolleybus 6 route along pr Kolsky.
Entertainment
Philharmonia (458 178; ul Sofyi Perovskoy 1; most shows 7pm, Sep-Jun) For opera, folk music or classical concerts, buy tickets in advance from the kassa (pr Lenina 67; noon-2.30pm & 3.30-6pm Tue-Sat).
Puppet Theatre (458 178; ul Sofyi Perovskoy 21A; tickets R30-50; shows usually 11.30am & 2pm Sat & Sun)
Klub Dekabr (443 454; www.decemberclub.ru; 1pm-3am) Red-and-black basement disco beneath the Murmansk Cinema also hosts jazz concerts and striptease competitions.
Klub Ledokol (289 550; Hotel Polyarnye Zori; admission R100-350; 4pm-5am) Typical hotel nightclub where Scandinavian businessmen get their jackets off.
Several bigger nightclubs are far south of the centre (trolleybus 6):
Pilot Club (527 474; Kolsky pr 154; admission Thu-Sun from R100; 10pm-5am or later) Industrial-design techno/house/pop club popular with teenagers.
Sfera (232 387; Kolsky pr 27) Entertainment complex including bowling (lanes from R350 per hour) billiards and two nightclubs.
Shopping
The City Exhibition Hall (ul Kommuny 18; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 11am-5pm Sat) sells enamelled boxes, minerals, matryoshki and other interesting souvenirs.
Getting There & Away
TsAVS (441 034; ul Knipovicha 18; 8am-7pm Mon-Sat, 8am-5pm Sun) sells train and air tickets for a R150 commission.
AIR
Some of the airlines using Murmansk’s airport (MMK; 583 254; www.airpor t-murmansk.ru):
Aeroflot-Nord (449 644; www.aeroflot-nord.ru) Boeings to Moscow (twice daily), Antonovs to Arkhangelsk (R3950, two hours) and Tromsø, Norway (US$185, 2½ hours), both Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. See the boxed text, Click here, for more information on this airline.
Rossiya (289 564; foyer, Hotel Polyarnye Zori; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat) Daily to St Petersburg (R5750, 1¾ hours) and Moscow Vnukovo (2¾ hours).
Sky Express (skyexpress.ru) Twice-daily budget flights to Moscow Vnukovo.
Wideroe (www.wideroe.no) To Kirkenes, Norway, departing thrice weekly.
BUS
From Murmansk’s bus station (454 884; ul Kominterna 16) buses at 8am, 3pm, 4.40pm and 5.50pm run to Kirovsk (R332, 5½ hours) via Olenegorsk (three hours), Monchegorsk (3½ hours) and Apatity (R308, five hours).
Finland
On Monday, Wednesday and Friday a bus runs to Rovaniemi (R3330, 10½ hours) via Ivalo (R1850, 6½ hours, 8.30am) from the bus station.
Norway
Two daily minibuses run to Kirkenes (4½ to six hours). Sputnik Murmansk (440 045; www.sputnikmur.ru; ul Polyarnye Zori 12) charges R700/800 to Kirkenes town/airport but asks R1200/1400 from foreigners. Their minibus leaves Hotel Polyarnye Zori at 7am (noon on Sunday) collecting from the Hotel Meridian 15 minutes later.
Gulliverrus (453 000; www.gulliverrus.ru; ul Vorovskogo 13; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 1-5pm Sat & Sun) charges R750/850 with no foreigner surcharge (as yet). Its minibus departs from approximately outside its office.
Returning from Kirkenes, both minibuses (NKr300) depart from near Rica Arctic Hotel. For either, book through Pasvikturist (+47-7899 5080; www.pasvikturist.no; Dr Wesselsgate 9, Kirkenes; 8.30am-4pm Mon-Fri), two short blocks away on Kirkenes’ central pedestrian street.
Flait travel (Click here) organises additional to-order car and minibus transfers.
TRAIN
From the train station (484 600; ul Kominterna 14) at least two daily trains run to both St Petersburg (platskart/kupe R1195/3115, 26¾ to 28 hours) and Moscow Oktyabrskaya (platskart/kupe from R1430/3760, 34½ to 39½ hours). All go via Apatity (platskart from R352, 3½ to 4¾ hours), Kandalaksha (platskart from R438, five to seven hours) and Petrozavodsk (platskart/kupe R935/2395, 19 to 24 hours).
Train 373 bound for Vologda (platskart/kupe R1155/3015, 37 hours) departs 5.24pm on even-numbered days (or daily during some summer periods). It’s ideally timed for Kem (platskart/kupe R618/1510), arriving with 1¼ hours to spare before the boat to the Solovetsky Islands. Or there’s an attached coach bound for Arkhangelsk (platskart/kupe R935/2370, 29½ hours), which arrives much less conveniently at 11pm.
The ticket windows (7am-6pm Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm Sat) are in a separate building across the street.
Getting Around
Murmansk airport is 30km southwest of the city at Murmashi, 40 minutes by bus/marshrutka 106, which departs from directly opposite the bus station (twice or thrice hourly). Frequent trolleybus 6 covers the vast length of Kolsky pr, crosses the city centre on pr Lenina then swings left on ul Karla Libknekhta. For Lake Semyonovskoe and beyond, switch at ul Chelyuskintsev onto trolleybus 2 or 4, coming up from the train station, and alight at Ozero 1 or Ozero 2 bus stops. (There’s no other intermediate stop.)
Useful bus 10 follows Kolsky pr, bypasses the centre on ul Polyarnye Zori and ul Papanina, rejoins the main drag near Lake Semyonovskoe and continues to the naval museum.
AROUND MURMANSK
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Norwegian Border Zone
Photos of northeastern Kola’s mining towns on the Kola Ecogeochemistry (www.ngu.no/Kola/toc.html) website and stories of nuclear detonations used to loosen ore from its permafrost might make you assume that this region is a memorably depressing movie-set apocalypse. That’s true of evil-looking nightmare towns Nikel and Zapolyarnye, but much of the route between Murmansk and Kirkenes (Norway) is a surprisingly delightful drive through rolling tundra and meandering upland streams.
However, since the whole area west of the Titovka café (km107) is classified as a border zone, you’ll have to make do with the views from a vehicle window: no stopping is allowed, no bicycles either. Direct Mumansk–Kirkenes minibuses (Click here) pass right beside Nikel and Zapolyarnye. Non-Russian–registered vehicles may not use the main M18 Nikel–Zapolyarnye road between 11pm and 7am, nor at any time on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday. On those days non-Russian vehicles must divert via Prirechniy, a longer drive involving a rough unpaved section.
VOLOGDA & ARKHANGELSK REGIONS
CRUISING THE ARCTIC
Built to keep northern Russia’s shipping lanes clear, Murmansk’s icebreakers, including four Atomflot nuclear-powered ships, are used in summer for fascinating if predictably pricey summer cruises. Two-week visits to dramatic Franz Josef Land and on through the ice to the North Pole cost from around US$23,000. Don’t expect to arrange things at the last minute. Berths are presold way ahead through (often foreign) adventure-tour operators including Blue Water Holidays (www.cruisingholidays.co.uk), Nordic Travel (www.nordictravel.ru), Quark Expeditions (www.quarkexpeditions.com) and Poseidon (www.northpolevoyages.com). Quark and Arcturus (www.arcturusexpeditions.co.uk) also offer Northeast Passage cruises to/from Alaska.
These vast, seemingly endless regions are given character by a scattering of ancient fortified monasteries and once-grand historic towns. Many were places that time forgot once railways supplanted river transport and St Petersburg replaced Arkhangelsk as Russia’s outlet to the sea. While you won’t find quite the grandeur of the Golden Ring towns, there is a greater sense of discovery here as friendly little places like Totma and Kargopol are only just starting to realise their tourist potential. Note that the Solovetsky Islands, although technically in Arkhangelsk region, are covered in the Karelia & Kola section (Click here) since most travellers visit via Kem. Arkhangelsk is a dynamic, surprisingly cosmopolitan business city but, despite a unique history, it’s not much of an attraction for tourists.
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VOLOGDA ВОЛОГДА
8172 / pop 295,000 / Moscow
This enjoyable provincial city has a remarkable concentration of old (if often ruinous) churches and a fair scattering of 18th- and 19th-century wooden houses. It’s also a useful transport hub for visiting a trio of impressive rural monasteries.
Having taken Moscow’s side against all comers seemingly from its inception, Vologda was rewarded by Ivan the Terrible, who considered the quaint city perhaps worthy of his living there. Vologdians remain steadfast in their belief that the city was a contender for Russian capital. However, having had a grand cathedral built, Ivan changed his mind.
In the 17th century Vologda was an important centre of industry, commerce and arts, with Vologda lace becoming renowned as a luxury item. However, with the development of St Petersburg, Vologda was pushed into the background. At the start of the 20th century, political undesirables like Josef Stalin and religious philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev were exiled here. Nonetheless, for just a few months in 1918, Vologda became the diplomatic capital of Russia, an aspect of its history that is further explained in the Museum of Diplomatic Corps (Click here).
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Orientation
Vologda straddles the Vologda River, with the city centre on the southern side and ul Mira as its main axis. Dom Knigi (723 223; ul Mira 38; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat & Sun) sells some regional and detailed city maps including a useful R55 double street map that also covers Veliky Ustyug.
Information
Guide to Russia (www.mccme.ru/putevod/35/Vologda/vologda.html, in Russian) Extensive background information on Vologda.
Library (251 867; ul Ulyanovoy 1; 10am-8pm Mon-Thu, 10am-6pm Sat & Sun) For internet (per hour R40) turn right as you enter this grand old building.
Main Post office (Sovetsky pr 4; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm Sat, 9am-6pm Sun)
Sberbank (ul Lenina 1 & ul Mira 74) and Severgazbank (ul Blagoveshchenskaya 3) change money and have 24-hour ATMs.
NOW THAT’S REALLY BORING!
Unappealing Zapolyarnye is the site of the world’s deepest artificial hole. The superdeep borehole (
Severo-Zapadny Telekom (ul Ulyanovoy 8; 8am-10pm) Public phone office with internet (per hour R54) and ATM.
Vologda Oblast (www.vologda-oblast.ru)Government-run site.
Sights & Activities
ST SOFIA’S CATHEDRAL
Powerful five-domed St Sofia’s Cathedral (adult/concession/camera R60/30/50; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun, service 9am) has a soaring interior fully covered with beautiful 1680s frescoes which, to some untutored eyes, look more attractive than the more famous Unesco-listed ones at Ferapontovo (Click here). The astonishingly tall iconostasis is filled with darkly brooding saintly portraiture.
The cathedral is said to have been built on the direct orders of Ivan the Terrible. Ivan’s ruthlessness at Novgorod (where he sacked his own city and fried citizens alive in large pans made specially for the occasion) was known throughout Russia. So the Vologda workers jumped: the massive stone cathedral Ivan wanted was erected in just two years (1568–70). And they worked only in summer.
But haste, of course, makes waste. Local legend has it that Ivan, upon walking into St Sofia’s for the first time, was struck on the head by a tile that had been grouted to the ceiling without due care. Ivan stormed out, never to return, and the cathedral was finally consecrated only after the feisty tsar’s death.
Climbing St Sofia’s separate 78.5m, gold-topped bell tower (Kolokolnya; adult/concession/camera R60/30/50; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun) offers novel, photogenic views down upon the cathedral’s grand onion domes.
KREMLIN
Vologda’s modest but attractive kremlin (Arkhiyereysky dvor, Archbishop’s Courtyard; admission free; 9am-5.30pm) is the city’s historical centrepiece, a 17th-century fortified enclosure built as a church administrative centre to accompany St Sofia’s Cathedral next door. Several of the sub-buildings now house museums (722 511; 10am-5pm Wed-Sun). Most compelling of these is the extensive Kraevedchesky Museum (admission R40) in the 17th century Gavriilovsky Korpus. Beyond all the stuffed mammals (go on, make that bear growl) is a rich prehistory section including a 3500-year-old lady skeleton clasping at her modesty. Look for the Hieronymus Bosch–like 1721 painting Strashny Sud, in which demons, angels and endless salmon-pink humanoids fight out the final tribulations of eternity.
On the east side of the main courtyard, the Art Section (admission R50) starts with an odd collection of Muppet-style dolls before getting down to business with some truly first-class icons.
A strikingly modern new Lace Museum (admission R50) in the northeast corner includes some large examples of this archetypal Vologda craft with fun Communist-era examples incorporating tractors and hammer-and-sickle symbols. Downstairs are examples of local silvercraft.
Just outside the Kremlin enclosure, the spired pale-blue Alexander Nevsky Church and the amply domed 1776 Resurrection Cathedral (Voskresenskiy Sobor; ul Kremlevskaya 3) add photogenic foreground to Kremlin views, and the latter houses an art gallery (Russian/foreigner R30/50) of regularly changing exhibits.
CITY CENTRE
Where ul Pobedy and ul Mira meet is a commercial district of attractive neoclassical buildings surveyed by a Lenin statue who looks like he’s trying to remember the lyrics of a song. A smaller Lenin near the Church of St John the Baptist (1710–17), on equally grand pl Revolyutsi, was reputedly the first ever erected in the USSR (1924).
WORLD OF FORGOTTEN THINGS
One of several fine old wooden buildings at the northern end of Leningradskaya houses this lovable little museum (251 417; ul Leningradskaya 6; adult/concession R30/15, with tour in Russian R40; 10am-5pm Wed-Sun) evoking the life of a 19th century, 17-child middle-class family. Amid portraits and old dolls are musical boxes and an old gramophone that still plays. A selection of beautiful photos showcase other examples of Vologda’s historic wooden architecture.
MUSEUM OF DIPLOMATIC CORPS
This unusual two-room museum (722 002; ul Gertsena 35; admission R20; 8.30am-5.30pm Mon-Fri, 9am-4pm Sat) chronicles a little-known blip in WWI history. In February 1918, with the Germans approaching Petrograd, Allied ambassadors were ordered to evacuate. US ambassador David Francis suggested simply relocating. Studying a map, he chose Vologda. Other embassies followed his lead, the French, Italian and Serbian ministries sharing a luxury rail carriage parked in Vologda station. That proved handy since in July all the embassies decamped again to Arkhangelsk. The eclectic and impressively researched exhibit has some notes in English and is housed in the former US embassy, a tired if once-grand timber house with a four-pillar wooden portico.
PETER THE GREAT HOUSE-MUSEUM
First opened in 1885, Vologda’s oldest museum (752 759; Sovetsky pr 47; admission R30; 10am-1pm & 2-5pm Wed-Sun) is a tiny late-17th-century stone house that supposedly hosted Tsar Peter I during his visits to Vologda. Exhibits include Peter’s death mask and red tunic, underlining his remarkable height. The riverside garden outside, site of a church demolished in 1937, is a popular beer-swigging hangout at sunset.
NORTH BANK
The Vologda River’s little-visited north bank has a patchy minor charm. Dmitri Prilytskogo Church (nab VI Armii 121) has pretty star-spangled domes, and the splendid 1669 Nikolaya Church (ul Gogolya 110) has oversized domes that almost seem to grow together. Several other potentially fabulous old churches lie in various stages of neglect, notably the run-down 1731 Stretenskaya Church (nab VI Armii 85) with kremlin views through the cow parsley. So many once-fine log houses in this area have been rendered as charred wrecks that one is tempted to believe conspiracy theories about pyromaniac land-developers.
SPASO-PRILUTSKY MONASTERY
Don’t miss this active 14th-century monastery (549 275; Zheleznodorozhnaya ul; admission free; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat, 11am-5pm Sun) built in a splendid cacophony of architectural styles. Painted in circus-tent stripes, its powerful fortress towers reflect photogenically in the river, best viewed from the nearby railway bridge. Visitors may explore the western half of the compound including a partial rampart walk and entry to parts of the five-domed 16th-century Transfiguration Cathedral (Spaso-Preobrazhensky sobor). Behind is the single-spired wooden Dormition Church (Uspenskaya tserkov) built in 1519.
The site is 4km north of town. Many buses pass nearby, including number 75, 84, 88 and 91 from the stations via the Kameny Most stop (ul Mira) and buses 101–103 from Ribnoryadskiy Most stop. In summer pleasure cruises meander up the river (R300 return) from central Vologda, departing at noon, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm.
SEMYONOVKA
This open-air museum (761 451) featuring historical wooden architecture is 12km up the Vytegra road (bus 107). It was under partial reconstruction at the time of research. Call ahead to check if it has reopened.
Tours
Marina Barandina (757 040 evenings & weekends) speaks decent English, knows lots about Vologda’s history and offers tailor-made city tours for around R350 per hour, but only at weekends.
Sleeping
Resting Rooms (komnaty otdykha; 798 238; Train station; dm R350/700) Neat, clean dorm beds above the train station’s left-luggage section. Six-hour stays cost half the rate.
Hotel Vologda (723 079; ul Mira 92; s/d without bathroom R408/576, Kat I s/d from R644/980, fully renovated r s/d R1532/2080, lyux s/d R3308/4120) Behind what appears to be a neatly modernised facade beats a very Soviet heart with disdainful front-desk staff and (much jollier) floor ladies guarding gloomy, ageing corridors. Rooms are a mixed bag. The cheapest rooms (called ‘Kat I’) have unlovely bathrooms and battered old furniture, but the mid-range versions (single/double R932/1144) are good value for money, not luxurious but with decently part-renovated interiors.
Hotel Sputnik (722 752; Puteyskaya ul 14; s/d without bathroom from R700/1050, s/d with bathroom from R1100/1700) Popular with local school groups, the cheapest rooms have new doors hiding ragged old rooms. For now the communal toilets offer only the barest minimum of privacy, but major reconstruction is under way. Four storeys but no lift.
Hotel Spasskaya (720 145; Oktyabrskaya ul 25; www.spasskaya.ru; s R1400-2100, d R1400/1900, ste 2600/3000, lyux from R4300/5000; pi) The Spasskaya wins on entertainment, amenities and location and 9th-floor rooms have fine views towards the kremlin. Standard rooms don’t hide their Soviet pedigree but are larger and more pleasant than many equivalents elsewhere. Showers pour straight onto the bathroom floors. Suites are considerably better, though oddly proportioned. Some English is spoken.
Hotel PVO (Hotel Pravitelstva Vologodskoi Oblast; 720 732; ul Kozlyonskaya 8; s/d from R2000/2500) Central but institutional and often full of travelling bureaucrats.
Nikolaevskiy Hotel Club (512 299; http://hotel.nikolaevskiy.ru; Kostromskaya ul 14; s/d R2400/3700;pi) Neutrally modern rooms are in the style of an underdecorated chain hotel, but the sauna–gym complex (R1000 per hour extra) is impressive and the restaurant’s rather grand. Wi-fi and breakfast are included. It’s 4km out of the centre: get off trolleybus 1 at Kostromskaya stop (89/91 Leningradskaya) then walk eight minutes west.
Hotel Angliter (762 436; ul Lermontova 23; www.angliter.ru; s R3100-4800, d R1400/1900, ste 2600/3000, lyux from R4300/5000; pi) With tirelessly helpful multilingual staff and a super-central location, this very comfortable boutique hotel is Vologda’s top choice even if the crystal lamps, plush fabrics and pseudo-antique walnut-inlay furniture are more showy than classy.
Eating
Kafe Lesnaya Skazka (Sovetsky pr 10; mains R75-165; 11am-1am) Filling if hardly gourmet, the soup–salad–fishcake set ‘biznes lunches’ cost only R90 in this modest but friendly little café part of which occupies a 1911 former chapel.
Zhar Pizza (721 066; ul Kozlyonskya 33; pizzas R65-160; 11am-11pm Sun-Thu, 11am-2am Fri & Sat) Popular in summer for (rather bready) pizza served on a garden terrace that’s partly protected from road noise by trees and a glassed-in summerhouse.
Ogorod (pr Pobedy 10; mains R80-140; 8.30am-11pm) Warmly attractive café that keeps prices low by serving meals cafeteria-style. There’s a second branch beneath a 24-hour supermarket at ul Gertsena 20.
Hausbrandt Cafe (724 344; ul Mira 9; pizzas R65-160; 9am-4am) Central Vologda’s most appealing café-restaurant is constantly bustling with shopping families and relaxed young professionals. Plate-lickingly good Florentine tagliatelle in bacon-and-cream sauce is nicely complemented by the mildly peppery Chilean house wine (R130 per glass).
Puzatiy Patsyuk (752 255; Sovetsky pr 80; mains R200-350; 9am-4am) This well-executed rustic-effect nostalgia restaurant serves top-notch food including duck in a wonderfully tart apple-and-cowberry sauce (kachka s yablykami). The menu (in Ukrainian with Russian translations) is amusingly presented like a tsarist-era police report. At weekend evenings there’s a R50 cover charge.
Restoran Spassky (726 224; Hotel Spasskaya; mains R280-650) Good-value weekday lunch buffets (R250) at this otherwise pricey hotel restaurant include seven main courses, a salad bar and help-yourself juices.
Self-catering options:
Alleya Supermarket (Zosimovskaya ul 99; 24hr) Open all night.
Central Market (ul Batyushkova 3A; 7.15am-7pm Tue-Sun, 7.15am-4pm Mon)
Oasis Supermarket (Oasis Mall, ul Mira; 9am-10pm) Large and very Western.
Drinking & Entertainment
TNT nightclub (790 050; Hotel Spasskaya; 8pm-6am) Different ambiences on different nights (cover charge varies) with separate billiard room and tenpin bowling (790 059) for R300 to R700 per lane per hour (open 11am to 5am).
Kafe Kuba (ul Lenina 14; cocktails R100-250, mains R180-330; 11am-2am) Great Latin-themed cocktail-bar–café offering a wide choice of cigars, water pipes and tequilas on three floors: upstairs is more interesting. Decent coffee from a mock-’50s espresso-brewer.
Philharmonia (724 921; www.volfilarmonia.ru; ul Lermontova 21) As well as its vibrant program of mostly classical music (October to May), the Philharmonia also organises a two-week festival of open-air concerts at the Kremlin (June).
Shopping
Vologodskie Suveniry (Kremelskaya pl 8; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat) sells classic kruzhevo (Vologda lace), colourful lacquerware, painted wooden trays and delicately carved birchwood items. There’s a second branch on ul Mira at ul Chekova.
Getting There & Away
Air and train tickets are sold at Aviatur (557 619; 2nd fl, bus station; 8am-6pm), Seson (722 759; ul Mira 9; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat & Sun) and in the Hotel Spasskaya.
AIR
The Vologda airline (790 733, 793 232; www.vologda.ru/~avia; airport) flies thrice weekly to/from Moscow Vnukovo (R2100 to R3600, 1¼ hours), and to Veliky Ustyug (R1100, one hour) once or twice a month.
Cherepovets (Click here) has somewhat better air connections.
BUS
Some services from the bus station (750 452; pl Babushkina 10) are shown in the table, below.
TRAIN
VOLOGDA BUS SERVICES
From the train station (720 643; pl Babushkina 8) around seven daily services run to Moscow (8½ to 9½ hours) of which train 59 at 9.10pm (platskart/kupe R815/2024) is the best-timed overnighter. Day-train 375 departing at 6.28am is much cheaper (obshchii/platskart R340/518) and offers the best value of numerous options for reaching Yaroslavl (obshchii/platskart R230/390, 4½ hours).
In summer up to five trains run overnight to St Petersburg (platskart/kupe from R615/1545, 12 to 13 hours).
For Arkhangelsk, train 16 (platskart/kupe R663/1630) leaves at 6.30pm, arriving at 6.24am. Train 374 to Murmansk (platskart/kupe R1155/3015, 37 hours) leaves at 2.40pm on even-numbered days (daily in summer). Kotlas train 376 (platskart/kupe R579/1435, 12½ hours) leaves at 10.05pm and arrives at Yadrikha (for Veliky Ustyug) at 9.24am.
Getting Around
From the train station trolleybuses 1 and 4 run up ul Mira; number 4 continues north while number 1 turns left on Oktyabrskaya, doubling back down Leningradskaya near the Spasskaya Hotel. Minibus 84 runs frequently to the airport from outside the bus station, passing very close to the monastery. Bus 6 takes Zosimovskaya then heads west along Gertsena.
CHEREPOVETS 
8202 / pop 312,000 / Moscow
This big, lumbering steel city can be a useful transport hub, especially if you’re heading to or from Belozersk (right). If stuck for an hour or two between connections, try jumping on eastbound bus 202 from the bus/train station square to its Sovetsky pr city-centre terminus. Here the Resurrection Cathedral has golden rose-hip–shaped bulb domes and an interior with some excellent murals and a dazzling iconostasis. Sovetsky pr, the main commercial street, is given character by a decent sprinkling of semiclassical, log and timber buildings as far north as the pr Pobedy junction, where the post office (Sovetsky pr 98; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri) has internet access (per hour R48). On the other end of town, at the bottom of the slope behind the Resurrection Cathedral, the wooden river station has no regular ferries but is a picturesque construction redolent of olde-worlde Louisiana.
The most central accommodation is tiny Hotel Voskresenskaya (511 108; www.angliter.ru/voskr.htm; Sovetsky pr; s/d from R2000/2400) with several decent cafés nearby. Bulkin (Sovetsky pr 64b; coffee R50-80, pastries from R15; 24hr) brews excellent Americanos.
Flights to Moscow, St Petersburg and Helsinki via Petrozavodsk are operated by Severstal Airlines (646 401; http://airport.cpv.ru/avia.shtml) from the airport (Vologda Hwy km115/416).
From the bus station (555 133; www.cherinfo.ru/?pid=617, in Russian) six buses run daily to Belozersk. Useful overnight trains include number 687 to St Petersburg (7½ hours, 9.57pm), number 126 to Moscow (11½ hours, 10pm) and number 388 to Yadrikha (13½ hours, 7.12pm) for Veliky Ustyug (bypassing Vologda).
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THE VOLGA–BALTIC ROUTE
The most popular sites in Vologda region are monasteries and historic towns close to the Volga–Baltic Waterway, a network of rivers, lakes and canals along which major freighters and numerous tourist cruise boats sail between Moscow and St Petersburg.
Even if you’re not on a cruise, the new Vytegra–Petrozavodsk hydrofoil link across Lake Onega makes it much easier than ever before for independent travellers to visit Kirillov and Ferapontovo (or Belozersk) en route between Vologda (or Cherepovets) and Petrozavodsk.
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Belozersk Белозерск
81756 / pop 11,000 / Moscow
If you like rough-edged, undiscovered small towns, historic Belozersk might appeal. It comes to life during the Belo-ozero Festival (921-541 1545) on the second weekend of July, when there are medieval-costumed performances at the Belo Ozero lakeside and the kremlin ramparts.
HISTORY
Though it claims foundation in AD 862 and was briefly a quasi-independent principality in the 13th century, the town moved to its present site only in 1363. Ruined by 17th-century Polish and Lithuanian raids, Belozersk gained renewed prosperity in the 19th century when a secondary canal was built just 30m back from the lake shore to allow small boats passage when bad weather made crossing the open lake too dangerous.
SIGHTS
Kremlin
Two minutes’ walk north from the bus station (ul Karla Marksa 65) is a Viking-style boat memorial, a useful town map and a brick bridge. This leads across a marshy moat into the former kremlin whose wooden-stockaded walls have long since disappeared but whose prominent circle of grassy ramparts remain Belozersk’s most notable feature. They enclose a pretty pond and a sparse, oddball collection of buildings including the 1670 Transfiguration Cathedral (Spaso-Preobrazhensky Sobor; admission R30; 10am-1pm & 2-5pm) with its unusually ‘Catholic’-style late-18th-century icono-stasis. At the charming, one-room Russkaya Izba Museum (Val 1; Russian/foreigner R20/50; 10am-1pm & 2-5pm), mementos of prerevolutionary life are less interesting than the family atmosphere and the chance to pose for photos dressed up in peasant costumes.
Other sights
A block northeast of the Viking boat is Belozersk’s tatty main square featuring a little Lenin and a Local History Museum (admission R20; 10am-1pm & 2-5pm) whose main exhibit is a model showing how Belozersk looked in the 18th century. It’s in one of the town’s 13 decapitated churches, though at first glace you’d never notice. Three blocks north, just beyond Hotel Rus, is the photogenic Spasa-Vsemilostivogo Church (ul Dzerzhinskogo 8) whose bell tower (Kolokolnya; admission R20) can be climbed. Get the key from the Orlov Museum (10am-1pm & 2-5pm), the rustic former home of locally celebrated poet Sergey Orlov (1921–77), next door.
Half a block north a swing-bridge crosses the canal to the lakeside, but for the surprisingly sandy beach don’t cross here. Instead take nab Georgievskogo six blocks west along the canal side and use the next bridge. South of that point is the sweet, wooden 1690 Church of St Elijah with its three-tiered log tower.
Two blocks east of the bus station, behind the Bogoyavleniya Chapel, the five-domed 1553 Assumption Church is the town’s oldest and sports a superb if largely unrestored eight-stage iconostasis.
SLEEPING & EATING
Hotel Rus (21 186; ul Dzerzhinskogo 18a; s/d/tr R750/1000/1200) New wallpaper has been haphazardly pasted onto the old Soviet-era walls of this typically simple two-storey hotel. Still, it’s very central and bearable for a night, and even the cheapest singles have a toilet and shower of sorts.
Turbaza Rechnoy Vokzal (26 262; www.cultinfo.ru/tourism/bel-rechnoi: Naberezhnaya 80; s/d/tr R900/1200/1500) Not a turbaza at all, this is in fact a new but unsigned hotel: it’s the red-roofed building in the trees at the far western end of Naberezhnaya, just beyond the bridge to the lake beach. Singles are rather cramped with slightly saggy beds, but all the new, unsophisticated rooms are a definite step up from the Rus’s.
Both hotels have very functional dining rooms. The Stolovaya Botsmana (mains R25-60, beer R30; 10am-10pm) beside the port and beach is no more glamorous.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Buses run to Cherepovets (R156, 2½ hours), Vologda (R289, 4½ hours) and Vytegra (R297, departing 10.20am on even-numbered days). On Tuesday and Thursday through buses leave for Kirillov at 2pm. On most other days there’s a 5.10pm bus to the river ferry with a connecting service to Kirillov from the far bank.
SPIRITUAL SEEKER: VALERIY SOCHEVANOV
Many cynics consider dowsing (water-divining) to be New Age nonsense or a disproved archaic notion. However, some scientists believe that sensitive humans can use the technique to detect minute variations in magnetic fields. Valeriy Sochevanov, a leading Russian ‘bio-location expert’, originally trained as a geologist but found that he had dowsing talents. ‘I really could find water,’ he remembers ‘…and oil and gold too! Then it occurred to me to use the technique to investigate human and spiritual energies.’ He has since travelled widely to sacred sites from Mexican pyramids to Glastonbury (‘Avebury has more power’). Recently he started measuring the spiritual power of Vologda region’s many Christian and pagan holy sites and examining the effects that visiting such places has on individuals’ personal energy fields. ‘With truly great sites, we are finding that visitors’ auras become much stronger after a visit,’ he claimed, and showed me various curious ‘proofs’. So maybe pilgrimage really can have a scientifically tangible benefit!
Where does he consider the most powerful site in Vologda? ‘Ah! Between Kirillov and Goritsy there are two hills. One has a communications tower on top. The other has a small shrine. Climb that second one and sit a while. That’ll sort out your chakras!’
Kirillov Кириллов
81757 / pop 17,000 / Moscow
This lakeside town, 130km northwest of Vologda, is dominated by the gigantic Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery Complex (31 479; behind ul Gagarina 104; 9am-8.30pm), once one of Russia’s most powerful (see www.novodev.narod.ru/kirillov/kirillov2.html).
Entering is free but, within, countless exhibition rooms and partly restored churches (approx 9am-5pm) each charge R30 to R80 admission, so costs quickly mount up. For a photogenic overview of the ensemble you can walk a section of the massive, three-storey fortress walls (Russian/foreigner R10/40) that surround it.
While the vast scale of the monastery is undoubtedly impressive, an off-putting commercial atmosphere reigns thanks to endless coachloads of cruise-boat tourists. Those boats dock 7km west of town near the 1544 Goritsy Convent, where two wives of Ivan the Terrible were once exiled.
From the monastery walk three blocks north up Gagarina then turn right to find the Hotel & Restaurant Rus (31 539; ul Uritskogo 8; s/d without bathroom R520/1000, s/d with bathroom R1420/1940). It’s nicer than dreary first impressions would suggest, with most rooms now professionally renovated. Still, singles are cramped, locks are temperamental and the colour scheme isn’t especially tasteful.
There’s a very cheap stolovaya behind the bus station.
The bus station (31 333; ul Gagarina) is located four blocks south of the monastery. Buses run seven times daily to Vologda (R178.50, 2¾ hours, last at 6.55pm), and there are four daily to Cherepovets (R156, 2½ hours). For Goritsy (R12, 15 minutes), buses depart at 7.20am and 11.55am, returning 15 minutes after arrival. For Belozersk, there’s a through bus at 10.40am on Tuesday and Thursday that crosses the free river ferry. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday it is possible to take the 7am Kosino bus (50 minutes) to the periprava (ferry crossing) and connect with a second bus on the far side. Taxis will want around R900 to make the whole Kirillov–Belozersk trip (including ferry crossing).
For Ferapontovo direct buses run at 8.30am and 2pm on Tuesday and Thursday or take the Cherepovets–Vytegra bus, which passes within 2km, departing Kirillov at 10.40am on odd-numbered days.
Ferapontovo Ферапонтово
81757 / pop 500 / Moscow
Two pretty lakes almost meet in the centre of tranquil Ferapontovo village overlooked by the well-preserved 1398 Ferapontovo Monastery (49 261; 9.30am-5pm, till 8pm summer). Largely rebuilt in 1640 and a museum since 1924, the monastery retains its famed 1502 frescoes (www.dionisy.com/dionisy/38/, in Russian; adult/pensioner/student/child R130/40/35/20), painted by medieval superstar-artist Dionysius. He reputedly did the whole lot in an amazingly quick 34 days. They do indeed look rather hurried but that didn’t stop Unesco giving them World Heritage status in 2000. Note that, to protect them, the museum closes on humid days. The ticket also allows access to three other display rooms including a vaulted chamber with an ethnographic section dominated by a remarkable collection of decorated pryalky (L-shaped wool-carding paddles). A separate ticket (adult/pensioner/student/child R50/30/25/20) is required for an art gallery featuring changing exhibits.
Ten minutes’ walk west then south from the monastery is the attractive wooden Nilasorskova Church.
The village looks especially lovely at sunset, but with the only hotel and café closed and derelict, the nearest formal accommodation is in Kirillov.
Ferapontovo is 1.5km south of the Vologda–Vytegra road, 20km northeast of Kirillov. From Vologda take rare buses bound for Lipin Bor (9.30am), Vytegra or Petrozavodsk and walk into the village from the Ferapontovo turnoff (R162.80, 2½ hours). Lipin Bor–Kirillov–Cherepovets buses pick up passengers here around noon. Otherwise to Kirillov the only public transport is the local bus that runs at 9.05am and 2.35pm on Tuesday and Thursday. Ferapontovo has no taxis but the monastery staff can call you one from Kirillov (R150). Wait for it outside the grocery shop on Ferapontovo’s main square.
Vytegra Вытегра
81746 / pop 11,000 / Moscow
Founded in 1773, Vytegra grew up around the main lock gates by which the Volga–Baltic Waterway descends to Lake Onega. The new hydrofoil service across Lake Onega from Petrozavodsk arrives through these lock gates and docks directly opposite the fascinating Submarine Museum (Muzey Podvodnaya Lodka B-440; 26 729; www.plb-440.narod.ru; Russian/foreigner/camera R110/170/50; 9am-4.40pm) where you can explore a retired Soviet-era B440 sub. The museum’s ticket booth sells useful town maps (R25).
Directly west, pr Pobedy leads 300m north to a war memorial passing the very limited Local Studies Museum (Kraevedchesky Muzey; 26 759; pr Pobedy 4; admission R30; 10am-5pm Sun-Fri) whose most interesting exhibit shows how fishbones were used to decorate prehistoric pottery.
West of the war memorial ul Rosy Lyuxemburg (aka ul Suvorovskaya) leads 700m to the bus station (left luggage R35), which is beside the 1873 Stretenskaya Church. The church’s interior is plain but its five metal onion domes look impressive when viewed from pr Lenina across the old canal.
Descending from the church, before crossing the bridge to pr Lenina, take an unsurfaced track to the right where the main road curves. A short way down the track overlooking a park and waterway is an attractive little mill hut hosting the Northern Waterways Museum (Muzey Vodniye puti Severa; ul Sadovaya 1; admission R30; 10am-noon & 2pm-4.30pm) charting the development of the Volga–Baltic route.
At the north end of the park, pr Lenina is the main commercial street. Directly behind pr Lenina 62, Hotel Vytegra (21 182; ul Lunacharskogo 4; dm/s/tw R450/1000/1500) is not stylish, but interior timber cladding freshens things up a little and most rooms have private bathrooms with half-length tubs.
For very inexpensive stolovaya-style food try to decipher the handwritten menu at Kafe Izurua (behind pr Lenina 56; mains R20-40; 9am-11pm).
In summer 2008 Petrozavodsk–Vytegra hydrofoil services (R750, 2½ hours) operated on Friday and Sunday. This connection is the main incentive to travel via Vytegra but it cannot be 100% guaranteed that the service will be repeated in future years. Buses to Petrozavodsk (R263, 6½ hours) via the south side of Lake Onega leave at 11.15am daily plus at 1.50pm on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. A much slower 3am bus on Sunday (R450, 10 hours) runs run via the east coast and Pudozh (2¾ hours, R108).
To Vologda (R422, seven hours) buses leave at 8am daily plus at 1.50pm on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday and at 5.45pm on Friday. All pass within 2km of Ferapontovo (4½ hours, R272).
In summer, useful 9am buses bound for Cherepovets (R455) run via Kirillov (R400, 5½ hours) on even-numbered days or via Belozersk (R6½ hours) on odd-numbered days. In winter frequency reduces.
There’s no bus to Kargopol, not even an asphalt road (as yet).
TOTMA 
81739 / pop 10,500 / Moscow
Historic little Totma was founded before 1137 and makes an intriguing short stop along the Vologda–Veliky Ustyug route. From the bus station the town centre is four blocks south down ul Belousovskaya. But half way, it’s better to turn right along ul Kirova. Straight ahead you’ll see the soaring 1794 Morekhodov Church (22 490; ul Kirova 15; Russian/foreigner/foreign student R20/60/30) bristling with top-heavy red roofs, black domes and golden crosses like a Terry Gilliam galleon sailing towards you. The church was used as a vodka factory in the Soviet era, and a hunk of old bottling machinery forms the centrepiece of a small exhibition room that otherwise celebrates Totma’s marine heritage.
That surprising theme makes more sense when you’ve seen the Kushkova Museum (Museum of Russian America; Chkalovskiy Per 10; Russian/foreigner R20/60 10am-5pm Sun-Fri), a block south down ul Lenina beyond the beautifully proportioned Church of Christ (Rozhdestva Khristova Church). The museum occupies a small log house that was the birthplace of Ivan Kuskov (1765–1823). Kuskov was an unlikely wooden-legged explorer of Alaska who went on to found Fort Ross, California. Fort Ross remained a thriving Russian settlement until sold in 1841 to the famous Gold Rush pioneer John Sutter.
Backtrack to Morekhodov Church then curve west along unpaved ul Babushkina. After about 15 minutes’ walk a small bridge across a gurgling brook leads into a meadow backed by the partly derelict remains of the once very grand Sumorin Saviour Monastery. Its neoclassical Transfiguration Cathedral (Voznesensky Sobor) has a fine columned portico but has yet to be fully restored.
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Sleeping & Eating
Turbaza Monastyrskie Keli (22 796; Spasko Sumorinov Monastery; s/d/tr/q R300/400/600/800) Predominantly occupied by local students, this thick-walled old monastery building has very simple rooms sharing basic bathrooms (shower R25).
Hotel Rassvet (23 154; ul Kirova 12; s/d/tr from R720/1020/1200) Right beside Morekhodov Church, the two-storey Rassvet looks more like an ageing office building than a hotel. Most of the cosmetically repapered rooms have a tap. Better rooms have showers and water heaters. Toilets are shared but new and very clean.
Hotel Varnitsy (24 288; s/d/tr from R1300/1600/2400) Fresh modern rooms with light pine furniture and private bathrooms on the 3rd floor of a new building right beside the bus station. Downstairs you’ll find a supermarket and Totma’s best restaurant, the pseudo-rustic Pechki-Lavochki (open 11am to midnight; mains R100–215).
Kafe Lyubava (ul Belousovskaya 16; mains R23-53; 11am-4pm daily & 6pm-midnight Wed-Sat; ) Pleasantly bright for a cheap diner with a simple daily-changing hand-written menu.
Getting There & Away
Buses to Vologda (R319, 4½ hours) leave at least nine times daily between 6am and 3.30pm. A bus leaves for Veliky Ustyug (R371, 4¾ hours) at 2pm.
VELIKY USTYUG
ВЕЛИКИЙ УСТЮГ
81738 / pop 33,400 / Moscow
This attractive historical town was a forgotten backwater till 1998 when, for obscure reasons, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov declared Veliky Ustyug to be the official home of Ded Moroz. He gave the town a large sum of money, and said ‘Make it so.’ Ded Moroz (Father Frost) is the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus.
Father Frost festivals create several ‘high seasons’, notably around his ‘birthday’ (18 November), 5 July, the weeks leading up to New Year, and other Russian holidays. Book ahead at such times.
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History
Ustyug was founded in 1147 at a key river junction, making it an important transport and trade port in the days before railways. In the latter 17th century, its importance was underlined with the ‘honour’ of being called ‘Veliky’ (great). Bypassed by the railway, it declined rapidly in the 19th century but, until the 1917 revolution, four monasteries and 27 churches still prickled its skies with spires. Most were desecrated during the Soviet era and, despite limited restoration, many are still used for banal civic purposes today.
Orientation & Information
Dotted with historic buildings, main streets Naberezhnaya, ul Krasnaya and Sovetsky pr (Uspenskaya) parallel one another and the wide Sukhona River.
With weird Jurassic Park decor, Kafe Vodoley (23 478; Krasny per 13; internet per hr R55, mains R80-160, beer R48; 10am-3am) is an internet café that, for once, really is a café. It sells soft toys too.
There are ATMs at the Prestizh supermarket (ul Krasnaya 110; 24hr) and Sberbank (ul Krasnaya 124), which changes euros and US dollars.
Sights & Activities
A good central starting point for exploring the town’s historic centre is Ded Moroz’s part-time ‘residence’ (20 432; Sovetsky pr 85; 9am-6pm) where the Russian Santa shows up at festival times. There’s a ‘throne room’ (admission R45) and a lacklustre exhibition room (admission R10), but much more interesting (and free) is the cute log-built Pochta Deda Moroza (Father Frost Post Office; per Oktyabrsky 8; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat, 10am-3pm Sun) next door. Here sacks and boxes overflow with letters from children all over Russia (and beyond) that are all sorted and dutifully answered. Some quip that it’s the most efficient post office in Russia.
WHITE BEARD NOT ALWAYS REQUIRED
It’s not just Russia’s Santa that comes from Veliky Ustyug. Townsfolk here are particularly proud of many real-life human citizens too. Local boy Semyon Dezhnev (1605–1673) was the Siberian explorer whose perilous icy voyages proved that Russia and Alaska aren’t connected. Russia’s easternmost point was belatedly named after him. Another VU hero is teenage sailor Sergey Preminin whose Soviet nuclear submarine, K219, floundered in Atlantic waters during October 1986. The USSR claimed it had been hit by the American submarine USS Augusta. Whatever the cause of its problems, the fact that K219 didn’t become as infamous as Chernobyl was largely thanks to Preminin’s heroic, if suicidal, manual shut-down of the sub’s damaged reactor.
Almost opposite the residence is the fine 1658 Dormition Cathedral (Uspensky sobor; Sovetsky pr 84). Climb the disproportionately tall bell tower (adult/student R25/15; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun) for terrific views. On the cathedral’s west side is a statue of Arctic explorer Semyon Dezhnev (see boxed text, opposite) while, to its direct south, St Procopio’s Cathedral (Tserkov Prokopiya Pravednogo; ul Naberezhnaya 57) has a stone purported to grant your wish if you sit on it, clear your mind, and look at the church complex across the wide, unbridged river. At sunset peaceable gaggles of artists, fishermen, lovers and wobbly old pensioners dot the wide sweep of grassy river-front serenaded by cooing pigeons.
Numerous other historic buildings throughout the old centre can be visited on guided excursions (R150 per person) organised through the State Historical, Architectural & Art Museum-Reserve (23 576; Dom Usova, ul Naberezhnaya 64; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun), headquartered in a pale-pink, 18th-century riverside mansion, two blocks southeast.
Around 500m further on, the 1648 Ascension Church (Tserkov Vozneseniya; 23 405; Sovetsky pr 84; Russian/foreigner R50/75; 10am-noon & 1-5pm Tue-Sat) sports a riot of small gables, arches and domes, while within there’s a glorious iconostasis.
FATHER FROST’S ESTATE
Like a low-budget theme park for Russian kids, Votchina Deda Moroza (52 111; adult/child R170/120; 10am-5pm) is a hilarious festival of kitsch. It’s supposedly Father Frost’s forest-bound home, and costumed staff somehow manage to keep a remarkably straight face as they play along with the farcical premise. Visits start with a forest stroll through the Trapa Skazok (admission R90) where a sparklingly witty bunny-girl leads you through ‘wishes’, little games and exercises: great fun for children but all in Russian. Then there’s Dom Deda Moroza (House of Father Frost; tours per person R100, photos R30). This large wooden house attempts a ‘fairy-tale atmosphere’, but the reality stumbles somewhere between museum and silly glitz-fest where guests must endure over-lengthy tours of all 12 rooms. Gasp at DM’s Liberace-style wardrobe. Observe the pyramid of seven, progressively smaller pillows on his bed (one for each day of the week). Dutifully admire the presents he’s received (shouldn’t he be giving?!)… Finally a fanfare announces the arrival of Ded Moroz himself, very tall, red-clad and as luxuriantly white-bearded as you’d hope. He proceeds to hand out presents and hugs to visiting kids, but adult male visitors receive nothing more than a painfully strong nutcracker handshake.
Full-entry package tickets (adult/child R365/315) include all of the above plus the right to be photographed with Father Frost.
The ‘estate’ also has a hotel, a children’s camp, a reasonably priced café and a small but expanding zoo. It’s 12km west of Veliky Ustyug, R120 by taxi. At 2.15pm you could head back to town on the exceedingly rare bus 122 (R21).
Sleeping
In addition to the places reviewed here, there are several out-of-town hotels for visitors who are driving or on a tour.
Hotel Sukhona (22 552; fax 21025; Krasny per 12; s/d without bathroom from R450/525, s/d with bathroom R1248/1500). An antiseptic odour and antiquated LED clock hint that the Sukhona’s renovations are only skin deep. Corridors are neat if unadorned. Rooms are clean enough but with tiger-striped blankets, uneven floors and road noise. Ring the black bell to call the dezhurnaya (floor lady) for your key.
Hotel Veliky Ustyug (26 766; Krasnoarmeyskaya 15; s/d/tr/polu-lux/lux R900/1800/2400/2800/4000) Central Veliky Ustyug’s newest and most appealing option has very professional staff. There’s an attractive pseudo-olde lobby, and rooms are smart if unexotically furnished. Single rooms share bathrooms between pairs. The hotel is between ul Krasnaya and Sovetsky pr, one block north of Krasny per.
Hotel Dvina (20 348; www.hotel-dvina.ru; ul Krasnaya 104; s/d/tr/q R1200/1600/1950/2600) Friendly and fairly cosy despite hypnotically over-patterned wallpaper, most of the Dvina’s rooms are decent-sized and almost all have water heaters (in other hotels centralised hot water is turned off in June). A handful of cheaper singles (R1100) share bathrooms.
Eating
Hotel Dvina’s pub-style café is pleasant while Hotel Veliky Ustyug’s fancy-looking restaurant (R50 cover) is surprisingly reasonable if you don’t mind karaoke.
Pogrebok (26 636; Sovetsky pr 121A; mains R111-240; noon-midnight) offers meat dishes, pizzas, kebabs and even curry (sometimes) washed down with excellent home-brewed ales in an attractive vaulted basement wallpapered with old newspapers and furnished with heavy wooden benches. There’s a brilliant billiard room too. It’s directly behind 121 Sovetsky, but access is from a side alley.
Shopping
Amid all the tacky Deda Moroz dolls, souvenir shops proffer plenty of attractive and affordable Niello metalwork and some decent birch-craft. Try Berendey (Sovetsky pr 115; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat & Sun) or Deda Moroza Suveniri (Sovetsky pr 85; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9-5pm Sat & Sun) beside the Deda Moroza Residence.
Getting There & Away
AIR
Veliky Ustyug has an airport (22 110) about 5km west of town, but flights are very sporadic. Kotlas airport, 65km north, is better connected.
BUS
The bus station (29 897, ul Transportnaya) is 2.5km north of the centre. Buses leave for Arkhangelsk (R700, 11 hours) at 4am and for Kotlas (R106, 1¾ hours) 11 times daily, almost all via Yadrikha (R80, 70 minutes). Vologda (R587, 10 hours) buses via Totma (R371, 4¾ hours) depart at 7.30am daily plus at 10am Monday, Thursday and Sunday.
TRAIN
The nearest operative railway station is in the tiny village of Yadrikha, from which there are at least four daily trains to Moscow (19 to 21 hours) via Vologda (12 to 13 hours), one to Arkhangelsk (19 hours) and one to St Petersburg (25 hours).
For Vyatka/Kirov on the Trans-Siberian main line there’s a train at 1.50pm from Kotlas Yuzhny station (not Yadrikha). It continues to Nizhny Novgorod on alternate days.
In Veliky Ustyug, train tickets are sold at Zh/D Kassy (ul Krasnaya 110A; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-4pm Sat & Sun) and (ul Krasnaya 100; 8am-1pm & 2pm-6pm Mon-Fri, till 4pm Sat & Sun).
Getting Around
Taxis within town cost R50. Bus 1 (R10) runs down ul Vinogradova from the bus station then turns southeast along ul Krasnaya. Bus 3 runs along ul Krasnaya and on to the airport.
KARGOPOL 
81841 / pop 11,000 / Moscow
Gently attractive Kargopol was one of Russia’s richest cities in the 16th and 17th centuries when it commanded the Onega River route to the White Sea, then Muscovy’s only coastline. Once Russia had gained access to the Baltic, Kargopol lost its raison d’être and faded into obscurity, hardly helped by a devastating 1765 fire. Today it’s a peaceful historical town famous for its naive-style painted clay figurines (Kargopolskiye igrushki) and for a local yeti/bigfoot-style myth.
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Orientation & Information
From the cute little bus-station cottage, pr Oktyabrskaya and parallel ul Lenina run southwest passing the hotels (two and three blocks), pl Lenina (four blocks) and grassy pl Sobornaya (five blocks). Turning right here ul Leningradskaya leads northeast past the post office (ul Leningradskaya 10; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 8am-7pm Sat, 9am-6pm Sun). Leningradskaya is paralleled further along by ulitsas Gagarina, Bolotnikova and Sergeeva.
Kargopol’s only public internet computer is within the Dom na Pyatnitskoy (ul Sergeeva 1; per hr R60; 9am-6pm but variable): part chess club, part handicapped-persons’ retreat.
Sberbank (ul Pobedy 12) facing pl Sobornaya has an ATM around the side.
Very obliging tour agency Lache Tur (22 156; www.lachetur.ru, in Russian; Hotel Kargopol; 9am-6pm Mon-Sat) rents bicycles, canoes and rafts and organises rural accommodation and interesting tours. Radik speaks functional English.
Kargopol Town (www.kargopol.ru) has a useful English-language website. Map-guide pamphlets sold at the hotels (R40) are in Russian but with photos.
Sights
PLOSHCHAD SOBORNAYA
This large grassy square houses three fine churches and a sturdy 1778 bell tower (Kolokolnya; adult/concession R30/20; 10am-1pm & 2pm-5pm Tue-Sun) whose sweeping views justify the somewhat claustrophobic climb.
The five-domed, 1562 Nativity Cathedral (Khristorozhdestvenskaya Sobor; admission R50; 10am-1pm & 2pm-5pm Tue-Sun) has intriguing timber-encased corner buttresses and contains a splendid, if poorly lit, iconostasis. On a pillar, the superb Starshni Sud icon is a Who’s Who of saints on what looks like a heavenly snakes-and-ladders board. Notice the chandelier holder (now missing its chandelier) high up within the drum tower, shaped like a hefty human arm. Myriad other carved interior fragments have yet to be reassembled.
The 1751 Ioanna Predtechi Church has an impressively Gothic bulk with unusual octagonal windows and distinctive double domes on long cylindrical towers.
Less visually exciting, the 1809 Vvedenskaya Church (adult/concession R40/20; 10am-1pm & 2pm-5pm Tue-Sun) stored the hidden chattels of the Russian royals during Napoleon’s 1812 attack on Moscow. Now the upstairs interior hosts a small but appealingly eclectic collection of maps, old photos, oversized skis, undersized sleighs and an incongruous battered roulette wheel.
KRASNOARMEYSKAYA PLOSHCHAD
A second trio of historic churches lies between ul Lenina and pr Oktyabrskaya at ul Sergeeva. Much the most impressive is the disused 1692 Annunciation Church (Blagovashchenskaya tserkov; pr Oktyabrskaya) with some unusually intricate window mouldings. The active 1680 Rozhdenstva Bogooroditsy Church (ul Lenina) is elegant despite the discordant metallic gleam of its multiple domes.
OTHER CHURCHES
Two blocks southeast of the hotels, the late-17th-century Resurrection Church (Voskresenskaya tserkov; opposite 11 ul III Internationala) has thick, cracked whitewashed walls and five large domes. It’s disused but the surrounding area of timber houses, with their handkerchief-sized gardens and stacks of winter firewood, is an archetype of rural Russian life. The area to the northeast of here was once a moated citadel surrounded by wooden stockades and towers. All that remains is the slightly raised grassy outline of the ramparts.
At the southwestern end of town the 1819, Italianate Zosimy and Savvatiya Church (pr Oktyabrskaya 18; admission R50; 10am-1pm & 2pm-5pm Tue-Sun) hosts a small collection of local crafts, costumes and icons plus Saturday afternoon recitals.
CRAFTS & FOLKLORE
Although it’s totally unmarked, a steady stream of summer tourists find their way to the Shevelyov Museum (21 171; ul Gagarina 30; opening hours vary) where Kargopol’s best-known toy-making family does hands-on ‘master-classes’ showing how to make traditional pottery and archetypal Kargopolskiye irgrushki figures. The very popular gift shop also sells various items of woven birch bark.
Tsentr Bereginya (ul Arkhangelskaya; 9am-noon & 1pm-5pm Mon-Thu, 9am-noon & 2pm-4pm Fri) displays and sells a similar range of crafts in an 18th-century house that was once the town jail.
A small outdoor stage beside the Museum Administration Building (21 496; www.kargopolmuseum.narod.ru; Oktyabrskaya 50) hosts low-key musical, dance or folklore events most weekend evenings in summer (admission R40-100; 9pm Fri-Sun, mid-Jun–Aug).
Sleeping
If both hotels are full, Lache Tur (opposite) can arrange homestay beds for around R400.
Hotel Kargopolochka (21 264; [email protected]; ul Lenina 83; dm/s/d/tr/q without bathroom R400/530/880/1200/1400, s/d with bathroom R530/1240) Most rooms share toilets and hot water is turned off in June, but overall this simple, renovated Soviet hotel is much more pleasant than many equivalents elsewhere.
Hotel Kargopol (21 165; www.solovkibp.ru/kargopol/hotel; ul Lenina 60; s/d/polu-lyux/lyux R2000/2400/3000/4500) Attractively appointed corridors with zebra photos, vases and tables decked with magazines lead through to sensibly equipped modern rooms, all with fridge and good bathrooms (with underfloor heating in the lyux suites). Staff are very obliging.
Eating
Both hotels have cafés. Alternatively, beneath the shamelessly misnamed Kafe Grand is the very basic Zakusochnaya (ul Gagarina 7-11; snacks & salads R7-25; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm Sat & Sun) offering surprisingly passable pastries and precooked meals. Or, to act like a local, buy a beer from Tsentralny Magazin (ul Lenina 57; 24hr) and drink it beside the shiny white Lenin statue.
Getting There & Away
There are daily buses to Arkhangelsk (R600, 13 hours) at 7am but no bus service to Pudozh nor Kirillov/Lipin Bor. Indeed (for now) the road to Lipin Bor has a messy 40km mud section that is passable only by sturdy 4WD. Virtually all visitors arrive by train at Nyandoma, 80km east of Kargopol on the Vologda–Arkhangelsk railway line. Four daily buses (R114, 1½ hours) are loosely timed to fit with rail timetables while faster shared taxis (R300 per seat, one hour) await each train.
Arriving at 10.30am on train 316 from Moscow, you could see all of Kargopol’s sights in a day then continue to Arkhangelsk on train 16 at 11.59pm. Southbound from Arkhangelsk, slow train 671 runs cheaply and conveniently overnight (arriving 6.25am). There are night trains from Nyandoma to Kotlas (at 00.37am) for Veliky Ustyug and to Vologda (at 00.09am alternate days) but there’s no convenient night train from Vologda.
Around twice a year Rechturflot (www.rtflot.ru) runs nine-day Moscow–Kargopol–Moscow river cruises (from R34,000 per person).
Around Kargopol
Several villages in Kargopol district have historic log churches.
SAUNINO 
The region’s most accessible log church is just 5km north of Kargopol (R180 return by taxi) in Saunino village, 1.7km west of the Troitsa road.
LYADINY 
The area’s most impressive ensemble of wooden churches is beside the Pudozh road in the archetypal log-cottage village of Lyadiny (aka Gavrilovskaya) 35km west of Kargopol. Here the 1693 Bogoyavlenskaya and 1761 Vlasevskaya churches form a photogenic ensemble with an 1820 wooden bell tower but an almost total reconstruction is currently under way, threatening to leave them looking rather less ‘real’. They’re clearly visible from the window of the Lekshmozero bus, which passes right by.
KENOZERO NATIONAL PARK 
The gateway to this delightful patchwork of forests and lakes is the quaintly traditional village of Lekshmozero (aka Morsh-chikhinskaya) that sits idyllically on the unbanked shores of large Lake Lekshmo. From where the bus terminates, walk back 30m to a zhurval (shadoof-style lever-well) and turn left along ul Zapadnaya to find the picturesque if battered lakeside brick church. Behind, local fishermen row simple boats out onto the lake, and a footpath to the left brings you round to a striking new yellow building that’s both a hotel (31 697; per person without bathroom R200-500) and the Kenozero National Park Visitors’ Centre (Visit Tsentr; www.kenozero-park.ru).
Lekshmozero is a great place to simply come and unwind on the lakeside. But it’s also the launching point for the popular Ecological Route, a one-day open-boat trip to a reconstructed traditional mill via a series of lakes and tiny linking canals: be prepared to get wet feet! The boat trip actually starts from a point called Maselga, 7km north of Lekshmozero, reached by a track that passes between a pair of lakes. Despite their very close proximity, the two lakes feed rivers that flow in entirely different directions: into the Baltic and White Seas respectively.
As there are only four boats available at Maselga (from R600, seating five to eight people) you’d be wise to book one along with a guide (R1500), which is possible through Lache Tur in Kargopol (Click here).
Buses from Kargopol to Lekshmozero (R101, 1¾ hours) via Lyadiny (R50, 50 minutes) depart at 7.20am and 5.15pm on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. They return two hours later. A return car transfer from Lekshmozero to Maselga costs around R600.
ARKHANGELSK АРХАНГЕЛЬСК
8182 / pop 356,000 / Moscow
In the 17th century Arkhangelsk was immensely important as Russia’s only sea port. Sadly few historic buildings remain and, with only minor exceptions, the cityscape is a grey expanse of concrete. However, the riverfront does have a certain insidious charm, and strong links with Scandinavia give the disarmingly friendly populace a cosmopolitan openness. The main reason that most tourists pass through Arkhangelsk is to use the (infamously weather-dependent) flights to the Solovetsky Islands (Click here).
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History
In 1553 English adventurer Richard Chancellor was seeking the Northeast Passage to China when his ship the Edward Bonaventure stopped at this remote fishing settlement. Tsar Ivan (still in his pre-Terrible period) summoned Chancellor to Moscow and proved keen to establish trade ties with England. In 1693 Peter the Great began shipbuilding operations here, launching the Russian navy’s tiny first ship, the Svyatoy Pavel, the following year. The founding of St Petersburg in 1702 pushed Arkhangelsk out of the limelight but it later became a centre for Arctic exploration, a focus of the huge northern lumber industry and a crucial supply point during the 20th-century world wars.
Orientation
The main thoroughfares, Voskresenskaya ul and Troitsky pr, intersect at pl Lenina. This soulless central square is guarded by a 22-storey tower topped by a thistle of communication tower that’s known to all as ‘Vysotka’ (the skyscraper). Mostly pedestrianised pr Chumbarova-Luchinskogo is an up-and-coming shopping street with several restored historical timber houses.
Information
ATMs and exchange points for US dollars, euros and Scandinavian currencies are widespread including at the Pur-Navolok and Dvina hotels and VTB Bank (Pomorskaya ul 2).
Dom Knigi (pl Lenina 3; 10am-8pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat & Sun) Stocks good city and regional maps plus a few guidebooks.
Kompaniya Solovki (655 008; www.solovkibp.ru; pr Chumbarova-Luchinskogo 43) Good range of tour options, but their Solovetsky ‘hotel’ is one of those islands’ least appealing options.
MIU-Internet (pr Obvodny Kanal 8-10; per hr R30; 24hr) Excellent connection and friendly student staff.
Pomor Tur (214 040; www.pomor-tur.ru; ul Svobody 3; 10am-6pm Mon- Fri) City and regional excursions including themed tours to the Solovetsky Islands and one-week paddle-steamer cruises to Kotlas/Veliky Ustyug.
Post office (Voskresenskaya ul 5; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm Sat, 9am-6pm Sun)
Severo-Zapadny Telekom (pr Lomonosova; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm Sat & Sun)
Tourist office (214 082; www.pomorland.info; ul Svobody 8; 9am-1pm & 2-5.30pm Mon-Thu, till 4pm Fri) Enthusiastic, well-informed, English-speaking staff are an inspiring source of information for the city and the whole of Arkhangelsk Region. Extensive website.
Sights
Naberezhnaya Severnoy Dviny
Given the first hint of warm summer weather, Arkhangelskians emerge to stroll this broad promenade and drop into one of its many seasonal beer-and-shashlyk tents. As the June sun slowly declines, reflected in the 2km-wide river, the sky’s colours grow ever less believable.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Arkhan-gelsk’s raison d’être was the Gostiny Dvor (Merchants’ Yard; nab Severnoy Dviny 85/86), a grand, turreted brick trading centre built between 1668 and 1684. Luxurious European textiles, satin and velvet arrived here while flax, hemp, wax and timber for ships’ masts were exported. The once-huge complex is now only a shadow of its former self but some partly restored sections host exhibition rooms (209 215; per exhibition Russian/foreigner R20/40; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun) that usually have a couple of worthwhile historical and/or art displays.
Other minor riverside curiosities include the new Assumption Church, an eternal flame, a surprisingly wide beach and the slightly kitschy little 1904 Nikolsky Church (Teatralny per 3). The Peter I statue and unexotic River Terminal building both feature on Russia’s R500 banknotes.
Prospekt Chumbarova-Luchinskogo
Work is in progress to restore the limited collection of traditional timber houses that still survive on this, Arkhangelsk’s one vaguely atmospheric central street. In the fine Marfin Mansion, the Lair of Art Gallery (208 802; Pr Chumbarova-Luchinskogo 38; Russian/foreigner R20/40; 11am-8pm) hosts occasional miniconcerts, but is most interesting for its furnished interior and large model of how Arkhangelsk looked a century ago.
Fine Arts Museum
Arkhangelsk’s most compelling art gallery (653 616; pl Lenina 2; admission R50; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon) jams together a remarkable selection of 18th- to early-20th-century Russian paintings ranging stylistically from Stanislav Khlebovsky’s very operatic Death of Prince Oranskogo (1861) to Pili Petrovichev’s impressionist Beryozy (Birches, 1917). Upstairs are impressive icons, bone carvings and decorative art displays. However, the building containing all these delights is an architectural crime against humanity.
Regional Studies Museum
The historical section upstairs in this museum (653 308; pl Lenina 2; per exhibit Russian/foreigner R20/40; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) has strikingly presented sections on the Soviet-era timber industry, Gulag camps and notably WWII, when the city was pounded by 2100 German bombing runs and survived largely thanks to supply convoys from Scotland. Downstairs the Nature Section is a lumpy taxidermy collection.
House-Museums
The century-old former homes of three local poet-artists are open as gently interesting museums (Russian/foreigner per museum R10/50; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon). Best for its period interior furnishings is that of EK Plotnikov (200 585; Pomorskaya ul 1) whose paintings feature prominently at the Fine Arts Museum. For imaginative presentation visit the home of SG Pisakhov (210 524; Pomorskaya ul 10) whose passion for the Arctic scenery of Novaya Zemlya was shared by AA Borisov. The latter’s works are shown at the AA Borisov Museum (205 647; Pomorskaya ul 3), an unmarked brick house.
Sleeping
Hotel CentrIN (643 524; Uritskogo 56, 2nd fl; s/d/tr/ste R900/1400/2200/2600) Upstairs within an unlikely university dorm block are 20 unpretentious rooms primarily aimed at visiting foreign lecturers or students. Most share bathrooms between pairs, but they’re unusually well kept for the price range and there’s a communal kitchen. Lili speaks English.
Hotel Dvina (288 888; www.hoteldvina.ru; Troitsky pr 52; standard s/d1800/2250, business s/d R2200/2750, lyux R3000-5000; ) Thirteen storeys of peeling pink exterior paintwork are highly off-putting at first glance. But, within, the Dvina has been tastefully refurbished with quality linens, tiled bathrooms and an over-cutesy restaurant. ‘Business’ and ‘standard’ rooms are virtually indistinguishable. Desk staff speak English.
Pur Navolok Hotel (217 200; www.purnavolok.ru; nab Severnoy Dviny 88; d R2300-2500, polu-lyux R3100, lyux R4600-8100) Probably northern Russia’s best-value business hotel, the professionally run Pur Navolok offers bright international-style rooms accessed by glass elevator from an airy modern atrium. Rates include extensive buffet breakfasts. Choose R2500 rooms for bigger beds and fine views across the river beach. Staff are multilingual.
Serafim Hotel (657 054; ul Pomorskaya 20; r R3000-4000) The potential charm of this three-room pad’s wonderful location and pseudo-historical building is offset by the rather bizarre atmosphere with no reception and offputtingly impersonal speaker-phone security gates. Bookings are essential.
Eating
Shyolk (pr Chumbarova-Luchinskogo 49; pastries R25-35; 10am-midnight) Upbeat tea- and coffee-house with understated oriental touches and mouthwatering pastries.
Barkhat (pr Chumbarova-Luchinskogo 49; mains from R130, beer R120; noon-midnight) Downstairs from Shyolk, the Barkhat restaurant has a slightly stiff vibe but the food is excellent and sensibly priced.
Trattoriya (209 999; pr Chumbarova-Luchinskogo 8; pizzas R140-260, pasta R130-235; 10am-10pm Mon-Fri, 11am-11pm Sat & Sun) This unintimidating family restaurant is understandably super-popular for well-priced Italian food and good, thin-crust pizzas. Bilingual menu.
Restoran Bobroff (285 813; nab Severnoy Dviny; mains R165-380; 11.30am-2am) This jolly tavern-restaurant opens into a small period-style dining room with formal portraits and Dutch-style tiled fireplace. Its home-brewed ales are eminently quaffable (try the ‘copper’ beer), and menu items range from beef in bilberries to delightfully subtle cod in langoustine sauce (R230). Evening music can get loud.
Restoran Pomorsky (201 858; Troitsky pr; mains R250-650; noon-midnight) Good, if pricey, fish and game dishes served in log-cabin–effect alcoves set around a water feature with bridge, nets and hazel fencing. The restaurant is oddly hidden on the rear 3rd floor of the office building above the Polina Café.
The Premier (Troitsky pr 52; 9am-10pm) is a well-stocked supermarket.
Also recommended:
Nulevaya Versta (Troitsky pr 45; mains R38-55; 10am-8pm) Cheap but unusually presentable subterranean cafeteria.
Randevu (207 136; Troitsky pr 64; mains R130-365, beer R65-120; noon-7am) Armenian food in a modest French-themed basement bar-café.
Krasny Drakon (655 620; Pomorskaya ul 15; mains R180-650, side dishes R20-55; 11am-1am) Upmarket Chinese cuisine in pagoda booths between trickling interior pools.
Drinking
Polina Café (Troitsky pr; coffee R45-60; 24hr) Hip Starbucks-style haven with milkshakes and a R110 breakfast set.
Onega Café (pr Sovetskikh Kosmonavtov 35; beer R75; noon-midnight Sun-Wed, noon-2am Thu-Sat) The bar’s decor isn’t special but the draft Bobroff beer and live acoustic blues-folk music are.
Irish Pub (ul Shubina 9; beer R90-180; 11am-2am) Green walls, wooden panelling and your choice of Guinness or Newcastle Brown.
BANDY LEGGED?
Several times European and world champions, Arkhangelsk is justly proud of Vodnik, its bandy team. Bandy? Yes. It’s a winter sport played by 11-per-side teams with sticks, a red ball and rules like field hockey, but played on skates on an ice-covered, soccer-size pitch. Vodnik plays at Trud Stadium(
Bierfest (Hotel Dvina approach lane; beer R135-180; noon-midnight) Pseudo-German beer cellar charging Germanic prices.
Entertainment
The Philharmonia (215 669; pl Lenina 1; ticket office noon-7pm Mon-Sat) hosts orchestral concerts and operas, while its Maly Zal (208 066; ul Karla Marksa 3; ticket office 1pm-7pm Tue-Sun) stages organ and chamber music in the 1768 Lutheran church of St Catherine. There’s a busy White Nights program in June.
Jazz Klub Artel (209 215; www.aokm.ru/programs/2_en.htm; nab Severnoy Dviny 86; 8pm-midnight Sat) Jazz fans in town on a Saturday night shouldn’t miss the almost-mythical jam sessions at this cavern–club hidden within the Gostiny Dvor.
Kafe Dzji (Café ‘G’; 650 118; www.cafeclubg.ru; ul Karla Libknekhta 19; café noon-midnight, club 10pm-8am Fri & Sat) The relatively intimate black, red and white nightclub room includes cushioned ‘cabin’ lounge-rooms.
Modern (657 559; pr Lomonosova 269) Cinema with weekend nightclub.
Getting There & Away
TsAVS (238 098; www.caws.ru; Voskresenskaya ul 116; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat & Sun) and a handy ticket desk in Hotel Dvina both sell rail and air tickets.
Air
Talagi Airport
Arkhangelsk’s main airport (ARH; 211 560) is 12km northeast of the centre. Some flights are listed in the table, below.
Most flights are operated by Aeroflot-Nord (655 776; www.aeroflot-nord.ru; Pomorskaya ul 7; 9am-8pm Mon-Fri, 10am-7pm Sat & Sun) with Rossiya, (www.rossiya-airlines.ru/en; Vysotka 1st fl; 9.30am-4pm Mon-Fri) also operating to St Petersburg and UTAir (www.utair.ru; Talagi Airport) to Moscow Vnukovo.
Vaskovo Airport
Weather permitting, further Solovetsky Islands flights leave in small planes from Vaskovo airport (ULAH; 450 926), 20km southwest of the city centre. Click here.
Bus
From the bus station (238 771; ul 23-y Gvardeyskoy Divizii 13) daily services run to Veliky Ustyug (R720, 11½ hours, 8am) and Kargopol (R650, 13 hours, 7.30am). Up to seven daily buses serve Kholmogory via two different routes (R105 to R130).
Train
From the station (237 241; pl 60-letia Oktyabrya 2), two or three trains daily run to Moscow’s Yaroslavsky station (platskart/kupe from R990/R2780, 21 to 24 hours) via Vologda (R670/1840, 14 to 15 hours) and Yaroslavl (platskart/kupe from R760/1885, 18 to 20 hours). There’s one train daily each to St Petersburg (platskart/kupe from R983/2436, 26 hours, departs 8.55pm) and Kotlas (platskart/kupe from R686/1718, 19 hours, departs 4.22pm). On even-numbered days (daily during most of summer) carriages bound for Murmansk (platskart/kupe R935/2370, 30 hours) via Kem (R555/1350, 16 hours) are attached to train 671. That departs at 9.55pm daily to Nyandoma (R445, 8½ hours) and is ideal for reaching Kargopol.
FLIGHTS FLIGHTS FROM TALAGI AIRPORT
DIY TRAVEL
If you’re driving the long Arkhangelsk–Kotkas road you could divert 7km north from Danilov (90km from Arkhangelsk) to see the village of Kholmogory whose Transfiguration Cathedral (Spaso-Preobrazhenskiy Sobor) was one of the largest in the Russian north when completed in 1691. Across the meandering river by sporadic ferry is Lomonosov village, named in honour of its famous son, 18th-century poet and scientist Mikhail Lomonosov.
After another 70km, consider a 9km detour to check out the 1520 Monastery of Saint Anthony of Siya (Antonievo-Siysky Monastir; http://siya.aonb.ru) where Feodor Romanov was exiled before rebounding as Patriarch of Moscow and fathering the Romanov dynasty of tsars.
Do not, however, be tempted to explore the closed town of Mirny or the nearby Plesetsk Cosmodromefrom which many of Russia’s rockets are launched. You won’t be welcome.
Getting Around
Appearing as ‘MR Vokzal’ on destination boards, the River Terminal (nab Severnoy Dviny 26) is a major hub for city buses and marshrutky. From here the rare bus 110 runs to Vaskovo Airport and frequent route 12 runs every few minutes to Talagi airport via pl Lenina and northern Troitsky pr.
Bus 54 starts at the bus station, picks up at the train station, runs down Voznesenskaya ul then turns east along Troitsky pr at pl Lenina. Marshrutka 62 also runs down Voznesenskaya ul but crosses pl Lenina, stops outside the post office then meanders east along nab Severnoy Dviny.
Route 1 from the train station curls south on ul Timme and ul Uritskogo past the Belmorskaya and CentrIN hotels then turns west along nab Severnoy Dviny and takes Troitsky pr north.
Two versions of route 75 make banana-shaped loops around the city centre. Both use ul Gagarina, pr Obvodny Kanal and ul Uritskogo but in opposite directions: blue-sign 75 runs clockwise closing the loop via Troitsky pr, green-sign 75 runs anti-clockwise using pr Lomonosova.
AROUND ARKHANGELSK
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Malye Karely 
8182 / Moscow
Set in pretty rolling dales 25km southeast of the centre, this delightful open-air Wooden Architecture Museum (258 287; Russian/foreigner R40/150; 10am-7pm Jun-Sep, 10am-5pm Oct-May) is Arkhangelsk’s foremost attraction featuring dozens of 16th- to 19th-century wooden buildings relocated here from rural villages during the 1970s. Allow around two hours to see the site, more on national holidays when there are costumed presentations of historic crafts (and prices rise 30%).
You enter past a series of windmills, in the largest of which you can admire the complete interior workings. Cut across to the impressive 1669 Ascension Church (Voznesenskaya tserkov) with its top-knot of wooden domes, then admire the 19th-century Tretyakov House whose furnishings include a curious one-legged bench-extender. The quaint little Miracle Worker’s Chapel (Chsovnya Maariya Unzhenskogo) has retained intact its eight-panelled octagonal ceiling paintings.
To reach the village-like Mezensky Sector from here take the steep steps down to a bog-crossing boardwalk, then back up again. That’s tough going for the infirm but worth the effort. Notice the hay barns from Khornema and the chyornye izby (black cottages), so called because their lack of a chimney resulted in smoke-stained walls. The much larger 19th-century Elkino House has an exhibition on Pomor fishing and boat-building. But the sector’s centrepiece is the splendid 1672 St George’s Church (Georgiyevskaya tserkov) displaying a small but valuable selection of remarkable wayside crosses including one gigantic example that virtually fills the nave.
Just 200m from the museum entrance in this otherwise rural backwater is the self-contained holiday-hotel complex Turist-icheskaya Derevnya Malye Karely (448 990; www.karely.ru; s R2990-3190, d R3190-3490; ). Bowling, billiards and fishing excursions are available, making the modern timber cottages and apartments a possible getaway alternative to central Arkhangelsk. The restaurant has an olde-Russia theme.
Every 20 to 30 minutes little bus 104 from Troitsky pr in central Arkhangelsk runs all the way to Malye Karely (R26, 45 minutes) terminating opposite the hotel complex. Taxis want around R350 each way: returning from Maly Karely you’ll generally need to phone for one.
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Volga Region Поволжье
NIZHNY NOVGOROD НИЖНИЙ НОВГОРОД
The Volga is synonymous with travel. Europe’s longest river (3530km) has been a part of the continent’s longest highway since times immemorial (Click here). Fortunately, people no longer have to carry boats across watersheds on their shoulders – huge canals were built in the Soviet period to allow free movement between five seas: the Baltic, the White, the Azov, the Black and of course the Caspian, which is fed by the Volga’s mighty stream.
Communist leaders proudly declared that they had ‘conquered’ the river by building mammoth dams and effectively turning the Volga into a chain of lakes that Russians call seas. Check out the view in Ulyanovsk to appreciate why. Volga cities are as laid-back as you can possibly get in this country, with better preserved historical centres than in most of Russia, and the thousands of kilometres of largely uninterrupted sandy beach along the river’s shores is a great alternative to Russia’s crowded Black Sea coast.
Although the Volga is dubbed ‘the great Russian river’, a dozen ethnic groups rightfully claim the river as theirs. It takes some mental effort to figure out how the Turkic Tatars are related to Slavic Bulgarians, whether the Maris are closer to Finns or Hungarians, where the Volga Germans have gone and what a whole bunch of Mongolians is doing here. When you’ve finished pondering this appealing multicultural mix, don’t forget to take a break and sample some Volga fish and Astrakhan watermelons.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Chase that evasive flamingo and gorge on Astrakhan watermelons in the Volga delta (Click here)
- Spin a prayer drum and smell the steppe in Europe’s only Buddhist enclave in Elista (Click here)
- Say you want a revolution, then get arrested – by the river view – in Lenin’s native town of Ulyanovsk (Click here)
- See lilacs bloom on the world’s bloodiest battlefield in Volgograd (Click here)
- Witness the clash of cultures and catch a Tatar at the Sabantuy fest in Kazan (Click here)
- Paint your own story at the Children’s Museum in Gorodets (Click here)
- Fall in love under the golden lights of Saratov (Click here)
History
Since ancient times, the Volga has supported agricultural settlements and served as a main link in transcontinental commerce. More than a thousand years ago, the Vikings plied its waters, establishing a trade route between Baghdad and the Baltic.
MEDIEVAL VOLGA
In the Middle Ages, the Lower Volga was dominated by the Khazars, a Turkic tribe whose leaders were converted to Judaism. The Khazar capital stood at Itil (present-day Astrakhan). The Middle Volga was the domain of another Turkic tribe, the Bulgars. Descendants of the Huns and distant relatives of the Balkan Bulgarians, they migrated eastwards, mixed with local Finno-Ugric tribes and adopted Islam in the 10th century. Their feudal state was northeastern Europe’s most advanced economic and cultural centre at that time. The forests of the Upper Volga were originally settled by Finno-Ugric tribes, who were partly displaced by the Turkic and Slavic migration. The river was also a vital conduit in the lucrative fur trade for Novgorod’s merchants.
THE GOLDEN HORDE
In the 13th century, the entire Volga region was conquered by the heirs of Chinggis (Genghis) Khaan, the Mongol-led Golden Horde, who made Sarai (near present-day Volgograd) their capital. For the next 200 years, the Volga’s Slavic and Turkic communities swore allegiance and paid tribute to the great khan, or suffered his wrath. Challenged by the marauder armies of Timur (Tamerlane) in the south and upstart Muscovite princes in the north, the Golden Horde eventually fragmented into separate khanates: Kazan, Astrakhan, Crimea and Sibir. In the 1550s Ivan the Terrible razed Kazan and Astrakhan, and claimed the Middle and Lower Volga for Muscovy (modern-day Moscow), the capital of the new Russian state.
COSSACKS
While the river trade was a rich source of income for Muscovy, it also supported gainful bandit and smuggling ventures. Hostile steppe tribes continued to harass Russian traders and settlers, and the region remained an untamed frontier for many years.
In response, the tsar ordered the construction of fortified outposts at strategic points on the river. Serfs, paupers and dropouts fled to the region, organising semiautonomous Cossack communities (Click here). The Cossacks elected their own atamans (leaders) and pledged their swords in service to tsar and Church. The Cossacks not only defended the frontier for the tsar but also operated protection rackets, plundered locals and raided Russia’s southern neighbours.
Cossacks conducted large-scale peasant uprisings. In 1670 Stepan Razin led a 7000-strong army of the disaffected, which moved up the Lower Volga before meeting defeat at Simbirsk (Ulyanovsk). In 1773 Yemelyan Pugachev declared himself tsar and led an even larger contingent of Cossacks and run-away serfs on a riotous march through the Middle Volga region. The bloody revolt was forever romanticised by Alexander Pushkin in his novel The Captain’s Daughter.
GERMANS IN THE VOLGA REGION
Astounded by the scale of rebellion, Catherine the Great responded with a plan for economic development in the region, particularly cultivation of the fertile southern river basin. In 1763 she issued an invitation to Germany’s peasants to colonise the region. Eager to escape economic hardship and religious persecution, German Lutherans relocated to settlements along the Volga, with the largest concentration near Saratov. By the end of the 19th century, the population had reached over 1.5 million ethnic Germans.
In the 1920s a German autonomous republic was established along the Lower Volga. Hitler’s 1941 blitzkrieg across the USSR’s western border prompted a wave of persecution against the Volga Germans, who were branded ‘enemies of the state’. The German autonomous republic was eliminated, residents were forced into exile and their citizenship was revoked. After Stalin’s death, nearly a million survivors were liberated from Siberian labour camps, but were not allowed to return to their old villages.
SOVIET DEVELOPMENT
The USSR harnessed the mighty Volga for its ambitious development plans. Eight complexes of dams, reservoirs and hydroelectric stations were constructed between the 1930s and 1960s. A network of canals connected Russia’s heartland to Moscow, and the Baltic and Black Seas. Smoke-stacked factories, sulphurous petrochemical plants, sprawling collective farms and secret military complexes sprang up along its shores. Provincial trading towns, such as Nizhny Novgorod and Samara, grew into urban industrial centres and were closed to outsiders.
The river continues to convey as much as two-thirds of all Russia’s overland cargo freight. The Volga Basin supplies a quarter of all Russia’s agricultural output and a fifth of its total fish catch; however, the accumulated effects of Soviet-era development inflicted severe harm on the river’s fish stocks and posed serious health risks to adjacent communities (see the boxed text, Click here).
AFTER COMMUNISM
After the collapse of the USSR, each of the Volga regions went its own way. Ulyanovsk staunchly resisted any changes, remaining a rather sad Soviet island in the raging sea of wild capitalism. Volgograd entertained the idea of changing its name back to Stalingrad. By contrast, Samara and Saratov elected democratically minded governors and pursued market reforms. Tatarstan jumped on Yeltsin’s suggestion that regions should take as much sovereignty as they could chew and declared its laws superior to the Russian constitution. Kalmykia reinvented itself as the world chess Mecca. All this pluralism ended with the advent of Putin, who cancelled elections of governors in 2001 and replaced both the communist and democratic regional leaders with his own loyalists, often from the ranks of the KGB. Mentimer Shaymiyev of Tatarstan remains the only leader who allows himself an occasional hint of dissent.
Climate
The climate of the Volga region is continental, with slightly milder winters than other parts of the country. Summers are very hot and humid, especially further south.
Getting There & Around
Trains and buses run regularly between the Volga towns. In summer months, another, more romantic, option is available. From May to September cruise ships ply the river from Moscow to Astrakhan and beyond the Volga River basin, going as far as Arkhangelsk in the north, St Petersburg in the northwest and Rostov-on-Don in the south. Cruise packages can be bought at river stations in most cities; for more details see the Transport chapter (Click here).
NIZHNY NOVGOROD REGION
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NIZHNY NOVGOROD НИЖНИЙ НОВГОРОД
831 / pop 1.31 million /
Moscow
A glorious setting is not something most Russian cities can boast, but Nizhny (as it is usually called) is a lucky exception. The mighty cliff-top kremlin overlooking the confluence of two wide rivers – the Volga and the Oka – is the place where merchant Kuzma Minin and Count Dmitry Pozharsky (men commemorated in a monument in front of St Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow) rallied a popular army to repel the Polish intervention in 1612.
Nizhny has been a major trading centre since its foundation in 1221. In the 19th century when the lower bank of the Oka housed the country’s main fair – yarmarka – it was said that ‘St Petersburg is Russia’s head; Moscow its heart; and Nizhny Novgorod its wallet’. During Soviet times the city was named Gorky, after the writer Maxim Gorky, born here in 1868. Closed to foreigners by the Soviets, Gorgy was chosen as a place of exile for the dissident physicist Andrei Sakharov.
Nizhny is often called Russia’s ‘third capital’, but it is markedly quieter than the other two, with a perfectly laid-back ambience characteristic of the Volga cities downstream. Walking along riverside promenades, drinking beer in an outdoor café by the kremlin or taking a boat ride to the painters’ town of Gorodets are all excellent cures for nerves damaged by Moscow’s crowds and traffic.
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Orientation
Nizhny Novgorod, lying on the southern bank of the Volga River, is split by the Oka River. The kremlin sits on the high eastern bank overlooking the Volga. Outside its southern wall, the city’s main streets radiate from pl Minina i Pozharskogo. From here the pleasant and pedestrian Bolshaya Pokrovskaya ul heads south to pl Gorkogo. The train and bus stations are side by side on the western side of the Oka.
Information
Central post office (pl Gorkogo; per hr R40; 8am-9pm) Has internet facilities.
Dirizhabl (Bolshaya Pokrovskaya ul 46; 10am-8pm) A three-storey bookshop with a good selection of maps and local guidebooks, and some books in foreign languages.
Team Gorky (465 1999; www.teamgorky.ru; ul 40 let Oktyabrya 1a) Canoe and bicycle tours in Nizhny Novgorod region and beyond. Three-day adventure trips start at R5500. Dual pricing alert! Prices for some tours on its English-language site are much higher than those on the Russian one, but it swears that walk-in foreign travellers will not be discriminated against.
Volga Telecom (pl Gorkogo; per hr R40; 24hr) Under reconstruction at the time of research, it used to be a convenient internet facility.
Sights
Streets with the greatest architectural appeal are ul Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, dotted with bronze figures depicting 19th-century life, and ul Ilyinka, with its crumbling wooden merchants’ houses and many churches. A major landmark is the State Bank building at ul Bolshaya Pokrovskaya 26. Built in 1913, it looks like a cross between a Russian church and a German castle.
KREMLIN
The mighty walls of the kremlin and its 11 towers date from the 16th century. Sometimes the ramparts are open for a sweeping view of the kremlin grounds and beyond; climb up through the restaurant in the Kladovaya Bashnya gate.
Inside, most of the buildings are government offices. The small, 17th-century Cathedral of the Archangel Michael is a functioning church. Behind it, an eternal flame burns near a striking monument to the heroes of WWII. At the northeast end of the grounds, the former governor’s house is now the Nizhegorodsky State Art Museum (admission R50; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon). Exhibits range from 14th-century icons to 20th-century paintings by artists including Nikolai Rerikh and Vasily Surikov.
CHURCHES & MONASTERIES
The proliferation of onion domes and golden spires is a ubiquitous reminder of the city’s rich history. The 13th-century Annunciation Monastery, above Chernigovskaya ul, is the place to see the city’s oldest buildings, although an overzealous guard at the gates sometimes attempts to prevent touristy-looking people from entering. Ignore him, if possible. The 17th-century Pechorsky Monastery, overlooking the Volga, is much more welcoming. It houses a small Archaeological Museum (admission R20; 9am-7pm Wed-Sat), which includes, on the 2nd floor, a moving exhibition on Bolshevik repressions against the church. Beneath the monastery is the Rowing Canal, with sandy banks that have become the city’s main beach.
The stone Assumption Church (Ilinskaya ul), also from the 17th century, is unique in that its design was normally exclusive to wooden churches. The baroque Stroganov (Rozhdestvenskaya ul) or Nativity Church has retained its magnificent stone carvings.
On the west bank of the Oka River is the eye-catching Nevsky Cathedral (ul Strelka) and the handsomely restored Yarmarka, which used to be the location of the Nizhny Novgorod fair and now houses an exhibition hall.
MUSEUMS
Fans of Maxim Gorky can visit the Gorky Museum (ul Semashko 19; 9am-5pm Tue-Wed & Fri-Sun), a wooden house where the writer lived during his thirties.
A reminder of more repressive times, the Sakharov Museum (466 8623; pr Gagarina 214; admission R40; 10am-5pm) is located in the flat where the dissident scientist spent six years in exile. The Nobel laureate was held incommunicado until 1986, when a KGB officer came to install a telephone. When it rang, it was Mikhail Gorbachev at the other end, informing Sakharov of his release. The phone is a highlight of the exhibition. To get there take marshrutka 4 or 104 from pl Minina i Pozharskogo.
The open-air Museum of Volga People’s Architecture & Culture (465 1598; www.ngiamz.ru, in Russian; Gorbatovskaya ul 41; admission R30; 10am-4pm Sat-Thu) has a pleasant woodland setting and a collection of traditional wooden buildings from Russian and Mordva (a Finno-Ugric people) villages. Young history enthusiasts stage colourful celebrations of five main village holidays a year. That involves a lot of singing and dancing, as well as teaching Russian visitors their forgotten rituals originating from Slavic paganism. Dates vary, so check with the staff if this might happen during your stay. The museum is located in the remote Shchelokovsky Khutor park, which is the final stop of bus 28 (every hour), which passes ul Belinskogo in the centre.
Sleeping
Resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; 244 2110; s/d without bathroom from R530/710) Located in a separate building on your right as you exit the train station, this hotel-like establishment is an OK place to spend a night before your next train.
Gostinitsa NGLU (436 5945; Bolshaya Pecherskaya ul 36; dm R319, s/d R678/1052 in 2-rm apt with shared bathroom) Occupying top floors of the Linguistic University dormitory, this place is friendly to foreigners, although it does not do registrations. Rooms are spartan but clean. Book in advance.
Nizhegorodsky Hotel Complex (430 5387; www.hotel-nn.ru; ul Zalomova 2; s/d from R2600/3100 without river view, R2800/3500 with view) A 15-minute walk from Nizhny’s main drag, this is a concrete slab of a building from the outside, but rooms have been refurbished, views are fabulous and the slope underneath was being converted into a terraced park at the time of research.
Jouk-Jacques (433 0462; www.jak-hotel.ru; Bolshaya Pokrovskaya ul 57; s/d from R3750/5250) In Russian, calling something a ‘mix of French and Nizhegorodian’ means you denounce it for provincial vulgarism, but this cosy boutique hotel is anything but vulgar. The cheapest rooms are a bit cramped, but they’re neat, and breakfasts are superb by Russian standards.
October Hotel (Oktyabrskaya; 432 8080; www.oktyabrskaya.ru; Verkhne-Volzhskaya nab 9a; s/d with breakfast from R3700/5550) This business hotel has a prime location overlooking the Volga. All of the rooms have been renovated, with new furniture, modern bathrooms, free wi-fi and a hint of post-Soviet kitsch.
Eating & Drinking
Restoratsia Pyatkin (430 9183; Rozhdest-venskaya ul 23; mains R200; noon-2am) This place makes you feel like a merchant back in his mansion after a great trading day at the fair. The menu is full of Volga specialities, such as pieces of crayfish and pike perch baked with cheese, or pike head stuffed with minced fish. They also brew the unusual apple kvas.
Pizza Vero (419 2438; ul Piskunova 11; pizza R300, breakfasts R150; 24hr) In a city where people tend to wake up late and go to bed early, this is one of the few places to fill your stomach after a party or an overnight train.
Merry Godmother (Vesyolaya kuma; 296 0533; ul Kostina 3; mains R350; noon-2am) In a row of ‘ethnic’ restaurants (Russian, German, Chinese, among others), the Godmother merrily serves hearty borsch and other Ukrainian fare.
Gorod Gorky (332 017; Bolshaya Pokrovskaya ul 30; meals R400; 11am-midnight) Irony outweighs nostalgia in this retro-Soviet place hidden in a courtyard off the main drag – look for the Музей СССР sign. Walk through a waxwork Leonid Brezhnev’s office into the dining room, littered with Soviet memorabilia and Beatles photos. The food is surprisingly good, and you can compare how much it costs today with how little it cost in 1974.
Robinzon (431 3062; nab Grebnogo kanala 108; mains R400-1100; cocktails R300) This kitchsy place is one of that rare breed: the Russian beach restaurant. Located by the main city beach, it is unbeatable for a sunset cocktail on a hot day.
Biblioteca (433 6934; Bolshaya Pokrovskaya ul 46; coffee R65; 11am-10pm) This café is upstairs from the Dirizhabl bookshop (Click here). Its decor includes a collection of kerosene lamps hanging from the ceiling and lots of bookshelves. Food is Italian standard (pasta R130).
Michelle (192 914; Bolshaya Pokrovskaya ul 6; 10am-11pm) This place is – first and foremost – a coffee bar, offering several varieties of aromatic brew in a simple café setting. The menu also features soups and sandwiches and dishes with French nuances – innovative fare for the price (meals R150 to R300).
The cheap and cheerful summer cafés by the city’s main hangout near the Pilot Valery Chkalov monument are also a great place to mingle with locals.
Entertainment
The Kremlin Concert Hall (439 1187; shows 6pm) at the west end of the kremlin is the home of the philharmonic, playing a full schedule of classical concerts. For Russian classics, the beautifully renovated Pushkin Theatre of Opera & Ballet (218 5056; ul Belinskogo 59) is also recommended.
Getting There & Away
AIR
The Nizhny Novgorod International Airport is 15km southwest of the city centre. S7 flies daily from Moscow (R3050, one hour). Lufthansa (275 9085) flies directly to/from Frankfurt four times a week (€620, 3½ hours). Airline tickets are available at agencies around the city, including the Turbyuro (439 3260; ul Zvezdinka 10b; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat).
BOAT
The river station is on Nizhne-Volzhskaya nab, below the kremlin. The Volga-Flot Tour (461 8010; www.vftour.ru, in Russian; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri) office inside the station building and the cash office on the embankment sell weekend day trips to the ancient Makaryev monastery (R800 to R900) at the village of Makaryevo, 60km to the east. Book in advance. Hydrofoils to Gorodets (see right) leave from their own pier.
BUS
Buses to Vladimir (R280, 4½ hours, four daily), Kostroma (R550, eight hours, daily) and Gorodets (R110, 1½ hours, about every half-hour) depart from the small Kanavinskaya bus station.
TRAIN
The Nizhny Novgorod train station still goes by its old name of Gorky-Moskovsky vokzal (station), so ‘Gorky’ appears on most timetables. It is on the western bank of the Oka River, at pl Revolyutsii. Numerous trains go to Moscow, the fastest being two daytime services to Kurskaya station (R500, 5 hours). All of these stop at Vladimir (R400, two to three hours).
Heading east, trains go along the trans-Siberian route to Perm (R3570, 15 hours, 10 trains daily) and to Kazan (R320, seven hours, daily). Kazan is also served by ‘increased-comfort’ elektrichka (R320, eight hours, two elektrichka daily); tickets are available at the suburban train terminal, on the other side of the tracks from the main station.
The service centre at the train station is helpful for buying tickets, and also offers other services like internet access.
Getting Around
Private buses are the main mode of transport, their destinations clearly shown. To get from the train station to the kremlin take any bus that has пл Минина и Пожарского posted on it. Slow tram 1 does the same route.
The city’s metro might be extended across the river in the lifetime of this book, providing a useful link between pl Gorkogo and the train station.
AROUND NIZHNY NOVGOROD
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Gorodets Городец
This neat little town, famous for its distinct style of folk art, has been spruced up to appeal to day trippers arriving in hydrofoils from Nizhny. At the time of the schism in the Russian Orthodox Church of 1660, Gorodets became home to a population of Old Believers seeking religious sanctuary (see the boxed text, Click here). They placed great emphasis on labour, becoming skilful craftsmen, artists and wealthy tradesmen.
In a largely illiterate society, Gorodets oil-on-wood paintings played the role of glossy magazines, informing people of ‘high-society’ lifestyles and even political events, like wars. The craft is alive and kicking, so it’s highly likely that you’ll come away from your trip carrying a picture (from R150) or a whole piece of furniture, painted in Gorodets style. The town’s other speciality is pryaniki – hard honey-rich cakes sold in most shops.
Two tiny museums on the riverfront contain collections donated by a local tax official (oops!). Countess Panina’s House (ul Rublyova 16; admission R15; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri; 10am-4pm Sat & Sun) has exhibitions of irons and old costumes. The Museum of Samovars (nab Revolyutsii 11; admission R15; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat & Sun) shows all types of the quintessential Russian tea-making equipment.
Highlights of the Local Studies Museum (ul Lenina 11; admission R20; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri; 10am-4pm Sat & Sun) include the highly revered local icon – the Virgin of Feodorovo – a curious three-dimensional depiction of Jesus creating a holographic effect, and some Soviet-period Gorodets masterpieces, such as Kolkhoz Family Studying the
Constitution.
The Children’s Museum (ul Lenina 12; admission R20; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat & Sun) across the street has a replica of a 19th-century schoolroom, and offers classes in making Gorodets-style clay animal-shaped pennywhistles (R80). You can also try your hand at Gorodets painting, but that should be arranged in advance.
The sensibly priced Café Legenda (ul Novaya 2a; mains R140) at the far corner of the old city has Volga fish on the menu.
Gorodets is served by three private hydrofoils a day (R150, one hour), leaving from a dedicated pier at Nizhny’s river station. Tickets are purchased on board. You can also reach Gorodets by bus from Nizhny’s Kanavinskaya station (opposite). Tourist maps of Gorodets are available at all museums.
REPUBLIC OF TATARSTAN
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KAZAN КАЗАНЬ
843 / pop 1.1 million /
Moscow
Kazan (meaning a cooking pot in Tatar) is the Istanbul of the Volga, a place where Europe and Asia curiously inspect each other from the tops of church belfries and minarets. Kazan is an ancient place, about 150 years older than Moscow – its millennium was celebrated with much pomp in 2005.
The city is the capital of the Tatarstan Republic – the land of the Volga Tatars, a Turkic people commonly associated with Chinggis Khaan’s hordes, although they prefer to identify themselves with the ancient state of Volga Bulgaria, which was devastated by the Mongols.
Tatar autonomy is not just about bilingual street signs – the Tatar on top of Russian to make the point. It also ensures that much of the profit from vast oil reserves stays in the republic, which has an economy that is quite visibly booming. The post-Soviet cultural revival, manifested by the popularity of modern Muslim fashions and Tatar-language literature, is watched warily by Moscow, which has recently blocked the much-desired switch from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet.
Tatar nationalism is strong but not radical, and the local version of Islam is super-moderate. Ethnic Russians make up about a half of the population, but tensions along ethnic lines are generally uncommon. After all, as the old saying goes, scratch a Russian and you’ll find a Tatar. It is also true the other way round.
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History
It is assumed that Kazan was founded as a northeastern outpost of Volga Bulgaria around 1000 AD. (The choice by modern Kazan of 1005 AD as the city’s birthday was political.) After the Tatar Mongols flattened Great Bulgar (Click here), it became the capital of the region incorporated in the Golden Horde. The independent Kazan khanate was created in 1438. It was ravaged in 1552 by Ivan the Terrible’s troops and his Tatar allies from Kasimov.
Tsar Ivan was quick to build a new – Russian – city on the ruins. Architects responsible for St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow (which honours the seizure of Kazan) were employed to plan the kremlin. Tatars were banished from the eastern side of the Bulak Canal until the enlightened age of Catherine the Great. But the division of the city into the Russian and Tatar parts is still quite visible – the only centrally located mosque north of the canal is Kul-Sharif, inside the kremlin.
Kazan grew into one of Russia’s economic and cultural capitals, with the country’s third university opening here in 1804. Its alumni include Leo Tolstoy and Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin), who stirred up political trouble, for which he was expelled. In Soviet times, Kazan became the capital of the Tatar autonomous republic and a major centre of the aviation industry.
Orientation
Kazan’s city centre is flanked in the north by the Kazanka River and in the west by the Volga; the train station is on the east bank of the Volga. About 500m east of the Volga shore, the Bulak Canal bisects the town centre, separating the train station and surrounding former Tatar suburbs from the centre. The main pedestrian drag, ul Baumana, is just east of the canal, running from the kremlin in the northwest down to the busy pl Tukaya.
Information
Dom Knigi (ul Baumana 58; 9am-6pm) A centrally located modern bookshop with a selection of maps and books in Tatar and foreign languages.
Kazan tourist information centre (292 3010; http://gokazan.com; Kremlyovskaya ul 15/25; 9 30am-6.30pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat) Glory to the city of Kazan for one of the first city tourist offices in Russia! It distributes tourist maps and promises to start issuing ‘city cards’ that will provide discounts in museums. But the centre’s usefulness still needs to be tested.
Main
post & telephone office (Kremlyovskaya ul 8; 8am-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & Sun)
Tattelecom (ul Pushkina 15; per hr R32; 24hr) A large internet facility.
Sights
KREMLIN
Declared a Unesco World Heritage site in 2000, Kazan’s striking kremlin is the focal point of the city’s historic centre. It’s home to government offices, pleasant parks and a few religious buildings that are usually open and operating. Some of the white limestone walls date from the 16th and 17th centuries.
The Annunciation Cathedral was built on the foundations of a razed eight-minaret mosque by Postnik Yakovlev, who is also responsible for St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. Ironically, it is overshadowed by the enormous Kul Sharif Mosque,completed in 2005, which is named after the imam who died defending the city against the troops of Ivan the Terrible in 1552.
Beside the cathedral, the 59m-high leaning Syuyumbike Tower is the subject of the most romantic of Kazan’s legends (see the boxed text, opposite). Nearby, a former cadet school building now houses the Hermitage Centre (admission R80), which runs rotating exhibitions from the collection of St Petersburg’s Hermitage (Click here).
In front of the kremlin, the striking bronze figure of a man tearing barbed wire is Musa Dzhalil’s monument. This monument was erected to honour the Tatar poet who was executed by the Nazis in Berlin’s Moabit prison in 1944, leaving a notebook full of poems to a Belgian friend.
THE TRUE STORY OF THE DEFIANT PRINCESS
On a guided tour of Kazan’s kremlin, you’ll likely hear this legend about the Syuyumbike Tower. When Ivan the Terrible seized Kazan – the tale goes – he planned to marry Syuyumbike, the beautiful niece of the deposed khan. Nobody wants an ugly, paranoid dictator as a husband, so out of sheer desperation she agreed to marry him only if he built a tower higher than anything either of them had ever seen. Once the construction was complete, she ascended the tower and threw herself off it in front of the bewildered Ivan.
A neat little tale, but residents of the small town of Kasimov, hidden in the forests of the Ryazan region on the banks of the Oka, have a different story. In medieval times, Kasimov was a Tatar stronghold and a major rival of Kazan. Therefore its khan, Shakh-Ali, was all too keen to accept Tsar Ivan’s invitation to join the expedition against Kazan, especially since he was promised Syuyumbike as a trophy. When he met the captured princess, Shakh-Ali disliked her from first sight, but he eventually succumbed to Ivan’s dynastic manipulations and married her. The newlyweds went to Kasimov and avoided each other for the rest of their long lives, with Syuyumbike transforming from a tiny Eastern beauty into a bulky matriarch keen on political intrigue.
OTHER SIGHTS
Opposite the kremlin’s main entrance, the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan (292 1484; Kremlyovskaya ul 2; admission R150; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun) occupies an ornate 1770 building. The museum has a range of exhibits, from Tatar history to water and wildlife to local artists. The Gallery of Zarif is a unique exhibit by a local artist–philosopher.
Of Kazan’s several Orthodox churches, the most attractive is the SS Peter & Paul Cathedral (ul Musy Dzhalilya 21), whose unusual architecture and heavily decorated facade defy style classifications. Built between 1723 and 1726, it commemorates Peter the Great’s visit in 1722.
Another landmark is the huge redbrick Theophany Church Belfry (ul Baumana 78). A small chapel inside is dedicated to Russia’s first musical idol – the early 20th-century opera singer Fyodor Chaliapin, who started his career in the church’s choir. The Chaliapin Monument stands nearby in front of the hotel of the same name.
At the foot of Kremlyovskaya ul, you can’t miss the overbearing classical faсade of the main building of Lenin State University, where Vlad Ilych himself was a student. The university library (cnr uls Astronomicheskaya & Kremlyovskaya) has an exquisitely decorated exterior.
Many of the mosques are clustered in the dumpy southwest corner of town. Near the central market is the Soltanov mosque (ul Gabdully Tukaya 14), dating from 1867, and the Nurullah mosque (ul Moskovskaya 74), which has been rebuilt several times since 1849.
St Catherine’s Lutheran church is on the other side of the centre at ul Karla Marksa 26.
Sleeping
Hotel Fatima (292 0616; ul Karla Marksa 2; r without bathroom from R650, r with bathroom from R1400) Within spitting distance of the kremlin, this hotel is a great bargain. Without its own water heater, it is subject to compulsory hot-water switch-offs (called by the government for pipe maintenance) in summer, which can last for weeks. The staff will warn you if this is expected.
Hotel Volga (231 6349; www.volga-hotel.ru; ul Said-Galeeva 1; s/d without bathroom R750/1200, s/d with bathroom from R1200/2200) Convenient to the train station, this nicely revamped hotel has rooms for every budget (although the midrange rooms get booked early). Rooms facing the street can be noisy, but the place is clean and welcoming.
Hotel Giuseppe (292 6934; www.giuseppe.ru; Kremlyovskaya ul 15/25; s/d with breakfast from R2740/3560; ) Above the Giuseppe pizzeria, this Italian-run place has spacious, comfortable rooms. The corridors are decorated to give the atmosphere of a Venetian villa.
Hotel Milena (292 9992; www.milenahotel.ru; ul Tazi Gizzata 19; s/d from R1500/1700) If this hotel were a politician, it would be called controversial. Some people praise it for modern comforts, proximity to the train station and free wi-fi. Others complain about the noise from the adjacent flour mill (we didn’t hear anything) and indifferent staff (yes, true).
Hotel Tatarstan (238 8379; ul Pushkina 4; s/d from R1800/3600) Towering above the city centre, the namesake of the republic offers great views and generally good standards with a few Soviet oddities, such as lifts specialising in odd- or even-numbered floors and sausages with sauerkraut for breakfast.
Shalyapin Palace Hotel (238 2800; www.shalyapin-hotel.ru; Univesitetskaya ul 7/80; from s/d R2600/4800as) Named after Russia’s greatest opera singer, whose statue greets you at the door, this large new hotel is here to compete with Hotel Giuseppe in style. Let’s see who wins.
Eating & Drinking
Kazan Askhane-Chai Yorty (ul Baumana 64; mains R70, pastry R20; 9am-8pm) This cheap eatery serves hearty Tatar food, identical to what you get at the expensive House of Tatar Culinary across the street, which seems permanently closed for banquets. Go for pastry – echpohmak with meat, bekken with cabbage, kystyby with mashed potatoes, or gubadiya with sweet rice and raisins.
Giuseppe (292 6934; Kremlyovskaya ul 15; pizza R120; 9.30am-11pm) A lively place for pizza and pastas, cappuccinos and cannoli (sweet pastry tubes with a rich, creamy filling). There is a pricier restaurant upstairs in Hotel Giuseppe.
Sultan Kebap (238 3803; ul Baumana 74; mains R180; 11am-11pm) A sign of special relations between Kazan and Istanbul, this is a home away from home for Turkish expats.
Bachelor’s Shelter (Priyut kholostyaka; 292 0771; ul Chernyshevskogo 27a; mains R350; noon-midnight) What a relief to escape the train station’s dingy neighbourhood by sneaking into this rabbit’s hole, which opens into a spotlessly white oasis of style with surrealist glass painting and coat-hangers shaped like wild garlic flowers. International food, including the inevitable sushi, is on the menu, and they’ve got the best latte this side of the Volga.
Meat Kick (Myasnoy udar; 292 9332; Profsoyuznaya ul 9; meals R400-600) Besides the sought-after salad bar, this place offers Western-style steakhouse fare.
Art Café (236 6144; ul Ostrovskogo 38; 8am-6am) A stylish café, useful for breakfasts or as an after-party chill-out (breakfast R200, mains R250). There’s also a popular pizzeria next door.
Capital Coffee House (292 6390; ul Pushkina 5; coffee R80; 8am-midnight Mon-Fri, noon-midnight Sat & Sun) Apart from making good coffee and nice international food (breakfast R150), these people promise to fix any cocktail, according to your recipe. There are three PCs with internet access (R30 for half an hour).
BeerLozha (292 2436; ul Pushkina 5; noon-2am) Ten beers on tap and a whole range of spicy sausages (mains R300 to R500) feature at this Bavarian beer bar.
Cuba Libre (253 5532; ul Baumana 58; mains R250, cuba libre R100; noon-2am Sun-Thu, noon-5am Sat-Fri) A convivial drinking den where you can chat to friendly bartenders and other visitors while sipping Kazan’s best mojitos. Wild Latin dancing may erupt at any moment.
The colourful, sprawling central market (ul Mezhlauka) is good for stocking up on snacks or just for browsing. The Bahetle supermarket on the 1st floor of the TsUM
shopping mall (ul Moskovskaya 2; 9am-10pm) sells excellent Tatar pastries and anything you might need on the road.
Entertainment
Mayakovsky. Yellow Cardigan (Maykovsky. Zheltaya kofta; 264 3980; ul Mayakovskogo 24a; admission R100) It can be Tatar rap or punk bands singing covers of Soviet soundtrack faves, or something even more experimental in this club with a youthful crowd and decor inspired by artist Kasimir Malevich.
Festivals & Events
Joking competitions and serious sport events – horse races and wrestling matches – feature prominently during Sabantuy, the main Tatar holiday celebrated all over Tatarstan and beyond in the middle of June. Vladimir Putin was once spotted at the fest wearing a green Tatar hat and bobbing for apples floating in a milk-filled barrel. Contact the tourist information centre for more information.
Getting There & Away
The Aviakassy booth inside Hotel Tatarstan (ul Pushkina 4) is convenient for both air and railway tickets.
Several airlines fly daily from Kazan International Airport (267 8807), located 30km south of the city, to Moscow (from R2300, 1½ hours). You can also fly directly to Frankfurt (four weekly) with Lufthansa, Istanbul with Turkish Airways (two weekly) and Kaliningrad with KD Avia (daily)
The long-distance bus station (www.avtovokzal-kzn.ru, in Russian) is at the intersection of uls Tatarstan and Portovaya. Buses go to Ulyanovsk (R350, four to six hours, eight daily) and Samara (R383, seven hours, two daily).
Boats for Sviyazhsk (opposite) and Bolgar (opposite) leave from the river station at the end of ul Tatarstan. It’s best to buy tickets well in advance. Buses for Bolgar (R200, 3½ hours, two daily) leave from a smallish terminal next to the river station’s cash office.
The beautifully restored original train station on ul Said Galeeva now serves as a waiting room. Long-distance tickets are sold in a separate building, north of the new sleek suburban train station. Queues are smaller at ticket counters on the 2nd floor, where the service centre is also located. Frequent trains link Kazan to Moscow (R1670, 13 hours) and Yekaterinburg (R3100, 15 hours). Apart from many intercity trains, Nizhny Novgorod is also served by high-speed elektrichki from the suburban terminal (R320; eight hours).
Getting Around
Bus 97 (every half an hour, 5am-11pm) connects the airport with Kazan’s suburbs, passing metro pr Pobedy, at the end of the city’s only metro line. Stations Kremlyovskaya and pl Tukaya are located at either end of ul Baumana. Tram 7 and bus 53 link the train, bus and river stations. Tram 2 and bus 8 go from the station to pl Tukaya.
AROUND KAZAN
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Staroye Arakchino Старое Аракчино
Tatarstan’s oddest sight is the Temple of All Religions, located in the dacha settlement of Staroye Arakchino, inside Kazan municipality. Tightly clustered on a small plot of land, cupolas, minarets and spires representing 12 religions make the building look like a fantasy film set. There is nothing much inside as construction is unfinished.
The temple is the brainchild and residence of Tatar artist-cum-alternative healer Ildar Khanov. The only way to enter is to recall some of your ailments and join the long queue of patients. People are let inside in groups of eight and received by the man himself in his office. Don’t do it for fun – you might harm people whose trust in the healer is perhaps their main cure.
Staroye Arakchino is three stops away from Kazan’s suburban train station by the most westbound elektrichka (15 minutes, every half an hour, less frequent 1pm–5pm, R14 return). There is no need to look for the temple, which looms large over the place. Bus 2 leaving from the train station square can be stopped/hailed by the temple (20 minutes, every 10 minutes, R15).
Sviyazhsk Свияжск
A favourite escape for Kazan’s artists, this desolate egg-shaped island boasting stunning vistas in all directions is good for experiencing some genuine Russian melancholy. It also has some of the oldest architecture in the region and a fascinating history.
When Ivan the Terrible decided to end the Kazan khanate, he first ordered a base to be built for the coming onslaught on top of Mt Kruglaya at the mouth of the Sviyaga River. Its wooden kremlin was built 700km upstream in the town of Myshkin near Yaroslavl. When finished, the builders marked each log, disassembled the fortress and sent it floating down the river to Sviyazhsk, where it was reassembled. Immediately after the Tatar defeat, Ivan’s favourite architect Postnik Yakovlev (co-author of Moscow’s St Basil’s Cathedral, Click here, and Kazan’s Annunciation Cathedral Click here) embarked on the construction of churches and monasteries here.
The view of the town’s multitude of golden cupolas from a boat is said to have served as inspiration for the isle Buyan in Pushkin’s Tale of Tsar Soltan. The poet’s fantasy came true in the 20th century when the waters of Kuybyshev Reservoir surrounded Mt Kruglaya, cutting it off from land. By that time, it was already a metaphorical island – of the Gulag archipelago.
The Bolsheviks destroyed about half of Sviyazhsk’s churches – wooden crosses now mark their location – but several highlights were spared by the atheist zealots. These include the Assumption Monastery, whose St Nicolas Church is used for exhibitions of local artists, and John the Baptist Monastery, whose wooden Trinity Church looks like a modern dacha and is the only edifice inside the monastery from the original Myshkin-built fortress (though it doesn’t look anything like the original, having been rebuilt in 2002).
Sviyazhsk is served by regular boats (R71, two hours, Wed, Sat & Sun) and excursions boats (R259, Sat & Sun).
Bolgar Болгар
It might be the smallest town in Tatarstan, but Bolgar shares its name on equal terms with the country of Bulgaria. Besides, the word ‘Volga’ is most likely a Slavic corruption of the same name. Bolgar is the descendant of Great Bulgar, the capital of one of the most powerful and civilised states of early medieval Eastern Europe. Ruins of that city, on the outskirts of the modern town, have been turned into an open-air museum, which has become a major place of pilgrimage for Tatars in search of their roots.
The Bulgars were a Turkic tribe based south of the Don when they came under pressure from the Khazars and had to migrate. One branch headed west and occupied the eastern Balkans, but it was soon assimilated by local Slavs, leaving no trace but the name.
The eastern branch settled on the Volga and mixed with local Finno-Ugric tribes. Sunni Islam became the official religion in 921, following a visit of a Baghdadi embassy (see the boxed text, opposite).
Great Bulgar took the first blow of the Tatar Mongol lightning attack on Europe in 1236. But it revived and flourished under the Golden Horde, until it was again devastated by Timur and eventually finished off by Muscovite general Fyodor the Specky in the 15th century.
Peter the Great passed the ruins on a visit to the region in 1722 and ordered the historical site be preserved. However, in 1841, a local blacksmith looking for treasure unwittingly tore down the remaining 13th-century minaret. The new town was founded by Russians in 1781 under the name of Spassk. It was briefly called Kuybyshev and then renamed Bolgar in 1991.
The Great Bulgar Museum (ul Nazarovykh 67; admission R60) is located 1km east of the town on the high bank of the Volga. The site, comprising several ruins scattered around a vast expanse of grassland on top of a high cliff above the Volga, looks a bit odd as it is dominated by the minaret, which was restored in 2005, and the Russian 18th-century Assumption Church, which stands right next to it and houses an interesting archaeological museum. Nearby are the ruins of Great Bulgar’s main mosque with a stub of a pillar, which the Tatars believe brings fortune if you walk around it, which they do in droves. A mausoleum full of gravestones has inscriptions in the Arabic and Turkic Runic alphabets.
From the gates of the museum, stairs lead to the tourist pier, where cruise ships and tourist hydrofoils from Kazan’s river station (R430, Sat & Sun) dock.
The main pier, located a few kilometres upstream, is used by regular hydrofoils (R180; 2½ hours), leaving Kazan at 6pm and going back at 6am. Bolgar’s great-value Hotel Regina (31 044; ul Gorkogo 30; s/d R1050/1250) is one of the first buildings on the road leading from the main pier into town. Hotel staff can arrange a shared taxi back to Kazan (from R300 per person). From the bus station at ul Lenina two buses go to Kazan (R235; 3½ hours). Buses for Ulyanovsk (R145) and Tolyatti (R250) go on Friday and Sunday.
ULYANOVSK & SAMARA REGIONS
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ULYANOVSK УЛЬЯНОВСК
8422 / pop 636,000 /
Moscow
The view of the Volga from the Venets promenade is arresting, but turn around and what you’ll see is not so inspiring. Welcome to the communist Bethlehem, the birthplace of Lenin.
Founded as Simbirsk in the 17th century, the city was dubbed the ‘Nobles’ Nest’ as many young aristocrats spent summers here dreaming of great endeavours while resting on a couch between noon-time breakfast and late afternoon nap, their lifestyle epitomised by Simbirsk native Ivan Goncharov in his novel Oblomov.
The next generation of Simbirsk dreamers was anything but idle. Two local boys grew to become the first rulers of revolutionary Russia. Alexander Kerensky led the Provisional Government that was toppled by the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Ulyanov (aka Lenin).
The cult of Lenin had grave consequences for the city. Almost all religious buildings were razed and the centre was converted into a ‘memorial zone’ dominated by depressing Brezhnevian architecture.
Now Ulyanovsk is cleverly repackaging itself as the ‘Old Simbirsk’, with a bevy of little museums, all harking back to the Simbirsk era, emerging on quiet leafy streets lined by art nouveau mansions and wooden merchants’ houses.
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Orientation & Information
The main memorial zone occupies the high Volga banks from pl Lenina to the giant Lenin Memorial Centre. Two blocks east is ul Goncharova, the shopping district. The restored neighbourhood is further east, occupying ul Tolstogo and ul Lenina (of course).
A VOLGA ENCOUNTER
The first traveller to write a Volga diary was Ahmed ibn-Fadlan, a secretary of the Baghdadi embassy who arrived in 922 in Great Bulgar to convert the local khan and his people to Islam. His travelogue is one of very few preserved written documents describing the ancient people who populated the area and travelled up and down the Volga. One of his most striking stories describes an encounter with Scandinavian travellers, whom ibn-Fadlan describes as ‘people with most perfect bodies’, but also as ‘the dirtiest of Allah’s creatures’.
The curious Arab arranged to be invited to a funeral of a Viking chief. The ceremony included the ritual killing of a slave girl who volunteered to accompany her master into the other world. Thrilled and disgusted at the same time, ibn-Fadlan observes the ritual, which culminated with the girl taking poison. Both bodies were then loaded onto a ship and the ship was burned, the ashes carried away by the Volga.
Ibn-Fadlan believed these Vikings were members of the semi-legendary Rus tribe, which at about the same time was invited by Novgorod Slavs to rule their land. The Novgorodians are said to have uttered a famous complaint, which Russians still enjoy repeating: ‘Our land is rich, but there is no order.’
Internet Salon (420 911; ul Bebelya 22; per MB R5, per hr R37; 24hr) Enter through the courtyard.
Main post office & telephone exchange (cnr uls Tolstogo & Goncharova)
Sights
LENIN MEMORIAL CENTRE
The sprawling Memorial Centre is built around two Ulyanov family houses. The Lenin Flat-Museum (394 970; admission R15; 9am-4.45pm Sun-Wed & Fri) has the expected collection of personal items in the flat where the Ulyanovs lived for several years. The house where Lenin was born is now a Museum of Folk Art (441 975; admission R15; 9am-5pm Tue-Sat), with a small collection of local paintings and crafts. The gigantic concrete Historical Cultural Centre (394 904; admission R40; 10am-4.30pm Tue-Sun) has, on the 1st floor, an interesting and politically neutral exhibition on Lenin’s and Kerensky’s boyhoods and a large exhibition on the history of Russian communism till perestroika, which is shy about Stalin’s repressions and completely avoids any controversy regarding Lenin.
OLD SIMBIRSK
Ironically, it is Lenin’s Motherland Museum-Reserve – an evidently powerful local body – that is driving the revival of Old Simbirsk. It takes over one old house after another in the neighbourhood beyond ul Goncharova unspoilt by Soviet development and turns them into museums. The list of all 13 museums (there will be more) is available at www.zapovednik.mv.ru.
Most of the museums are clustered on leafy ul Lenina and ul Tolstogo, and they include four houses where the Ulyanov family resided. The too-perfect house-museum (ul Lenina 68; 9am-4.30pm Wed-Mon) is worth a visit for its detailed look at upper-middle-class life of that time. Another house on ul Lenina, which the Ulyanovs rented from a local priest, hosts the Museum of Simbirsk City Life (ul Lenina 90; 10am-4pm Tue-Sun). Almost opposite it, the Museum of Ulyanovsk Photography (ul Engelsa 1a; admission R40; 10am-4pm Tue-Sun) gives you a chance to vizualise Old Simbirsk and its people – in black and white.
The Museum of Ulyanovsk Architecture (ul Tolstogo 24a & 43; admission R100; 9am-5pm Tue-Sun) contains a full-size model of a Simbirsk wooden fortress watchtower and an exhibition about architects responsible for the town’s best buildings, both at ul Tolstogo 43. The premises at ul Tolstogo 24a contain a moving exhibition dedicated to the city’s architectural heritage that was destroyed by the Communists.
Back on the main street, you could have a peek at the Goncharov Museum (ul Lenina 134; admission R30; 10am-6pm Tue-Fri & Sun), in the two-storey house where the writer Ivan Goncharov grew up. His most famous work is Oblomov; less well known is his travelogue Frigate Pallada describing Goncharov’s journey on a sailing ship from St Petersburg to Japan around Cape Horn with the first Russian diplomatic mission to the country, which was just beginning to open.
Goncharov was the most revered Simbirsk native until the October Revolution. The Regional Art and Local Studies Museum (bul Novy Venets 3; admission R60; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun) was built specially to commemorate the author and became the architectural symbol of Simbirsk.
Sleeping & Eating
Hotel Venets (394 576; ul Sovetskaya 15; s/d R1300/2500) A towering block opposite the Memorial Centre evokes 1970s Soviet Union, which is exactly when it was built. But all its drawbacks can be forgiven for the stunning views in all directions.
Maxi Pizza (421 465; ul Goncharova 21; slice of pizza R60; 10am-midnight) This cafeteria-style pizza place is almost always packed with students and other young folks. You can’t go wrong with cheap, tasty pizza and beer.
Okna (427 877; ul Sovetskaya 15; mains R200; noon-2am) On the 2nd floor, this trendy café lends a touch of modernity to the dinosaur Hotel Venets.
Getting There & Away
Flights go once or twice a day to/from Moscow (R5500, two hours); there’s an Aeroflot office (394 750; ul Sovetskaya 15; 8am-noon & 1-4pm Mon-Sat) in Hotel Venets. Several buses make the journey to Kazan (R350, five hours), Syzran (R190, three hours) and Samara (R334, five hours). Trains go to Moscow (R3200, 15 hours), Kazan (R320, six hours), Ufa (R650, 15 hours), Saratov (R520, 11 hours), Samara (R360, five hours) and Volgograd (R780, 15 hours).
Getting Around
Ulyanovsk-Tsentralnaya train station is 4.5km from the centre by marshrutka 38, 68 or 55, or tram 4. The long-distance bus station (www.avtovokzal73.ru, in Russian) is 4km from the centre, served by tram 2 from Hotel Venets. To get to the river station, take tram 4 from Hotel Venets, then walk down a lane to the Kuybyshev Reservoir.
SAMARA САМАРА
846 / pop 1.16 million /
Moscow + 1hr
‘Oh, Samara, the little town, I am so restless – give me some rest.’ The quintessential drinking song is now only partly true: this city of over a million is little no more. But the local authorities are damn serious about turning the Samara region – much lauded for its natural beauty – into a top domestic holiday destination. The effort is visible, but the results are, well, patchy. Infrastructure problems persist, expertise is scarce and foreign tourists are largely out of the picture. But if being a pioneer is your thing, you’re welcome to give Samara’s aspiring travel industry a tough test.
The city itself is quite pleasant. On a summer day, Samara’s river banks are packed with bathing beauties, in-line skaters and beer drinkers. The lazy Volga is inviting, and Samara is the place to jump in. If you’re not a beach bum, Samara has a few good museums and also serves as the base for excursions into the nearby Zhiguli Hills.
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History
Samara grew up where the Volga meets the Samara River, at a sharp bend across from the Zhiguli Hills. Founded as a border fortress in 1568, it saw the local governor drowned by Stepan Razin’s Cossacks in 1670 and another governor flee Yemelyan Pugachev’s peasant army in 1774. The Russian Civil War began in Samara, when a unit of Czechoslovakian prisoners of war commandeered their train and seized control of the city, turning it into a stronghold for the emerging White army.
Renamed Kuybyshev in 1935, after a local Bolshevik who’d made it big in Moscow, it became the country’s reserve capital at the start of WWII. A bunker prepared for Stalin and plaques marking houses allocated for foreign embassies remain as a legacy of that critical moment in Soviet history.
As a location of military industry, the city was closed to foreigners in the postwar period, until perestroika when it was reopened and its original name restored.
Orientation
The centre of Samara is on the eastern bank of the Volga at its junction with the Samara River. The main street, ul Kuybysheva, runs from pl Revolyutsii in the west (a few blocks south of the river station), then changes its name to Volzhsky pr as it continues east along the Volga. Street signs in the centre usually show two names – the official communist-era one at the top and the historical one at the bottom.
Information
Chakona (www.chaconne.ru, in Russian; ul Frunze 96; 10am-9pm) Packed with books and maps, and often packed with people. Located on the top floor of the Evropa shopping mall.
Post office (ul Kuybysheva 82; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & Sun) Conveniently located and has a 24-hour telephone centre.
Vizit Internet Centre (Samarskaya ul 199; per hr R39, per MB R4; 9am-10pm) A crowded basement place with plenty of computers.
Travel agencies
Local tour companies cater primarily for Russian tourists and have little experience with foreigners. If you ask for an English-language excursion, they typically suggest that you pay US$20 per hour for an interpreter to assist the Russian-speaking guide. They are also wary about individual tourists, preferring to work with large groups. Here are the companies that actually try to work with foreigners, however clumsily.
Alliance Tour (260 0658; www.a-tours.com; ul Aerodromnaya 47a, fl 6 of Avrora shopping mall, office 604a) Four-day bicycle tours of the Zhiguli Hills start at R4500. Also available are safaris in UAZ jeeps and caving expeditions in the Zhiguli hills. Pricing for foreigners is dual and arbitrary.
Samara Intour (279 2040; www.samaraintour.ru, in Russian; Samarskaya ul 51/53; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat) Most useful for joining trips, known as zhigulyovskaya krugosvetka (Click here), to the Samara Bend. Also organises bicycle and rafting trips, and can help to book a Volga beach resort in the Samara area.U-Ra (270 7472; www.y-ra.ru; ul Galaktionovskaya 40b) Excursions to Zhiguli that are heavy on all things mystic and esoteric, also city tours and trips to theme parks.
Sights
ALONG THE NABEREZHNAYA
The Volga River is banked by a wide swathe of lush parks and the city’s main attraction: sandy beaches. Swimming, sunbathing and strolling along the naberezhnaya (embankment) are the locals’ favourite pastimes.
Ploshchad Slavy is a memorial to Samara’s role in WWII. The 53m-high statue of a worker holding a pair of wings symbolises the city’s aviation-related contributions: local factories produced the IL-2, known as the ‘flying tank’, during WWII. On the east side of the square, the St George Cathedral honours the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.
The Iversky Women’s Monastery (Vilonovskaya ul), founded in 1850, was home to 360 nuns, mostly daughters of local merchants.
Walk through Strukovsky Garden and up the steps to Teatralnaya pl, with its striking monument to Bolshevik hero Vasily Chapaev, and the ornate 1888 Drama Theatre.
A slow walk from one end of the naberezhnaya to the other takes a few hours, longer if you stop for a cold drink at one of the summer cafés. Even better, head to the eastern side of the Zhiguli Brewery (642 116; Volzhsky pr 4), built by Austrian aristocrat Alfred von Wakano in 1881, and fill your bottle with fresh local beer at a kiosk near stalls selling garlands of salted fish.
MUSEUMS
The massive Alabin Museum (www.alabin.ru, in Russian; Leninskaya ul 142; admission R80; 10am-5pm daily) has exhibits on regional palaeontology and archaeology, including dinosaur fossils found in the Zhiguli Hills. The affiliated Ulyanov family house-museum (Leninskaya ul 131 & 135; admission R80; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat) is where Vladimir Ilych and his family lived for three years from 1890 to 1893.
The Samara Art Museum (ul Kuybysheva 92; admission R100; 10am-6pm Wed-Mon) exhibits mainly Russian art, including works by artists who came to the region to paint. Look for Boyarishina, given by Surikov to a local doctor who treated him when he fell ill. The museum also holds an impressive collection of early Malevich.
The landmark Engineer Klodt’s House, looking like a fairytale castle, is now occupied by the Children’s Art Gallery (332 4398; ul Kuybysheva 139; admission R30; 9am-6pm).
Stalin’s Bunker (333 3571; ul Frunze 167; 11am-1pm & 2-3pm Mon-Fri), built nine storeys below the Academy of Culture and Art, never actually served its intended purpose, as Stalin decided to stay in Moscow to direct events. Unfortunately, the administration is pretty Stalinist to individual tourists – it is almost impossible to get in during the summer period when all excursion slots are booked by cruise companies. In winter, you need to call in advance to arrange a visit.
CHURCHES & SYNAGOGUES
The Pokrovsky Cathedral (Leninskaya ul 75A), built in 1860, was once resplendent in gold, marble and artistry. Apparently these riches proved their value during the 1920s famine, when they were sold to Finland for 32 wagons of bread for Samara residents to eat.
After the suppression of Polish uprisings in the Russian empire in 1830, a small group of Polish exiles settled in Samara. In 1902 this community built the Gothic Catholic Church (334 188; ul Frunze 157; 9am-12.30pm & 3-6pm). Reminiscent of a medieval German basilica, the Lutheran Church (ul Kuybysheva 115; service 10am Sun) was built by a growing German population, who settled here from the 1760s under Catherine the Great’s agricultural development program. This church often hosts concerts on Sunday afternoons.
When the synagogue (ul Sadovaya 49) was built in 1903, it served over 1000 people, the largest Jewish community in the Volga region. The building was turned into a bread factory during Soviet times and now stands abandoned.
Events
The Grushinsky festival, held every year since 1968, draws thousands of admirers of bard music – a key element of the informal Soviet adventure travel culture of the 1960s. Essentially, bard music consists of songs accompanied by guitar, which tourists would sing sitting by the fire in their camp. There was a split between the organisers, as a result of which now there are two festivals held in July, one at the old venue, Mastryukovskiye lakes, and another one at Fyodorvskye meadows. Both places are near Tolyatti (Click here).
Sleeping
Volga Hotel (242 1196; Volzhsky pr 29; s/d from R650/1100) Located at the northern end of the embankment, this hotel has the cheapest rooms in town. It maintains its unwelcoming Soviet ambience, but it’s not a bad option. Watch out for the 50% reservation fee.
Azimut Hotel (277 8080; www.azimuthotels.ru; ul Frunze 91/37; r with breakfast from R2400/3000) This historic hotel was the National in its last reincarnation and the Metropol in the one before that. Having been taken over by the Azimut chain, it was not so much refurbished as de-Sovietised. The standards have been brought to the level where the lack of modern repair makes the place atmospheric rather than depressing.
Bristol-Zhiguli Hotel (332 0655; www.bristol-zhiguly.ru; ul Kuybysheva 111; s/d from R3200/3500) Housed in an ornate 19th-century building, this historic hotel has undergone a renovation that sent prices soaring. The most expensive room is the one where opera singer Fyodor Chaliapin once stayed, using the balcony as a stage from which he sang for a crowd of adoring fans.
Hotel Europe (708 631; www.hoteleurope.ru; Galaktionovskaya ul 171; s/d with breakfast from R3300/4290; nais) Housed in a lovely 1902 mansion, this newish hotel has 20 simple guest rooms and a highly rated restaurant. The decor is comfortable and modern – if nondescript – but all the amenities are available.
Eating & Drinking
Prichal (221 2497; ul Maxima Gorkogo 78b; mains R170) The friendly Azeri place by the cruise-ship pier does great kebabs and dolma and catfish baked in foil. We also enjoyed kofta with plum inside, but hesitated to try khan-dolma – liver, kidneys and heart in a film of fat.
Zhili-Byli (704 132; ul Kuybysheva 81; mains R180; 11am-midnight) Recreates a Russian country inn, complete with convivial atmosphere, reasonable prices and abundant soups and salads.
Kipyatok (333 27 20; Leningradskaya ul 40; mains R200; 10am-12pm) This funky restaurant recreates the golden age of the Russian culinary arts – the early 20th century – when chefs put innovation ahead of ethnic tradition. Inventive dishes such as chicken fillet stuffed with pumpkin and pickles, or pork with cedar nuts and lemon skins are complemented by home-made kvas and mors.
U Palycha (323 605; ul Kuybysheva 100; meals R500-800) This Samara institution is highly recommended for the Russian cuisine. There’s live Russian folk music every night.
White Cup (332 0594; ul Kuybysheva 111; coffee R100; 24hr) This sleek, modern café is good for breakfast, lunch or just a milkshake to cool down on a steamy day.
Troitsky market (ul Galaktionovskaya; 7am-6pm) Great for self-caterers, the market has tables piled high with fresh fruit and vegies, as well as breads, meats and cheeses.
Entertainment
Opera & Ballet Theatre (322 509; pl Kuybysheva 1) The main venue for classical dance and musical performances.
Paper Moon (Bumazhnaya Luna; 333 5485; ul Leningradskaya 77; mains R250; 12am-2am) This artsy club–bar–restaurant with its funky design attracts Samara’s bohemians. Concerts and poetry readings take place almost daily.
Star (Zvezda; 703 447; www.zvezdasok.ru, in Russian; ul Novo-Sadovaya 106) A huge entertainment complex with cinemas, bowling and billiards, plus a pumping nightclub and bar.
Draft (Skvoznyak; 270 3949; cnr ul Novo-Sadovaya & pr Masslenikova; admission R150; 5pm-3am) Across the street from Zvezda, this place has live music by local rock and blues groups.
Getting There & Away
Air and rail tickets are available without queues at the Aviakassy (421 085; www.cavs-samara.ru; ul Molodogvardeyskaya 221; 8am-7pm Mon-Sat). Lufthansa operates a direct flight from Samara to Frankfurt (R21,000 return, four hours, daily). Flights throughout the day go to Moscow (from R2700 with Sky Express, 2½ hours) and St Petersburg (R6000, three hours). KD Avia also provides a connection with Europe via Kaliningrad.
The river station is at the west end of the naberezhnaya, in front of Hotel Rossiya. Long-distance cruises go to various destinations along the Volga. There are also boats to regional destinations, including Shiryaevo (R70, twice daily). Several cruise agencies run kiosks here. Infoflot (www.infoflot.com, in Russian) sells cruises to Kazan (from R3100), Volgograd (R5760) and Ulyanovsk/Bolgar (R5700).
The central bus station is 6km southeast of the centre. Buses go to Ulyanovsk (R340, five hours, eight daily), Saratov Kazan (R650, seven hours, daily), Tolyatti (R130, frequent) and Syzran (R230, frequent). It is worth leaving Samara by train if only to wait in the ultramodern, clean and efficient station. In addition to several trains to Moscow (R2180, 17 hours), there are daily trains to Saratov (R1200, 11 hours), Kazan (R1200, 12 hours), Astrakhan (R2340, 23 hours) and Ufa (R2050, nine hours).
Getting Around
Trolleybus 2 runs between the train and bus stations. From ul Kuybysheva, take bus 37, 46, 47 or 57 to the central bus station. Bus 24 runs from pl Revolyutsii to pl Slavy.
SAMARA BEND Самарская лука
While Samara sits on the left bank of the Volga, the right bank is dominated by the rocky Zhiguli Hills. It is a geological paradox – young alpine-age mountains puncturing the shield of the Russian platform. The river loops around the hills creating a peninsula, encompassing 32,000 hectares of national forest reserve. The Samara Bend National Park (Samarskaya Luka in Russian) is a prime area for hikes along rocky ledges and grand Volga vistas. The peaks – the highest being Strelnaya mountain at 370m – are in the northwest corner of the reserve. These hills were the hideout of peasant rebel Stepan Razin in the 17th century.
The easiest way to reach the reserve in summer is to take a boat to any of the villages on the right bank, such as Shiryaevo. If you want to explore the area by public transport or bicycle, local hubs Tolyatti and Syzran come into the equation. Together with Samara, they form an almost equilateral triangle and often have better connections with adjacent regions than the provincial capital.
The traditional way to experience the Samara Bend is by boat. Every year, thousands of locals raft zhigulyovskaya krugosvetka, which translates as Zhiguli round-the-world trip. The route follows the loop in the river, then cuts back up north via a channel on the west side of the park. Samara Intour (Click here) organises these trips for R9500 for a 10-day trip.
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Shiryaevo Ширяево
In the 1870s, Ilya Repin spent two years in this village just north of Samara on the west bank of the Volga. Here he completed sketches for his famous painting, Barge Haulers on the Volga, which is now in St Petersburg’s Russian Museum (Click here).
Today, this pleasant village welcomes art lovers and day trippers. The Repin Museum (848-626 8257; ul Sovetskaya 14; 11am-4pm Tue-Sun) has a nice selection of Volga River paintings, including some Repin reproductions. The appeal lies less in seeing the art, however, than in experiencing this quintessential Volga village.
The three-hour trip from Samara to Shiryaevo by hydrofoil makes for a pleasant day trip in the summer months. In other seasons, the village is more difficult to reach, as only one bus per day makes the long journey. You can also reach Shiryayevo by bus from Tolyatti.
Tolyatti Тольятти
8482
If you’re an an anti-tourist like Daniel Kalder (Click here), it’s hard to think of a better destination than Tolyatti. Welcome to Lada-land, the place where one of the world’s most ridiculed vehicles is produced. As well, the city is a particularly depressing Soviet urban sprawl, where the quality of the roads matches that of Lada cars, although it is strategically placed by the giant Kuybyshev reservoir dam, with the Zhiguli Hills starting right across the water. Besides, an embryonic sports and tourism industry is emerging here.
The VAZ plant that makes Ladas is located in the part of Tolyatti known as New Town (Novy Gorod). A huge area opposite the plant is occupied by the Technical Museum (726 620; Yuzhnoye sh 137; admission R40, photography R40; 9am-5pm), which has a vast collection of mostly military hardware, including a nuclear submarine.
The riverside green belt connecting Tolyatti’s Old and New Towns is full of old Soviet sanatoriums at various stages of transition into modern resorts. One of them, standing in the middle of a pine forest, is the Park Hotel (489 997; Portposylok, ul Komzina 6; s/d from R2800/3700), which has a garden restaurant. A five-minute walk down the river takes you to a nice, though littered, sandy beach, the location of the Wind Power Surf Shop (Sila Vetra; 927-261 3898; www.sila-vetra.ru, in Russian), which rents windsurfers and kites. A six-day kite- or windsurfing course costs around R3000.
You can also knead your muscles at the Spin Park (489 120; Portposyolok, Komsomolskoye sh 22; 8am-11pm), with its 20km of bicycle lanes in a forested area and a swimming pool for chilling out after the exercise.
If you need to stay overnight in Tolyatti, head to Zhiguli (223 311; ul Mira 77; s/d R990/1390) – a Soviet-style but perfectly adequate hotel. The recommended source of food and free wi-fi is directly across the seemingly endless Gorsad plaza – Izyum (280 490; ul Gagarina 2; mains R150; 9am-11pm).
Tolyatti’s central bus station is reached by frequent minibuses from the Samara bus station (R204, two hours). There are daily buses to Ulyanovsk (R404, five hours) and Kazan (R450, six hours). Mountain bikes (R800 per day) are rented from a garage right outside the main bus station; dial the phone number posted on the door, and the owner will be right there.
A taxi is cheap (R50 within one district, R130 between districts) and by far the best way to get around town. Novoye Taxi (310 000, 777 600) is a reliable company.
Syzran Сызрань
This sleepy merchants’ town – which has somewhat wishfully proclaimed itself the tomato capital of Russia, holding the annual Syzran Tomato festival (modelled on the Spanish La Tomatina) every August – is strategically located on the routes leading from Samara to both Ulyanovsk (upstream) and Saratov (downstream). It is also an access point for attractions on the picturesque western bank of Kuybyshev reservoir, such as Usolye (Click here). Local sights include Spasskaya tower – the sole remainder of the 17th-century kremlin – and the beautifully restored 19th century Kazansky cathedral.
If you need to stay overnight here, the excellent small hotel La Mancha (8464-907 020; ul Karla Marksa 12; s/d 1700/2700) is in the centre.
Syzran lies on the southern branch of the Trans-Siberian route. It is passed by trains from Moscow (R2100, 15 hours) and Saratov (6½ hours, R1200), heading to Ufa (11 hours, R2900) in the Urals via Samara. There are buses to Ulyanovsk (R150, three hours) and Saratov and Samara (R100, two hours). Train and bus stations are in the same place, reached from the centre by marshrutka 28.
Usolye Усолье
This ancient salters’ village is reviving old traditions by holding the annual Salt Fair in July. It has a municipal museum (ul Korolyova 19; Tue-Sun 10am-4pm; admission R20) dedicated to the history of salt trade; the rundown yet charming 19th-century Orlov-Davydov estate sits just outside the northern edge of the village.
Across the Usolye bay and some 12km from the village by road is one of the main Russian presidential summer retreats, where Vladimir Putin hosted European leaders at the Russia–EU summit in 2007. The delegates stayed at the upmarket Volga Cliff resort (Volzhsky utyos; 84630-51 625; s/d R3975/R5300), which is open to the general public and offers the kinds of pampering a Kremlin apparatchik would expect.
There are three buses a day to Usolye from Syzran’s bus station (1½ hours, R120) and four boats a day from Tolyatti’s New Town pier (30 minutes, R50).
SARATOV & VOLGOGRAD REGIONS
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SARATOV САРАТОВ
8452 / pop 873,000 /
Moscow
Another town, another song. ‘So many golden lights on the streets of Saratov, so many bachelors around, but I’m in love with a married guy’ goes the 1950s superhit. Lamps are indeed golden-coloured along the riverside promenade where the tune is chimed on the hour.
Saratov lacks major tourist attractions, but it’s a laid-back place and has a bit of a seaside resort atmosphere, which is the main reason to unwind here for a day or two.
The former name of ul Kirova is Nemet-skaya (German), an indication that Saratov was at the heart of the Volga German region. Wartime deportations spared few Volga Germans and only a handful returned here from exile (Click here), but their presence can be felt in the city’s distinctly Central European ambience.
The first man in space, cosmonaut Yury Gagarin, lived in Saratov and studied at the local university, which now bears his name. Russian-German composer Alfred Schnittke was born here in 1934, and the city’s concert hall is named after him.
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Orientation & Information
The centre of town is the pedestrian mall on pr Kirova, stretching 1km from the market at ul Chapaeva to ul Radishcheva. Three blocks north, busy Moskovsky pr links the train station to the river station where the riverside promenade begins.
Crazy Mouse (pr Kirova 24; R35 for ½hr; 9am-10pm) Enter through the arch to find this friendly internet place.
Dom Knigi (ul Volskaya 81; 9am-7pm) Has a fine collection of maps and reference books.
Post office (cnr pr Moskovsky & ul Chapaeva; 9am-6pm)
Sights
Saratov’s main architectural landmarks – the Sobinov Conservatory (Click here) and the central market (opposite) – are located at either end of ul Kirova. River views and shady walks are the highlights of the Naberezhnaya Kosmonavtov (Cosmonaut’s Embankment) along the Volga, surveyed by a resolute Yury Gagarin from the river’s shore.
The Regional Museum (Muzey Kraevedeniya; 282 491; ul Lermontova 34; admission R60; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun) is located in the ancestral house of British actor Peter Ustinov, who was descended from a local merchant’s family. There’s an exhibition on Volga Germans – which dodges uncomfortable issues such as the deportation – and a plane in which Gagarin learned to fly. Across the street, the 17th-century Trinity Cathedral is a heavily decorated church with an unusual gable roof that makes it look like a fancy dacha.
For the full story on Gagarin in Saratov, check out the Gagarin Museum (237 666; ul Sakko i Vanzetti 15; 9am-4pm Mon-Fri). Not only did the cosmonaut live and study in Saratov, he also landed (crashed?) his rocket nearby after his much-lauded flight. The landing site, 40km out of town near the village of Kvasnikovka, is marked by a commemorative monument.
The Radishchev Museum (263 627; ul Pervomayskaya 75; admission for foreigners R200; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) is the main branch of the Fine Arts Museum, and contains a good selection of art from the 18th to the 20th centuries.
SOKOLOVAYA GORA
This strategic hill overlooking the city and the river bending around it is a popular getaway for Saratovians. The main attraction here is the Victory Park, its lanes packed with military hardware – from an armoured train, to fighter planes, to a funny-looking mini-submarine, which they should really paint yellow.
The main park lane eventually leads you into the Ethnic Village, which contains authentic-looking houses representing numerous ethnic groups that inhabit Saratov oblast – including German, Dagestani, Mordva, Tatar and Korean. Some of them come with impromptu summer restaurants. The Azeri one gets our cheers for the best food and jeers for the worst service.
To get to Sokolovaya Gora take bus 94 from the central market.
Sleeping
Hotel Volga (263 645; www.astoria.saratov.ru, in Russian; pr Kirova 34; s/d with shared facilities R1100/1700) Statues of black knights and naked runners observe you from the roof as you enter this art nouveau masterpiece. Rooms are Soviet-style but clean, and high ceilings give them a glorious, pre-revolutionary air.
Hotel Volna (280 885; nab Kosmonavtov 7a; s/d without bathroom R700/1000, r with bathroom R2000) With its superb location inside the river station building and reasonable prices, this place is popular with Russian travellers.
Hotel Slovakia (237 618; www.hotelslovakia.ru, in Russian; ul Lermontova 30; s/d from R3180/3680) A towering Soviet block on the waterfront, Hotel Slovakia is the most common option for visiting business people. Unrefurbished singles go for R2200. Wi-fi is available on floors 7 and 8.
Private Residence Bohemia (263 334; pr Kirova 25; s/d from R2500/3700) The flagship of the Bohemia mini-hotel chain occupies a floor in an old mansion on the city’s main drag. Rooms are modern and comfy. Check the fridge for a complimentary bottle of the Bohemia ale brewed by the same company. The identical Business Hotel Bohemia (278 074; ul Yablochkova 26/28) is hidden in a courtyard on the parallel street. There are two more Bohemia hotels outside the centre.
Eating & Drinking
House of Culinary Julienne (265 871; ul Chapaeva 64; mains R100; 8am-9pm) A Soviet-styled kulinaria shop selling ready-made food, which you can also eat at stand-up tables on the premises.
Buratino (277 479; pr Kirova 10; meals R200-300; 11am-midnight) This is a quintessential Saratovian café–restaurant themed on ‘Red Count’ Alexei Tolstoi’s version of Pinocchio. Beneath it, there is a funky basement restaurant called Misteria Buff – after Mayakovsky’s futurist show. Buratino also runs a summer terrace next to writer Konstantin Fedin’s monument on the embankment.
Zhiguli (278 721; pr Kirova 12; mains R250; 9am-3am) Beer, sushi, steaks, kalian (waterpipes) – a bit too much of everything as far as we are concerned, but if hunger attacks you at midnight, this is about the only place to go.
Corleone (273 541; ul Maksima Gorkogo 34; mains R350; noon-midnight) A competent if pricey Italian restaurant with black and white photos on the walls (mostly featuring Mexico, for some reason) and shelves full of Soviet-era books. So don’t be surprised when they bring your bill tucked inside one of Lenin’s volumes.
Nashe Pivo (264 476; pr Kirova 5; beer R120; 10am-11pm) Sausages on the menu (mains R200), fresh ale in your glass and a full view of the microbrewery that has just produced it – need more info?
Recommended cafés:
Cafe et Chocolat (734 313; Volskaya ul 57; coffee R50-100; 9am-11pm) Each outlet in this chain represents a different European coffee-drinking culture. This one resembles a Parisian café.
Opium (230 730; Volzhskaya ul 27b; drinks R120; 24hr) A smallish DJ-café with red sofas, cocktails, kalian and wi-fi – free for half an hour if you order.
For fresh fruit and art nouveau elegance head to the central market (pl Kirova; 8am-7pm).
Entertainment
Sobinov Conservatory (230 652; pr Kirova 1) One of the best in Russia, holding frequent performances by resident and visiting musicians.
Schnittke Philharmonic Theatre (224 871; Sobornaya pl 9) This hall remains true to the composer’s ideology of polystylism, so jazz is as much at home here as classical music.
Grand Michel (243 640; pr Kirova 22; 1pm-6am) This lively entertainment complex offers bowling and billiards.
Getting There & Around
The train station (Privokzalnaya pl) is at the western end of Moskovsky pr. Daily trains go to/from Moscow’s Paveletsky vokzal (R3200, 15 hours), as well as Samara (R1050, eight hours), Volgograd (R1050, eight hours) and Aktobe in Kazakhstan (platskart R800, 11 hours).
The river station (269 324; Kosmonavtov nab) is at the eastern end of Moskovsky pr. Inside the building, Volga-Heritage Ltd (280 874; [email protected]; nab Kosmonavtov 7a) sells cruises to various destinations along the Volga.
Trolleybuses 2 and 2A stop at the market at the western end of pr Kirova. Trolleybuses 1 and 9 ply pr Moskovsky from the train station to the river station.
VOLGOGRAD ВОЛГОГРАД
8442 / pop 1.01 million /
Moscow
It was founded in 1589 as Tsaritsyn, but the world knows it neither under that name nor under its current name, which it’s borne since 1961. The city made history during the 36-year period when it appeared on maps as Stalingrad.
In 1942, it became the scene of an epic battle that changed the course of WWII (Click here). The number of those who died in this battle is almost twice the current population of Volgograd. The city had to be rebuilt from scratch, which explains the Stalinesque splendour of public buildings and broad avenues. It is classical Soviet baroque at its best or worst, depending on your viewpoint. A giant sword-wielding female statue now guards the peace from the top of Mamaev Kurgan.
But there is more to Volgograd than war memories. In the far corner of the city, you can marvel at a feat of Soviet engineering – the first lock of the Volga–Don canal. A stone’s throw away, the carefully restored buildings of Tsaritsyn’s German district prove that two world wars have failed to erase centuries of cultural exchange between the great European powers.
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Orientation & Information
Volgograd stretches along the Volga for a mind-boggling 70km, but the centre is quite compact and can be explored on foot. The main north–south artery is pr Lenina. From the central pl Pavshikh Bortsov (Fallen Warriors’ Square), the promenade alleya Geroyev (Ave of Heroes) crosses pr Lenina to the river station on the Volga’s west bank.
Pautina (pr Lenina 25; per min R1.50, per MB R2)An internet café that really has the café bit.
Post office (pl Pavshikh Bortsov; 24hr)
Svyaz-Service (331 660; per hr R30-60; 24hr) Fax and internet facilities; adjacent to the post office.
Sights & Activities
MAMAEV KURGAN (MAMAY MOUND)
Known as Hill 102 during the Battle of Stalingrad, Mamaev Kurgan was the site of four months of fierce fighting. It’s now a moving memorial to all who died in this bloody but victorious fight.
The complex’s centrepiece is an evocative 72m statue of Mother Russia wielding a sword extending another 11m above her head. The area is covered with statues, memorials and ruined fortifications. The Pantheon is inscribed with the names of 7200 soldiers who died here. These names are meant to represent just a handful of the estimated one million Russian soldiers who were killed in this tragic battle. Take the high-speed tram to the Mamaev Kurgan stop, 3km north of the centre.
STALINGRAD BATTLE MUSEUMS
This exhaustive Museum of the Defence of Stalingrad (346 723; ul 13-y Gvardeyskoy Divizii; admission R90, guided tours R650; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun) has dozens of exhibits on the Battle of Stalingrad and the soldiers who fought in it. The model of the ruined city (post battle) is a moving display of the human capacity for both destruction and rebuilding. Captions are in Russian only.
Upstairs is the Panorama ‘Stalingradskaya Bitva’, a 360-degree illustration of the battle as it might have been seen from atop Mamaev Kurgan. Viewers can relive the battle experience in the midst of the chaos and carnage. The Panorama is accessible only with a guided group, so listen for the loudspeaker announcements indicating the start of a guided tour.
The startling ruins nearby are the only evidence of the Battle of Stalingrad left in the centre. Ironically, this former flour mill had been constructed by the Germans in 1893. It has been left as a reminder of the devastating battle.
The complex is two blocks east of pl Lenina high-speed tram stop; otherwise, a 20-minute stroll through the river park from alleya Geroyev gets you here.
The Memory Museum (pl Pavshikh Bortsov 2; underground fl of TsUM shopping mall; admission free; 9am-4pm Mon-Fri) is located on the premises of the German headquarters where Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrendered his army to the Soviets (see the boxed text, above).
HONOURED ENEMY
Of all the Third Reich personalities, Friedrich Paulus, the chief German commander in Stalingrad, had perhaps the most positive image in the USSR. He was seen by people and pictured by Soviet propaganda as an honest soldier who fought for his country until the last, but refused to send his people to a certain death – as Hitler insisted he should do – when the Stalingrad battle was clearly lost. Hitler, who promoted the commander to field marshal just a day before the surrender of German troops in Stalingrad, was furious at learning that Paulus didn’t commit suicide. The latter was quoted as saying: ‘I won’t die for a Bohemian corporal.’ While in captivity, Paulus became a vocal critic of Nazism and joined the Soviet-sponsored Free Germany committee. He was released in 1953 and served as a police inspector in East Germany until his death in 1957.
SAREPTA AND VOLGA–DON CANAL
What is currently known as Krasnoarmeyks (Redarmyville) district, an hour from the centre, once used to be the German colony of Sarepta. The original settlers were Catholic missionaries from Moravia (currently in the Czech Republic) who arrived here in 1765 with the aim of proselytising the Kalmyks. Failing that, they became the mustard tycoons of Russia.
The repressions of the 1930s, WWII and the deportation of Volga Germans left precious little of the old Sarepta, but several buildings on a peaceful square, including the Lutheran church, have miraculously survived. They comprise the Old Sarepta Museum (673 302; ul Vinogradnaya 6; admission R40; 8am-5pm Mon-Fri), which houses several exhibitions on the history of the colony.
Nearby, a huge Stalinesque arch marks the beginning of the Volga–Don canal. Built in 1952, it completed the last section of an aquatic avenue that now connects the White and the Black Seas by linking the Volga to the Don, which flows into the Sea of Azov. A million people, including 236,000 Axis prisoners of war and Russian Gulag inmates, took part in the construction.
No one can tell the canal’s story better than Rimma Eidelman, whose private collection has been turned into the Museum of the Volga–Don Canal (ul Fadeyeva 35a; 10am-noon & 1pm-4pm Mon-Fri). Ring the bell and she is most likely to welcome you at the entrance. She speaks only Russian, but she can show you English-language videos about the canal.
You’ll appreciate just how sprawling Volgograd is on a journey out here, which involves an hour-long bumpy ride through bleak suburbs in a cramped marshrutka. From pr Lenina, get on marshrutka 55a (R24) heading for Юбилейный (Yubileyny). Get off at the Vinogradnaya stop just before the canal. The Old Sarepta Museum is hidden behind Soviet apartment blocks lining the street.
Sleeping
Hotel Volgograd (408 030; www.hotelvolgograd.ru, in Russian; ul Mira 12; s/d from R2000/2300; ) South across pl Pavshikh Bortsov, this hotel occupies one of the few buildings remaining from Tsaritsyn times, although it was considerably altered after the war. Cheap unrenovated rooms go for R1300.
Hotel Bank (742 174; [email protected]; ul Kommunisticheskaya 40; s/d from R2000/3000, tr per person R800) Occupying floors 7, 8 and 9 in the modern office tower of Sberbank, Hotel Bank offers nice rooms where even bed sheets are the Sberbank’s trademark green. Breakfast, served in the canteen on the 2nd floor, includes cutlets and dumplings, but none of the food you’d normally expect in the morning.
Hotel Intourist (364 553; fax 361 648; ul Mira 14; s/d from R3990/4900; ) This is a Soviet vintage gem with the level of service matching the bright, welcoming lobby. Rooms are light and comfortable, if slightly overpriced.
Eating & Drinking
Shury-Mury (alleya Geroyev 2; mains R100; 11am-11pm) A bronze cat welcomes you to the Volgograd version of a self-service restaurant serving the kind of food Russians eat at home.
Kayfe (244 242; pr Lenina 23a; meals R150; 9am-6am)A cosy café that tries to keep you inside for as long as possible by supplying everything you might want, be it a large meal or a light snack, tea or coffee, alcohol or kalian. Good for breakfasts, lunches or as a predawn chill-out.
Grand Café (408 484; ul Mira 12; meals R200-500; 9am-1am) Situated on the ground floor of Hotel Volgograd, this is the city’s hottest spot to sip a cappuccino and scope out the scene. Part of the premises has been turned into a pizzeria.
Bochka (919 319; Sovetskaya ul 16; mains R300; 11am-midnight) This dark and cosy basement place has a good selection of beer and European cuisine. It draws a business lunch crowd, but it’s more fun in the evening, when live music plays.
Coffee Nero (382 142, 968 112; alleya Geroyev 1 & pr Lenina 20; coffee R70; 10am-12pm) No relation to the British Café Nero chain, these two light and cheerful outlets bring together three recent Russian crazes – coffee, sushi and wi-fi; the latter is free if you keep making orders.
White Horse (Belaya loshad; 331 739; ul Ostrovskogo 5; noon-2am) One of several divey places in this residential courtyard – all of which seem to be better for drinking than for eating (mains R200). Local rock bands play on Fridays and Saturdays.
Stocked with everything from Astrakhan watermelons to Volga fish, the central
market (cnr uls Komsomolskaya & Sovetskaya; 7am-7pm) is the best place for self-caterers. For anything else you might need, head to the nearby Superman Shopping Mall (Sovetskaya ul 17; 8am-10pm).
Getting There & Away
Buy airline tickets at TAVS Volga (381 559; alleya Geroyev 5; 8am-7pm). Several airlines fly to Moscow (from R3000, two hours). KD Avia connects Volgograd to Europe via Kaliningrad four times a week.
The river station, just south of the foot of alleya Geroyev, was once one of the grandest on the river. Now, however, it has much of its space given over to restaurants and tacky nightclubs. Go around to the back on the ground level for ticket sales.
Offices of several cruise companies are hiding behind a door marked by the green Банкомат sign on the left of the ticket offices (facing the river). Piligrim Tour (381 982; www.piligrimtur.ru, in Russian) sells a three-day return cruise to Astrakhan (with two beach stops on the way back) for R4500. An eight-day, one-way journey to Moscow costs R11,800.
For buses to Elista (R330, five hours) head to the Central Bus Station – a 10-minute walk across the tracks from the train station. Many buses leave from the train station square to Moscow (R1100, 14 hours), Astrakhan (R550, 10 hours) and Rostov-on-Don (R550, nine hours). Train services run daily to/from Moscow’s Paveletsky vokzal (R3200, 20 hours), as well as to Astrakhan (R1130, nine hours), Saratov (R1200, seven hours) and Rostov-on-Don (R1280, 12 hours).
Getting Around
The city centre is accessible on foot. To get to Mamaev Kurgan or the Stalingrad museum you can take the skorostnoy tramvay (high-speed tram), which is basically a single metro line that runs along or under pr Lenina. To get to the airport, catch marshrutka 6 (R12, every 30 min) from the stop in front of the TABC Volga office or at the train station.
ASTRAKHAN REGION
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ASTRAKHAN АСТРАХАНЬ
8512 / pop 504,000 /
Moscow
With its unusual architecture and the general East-meets-West feel, Astrakhan would be a pure gem if it wasn’t in a state of such unbelievable decay – the authorities seem to believe that heritage buildings should die of natural causes. Once upon a time, its streets saw German pastors mingling with Indian tea traders and Kazakh herdsmen. These days you can still feel an abrupt change as the striking kremlin, stone mansions and churches of the European and Christian centre give way to Tatar and Persian sloboda (suburbs) with their wooden cottages, mosques and quaint courtyards where garlands of drying vobla fish flutter in the breeze.
Built in 1558 after Ivan the Terrible defeated the local Tatar khanate, Astrakhan is the successor of two imperial capitals in the area: Sarai of the Golden Horde and Itil of the earlier Khazar kaganate, which adopted Judaism as its official religion. Both cities prospered thanks to their location on the Silk Route and by the sea.
Astrakhan is a jumping-off point for the Volga Delta, with its intricate network of creeks and lakes, home to hundreds of bird and fish species, and the scene of an intensifying tourist boom.
At the time of research, parts of the centre (particularly the long riverside promenade) were undergoing a major reconstruction, which will hopefully improve the city’s appearance without too many historic buildings being bulldozed.
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Orientation
Astrakhan’s centre is on an island surrounded by the Volga River, the Kutum Canal and the May 1st Canal. The rundown residential area between ul Admiralteyskaya and the embankment is known as Kosa (the Bar). East and south of the Kremlin lies Bely Gorod (White City). Kriushi is the sloboda area south of the May 1st Canal. Note that some street names are being changed as reconstruction takes place. Ul Admiralteyskaya, which runs parallel to the embankment, has the greatest potential for confusion for visitors because it still appears as ul Zhelyabova on maps and marshrutka signs.
Information
Cezar (392 951; www.zesar.ru; ul Lenina 20, office 306)Apart from organising lodge stays in the delta, this company also does trips to the Baskunchak salt lake and Bogdo mountain, sacred to Buddhists.
Intourist Delta Volga (244 576; ul Admiralteyskaya 33) Offers a wide range of excursions into the Volga Delta, including bird-watching and fishing.
Post office (cnr uls Kirova & Chernyshevskogo; per min R1.10; 8am-9.30pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6.30pm Sat & Sun) Houses a business centre with internet facilities.
Sights
KREMLIN
The large fortress on top of Zayachy Hill is a peaceful green haven in what can be a hot, dusty city. Its walls and gate towers were built in the 16th century using bricks from the ruins of the Golden Horde’s capital Sarai, which was located near the present-day village of Selitrennoye up the river from Astrakhan.
Enter through the main, eastern Prechistenskie Belfry Gate (1908–12), with its impressive bell tower. Inside, the main churches are the magnificent Assumption Cathedral (1698–1720) and the lovely 17th-century Trinity Cathedral.
Other buildings, including the Nikolskiye Gate in the north wall, house rather mundane cultural and historical exhibits. The most interesting is in the Red Gate, in the kremlin’s western corner, which also provides a panoramic view of city and river.
KRIUSHI
This area of former Tatar and Persian sloboda south of the May 1st Canal is still predominantly Muslim, which is reflected in the proliferation of mosques, such as the city’s oldest, the White Mosque (ul Zoi Kosmodemyanskoy 41), built in 1810, the Red Mosque (ul Kazanskaya 62) and the Black Mosque (ul Zoi Kozmodemyanskoy), which was erected by Bukhara merchants in 1816 and destroyed by the Bolsheviks in 1939; it is currently being rebuilt from the remaining ruins.
Kriushi is also the location of the beautifully restored Ioann Zlatoust church (Donbasskaya ul 61), dating from 1763, the German Lutheran church (ul Kazanskaya 102) and the St Ripsime Armenian church (nab Kanala 1 Maya 120).
MUSEUMS
The Dogadin Art Gallery (226 409; ul Sverdlova 81) has one of the best art collections outside Russia’s capital cities. Check out the works of Astrakhan-born Boris Kustodiev, who painted lushly coloured semi-folkloric scenes of merchants’ life. The gallery was closed for renovation at the time of research.
The Local Studies Museum (221 429; Sovetskaya ul 15; admission R30; 10am-5pm Sat-Thu) holds special exhibitions on local palaeontology and archaeology, with treasures excavated from around the region.
The Velimir Khlebnikov Museum (226 496; ul Sverdlova 53; tours in English or Italian/Russian R300/150; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun) is dedicated to a futurist poet who – together with Mayakovsky and the gang – issued a manifesto urging fellow writers ‘to throw Pushkin out of the steamship of modernity’ and tell Dostoyevsky the news. The museum is located in a flat where his biologist father moved when he founded what is now the Astrakhan Biosphere Reserve (opposite).
Sleeping
The hospitality scene in Astrakhan is changing rapidly, with at least two large new hotels being renovated or built near the embankment. Unfortunately, the existing cheapies, such as the House of Circus Performers (257 152; ul Pobedy 54/1; s/d R500/700), currently don’t accept foreigners.
Delta Day Spa Hotel (253 821; pl Vokzalnaya 1; r R1500) The location, on the station square and behind a shopping mall (under construction at the time of research), is unexciting and the service is a bit surly. But the 14 blue-coloured rooms look modern and pretty.
Intourist Delta Volga Spa Hotel (592 945; www.inhotels.ru; ul Admiralteyskaya 33; s/d R1600/2400) Two modern rooms inside the agency’s central office are popular with travellers. The main hotel has nine rooms, but it is located way out of the centre at ul Ulyanova 67.
Hotel Azimut (326 839; www.azimuthotels.ru; ul Kremlevskaya 4; s/d R2000/2800) In its new reincarnation, the Soviet dinosaur formerly known as Lotus looks much more welcoming, having been dragged into modern times by the competent Azimut chain. The riverside location remains a major attraction. There is free wi-fi, but the signal is poor inside most rooms.
Victoria Palace (394 801; Krasnaya nab; r from R3500) A shiny, new four-star hotel with fancy rooms and prices to match.
Eating & Drinking
La Vanile (440 428; ul Admiralteyskaya 35/37; salads/hot snacks R150) Flower pots abound, water streams down a glass wall and a canary sings favourite French pop tunes. We tried salmon salad with quail eggs, mushroom profiteroles, and the psychedelic-coloured cherry and almond dessert. Chef Patrice Talbotte instantly became our hero of the day.
Scharlau Coffee House (229 747; cnr uls Kirova & Lenina; coffee from R60; mains R200; 10am-10pm) This friendly and competent café-cum-canteen is located inside a former chocolate factory built in the 19th century by a German whose name its proudly bears.
Akvatoria (391 226; ul Maxima Gorkogo 19а; mains R300; 11am-12am) For all its obsession with fishing, Astrakhan is short on places cooking fresh fish from the Volga. This floating restaurant is a pleasant exception. Choose between local specialities, such as sazan,
bershik,
vobla, catfish or pike caviar, then admire the Volga sunset view. Unfortunately, the hotel upstairs doesn’t welcome foreigners.
Crem Café (440 400; ul Uritskogo 5; mains R500; 11am-11pm)An expensive riverside bar–restaurant with discrete service where dressed-up people come to watch Volga sunsets.
Beer Academy (227 750; ul Lenina 7; 11am-12am) A convivial place next to Scharlau with a great selection of draught beers and an extensive food menu (mains R300).
The lively Selenskiye Isady fish market (Pokrovskaya pl) is worth a visit to pick up some snacks or to witness the vibrant trade in produce and fish. Try vobla, a dried salty fish complemented by beer (or vice versa). Head north of Kommunisticheskaya ul until it becomes Pokrovskaya pl.
For the famous Astrakhan watermelons and other fruit, check out Tatar-Bazar in Kriushi (pl Svobody 12 & 15).
Getting There & Away
Flights go to/from Moscow (R4200, 2½ hours, four daily). Daily trains go to Moscow (kupe/platskart R1140/3070, 30 hours) and Volgograd (platskart/kupe R440/1150, eight hours). Trains also head south to Baku in Azerbaijan (platskart R1300, 25 hours) and east to Atyrau in Kazakhstan (R800, 14 hours).
Buses go to Elista (R356, five hours), Volgograd (R467, 10 hours) and Atyrau (R458, nine hours).
Astrakhan is the end point of cruises on the Volga; the river station (ul Kremlevskaya 1) was being rebuilt at the time of research. There are no regular passenger boats to the other Caspian Sea ports.
Getting Around
Bus 5 and trolleybus 3 go to/from the airport, train station and pl Lenina. The faster marshrutka 5 plies the same route. Trolleybus 1, 2, 3 and 4 run to/from the train station and pl Lenina.
AROUND ASTRAKHAN
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Volga Delta Дельта Волги
The Volga is the black sheep of the big river family. Whereas everyone else respectably carries water and silt from their continent’s interior to the ocean, the great Russian river does exactly the opposite, flowing towards the centre of Eurasia and feeding a giant salty lake – the Caspian Sea.
South of Astrakhan, the river bursts like a firecracker into thousands of streams, creating a unique ecosystem teeming with wildlife. The three symbols of the delta are the Caspian lotus flower (abundant), the sturgeon (critically threatened; see the boxed text, Click here) and the Caspian flamingo – a semi-legendary bird that an average ranger would have seen once in his life, if at all.
The most biologically diverse area is covered by the Astrakhan Biosphere Reserve, which you can visit on excursions organised by Astrakhan travel agencies. The rest of the delta is dotted with floating and land-based lodges, their numbers quite terrifying since all of them specialise in fishing and hunting. But if you’re interested in none of that, preferring, say, bird-watching, they’ll be happy to receive you, too.
A typical lodge offers a package that includes transfer, full pension and a ranger with a boat, ready to take you where you please and show you various bird nesting spots or the raskaty – endless expanses of river water and reeds where the sea begins. Reasonably priced lodges are not used to foreigners, so expect possible hitches. Note that the delta is located inside a border zone, so the lodge will need to obtain a permit for you, which can take a few days. They’ll need to have a copy of your passport, visa and migration card for that.
The best time to visit the delta is between late July and late September when lotus flowers blossom and there are not so many mosquitoes as in May and June. April and October are major fishing seasons.
SLEEPING
Maki-Tour (Map; Astrakhan office 224 663; www.makitur.ru; ul Sverdlova 58; per person from R2500, incl full pension, boat & ranger service) This friendly family lodge, located near the village of Makovo a few kilometres from the sea, can’t boast scenic surroundings, but they do their best to please you with excellent (and rather excessive) meals and a competently organised banya (bathhouse). Accommodation is in two rustic-style houses. Excursions are available to the nearby mausoleum of the Kazakh composer Kurmangazy, revered as a saint by the local Kazakhs.
Pro-Costa (off Map; Astrakhan office 791 313; www.procosta.ru, in Russian; ul Kirova 64; per person from R3500 incl full pension, boat & ranger service) Another new turbaza (tourist camp), a stone’s throw from the sea, with wooden cottages, linked by a boardwalk, sleeping two to four people.
REPUBLIC OF KALMYKIA
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ELISTA ЭЛИСТА
84722 / pop 103,000 /
Moscow
Prayer drums, red-robed monks, boiled guts and butter tea for lunch… Wait, it’s still Europe! Elista is the capital of Kalmykia – the continent’s only Buddhist region, a fragment of Mongolia thrown onto the shores of the Caspian Sea. With its Tibetan-style khuruls (temples) and possibly the world’s highest density of street sculpture, the otherwise very drab Elista – Kalmykia’s capital – makes for a fascinating if slightly surreal transit stop between the Volga and the Caucasus.
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History
Kalmyks are nomads (nowadays at heart rather than in practice), and their history is that of migration, forced and voluntary. They descend from the Oirats, the western branch of Mongolians who embraced Buddhism in the early 17th century and soon after resolved to look for pastures green in the West.
In the last massive nomadic migration in the history of Eurasia, the Oirats traversed thousands of kilometres and ended up on the banks of the Volga, which at that time marked the border of the emerging Russian empire. Moscow welcomed the newcomers, allowing them to retain their way of life in return for guarding the border. But in the 18th century, the Oirats came under pressure from Russian and German settlers encroaching on their lands. One winter’s night in 1771 (a time chosen as auspicious by the Dalai Lama) they made their second escape – back to Mongolia. But the ice on the Volga was not strong enough for those on the western bank to cross the river, so 20,000 out of 160,000 families stayed. The flight turned into a disaster, with two-thirds of the people killed by enemies on the way.
ROE TO RUIN
Caviar: the very word evokes glamorous lifestyles, exotic travel and glittering festivities. And the Volga Delta sturgeon population has long been the main source of this lucrative commodity. But if caviar is what lures you to the Caspian shores, you are here at the wrong time.
The sturgeon, one of the world’s oldest fish species (it was around at the time of the dinosaurs), can live for up to 100 years. A single sturgeon can produce hundreds of kilos of fish eggs, or roe. But it’s in grave danger due to poaching and damage to its habitat. In 2007 Russia introduced a 10-year ban on sturgeon fishing, although catching the caviar-filled fish for the purposes of removing the embryos to the safety of fish farms is allowed. The latter loophole in the law permits the sale of caviar deemed unsuitable for reproduction. This is why the product is available in Russian shops, though at a very high price.
If someone in Astrakhan or Elista offers you a moderately priced can of caviar, you can be sure that you are dealing with the poachers’ mafia, who are especially powerful in Kalmykia. Any transactions with the dealers will put you on the wrong side of the law. Police regularly check buses, planes and trains going out of the region. If they deem you suspicious, they will certainly search your baggage.
The caviar ban casts the spotlight on another Astrakhan delicacy – watermelons. The semi-desert conditions of the Caspian plain are ideal for growing this fruit, which from a biological point of view is actually a giant berry. Such is the power of the Astrakhan watermelon brand that if you ask a seller in Moscow where the fruit comes, Astrakhan will inevitably be the answer. So, for the time being, our advice is forget the fish eggs and go for the melons.
Those who remained on the Volga lived quietly and not entirely unhappily until the 1920s when the Bolsheviks destroyed all khuruls, arrested most monks and expropriated the cattle. No surprise that during the short-lived German occupation in 1942 some Kalmyks joined Hitler’s army. At the same time thousands of others fought on the Soviet side.
Stalin’s reprisal was terrible. On 28 December 1943 all Kalmyks, including party members and policemen, were put in unheated cattle cars and sent to Siberia. When in 1957 Nikita Khrushchev allowed them to return, less than half the prewar population of 93,000 could make it home – others perished in the Gulag.
Come perestroika, and the tragedy turns into farce. In 1993 the Kalmyks elect their first president – 31-year-old multimillionaire Kirsan Ilyumzhinov – whose chief obsession is chess and self-admitted role model the fictional trickster Ostap Bender (Click here). Whatever people say about Kirsan, at least life has not been boring for the Kalmyks, what with the Chess Olympics descending on Elista in 1998 and three visits by the Dalai Lama that have taken place despite Moscow’s reluctance to spoil relations with China.
Orientation
Ul Lenina is Elista’s main axis. The long, narrow stretch of green south of it is alleya Geroyev, which is flanked on the eastern side by the nameless main square where government buildings are located.
Information
Eltur (52 764; www.eltur.ru; ul Gubarevicha 6/7) Not yet used to foreigners, this agency offers a range of tours around Kalmykia, including trips to Dzhangariada (see opposite).
Globus & Geegin Gerl (ul Lenina 247; 10am-6pm) Two shops next door to each other both selling maps and books on Kalmyk culture and Buddhism.
Main post and telephone office (ul Suseyeva 31; 9am-5pm)
Online (ul Lenina 247; per hr R35; 9am-8pm) This internet place gets packed in the afternoon, so arrive early.
Sberbank (ul Gorkogo 13; ul Suseyeva 13) Two central branches with ATMs and currency exchange.
Sights
ALLEYA GEROYEV
This pleasant park, stretching along a narrow ravine, is the town’s main promenade and has the largest concentration of sculpture and Buddhist architecture. If you enter by crossing ul Lenina from Hotel Elista, you’ll be greeted by the monument to Basan Gorodovikov, a Soviet general who led the return of the Kalmyks from exile.
Heading towards the main square, you’ll pass the sculpture of the White Elder deity (the owner of the Earth in Kalmyk mythology), then walk through the Tibetan-style Altn-Bosh (Golden Gate) towards the Arbour of Buddha Shakyamuni. Register the Boy and Dragon fountain on your right and continue to the main square where a sad Lenin hides in the shade of the Seven-Tiered Pagoda, which has a large prayer drum in the middle.
BUDDHIST TEMPLES
Gol-Syume Burkh Bagshin Altn Syume (Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni; 40 109; www.buddhisminkalmykia.ru, in Russian; ul Klykova; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun – library & museum, daily morning prayer starts at 8:30am), or New Khurul as it’s known to the locals, was built in 2005 in the Tibetan style, though its tinted windows give it an office-block feel. Well, it is an office block, complete with lifts and – indeed – offices of the Kalmyk chief lama and his aides. The prayer hall sports an 11m statue of Buddha and the monks’ robe of the current Dalai Lama. The temple’s caretaker, Gen Ajo, is from Ladakh in India and speaks English. Downstairs there is a small museum dedicated to the history of Kalmyk Buddhism. The library on the same floor offers free courses in the Tibetan and Kalmyk languages, but instruction is in Russian.
The out-of-town location for Geden Sheddup Goichorling (Sacred Abode of Gelug School’s Theory and Practice), the first post-communist khurul in Kalmykia, was personally chosen by the visiting Dalai Lama. The site consists of two temples and a brick cottage for monks, surrounded by the endless steppe. The large temple (built in 1996) is usually closed, but you can visit by asking someone at the monks’ cottage to open it for you. Once inside, pay attention to the lavish frescos. Behind the temple, stands the pink kiosk-like structure of Syakyusn-syume – Kalmykia’s oldest temple, dating from the early 1990s.
To get there, take marshrutka 15 at the corner of ul Pushkina and ul Gorkogo. Once out of town, ask to stop by the khurul.
CHESS CITY AREA
Once a literary fantasy (see the boxed text, Click here), Chess City came into being thanks to Kirsan Ilyumzhinov’s utter eccentricity and obsession with the game. It was built for the 1998 Chess Olympics and has since seen many a grandmaster.
But for all the hype, it’s really just a lot of fading multicoloured cottages clustered around the glassy structure of the Chess Palace, where tournaments and an occasional exhibition are held.
It is still worth coming here, though, if only for the steppe views and smells, and some interesting monuments in the vicinity. The Ostap Bender monument, complete with all the tale’s 12 chairs (which you can sit on), marks the beginning of pr Ostapa Bendera, the road leading to Chess City. Further along that road stands the Stupa of Enlightenment.
The road going east from Ostap’s statue is ul Khrushcheva – perhaps the only road in Russia named after this most eccentric of Soviet leaders, who brought Kalmyks back from exile. The striking Return Memorial by sculptor Ernst Neizvestny is at the end of ul Khrushcheva. Set on a high mound, it’s a huge chunk of bronze with dozens of people’s faces, deities’ masks and animal heads carved onto its surface. A cattle car like those used to transport the Kalmyks to Siberia stands underneath.
Marshrutka 7 plies the route between Elista Hotel and Chess City (R7, 20 min, every 15 min).
NIKOLAY PALMOV MUSEUM
The main building of the Nikolay Palmov Local Studies Museum (62 488; ul Suseyeva 23; admission R30; 9am-5pm Tue-Sun) is rich in sponsor-donated Japanese dolls and poor in Kalmyk artefacts. But the three halls of the second building dedicated to the Kalmyks’ origins, heroism in WWII and the deportation are quite moving. Guided tours in English can be arranged.
Events
The Kalmyk equivalent of the Mongolian Naadam, Dzhangariada (middle of September) is an annual celebration of the Kalmyk epic Dzhangar – a 12-song story about life in the blessed land called Bumba. Held in the open steppe (the location is changed every year), it includes wrestling and archery contests and performances by dzhangarchi (traditional singers). Eltur (Click here) can organise a trip to Dzhangariada.
CHESS AND CHAIRS
It’s hard to appreciate Elista’s Chess City without knowing about Ostap Bender. This young gentleman is the main character in the Soviet satirical classic The Twelve Chairs, written in 1933 by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov. Although he is a crook who dupes honest and not-so-honest citizens, he somehow appears much more attractive than most of his victims.
The chairs in question once belonged to a semi-deranged aristocrat, Kisa Vorobyaninov, but were expropriated by the Bolsheviks. Kisa confides to Ostap that he had hidden his diamonds in one of them, so together they embark on a journey that takes them all the way down the Volga and through the Caucasus, in pursuit of a touring theatre that had purchased the precious furniture to use as props.
At one point they find themselves stranded in a fictional Volga town called Vasyuki where the population is obsessed with chess. Ostap immediately declares himself a chess champion and captivates the Vasyukians with a plan to transform their town into the world chess capital, complete with a grand chess palace, skyscrapers, luxury hotels and zeppelins full of chess fans arriving every minute. It will be a new city called New-Vasyuki (the Russian original uses the English word ‘new’), Ostap says. The fraud is uncovered when Ostap accedes to requests to play a simultaneous match with local experts – it turns out he has no idea how chess pieces move, but flees with the collected money.
Unlike Ostap, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov can play chess, and political chess, too. Not only has he charmed the Kalmyks, who elected him their president in 1993 when he had just turned 31, but he has also worked his way to the very top of the international chess body (the FIDE), built Chess City, whose semi-official name is New-Vayuki, and brought the Chess Olympics to Elista. Although the Kalmyk economy remains in tatters and young people leave the republic in droves – as the president rants about his meetings with aliens and mysterious prophets – 15 years later Kirsan is still in charge of Kalmykia. Seems like his chair is the one Ostap Bender was so desperate to find.
Sleeping
Elista (Korpus 1: 54 000, 25 540, Korpus 2: 54 170; ul Lenina 241; Korpus 1: s/d R1000/1600, Korpus 2: s/d R800/1200) This Soviet relic occupies two Stalinesque buildings (Korpus 1 and Korpus 2), which increasingly behave as separate hotels. Apart from being cheaper, rooms in Korpus 2 are arguably less musty than those of Korpus 2. Korpus 2 may change its phone number in 2009.
Chess City (62 570; City Chess Hall; s/d R2000/2200) The reception is inside the Chess Palace, from where guests are led to a dilapidated cottage named something like White Knight. Inside the apartments, the general feeling of disregard is partially compensated for by their huge size.
Bely Lotos (34 416; ul Khoninova 7; s/d with breakfast from R1800/2500; two-bedroom cottage R4200; ae) The Dalai Lama stays here when in town. Tucked away on a quiet street near alleya Geroyev, the White Lotus is professionally run, friendly and simply the best in town.
Eating & Drinking
Elista is no culinary paradise, but it’s your chance to try Kalmyk cuisine. The main staples include meat-filled berg (or berigi) dumplings, doutour (a mixture of intestines, kidneys and liver in a broth), hasn makhn (sliced beef with flat pasta) and dzhomba (buttermilk tea). Note that official opening hours are a mere formality in most places – indeed some of them don’t bother having them. Restaurants tend to close quite early.
Arshan Boltkha (ul Gorkogo 36; half portions of berg & doutour R50) This cheap eatery by the market serving simple Kalmyk fare belongs to the coach of the Russian female boxing team, as testified by photos of muscular ladies posing with various dignitaries.
Uralan (50 707; ul Ochirova 9; mains R150; Kalmyk lunch R140; noon-2am) This restaurant located inside a modern entertainment complex (bowling, cinema, disco) offers a Kalmyk lunch – a set menu that could serve as a safe introduction to Kalmyk cuisine. Russian and European food is also served.
Chingiskhan Club (54 096; ul Lenina 241; mains R150; 10am-11pm) Its menu features both Mongolian and Kalmyk food (though there’s really not much difference between the two). Located in the same building as Hotel Elista, this is the only place that stays open late on a quiet day. It serves as a disco during weekends.
Khanskaya Okhota (961-549 9699; 6 Mikrorayon 23b; mains R170-300) Khan’s Game is Kalmykia’s answer to Moscow’s Tsar’s Game, where Mr Putin used to entertain fellow presidents. It’s unclear why a khan would fancy the alpine lodge interior, but it’s nevertheless the best if not the most ecofriendly restaurant in town. Game is indeed on offer (mostly wolf meat; forgo the threatened Caucasian tur, a mountain goat). There’s also a long list of traditional Kalmyk meals, such as sharsn elkn (braised liver). Marhsrutka 5, 21 and 23 go that way.
Maracaibo (ul Lenina 247; coffee R60; 9am-10pm) This is as Sex and the City as it gets in Elista. Kalmyk equivalents of Carrie and Samantha discuss Mr Big over the town’s best cup of coffee.
Getting There & Away
The bus and train stations are in the same place on the outskirts of town. The only train makes an excruciatingly slow journey to Stavropol once a day (nine hours), so travelling by bus is a more practical option. Elista is approximately the same distance from Volgograd, Astrakhan, Mineralnye Vody (Caucasus) and Stavropol (Caucasus). A trip to any of them takes about five hours and costs around R300.
Three flights to Moscow operated by Rusline is all that keeps Elista airport busy. Airline tickets are available at Lada-Avia (54 877; ul Lenina 24).
Getting Around
Marshrutka minibuses, also referred to as gazel, are the only mode of public transport. Their main hub is in front of Hotel Elista, from where you can get to any part of town. Marshrutka 9 goes to the bus station.
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The Urals Урал
MAGNITOGORSK & EAST BASHKORTOSTAN МАГНИТОГОРСК ИВОСТОК БАШКИРИИ
Russia would not be what it is if it hadn’t stumbled, many centuries ago, upon this Aladdin’s cave full of lustrous treasure: in fact, the first colonisers discovered not just one but thousands of gem-filled caves. The mineral riches of the Urals filled the empire’s coffers and allowed it to expand further into Siberia.
Serving as the border between Europe and Asia, the Urals range stretches from the Kara Sea in the north to Kazakhstan in the south. These mountains are famous for being altogether missed by trans-Siberian travellers, who usually cross the range through its lowest, middle part between Perm and Yekaterinburg.
It is only when you venture into the countryside or, especially, into one of the national parks, such as Taganay or Zyuratkul, that you discover the subdued beauty of the Urals. Low altitudes and gentle slopes also mean that you don’t have to be a hardened survivor type to undertake hiking, bicycle, rafting or horseback expeditions.
Driven by the nationwide mountain-skiing boom, new opportunities for adventure tourism are now emerging, especially in the southern regions of Bashkortostan and Chelyabinsk. Infrastructural and logistical problems persist, but without them, where is the adventure?
The Urals is better travelled as a loop taking in a section of the Volga between Nizhny Novgorod in the north and Samara in the south. Large as it is, and with more international airlines providing direct access from Europe, the region deserves to be a destination in its own right, rather than part of a grand Russian itinerary.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Be the guest of a legendary monster in its ice palace in Kungur (Click here)
- Gallop through Bashkortostan on a horseback expedition from one of the lodges near Beloretsk (Click here)
- Follow the pilgrims from the Romanovs’ execution site at Yekaterinburg’s Church upon the Blood (Click here) to their original burial site at Ganina Yama (Click here)
- Hit the slopes at the skiing resorts of Abzakovo (Click here) and Bannoye (Click here)
- Count the shades of blue of Lake Zyuratkul (Click here) and Lake Turgoyak (Click here)
- Find aventurine – the adventure stone – at the Taganay National Park (Click here)
History
The Urals, running north to south and stretching from the Arctic ice to the Central Asian steppe, are one of the world’s oldest mountain chains, the geological consequence of a colossal continental collision that occurred over 300 million years ago. The range still marks the borderline of the more recent geographical heirs to these once separate landmasses – Europe and Asia. Because of their advanced age, the mountains have been eroded over time by wind, rain and snow.
Before the Slavs moved in, the region was populated by various Uralic tribes, whose contemporary descendants include the Khanty and Mansi peoples of western Siberia as well as the Finns and Hungarians of central Europe.
SLAVIC EXPANSION
In the 16th century, the rising Muscovite principality won a series of strategic battles against its tribal foes that finally opened the way for eastward expansion. Russian settlement of the Urals was led by monks, merchants and Cossacks.
Russia gained control over the lands between Moscow and the Urals through the work of St Stephan, the bishop of Perm, who built a string of monasteries and converted the native tribes. Seeking to exploit the natural wealth of the taiga, pioneering merchants followed the clergy. They set up markets next to the monasteries, erecting great churches with their profits from the fur trade.
Little was known about the lands on the other side of the mountains, except that they possessed hidden wealth and danger. More than a few traders crossed the Urals and were never heard from again. Tsar Ivan the Terrible entrusted the development of this territory to the Stroganov family, who reaped a huge fortune from the salt and fur trades and kept the state treasury filled with tax revenues.
INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION
The discovery of mineral wealth in the Urals during the reign of Peter the Great led to the first large-scale Russian settlements. Yekaterinburg, founded in 1723 and named for the Empress Catherine I (Yekaterina), wife of Peter the Great, emerged as the economic centre of the Urals. Rich deposits of coal, iron ore and precious stones gave rise to a mining industry, including science and engineering institutes. By the early 19th century the Urals metals industry supplied nearly all the iron produced in Russia and exported to European markets. The Statue of Liberty in New York and the roof on London’s Houses of Parliament were made from copper and iron from the Urals region.
In 1917 the Russian empire was consumed by the outbreak of revolution and civil war. Red radicals and White loyalists fought back-and-forth battles across the Urals. Yekaterinburg became the site of one of history’s most notorious political murders when Tsar Nicholas, Tsaritsa Alexandra and their children were shot in middle of the night and disposed of in an abandoned mine.
The Urals region figured prominently in the Soviet Union’s rapid industrialisation drive in the 1930s. Some of the world’s largest steelworks and industrial complexes were built there, including Uralmash in Sverdlovsk (modern-day Yekaterinburg) and Magnitogorsk in Chelyabinsk.
During WWII more than 700 factories were relocated to the Urals, beyond the reach of the advancing Nazis. The Urals became a centre of Soviet weapons manufacturing: Kalashnikov rifles from Izhevsk, T-34 tanks from Nizhny Tagil and Katyusha rockets from Chelyabinsk. During the Cold War, secret cities, identified only by number, were constructed in the Urals to house the military nuclear and biochemical industries.
THE URALS AFTER COMMUNISM
In the late Soviet period, a Urals-bred construction engineer turned anticommunist crusader toppled the Soviet dictatorship. Boris Yeltsin had gained a reputation as the energetic and populist-leaning communist governor of Sverdlovsk when the reform-minded Mikhail Gorbachev first introduced him to the national political stage, a move that Gorbachev would soon regret.
In his political fights against the old Soviet order and the neocommunists of the post-Soviet transition, the Urals provided Yeltsin with strong support. Despite the hardships that radical economic reform inflicted on the heavily subsidised industrial sector, Yeltsin scored big election victories in the Urals cities in the 1991 and 1996 Russian presidential campaigns.
As elsewhere in Russia, the postcommunist transition in the Urals did not go according to the early optimistic plans. The region suffered the severe collapse of its manufacturing and agricultural sectors. Public employees went without wages. Rocket scientists became taxi drivers. Mafia turf wars were waged over the right to ‘protect’ the nascent private business sector.
But nearly two decades after the fall of communism, signs of economic recovery are becoming visible, especially in the larger cities. The Urals’ rich export commodities, especially metals, and the revival of the military industrial sector have helped sustain the region.
Getting There & Around
The major cities of the Urals are all accessible by train: in the Middle Urals, Perm and Yekaterinburg are on the main line of the trans-Siberian route while the southern Urals cities, Chelyabinsk and Ufa, also have direct routes from the west. The trickier part is travelling from north to south within the Urals, where the mountains tend to make train routes winding and slow. In these cases, travelling by bus is often the better option.
MIDDLE URALS СРЕдДИЙ УРАЛ
This section includes sights in Perm Territory and the neighbouring Sverdlovsk Region.
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PERM ПЕРМЬ
342 / pop 1 million / Moscow +2hr
The word ‘Perm’ once meant a mysterious Finno-Ugric land encompassing most of the northwestern Urals that was slowly colonised by Russians since the early medieval ages. But the city is relatively new, founded by the lieutenants of Peter I in 1723.
It is believed that Chekhov used Perm as inspiration for the town his Three Sisters were desperate to leave. Boris Pasternak sends his Doctor Zhivago to a city clearly resembling Perm. It would be hard for these characters to recognise their city today. The neat provincial architecture has been critically diluted by Soviet concrete blocs and post-Soviet glassy structures. Huge military plants were moved here during WWII when the town was called Molotov after the Soviet minister of Molotov cocktail fame.
It is, however, a cultured city, with a famous ballet school and interesting museums. It is also the base from which to visit one of the best wooden architecture museums in Russia, located in Khokhlovka, the famous ice cave in Kungur and one of the grim reminders of political persecution under the Communist – the Perm-36 labour camp.
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Orientation & Information
Perm sprawls along the south bank of the Kama River. The city centre is at the intersection of ul Lenina and Komsomolsky pr, and Perm-II station is about 2.5km southwest of here.
Krasnov (238 3520; www.uraltourism.ru; ul Borchaninova 4; 10am-6 30pm Mon-Fri) Its English-version website offers a wide range of expensive excursions and adventure tours around the region, including a two-day dacha experience for €326 per person. Rafting and horse-riding tours advertised on the Russian-language version of the site are much cheaper and should be available for walk-in foreign tourists. Call in advance to find about scheduled trips.
Main post office (ul Lenina 29; internet per hr R42; 8am-10pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & Sun) Also offers internet access.
Permtourist ( 218 6999; www.permtourist.ru; ul Lenina 58) Arranges local excursions as well as cruises along the Kama River and further to the Volga.
Perm-36 museum office (www.perm36.ru) This was scheduled to move from the old office at ul Popova 11 to new premises, most likely at ul Gagarina 10 in the industrial Motovilikha district, by the end of 2008. Consult the museum’s website for the new information. Click here for more about the museum.
Sights
Housed in the grand Cathedral of Christ Transfiguration on the banks of the Kama, the Perm State Art Gallery ( 212 9524; www.sculpture.permonline.ru; Komsomolsky pr 4; admission R110; 10am-6pm Tue-Sat, 11am-6pm Sun) is renowned for its collection of Permian wooden sculpture. These brightly coloured figures are a product of an uneasy compromise between Christian missionaries and the native Finno-Ugric population. The latter, while agreeing to be converted, closely identified the Christian saints these sculptures depict with their ancient gods and treated them as such eg by smearing their lips with the blood of sacrificed animals.
At the time of research, the Ethnography Museum was moving from the church building it used to occupy, to the imposing Meshkov House at ul Ordzhonikidze 11. It was scheduled to reopen by the end of 2008. The museum’s Archaeological Collection (ul Sibirskaya 15), famous for its intricate metal castings of the ‘Perm animal style’ used in shamanistic practices of ancient Finno-Ugric Permians, will open at ul Sibirskaya 15 (enter through the courtyard) in 2009.
The Sergei Diaghilev Museum ( 212 0610; Sibirskaya ul 33; admission by donation; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, closed 31 May-1 Sep) is a small, lovingly curated school museum dedicated to the impresario (1872–1929) who turned Russian ballet into a world-famous brand. Children speaking foreign languages, including English, serve as guides.
The lovely mosque (ul Osinskaya 5) that has served local Tatar Muslims since 1902 graces Perm’s skyline when viewed from the other bank of the Kama. Literature buffs might also peek into Gribushin House (ul Lenina 13), said to be the prototype for Zhivago’s ‘house with figures’. Hotel Tsentralnaya (Sibirskaya 5) is where Grand Duke Mikhail – who formally became the tsar of Russia for a few hours between Nicholas II’s abdication and his own – spent his last night before being shot by the Bolsheviks.
Festivals & Events
The annual ‘ethno-futuristic’ Kamwa Festival (www.kamwa.ru) held in late July–early August in Perm and Khokhlovka brings together ancient ethno-Ugric traditions and modern art, music and fashion.
Sleeping
Hotel Ural ( 906 258, 906 220; www.hotel-ural.com; ul Lenina 58; s/d from R950/1400, refurbished s/d 1900/2000) If you’ve stayed here before, you’ll be astonished by the new high-tech lobby design, but the unrefurbished rooms are still stuck in the Soviet era.
Hotel Prikamye ( 219 8353; www.prikamye-hotel.ru; Komsomolsky pr 27; s/d R1950/2600) What a revolution a tasteful colour scheme can perform on an old monster of Soviet hospitality! Nicely spruced-up rooms make Prikamye a very decent option.
Hotel New Star ( 220 6801; www.newstar-hotel.com; ul Gazety Zvezda 38b; s/d R2500/3400; ) Located in a new glassy tower with high-tech interior, which also houses a casino, this hotel has modern well-equipped rooms. The R1300 ‘economy class’ singles are most attractive for solo travellers, but they can be noisy.
Hotel Astor ( 212 2212; www.astorhotel.ru; ul Kommunisticheskaya 40; s/d from R2950/3600; ) Spotless white dominates this centrally located new hotel’s colour scheme. Its reputation among business travellers is so far equally spotless.
Eating
Taste for Travel (Sibirskaya ul 8; mains R70; 10am-10pm) This cheerful cafeteria takes you on a journey from the dumplings of Siberia to the lands of pizza and sushi.
Elba ( 235 1236; ul Kommunisticheskaya 40; mains R300; noon-midnight) The cosy restaurant-bar inside the Astor Hotel has an extensive menu of inventive dishes such as fig stuffed with goat cheese, spicy shrimp tomato soup with crispy eggplant and ‘Siberian oysters’ – jumbo-sized fish dumplings.
Zhivago ( 235 1716; ul Lenina 37; mains R400-2600; noon-11pm) The choice of name for this posh restaurant has angered Perm’s literati, especially since there is a hidden play on words – Zhivago sounds like zhevat (to chew). But Mr Pasternak’s metal head by the entrance looks bemused rather than annoyed by the people chewing experimental dishes such as rabbit with cuttlefish ink.
Supermarket (cnr Komsomolsky pr & ul Sovetskaya; 24hr) Stock up for your train ride at this central shop.
Drinking
Maxime (212 2617; Komsomolsky pr 24; cocktails from R90; 10am-6pm) If they made all the types of coffee, tea, smoothies and cocktails listed on this convivial bar’s menu, the rest of Perm would face a severe shortage of liquid.
Vernisazh ( 210 8037; Komsomolsky pr 10; coffee R70; 11am-10pm) Reproductions of French Impressionists hanging from the ceiling and green jalousie that cover walls rather than windows make this café look like a brasserie taken over by a modern artist.
Entertainment
Tchaikovsky Theatre of Opera & Ballet ( 212 3087; www.opera.permonline.ru; Kommunisticheskaya ul 25) The beautiful baroque theatre that dominates Reshetnikova skver is home to one of Russia’s top ballet schools.
Getting There & Away
The ticket office ( 290 6030; 9am-8pm) in the lobby of Hotel Ural is useful for airline and train tickets.
AIR
Several airlines fly to Moscow daily (from R3300 on Sky Express; two hours). Lufthansa flies to/from Frankfurt four times a week.
BOAT
The river station ( 210 3609) is at the eastern end of ul Ordzhonikidze, opposite Perm-I station. Boats depart here for cruises down the Kama River to the Volga, with prices ranging from R3000 for 2-day cruises to local destinations to R17,000 for 13-day cruises to Astrakhan (Click here).
BUS
From the bus station (ul Revolyutsii 68) numerous buses go to or via Kungur (every 30 minutes 6am to 7pm); there are three buses a day to Khokhlovka (1½ hours) and two daily buses to Ufa (11½ hours).
TRAIN
Perm-II, the city’s major train station, 2.5km southwest of the centre, is on the trans-Siberian route. Many trains travel the route from Moscow, including the firmeny train (a nicer, long-distance train) called the Kama (20 hours, R3040). Heading east, the next major stop on the trans-Siberian route is Yekaterinburg (platskart/kupe R375/1300, six hours). There are one or two trains a day for Kazan (R1600, 15 hours). Note that some trains to Kazan depart from the gorny trakt (mountain track) on the north side of Perm-II, as opposed to the glavny trakt (main track).
The crumbling Perm-I station, 1km northeast of the centre, is used only for suburban trains.
Getting Around
Marshrutka 1t links the bus station, the Perm-II train station and the airport. Bus 42 goes between the bus station and the airport. Bus 68 and tram 4 go between the train station and Hotel Ural.
AROUND PERM
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Khokhlovka ХохЛовка
342
The Architecture-Ethnography Museum ( 212 1789; admission R35; 9am-6pm Mon-Sun late May–mid-Oct) is set in the rolling countryside near the village of Khokhlovka, about 45km north of Perm. Its impressive collection of wooden buildings includes two churches dating from the turn of the 18th century. Most of the structures are from the 19th or early 20th centuries, including an old firehouse, a salt production facility and a Khanty izba (traditional wooden cottage). A few buses a day serve Khokhlovka from Perm (R100, one hour). At the time of research it was closed to individual tourists ‘due to reconstruction’. Tour can be booked through Permtourist (Click here).
Perm-36 ПеРмь-36
Once an ominous island in the Gulag Archipelago, Perm-36 ( 8-919-492 5756 in Kuchino; www.perm36.ru; admission R50, by appointment) is now a fascinating museum and moving memorial to the victims of political repression.
For most of its history since 1946, Perm-36 was a labour camp for dissidents. Countless artists, scientists and intellectuals spent years in the cold, damp cells, many in solitary confinement. They worked at mundane tasks like assembling fasteners and survived on measly portions of bread and gruel.
The memorial is located in the village of Kuchino, about 25km from the town of Chusovoy, which itself is 100km from Perm. To reach it, take a bus bound for Chusovoy or Lysva (R210, two hours), get off at Tyomnaya station, walk back to find the Kuchino turn-off, then walk another 2.5km to the village. The museum’s office in Perm (Click here) can arrange a taxi for about R3000 and interpreter for R1500 per trip. A Russian-language guided tour costs R600.
KUNGUR КУДГУР
34271 / pop 68,000 / Moscow +2hr
Between the blandness of Perm and the blandness of Yekaterinburg, Kungur is like cream in a biscuit. Though extremely dilapidated and with a rough working-class populace, its skyline is graced by a multitude of church cupola, including the 18th-century Tikhvinskaya Church in the centre and the Transfiguration Church on the other bank of the Sylva, while the frozen magic of its ice cave draws a steady stream of visitors.
Founded in 1663 on the banks of the meandering river, Kungur was a copper-smelting centre during the 17th and 18th centuries. Get the full story at the Regional Local Studies Museum (ul Gogolya 36; admission R20; 11am-5pm Tue-Sun).
The Kungur Ice Cave (Ledyanaya peshchera; guided tour R300; 10am-5pm) is about 5km out of town. The extensive network of caves stretches for more than 5km, although only about 1.5km are open to explore. The grottos are adorned with unique ice formations, frozen waterfalls and underground lakes. The ancient Finno-Ugric inhabitants of the Perm region believed the cave to be the home of a fiery underground creature (see the boxed text, Click here). You can enter only with one of the guided tours that depart every two hours. Tickets are sold at the box office outside, but the number of participants on each tour is limited to 20 so tickets may not be able available for the next departure. Take enough warm clothes to withstand negative temperatures in the first two grottos.
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SLEEPING & EATING
If the cave is your reason for visiting Kungur, you can stay at the popular Stalagmit
Tourist Complex ( /fax 39 723; www.kungurcave.ru; s/d from R600/800), close to the cave entrance. The beautiful countryside surrounding Kungur is great for outdoor sports. Bicycles (R150 per hour) as well as rafts, canoes and cross-country skis can be hired at Stalagmit.
Hotel Iren ( 32 270; ul Lenina 30; r without bathroom from R650, with bathroom from R950) In the centre of town, this place is great value for the price, the only two drawbacks being the absence of lifts in a five-storey building and the café waiter who could enrich the Fawlty Towers character set.
Across the bridge the riverside café-disco Tri Medvedya (mains R150; 24hr) is a good place to eat.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Located on the trans-Siberian route, Kungur is served by intercity and suburban trains from Perm (R80, 2½ hours, eight daily) and Yekaterinburg (R320, four hours). Frequent buses go to Perm from the nearby bus station. Bus 9 (R8, every hour) plies the route between Hotel Iren, the train and bus stations and the Stalagmit complex.
YEKATERINBURG ЕКАТЕРИНБУРГ
343 / pop 1.29 million / Moscow +2hr
Gem rush, miners’ mythology, the execution of the Romanovs, the rise of Yeltsin and gangster feuds of the 1990s – Yekaterinburg is like conceptual art, when the text underneath is more important than the image you are shown.
Bland on the outside, the political capital of the Urals is overflowing with history and culture, while its economic growth is manifested in a booming restaurant scene and, sadly, in heavily trafficked avenues and an acute shortage of reasonably priced accommodation.
With one of best international airports in Russia and a couple of agencies experienced in dealing with foreign travellers, Yekaterinburg is likely to become your base camp for exploring the Urals.
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History
Yekaterinburg was founded as a factory-fort in 1723 as part of Peter the Great’s push to exploit the Ural region’s mineral riches. The city was named after two Catherines: Peter’s wife (later Empress Catherine I), and the Russian patron saint of mining.
Yekaterinburg is most famous as the place where the Bolsheviks murdered Tsar Nicholas II and his family in July 1918. Six years later the town was renamed Sverdlovsk, after Yakov Sverdlov, a leading Bolshevik who was Vladimir Lenin’s right-hand man until his death in the flu epidemic of 1919. The region still bears Sverdlovsk’s name.
WWII turned Sverdlovsk into a major industrial centre, as hundreds of factories were transferred here from vulnerable areas west of the Urals. The city was closed to foreigners until 1990 because of its many defence plants.
PERM-36: EVEN WALLS HAVE EARS Yakov L Klots
‘Even walls have ears,’ goes the Russian saying. At Perm-36 (Click here), the former camp for political prisoners, the walls have survived…unlike most of those who were kept behind them. Dissidents, poets, intelligentsia. Ordinary people whose lives had been taken away and silenced. Concrete floors, barred windows, plank beds, aluminium bowls, spoons and mugs, and the barbed wire coiling along the borders of the restricted areas: all outlived the inmates.
Nowadays, representing the camp’s daily routine with an existential accuracy, the walls keep the memory of bygone times – of prisoners who were not fated to see their place of detention become a museum, of halls walked by prison guards instead of high-school students.
Before the first prisoners were brought to Perm-36, all of the trees around the grounds were destroyed. The purpose was to prevent convicts from determining in which part of our vast country they had landed. Prisoners were not allowed to leave their cells, so they could not hear the gush of the Chusovaya river, which flowed a few hundred metres from the camp’s gate. And now the rich local landscape that they might spy through narrow window slits was wiped out.
But the guards were powerless to prevent local birds from flying and singing above the camp barracks. So an inmate – a biologist sentenced to 25 years of ‘special regime imprisonment’ – identified the bird species by their songs, and determined he was in the Urals.
One can never know for sure what tomorrow is going to be like. Perhaps the darkest side of life in imprisonment is the constant awareness that tomorrow is not going to be different from yesterday. The deathly silence that resounds in the damp, dark cells at Perm-36 reminds us of what this place was like yesterday.
During the late 1970s a civil engineering graduate of the local university, Boris Yeltsin, began to make his political mark, rising to become regional Communist Party boss before being promoted to Moscow in 1985.
In 1991 Yekaterinburg took back its original name. After suffering economic depression and Mafia lawlessness in the early 1990s, business has been on the upswing for the past decade.
Orientation
The city centre lies between the main boulevards, pr Lenina and ul Malysheva, and runs from pl 1905 goda in the west to ul Lunacharskogo in the east. The Sverdlovsk-Passazhirskaya train station is 2km north of the centre on Vokzalnaya pl. Ul Sverdlova runs south from there, changing its name to ul Karla Libknekhta closer to the centre.
Information
Coffee.IN ( 377 6873; ul 8 Marta 8; per hr R70; 24hr) Internet café located on the 3rd floor of the Mytny Dvor mall.
Dom Knigi ( 358 1898; ul Antona Valeka 12; 10am-8pm) Best for foreign-language and local-interest books.
Ekaterinburg Guide Centre ( 359 3708; www.ekaterinburgguide.com; Eremina 10) An enthusiastic group that organises English-language tours of the city and trips into the countryside, including all destinations described in the Around Yekaterinburg section (Click here) and the difficult-to-reach village of Verkhoturye (where Grigory Rasputin started his spiritual journey), as well as hiking and rafting expeditions. Day trips cost anything between R1900 and R5000, depending on the number of people in the group. The centre can also help with hotel booking and long-term flat rentals.
Main
post office (pr Lenina 39; 24hr) Offers internet and international telephone connections.
Ural Expeditions & Tours ( 356 5282; http://welcome-ural.ru; ul Posadskaya 23; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri) This group of geologists from the Sverdlovsk Mining Institute has found a unique way to market their skills and knowledge – leading trekking, rafting and horse-riding trips to all parts of the Urals, including Taganay and Zyuratkul national parks. English-speaking guides. To reach the office get trolleybus 3 or 7 to the Gurzufskaya stop.
Sights
The obvious place to start your exploration of Yekaterinburg is Istorichesky skver where pr Lenina crosses a small dam forming the City Pond (Gorodskoy prud) on its north side. This area, better known as the plotinka (little dam), was where Yekaterinburg began back in 1723. The new Monument to the Founders of Yekaterinburg stands nearby, Messrs Tatishchev and de Gennin looking a bit like Beavis and Butthead.
East of this area, the Statue of Yakov Sverdlov is another funky-looking monument, this time from the Soviet period. Continuing north you’ll reach the ostentatious Rastorguev-Kharitonov mansion and the restored Ascension Church (ul Klary Tsetkin 11).
THE BEAST CALLED MAMMOTH
The languages of the original Finno-Ugric inhabitants of the Urals – Mansi and Komi-Permyak – are sadly disappearing, but at least not without a trace – one trace. They jointly produced one word that became international: mammoth. The ancient Permiaks and Mansi discovered tusks of the extinct hairy elephants every now and then, usually along the eroding river banks. But they believed them to be the horns of giant lizards or worms that ruled the mysterious underground world. This explained the origins of numerous caves and karst sinkholes, which locals believed were the traces left by the lizards moving inside the mountains. The Kungur ice cave (Click here) was believed to be the home of a particularly fiery ‘mammoth’.
Vasily Tatishchev, the founder of Perm and Yekaterinburg, left this note about the legend: ‘[They say] that there is a beast called mammoth living underground. It is huge, black and terrifying, with two horns which it can move as it please. Its food is the earth itself. When it moves, it leaves mounds and deep ditches on the surface, and whole forests fall into them.’ Tatishchev wrote a scientifically correct treatise in Latin on the genesis of caves in the Urals, but entitled it Tale of the Beast Called Mammoth. This ancient belief migrated into the mythology of Russian miners; their tales were collected by writer Pavel Bazhov in his Malachite Cascet – a series of interlinking stories about mythical creatures that inhabit the interior of the mountains.
A cluster of old wooden houses on ul Proletarskaya is known as the Literary Quarter. Several of the houses are museums dedicated to local writers.
South of metro Ploschad 1905 goda, the St Maximilian bell tower (under construction at the time of research) is set to become one of the city’s landmarks. Further down the Iset River, near metro Geologicheskaya stands the huge shell of the TV tower whose construction was abandoned with the fall of Communism. The city’s new synagogue (ul Kuybysheva 38A) is further along ul Kuybysheva. It has a cheap cafeteria inside (open from noon to 8pm, Sunday to Friday) and an internet café (open noon to 5pm on the same days).
ROMANOV DEATH SITE
On the night of 16 July 1918, Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and children were murdered in the basement of a local engineer’s house, known as Dom Ipatyeva (named for its owner, Nikolay Ipatyev). During the Soviet period, the building housed a local museum of atheism, but it was demolished in 1977 by then governor Boris Yeltsin, who feared it would attract monarchist sympathisers.
Today, the site is marked by an iron cross dating from 1991, and a second marble cross from 1998 when the Romanovs’ remains were sent to St Petersburg for burial in the family vault.
The massive Byzantine-style Church upon the Blood ( 371 6168; ul Tolmachyova 34) now dominates this site. While many believe these funds might have been better spent, this new church was built to honour the Romanov family, now elevated to the status of saints. Rumour has it that this controversial church contains the most expensive commissioned icon in all of Russia.
Nearby, the pretty wooden Chapel of the Revered Martyr Grand Dutchess Yelizaveta Fyodorovna ( 9am-5.30pm) honours the imperial family’s great-aunt and faithful friend. After her relatives’ murders, this pious nun met an even worse end when she was thrown down a mineshaft, poisoned with gas and buried.
MUSEUMS
Istorichesky skver (Historical Sq) is also the location of the city’s major museums. Peek into the old water tower, one of the city’s oldest structures, then head over to the old mining-equipment factory and mint buildings. These contain the Museum of Architecture & Technology ( 371 4045; ul Gorkogo 4A; 11am-6pm Mon & Wed-Sat), which displays the machinery used in the mining industry from the 18th and 19th centuries and through WWII.
On the opposite side of the river, the star exhibit of the Museum of Fine Arts ( 371 0626; ul Voevodina 5; admission R150; 11am-6pm Wed-Sun) is the elaborate Kasli Iron Pavilion that won prizes in the 1900 Paris Expo.
For a stunning introduction to the Urals semiprecious stones, visit Vladimir Pelepenko’s private collection, also known as the Urals Mineralogical Museum ( 350 6019; ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 1A; admission R50; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat & Sun), in Bolshoy Ural Hotel. This impressive collection contains thousands of examples of minerals, stones and crystals from the region, many crafted into mosaics, jewellery and other artistic pieces.
More-serious geologists will appreciate the Ural Geology Museum ( 251 4938; ul Kuybysheva 39; admission R100; 11am-5pm Mon-Fri), which has over 500 carefully catalogued Ural region minerals and a collection of meteorites. Enter from ul Khokhryakova inside Urals State Mining University.
The Military History Museum ( 350 1742; ul Pervomayskaya 27; admission R50; 9am-4pm Tue-Sat) is a must for military buffs.
Other unique museums:
Metenkov House-Museum of Photography ( 371 0637; ul Karla Libknekhta 36; admission R80; 10am-6pm) Features evocative photos of old Yekaterinburg.
Nevyansk Icon Museum ( 265 9840; ul Tolmachyova 21; admission free; noon-8pm Wed-Sun) Icons from the 17th to the 20th century, from the local Nevyansk school.
Railway Museum ( 358 4222; ul Chelyuskintsev; noon-6pm Tue-Sat) Housed in the old train station, dating from 1881. Exhibits highlight the history of the railroad in the Urals, including a re-creation of the office of the Soviet-era railway director.
Sleeping
Bolshoy Ural Hotel ( 350 6896; ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 1; s/d without bathroom R885/1300, s/d with bathroom R2240/2830) This place lives up to its name: if nothing else, it is indeed bolshoy (large), occupying an entire city block. The somewhat seedy atmosphere is buffered by the prime location.
Hotel Guru ( 228 5070; www.guruhotel.ru; ul Repina 22; s/d R2100/2400) This is an intriguing option located inside the new building of a dance school of the same name, 10 minutes by trolleybus 3 and 7 from ul Malysheva to the Institut svyazi stop. But before you check in at a weekend, find out if the disco downstairs is operating (which can be annoying).
Hotel Sverdlovsk ( 214 3000; www.sv-hotel.ru; ul Chelyuskintsev 106; s/d from R2100/2900) The Soviet oldie located by the train station has undergone a reconstruction, but customers keep complaining about low standards of the service and rooms.
Hotel Tsentralny ( 214 3000; www.hotelcentr.ru; ul Malysheva 74; s/d from R3000/4000; ) A historical hotel located in a grand art nouveau building has standard business-class rooms with good wi-fi signal.
Hotel Iset ( 350 0110; www.hoteliset.ru; pr Lenina 69/1; s/d R3200/3600) If it looks funky from the street, it is because it’s shaped like a hammer and sickle when seen from the sky. Inside, curving corridors lead to nicely furnished rooms. Noise factor is high, due to location on pr Lenina.
Park Inn ( 216 6000; www.ekaterinburg.parkinn.com.ru; ul Mamina-Sibiryaka 98; s/d R5800/6600; ) This large and new hotel offers rooms with cheering colour schemes and all amenities you would expect for the price.
Eating
Mamma’s Biscuit House ( 222 1905; www.mammas.ru; pr Lenina 26; pizza from R165; 24hr) Mamma works nonstop to please mostly young visitors with excellent pizzas, desserts, teas and coffees.
Light Cafe ( 377 6895; coffee R60, mains R200; 9am-midnight) This airy café serving standard European fare and nice desserts is strategically located and creates a good vibe.
Paul Bakery ( 359 8366; ul Malysheva 36; meals R250-350) No relation to the British namesake, this café, entered from ul Vaynera, is great for a quick snack and coffee, ordered from the counter. It is located in a compound with a several other restaurants of the Malachite empire, including the once super-popular Grand Buffet serving Russian and European food (mains R350).
Serbian Courtyard ( 350 3457; pr Lenina 53; mains R400; noon-midnight) Patrons talk international politics here, but whichever side of any of the ex-Yugoslavs’ conflicts you might leaning to, this place will treat you to the best Balkan fare this side of the Urals. A kiosk outside sells pleckavicas (Balkan-style burgers) and chevapy (kebabs) to hungry students from the nearby university for R60.
Dacha ( 379 3569; pr Lenina 20a; mains R500-800, business lunch R250) Each room in this restaurant is decorated like one in a Russian country house, from the casual garden to the more formal dining room. It’s a great place to enjoy unbeatable Russian cuisine and hospitality.
Uspensky Food Court ( 371 6744; ul Vainera 10; meals R30-100; 10am-8pm) On the top floor of the Uspensky shopping centre, this food court offers burgers, pizza, sandwiches, sushi and more. Floor-to-ceiling windows provide a sweeping view of the city centre and a new perspective on the activity below.
Vilka-Lozhka (ul Vaynera 8; mains R80) A brightly coloured cheap cafeteria at the start of the main pedestrian drag.
Cafe Skver (371 2208; ul Vaynera 7b; mains R120) Barbie and Ken dance in a toy castle while you eat in a cafeteria designed as a playroom.
Uralskiye Pelmeni ( 350 7150; pr Lenina 69/1; lunch R200; 11am-midnight) It’s not comparable to its Chelyabinsk namesake, but this cafeteria-styled place inside the Hotel Iset building is an acceptable choice for a lunch.
Drinking
Yekaterinburg has a bevy of places posing as English, Scottish or Irish pubs, although in fact they are rather expensive restaurants/nightclubs with a strict dress code. The most famous of them is the Scottish Gordon’s ( 355 4535; Krasnoarmeyskaya ul 1; mains R400-600; noon-2am), part-owned by an Irishman. A new popular place is Ben Hall ( 251 6368; ul Narodnoy Voli 65; mains R400; noon-2am) where local rock bands play at weekends, its owner himself being a well-known musician.
Tired of this imitation orgy? Head to the ubiquitous microbrewery Tinkoff ( 378 4008; ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 64; ½L beer R150; noon-2am), featuring seven home brews, plus a menu of sausages, sandwiches and other tasty snacks. A more bohemia type of place, Cafe Shepot ( 371 1497; ul Rozy Lyuksemburg 16; 11am-midnight Sun-Thu, 24hr Fri & Sat) has live music most nights. As the name suggests, you can have a latte here, but most people opt for stronger drinks.
Entertainment
Philharmonic ( 371 4682; www.filarmonia.e-burg.ru, in Russian; ul Karla Libknekhta 38) Yekaterinburg’s top venue for the classical performing arts often hosts visiting directors and soloists, as well as the regular performances of the acclaimed Urals academic orchestra.
Opera & Ballet Theatre ( 350 8057; www.uralopera.ru; pr Lenina 45A; tickets from R100) The level of professionalism is not quite on a par with the Philharmonic, but the ornate baroque theatre is still a lovely place to see the Russian classics.
Getting There & Away
AIR
The main airport is Koltsovo ( 224 2367), 15km southeast of the city centre. Flights go six times a day to/from Moscow (R6000, 2½ hours).
Flights leave almost daily for Irkutsk (R7500, four hours), Novosibirsk (R8860, two hours), Samara (R5800, two hours), St Petersburg (R5700, 2½ hours) and major hubs near the Black Sea coast.
Several airlines operate direct flights to Europe two or three times a week: Lufthansa ( 264 7771) flies to Frankfurt; Malev ( 264 4246) to Budapest; Czech Airlines ( 264 6213) to Prague; Austrian Airlines ( 376 6376) and Turkish Airlines ( 264 2040) to Istanbul. Most ex-USSR national airways have regular flights to Koltsovo. Transaero Tours Centre ( 365 9165; pr Lenina 50), located inside the City Centre shopping mall, handles bookings for all airlines.
BUS
For Chelyabinsk, buses are more convenient than trains. The main bus station ( 229 9518, 229 4881; ul 8 Marta 145) is 3km south of the city centre, but most buses pass the northern bus station, conveniently located by the train station. Here you can catch frequent buses to Chelyabinsk (R218, four hours) and Alapaevsk (R154, three hours, three daily). There is also a bus station at the Koltsovo airport serving destinations in Sverdlovsk region and Chelyabinsk (R400, 3½ hours).
TRAIN
Yekaterinburg – sometimes still ‘Sverdlovsk’ on timetables – is a major rail junction with connections to all stops on the trans-Siberian route. Trains to/from Moscow go frequently, but the most comfortable one is the Ural (R4700, 26 hours, daily). All trains to Moscow stop at either Perm (platskart/kupe R370/R1300, seven hours) or Kazan (R2760, 13 to 15 hours). Heading east, the next major stops are Omsk (R2300, 12 hours) and Novosibirsk (R1280, 21 hours). You can buy tickets at outlets throughout the city, including the convenient Railway and Air Kassa ( 371 0400; ul Malysheva 31D; 7am-9pm).
Getting Around
Bus 1 links the Sverdlovsk-Passazhirskaya train station and Koltsovo airport (45 minutes) from 5.30am to 11pm. Marshrutka 26 goes from the airport to metro pl 1905 goda. Marshrutka 39 goes to metro Geologicheskaya.
Many trolleybuses (pay on board) run along ul Sverdlova/ul Karla Libknekhta between the train station and pr Lenina. Trams 4, 13, 15 and 18 and bus 28 cover long stretches of pr Lenina, with bus 4 continuing to the main bus station.
A single metro line runs between the northeastern suburbs and the city centre, with stops at the train station (Uralskaya), pl 1905 goda and ul Kuybysheva near the synagogue (Geologicheskaya).
AROUND YEKATERINBURG
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Shirokorechinskoe Cemetery ШиРокоречинское кладбище
A trip out to Shirokorechinskoe cemetery, 8km west of the city centre along the Moskovsky Trakt, reveals Yekaterinburg’s more recent history. Along the path, starting on the left from the main entrance, are the monumental graves of the victims of 1990s gang warfare. They are hard to miss: look for the life-sized engraving of the 35-year-old gangster, his hand dangling Mercedes car keys as a symbol of his wealth.
To get there catch marshrutka 40 or 48 from pl 1905 goda and get off at the Kontrolnaya stop.
Ganina Yama Ганина Яма
After the Romanov family was shot in the cellar of Dom Ipatyeva, their bodies were discarded in the depths of the forests of Ganina Yama, 16km northeast of Yekaterinburg. In their honour, the Orthodox Church has built the exquisite Monastery of the Holy Martyrs ( 343-217 9146; www.g-ya.ru) at this pilgrimage site. An observation platform overlooks the mine shaft where the remains were deposited and burned. According to the Orthodox Church, this is the final resting place of the Romanov family (Click here) and is therefore sacred ground.
The nearest train station to Ganina Yama is Shuvakish, served by elektrichka from the central station. The monastery owns a bus that runs six times a day between the central station, Shuvakish station and Ganina Yama. Ekaterinburg Guide Centre (Click here) offers three-hour tours for R1050 to R3000, depending on the number of people.
Nevyansk & Around Невьянск
The small town of Nevyansk is in the heart of the former patrimony of the Demidovs, a family of industrialists who effectively controlled much of the Urals, who received Peter I’s blessing to develop the region. At their most decadent stage, they bought the Italian feudal title of Count San-Donato; their namesake lives on today as a train station in the bleak suburbs of Nizhny Tagil.
The main highlight here is the Nevyansk Leaning Tower, which – as every local will be sure to point out – is by no means a falling tower. It sank a bit at the time of construction due to the soil subsiding, and never moved again. It is an impressive structure accompanied by an equally impressive Saviour-Transfiguration Cathedral, which would have graced any large city.
The site is controlled by the Nevyansk History and Architecture Museum (pl Revolyutsii 2; Nevyansk tower excursion per group R500; 9am-5pm Tue-Sun), which is where you buy tickets for excursion into the tower. This is the only way to access it.
Seven kilometres from Nevyansk is the lovely Old Believers’ village of Byngi where an entrepreneurial German and his Russian wife are converting an izba into a guesthouse, sleeping about 15 people in the building itself and two yurts erected in the courtyard. Rides on vintage Ural motorcycles are expected to become the main highlight. The project was not fully operational at the time of our visit. Enquire at the Ekaterinburg Guide Centre (Click here), which runs seven-hour tours to Nevyansk and the nearby old potters’ village of Tavolgi.
If you do the trip, ask to stop on the way at the village of Kunary, where a local blacksmith has turned his wooden izba into a masterpiece of naive art.
STRADDLING THE CONTINENTS
Until recently, if you wanted to place one foot in Europe and the other in Asia, you had to go 40km west of Yekaterinburg on the Moskovsky Trakt to the Europe–Asia border. Erected in 1837 at a 413m high point in the local Ural Mountains, the marker was a popular spot for wedding parties on their postnuptial video and photo jaunts.
In an attempt to make this geographic landmark more accessible to intercontinental travellers, the city has erected a new border marker, more conveniently located just 17km out of Yekaterinburg and looking a little like a mini Eiffel Tower. There are grand plans for monuments, museums, parks and gift shops as well as European and Asian restaurants on their respective sides of the border.
Sceptics should be assured that this is more than a symbolic meeting of East and West. The site – on the watershed of the Iset and Chusovaya Rivers – was confirmed by scientists who examined geological records and studied the patterns of water flow. This clash of continents is the real deal.
Hire a taxi from Yekaterinburg or make arrangements for this excursion through Ekaterinburg Guide Centre (Click here) for R1050 to R2950 per person, depending on the number of people.
There are 12 elektrichka (R60) a day to Nevyansk from Yekaterinburg’s train station, most of them bound for Nizhny Tagil.
Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha & Around Нижняя Синячиха
The pretty village of Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha, about 150km northeast of Yekaterinburg and 12km north of the town of Alapaevsk, is home to an open-air Architecture Museum ( 34346-75 118; admission R70; 10am-4pm). Here there are 15 traditional Siberian log buildings, featuring displays of period furniture, tools and domestic articles. The stone cathedral houses a collection of regional folk art, which is one of the best of its kind. This impressive grouping of art and architecture was gathered from around the Urals and recompiled by the single-handed efforts of Ivan Samoylov, an enthusiastic local historian. Three buses a day go to Alapaevsk (R160, 3½ hours).
SOUTHERN URALS ЮЖДЫЙ УРАЛ
The southern Urals are centred around Chelyabinsk Region and the Republic of Bashkortostan.
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UFA УФА
3472 / pop 1.04 million / Moscow +2hr
Ufa is the proud capital of the autonomous republic of Bashkortostan, home of the Bashkirs, a Muslim Turkic people that dominated most of the southern Urals before the Russian colonisation. Although they’re only a third of the republic’s population, you can hear their lispy language spoken on the streets of Ufa, in rural areas and on the radio.
Substantial hydrocarbon reserves and the local leader Murtaza Rakhimov’s firm grip on power (he has been in charge since the Soviet times) turned Bashkortostan into something of an oil khanate – prosperous, orderly and very authoritarian.
Ufa has no major sights, but the view of the ponderously meandering Belaya River, separating the city from the expanse of taiga beyond, makes it worth coming here. You can spend a pleasant day walking through the streets where wooden cottages look surprised at seeing their reflections in glass office blocks, before heading out for your hiking, rafting or horseback adventure.
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Orientation
Ufa fills a 20km-long dumbbell-shaped area of land between the Belaya and Ufa Rivers. The southern lobe contains the city’s dynamic centre. The main thoroughfare is ul Lenina, which runs from the centre north to the river station. The train station is at the end of a serpentine road accessed via the northern end of ul Karla Marksa, which runs parallel to ul Lenina two blocks west.
Information
Planeta (ul Lenina 20; 9 30am-8pm) A well-stocked bookstore selling maps and books on Bashkir culture.
Post office (ul Lenina 28; internet per hr R30) Internet left from the entrance.
Tengri ( 273 4320; www.tengri.ru; ul Zentsova 70, fl 2) Offers a wide range of inexpensive adventure trips in the southern Urals. The same company runs the popular Tengri base in Kaga.
Sights
The focus of appealing ul Lenina is the 19th-century Trading Arcade, set on a fountain-cooled piazza. Behind the renovated facade is a luxuriously marble-lined shopping mall full of boutiques, cafés and carts selling freshly squeezed orange juice.
The National Museum ( 221 250; Sovetskaya ul 14; admission R200; 10am-6pm Tue-Sat) is housed in a fantastically renovated art nouveau building. Despite the fancy name, most of the exhibits are standard Soviet history and stuffed animals, typical of a regional museum. The interesting exhibits on Bashkir history and current events are the exception.
The Nesterov Art Gallery ( 234 236; ul Gogolya 27; admission R50; 10am-4pm Tue-Sun), also recently renovated, contains a fabulous collection of artwork by the Ufa native Mikhail Nesterov and 50 paintings by Ukrainian futurist David Burlyuk, which he left in a Bashkir village when escaping from the Red Army during the Civil War.
Ul Krupskoy is named for Lenin’s wife Nadezhda Krupskaya, who lived here for several years while Vladimir Ilych was abroad. Only one house remains from that period: it is the grey clapboard cottage where Lenin stayed for three weeks in 1900 awaiting a boat to Pskov. The cottage is now a small Lenin Museum ( 232 439; ul Krupskoy 45; admission free; 10am-6pm Tue-Sat). It contains many depictions of Lenin and Krupskaya during their time in Ufa, including an unusually human statue of Vladimir Ilych holding hands with his wife.
Ufa’s most photogenic spot is the equestrian statue of 18th-century Bashkir hero Salavat Yulaev, who appears ready to leap the wide Belaya River into the forest beyond. Near it, the hard-to-miss glassy structure decorated with traditional Bashkir ornament patterns is the new Congress Hall, a symbol of Bashkortostan’s oil-driven prosperity.
From here, a mostly downhill stroll east takes you via the imposing university buildings, past the giant Bashkortostan drama theatre and through remnant wooden cottages of ul Salavata Yulaeva for the best available view of the city’s historic mosque (ul Tukaeva 52).
Sleeping
Hotel Agidel ( 272 5680; ul Lenina 14; s/d without bathroom from 850/1700, r with bathroom from R1300) The selling point here is the superbly central location opposite the trading arcades. The cheapest rooms do not include a shower (R15), so the upgraded rooms (from R950) are worth the extra cash.
Aygul ( 272 4526; ul Frunze 34; s/d 2400/4000;
) A branch of Bashkortostan, by the new Ice Palace, offering the same level of services, but it’s newer and slightly cheaper.
Hotel Bashkortostan ( 279 0000; www.gkbashkortostan.ru; ul Lenina 25-29; s/d 3100/4400;
) This modern complex offers all the facilities you would expect from a business hotel, including bar, restaurant and fitness centre, not to mention the efficient service.
Eating & Drinking
Lido na Pushkina ( 273 4982; ul Pushkina 94; mains R70-100; 8am-3am) Women in Bashkir ethnic costumes run this excellent self-service place that sells home-style Bashkir and Russian food.
Ashkhane Guzel (ul Mustaya Karima 11; mains R70; 8am-10pm) Customers buzz like bees around the counter of this popular canteen that offers belish (meat pie), tukmas (chicken broth) and other Bashkir fare.
Mado Bistro ( 227 030; ul Lenina 16; meals R100; 9am-9pm) This bustling cafeteria is conveniently located opposite the trading arcades. It is always busy with students and families filling up on classic Turkish fare.
Coffee-Time ( 220 435; ul Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsii 3; breakfast R100; 24hr) One of Ufa’s most popular spots for a coffee break. Jazz music, B&W photos and a menu featuring crêpes instead of bliny give this place a European flair. In the evening, the café is often crowded with couples on dates and other fashionable young folk.
Shinok Solokha ( 225 333; Kommunisticheskaya ul 47; meals R200-300; noon-11pm) A homely Ukrainian cottage, complete with curtains on the windows and servers in traditional garb. The menu features Ukrainian specialities like borsch and vareniki (boiled filled dumplings). One in a row of themed restaurants, including a Czech beer pub.
Tinkoff ( 231 909; ul Lenina 100; ½L beer R150; noon-2am; ) The newest outlet of this national microbrewery has the same industrial style and delicious draughts as the other outlets. The extensive menu complements the beer, as does the occasional live music or DJ act. Free wi-fi.
Shikolat ( 739 823; ul 50 let Oktyabya 9; mains R250; 12am-3am) A trendy lounge-café with subdued lights, attentive service and international food (yes, sushi).
Friendship shopping mall (ul Frunze 7; 10am-9pm), located in the annex of Palace of the Congresses, has a food court with great views of Belaya. One of the canteens sells Bashkir food.
Entertainment
Bashkir Opera & Ballet Theatre ( 272 7712; www.bashopera.ru; ul Lenina 5/1)The theatre where Rudolf Nureyev took his first steps en pointe still ranks highly with Russian musical experts. There is a small museum dedicated to the great dancer on the premises.
Lights of Ufa ( 908 690; www.ogni-ufa.ru; ul 50 let Oktyabrya 19; 11am-2am) This shiny modern building includes a host of entertainment options, including a concert hall, a sports bar and your traditional disco. The microbrewery Brau Haus is the most fun, featuring live jazz, dancing and fresh-brewed lager. From ul Lenina, take any bus north to ‘Dom Pechati’.
Getting There & Away
The train station is 2km north of the centre at the end of ul Karla Marksa. There are daily trains to Moscow (R3120, 26 hours) via Samara (R1700, nine hours). Trains also go to Ulyanovsk (R1700, 14–16 hours) in the west and Chelyabinsk (R1730, nine hours) in the east. There is an overnight service to Magnitogorsk (R1140; 11 hours). Air and train tickets are available from Aviakassy ( 9am-9pm) inside Hotel Bashkortostan.
Getting Around
The handy if convoluted bus 101 route snakes between the train station and the airport, via the main bus station and ul Lenina. Bus 2 links the Salavat Yulaev monument and the north bus station via ul Lenina.
UFA TO CHELYABINSK
It might hearten (or annoy) Australian travellers, but the area west of Chelyabinsk is called Sinegorye – Blue Mountains. Unlike its down-under namesake, it is conifer, not eucalyptus forest that makes the low, gently sloped ranges of the southern Urals look like frozen blue waves. Also blue are the large placid lakes between the mountains, of which the most lauded are Lakes Turgoyak and Zyuratkul. The lakes and two national parks are accessed from stations along the Ufa–Chelyabinsk railway, located within a relatively short distance of each other. Most tourist infrastructure gravitates to Chelyabinsk, but here we describe the route from west to east as that’s the way most people tend to travel in Russia, starting with the most logistically challenging attractions.
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Zyuratkul National Park Национальный парк Зюраткуль
35161
This very remote and quietly beautiful part of the Urals, unspoiled by industry and urbanisation, is only beginning to be explored by travellers. It’s great for hiking – if you climb the Zyuratkul range, swim in a lake, go to a banya and sleep in a loghouse you may wake up and feel rather like Henry Thoreau at Walden Pond.
Stations Suleya (for those heading east) and Berdyaush (for those heading west) serve as access to the Zyuratkul National Park (admission R20), dominated by several forest-covered ranges, among the highest in the Urals. Bears and lynx live here, among other mammals, but you’ll be very lucky (or unlucky) to spot them.
The focal point is Lake Zyuratkul, which translates from Bashkir as ‘heart lake’. It is best observed from the Zyuratkul range nearby – an easy four-hour hike along a boardwalk through the forest and then along the mostly well-marked mountain path, though the kurum (path of loose rocks) at the top can be challenging in wet weather. The access is through the wooden gate on the main access road, 100m before the lake.
In recent years a small cluster of private residences and hotels has emerged by the dam where the Satka River flows out of the lake. The flagship of the local tourist industry is the upscale resort Ecopark Zyuratkul ( 31 951; www.s-travel.ru, in Russian; r without bathroom R2900; cottages sleeping 4/5/7 R13800/17250/24150), which has two-night minimum stays. There is little that’s ‘eco’ in this realm of manicured lawns, asphalt paths, tennis courts and large modern cottages. But the nice restaurant on the premises is the only place to eat for miles around. There’s a large list of activities on offer, including expeditions into the wilderness of the national park.
A 10-minute walk further along the main road curving around the lake shore are the Zyuratkul National Park guesthouses ( 42 901; www.zuratkul.ru; cottage from R600). The phone number connects you to the national park office in Satka. Neat and miniature from the outside, inside the cottages are quite Spartan, with bunk beds, hard mattresses and no bathroom. Washing is in a traditional banya, which costs a hefty R600 (ask for it not to be too hot). Staff can also organise guided expeditions into the park with stays at kordony (forest lodges).
The asphalt road goes further to Kitova Pristan – a miniature amusement park based on the Russian folklore that was built by a local businessman, allegedly to justify the seizure of national parkland for his mansion.
The only sure way of getting to Zyuratkul is by taxi, which should be prearranged as not all drivers want to punish their cars on the atrocious roads. Try Berdyaush-based taxi companies ( 8-904-803 1010; 8-922-236 8878); expect to pay R600 or more for a one-hour trip. You can ask for more taxi phone numbers at the national park headquarters ( 31 951, www.zuratkul.ru) located in Satka, a railway station off the main line. Ecopark Zyuratkul can organise transfers for its guests.
Most trains between Ufa and Chelyabinsk stop at Suleya (platskart R310, five hours from Ufa) and Berdyaush (R300, four hours from Chelyabinsk). Berdyaush is also served by elektrichka from Chelyabinsk bound for Kropachevo.
Taganay National Park Национальный парк Таганай
3513
Dramatically set in a lake-filled valley, the otherwise gloomy town of Zlatoust serves as the gates to one of the most popular national parks in the Urals – Taganay. The park is a narrow 52km-long band containing a wide variety of landscapes, from flower-filled meadows to mountain tundra, as well as some of the southern Urals’ notable ridges (Small, Middle and Big Taganay and Itsyl).
It is also well known for its mineral reserves, including Russia’s largest deposit of aventurine (known locally as taganit). The park is a popular destination for hiking, mountain biking and rafting. The entrance is located on the outskirts of Zlatoust, reached from the train station by marshrutka 33. From its final stop, take the road leading towards the forest to a signposted turn.
There is a small museum on the premises selling a useful Russian and English-language brochure about the park, detailing major routes. Its author, the park’s tourism coordinator and poet Milena Bratukhina, is based at the Taganay park headquarters ( 637 688; www.taganay.com; ul Shishkina 3a) on the other side of town, also reached by marshrutka 33. She can organise your stay at one of the kordony (forest lodges) inside the national park and the Taganai Travel’s turbaza ([email protected]; per person from R500) at the park’s entrance, with Spartan cottages and banya on the premises.
At Zlatoust, Hotel Belmont ( 655 700, www.belmont.ru; ul Taganayskaya 194a; s/d from 2100/2500) is a nice business-class option. Hotel Taganay ( 651 225; pr 30 Let Pobedy 7; r from R750) is a Soviet-styled cheapie.
Zlatoust is served by both intercity trains on the Ufa–Chelyabinsk route (obshchiy R96, three hours) and elektrichka from Chelyabinsk.
Miass & Lake Turgoyak Миасс и озеро Тургояк
3513
Lakes in the vicinity of Miass, another factory town lacking Zlatoust’s evocative scenery, are havens of tranquil beauty that residents of ‘Traktorgrad’ (Chelyabainsk) deserve to visit once in a while.
Surrounded by bluish mountains, Lake Turgoyak is the Sinegorye classic and the location of an exemplary resort – Golden Beach ( 545 920; www.goldenbeach.ru, in Russian; s/d from R3200/4100) which has several large log-house buildings with joyfully polychromic rooms, each with an individual design. There is a Chinese medicine centre on the premises run by real Chinese doctors. Room rates are R200 higher during weekends.
The newly emerged competitor, the Fongrad Spa-Hotel ( 298 500, www.fongrad.com; s/d with breakfast Mon-Fri R2150/2600, Sat & Sun R2950/3400), is equally attractive, with a probably more scenic setting on a small peninsula.
Both hotels can organise boat trips to St Vera’s Island, the location of an important archaeological site. The island had a fairly large prehistoric settlement, abandoned by its residents 9000 years ago due to some catastrophic event, possibly an earthquake. Several large stone tombs built by the ancient residents were used as hermitages by small monastic communities of Old Believers in 19th century.
There are no buses going to the part of the lake where hotels are located, so take a taxi from the train station in Miass. Taxi Vega ( 555 557) does the trip for R250.
Miass can be reached by regular trains and elektrichka (R70, 1½ hour) from Chelyabinsk.
Chebarkul & Lake Yelovoye Чебаркуль и озеро Еловое
3512
The Chebarkul station is the hop-off point for another lake, looking a bit mysterious amid the surrounding fir-tree forest. The Uralskiye Zori resort ( 782 120; www.uzor.ru, in Russian; s/d from R1700) is one of those places that has moved in the right direction from its Soviet past, but hasn’t quite completed the journey yet. Visits at weekends and public holidays require a two-night minimum stay. Taxi Klassika ( 352 4444) can take you there for R150. Frequent elektrichka go to Chelyabinsk (R62, one hour).
CHELYABINSK ЧЕЛЯБИНСК
3512 / pop 1.08 million / Moscow +2hr
One of the characters in the Russian version of the hit UK comedy show Little Britain is the first gay metallurgist from Chelyabinsk. That more or less sums up people’s perception of this city as the most unlikely place to meet anyone standing out from a crowd of gloomy proletarians. The nickname ‘Traktorgrad’ coined by the Soviet propaganda helped a lot in enhancing that image.
But these appraisals are perhaps unfair to a city that, although heavily industrialised, has still managed to hang on to the architectural appeal of an imperial outpost on the border of nomad lands. A number of interesting museums and a few funky places to eat and have fun justify a day or two spent here before or after an adventure in the southern Urals.
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Orientation & Information
The central point is pl Revolyutsii on pr Lenina, where a harried-looking Vladimir Ilych heads resolutely ‘forward to communism’. North of here, the streets lie in a navigable grid pattern, with the pleasant pedestrian ul Kirova heading north to the River Miass. The bus and train stations are side by side on ul Svobody, 2.5km south of pl Revolyutsii.
Las Knigas (pr Lenina 52; internet per MB R3, per hr R60; 10am-8pm) is a large bookstore with an internet facility on its top floor.
Sights
Chelyabinsk’s highlight is strolling down pedestrianised ul Kirova, paved with cobblestones. Life-sized bronze statues of local personages dot the street – look out for an Asian boy with a camel. The animal is the heraldic symbol of the Chelyabinsk region signifying its importance as a fortress on the border with Asia.
At the northern end of ul Kirova, the excellent new Local Studies Museum (ul Truda 100; admission R300; 10am-7pm) strives to visualise the life of many ethnic and social groups of the Urals in different ages. The nearby Fine Arts Gallery ( 630 934; ul Truda 92; admission R70; 11am-6pm Tue-Sun) has a solid collection of European and Russian paintings and china.
Active religious buildings include an early-20th-century synagogue (ul Pushkina 6a) and the 1899 mosque (ul Yelkina 20), its lighthouse of a minaret topped with a golden spire. The 1883 St Simeon Cathedral (Kyshtymskaya ul 32) has a curious exterior featuring lion and dragon ceramics and a lovely interior. It’s north of the river beside the north bus station; take tram 6 to ul Kalinina then walk a block east, then south.
At pr Lenina 76, the Southern Urals University is a smaller and neater version of its Moscow colleague, but still a typical Stalin wedding cake – although the two wrought-iron muses hanging from the roof like chimeras make it look more Gothic than Bolshevik.
Sleeping
Yuzhny Ural ( 263 5808; www.hotelsural.com; pr Lenina 52; s/d without bathroom R750/1100, with bathroom R2000/3000) Every city in the Urals has such a centrally placed Soviet dinosaur with its expectedly mediocre standards. But dinosaurs are becoming extinct, so it might be your last chance to see one!
Almaz ( 232 0864; www.almaz74; ul Lesoparkovaya 15; r from R1000) A new and very reasonably priced hotel opposite Parkcity that gets good reviews from Russian travellers.
Parkcity ( 731 2222, ul Lesoparkovaya 6, www.parkcityhotel.ru; s/d R3400/400;
) This new place by Central Park should be praised for that little bit extra it adds to the expected business hotel services, such as bicycles for hire. Standard rooms come with a huge shiny bathroom. There are seven ‘economy class’ singles that go for R1900, and good weekend discounts for standard rooms.
Eating & Drinking
Gus Lapchaty ( 266 9423, ul Tsvillinga 38, mains R80; 10am-10pm) A small cafeteria with young cheerful personnel and standard Russian home-style fare.
Wild Cherry Funky Foods (Dikaya vishnya; 265 1601; ul Tsvillinga 40; dishes R50-150; 10am-11pm) This place offers exactly what the name promises – a funky menu including options for vegetarians, funky tunes and ‘positive-minded staff ’ (to quote the job advert posted on the door).
Uralskiye Pelmeni ( 265 9591; pr. Lenina 66a; mains R400, pelmeni R120; noon-2am) When Russians first crossed the Urals, they were a tribe of porridge-eaters, but through the encounter with Asian tribes they found something that changed their cuisine forever – pelmeni (dumplings). This two-storey restaurant-cum-disco is all about them. The place heaves at weekends with a rock band singing golden oldies and people dancing and drinking wildly. Come here to see Russians in their own element.
Only ( 266 2002; ul Kirova 94; mains R300-900) The main attraction of this pricey restaurant with an inventive menu and slow service is the summer terrace on the upper floor – the best vantage point to watch hustle and bustle on ul Kirova below. The 2nd floor is occupied by Casa Project nightclub with the ‘restaurant at the end of the universe’ interior and DJs.
Entertainment
Adorned with statues, the classical-styled building of Glinka Opera & Ballet Theatre ( 638 763; pl Yaroslavskogo 1) firmly sticks to the musical classics.
Getting There & Away
Trains go daily to Moscow (R5650, 33 hours) via Ufa (R1930, nine hours) and Samara (R3300, 19 hours). Heading east, most trains cut through Kazakhstan (separate visa required). You’ll have a much greater choice out of Yekaterinburg. But if you have a Kazakh visa, you could catch one of the three daily trains to the Kazakh capital, Astana (R1500, 21 hours).
The most efficient way to reach Yekaterinburg is by the frequent bus service (R220, four hours). The bus is also more useful for Magnitogorsk (R380, five hours, 10 daily).
Getting Around
The bus and train stations are side by side on ul Svobody, 2.5km south of the centre. Bus 18 runs up ul Svobody to pr Lenina, then continues north on ul Tsvillinga. Trams 17, 30 and 40 ply the same route. Bus 1 goes to the airport from the train station.
MAGNITOGORSK & EAST BASHKORTOSTAN МАГНИТОГОРСК ИВОСТОК БАШКИРИИ
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Magnitogorsk Магнитогорск
3511
With its enormous metallurgical plant belching multifarious fumes from a multitude of chimneys, Magnitogorsk (shortened by locals to Magnitka) is a photogenic stop that is best kept brief. But the plant’s investment in workers’ welfare is the reason for the quiet tourism boom that’s under way in mountain areas west of the city in the territory of Bashkortostan, with new opportunities for downhill skiing, horse riding and rafting emerging every year.
If you find yourself stuck in Magnitogorsk for a night, the Hotel Valentino ( 376 766; ul Gryaznova 24; r from R2300) is an acceptable new business hotel just southwest of pl Mira. The Magnitogorsk train and bus stations are located in the same place. Train is more convenient for Ufa (R1140, 10 hours), while bus is better for Chelyabinsk (R380, five hours).
Bannoye Банное
3511
As soon as you leave Magnitogorsk, you are in Bashkortostan, which you will immediately recognise by the bilingual road signs. Now you are at the foothills of the Urals where steppe gradually gives way to picture-perfect birch groves and large blue lakes filling depressions between gentle grass-covered hills and the mountain ranges. Lake Bannoye (Yakhty-Kul in Bashkir) is one of them.
When the bus crosses a landing between two lakes, you’ll know you are there. Most people get off near the entrance of Sanatorium
Yubileyny ( 255 590; www.bannoe.mmk.ru; s/d with full board from R1400/2060). There are more accommodation options in the village and around the lake.
After a few hundred metres there’s a roundabout. The road to the right goes to the Metallurg ski centre ( 255 457; www.ski-bannoe.mgn.ru; day ski pass R1200). Skiing equipment is available for hire. A modern cable car (return R100) takes people up to the picturesque escarpment with the pricey restaurant Gornoe Ushchelye ( 255 898; mains R500) at the top.
Bannoye is off the Magnitogorsk–Ufa road. To reach it, take a marshrutka from the Magnitogorsk bus station (R50, 40 minutes).
Abzakovo Абзаково
3519
Back on the Ufa road, 20km after Bannoye is the Novoabzakovo railway station, the hop-off point for the Abzakovo skiing resort, not to be confused with Abzakovo (Abzak in Bashkir) village, which is further down the road and sports an interesting green wooden mosque. The resort is one of the best known in Russia, largely thanks to a dedicated patron by the name of Vlad Putin.
A road leads from the station towards the mountain, passing a cluster of cottages, many of them for rent. Owners’ mobile phone numbers are usually displayed on signs that say something like ‘жилье’ or ‘сдается’. At the fork after the bridge, the left road goes to the Abzakovo ski centre, passing a cluster of hotels, including the kitschy Tau-Tash ( 925 9419; www.tautash.ru; ul Gornolyzhnaya 33; r Mon-Fri from R1300, r Sat & Sun R1600;
) and the more tastefully designed Abzakovo Bungalo Club ( 901 0091; www.bungalonet.ru; Gorny pr 8; d Mon-Fri R2500, d Sat & Sun R3000). Prices are for the summer season and may double in winter.
The road straight ahead goes to the Abzakovo recreation complex ( 3519-259 300; www.abzakovo.com; s/d Mon-Thu from R1300/2200, s/d Sat & Sun R2900/4100; ). It’s a park area with accommodation coming in all shapes, from grey Soviet-styled korpysy to nice-looking, but expensive, cottages. There is an aquapark and a rather sad zoo on the premises. A cable car (return R60) connects the recreation zone with skiing slopes. In summer the resort is open for horse riding and cycling.
Beloretsk-bound buses from Magnitogorsk pass the Novoabzakovo station (R60, one hour, every half hour). The Ufa–Sibay train (R960; nine hours) stops at Novoabzakovo at 7.40am local time.
Beloretsk Белорецк
34792
Beloretsk, another 30km from Novoabzakovo along the road to Ufa, is an access point for several interesting country lodges specialising in horse-riding and rafting trips.
Managed by two travel junkies, Elena and Leonid, Turbaza Malinovka ( 43 064, 8-906-370 7150, 8-903-311 93 66; www.go-ural.ru; s/d R1400/1600) is 10km away from Beloretsk (R250 by taxi) under the Malinovaya (Raspberry) mountain and consists of two log houses that sleep about 20 people. There is no hot water, which adds a hefty R600 per hour for the banya. A range of inexpensive horseback, rafting and hiking trips are offered. The longest, an 11-day horseback trip to the Iremel range in the Zyuratkul National Park, costs R12,600.
There is a larger lodge in Kaga, 80km from Beloretsk, reached by bus (R100, two hours) or by taxi (R650). Turbaza Tengri ( 77 520; ul Shkolnaya 12; dm/s/d R1000/1500/3000) occupies a 19th-century German-built hospital building, heated by tiled stoves of the same age. Staff can organise a wide range of horseback, rafting, skiing and hiking trips in the southern Urals, from R5000 for a five-day trip. To arrange accommodation or to book a tour, you’ll need to contact Tengri’s Ufa office (Click here).
There are frequent buses between Magnitogorsk and Beloretsk (R80; 1½ hours). The Ufa–Sibay train calls at Beloretsk at 5 30am local time (R820, 6½ hours).
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Russian Caucasus
Кавказ
BLACK SEA COAST ПОБЕРЕЖЬЕ ЧЁРНОГО МОРЯ
KRASNAYA POLYANA Красная Поляна
MINERAL WATER SPAS МИНЕРАЛЬНЫЕ ВОДЫ
MINERALNYE VODY МИНЕРАЛЬНЫЕ ВОДЫ
CENTRAL CAUCASUS ЦЕНТРАЛЬНЫЙ КАВКАЗ
CHECHNYA, DAGESTAN & INGUSHETIA Leonid Ragozin
Europe draws its last breath and fades into Asia in this crooked wedge of southern Russia, known as the Northern Caucasus as it composes the northern half of the Caucasus region (which also comprises Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia). This land has been fought over for centuries, and still is thanks to separatist sentiments among the primarily Muslim populations of Chechnya and Dagestan.
A whiff of danger means most foreign tourists stay away – for now. The seaside resort of Sochi has won the 2014 Winter Olympics, and big changes are in store. It seems the entire region is preparing to milk the Olympic cow, as ambitious development plans have sprouted along the length of the Black Sea Coast and throughout the spectacular central Greater Caucasus mountain range.
Future visitors are in for a treat. There aren’t too many places where, without freezing your butt off, you can ski and kite-surf on the same day. The Caucasus is one of them. Add rafting, ice climbing and virtually any other extreme sport you can think of to the list. Scores already arrive to climb Europe’s highest peak, Mt Elbrus. Of course there’s no obligation to climb it; just being in its lofty presence is enough to satisfy most.
Less sporty types can soak up rays by day and rave by night in a Black Sea resort, or submerge in the mineral waters around central spa towns Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk. There are dozens of ethnic groups here, all seemingly united by the Caucasus’ famous hospitality. Their history and culture is worth studying when travelling through these parts.
HIGHLIGHTS
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History
The Caucasus has stood at the crossroads of Asian and European cultures since the Bronze Age. The result is an extraordinary mix of races with three main linguistic groups: Caucasian, Indo-European and Turkic. The Caucasus has suffered many invasions and occupations, having been squeezed between rival Roman, Byzantine, Persian, Arab, Ottoman and Russian empires.
LIFE BEFORE THE RUSSIANS
Earliest human traces in the Russian Caucasus date from Neolithic times when farming was replacing hunting and gathering. The first communities evolved in Dagestan’s valleys around the same time as agriculture developed in West Asia and China, establishing this region as an early cradle of civilisation.
Mass migrations brought in many different peoples, including Scythians in the 8th century BC followed by Sarmatians five centuries later. In the 1st millennium AD, groups including Kipchaks (ancestors of the present-day Balkar), Huns, Pechenegs and Khazars all left their mark, some settling and mixing with existing inhabitants.
The first dominant state was created by the Alans, ancestors of modern Ossetians. It blossomed during the 10th century AD and at its peak ruled most of the northern Caucasus. The Alans were Christians, probably having been introduced to the religion by the Georgians. The Alan state was conquered by the Mongol Tatar invasions of the early 13th century and any remnants destroyed by the army of Timur (Tamerlane) in 1395.
THE RUSSIANS ARRIVE
Escaping Russian serfs and adventurers had already settled in the lower Terek River region when Russian military power arrived here in the late 1500s. In 1696 Peter the Great captured the Turkish stronghold of Azov and expanded imperial influence southward. Peter temporarily captured Derbent in present-day Dagestan as part the Russian campaign against Persia in the 1720s before withdrawing.
Several decades later Catherine the Great began the subjugation of the Caucasus in earnest, assisted by the area’s Cossacks. The campaign picked up steam in the early 1800s as the Caucasus became a strategically important region in the ‘Great Game’ being played out between Russia and Great Britain.
In 1816 General Yermelov, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, began a ruthless campaign to pacify the mountain peoples. The predominantly Muslim populace resented this intrusion by European and Christian Russians, and bitter guerrilla-type warfare ensued, led by the Cherkess (Circassians) in the north and the legendary Dagestani leader Imam Shamil further south. Shamil united Dagestani and Chechen tribes for a 30-year fight against the Russians that ended with Shamil’s surrender in 1859. When the Cherkess surrendered in 1864, Russian hegemony in the region was entrenched.
THE SOVIET ERA
During the October Revolution, many tribes united to form the Mountain Republic. Independence lasted until 1921 when Soviet forces overran the Caucasus. Soviet policy was to divide and rule by creating small autonomous regions, often combining two totally different nationalities. The Muslim-dominated portion of the Caucasus was split into five autonomous regions: Dagestan, Adygeya, Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia.
In 1944 Stalin ordered the mass deportation of Balkar, Chechen, Ingush and Karachay peoples to Central Asia and Siberia, on the pretext of potential collaboration with German forces. Those left behind took over the property and land of the deported. Khrushchev allowed the exiled groups to return in 1957 but without compensation or repossession of their property. The Soviet regime smothered any potential conflict caused by this injustice, but the situation changed quickly after the failed 1991 coup in Moscow.
POST-SOVIET ERA
The slipping of the Soviet leash let loose a host of ethnic-based rivalries, paramount of which has been the Chechnya conflict; Click here. But the battleground has spilt over into other republics. North Ossetia was the site of bombings in the late 1990s and the infamous Beslan school siege of 2004 (Click here), as well as a suicide bombing that killed 12 in late 2008. In 2003 a bomb on the Kislovodsk–Mineralnye Vody elektrichka in the normally peaceful Mineral Waters resort area killed seven people and wounded scores more. In 2005 separatist Chechen guerrillas led by the late warlord Shamil Basayev launched multiple attacks on police and military posts in Kabardino-Balkaria’s capital, Nalchik. Fourteen civilians plus dozens of guerrillas and security personnel died in the fighting.
Amid this backdrop of violence it came as somewhat of a surprise when in 2007 Sochi was awarded the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. A pair of bombings near Sochi in the summer of 2008 stoked fears that the Black Sea coastal resorts could become targets of terrorist activity as the Olympics approach, but you can be sure the Russian government will do anything to prevent that from happening.
Climate
In winter, the Black Sea coast relishes being Russia’s warmest place – it’s rarely freezing. In summer (June to September) it’s warm and humid, reaching around 25°C. To the north, the continental climate provides three or four freezing winter months from November to February, then temperatures shoot up to about 30°C from June to August.
The higher you go, the cooler it gets – many Caucasus peaks are permanently snow-covered – but on a sunny summer day you’ll still be sweating at 3000m. November to April/May is the wettest season, with the coastal strip getting significant rainfall of around 1200mm to 1800mm annually.
Language
While Russian is spoken and understood by all, there are dozens of local languages, especially in eastern mountain areas. For a primer see the boxed text, Click here.
Dangers & Annoyances
Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia are all generally considered no-go areas for travellers. Violence occasionally spills over into North Ossetia, such as in the case of the Beslan school siege, and a late-2008 suicide bombing in Vladikavkaz that killed 12.
As we went to press Russia had just pulled its last remaining troops out of Georgia after clashing with its southern neighbour over control of the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the summer of 2008 (Click here). Some fear the conflict could lead to a rise in anti-Western sentiment in North Ossetia.
‘CAUCASIAN MALE, HEIGHT…’
Ever wondered why white people are referred to as Caucasian? Well, in 1795 the German ethnologist Johann Blumenbach visited the Caucasus and was impressed by the health and physique of the mountain people. Despite them not being quite white he used the term ‘Caucasian’ as one of his five great divisions of mankind. In bartending, a Caucasian is a mixed drink also referred to as a White Russian.
Getting There & Away
AIR
Direct flights link several Western European cities with Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don and Sochi. These places are also well served by domestic flights, mostly from Moscow and St Petersburg. Mineralnye Vody, which is the gateway to Mt Elbrus and the central mountains, is also well connected to Moscow. Anapa, Nalchik and Vladikavkaz all have domestic airports.
BOAT
From Sochi there are boats to Trabzon, Turkey, and the Georgian port of Batumi (Click here).
TRAIN
The main train lines from the north funnel through Rostov-on-Don and then diverge. One runs to Mineralnye Vody and beyond, the other goes through Krasnodar and on to Sochi. Trains from Moscow and other points north are plentiful, especially in the summer high season.
Getting Around
Train is easiest and most comfy for travelling between major centres; use bus, marshrutka and elektrichka for local travel. Outside Sochi and Rostov-on-Don taxis are cheap and can be used for reaching the mountain zones around Elbrus and Dombay in lieu of public transport.
KUBAN STEPPE КУБАНСКАЯ СТЕПЬ
From Rostov-on-Don, the overland routes to the Northern Caucasus and the Black Sea coast cross the intensively cultivated Kuban Steppe, named after its river flowing from Elbrus into the Sea of Azov. This is Cossack country – two of the main groups, the Don Cossacks and the Kuban Cossacks – fought wars for Russian tsars from bases here and still maintain atamans (chiefs) and armies; the former are headquartered in Novocherkassk, the latter in Krasnodar. A host of Cossack-related tourist attractions make the Kuban Steppe a must-visit for Cossack junkies. Other travellers usually pass this region by.
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ROSTOV-ON-DON РОСТОВНА-ДОНУ
863 / pop 1.07 million / Moscow
Rostov-on-Don (simply ‘Rostov’ to locals) is the gateway to the Northern Caucasus region. It’s southern Russia’s largest and most cosmopolitan city, as well as being one of Russia’s most important industrial centres. Passing through the city is the Don River, celebrated in Mikhail Sholokhov’s novels of the Civil War, And Quiet Flows the Don and The Don Flows Home to the Sea. Most foreigners arrive strictly for business reasons, but the pretty surrounding countryside offers a few interesting side trips. If possible, ride a hydrofoil along the Don.
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Orientation
Rostov is mostly on the northern bank of the Don. The main east–west axis is Bolshaya Sadovaya ul; the bus and train stations are at its western end. Parallel to it runs park-lined, pedestrianised Pushkinskaya ul.
Information
Farvat@r (Pushkinskaya ul 141; internet per hr R40; 8am-8pm)
Labyrinth Internet (Sotsialisticheskaya ul 68; per hr R40; 24hr)
Post & telegraph office (Lermontovskaya 116; 8am-6pm)
Sberbank (Beregovaya ul 29; 8am-1pm & 2-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-2pm Sat) Changes travellers cheques; ATM.
Sights & Activities
There are few must-see sights. The highlights are (mostly) pedestrianised Pushkinskaya ul with its restaurant and bar scene; strolling the river embankment and crossing Voroshilovsky Bridge to check out the beaches and shashlyk stands on the Don’s left bank (levo bereg); and observing the eclectic turn-of-the-20th-century architecture in the streets east and south of the central market (cnr Budyonovsky pr & ul Stanislavskogo). The lavish, neo-Byzantine Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral (ul Stanislavskogo 58; 8am-7pm), built in 1856, overlooks the central market.
From the 3rd century BC until the 4th century AD, Greek trading colonies flourished at the mouth of the Don. Rostov’s Regional Museum (240 5213; Bolshaya Sadovaya ul 79; adult/student R70/50, gold exhibition R120; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun) has an impressive exhibit of gold artefacts from this era. A large display on the 2nd floor is devoted to the Don Cossacks. Also notable are a pair of 17th-century Buddhas and other artefacts from Kalmykia.
Sleeping
As it’s a regional capital, prices are high and rooms fill up quickly during the week.
Airport Hotel (/fax 276 7845; pr Sholokhova 270/1; s/d without bathroom R700/1000, s/d with bathroom R1620/1860; ) Besides being convenient if you’re arriving by air, this friendly, functional hotel is really the only budget-friendly sleeping option in Rostov. It’s an easy 20-minute bus ride into the centre.
Don Plaza (263 9052; www.don-plaza.ru; Bolshaya Sadovaya ul 115; s/d with breakfast from R4500/R5500;
) Renovation has vastly improved the facilities and service here, although the rooms remain small and somewhat bland. The buffet breakfast is superb: champagne, salmon caviar and Danish pastries! As we found out first-hand, they offer free hospital transport if you slice your hand open tripping over the knee-high glass tables in the lobby. Free wi-fi.
Also recommended:
Hotel Rostov (290 7666; www.rostovhotel.ru; Budyonovsky pr 59; s/d with breakfast from R2500/3600;
) Business hotel now fully renovated.
Radisson SAS Don (288 0000; http://rostovdon.radissonsas.com; Beregovaya ul 25G/4; s/d with breakfast from R6800/7650;
) Pricey riverside offering features Radisson’s predictably classy design and impeccable service.
ACCOMMODATION
Many places in the Caucasus can’t or don’t want to be involved in registering foreigners, and/or seem unaware that registration is not required for short-term stays (ie less than three days). This is mainly a problem in Krasnodar oblast, which encompasses Krasnodar as well as the Black Sea and Azov Sea coastal resorts (although it isn’t an issue in Sochi).
Seaside accommodation sees a hugeprice hike starting in May and increasing monthly to August. Places with skiing have high-season prices during their skiing seasons and reduced prices at other times. Accommodation prices quoted here are for June, which we reckon is a great time to visit both coastal and mountainous areas.
Eating & Drinking
Zolotoy Kolos (Bolshaya Sadovaya ul 43; coffee R40, beer from R45, pizza R75-150; 24hr) Take care of all your basic needs – coffee, pizza and cheap beer – in this immensely popular, multichambered, centrally located streetside café. The cakes and other desserts are delectable too.
Artist Café (263 1757; ul Universitetskaya 44; mains R200-250) Comfy, body-swallowing sofas and groovy tunes mark this ultra-hip, wi-fi–endowed café. Certainly adding to Rostov’s street cred, its European menu features pasta, veal and fish dishes, all done right.
Yolki Palki (240 3572; Bolshaya Sadovaya ul 68; all-you-can-eat buffet R220) All visitors to Rostov should eat at least once at this amazing mix of indoor theme park and restaurant. Sprightly waiters wear twee national costumes while customers are seated in forest glades under spreading oak trees and woven wooden fencing. There’s a buffet for picking and choosing. Sample the bliny, brave the zalivnoe (jellied fish) and Ukrainian salo (cured pig fat), slurp the okroshka (cold soup) and wash it all down with a cranberry juice or kvas.
Entertainment
For an entertaining slice of local life head down to the river station and board one of the party boats (admission R130) for a one-hour disco-infused cruise along the Don. These kick off mid-morning and run until 1am, getting more raucous as the day progresses.
The river embankment east of the river station has all the ingredients for a memorable Russian evening: karaoke, outdoor discos and shashlyk bars. Gorky Park is similarly endowed with outdoor discos and other action.
Rostov Musical Theatre (Musykalny Teatr; 264 0707; Bolshaya Sadovaya ul 134; ticket office 10am-7pm) This modern and notable theatre, in the shape of a white concert piano, presents ballet and opera between September and June.
Getting There & Away
AIR
Sky Express flights to Pulkovo are the cheapest of the many daily flights to Moscow (from R3200). Kaliningrad Airlines’ flights via Kaliningrad offer good value to St Petersburg and many other Russian and international destinations. Austrian Airlines flies to Vienna (return €800, four weekly) and Lufthansa flies to Frankfurt (return €800, four weekly), while Aeroflot-Don (www.aeroflot-don.ru) services about a dozen international destinations including Dusseldorf (return R15,000) and Rome (return R15,000).
BOAT
Hydrofoils operate May to October to Starocherkassk and Azov from the river station (262 0280; Budyonovsky pr). Don Tour (268 7068; www.dontour.ru; Beregovaya ul 23) runs more deliberate teplokhody (passenger boats) to Starocherkassk at 9am every Sunday from March to November (return including food R390, 2½ hours).
BUS
Private bus companies parked in front of the bus station (244 1010; pr Siversa 1) run express trips to Moscow (R1100, 15½ hours), Volgograd (R550, 10 hours) and Pyatigorsk (R400, six hours). Public buses serve those destinations plus Anapa (R400, 10 hours, daily), Astrakhan (R800, 18 hours, daily) and Krasnodar (R250, five hours, three daily).
TRAIN
Numerous trains pass through Rostov’s main train station (267 0210; pl Privokzalnaya) chugging north to Moscow (from R2200, 17½ to 25 hours) and south to Sochi (from R1600, 11 to 14 hours) via Krasnodar. There are trains to Novorossiysk (from R1100, seven hours, daily, more in summer) and summer trains to Anapa, or change in Krasnodar for either city.
The local train station (pr Siversa) is 200m south of the main train station. Elektrichky trundle to Kislovodsk (R320, eight hours, daily at 2.20pm) via Mineralnye Vody and to Krasnodar (R185, 3¾ hours, two daily).
Getting Around
Bus 7, bus 1 and marshrutka 7A shuttle between the airport and the train station via Bolshaya Sadovaya ul (25 minutes).
AROUND ROSTOV
To see the various sights around Rostov more efficiently you might consider a tour. Typical tours include Starocherkassk and Azov, plus the ancient Greek trading colony of Tanais, which has an archaeology museum and excavation; the ‘new’ Don Cossack capital of Novocherkassk, with its well-regarded Don Cossacks museum; and Taganrog, birthplace of Anton Chekhov. Hotels in Rostov can arrange tour guides.
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Starocherkassk Старочеркасск
863 / pop 5000 / Moscow
Founded in 1593, flood-prone Starocherkassk was the Don Cossack capital for two centuries before the ataman reluctantly moved to Novocherkassk at the behest of the tsar. Once a fortified town of 20,000, it’s now a farming village with a main street restored to near 19th-century appearance.
Allegedly, Peter the Great met a drunken Cossack here sitting on a barrel, wearing only a rifle. This image of a soldier who’d sooner lose his clothes than his gun so impressed the tsar that he commissioned the scene as the Don Cossack army seal.
There are several tourist attractions here, but the real appeal is the town’s mellow, old-Russia feel. The village hosts boisterous Cossack fairs, with much singing, dancing, horse-riding and merry-making, on the last Sunday of the month from May to September.
SIGHTS
Within the brick-walled ataman palace compound there’s a ticket office (29 749; admission per sight R80, camera/video per sight R/20/60, English- or German-speaking guide R250; 9am-5pm Nov-Mar, until 6pm Apr-Oct) for the four main sights.
Most interesting is the Ataman Palace, formerlythe ataman’s living quarters. The kitchen building has a display of Cossack weapons while three floors of the palace are a cultural museum of Cossack Russia. Of particular interest are the displays of Cossack fashion and the bronze relief map of Starocherkassk. Adjacent to the palace is the Church of Our Lady of the Don (1761), which was the private church of the ataman. Within is a magnificent golden iconostasis with rows of saints in pious poses.
In the square at the main street’s eastern end, Stepan Razin rallied his followers in 1670 and was later clapped in chains. The Resurrection Cathedral (Voskresensky sobor) here contains a soaring golden iconostasis, a baroque chandelier and an unusual floor of metal tiles. Peter the Great took a special interest in the church, and even helped lay the altar brickwork when he visited in 1709. The adjacent bell tower provides a bird’s-eye panorama.
Near the main street’s northwest end is the fortified house of Kondraty Bulavin, leader of the Peasant War (1707–09). Bulavin lived and died in this solid stone house with 1m-thick walls, iron doors and an elevated basement to stave off flooding. The building was closed at the time of research.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
The seasonal hydrofoil is a delightful way to travel for a weekend visit from Rostov (R25, 40 minutes). It runs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from May to early October. Departures from Rostov are at 7am (except Fridays) and 2pm; departures from Starocherkassk are at 9.20am (except Fridays) and 4.20pm. Otherwise, it’s marshrutka 151 (R30, 50 minutes, 12 daily) from pl Karla Marksa, Rostov; last return service is 8pm.
Azov Азов
86324 / pop 82,000 / Moscow
In the 13th century Genoese merchants established a trading settlement here but in 1471 they were turfed out by the Turks, who built a massive fortress to keep the Russians out of the Black Sea. For more than 200 years this was largely successful until Peter the Great captured the fortress in July 1696.
Today Azov is a sleepy country town but well worth visiting for its museum (40 371; ul Moskovskaya 38/40; admission adult/child R20/5, camera/video R50/100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun). The prime attraction is a model of Azov Fortress during its initial years in Russian hands, when it contained both mosques and Orthodox churches. In the natural history exhibit downstairs there’s a model of an 8ft (2.44m) catfish eating a duck, and a complete mammoth skeleton.
Only a renovated stretch and some embankment remains of Azov Fortress (Azovskaya Krepost). From the top you can sit and watch the busy river port.
Budget travellers might consider staying in Azov’s centrally located Solnechnaya Hotel (40 427; pl Petrovskaya 3; s/d from R630/900) instead of in pricey Rostov.
The most pleasant way to Azov is the seasonal (May to early October) hydrofoil from Rostov (R30, one hour). It departs Rostov at 10am and Azov at 6.30pm, from Thursday to Sunday. Otherwise take a marshrutka from Rostov’s bus station (R45, 45 minutes, every 15 minutes).
KRASNODAR КРАСНОДАР
861 / pop 650,000 / Moscow
When Catherine the Great travelled south to tour the lands conquered from the Turks, her lover Potemkin had cheerful facades erected along her route. These hid the mud-splattered hovels that made up the newly founded city bearing her name, Yekaterinodar (‘Catherine’s gift’).
Krasnodar no longer needs those facades, as many of the elegant pre–Bolshevik Revolution buildings have been externally restored. Wander east through the back streets or hop on a rickety tram down ul Kommunarov to enjoy the old houses.
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Orientation
The road from Rostov-on-Don feeds into the northern end of Krasnaya ul, Krasnodar’s 2km-long leafy colonnade of a main street. Train and bus stations are to the southeast, just north of the Kuban River, which snakes around the city’s southern and western flanks.
Information
There are currency changers and ticketing agents in the main hotels, and plenty of ATMs along Krasnaya ul.
Main post office (Rashpilevskaya ul 58; 8am-9pm Mon-Sat, 9am-6pm Sun)
Telecommunications Centre (262 4039; Krasnaya ul 118; 8am-11.45pm) Internet access available until 9pm for R32 per hour.
Sights
At the foot of Krasnaya ul an elaborate new statue of Catherine the Great (cnr Postovaya ul & Krasnaya ul), with lute-strumming Cossacks and Potemkin at her heel, roosts in an attractive park. There are fine old buildings in the side streets east of here, plus the converted mosque at ul Pushkina 61 and the restored neorenaissance facade of ul Kommunarov 8.
A pair of museums are worth checking out. Archaeological finds and an exhibit on the secret history of the Kuban Cossacks headline the Regional Museum (Kraevedchesky muzey; 262 4086; Gimnazicheskaya ul 67; admission per exhibition R20-60, camera R50; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun). The Art Museum (Khudozhestvenny muzey; 268 0900; Krasnaya ul 13; admission per exhibition R40-100, camera/video R50/100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun, to 5pm Fri) includes a portrait of Catherine the Great apparently concealing a hot-air balloon under her huge dress.
Sleeping
Hotels in Krasnodar fill up fast and many refuse to admit foreigners. At the train station, the immaculate resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; 214 7344; dm R290, d per person R850) are a fine option if your stay is short and you haven’t booked ahead.
Hotel Moskva (273 9491; www.kit-com.ru; Krasnaya ul 60; unrenovated s/d R1850/2100, renovated r from R3000; ) The simpler rooms are tired and basic and the renovated rooms small and overpriced, but the hotel is central and service-oriented, and if you arrive late in the evening checkout isn’t until 24 hours later. There’s air-con and free breakfast in the pricier rooms; otherwise breakfast costs R300.
Hotel Intourist (259 6163; www.int-krd.ru; Krasnaya ul 109; standard/upgraded r R2000/3500;
) The cramped rooms at this semi–spruced-up Soviet behemoth are lined with loud wallpaper and crammed with matching furniture. Don’t bother with the upgraded rooms – that extra R1500 warrants only a nicer bathroom. The friendly reception staff speak English and can arrange airport transfers, airline ticketing and excursions.
Eating & Drinking
Krasnaya ul boasts many indoor and outdoor eateries.
Don Bazillo (259 6042; Krasnaya ul 109; mains R250-450; 7am-midnight) This Italian eatery to the side of Hotel Intourist is encouragingly popular among the many Italians who do business in Krasnodar. Besides the city’s best food, it features an intimate atmosphere and friendly service.
Mirage (cnr Kubana nab & ul Gogolya; shashlyk per 100g R100-150) This pleasant café down by the river has tasty shashlyk and salads; or just drain a few beers and watch the Kuban River pass patiently by.
Two central markets – Sennoy Bazaar (ul Budyonnogo; 7am-6pm) and Kooperativny Market (cnr ul Golgolya & Krasnoarmeyskaya ul; 7am-6pm) – will appease DIY foragers with rows of fresh fruit, pickled vegetables and dairy products.
Getting There & Away
Krasnodar’s airport (237 3455) is 15km east of town. Kuban Airlines (www.alk.ru) flies to Frankfurt (return R12000, two weekly), Sochi (R2500, two daily) and numerous domestic destinations, while Austrian Airlines services Vienna (return €800, six weekly). Numerous airlines serve Moscow (from R3000). Take trolleybus 7 to the airport from the train station (one hour) or a taxi (R500, 30 minutes).
The bus station (262 5144; pl Privokzalnaya) has services to Anapa (R220, 3½ hours, frequent), Novorossiysk (R175, three hours, frequent) and Rostov-on-Don (R250, five hours, three daily).
From the train station (262 0873; pl Privokzalnaya) there are fast elektrichky to Mineralnye Vody (R250, six hours, Monday, Thursday and Saturday), Novorossiysk (R90, 3½ hours, four daily), Rostov-on-Don (R185, 3¾ hours, two daily), and Sochi (R230, five hours, daily at 7.10am).
Dozens of passenger trains pass through Krasnodar heading north to Moscow (R2900 to R4300, 22 to 31 hours) via Rostov-on-Don and south to Sochi (R800, 5½ to seven hours).
BLACK SEA COAST ПОБЕРЕЖЬЕ ЧЁРНОГО МОРЯ
A narrow coastal strip edges the Black Sea from where rolling hills ascend fairly rapidly into mountains in the southeast and low uplands in the northwest. This is Russia’s seaside playground. A long summer from June to October gives rise to pleasant weather, plenty of sunshine and a warm sea. Several resort towns dot the sometimes rugged coast, the best known being Sochi, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The resorts of the optimistically nicknamed ‘Russian Riviera’ are uniquely Russian, with nary a foreign face to be seen. But that may change as Russia tries to position the Sochi area as a world-class beach and ski destination in the years leading up to the Olympics. Besides mostly pebbly beaches, the region offers terrific walking in the Greater Caucasus foothills and skiing at Krasnaya Polyana in the mountains near Sochi.
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ANAPA Анапа
86133 / pop 57,000 / Moscow
A pleasant sheltered bay, sandy beach and airport make Anapa a popular family resort for Russians from as far away as Siberia. It’s not the most hospitable place for international backpackers, however, as only top-end hotels accept foreigners for fewer than three nights. Try your luck with the babushkas offering private rooms at the bus and train stations.
If you do manage to stay for a few days, Anapa and its sanatoriums provide a good introduction to Russian holiday culture. But Sochi and its budget-friendly neighbour Adler are probably more entertaining and eventful.
Sputnik (50 522; ul Krymskaya 77; 8am-8pm) can handle your plane- and train-ticket bookings.
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Sights & Activities
As in all Black Sea resort towns, life in Anapa revolves around the seaside embankment (Naberezhnaya), where you’ll find restaurants, bars, nightclubs, an aquapark and excursion hawkers in addition to a few relatively sandy beaches – unusual for the Black Sea (the sand is imported).
The Archaeological Museum (43 154; Naberezhnaya 4; adult/child R30/20, camera/video R25/50; 9am-6pm) recounts Anapa’s history as the walled Greek city of Gorgipaya, founded in the 4th century BC. Behind the museum are some of the excavated foundations.
Sleeping & Eating
The sea embankment and busy pedestrian ul Gorkogo are laden with pleasant outdoor eateries.
Yason (51 078; www.anapa-yason.ru; r from R1200;
) This was the only midrange place we walked into that would accept foreigners short-term. The Greek owners are exceedingly friendly and the wi-fi–enabled rooms are spacious and spic ‘n’ span. The cheapest digs are under the awning on the top floor.
Grand Hotel Valentina (39 828; www.grandvalentina.ru; ul Terskaya 103; r from R6000;
) The most service-oriented and foreigner-friendly of the hotels in Anapa, but you pay for it. Rooms are sizeable and clean, but lack character.
Café Elina (Naberezhnaya; dishes R100, shawarmas R50; 9am-2am) This café next to the Park Hotel has a Caucasian buffet that works until 8pm. Fill up on plov (pilaf-like dish), laghman (beef noodle soup) and wonderful shawarmas and enjoy the top-notch people-watching. You can buy beer cheaply from neighbouring kiosks and bring it in.
Getting There & Around
Buses run every 20 minutes or so to Novorossiysk (R60, one hour) from the bus station (56 861; ul Krasnoyazmeyskaya). There are frequent buses to Krasnodar (R220, 3½ hours). In the summer buses serve Crimea and all regional centres in the Caucasus.
The train station (33 186; ul Krestayanskaya) is a 10-minute taxi ride from the centre. Most trains to Anapa are seasonal, including train 247 to Moscow (R3500, 30 hours, daily in summer).
S7 has about 10 daily flights to Moscow (from R4000) from Anapa airport (33 218). Aeroflot and UT Air also fly the route. Flights dwindle in the off-season. Marshrutka 3 zips to the airport from the bus station (R30, 30 minutes).
NOVOROSSIYSK НОВОРОССИЙСК
8617 / pop 242,000 / Moscow
Novorossiysk is home to the Russian navy, and much of the country’s cement production comes from dismantling the surrounding hills. War buffs might appreciate the eye-popping range of WWII memorials. Otherwise there’s little of interest in this gritty port, which seems to be stuck in a Soviet time warp.
The post office (251 627; ul Sovetov 36; 8am-9pm) has an ATM outside.
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Sights
In 1943, a small Soviet landing party heroically held out here for 225 days, forming a bridgehead for the counteroffensive against the occupying Germans. The immense memorial at Malaya Zemlya celebrates their feats. This huge concrete construction represents a landing ship disgorging a party of soldiers and sailors depicted in chunky bronze. Inside the ‘ship’ is an amazing walk-through gallery (233 747; adult/student R30/20; 9am-1pm & 1.30-5.30pm May-Sep, closed Mon Oct-May), with plaques of heroes and a recording of a solemn, deep-voiced choir singing patriotic songs. It’s a 40-minute walk from the port or a 10-minute cab ride (R70).
Sleeping & Eating
A dearth of accommodation in Novorossiysk means rooms fill up fast, so book ahead.
Hotel Brigantina (216 373; www.hotelbrigantina.ru; Anapskoe sh 18; s/d from R950/1420;
) A dream hotel, considering its dreary surroundings. The extraordinarily friendly staff speaks some English. The rooms are of Soviet proportions (ie small) but meticulously manicured, and there are rooms to suit all tastes. Two floors are internet-enabled.
Hotel Novorossiysk (606 505; www.hotel-novoros.ru; ul Isayeva; unrenovated s/d from R2600/2800, renovated s/d from R1715/2014) Down by the port, it’s similar to Brigantina but fully renovated and thus lacking economy rooms. Some rooms have harbour views but that’s actually a disadvantage as Novorossiysk’s port is so ugly.
Dublin (ul Sovetov 44; meals R200-400; 24hr) With few restaurants to choose from in Novorossiysk, this underground Irish pub is a blessing. There’s not much to distinguish it from any other Irish pub, which counts as a success in these parts. Try the super-spicy Shanghai chicken curry washed down with Guinness.
Getting There & Away
The fastest way to Sochi is the seasonal hydrofoil (raketa) from the Seaport (607 066; 9am-5.30pm). The departure time for the three-hour journey is 9am from mid-June to mid-September (economy/business R1300/2600). The return trip from Sochi departs at 6pm.
To travel overland direct to Sochi along the coast you must take a bus (R240, eight hours, three daily) from the bus station (ul Chekhovskogo). If space is scarce ride a combination of buses and taxis (teaming up with others who share your predicament) down to Tuapse and pick up a train there. Buses also serve Anapa (R60, one hour, every 20 minutes until 8pm), Gelendzhik (R35, 35 minutes, frequent) and Krasnodar (R175, three hours, frequent).
If you insist on a train to Sochi you must backtrack to Krasnodar. From the train station (ul Zhukovskogo) there are four daily elektrichky to Krasnodar (R90, 3½ hours). Train 29 is the quickest of several trains to Moscow (R4500, 25 hours) via Rostov-on-Don.
AROUND NOVOROSSIYSK
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Abrau-Dyurso Абрау Дюрсо
Twenty kilometres west of Novorossiysk you can take a tasting tour at this sparkling-wine factory (admission R300; 10am-5pm) founded in the 19th century. You’ll view the production process and be led through dark, musty tunnels where millions of bottles are stored, before sampling some rather nice bubbly. The tour costs R250 per person not including admission, and starts whenever you arrive. Take a taxi (round trip R600).
Gelendzhik Геленджик
86141 / pop 50,000 / Moscow
Gelendzhik is another typical Black Sea resort in the mould of Anapa, only smaller, mellower and even more family-oriented. It makes an easy day trip from Novorossiysk, and there are plenty of accommodation options should you wish to break up the long overland bus journey from Anapa to Sochi. However, as in Anapa, many hotels are reluctant to take foreigners.
Gelendzhik may not stay mellow for long; a new airport is being planned as the town looks to ride the wave of Olympics-related development flooding the entire Black Sea coast. Marshrutky go to/from Novorossiysk every half-hour or so until 8pm (R40, 35 minutes).
SOCHI СОЧИ
8622 / pop 134,000 (Sochi proper) / Moscow
Your first reaction to Sochi, the pearl of the ‘Russian Riviera’, is bound to be one of surprise. For one it’s, well, big. It has traffic, high-rise buildings and an urban attitude that you’d hardly expect from a seaside retreat. Its beach could easily be mistaken for an oversized rock garden. And while expensive European retail chains affirm its glitzy reputation, a gaggle of dilapidated sanatoriums recall a not-quite-bygone era when Sochi was a very proletarian Soviet spa town.
In short, wealthy developers bent on transforming Sochi into a world-class resort (see the boxed text, above) have a project on their hands. But all is not hopeless. They do have miles of prime Black Sea coastline to work with. The sea is warm and reportedly clean. That rocky shoreline? Nothing a little imported sand can’t cure. And the winter playground of Krasnaya Polyana is only 90 minutes away, making it possible to enjoy both sea and slopes in late spring.
THE ‘OLYMPIFICATION’ OF SOCHI
When Sochi won the 2014 Winter Olympics in 2007 the world uttered a collective ‘Say what?’ Russians, too, were perplexed. Sochi is to Russia as Miami is to the US: a balmy, ethnically diverse, resort city famous for palm trees – hardly winter sports material, in other words.
Since that surprising victory, it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing. The national government estimates that the city requires $10 billion in infrastructure improvements to be ready to host the games. The summer of 2008 saw two mysterious bombings rock the Greater Sochi area.
Lastly, despite enthusiasm for the project on a national level (then-President Putin personally spearheaded the bid), support from locals has been lukewarm. As one local put it, ‘When you live a quiet life near the sea with your garden and then somebody comes around and says they need your home for the Olympics, that’s not very positive.’
Russian Olympic organisers respond that relatively few people (about 150 families) will be relocated. They note that the games will bring billions in investment, raise income levels and vastly improve the city’s creaky infrastructure. They are also taking great pains to appear environmentally sensitive – in July 2008 they shifted the planned site for the bobsled and luge tracks away from a fragile forest reserve.
Meanwhile, the ‘Olympification’ of Sochi has begun. Developers are tearing down old hotels and erecting scores of new ones. Notoriously clogged Kurortny pr will be widened and new roads put in. The city, already quite expensive by Russian standards, will go even more up-market (which particularly worries locals). In short, Sochi is on its way to becoming what Putin hopes will be the face of the new, economically prosperous Russia come 2014. Exactly what that face will look like remains unclear.
Interestingly, Sochi proper will not be hosting any Olympic events. The Olympic village, main stadium and skating facilities will be in Adler. The skiing events are slated for Krasnaya Polyana. So those two suburbs stand to see the most dramatic changes. Much of the accommodation will be in Sochi proper, which will be linked to Adler by a new high-speed train. Other major improvements that will affect tourists will be a complete overhaul of the airport in Adler and another high-speed train linking Adler and Krasnaya Polyana.
Sochi remains open for business even as it undergoes an unprecedented facelift. The high season is early May to late September, with the big crowds arriving in July and August, driving prices up. We reckon that June is the best time to come, when the city is at its freshest.
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Orientation
Greater Sochi is some 150km long, making it the world’s second-largest conurbation after Los Angeles. The city proper stretches 7km from the Sochi River in the north to Matsesta in the south. Kurortny pr runs the length of Sochi proper a few blocks from the sea. The train and bus stations are centrally located a few blocks east of Kurortny pr.
Information
Knigo Mir (Book World; ul Gorkogo 54; 9am-7pm) Maps, CDs and a few English fiction titles.
Main post office (cnr Kurortny pr & ul Vorovskogo; 8am-9pm Mon-Sat, until 6pm Sun)
Sohi Club (www.sochiclub.ru) A perkily written site on Sochi.
XP Computer Club (Kurortny pr 18; internet per hr R40; 24hr) Internet café at the rear of Hotel Moskva.
Yug Bank (ul Moskovskaya 5; 9am-4pm Mon-Fri, currency exchange 9am-6pm) Currency exchange and American Express travellers cheques cashed.
YuTK (624 430; ul Vorovskogo 6; per MB R2, per hr R30; 8am-8pm) Telephone and internet café.
TRAVEL AGENCIES
Adventure Studio (677 199; www.extreme-sochi.ru; Matsesta) Specialises in canyoning, rock climbing, rafting, caving, backcountry skiing and one- to 10-day trekking trips. Partnered with superb Elbrus-based extreme-sport specialist Go-Elbrus.
Reinfo (622 042; www.reinfo-sochi.ru; Hotel Magnolia, 3rd fl; 9am-6pm Mon-Sat) Well-established tour operator with range of programs: heliskiing and white-water rafting in Krasnaya Polyana; sailing in Sochi; hiking to Mt Fisht, Vorontsovskaya Cave and lesser-known places. Handles visas, foreigner registration and accommodation booking.
TAVS (641 055; www.sochitavs.ru; ul Navaginskaya 16; 8am-8pm) Efficient air and train ticketing agency.
Sights & Activities
No matter that they are narrow and stony, Sochi’s beaches are dressed up with artificial trees, sunbathing loungers, awnings and private changing pavilions to imitate a South Seas ambience. And the Russians love it. The main beaches are along Naberezhnaya and in front of Park Rivera. More private and secluded beaches, including some nude beaches, extend north virtually all the way to Tuapse. To access these beaches just hop on the Sochi–Tuapse elektrichka.
The snow-capped mountains behind Sochi can be appreciated only from a sea cruise, which may carry the bonus of seeing dolphins. One- to two-hour cruises aboard a variety of vessels (yachts, passenger boats, catamarans, speedboats) leave throughout the day from the sea terminal (cruise per person R300-500).
The newly renovated Town History Museum (Gorodskoy Istorichesky muzey; 642 326; ul Vorovskogo 54; adult/child R70/40, camera/video R50/150; 9am-6pm Tue-Sun) has a superbly presented and impressive collection. What shines is the space display with the Soyuz 9 capsule that returned to Earth in June 1970 after 18 days in orbit. On board were local lad, engineer Sevastyanov, and his pilot Nikoliev.
Sochi’s lovely arboretum (Dendrary; 975 117; Kurortny pr; admission adults/children R200/100 plus cable car R250/125; park 8am-dusk, cable car 8am-1pm & 2-7pm), with more than 1500 species of trees and shrubs, including numerous species of palm, makes for a relaxing wander. Pay at the ticket office and then take the cable car (adult/child one way R80/40) to the top and walk back down.
Try the large Lenin Mosaic, opposite Park Rivera, for a backdrop with a difference for your holiday photos.
The Art Museum (Khudozhestvenny muzey; 622 947; Kurortny pr 51; adult/child R100/50; 10.30am-5.30pm Tue-Sun) resides in a classical building that’s an artwork in itself. There are visiting exhibitions and an expansive permanent collection.
Sochi is as good a place as any to experience a Russian banya. Spa Lermo (8-918-607 6969; per Riversky 6; group per hr R1000) is an intimate, good-value banya. There’s a two-hour minimum and up to 6 persons allowed per group. Reserve ahead.
Inside Park Rivera (Kurortny pr; 10am-1am) are several fun fairs (rides R50-150, day pass R550; 10am-midnight), an aquarium (adult/student/child to 6 yrs R250/150/free; 10am-10pm) pony rides and various other diversions for the kiddies.
Tours
Pavement sellers and most hotels sell Sochi city tours (R200, two hours) and excursions to Mt Bolshoy Akhun and Agura Waterfalls (R250, half day), Krasnaya Polyana (R350, full day) and Vorontsovskaya Cave (R300, half day). Prices are per person, excluding admission.
Festivals & Events
The season starts in late May with a weekend beer festival on Naberezhnaya.
The week-long Kinotavr Film Festival (www.kinorinok.ru) in June attracts many big Russian film stars and the occasional foreign actor. Screenings outside the Winter Theatre are free, whereas you have to pay for screenings inside the theatre.
Sleeping
Accommodation prices in Sochi, already high by Caucasus standards, stand to approach Moscow levels of unjustness as the Winter Olympics approach. Budget travellers will find better deals in Adler. Rates increase by about 25% monthly between May and August.
The really adventurous – or those looking for complete immersion in Russian culture – might consider staying for a week or more in a sanatorium (see the boxed text, Click here).
BUDGET
The booking agency Resort Bureau (Kurortnoe Byuro; 648 739; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri) might be able to find something cheap if these are full. The office is in the train station just outside the southeast exit (near the ticket booths).
Hotel Sochi (620 166; www.sochi-magnolia.ru; Kurortny pr 50; s without bathroom R370, s/d with breakfast from R1110/1920) The cheapest of the city’s partially renovated Soviet-style hotels, with comparable rooms but fewer amenities and services. This hotel and the neighbouring Hotel Magnolia (similar but more expensive) are run by the same outfit; check in at the Magnolia.
GOING LOCAL: SANITORIUMS
Sochi is one of several areas in the Caucasus where you’ll encounter sanatoriums – those quirky, quintessentially Russian wellness centres that defined tourism in the Soviet era. Sanatoriums grew up around mineral-rich spa towns such as Kislovodsk and Pyatigorsk and seaside resorts like Sochi and Yalta. They tend to be capacious (up to 1000 rooms), towering, concrete and spectacularly unattractive. But in Sochi, at least, there are some exceptions, such as the Metallurg (
A typical Russian holiday would once have been a month at the sanatorium related to one’s profession, such as the Metallurg for metal workers. These days many have morphed fully or partially into hotels catering to holidaying Russian families. A handful even target Russia’s super-wealthy with luxurious rooms, Asian-style massage parlours and fine dining to complement the requisite medical treatments (which are always included in the price).
Foreigners rarely set foot in these bastions of Russian culture, but if you truly want to go local look no further. Programs are typically 21 days, but one- to two-week stays are possible. If that sounds like too much commitment, a few sanatoriums do accept walk-in guests, but availability for short-term stays is limited.
A few more sanatoriums of note
Hotel Dagomys (
Frunze (
Chernomorye Sanatorium (
Hotel Primorskaya (620 113; www.hotelprimorskaya.ru; ul Sokolova 1; s/d without bathroom R375/530, s/d with bathroom unrenovated from R600/800, renovated from R1050/1900; ) Not only does it boast by far Sochi’s cheapest rooms, it’s also close to the sea and drips 1930s character. Elegant, double-wide corridors link the 382 rooms, all wrapped around an interior courtyard. Even the cheapest rooms are spacious if somewhat faded, and the suites are humongous. A swanky lobby with wi-fi rounds it out. It’s an architectural monument so should retain its character, if not its low prices, if upgrades occur. Book way ahead in high season.
MIDRANGE & TOP END
Hotel Moskva (608 080; www.moskva-hotel.ru; Kurortny pr 18; s/d with breakfast from 1660/2130; ) The rooms in this concrete high-rise smack in the middle of town reek of the 1970s but are quite adequate. The bustling lobby boasts a bar, big-screen TV, business centre, tour-booking agency and paid wi-fi. Noise from a nearby disco is a problem in many rear-facing rooms; some front-facing units have sea views.
Radisson SAS Lazurnaya Hotel (663 333; www.radisson.com/sochiru; Kurortny pr 103; s/d with breakfast from €225/250;
) This four-star is set in copious grounds with a private beach and oodles of services. All 300 rooms have sea views, internet connections and cable TV. Moving up in price gains safes, bigger bathrooms, bidets, Jacuzzis and balconies. The location, about 6km south of the centre, is a drawback.
Grand Hotel & Spa Rodina (539 000; www.grandhotelrodina.com; ul Vinogradnaya 33; r from R15,000;
). This sprawling former sanatorium just north of Park Rivera is Sochi’s crème de la crème in terms of luxury living. Among the absurdities on the amenity list is a fleet of luxury cars at guests’ disposal and speedboat transfers to/from Adler airport. The resort’s private beach, with imported sand, is the envy of all other Black Sea beaches. The 40 rooms are predictably swanky and spacious. Appears on many Russian ‘top-hotels’ lists.
Other options here:
Hotel Zhemchuzhina (661 188; www.zhem.ru; ul Chernomorskaya 3; standard s/d R2450/2900, renovated d with air-con from R5200;
) Concrete monstrosity popular with tour operators has swanky lobby and casino but crummy, overpriced standard rooms.
Sochi Breeze Spa Hotel (663 800; www.sochibreeze.ru; Kurortny pr 72; r from R3100;
) Decent midrange place but ‘spa’ tag is misleading – it’s just a hotel.
Marins Park Hotel (693 000; www.parkhotel-sochi.ru; per Morskoy 2; s/d from R5300/5800;
) Unbeatable central location and sea views from some rooms.
Eating
There are so many restaurants and cafés tapping into a world of cuisines that you could eat in a different place every day throughout the summer.
Stolovaya No 17 (per Morskoy 3; meals R40-100; 8am-8pm) This wonderful canteen is a relic of Soviet days when 30m queues waited patiently for a cheap meal. Now there’s a kitchen full of babushkas serving a range of tasty options presented at a pick-and-choose counter. Plastic tablecloths cover metal tables decorated with plastic flowers, and you get to eat with aluminium cutlery.
Natasha’s (ul Vorovskogo 3-1; khachapuri R100; 8am- 11pm) If you’ve never tasted khachapuri (Georgian cheese bread) then this pavement café is the master creator. The house specialty is the cholesterol-laden khachapuri po-adzharski. A hand-kneeded monster-sized pastry is filled with melted cheese and butter, then an egg’s floated in it. Other Georgian specialties like kharcho (rice with beef or lamb soup) and chanakhi (spicy meat stew in a clay pot) are also available, as are delicious desserts like chocolate or strawberry mousse. Service is snail-slow.
Turetskaya Kukhnya (Turkish Kitchen; Kurortny pr 52; kebabs R230, salads R80-100; 8am-11pm) This unpretentious eatery is perfect for those who don’t read Russian because there’s no menu. Just waltz up to the glass display case and point to what you want. Pride of place goes to the kebabs, and the salads are also exceptional. It’s popular for a reason. The service is friendly, but check your bill.
Vostochny Kvartal (661 099; ul Primorskaya 7; mains R150-500) There’s an English menu to help guide you through the range of Uzbek specialties offered by this pleasant seaside eatery done up like a real Uzbek chaikhana (tea house). Seating is on colourful tapchan (Uzbek cushions). Try the plov. Authentic live Uzbek music starts at 7pm.
Ne Goryuy (645 051; per Riversky 6; mains R160-300) On a quiet side street between the sea and Park Rivera, it’s the best of Sochi’s many Georgian restaurants. The house specialty is the chakhokhbily (chicken pieces swimming in a garlicky red sauce). The kharcho is also hearty and delicious. Choose from Georgian and more affordable, surprisingly palatable Kuban wines. English menu.
Salkhino (389 111; Agura Valley; mains R175-500) Colourful Caucasian restaurant near the entrance to Sochi National Park. The khashlama (Caucasian-spiced lamb stew) is among the many delectable dishes. There are Kuban dry reds on the wine list along with Georgian and French vintages. In favourable weather sit outdoors in a hut. Reservations recommended.
La Pizzeria (926 064; Naberezhnaya; pizzas R200-300; noon-midnight) One of many restaurants scattered along the sea embankment. It has a large canopied bar at the front and a rustic Italian interior. A menu in English reveals a large range of pizzas and pasta. The salmon pizza is probably the best but order ‘small’ unless you have a huge appetite.
SELF-CATERING
Central market (ul Moskovskaya; 6am-6pm) Has fresh fruit and vegetables. Try fresh pomegranate juice in season and for nibbles churchkhela, tasty sticks of nuts coated with fruit leather (R20).
Paterson Supermarket (ul Uchitelskaya 6; 9am-midnight) A large supermarket with everything you might need.
Drinking
Tinkoff (951 111; ul Primorskaya 19; meals R200-600; noon-1am) Below the Winter Theatre, this brewery-restaurant rises up from the sea embankment as a three-storey monument to the new Sochi. In summer bands play on the top-floor open terrace.
Entertainment
Pick up the free bimonthly listings magazine Vybiray (‘Choose’) for upcoming events, or keep your eye the billboards. In the warm months the action is on Naberezhnaya, where party people club-hop and stroll the promenade, beverage in hand.
NIGHTCLUBS
Malibu (Naberezhnaya; cover R200-2000; 10pm-4.30am summer) A sprawling open-air spot that throbs to the sound of DJ-spun music while the moon casts a silvery path over the ocean. Often draws huge Russian pop acts like Mumiy Trol and Zemfira.
Fregat (Naberezhnaya; cover R100; 8pm-late) This venue caters to a slightly older crowd with live bands or DJs playing mostly classic Soviet and Russian rock. Consistently happening and can get downright crazy on occasion.
THEATRE
Winter Theatre (Zimny Teatr; 629 616; pl Teatralnaya; booking office 10am-7pm) Built in a majestic imperial style, this massive, colonnaded building would add grace to any world capital. Opera, ballet and drama are presented here.
The following places put on drama performances and concerts in the summer:
Green Theatre (Zelyony Teatr; 641 014; Park Rivera; box office 11am-8pm)
Summer Theatre (Letny Teatr; 920 795; Park Frunze; box office 10am-8pm)
LIVE MUSIC
Festival Hall (622 294; ul Ordzhonikidze 5; tickets R300-1000; box office 1pm-8pm) Many of Russia’s top music acts play in Sochi in summer, and this massive hall, with its open front to the sea embankment below, plays host to many of them.
Getting There & Away
AIR
Sochi’s airport (400 088) is at Adler, which is 25km away. There are dozens of domestic flights daily to all the major airports in Moscow. Sky Express and S7 offer the best value (from R3300). In summer there are flights to most other major Russian cities. Austrian Airlines has twice weekly flights to Vienna (return €820).
BOAT
The sea terminal has an information office (609 603; 8am-8pm) and a ticket office (10am-6pm Wed, Sat & Sun). For information on the hydrofoil to Novorossiysk Click here.
Trabzon, Turkey
There’s no schedule for these boats but they sail practically every day all year round (Pullman, R2000, 12 hours). Show up a few days in advance to check the schedule and purchase tickets.
Batumi, Georgia
A fast hydrofoil (raketa) sails on Tuesday to Batumi (R2600, five hours, noon), and returns at 1pm on Friday.
A passenger ship leaves Friday for Batumi (R2270, 12 hours). Boarding is at 6pm.
BUS
From the bus station (646 435, ul Gorkogo 56a), two or three buses per day travel the coastal route to Novorossiysk (R240, eight hours, three daily) via Gelendzhik; at least one continues to Anapa.
For other long-distance destinations in the central Northern Caucasus region you’re better off on a train, although infrequent buses do serve Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar and the Mineral Waters area.
TRAIN
The train station (609 009; ul Gorkogo) has a service centre (924 459; 9am-1pm & 2-8pm) outside the south exit for enquiries and line-free ticket sales. At least six trains go to Moscow (from R3800, 24 to 35 hours), more in summer. Most Moscow-bound trains go via Rostov-on-Don, or take direct train 642 (R1600, 11½ hours). There’s at least one daily train to St Petersburg (R4900, 48 hours). Train 644 goes to Kislovodsk (R1500, 14½ hours, odd-numbered days) via Mineralnye Vody and Pyatigorsk, and train 690 goes to Vladikavkaz (R1760, 17 hours, daily) via Mineralnye Vody.
All Moscow-bound trains go via Krasnodar, or take the daily fast elektrichka (R230, five hours, 3.34pm).
Elektrichky departing every hour or so hug the coast north to Tuapse (fast/slow R120/40, 1¾/2½ hours) and south to Adler (fast/slow R40/15, 30/45 minutes). The regular elektrichky stop frequently at beaches and coastal towns along the way, the fast (skory) ones less frequently.
Getting Around
From the bus station take marshrutka or bus 105 (R50, 40 minutes, every 20 minutes) to the airport in Adler. A taxi costs about R500.
AROUND SOCHI
8622 / Moscow
The following are part of Greater Sochi, as are the main Olympic sites Krasnaya Polyana (Click here) and Adler (Click here).
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Zelenaya Roscha Зелёная Роща
Stalin’s dacha, Zelenaya Roscha (Green Grove; 695 600; Kurortny pr 120; admission R300; 10am-5pm Sat & Sun, by appointment Mon-Fri), dates from 1936. It still functions as a sanatorium, but part of the complex has been preserved and is open to tourists.
This is an amazing place built to accommodate a small, private man who without remorse caused death and misery to millions of Russians. The depth of the water in Stalin’s swimming pool (just 1.5m) and the height of the stair treads, sofas, chairs, tables, bed and even billiard table were fixed to accommodate his small stature (165cm; 5ft 5in). Security was extremely tight: a guard every 15m around the dacha, a secret lift and tunnel down to the sea, and buildings painted green to camouflage them within the forest.
Visitors can see Stalin’s private rooms (some original furniture remains), the movie theatre where he checked every film before public release, and his billiards room. Stalin was a lousy player; he played only those he could beat or who were wily enough to lose.
Tours in English are available if you call ahead. From Sochi take any Adler-bound bus and get off at the ‘Zelenaya Roscha’ stop.
Agura Valley Агурское Ущелье
There’s scenic, easy-to-access hiking in this valley beneath Mt Bolshoy Akhun (662m), about 7km east of Sochi centre. From the entrance of Sochi National Park (www.sochipark.ru; admission R50), located east of Matsesta near Salkhino restaurant, a well-marked trail follows the Agura River past three waterfalls.
After one hour the trail forks. The right (southeast) fork leads up to Mt Bolshoy Akhun, topped by a lookout tower (admission R75; 10am-6pm Oct-Apr, until 9pm May-Sep). The tower gives commanding views of Sochi, Adler and Mt Fisht.
The left fork leads to the precipitous Orlinye Skaly (Eagle Cliffs), with good views of the waterfalls, Mt Bolshoy Akhun and snow-capped peaks in Abkhazia. Also sharing the view is a golden statue of Prometheus waving his broken chains. In Greek mythology Prometheus stole fire from the gods to give to humankind. As a punishment, Zeus had him chained to a Caucasian mountain thought to be Mt Fisht.
There is rock climbing to suit all levels around Orlinye Skaly, including some set routes; talk to Adventure Studio in Matsesta (Click here). From Orlinye Skaly a rough road continues to Matsesta centre, from where there are frequent marshrutky back to Sochi.
Pick up an Agura Valley trail map (R30) at the park entrance. You can do these walks in reverse (ie starting in Matsesta or Mt Bolshoy Akhun) and pay your entrance fee at the park entrance upon concluding your hike.
From Sochi, bus 124 or 125 turns east off pr Kurortny about 750m south of Zelenaya Roscha and drop passengers off at the Sputnik skyscraper. From here the entrance is a 15- to 20-minute walk; follow the road along Agura River until you get to Salkhino restaurant and the entrance beyond. Alternatively, walk from Zelenaya Roscha (about 30 minutes).
Mt Bolshoy Akhun is also serviced by an 11km road, which makes it a popular organised tour from Sochi. A 5½-hour excursion costs R300 and includes a stop at the Agura waterfalls.
Taxis waiting near Sputnik skyscraper charge R300 one way to Mt Bolshoy Akhun.
Vorontsovskaya Cave Воронцовская Пещера
A popular and worthwhile excursion is to Vorontsovskaya Cave (admission R350; 11am-6pm Tue & Sat winter, 11am-6pm summer), inland from Matsesta. It has about 500m of illuminated passage with stalactites and the like. The scenic drive out here from Sochi takes about one hour; a round-trip taxi should cost about R2500 or you could join an organised tour (per person R300).
Mt Fisht Гора Фишт
This 2687m mountain, one of the highest around Sochi, makes a splendid three- to four-day trek. The trek usually starts in Solokhay, about 25km inland from Dagomys. From here, a rough road leads another 20km to the trailhead – you can hike it or hire an expensive jeep. From the trailhead it’s 14km to stunning alpine Khmelnovskogo Lake, where you can camp in view of the surreal lunar landscape and spires of Mt Fisht.
You’ll need to go with a guide such as Reinfo (Click here) or Adventure Studio (Click here) in Sochi. Tours start from R7500 per person including food, camping gear, national park permits and transport to Solokhay.
ADLER Адлер
8622 / pop 69,000 / Moscow
This pleasant retreat with its gloriously laid-back seaside promenade lacks the nouveau riche affluence and attitude of Sochi. It has long been the preferred choice of average Russian holidaymakers, and the prices for both food and lodging will give budget travellers reason to rejoice.
That all could be at risk, however, as Adler is at the very epicentre of Sochi’s Olympification plans – to the dismay of many locals (see the boxed text, Click here). The question appears to be when, not if, developers will transform Adler from low-key resort into snazzy new trophy piece.
For now Adler remains one of the best places on the Black Sea to get down with holidaying Russians in their element. Stroll the seaside promenade (Naberezhnaya) with a pivo (beer), dress up like a tsar and have your photo taken, test your aim in a shooting gallery or maybe enjoy a sunset boat cruise.
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Sleeping & Eating
There are private rooms galore for rent in Adler, starting from R300. Talk to babushkas in the train station or just stroll the streets knocking on doors that say ‘сдаёться’ (rooms for rent).
Adler is one place where the good old-fashioned stolovaya is alive and well. Dozens line the promenade, offering dirt-cheap dining with great views.
Fregat-1 (407 000; ul Karla Marksa 1; r/ste R1400/2200; ) Primo location on Naberezhnaya is only part of the appeal here. The rooms are positively gigantic, albeit with a lot of wasted space (but who’s complaining?). The blue rugs and maroon-hued wooden furniture is attractive too. The relatively hip seaside restaurant draws in passers-by with the sublime fragrance of shashlyk.
Chernomor Hotel (8-918-303 1899; ul Pros-veshchenie 25a; rear-facing/seafront r R1500/2500; ) The appeal here are the seafront rooms with balconies hanging over Naberezhnaya. The rooms are clean and simple.
AC Hotel (410 133; [email protected]; ul Prosveshcheniya 36; d from R3000;
) This sleek-looking six-storey hotel represents good value at the midrange. The sizeable rooms feature clean lines, soft tones and LCD TV sets. Some upper-floor rooms have balconies with sea views.
Café Pleasure (ul Karla Marksa 2; shashlyk per 100g R120; 10am-2pm) In addition to mouth-watering pork, lamb and salmon shashlyk, there’s Baltica for as little as R50 a bottle. Has an adjoining stolovaya.
Getting There & Away
The bus station (ul Lenina) is near the central market. Pick up frequent buses and marshrutky to Sochi (R30, 40 minutes) here or opposite the train station (460 606; ul Lenina).
All long-distance trains to Sochi continue to and terminate in Adler.
KRASNAYA POLYANA Красная Поляна
8622 / pop 4,000 / elev 550m / Moscow
A spectacular road passing through a deep, narrow canyon leads up from Adler to Krasnaya Polyana (Red Valley), a burgeoning ski Mecca that will host the 2014 Winter Olympics ski events.
When we visited, cranes and bulldozers were busy creating what Russia’s powers-that-be hope will become a world-class ski resort. The finished product promises to be a far cry from the rustic simplicity of Krasnaya Polyana’s original ski area, Alpika, which until recently consisted of a handful of single-chair lifts and T-bars.
The first stage in the developers’ master plan, Gazprom’s elaborate Grand Hotel Polyana ski resort complex on Psekhako Ridge, was partially opened for the 2007–08 ski season. Although it’s primarily a downhill mountain, the Nordic events will be held atop this broad, gently sloping ridge.
Next up is Interros’ Roza Khutor Alpine Resort, site of the downhill skiing and snowboard events. Located up the Mzymta River valley east of Alpika, it should be operational by 2011. Last to open will be the Karusel resort, between Krasnaya Polyana and Alpika; the ski jumping facilities will be built near here.
As for rustic little Alpika, it won’t remain rustic or little for long. Gazprom bought the entire mountain in 2008 and will modernise its facilities in time to host the freestyle skiing, bobsled and luge events in 2014.
In the warmer months Krasnaya Polyana is a popular day excursion from Sochi.
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Orientation
Krasnaya Polyana village, 40km east of Adler along the Mzymta River, is a quiet town surrounded by snow-capped mountains and redolent with the smell of burning pinewood. A few kilometres east is the small village of Estosadok and, just beyond, Karusel resort. Alpika is another 2km east of Karusel. The turnoff to the Grand Hotel is just east of Karusel.
Information
There are ATMs at all top-end hotels and at the Grand Hotel and Alpika base stations. Ski-hire shops abound at both ski areas and in Krasnaya Polyana village.
Emergency services (430 422)
Activities
Until Roza Khutor is ready, the most challenging slopes for skiing will be found at Alpika (8.30am-4.30pm, until 5.30pm summer). An all-day lift pass costs R1200 on weekdays and R1400 at weekends. The brand-new, ostentatious Grand Hotel Polyana (902 902; www.grandhotelpolyana.ru) and its fancy new cable car services gentler terrain for similar prices.
The main lifts at both areas are open year-round for sightseeing. To ride four lifts from the Alpika base area (540m) to the top (2238m) costs R800. There are cafés at every stage of the way. The Grand Hotel cable car costs R1000.
Krasnaya Polyana is a prime destination for heliskiing, with lots of fine, dry powder coating the surrounding peaks from December to April. The two local companies that run tours are Yak & Yeti (336 803; www.yak-yeti.com) and Heliski Krasnaya Polyana, a consortium of tour operators that includes Reinfo (Click here). Five-day packages start from about €2800.
Rafting is possible on the Mzymta River in the summer (R1000/1500 for up to eight people for 75-/105-minute run). Look for entrepreneurial rafting guide Volodya ([email protected]) hanging out riverside near the Alpika base area. Volodya also runs day or overnight hiking trips into the mountains. Guides cost R1500 per day.
Guides hanging out in the Alpika parking lot hawk jeep rides (per hr R600, 2-day & 1-night camping per person R1500) in summer.
Horse riding is possible at the top of the Alpika chairlift and near the Alpika base station.
Sleeping
Krasnaya Polyana lacks budget accommodation. Thrifty skiers should stay in Adler and commute.
Gala Plaza (373 673; [email protected]; Alpika; s/d inc breakfast from R4095/4320) This modern, medium-sized hotel within walking distance of Alpika’s lifts has well-appointed rooms with LCD TVs and luxurious linen for those cold nights in the mountains. The bathrooms are kitted out with Italian fixtures, and the rooms have ample space to stretch your limbs after a long day on the slopes.
Radisson SAS Lazurnaya Peak Hotel (663 600; www.peakhotel.ru; ul Zaschitnikov Kavkaza 77; s/d with breakfast & dinner from R4320/6120 low season, R7200/9000 high season;
) Apart from high-class accommodation this top-end hotel in Krasnaya Polyana village provides everything, including an ATM, multiple bars, restaurant, fitness centre, baths and sauna, and free transfers to the slopes. The nightclub will use up any energy left after skiing, and there’s a big open fire in the foyer to collapse around.
Also recommended:
Fort Evrika (437 488; www.fort-evrika.ru; d R3500) Can’t beat the location right next to Alpika’s base chair.
Hotel Tatyana (439 111; www.hotelalpik.ru; r winter/summer from R4000/3000) On the Krasnaya Polyana road, it qualifies as midrange in this expensive area.
Eating
For cheap eats try the stolovaya at the Alpika base station or buy shashlyk from babushkas on the mountain.
Café Mzymta (Alpika; mains R150-300) This Georgian restaurant near Alpika’s base chairlift is well known for its khachapuri, chanakhi and other Georgian specialties. Also features Russian and European fare.
Vodoley (437 488; Alpika; mains R150-1000; whole trout R500) One of two restaurants at Alpika specialising in trout, which patrons are encouraged to catch with fishing rods from a pool outside. Much less crowded and much friendlier than its more centrally located rival, Pyramid. Wild boar, venison and bear shot by the owner may end up on the menu here. There are also rooms (double from R3500). It’s adjacent to Fort Evrika.
Shopping
Outdoor stalls at the Alpika base area sell rather large hairy Caucasian hats called papakha, tacky souvenirs, homemade wine, pickles and honey to the swarms of day visitors.
Getting There & Away
From Sochi’s bus station, marshrutka 105K goes to Krasnaya Polyana and continues to Alpika (R70, 1½ hours, nine daily, more in winter). In summer the first one leaves at 6am and the last returns at 7.20pm. Bus 105 from Sochi to the airport in Adler sometimes continues to Krasnaya Polyana (ask the driver).
From Adler’s bus station take bus or marshrutka 135 (R50, 1¼ hours, frequent). These pass Adler’s train station.
In the ski season shared taxis lurking around Adler bus station charge about R150 per passenger.
MINERAL WATER SPAS МИНЕРАЛЬНЫЕ ВОДЫ
The central Caucasus rises from the steppe in an eerie landscape studded with dead volcanoes and spouting mineral springs. The curative powers of the springs have attracted unhealthy, hypochondriac or just holiday-minded Russians since the late 18th century, when wounded soldiers appeared to heal more quickly after bathing in them.
Today the healthy outnumber the ailing in the spas, sanatoriums and hotels scattered across the region known as Kavkazskie Mineralnye Vody (Caucasian Mineral Waters). The atmosphere is relaxed, the air is fresh and the walks are lovely. The parks and elegant spa buildings recall the 19th century, when fashionable society trekked from Moscow and St Petersburg to see, be seen and look for a spouse.
Many of the 130-plus springs have fizzled out from lack of maintenance. Those remaining feed fountains in drinking galleries and provide the elixir for sanatorium treatment of muscle, bone, heart, circulation, nervous system, joints and skin problems. For a fee, at some sanatoriums, you can experience being plastered with supposedly curative black mud or being blasted by a shock shower.
Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk are the main resorts and Essentuki and Zheleznovodsk the minor resorts. The main transport hub, Mineralnye Vody, lacks mineral spas of its own despite the name.
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MINERALNYE VODY МИНЕРАЛЬНЫЕ ВОДЫ
86531 / pop 75,000 / elev 316m / Moscow
‘Minvody’ is the main air-transport hub not only for the Mineral Waters area but also for the ski areas and trekking zones around Mt Elbrus, Dombay and North Ossetia.
There’s little to divert you in Minvody. If you arrive late and need a bed, both the Airport Hotel (678 89; s/d R300/600) and the train station hotel (komnaty otdikha; r R380) offer reasonably clean, affordable accommodation.
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Getting There & Away
During ski season, unscheduled marshrutky await planes arriving at Minvody airport and shuttle groups of people straight to the Dombay and Elbrus ski areas (per person R400).
AIR
Minvody’s recently refurbished airport (58 221) is 2km west of the centre on the M29 Highway. Flights to Moscow are frequent and start at R2500. Try S7 or local carrier KMV (www.kmvav ia.aero).
BUS
The new bus station (56 111) is on the M29 highway, about 1.5km east of the airport. There are eight buses per day to Vladikavkaz (R220, four hours) via Nalchik (R130, two hours). Other useful services include Teberda (R230, six hours, daily at 2.45pm), Elista (R450, eight hours, twice daily), Stavropol (R200, 3¼ hours, frequent) and Krasnodar (R420, 7½ hours, 10 daily). The daily buses to Rostov-on-Don (R500, 9½ hours) and Moscow (R1100, 22 hours) come from Pyatigorsk and may be full.
Bus 223 to Pyatigorsk departs every 30 minutes from ul XXII Partsezda near the train station (R23, 45 minutes). For Kislovodsk you are much better off on an elektrichka.
TRAIN
Minvody is on the main train line and thus well connected to points north and south. The centrally located train station (46 120; ul XXII Partsezda) picks up all trains heading to/from Kislovodsk/Pyatigorsk, Nalchik and Vladikavkaz. See those sections later in this chapter for details.
Elektrichky service Kislovodsk (R60, 1¾ hours) via Pyatigorsk (R30, 50 minutes) roughly every 30 minutes until 10pm. There are also elektrichky to Krasnodar (R250, six hours, three weekly), Nalchik (R75, three hours, 9.30am and 5.25pm daily) and Vladikavkaz (R100, 3½ hours, daily).
TAXI
Sample taxi prices from the bus station: Pyatigorsk R500; Kislovodsk R700; Nalchik R1500; Terskol/Elbrus R2500; Dombay R3000. Taxis at the airport typically ask 25% more.
Getting Around
Marshrutky 9, 11 and 10 link the airport and train station, passing by the bus station. A taxi between the airport and train station costs R150.
PYATIGORSK ПЯТИГОРСК
87933 / pop 141,000 / elev 510m / Moscow
Pyatigorsk, the name being a Russification of Mt Beshtau (Five Peaks), began life as Fort Konstantinovskaya in 1780. It quickly developed into a fashionable resort as it attracted Russian society to its spas and stately buildings. Today it is the most urbanised and least touristy of the spa towns, with a lively restaurant and bar scene fuelled by a large student population. You may even run into English speakers here – rare in the Caucasus.
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Orientation
Pyatigorsk sprawls south and west from Mt Mashuk (993m). Tree-lined pr Kirova is the main street, running west from the Academic Gallery at the foot of Mt Mashuk through the town centre to the train station. To the northwest looms Mt Beshtau (1400m). To the south, the Padkumok River separates the main part of town from the sprawling suburbs.
Information
Internet access is available at the main post office and the telephone centre for R40 per hour.
Knigo Mir (Book World; pr Kirova 70; 8am-8pm) Maps and music CDs.
Larysa (pl Lenina 1; laundry per kg R30) Hair salon with cheap laundry in Hotel Pyatigorsk building.
Main post office (pr Kirova 52; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm Sat & Sun)
Pyatigorsk Intour (363 411; [email protected]; pl Lenina 13; 10am-6pm) Located inside Hotel Intourist, this is the only agency in town offering advance foreigner registration and visa support. The English-speaking staff can arrange basic Elbrus and Dombay excursions as well as more serious mountaineering expeditions. English-, French- and German-speaking guides are available.
Sberbank (pr Kirova 59; 8am-noon & 1-5pm Mon-Sat) Cashes travellers cheques; ATM.
Ticketing Agent (305 312; pr Kirova 72; 8.30-1pm & 2-8pm) Useful office has separate booths for air, bus and train tickets.
Tourism Light (355 025; [email protected]; ul Dzerzhinskogo 41; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 11am-3pm Sat) Books accommodation and runs various excursions, including a three- to four-hour city tour in English (R700 per tour group).
A HERO OF OUR TIME
The Mineral Waters area is haunted by the Romantic writer Mikhail Lermontov, whose tale ‘Princess Mary’ from his novel A Hero of Our Time is set here. In an uncanny echo of the novel’s plot, Lermontov was killed in a duel at Pyatigorsk in 1841. The book – short by Russian literary standards – makes a great travelling companion, as does Lermontov, Tragedy in the Caucasus by Laurence Kelly, which provides an intriguing background to the man and his society.
Lermontov was banished twice from his native St Petersburg to serve in the army in Pyatigorsk: first, after blaming the tsarist authorities for the death in a duel of another ‘troublesome’ writer, Pushkin; and second, for himself duelling. Lermontov was challenged once again in Pyatigorsk for jesting about the clothes of one Major Martynov. Lermontov, firing first, aimed into the air but was in return shot through the heart. Many saw his death, like Pushkin’s, as orchestrated by the authorities.
Many places in Kislovodsk and Pyatigorsk are linked to the man and his fiction, and a visit to the superb Lermontov museum (below) in Pyatigorsk is essential.
Sights & Activities
LERMONTOV MUSEUM
Many Pyatigorsk attractions revolve around larger-than-life writer, poet, painter, cavalry soldier, society beau and duellist Mikhail Lermontov (see the boxed text, above). Chief among these is this museum (Muzey Domik Lermontova; 391 223; ul Buachidze 9; admission R80, camera/video R30/50; 10am-5pm Wed-Sun). Three cottages contain some original furniture, copies of Lermontov’s poems, sketches and 19th-century trinkets. Lermontov lived here during his final months.
LERMONTOV GALLERY & AROUND
Prime attraction is the striking light-blue and beautifully proportioned Lermontov Gallery (Lermontovskaya gallereya; pr Kirova), built in 1901 in cast iron with stained-glass windows, now a concert hall. Behind are the 1831 Lermontov Baths and the 1880 Yermelov Baths, now a treatment centre.
Opposite is a modern drinking gallery (Pitevaya gallereya; pr Kirova; 7-10am, 11am-3pm & 4-7pm), where you can take the waters from endlessly gushing taps. The taste is flat and yucky – diluted bad eggs come to mind. This is the sulphur content that’s supposedly good for stomach complaints, probably because it kills off anything in your stomach. Adjacent is the university (pr Kirova 36) with some expressive gargoyles and bas-reliefs on its upper facade.
The hill rising up behind the Lermontov Gallery is Park Tsvetnik, which forms a 1km-long arc around the eastern end of pr Kirova. Walk around the right side of the Lermontov Gallery and ascend to the park via Diana’s Grotto, a favourite picnic spot of Lermontov. At the top of the hill a network of paths leads to a much-photographed bronze eagle sculpture.
From the eagle statue paths lead northeast to the Academic Gallery (pr Kirova), perched above the eastern terminus of pr Kirova. It was built in 1851 to house one of Pyatigorsk’s best-known springs – No 16 (currently closed). It was here that Lermontov’s antihero, Pechorin, first set eyes on Princess Mary.
Below the Academic Gallery, tree-shaded pr Kirova leads you past some glorious historical houses, including one with a plaque announcing that Tolstoy served his military service here.
MT MASHUK & AROUND
There are various sites spread out along the base of Mt Mashuk, some of which require long walks or a taxi to reach.
In a clearing on the forested western flank of Mt Mashuk is a monument marking the Lermontov duel site (bul Gagarina). The actual duel site is unknown but is thought to be near the needle-point obelisk that even today is bedecked with flowers. To get here ride marshrutka 113a or bus 16 from the Upper Market to the ‘Mesto Duely’ (Duel Site) stop (5 minutes). From there walk three minutes to a fork in the road, bear left and continue for five minutes.
A 10-minute walk uphill from the duel site along a paved path brings you to extreme sports park Polyana Pesen (8-906-468 0008; nonmotorised equipment hire per day R100). Various trails and a skate park have been carved into the side of Mt Mashuk for the benefit of skaters, mountain bikers and ATV aficionados.
Closer to the city centre, a cable car (bul Gagarina; one way adult/child R90/45; 10am-5.30pm) whisks you to the top of Mt Mashuk for fresh breezes and a great panorama. The best views of Mt Elbrus are early in the morning. There’s mountain bike hire here too (R90 per hour).
If you’re hoofing it, Mt Marshuk is about a 45-minute climb from the cable car station.
OTHER ATTRACTIONS
Pyatigorsk’s Regional Museum (Kraevedchesky muzey; 973 367; ul Bernardacci 2; admission per exhibition R30; 10am-5.30pm) is worth a visit for the photos of Pyatigorsk from the 19th and early 20th centuries, when pr Kirova was called pr Tsarskaya.
Most treatment regimes in the local sanatoriums last several weeks, but if you just want to get dipped in mud and be done with it the Central Gryazelechebnitsa (391 543; pr Kirova 67; 830am-1.30pm; 20-min mud treatment R250) is the place to go. Bring a translator along.
The striking classical-style Spa Research Institute (Institut Kurortologii; pr Kirova 34), built in 1828 and rebuilt in 1955, was once Restoratsiya, the town’s first hotel and scene of balls described in Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time.
Tours
Full-day group excursions to Dombay (Thursday, Friday and Sunday, R450), Elbrus (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, R450) and Arkhyz (Thursday and Sunday, R450) are hawked from in front of the university on pr Kirova. These tours involve about eight hours of drive time and just four hours on the ground at your destination. More worthwhile are the shorter afternoon trips to Honey Waterfalls near Kislovodsk (Tuesday and Saturday, R300 per person).
Sleeping
Resort Bureau (Kurortnoe Byuro; 393 959, after hr 8-961-475 1069; Yermelov Baths, pr Kirova 21; r from R200, 1-/2-bedroom apt from R1000/1500; 9am-3pm Mon-Sat summer) This private accommodation agency can set you up in swanky private apartments.
Hotel Pyatigorsk (36 703; ul Kraynego 43/1; s/d without bathroom from R300/450, r with bathroom from R800; ) Not a pretty place but it’s perfectly located and mercifully cheap. Noise in the courtyard out back can be a problem and the common toilets aren’t pretty, but the singles are downright cosy and even those sans bathrooms have basins.
Hotel Intourist (392 222; www.pyatigorskintour.ru; pl Lenina 13; standard s/d from R1500/2000, renovated s/d from R2000/2500;
) A classic Soviet frog turned not-quite prince. The foyer and some rooms have been smartly remodelled, but the overpriced standard rooms remain cramped. The competent English-speaking service comes with a smile, and there’s a kazillion services on offer. The lobby and pricier rooms have paid wi-fi and air-con. Breakfast costs R250.
Sport Hotel (390 639; ul Dunaevskogo 5; r with breakfast R2500;
) A slick hotel reeking of New Russian ostentatiousness, it’s in a football grandstand – but the nonviewing side, so you don’t see any matches for free. The rooms are superbly furnished with blonde-wood furniture, floor-to-ceiling mirrors and bathrooms with bidets and big tubs.
Eating
Cosmopolitan Pyatigorsk is a great place to discover the various flavours of the Caucasus, Central Asia – and the world, for that matter.
Upper Market (Verkhny Rynok; ul Levanevskogo; 7am-4pm) Here you can gorge on shashlyk and large, filling Balkarsky khichiny (Balkar-style stuffed flatbread) for less than R75.
Millenium (pr Kirova 76; shashlyk per 100g R60; 10am-midnight) This affordable hangout draws locals in droves to while away the afternoon eating shashlyk and putting back R40 pints of Don Zhivoe and Elbrus draught beer. The outdoor patio provides good people-watching along pr Kirova.
Art Café Nostalgia (570 51; pr Kirova 56; mains R150-300) Despite the name, it’s more a statement of the new (European) Russia than a hark to the past. Elegantly designed with a relaxed atmosphere either inside or on its covered terrace. The food is light but ample and subtle in taste.
Lesnaya Polyana (322 551; Lermontov Duel Site; mains R150-600; 11am-1am) This peaceful Caucasian restaurant, hidden in the forest 50m from the Lermontov duel site, has outdoor seating in round twig huts. The house specialty is Azeri sadzh (sizzling meat dish served in a cast-iron pan with potatoes and onions). The beer is expensive; go with local Stavropol wine or imported Azeri wine instead (both around R100 per bottle).
Drinking
Café Têt-a-Têt (2nd fl, Tsvetnik Exhibition Hall, pr Kirova 23; cappuccino R65) It would be hard to imagine a more pleasant spot for coffee than the upper-level outside gallery here. Buskers below provide accordion music while you enjoy a bird’s-eye view of lively pr Kirova. The barista whips up all sorts of coffee and teas, plus cocktails and Dagestani cognac at a mere R50 a shot.
Shveik (cnr pr Kirova & ul Sobornaya; draft beer R60) This bustling open-air place in the middle of pr Kirova shows big sporting events on duelling big-screen TVs.
Entertainment
Lermontov Gallery Concert Hall (58 350; tickets R150-350; 9am-7pm). It’s well worth taking in a philharmonic or organ concert, or opera in Pyatigorsk’s architectural highlight. Shows are of good quality and rarely sell out.
Shopping
Blok Post (ul Bunimovicha 5; 9am-8pm) Sells military and police gear plus some camping equipment. For about R400 you can buy one of those black-peaked hats with tops as big as dinner plates, worn by anyone with a uniform in Russia. Other souvenirs include genuine lamb’s-wool shapky (hats; R4000) and various medallions and badges.
Getting There & Away
Pyatigorsk’s long-distance bus station (391 653) is south of the centre, along pr Kalinina. There are four direct buses to Nalchik daily plus several transiting buses (R110, 1¾ hours). The daily bus to Teberda (near Dombay) departs at 3.35pm (R200, five hours).
A better way to Elbrus and Dombay is to buy a one-way trip on a regularly scheduled tour bus (one way R400; see opposite).
The train station is the departure point for bus 223 to Mineralnye Vody (R23, 45 minutes) and frequent marshrutky to Kislovodsk (R70, one hour).
All trains from Kislovodsk stop at Pyatigorsk train station (336 599; Oktyabrskaya ul). Add about 45 minutes to Kislovodsk departure times (Click here).
Getting Around
Trams 3 and 5 connect the train station with the town centre through pr Kirova. A taxi to Mineralnye Vody airport should cost R400.
KISLOVODSK КИСЛОВОДСК
87937 (5-digit nos), 8793 (6-digit nos) / pop 133,000 / elev 822m / Moscow
The name means ‘sour waters’, but Pyati-gorsk’s more subdued cousin has a decidedly sweet vibe. Despite the many tourists and the time-worn sanatoriums scattered about, Kislovodsk remains relaxing to the core. The landscape is green, the many gardens well manicured, and the air, at nearly 1km above sea level, is crisp. ‘Love affairs that begin at the foot of Mashuk reach happy endings here’, Lermontov wrote.
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Orientation
Pedestrianised Kurortny bul, running north–south from the post office to the Narzan Gallery, is Kislovodsk’s main drag and spiritual nerve centre. The train station is just east of Kurortny bul up a smaller pedestrianised street, cobbled ul Karla Marksa. Kurortny Park spreads southeast from Narzan Gallery.
Kartinform and DMV publish maps that show the extensive walking trails (R60).
Information
Bukinist (ul Karla Marksa 3; 9am-6pm) Superb map collection.
Main post & telephone office (Oktyabrskaya pl; post office 8am-8pm, telephone centre 7am-11pm)
Narzan Network (pl Oktyabrskaya; internet per MB R1.50, per hr R30; 10am-8.30pm) Internet access upstairs in the post office.
Sberbank (61 515; ul Kuybysheva 51; 9am-1pm & 2-5pm) Cashes travellers cheques and currency exchange. About 700m north of the post office.
Sights & Activities
Dozens of pleasant, not-at-all-taxing trails have been carved out of the lush, hilly landscape for the benefit of sanatorium-goers. If serious trekking in the high Caucasus isn’t your thing, then the walks here, some of which afford views of Mt Elbrus to the south, might appeal.
KURORTNY PARK
Many of the walking trails intersperse the hills, ponds and forests of this huge park, which ascends southeast from a plaza behind the semicircular colonnade in the town centre to the peak of 1376m-high Mt Maloe Sedlo (Little Saddle). This plaza is a hive of activity in the summer months, drawing street musicians, chess players, and numerous stalls hawking some truly bad art.
Just north of here holidaymakers tote water bottles to and from the Narzan Gallery (Narzannaya gallereya; cup/litre of water R2/7; 7-9am, 11am-2pm & 4-7pm). The warm yellow stone of this graceful, well-preserved 1850s building recalls the spa town of Bath, England. Inside, the rich, carbonic Narzan Spring bubbles up inside a glass dome and spits out nearly undrinkable water into several fountains. Never mind the foul taste; if you come here you’re obliged to have a cup, so drink up!
On the east edge of the plaza, up some steps, is a Lermontov statue. Caged in a grotto below is the demon from Lermontov’s famous poem, The Demon, believed to be his troubled alter ego.
The walking trails materialise south of the plaza. It’s a two- to three-hour hike from the colonnade to the top of the so-called Olympic Complex (1200m) where the cable car terminates. On the way you’ll pass various cafés, statues and other points of interest. At 1065m you reach the Krasnoe Solnyshko Hill (Red Sun Hill), where on a clear day there are great panoramas of the yawning valleys and green plateaus of the pretty surrounding countryside.
From the top there are good views of Mt Maloe Sedlo to the west and, on clear mornings, Mt Elbrus to the south. It’s another 45-minute walk to Mt Maloe Sedlo. Trails also lead to Mt Maly Dzhinal (1484m) and Mt Bolshoe Sedlo (1409m); Kislovodsk maps show all the walks, most of which are numbered and signed.
Those who consider burning calories a waste of fuel should make their way to Ordzhonikidze Sanatorium, then walk 500m to the cable car (kanatnaya doroga; adult/child one way R100/50; 10am-1pm & 2-5pm winter, until 6pm summer). Marshrutka 21 runs to Ordzhonikidze Sanatorium every 20 minutes until about 6.30pm from Snizhenka Café across from the main post office.
OTHER WALKS
Travel about 4km southeast into the valley of the Olkhovka River and you’ll realise how beautiful the surrounding countryside is – a baize-green plateau cut by deep winding valleys with sides of crags and cliffs. One of these crags is Lermontovskaya Skala (Lermontov Cliff), where the climactic duel in A Hero of Our Time was set. With a good map you can find all sorts of pretty walks around here.
MUSEUMS
To secure Russia’s new southern frontier Catherine the Great built a line of forts along the Caucasus mountain range. Kislovodsk was one of them, and the Fortress Museum (Krepostny muzey; 37 049; per Mira 11; adult/child per exhibition R30/20; 10am-6pm) is within the remaining walls of that 1803 fort. The museum traces the city’s history. Pushkin, Tolstoy and Lermontov were visitors, and the late dissident writer Solzhenitsyn was born here.
The small Yaroshenko Museum (30 656; ul Yaroshenko 1; adult/child R50/30, audio tour in English R30; 10am-6pm Wed-Mon) houses the works of the incomparable late-19th-century Russian portraitist Nikolai Yaroshenko, a leading proponent of Russian realism. One room is dedicated to landscapes of the surrounding countryside. Yaroshenko’s lovingly cared-for tomb is just outside nearby St Nicholas Church (pr Mira), destroyed by the Soviet in 1936 and rebuilt in 1991.
Chaliapin, the legendary Russian opera singer, lived in a palatial wood and stained-glass villa near the train station in 1917, which is now the Chaliapin Dacha Literary Museum (67 560; adult/child R30/10; 8.30am-6pm). There are lots of photos of this bear of a man (he was 1.96m − 6ft 5in) in his various roles, plaster ceilings bursting with cherubs and fruit designs, and a lovely glaze-tiled chimney.
OTHER ATTRACTIONS
The main Narzan Baths (Kurortny bul 4) are in an eye-catching 1903 Indian temple–style building that has been closed for years. Narzan means ‘Drink of Brave Warriors’ in Turkish.
Tours
Excursion bureaus clustered around the south end of Kurortny bul sell trips to Elbrus (R500, 6.30am Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday), Dombay (R500, 6.30am Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday), Arkhyz (R500), and Honey Waterfalls (R250, 2.30pm daily).
Sleeping
Resort Bureau (Kurortnoe Byuro; 33 165; ul Shalyapina 17; 7am-7pm) This helpful bureau can find you accommodation in any price range.
Pansionat Beshpagir (22 317; ul K Tsetkin 47; s/d without bathroom R300/600, r with bathroom R1200; ) Not only is it stunning value, but also human beings just don’t come nicer than proprietor Galina Nikolayevna, who will likely invite you for dinner and local wine with her family one evening. A mere R300 extra nets you full board, or you could self-cater in the common kitchen. Rooms are cosy and clean and the common bathrooms well maintained.
Hotel Kavkaz (26 208; pr Dzerzhinskogo 24; s/d from R900/1300; ) A friendly, English-speaking Armenian receptionist is just one of many surprises here. Its concrete bulk looks atrocious from the outside, but a peek inside reveals fastidiously cared-for rooms and well-maintained Soviet fixtures. There’s no restaurant.
Spa Hotel Narzan (20 475; Kurortny bul 19; s/d full board from R1600/2600) If you want to experience a real Soviet-style sanatorium, this is your best choice – if only because its central location allows for easy escape to civilisation. It has seen only modest renovations since Soviet times. Be warned: as with all sanatoriums you’ll live and dine amid 60-something Russians, and neither guests nor staff will speak a word of English. Prices include full board and whatever medical attention you desire. Minimum stay in summer is one week.
Grand Hotel (33 119; www.grandhotel-kmv.ru; Kurortny bul 14; s/d with breakfast from R1820/2600;
) It has all those little extras that mark out a classy place – the smile of the receptionist, the grand entrance staircase and the readiness of the burly porter to heft two suitcases at a time up three flights of stairs. The rooms are well furnished, and spacious bathrooms come with bathrobes and hairdryer.
Korona Hotel (20 396; www.hotel-korona.ru; Kurortny bul 5; ste with breakfast from R4000;
) The six suites here are exquisitely appointed, especially the bathrooms, which are pimped out with Jacuzzis, fluffy robes and expensive German fixtures. Even with king-sized beds hogging floor space there’s more surface area than you’ll ever need. You know what that means: party!
Eating
A good strategy is to stroll Kurortny bul and choose from the many outdoor dining terraces. Service is notoriously slow in Kislovodsk – order an extra wine and enjoy it.
Kazan House (ul Kirova 50; shashlyk per 100g R70) This shashlyk specialist lies outside the main tourist zone, so it’s quieter, better and cheaper than places on Kurortny bul. The lulya kebabs are huge, and a half-litre of lager to wash it down costs just R40.
Golden Dragon (Zolotoy Drakon; 67 002; ul Shalyapina 12; mains R150-500) Tired of shashlyk? Golden Dragon’s menu of Korean and Japanese food might tempt you. It even has an English menu – rare in Kislovodsk. The no-frills café downstairs has Russian food and the best desserts in town.
Restoran Zamok (34 609; Alikonovskoe ushchelie; dishes R230-400; noon-late) This modern castle, 7km west of Kislovodsk in the Alikonovka gorge, trades on a legend about a boy who leapt from the edge of a nearby cliff out of love for a local girl. The girl was supposed to leap too but thought better of it. The setting is pseudomedieval, the dishes Georgian and the wine hellishly expensive. A taxi costs about R140.
Also recommended:
Magnit (pr Mira 14; 9.30am-9pm) Supermarket for self-caterers, 200m south of the colonnade on pr Mira.
Café Cappuccino (Kurortny bul 6; bliny R70-100) Mouth-watering bliny, salmon and other mains.
Entertainment
Circus (59 658; pr Pobedy 12; noon & 4pm Sat & Sun) Ticket office (ul Karla Marksa 1; tickets R150-200; 10am-6pm) Kislovodsk’s circus has a good reputation.
Philharmonia (20 422; ul Karla Marksa 1; tickets R150-1000) Founded in 1895; presents concerts in a beautiful baroque and neoclassical auditorium.
Getting There & Away
BUS
The bus station (41 161; ul Promyshlennaya 4; 6am-10pm) is terribly located 6km north of the centre. Buses head to Krasnodar (R510, 8½ hours, daily) and Stavropol (R250, five hours, nine daily) via Mineralnye Vody. There are two daily buses to Vladikavkaz (R275, 5½ hours) via Nalchik and at least six daily buses to Cherkessk (R190, two hours).
Frequent marshrutky and shared taxis leave from the train station for Pyatigorsk all day until late evening (R70, one hour).
The easiest way to Dombay is on a regularly scheduled tour bus (one way R400; Click here). Alternatively, there’s a daily morning marshrutka (usually at 9am but subject to change) to Dombay from Uchkeken, 10km west of Kislovodsk (R200, four hours); to get to Uchkeken take marshrutka 101 or 102 from ul Rozy Lyuksemburg near the central market (R15, 20 minutes, frequent).
TRAIN
From Kislovodsk’s attractive train station (29 673; Vokzalnaya ul; 8am-8.30pm) elektrichky run every 30 minutes or so until 10.30pm to Mineralnye Vody (R60, 1¾ hours) through Pyatigorsk (R30, 50 minutes). There’s also a daily fast elektrichka to Rostov-on-Don departing at 7.09am (R320, eight hours).
Passenger trains pass through Pyatigorsk on their way to Sochi (R1500, 14½ hours, even-numbered days) and St Petersburg (R4880, 50 hours, daily). For Moscow there’s an expensive, fast train 3F (R5300, 27½ hours, daily) or a slow, cheap train 27 (R2840, 35 hours, daily), plus extra trains in the summer.
ZHELEZNOVODSK ЖЕЛЕЗНОВОДСК
86532 / pop 29,000 / Moscow
The smallest spa town, Zheleznovodsk (Iron Waters) lies at the foot of Mt Zheleznaya (852m) on the northern side of Mt Beshtau. It’s an easy 25-minute trip from Pyatigorsk on marshrutka 113 from the Upper Market.
THE PEOPLE OF THE CENTRAL CAUCASUS
The Dombay and Elbrus areas are a melting pot of various Muslim peoples. They consist, broadly, of highlanders and lowlanders. The highlanders are the Balkar of Kabardino-Balkaria, who live in the Elbrus area, and the Karachay who populate Dombay, Arkhyz and other mountain zones of Karachay-Cherkessia. The Balkar and Karachay speak a similar Turkic tongue and traditionally make their living raising livestock – if you do any trekking around here you might be surprised to encounter Karachay and Balkar tending to their herds and flocks in the most remote reaches of the Greater Caucasus.
The lowlanders are often collectively described as Circassians (by outsiders) or Adygeya (by themselves). All Adygeya speak dialects of an intensely complex language broadly classified as ‘Northwest Caucasian’. Dialects include Adygeyan, spoken throughout the Adygeya Republic (not covered here) and by the Circassian (Cherkess in Russian) minority in Karachay-Cherkessia; and Kabardian, spoken by the Kabardian majority in Kabardino-Balkaria. The closely related Abkhaz (spoken mainly in Abkhazia) and Abaza dialects are the other main Northwest Caucasian dialects. The latter is somewhat rare, although we did run into a cab driver in Cherkessk, Anatoly Alexandrovich (he declined to give his last name), who described himself as Abaza.
‘We have the world’s most difficult language,’ he boasted. ‘Imagine, 76 noun cases!’
Besides language and history, the Adygeya are united by a flag (three yellow arrows crossed over a green background, symbolising peace) and an unwritten code of etiquette known as khabza. The latter helps keep the people peaceable, according to Lola Ketova, a Kabardian and employee at the Adyge Une store in Nalchik: ‘We have never had Muslim fanatics here because khabza is stronger than religion for us.’
Get off at the last stop, opposite the train station on the main drag, ul Lenina. In the park near the stop are the red-and-white-striped 1893 Ostrovsky Baths (Ostrovoskiye Vanny). They’ve been closed for a while but of particular interest is the Islamic influence – pointed arches, a pseudo minaret and decorative Arabic calligraphy.
From here walk 150m back (east) on ul Lenina to the Lenin statue, and follow the road uphill into a pleasant park that sprawls around the forested Mt Zheleznaya. You’ll alight near the blue-and-white, iron-and-glass Pushkin Gallery (Pushkinskaya gallereya), now a concert hall. It’s similar to Pyatigorsk’s Lermontov Gallery. The path in front is littered with merchants selling fresh fruit, churchkhela, fur coats, books and souvenirs.
West of here is another Islamic-influenced architectural gem, the blue-and-yellow Telman Sanatorium, formerly the Emir of Bukhara’s palace.
To see photos of how Zheleznovodsk looked in its heyday, visit the local museum (Kraevedchesky muzey; 42602; ul Lermontova 3; adult/child R30/20; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun), on the path below Telman Sanatorium.
Marshrutky back to Pyatigorsk (R14, frequent) peter out around 8pm.
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CENTRAL CAUCASUS ЦЕНТРАЛЬНЫЙ КАВКАЗ
Most visitors to the Russian Caucasus have their sights set firmly on the awesome Greater Caucasus mountains, Europe’s highest by a considerable margin. There are 200 peaks over 4000m, 30 over 4500m and seven over 5000m, including the granddaddy of them all, Mt Elbrus (5642m). Mont Blanc, highest in Western Europe at 4807m, is exceeded by 15 Caucasus peaks.
But the statistics speak nothing of the savage beauty of these mountains. Heading southwest from the mineral waters area, the smooth green foothills morph with brutal assertiveness into a virtually impenetrable wall of rock spires, glaciers and daunting cliffs rising hundreds of metres into the air. Seeing photos just won’t do; to truly appreciate these awesome mountains one must frolic among them.
The Greater Caucasus mountains are, naturally, an adventure-lovers’ playground. The two places most visited by foreigners for wonderful skiing, hiking and climbing are Dombay and Elbrus. More experienced and adventurous trekkers and backcountry skiers will find no shortage of less-beaten tracks. Keen hikers and climbers should read Trekking in the Caucasus by Yury Kolomiets and Alexey Solovyev.
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DOMBAY ДОМБАЙ
87872 / pop 600 / elev 1600m / Moscow
Even those well travelled in the world’s most stunning wilderness areas can only gape in awe when they first set eyes on Dombay. Wedged into a box canyon at the confluence of three raging mountain rivers, the town is surrounded by a soaring crown of jagged, Matterhorn-like peaks of rock and ice, festooned with glaciers and gushing waterfalls.
There’s only one snag: the town itself, dishevelled and dominated by several brash concrete hotels, is an eyesore. Fortunately it takes only a brisk walk to be far removed from the incongruous creation of Homo sovieticus that is the town proper.
Dombay and its surrounding mountains lie within the Teberdinsky Nature Reserve (admission R50). Most locals belong to the mountain-dwelling Karachay ethnic minority (see the boxed text, Click here).
New hotels and cafés are being built for an expected increase in the number of visitors as the 2014 Winter Olympics approach. Dombay is a possible backup site for the Olympic ski events should the mountains around Sochi be dry.
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Orientation
Three ushchelie (deep valleys) watered by glacier-fed torrents – Alibek from the west, Amanauz from the south and Dombay-Ulgen from the east – meet here to flow north, eventually as the Teberda River. Straddling both sides of the Amanauz River is the village of Dombay. From here two cable cars and several chairlifts ascend the Mussa-Achitara (Horse Thief) ridge to the east. Bars and kiosks at the base of chairlift 1 sell maps.
Some good hikes and several summer activities are based in Teberda, 20km north of Dombay.
Information
Foreigners require border permits for anywhere other than the village environs and Mussa-Achitara ridge. Permit processing through the border control office in Teberda takes several days. Go through Bars (below) for advance or speedier processing.
There’s an ATM at the new cable car base station.
Bars (58 223; [email protected]; 9am-1pm & 2-6pm) Exclusive agent for foreigner border permits, in the basement of the new cable-car base station. Guides day hikes, multiday mountaineering expeditions, rock climbing, backcountry skiing (freeriding) and heliskiing.
Border control office (Teberda; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri) Issues border permits.
Dombai Info (www.dombai.info)Infrequently updated but with some nonperishable information and photographs.
Internet café (per MB R6, per hr R50; 9am-9pm) Adjacent to Solnechnaya Dolina hotel.
Rescue service (Spasatelnaya sluzhba; 58 138; 24hr) Emergency help, plus guiding and/or advice on more technical hikes and climbs.
Sberbank (main road; 9am-4pm Mon-Fri) Dollar changing and ATM.
Teberdinsky Nature Reserve office (51 261; Teberda; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri) The nature reserve office issues reserve passes and can arrange guides for hikes originating in Teberda. It’s just off the main road on the north edge of Teberda.
Activities
The main activities are skiing in winter and hiking in summer, with myriad other adventures possible.
WALKS, HIKES & CLIMBS
The following routes require a border permit and additionally may require a nature reserve pass (enquire at Bars, left). No guide is needed for Amanauz Valley or Alibek Falls. Other hikes, including Lake Turie, require mountaineering experience or a guide, as they may involve crossing glaciers and torrential rivers. There’s also a bear population.
Inform the guides at the rescue service before heading out on any hike. These guys are responsible for finding you if you get lost.
Chuchkhur Waterfalls & Ptysh Valley
It’s a scenic, relatively easy walk from the start of chairlift 1 to two fine waterfalls on the Chuchkhur River. First, follow the vehicle track and then branch across Russkaya Polyana clearing and continue to the first set of waterfalls. It takes about two hours to get here. Twenty minutes downstream from these falls, a path forks south for a steady 2km walk up Severny (North) Ptysh Valley and another waterfall.
Amanauz Valley
South of town a short (45-minute) but tricky walk follows the Amanauz River to Chyortova Melnitsa (Devil’s Mill), with good views of the Amanauz Glacier. Head south out of town past the Dombay housing area and pick up the trail along the river. After negotiating a slippery stream crossing (icy through June) the path dissipates. Head uphill through the woods until the trail materialises again and follow it to the viewpoint.
Alibek Valley
The dirt road behind Solnechnaya Dolina hotel leads 6km up Alibek Valley to a mountaineers’ hostel, passing a climbers’ cemetery after 2km. From the hostel a trail ascends about two hours to Lake Turie near Alibek Glacier, via dramatic Alibek Falls.
Longer Hikes & Climbs
The sky is the limit for multiday hikes, but two intriguing options leave from Teberda. One is the three- to five-day trip to Arkhyz over Nazgir Pass. This follows the Mukhinskie Valley west, then veers south toward Mt Bolshaya Marka (3753m) before heading west again over Nazgir Pass (2981m), into the Marukha River valley and onto Arkhyz.
Another three- to four-day route goes east over the even higher Epchik pass (3006m). The route then continues to Lozhny Pass before dropping into the village of Uchkulan, just 30km due west of Mt Elbrus. A couple of kilometres east of Uchkulan is Khurzuk. Hard-core mountaineers can use Khurzuk as a base for ascents up the western flank of Mt Elbrus.
Peaks that serious climbers can tackle from Dombay include Sofrudzhu (3780m), Dombay-Ulgen (4046m), Sulakhat (3409m) and Semyonovbashi (3602m) above Alibek Valley. Check www.dombai.info for more information on these and other technical climbs.
SKIING
The 3012m-high Mussa-Achitara ridge provides magnificent skiing, similar to the European Alps, from November until late May. Trails drop an eye-popping 1400 vertical metres from the top to the valley floor. There is bowl skiing up above the tree line as well as some mogul and glade runs for experts, and plenty of intermediate terrain. A brand-new high-speed cable car was added in 2006, and the mountain continues to add lifts and trails.
Several chairlifts and two cable cars (9am-5pm Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm Sat & Sun) haul skiers up the mountain. An all-day ski pass costs R800. Most hotels and several shops around town hire out skis and snowboards.
The lifts remain open for sightseeing in the summer months. To reach the top, either ride the new cable car or take three separate chairlifts, starting with single-chair lift 1 near the Krokus Hotel. Either way it costs R400, round trip, to the top (less if you go only part-way).
Plenty of backcountry terrain exists for freeriders, but take a local guide and beware of avalanches.
HORSE TREKKING
Horse trekking guide Oleg (8-928-922 6382) hangs out near the nature reserve entrance in Teberda. The favoured route is the stunning four-day-return ride over Epchik Pass to Uchkulan (see opposite), advertised as one of the highest horse treks in the world. It costs R2500 per day (food and tents not included) for a minimum of five people. Day trips are also possible (per person R250 per hour).
RAFTING
Teberda is also the base for rafting (8-928-393 0038) on the brisk Teberda River. A 40-minute trip for four to six people costs R300 per person. You’ll find the guides under the bridge near the nature reserve entrance.
TEBERDINSKY NATURE RESERVE ANIMAL PARK
This park (51 261; 9am-1pm & 2-6pm) near the reserve office in Teberda has pens with deer, foxes and other local fauna, as well as a small nature museum. Admission is covered by the reserve entrance fee (R50).
Tours
Most hotels organise hikes (half/full day R250/500) and jeep excursions (R200 to R400, three to seven hours) to more distant lakes, waterfalls and medieval castle ruins.
Sleeping
The following are peak summer rates. Rates double or triple in the ski season.
Hotel Gornye Vershiny (Mountain Peaks; 58 260/41; d full board from R950;
) An ugly concrete monstrosity with incredible vistas, it’s a metaphor for Dombay. Provided you’re valley-side, you may never encounter a room with a better view from the balcony. Rooms are predictably basic and timeworn, but as far as Soviet creations go they aren’t that bad, and there are oodles of facilities – ATM, sauna, bowling alley, and a disco in winter.
Solnechnaya Dolina (Sunny Valley; 58 269; [email protected]; d from R1000; ) Built in 1936 as the first hotel in Dombay, the old wing of this picturesque place is made entirely of wood and without nails in the manner of north Russian buildings. It has expanded mightily of late, but new and old rooms alike feature cosy blankets and are redolent of pine. Rates triple in winter.
Hotel Snezhny Bars (58 813, 8-928-923 1734; [email protected]; s/d R1000/1300;
) This new wi-fi–enabled hotel is the cream of the crop in Dombay. While not huge, the rooms are wonderfully appointed with red-wood furniture and comfy queen-sized beds. Prices may rise as it gets established but even were prices to double it would remain great value.
Hotel Snezhinka (Snowflake; 58 279/80; [email protected]; d/tr with breakfast from R1700/2800;
) The rooms here make up for a shortage of character with a surplus of space and fuzzy tiger-striped bedspreads. The doubles are basic and have worn bathrooms, but if you’re flush with cash there are various standards of lyux rooms to choose from, some with fireplaces and Jacuzzis. Bar, restaurant, sauna and billiards complete the picture.
Also recommended:
Uyut Hotel (57788, 8-928-380 2916; s/d R500/1000) Small, friendly budget option.
LOCAL HERO
Like many other peoples in prehistory, Kabardians enjoyed their fires for warmth, cooking and defence. One day an evil giant called Inizh Nezakve came and stole their fire. The Kabardians suffered for many years until a hero, born out of a large stone, rose up. He was named Sosruko and grew up to meet his destiny – a fight with Nezakve. Victorious, of course, he returned with fire for his people.
Hotel Dombay (/fax 58225; s/d R600/1200; ) Soviet-style clone of Gornye Vershiny, with better location and nearly as good views.
Snezhnaya Koroleva (58 370, 8-928-911 9829; r R1000; ) Good value. Rooms have ample space to accommodate both you and your ski equipment.
Eating
During peak seasons Dombay is blessed with a multitude of cafés and food stalls around the village, cable-car stations and chairlift stops. To escape the crowds in summer try the cafés near the base of chairlift 1.
Café Kristall (meals R120-250; 9am-midnight) Specialises in Karachay cuisine, including sokhta (a mammoth sausage-like creation stuffed with minced liver and rice) and dzhyorme (smaller Karachay sausage). Seating is outside on a porch along the river or in the cosy dining room with refectory tables. The atmosphere is jovial, and you just might be invited in to share food, vodka and song with the Karachay regulars here.
Shopping
The local babushka knitting-circle has stalls all around the village and chairlift stations selling its output of shawls (R250 to R2000), felt Georgian-style hats (R100 to R500) and woolly rugs and ’fro-like Caucasian papakha hats (R300 to R500).
Getting There & Away
All buses originate at the Ekspres grocery shop west of town and pick up passengers in the main parking lot.
Marshrutky and buses serve Cherkessk (R125, 3½ hours, daily at 11am), Karachaevsk (R65, two hours, five daily), Uchkeken near Kislovodsk (R200, four hours, daily at 1.30pm), Rostov-on-Don (R600, nine hours, even-numbered days) and Stavropol (R250, five hours, daily at 7.15 am). All of the above stop in Teberda.
Additional daily marshrutky from Teberda head to Mineralnye Vody via Pyatigorsk (R230, six hours, 6.20am) and Krasnodar (R450, 7½ hours, 11am). In ski season frequent marshrutky shuttle people straight to Minvody airport (per person R400).
An easier but more expensive method of arriving is on a tour bus from Pyatigorsk (one way R400, Click here) or Kislovodsk (one way R400; Click here). Unlike public transport, these excursions take you over the 2313m Gumbashi Pass, with gobsmacking views of Mt Elbrus lording it above the whole mountain chain.
ARKHYZ Архыз
87878 / pop 2000 / elev 1450m / Moscow
It’s no idyllic mountain getaway like Dombay, but experienced trekkers and ski tourers recognise this dusty cowboy town on the banks of the Bolshoy Zelenchuk River as a prime base for excursions into the backcountry. As an almost 100% Karachay village it has also appeal for anybody interested in the culture of these hearty, livestock-raising mountain dwellers.
Arkhyz lacks the tourist infrastructure of Dombay, but that may change as developers reportedly have set their sights on turning Lunaya Polyana (Lunar Glade), in the mountains 20km south of town, into a ski resort before the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Talk to guides in Dombay or Pyatigorsk about the many treks around here, including some easy-to-access day hiking around Lunaya Polyana. As in Dombay you’ll need a border permit. Apply through travel agencies in Dombay or Pyatigorsk, or through Arkhyz’s border control office, 2km south of town on the dirt road to Lunaya Polyana.
Arkhyz’s three hotels all offer rafting (30-minute/1-hour trip per person R250/400), and there are several horse-riding operations around town.
Interesting archaeological sites in the area include the ruins of three 1000-year-old Byzantine monasteries. These are located near an observatory on a hill in Nizhny Arkhyz, a 20km taxi ride (R250) north of Arkyz. These can also be visited on an organised tour from Pyatigorsk or Kislovodsk.
Accommodation options include the basic, camp-like Turbaza Arkhyz (25 270; r with bathroom from R300; ) on the far (east) side of the river, and two slightly more upscale riverside resorts adjacent to each other on the west bank: Pansionat Energetik (25 292; d from R600) and Krasnaya Sklyad (42 147; d from R700).
There are daily marshrutky and/or buses to/from Mineralnye Vody, Pyatigorsk, Chekessk and Karachaevsk. Transfer in Karachaevsk for Dombay.
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NALCHIK НАЛЬЧИК
86622 / pop 283,000 / elev 445 / Moscow
Nalchik, pleasant capital of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic, straddles the rise of the steppes to the foothills of the Caucasus. Apart from a worthwhile museum and side trips to Chegem Valley and some medieval villages, visitors come to Nalchik to reach Mt Elbrus.
In 2005 dozens of people were killed in fighting after Islamic militants took several government buildings (Click here) but there have been no incidents since.
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Orientation
Two parallel streets, pr Lenina and pr Shogentsukova, run southwest through the centre from the train station on Osetin-skaya ul.
Information
Air Communications Agency (423 326; ul Lenina 43; 9am-6pm Mon-Sat) Air, train and bus ticketing.
Border control office (Pogranzastava; 916 510; Kabardinskaya ul 192; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri) You can secure border permits here, but it’s easier and quicker to do so in advance through a travel agent in the Elbrus area (Click here).
Dom Knigy (pr Lenina 10; 9am-8pm) Superb selection of Caucasus maps.
Internet Club Pautina(pr Lenina 40; per MB R5, 24hr)
Main post & telephone office (pr Shogentsukova 14); Post (8am-8pm); Internet access (1st fl; per hr R50; 8am-6pm); Telephone (24hr) Internet access on the 1st floor.
Sberbank (pr Lenina 35; 8.30am-1pm & 2-4.45pm Mon-Sat) Cashes travellers cheques, changes currency.
Sights & Activities
The quintessential Nalchik experience is to walk or jump on marshrutka 1 heading west along pr Shogentsukova to Dolinsk Park and jump on the chairlift (round trip R100; 11am-7pm Mon, 9am-7pm Tue-Sun), which ascends over a lake to the Restaurant Sosruko. Climb the staircase inside Sosruko’s ‘head’ for great views of the city and the mountains in the distance.
The Kabardino-Balkaria National Museum (Natsionalny muzey; 776 880; ul Gorkogo 62; admission R10, camera/video R30/100; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sat) has a good 3-D topographical map of the mountains and displays covering the history of the area.
Browsing the aisles of fruit and fresh-baked flat bread (R10) to the ubiquitous strains of Caucasian tanz (dance) music in the Central Market (ul Pacheva) is a Nalchik highlight.
Tours
A kiosk on the corner of pr Lenina and ul Keshokova hawks semi-regular tours to Chegem Waterfall (per person R250) and the other ushchelie around Nalchik and North Ossetia (check that restrictions on foreigners entering mountain zones in North Ossetia have been lifted first).
Elsi-Trek (775 056; [email protected]; Hotel Rossiya, 2nd fl; 10am-6pm) runs full-day tours to Chegem Waterfall (per tour group with English guide R3000), multiday mountaineering expeditions in the mountains around Bezengi, and various other tours up the valleys south and west of Nalchik.
Sleeping
Hotel Rossiya (775 378; pr Lenina 32; s/d R600/1200) The central Rossiya is your standard ugly, haphazardly renovated Soviet behemoth smack dab in the middle of town. Front rooms have little balconies from which guests can address the early-morning assembly of stray dogs or lounging taxi drivers.
Hotel Alpinist (423 026; ul Pacheva 34; s/d/ste R600/800/1200) Despite extraordinarily loud rugs and wallpaper it’s a small step up from its bigger Soviet-style cousin, the Rossiya. The humongous two-room suites are great value.
Trek (720 576; [email protected]; Dolinsk Region, Gorodskoy Park; d R2500) Near the chairlift in Dolinsk Park, Trek is the fanciest place in Nalchik by a long shot. Often booked out by weddings at weekends.
Eating
Nalchik is a good place to sample spicy Kabardian national dishes such as zharuma (fiery sausage stuffed with minced lamb, onion and spices), gedlibzhe (a spicy chicken dish), and geshlubzhe (a saucy bean dish). Browsing the aisles of fruit and fresh-baked flat bread (R10) to the ubiquitous strains of Caucasian tanz (dance) music in the central market (ul Pacheva) is a Nalchik highlight.
Restaurant Sosruko (720 070; off Profsoyuznaya ul; national dishes R75-140; 10am-late) This architecturally unusual restaurant at the terminus of the chairlift in Dolinsk Park comprises the head of Sosruko (see the boxed text, Click here) with an outstretched arm and hand holding a flame. It’s the place to try Kabardian national cuisine, including the Sosruko special, a concoction of minced meat, mushrooms and herbs in a pastry pear.
Pizza House (427 067; ul Lermontova 5; meals R150-250) Back in the centre this efficient, modern, squeaky clean Italian restaurant churns out excellent pizza, pasta and meat dishes and has a salad bar.
ELBRUS SEASONS
Peak season is December to early May for piste skiing; mid-April to June is the season for ski-climbing. This imported alpine activity has skiers climbing Mt Elbrus on modified skis and then skiing back downhill. The summer climbing and hiking season is June to mid-September. Low season is October and November when chairlifts and cable cars may be under repair.
Shopping
Adyge Une (Adygeya House; 426 171; pr Lenina 49; 9am-7pm) This excellent souvenir shop sells all manner of Kabardian and Circassian items, such as hats (R500 to R4000), drinking vessels and jewellery bearing Circassian symbols. Also carries beautiful Dagestani silver jewellery.
Getting There & Away
Elbrus Air flies daily to/from Moscow Vnukovo (R6800). You’ll save much money by flying to Mineralnye Vody and taking a bus or taxi to Nalchik.
Buses from long-distance bus station No 1 (918 289; ul Gagarina 124) serve Pyatigorsk (R110, 1¾ hours, four daily), Kislovodsk (R130, 2½ hours, two daily) and Terskol (R130, three hours, three daily). Another option to Terskol is to take a marshrutka to Tyrnyauz (R90, two hours, every 30 minutes) and transfer to a Terskol-bound marshrutka or taxi there.
The best way to Vladikavkaz is by speedy marshrutka (R140, 1½ hours, frequent). For Mineralnye Vody, hope for an open seat on the passing Vladikavkaz–Mineralnye Vody bus (R130, two hours, eight daily) or take a taxi (R1500).
From the train station (774 110; ul Osetinskaya) there are two daily elektrichky to Mineralnye Vody (R75, three hours, 7.26am and 11.36am). Train 061C to Moscow (R3800, 38 hours, 4.20pm) passes through Rostov-on-Don (R1800, 12½ hours) and a section splits off to Sochi (R1600, 15½ hours).
AROUND NALCHIK
Turn southwest at Chegem-2, 17km northwest of Nalchik, to reach the Chegem Valley. The spectacular part of the canyon is 44km up the valley, just past the 30m Chegem Waterfall. The canyon, through which both river and road squeeze, is 250m high but only 20m wide, . Verkhny Chegem, another 20km on, has several archaeological sites, including Lygyt village with stone mausoleums dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries. Within the village is an 18th-century three-storey defensive tower.
The next valley to the south is the equally impressive Cherek Valley, with more ancient fortresses, towers and waterfalls. Forty kilometres up the valley is Bezengi, jumping-off point for several epic climbs (see the boxed text, Click here).
To get to these destinations take a taxi, an organised tour or a bus from local bus station No 2 (773 376; ul Pacheva 54) in Nalchik.
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ELBRUS AREA ПРИЕЛЬБРУСЬЕ
86638 / elev (Terskol) 2085m / Moscow
Mt Elbrus rises imperiously on a northern spur of the Caucasus ridge at the end of the Baksan Valley. Surrounding it and flanking the valley are mountains that are lesser in height but equally awe-inspiring.
The tourist facilities that are littered along the valley floor make this potential Switzerland less attractive. Terskol is a disgrace, with its decrepit and half-built buildings and rusted machines scattered about. But visitors come for the majestic mountains, which provide energetic skiing, exciting hikes and climbing.
Most foreign visitors come for the challenge of climbing Europe’s highest peak, but there are dozens of fantastic, less-strenuous hikes in the area, and there’s year-round skiing. Day-trippers can ride the chairlifts and cable cars for views of Elbrus and the surrounding mountains. Mt Elbrus and its surrounding peaks and towns all lie within the vast Prielbruse National Park.
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Orientation
Three villages lining the Baksan Valley make up the area known in Russian as Prielbruse (Around Elbrus). Driving in, the first town you’ll hit is the bustling ski village of Cheget Polyana, at the base of Mt Cheget. Next is Terskol, the administrative hub. About 3km beyond Terskol the valley ends at Azau, base for the Mt Elbrus cable car and ski area. Mt Elbrus can’t be seen from either of these villages – to catch a glimpse walk up a mountain or jump on any ski lift in Azau or Cheget.
Maps of the Elbrus area are available from stalls at the base of the Cheget and Azau ski lifts.
Information
For visa and border permit support, go through one of the tour companies (Click here).
Elbrus (www.elbrus.net) Has maps and practical information.
Pansionat Cheget (9am-4.30pm Tue-Sat) Sberbank currency exchange booth and 24-hour ATM in Cheget Polyana.
Post & telephone office (Terskol; post 9am-4pm Tue-Fri, 9am-3pm Sat) The telephone section is open 24 hours and internet is available until 8pm (per hr R60).
Rescue service (Spasatelnaya Sluzhba; 71489; Terskol; 24hr) Check in here before setting out for hikes. Look for the letters ‘мчс’ on a fence near café Bayramuk on east edge of Terskol.
Turbaza Terskol (Terskol; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat) Currency exchange and ATM in front of hotel on main road.
Sights & Activities
MT ELBRUS
Mt Elbrus, enigmatically unusual with two peaks – the western at 5642m and eastern at 5621m – bulges nearly 1000m above anything else in the vicinity. This volcanic cone has upper slopes reputedly coated in ice up to 200m thick; numerous glaciers grind down its flanks and several rivers start here. The name ‘Elbrus’, meaning ‘Two Heads’ comes from Persian; in Balkar it’s ‘Mingi-Tau’ (meaning ‘thousands’, ie very big mountain).
The first (unconfirmed) climb of Mt Elbrus was in 1829 by a Russian expedition with Killar, a lone Circassian hunter hired as a guide, apparently reaching the peak on his own. The lower eastern peak was officially climbed on 31 July 1868 and the western peak on 28 July 1874, both by British expeditions. For propaganda purposes, in Soviet times there were mass ascents involving hundreds of climbers; a telephone cable was even taken to the top so Comrade Stalin could share the news. Ascent and descent have been done in many ways: by light aircraft, hang-gliders, paragliders, a motorcycle with skis, and even in a Land Rover hauled to the top for advertising purposes. Apparently it’s still there, somewhere.
The Climb
The climb up Elbrus is not technically difficult but it’s harder than, say, Mt Kilimanjaro, with which it is often compared. Climbing experience on ice is advisable, and a good degree of fitness is paramount.
The climb itself takes just one long day, but most climbers require at least seven days of training and altitude acclimatisation before attempting the summit. Climbers typically spend a few days in Terskol or Azau before taking the lifts up to spend a few nights in and hike around the Barrels, a lodge at 3700m (there are a few more huts up here in case the Barrels is full).
The actual climb starts around 4am from one of two points: the Diesel Hut (also called Priyut 11) at 4200m, from where it’s a 10- to 12-hour hike to the summit; or the Pastukhov Rocks at 4690m, from where it’s a seven- to eight-hour hike. Both are accessible by snowcat from the Barrels. Most people start from Pastukhov Rocks. There’s obviously a much higher failure rate for climbers starting out from the lower Diesel Hut. Either way the walk is slow, gradual and gruelling.
One mistake you don’t want to make is to take this mountain lightly. As on any 5500m-plus peak, clear weather can turn into thick fog in a matter of hours. On average, about 10 people per year perish on Mt Elbrus. Many victims, fooled by Elbrus’ gentle appearance, just start walking up without a guide. Without proper navigational experience it’s easy to become disoriented and lose the marked trail, even in fine weather. Off the trail there’s a serious risk of falling into a crevasse or never finding your way back. Do the sensible thing and take a guide.
Ascents above 3700m require a permit. This cost US$20 at the time of research, but there was talk that permit fees could be raised dramatically in the near future.
Skiing
The piste skiing on Elbrus is generally easier than on nearby Cheget (right), with terrain to suit all levels. The skiing beneath the lower cable car station is good for beginners. The upper cable car (Mir) station services a few steep and challenging runs for experts.
All-year skiing is possible from the uppermost chairlift, which terminates at 3800m. From here snowcats bring advanced skiers a couple of hundred metres further up to the Diesel Hut, from where there are opportunities for off-piste (free-ride) skiing. These run regularly in the peak ski season (per person R400), but must be specially ordered at other times (10-person snowcat R6000).
If you are planning on doing any summer skiing it’s imperative to get up to the chairlift early to beat the huge queues at the lower cable car station.
An all-day ski pass costs R500 and allows you to ride the cable cars and chairlift but not the gondola, which is run by a separate company. Multiday passes cost less and give you access to Elbrus and Cheget (but not both on the same day). Gear can be hired at any hotel or at numerous ski shops in Azau or Cheget Polyana.
Cable Cars & Chairlift
A new gondola (9am-3.30pm; R200) was opened in 2008 parallel to the old cable car
9am-3.30pm; 1st stage R140, 2nd stage R200). At the time of writing, the gondola terminated at the cable car mid-station (2870m) but there are plans to extend it to the upper (Mir) station at 3470m. For now only the old cable car goes from the mid-station to the Mir station; both stations have good cafés.
A chairlift (9am-3pm; R180) continues to 3800m. Both cable cars and the chairlift run year-round except for maintenance during October or November.
Tour buses start arriving at 10am from June to August, and the queues at the cable car base station and mid-station can be absolutely brutal – waits of up to two hours are common at weekends. If it looks bad consider just taking the gondola up to the mid-station, which affords exceptional views of Elbrus’ twin peaks and, to the southwest, Mts Cheget and Azaubashi.
MT CHEGET
Expert skiers relish the moguls, steeps and glades offered by this ski area on the south side of the Baksan Valley. The piste occupies the lower reaches of Mt Cheget (Mt Donguz-Orunbashi; 3769m); two delightfully anachronistic single chairlifts (per lift R180; 9am-4pm) haul skiers up to 3040m. There are a couple of T-bars on the back (north) side of the mountain. A day ski pass in season costs R500.
Riding the chairlift up, the raw majesty of the surrounding mountains is quickly revealed. To the west are the smooth milky-white twin humps of Mt Elbrus, to the east the jagged peaks and near-vertical sides of Mt Donguzorun (Mt Donguzorun-Chegetkarabashi; 4454m), with a distinctive glacier shaped like the numeral 7 plastered to its side.
TOP FIVE ELBRUS AREA HIKES: ABU ELMESOV
Local mountaineer Abu Elmesov, a Balkar, has spent more than 22 years working with Terskol’s rescue service. We asked him to recommend his top five intermediate walks in Kabardino-Balkaria.
- ‘Bezengi. Benzengi is within range of six 5000m peaks, including Dykhtau. For a great walk go to the alplager [alpinist camp] in Bezengi and do a couple of day hikes around Dykhtau: Bezengi Glacier and Bezengi Wall. The prettiest nature in the world is in the Caucasus, and here you’ll see why.’ [Bezengi is two valleys southeast of the Baksan Valley, accessible by public transport from Nalchik.]
- ‘Alplager Ulu-Tau. It’s in the Adyrsu Valley, a very wild, beautiful valley with no civilisation. Allow a full day at least to get there [from the road], then spend several days hiking.’ [The Adyrsu Valley hike originates in Verkhny Baksan, 11km east of Elbrus village; Alplager Ulu-Tau (86622-55 445; r R800 per person).]
- ‘Irik Valley. The best views of Elbrus’ East Summit are from this hike. There’s no civilisation or facilities at all out here, just a trail, so bring a tent.’ [The Irik Valley hike starts in the village of Elbrus, 11km east of Terskol.]
- ‘Zelenaya Gostinitsa. Some of the most beautiful peaks in the Caucasus are visible on this trek – Dzhantugan, Bashkara, Germogentova – the list goes on.’ [Zelenaya Gostinitsa is covered in the Elbrus Area Hiking section, below.]
- ‘Syltrankyol Lake. A very beautiful alpine lake that changes colour with the changing of the sun. It’s a four- to five-hour hike to get there.’ [The Syltrankyol Lake hike starts in Verkhny Baksan.]
HIKING
Any walks towards the Georgian border require a border permit. It’s easiest to arrange permits in advance through a tour operator. The alternative is to go through the long (at least three-day) process of doing it yourself in Nalchik.
For additional hikes around Elbrus and Nalchik see local mountaineer Abu Elmesov’s recommendations in the boxed text, above.
Nonpermit Walks
The hiking routes to the north and northwest do not require permits. A couple of easy, two- to three-hour walks start on the dirt road behind (north of) the white obelisk in Terskol village. The dirt road’s right fork leads up the Terskol Valley to a dramatic view of Mt Elbrus behind the ‘hanging’ Terskol Glacier, dripping over a cliff edge. The left fork follows a 4WD track to an observatory, with wonderful views across the Baksan Valley of Mt Cheget, Mt Donguzorun and Mt Kogutanbashi (3819m).
From the top of Cheget’s lower chairlift, it’s an easy one-hour walk around the side of Mt Cheget to Donguzorunkel Lake. Going further will require a permit.
Permit Walks
Take a taxi (R500 each way from Terskol, including unlimited wait time) to where the paved road up Adylsu Valley, south of Elbrus village, ends. Then strike southeast with the Adylsu River on your right and it’s about a one-hour walk along an unsealed road to an alpinist camp in sight of the impressive hanging Shkhelda Glacier. From here a trail, tricky in spots, leads another two hours up to Zelenaya Gostinitsa (Green Hotel), which isn’t a hotel but a meadow of sorts, surrounded by impressive peaks, glaciers and a muddy lake.
Tours
Rather than being just folk in offices selling tickets, the agencies listed here are either active tour leaders or providers of specialist services for climbers, skiers and hikers. Most also offer ‘light’ packages for do-it-yourselfers, which include accommodation and logistical support, but no active tour guiding. English-,German- and French-speaking guides are usually readily available. They can also help with visa and border-permit logistics.
Adventure Alternative (in UK 44-28708 31258; www.adventurealternative.com) UK company; organises Mt Elbrus climbs.
Go-Elbrus (71 335; www.go-elbrus.com; Terskol 5-5) The German-Balkar couple in charge here are accomplished free-skiers and mountaineers. Highly recommended for backcountry skiing trips, ski touring, ice climbing, Elbrus climbs and more creative ascents.
Pilgrim Tours (in Moscow 495-967 3333; www.pilgrim-tours.com; Ostozhenka 41, Moscow) Large, efficient Moscow-based company has a representative at the Shakherezada Hotel in Azau.
Viktor Yanchenko (8-928-225 4623; [email protected]) English-speaking climbing and skiing guide.
Wild Russia (in St Petersburg 812-273 6514; www.wildrussia.spb.ru; Fontanka nab 59, St Petersburg) Specialises in Mt Elbrus climbs and adventure tours throughout Russia.
Sleeping & Eating
Expect to pay double to triple the listed (June) rates during the peak ski season (late December to early May).
In the winter especially you’ll find eating options aplenty on the ski slopes – everything from bundled-up babushkas hawking shashlyk, khichiny and schorpa (Balkar soup) to the fire-warmed restaurants at the cable car stations on Elbrus.
Accommodation on Mt Elbrus itself is in the Barrels (per person R500), a series of cylindrical huts about 200m beyond the chairlift; and at the Diesel Hut (per person R500) at 4200m. Spaces are limited so book through a tour operator.
CHEGET POLYANA
With a clutch of private hotels, slope-side cafés, market stalls and even a legitimate après- ski bar, the rapidly expanding Cheget Polyana ski area is a more attractive proposition than Terskol, especially during the ski season.
Pansionat Cheget (71 339; www.cheget.org; d/tr/ste per person R600/500/2200, with breakfast & dinner per person R200) This huge, eight-storey ex-Soviet concrete block is the obvious choice for skiers on a budget as rates include free chairlift passes, transfer to/from Mineralnye Vody airport and daily transfers to Azau. It’s timeworn but clean and tidy, and there are views from the upper-floor balconies. The cheap canteen is open to all, as are the ski shop, bank and other services.
Captain Pete’s (beer from R50, mains R125-200) The balcony in view of the ski mountain and Mt Donguzorun is a prime place to sink suds après-ski. Aside from standard Caucasian food there are European specialties like schnitzel and baked salmon on the (English) menu.
Also recommended:
Hotel Esen (71 474; d R1200) Friendly midrange option also notable for common area with fireplace. No views here but convenient to lifts.
Hotel Ozon-Cheget (71 453; d from R1400) Somewhat upscale place with LCD TVs but otherwise simple rooms.
TERSKOL
Terskol has a good selection of accommodation, and its central location allows for relatively easy exploration of both Cheget and Azau.
Pansionat Volfram (71 311; d per person R550, with breakfast & dinner per person R260; ) This is Terskol’s requisite Soviet-style concrete monstrosity. It’s much like Pansionat Cheget minus the views, and has Russia’s highest-altitude swimming pool, cheerful stolovaya and a winter bar–disco. Rates include lift tickets and free transfer to/from Azau and Cheget in winter.
Hotel Elbrusiya (d or tr per person R1000) Newly opened in 2008, Elbrusiya boasts spacious rooms with plush wall-to-wall carpeting and divans that can pull out into an extra bed. It’s in a tall stone building right on the main road.
Kupol Café (mains R150-200) Tasty Balkar and Russian specialties and reasonably priced (R35) beer under a strange, sarcophagus-like roof. Will stay open late to show big sporting events on its big-screen TV.
AZAU
While not as pleasant as Cheget Polyana, Azau is a better choice for intermediate skiers who want to be closer to Elbus’ gentler groomed slopes. Elbrus climbers also usually end up here for a night or two before moving up to the Barrels.
Shakherezada Hotel (71 327, 8-928-937 2815; r per person with 2 meals from R1000) Cheery rooms barely salvage this otherwise uninspiring option. There’s hope, however, in the form of big-time renovations going on when we visited.
Hotel Vershina (71 473; www.hotelvershina.ru; d or tr per person R1500) A rustic wooden interior gives it an authentic ski-lodge feel. The banya adds an authentic Russian touch. Throw in friendly service and you have Azau’s best option, even if the rooms are smallish. Walk-in guests may nab a better rate.
Shopping
The base areas of both Cheget and Azau teem with stalls selling the knitting output of the local babushkas – woolly socks, sweaters, mittens, throw rugs and hats – as well as T-shirts and kitschy souvenirs.
Getting There & Away
There’s a bus (9.30am) and two marshrutky (8am and 12.30pm) daily to Nalchik (R130 plus R70 per bag, three hours). Alternatively, take a taxi (R500) or bus (R40, four daily, one hour) to Tyrnyauz and then a frequent marshrutka to Nalchik.
Arrange with tour operators running out of Kislovodsk and Pyatigorsk to use their excursions as a means of getting to and from Elbrus. Buses leave from the main road near the post office in Terskol. They do not pass through Cheget Polyana proper.
Getting Around
A taxi costs a set R100 from Terskol to Azau or Cheget. In ski season plenty of marshrutky and free shuttles operate between Cheget and Azau. Otherwise walk or hitch aride.
NORTH OSSETIA Северная Осетия
The mountains and ushchelie of the Greater Caucasus get even more spectacular as you head southeast from Kabardino-Balkaria into the republic of North Ossetia-Alaniya (not to be confused with South Ossetia, still part of Georgia at time of writing). Unlike the neighbouring republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia, this is pro-Russian and mainly Christian territory.
It’s also stunningly beautiful and rich in history – two traits that dovetail in dramatic fashion at Dargavs’ city of the dead, probably the most awe-inspiring sight in the Russian Caucasus. In Beslan, site of the infamous school siege in 2004, North Ossetia also has one of Russia’s most moving sights.
A prime destination in Soviet times, these days North Ossetia wears tourist repellent because of its proximity to conflict-strewn Chechnya, Ingushetia and South Ossetia. Still, barring a resurgence in Ingush militant activity, travel here should be safe. If you come, keep an eye on current events and steer well clear of the Ingush border, where periodic conflicts arise.
WARNING
At the time of writing Vladikavkaz was considered safe for travel, but there were fears that Russia’s conflict with Georgia over control of neighbouring South Ossetia might lead to resentment against travellers.
Much of North Ossetia is off-limits to foreigners. Restricted zones include the Georgian and Ingush border areas, plus virtually all mountain zones. Check with reception at Hotel Vladikavkaz (Click here) to see if these restrictions remain before you set off into the mountains, as other travel agents, taxi drivers and hotels we talked to were unaware of them.
We were told that the penalty for getting caught in a restricted zone is a fine, expulsion from the country, and loss of Russian visa eligibility for five years.
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History
The Ossetians are thought to be descended from Sarmatians, an Indo-European people who arrived in the 4th century AD. They assimilated with local tribes to form the Alan state, which ruled the northern Caucasus from the 10th to the early 13th century (Click here). Some escaped deep into the mountains, and by the 18th century their descendants, the Ossetians, were found mainly in the valleys west of Vladikavkaz. Ossetia was incorporated into Russia in 1774.
North Ossetia had a substantial Ingush population until Stalin deported most Ingush to Siberia in 1944 and incorporated western Ingushetia into North Ossetia. The Ingush were rehabilitated during Khrushchev’s rule but returned home to find most of their property occupied by Ossetians. Lingering resentment from this period led to bloody clashes between Ossetians and Ingush after an autonomous Ingushetia was set up in June 1992. The violence receded but resentment between the two groups continued. Two bombs that rocked Vladikavkaz in 1999 and 2000 were blamed on Ingush radicals.
On 1 September 2004 the world watched in horror as Chechen militants seized a school in Beslan and held more than 1100 children, teachers and parents hostage in a gymnasium wired with explosives. Some 331 people, more than half of them children, were killed. Many died when the gymnasium roof caught fire and collapsed. Others were slaughtered by the militants or killed in the crossfire between the militants and Russian troops. The abandoned school is now a makeshift shrine (see opposite).
Vladikavkaz Владикавказ
86722 / pop 315,000 / elev 700m / Moscow
The German advance in WWII stopped 15km short of Vladikavkaz, sparing North Ossetia’s capital from the devastation that met its more northerly neighbours. As a result, Vladikavkaz’s centre retains much of the low-slung, pastel-coloured, brick architecture in vogue at the turn of the 20th century. The Georgia Military Hwy snakes its way southward toward Tbilisi, flanked by the Terek River and several dramatic cliffs. These, as well as the legendary South Ossetia peak, Mt Kazbek (5047m), are visible from town on a clear day.
INFORMATION
ATMs are plentiful in hotels and along pr Mira.
Glamour Tour (533 836; ul Lenina 2) Concentrates on outbound tourism but can arrange tours to the Kurtati Valley and Tsey upon request.
Global Alaniya (ul Lenina 2; per MB R3, internet per hr R30; 9am-8pm) Internet access and business centre.
Main post & telephone office (pr Kosta; internet per MB R3, per hr R20; 8am-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & Sun)
SIGHTS
Most postcards of Vladikavkaz show the Sunni mosque, 100m from the Hotel Vladikavkaz beside the Terek. It’s the most eye-catching building in town with its blue dome, twin towers and 300 Koranic inscriptions on the walls, but is utterly atypical. It was built in 1906–08 by a Baku oil magnate.
Take a stroll along the main street, pr Mira, which is partially pedestrianised and lined with turn-of-the-20th-century buildings. The North Ossetia History, Architecture & Literature Museum (535 824; pr Mira 11; admission R15; 10am-6pm) has some amazingly deformed old Alany skulls among other archaeological treasures.
Walk south on pr Mira to pl Shtyba and cross the bridge over the Terek for prime views of the giant cliffs looming to the south.
SLEEPING
Kadgaron (547 879; ul Markova 20a; s/d R900/1100, polu-lyux R1800) Friendly service and attractive interior design make up for the somewhat poor location near the train station. Stick to standard rooms as the polu-lyux are not a huge upgrade. A Chinese restaurant, sports bar, minimart and currency exchange are attached.
Hotel Vladikavkaz (752 028; ul Kotsoeva 75; s/d from R1250/1500) This ominous Soviet-built structure is the most service-oriented hotel of the lot, although the rooms are a bit overpriced. Those facing south have good views of Mt Kazbek on clear days. Rooms have been renovated but remain pretty small.
Hotel Imperial (547 474; www.intourist-ossetia.ru; r from R1300) In a stately 120-year-old building, the Imperial exudes Victorian panache. Rooms show their age but the antique furniture and exquisite wall-to-wall carpeting give them character. Receptionists speak English and breakfast costs extra.
EATING & DRINKING
Pizza-like Ossetian pirogi (pies) are similar to Georgian khachapuri, only more sinfully delicious. The three main varieties of pirogi are olibakh (cheese), sakharadzhin (cheese and beet leaves), and fidzhin (meat). Most outdoor cafés serve them, including those around the pond in Khetagurova Park, which is directly across the river from the Sunni Mosque. Wash them down with the local beer, Daryal.
Bavaria Garden Restaurant (506 070; pr Mira 19; mains R200-400) The flagship of the local Bavaria chain touts the use of centuries-old recipes to prepare delicious mains, like trout in Ossetian wine sauce. Summer seating is outdoors in traditional-style Alaniya huts. There’s live Ossetian tanz music most nights, segueing into a disco at weekends.
Getting There & Around
S7 has daily flights to Moscow from the airport (723 815) in nearby Beslan, but tickets are expensive (from R8000). Consider flying out of Mineralnye Vody.
Train 33 trundles to Moscow (R4000, 37 hours, daily), while the train 689 services Sochi (R1760, 17 hours, daily). Both go via Mineralnye Vody, and there’s also a daily elektrichka to Mineralnye Vody (R100, 3½ hours).
The best way to Nalchik is via frequent marshrutky (R140, 1½ hours) from Bus Station No 1 (741 279; Arkhonskoe sh).
Local Bus Station No 2 (Pushkinskaya ul) near the central market has buses to Tsey, Verkhny Fiagdon and Dargavs.
Trams 2, 4 and 5 link the train station with pr Mira.
Around Vladikavkaz
There’s predictably good trekking in the valleys south and southwest of Vladikavkaz, but the border situation is tenuous and there are questions about whether foreigners are allowed in these valleys (Click here). Trekking here should be undertaken only with proper border permits and permission from the migration service (OVIR). There are no restrictions on tourists visiting Beslan.
KURTATI VALLEY & DARGAVS
Куртатинское Ущелье и Даргавс
Cutting south from the suburb of Dzuarikau along the Fiagdon River, the Kurtati Valley starts off like just another Greater Caucasus ushchelie – green hills rising up to tremendous mesas to one side, babbling brook to the other, the road ahead periodically blocked by herds of livestock. There’s little evidence that you’re heading for an archaeological treasure trove until you get to Dzivgis, where a striking rock fortress, off limits to visitors, is etched into the cliffs behind the village.
Heading south from Dzivgis, the verdant, strikingly austere landscape sprouts crumbling 17th-century watchtowers amid the stone remains of long-extinct villages. Approaching Verkhny Fiagdon, Mt Dzhimara (4780m) and the high peaks of the Greater Caucasus come into view. West of Verkhny Fiagdon you can walk to the old main settlement of Tsmiti, with several partially intact dwellings and towers.
In this land of impossible beauty, a monster lurks: Stalin, cast in bronze, living in anonymity along the roadside just outside Verkhny Fiagdon. Statues of the Georgian tyrant are exceedingly rare in Russia outside North Ossetia, where many admire him for deporting the hated Ingush more than 50 years ago (there’s another Stalin statue in Beslan).
The best is for last: an Ossetian city of the dead near the village of Dargavs, 12km east of Verkhny Fiagdon. The two dozen or so mausoleums that dot the hillside here are architecturally unusual (with pleated roofs resembling medieval battle helmets) and structurally impressive (they are over 400 years old), and relate a horrific tale. These huts were the last refuge of plague victims in the 17th century. The victims voluntarily quarantined themselves within their walls and patiently awaited their fate, subsisting only on meagre rations of bread brought in by sympathetic locals. Then they died. Their corpses were left to rot inside these huts, where they remain, virtually untouched, today. Some of the bodies, visible through small portals, are half-mummified. Most have been reduced to skulls and bones.
There are several clusters of such mausoleums scattered across Ossetia (you’ll notice a few at the south end of Dzivgis), but Dargavs is the most impressive because of the large number of mausoleums and the absolutely stunning scenery. Overlooking the verdant Gizeldon River valley, with several cliffs and 4000m peaks looming above (one has to think such a beautiful spot was not chosen coincidentally), they are a sight to behold.
It was a popular area in Soviet times but nowadays tourists are few and far between. The lack of other souls only adds to Dargavs’ power and eeriness.
Dargavs and Verkhny Fiagdon are serviced by marshrutky from Vladikavkaz, but for day trips you’re better off with a taxi (return R1000).
TSEY Цей
We were unable to visit Tsey because of restrictions on foreigners entering the Ardon Valley. Check whether those restrictions have been lifted before heading out here. Reports and photos suggest an alpine paradise similar to Dombay, only with much less development. Also in Tsey is the wooden Rekom Church, one of Ossetia’s most revered shrines. Probably built in the 15th to 16th century, it’s dedicated to St George but may have originally been a ram cult shrine. Two alplagery (alpinist camps) at the foot of the Tsey Glacier provide cheap accommodation.
BESLAN Беслан
86722 / pop 36,000 / Moscow
Beslan, like Dargavs, tells a horrific tale – only one that took place more recently. A visit to Beslan is incredibly moving. Since the siege (Click here), the school has scarcely been touched. A glass cover has been put over the gymnasium where many victims – mostly school kids – perished when the roof caught fire and collapsed. Photos and poems dedicated to their memory line the gymnasium walls in a poignant, spontaneous shrine.
The rest of the school rooms also remain frozen in time. The elements have taken over and rubble is everywhere. A coat hangs in one classroom; in another there’s still writing on the blackboard.
It’s a memorial of immense power, precisely because there is no actual memorial – just photos, poems, flowers and a palpable, almost overwhelming aura or grief. Be prepared to experience a range of emotions. You may find it difficult to leave, even as part of you wonders why you came in the first place. You’ll probably feel like a voyeur for taking photos. But you won’t need photos to remember Beslan.
The victims are buried in a cemetery, also moving, near the airport.
Beslan is best reached by taxi from Vladikavkaz (R200 round trip).
CHECHNYA, DAGESTAN & INGUSHETIA Leonid Ragozin
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WHY DOES LONELY PLANET NOT COVER THESE AREAS?
The active phase of the Chechen conflict (Click here) is over – or the conflict has entered its dormant phase. Whichever way you put it, travelling in the northeast Caucasus is like walking in a minefield: it might seem pleasant at times…until you take a wrong step. Besides, as the picture has been getting brighter for Chechnya, it has been getting grimmer for Dagestan and Ingushetia. It can be safely said that all three republics are at this point equally dangerous.
WHY ARE THEY DANGEROUS?
Every week brings reports of shootings and bombings in one, two or all three republics. Civilians are regularly killed or injured. Kidnapping has also become a lucrative business, and many foreigners kidnapped during the two Chechen wars were brutally killed after months of torture. As a foreigner, your ‘price’ is much higher than that of any Russian or local, so even though there has been a substantial decrease in the number of kidnappings, it is still a serious danger.
CHECHNYA
The current Chechen leader is Ramzan Kadyrov. Younger, less experienced and less educated than the previous Chechen leaders, he has managed to do what the others failed to do: unite Chechen society, although the methods he has used are questionable. He has been accused by Human Rights Watch of brutal persecution of his enemies.
Born in 1976, Kadyrov was with the rebels from the start of the first war: his father, mufti Akhmad Kadyrov, was the spiritual leader of the separatists. But as the second war began, Akhmad switched sides and was put in charge of Chechnya by Putin; he was killed by a terrorist bomb at the 9 May (Victory Day) parade in 2004. Ramzan was immediately promoted to prime minister and was sworn in as Chechnya’s president in 2007.
Kadyrov goes to great lengths to prove that Chechnya is a normal place – from holding a rock concert with major Russian stars to welcoming Mike Tyson in Grozny. He is intent on rebuilding the republic, and it is slowly becoming more habitable. Kadyrov has pledged to turn Chechnya into a tourist mecca, having ordered the restoration of two former training camps of the Soviet rowing team, located at high-altitude lakes. In October 2008, Kadyrov opened a giant mosque in Grozny. Lavishly decorated with gold and precious stones, it is capable of holding 10,000 people and is claimed to be the largest in Europe.
INGUSHETIA
Ingushetia emerged as a political entity in 1991 when the Soviet Checheno-Ingush republic split. When the Chechens proclaimed independence, the Ingush leader General Ruslan Aushev decided to maintain neutrality between Moscow and Grozny. The Ingush were already engaged in a conflict with the Ossetians, who had forced thousands of ethnic Ingush to flee to areas surrounding Vladikavkaz.
Already full with its own refugees, Ingushetia sheltered the majority of refugees from Chechnya. Although the war did spill into the republic from time to time, Aushev’s policy saved the region from major hostilities, and he’s revered as a national hero by the Ingush.
Things changed after the Beslan school siege (Click here), which the Ossetians largely blamed on the Ingush rather than Chechens. Soon after, Putin cancelled the elections of regional leaders and subsequently forced Aushev to resign. Loyal ex-KGB officer Murat Zyazikov was appointed the head of Ingushetia. His heavy-handed policies resulted in a severe deterioration. In June 2008 Human Rights Watch accused security forces of carrying out human rights abuses and warned about the possibility of a full-scale armed conflict in Ingushetia. A month later, Ruslan Aushev said he will be ‘with his people’ if such a conflict begins. The situation reached boiling point in September 2008, after a prominent critic of Zyazikov, Ingushetia.ru editor Magomed Yevloyev, was killed by an ‘accidental shot’ to the head after being forced into one of the presidential motorcade cars. Moscow defused the seemingly imminent conflict by firing Zyazikov and replacing him with another general, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, who started by appointing people associated with Aushev to key government posts.
DAGESTAN
The Dagestani underground is a bit of a mystery. The pro-Russian authorities insist that it consists of hardline Al Qaeda–type radicals financed from abroad, while sympathisers claim that these people simply protest against police brutality and corruption. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. In a region with dozens of different ethnic groups, as well as numerous political, business and criminal clans, many people see Islam as a unifying force capable of eradicating clan feuds and corruption.
WHO ARE THE CHECHENS, THE INGUSH & THE DAGESTANI?
The Chechen, Dagestani, Ingush and other groups in the northwest Caucasus are known in Russia by the common name gortsy (highlanders). By reputation they are very proud, independent-minded and unruly. They live by strict codes of honour and revenge, and clan-oriented blood feuds are well entrenched in their patriarchal culture. Most of them are Sunni Muslims. Dagestan, which means ‘mountain country’ in Turkish, is an ethnographic wonder, populated by no fewer than 81 ethnic groups of different origins speaking 30 mostly endemic languages.
In the 19th century the Dagestani-born religious leader Imam Shamil united most of the gortsy in a failed war against Russia. This kinship was broken during Soviet times, when Stalin exiled all Chechens and Ingush to Central Asia for alleged collaboration with the Germans during WWII. Returning after Khrushchev’s amnesty, many of them found the Dagestani occupying their land and houses. This created the bitterness between the groups that has increased since the Chechen incursion into Dagestan in 1999.
IF IT BECOMES SAFE TO TRAVEL THERE, WHAT IS THERE TO SEE?
Dagestan has the largest number of tourist sights of the three regions and is more likely to become a travel destination, although in the rather distant future. The 5000-year-old town of Derbent, listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site, is graced by a magnificent ancient fortress and boasts an interesting multicultural population of Mountain Jews and Lezgians. In more peaceful times hordes of Russian tourists also used to visit beautiful mountain villages such as Gunib (famous for its silverware), while others preferred to sunbathe on the sandy Caspian beaches.
In Soviet times, Checheno-Ingushetia was popular with hikers, who could see medieval clan towers standing amid the graceful mountain landscape, and trek over the Itum-Kale district’s mountain passes into Georgia. The Ingush castle of Vovnushki came close to being officially declared one of Russia’s seven wonders in an internet vote held in 2008 (see www.ruschudo.ru, in Russian).
FURTHER INFORMATION
Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya’s book A Dirty War, and Chienne de Guerre by another fearless female war reporter, Anne Niva, are both available in English and are worth reading, as is Conversation with a Barbarian by Paul Klebnikov. Politkovskaya and Klebnikov top the list of journalists killed in Russia in recent years. Both murders have been linked to their work in the Caucasus.
You can also find useful information on the following websites:
Free Chechnya (www.chechnyafree.ru/index.php?lng=eng) This pro-Moscow site has tonnes of information on Chechen life, as well as downloadable Chechen tunes for mobile phones.
Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org/campaigns/russia/chechnya/) Remains a vocal defender of Chechen civilians against all sides in the conflict.
War and Peace Reporting (www.iwpr.net/caucasus_index1.html) London-based institute with a network of stringers in the North Caucasus who provide an unbiased and detailed look at recent developments in the region.
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Western Siberia Западная Сибирь
TYUMEN & OMSK REGIONS ТЮМЕНСКАЯ И ОМСКАЯ ОБЛАСТИ
NOVOSIBIRSK & TOMSK REGIONS НОВОСИБИ-РСКАЯ И ТОМСКАЯ ОБЛАСТИ
ALONG THE KATUN RIVER TO CHEMAL
Stretching from the Urals to the mining towns of Novokuznetsk and Kemerovo via the mountains and rivers of Altai, Western Siberia encapsulates Russia’s great cultural, natural and ethnic diversity. Crossing the Urals has always been as much a mental step as a physical one, and on the journey one sees the influence and reach of Moscow noticeably begin to wane.
Omsk and Novosibirsk are large, ostensibly grim Soviet-designed cities, but scratch beneath the surface and a number of monuments, museums and parks make the concrete chaos well worth a visit. Of much more appeal, however, are Tobolsk and Tomsk. The former, one-time capital of the whole of Siberia, is home to one of Russia’s most famous kremlins, as well as a lively artistic community. Tomsk is without doubt one of the region’s, if not Russia’s, most attractive cities, a student town whose pleasant and picturesque wooden buildings house a growing number of quality cafés and restaurants. Both Novokuznetsk and Kemerovo saw massive construction during Soviet times; the cities boast wide Stalin-era streets and monuments to socialist worker heroes. Some three hours’ drive outside Novokuznetsk is the ski resort of Sheregesh, its surrounding hills and mountains breathtaking in both winter and summer.
The stunning underbelly of the region, the beautiful Altai Mountains, are home to lush forests and eternally snow-capped peaks, as well as centuries-old standing stone idols and long winding passes through magnificently desolate landscapes.
For all its attractions, Western Siberia is not the easiest place in which to travel. Visitors need to speak at least rudimentary Russian and be willing to rough it at times. Although prices are on the rise, the area is still a lot cheaper than European Russia.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Explore the dishevelled old town of Tobolsk (Click here), Siberia’s former capital
- Discover the historic centre of Omsk (Click here) and try to count the city’s many Lenin statues
- Take a stroll through the student town of Tomsk (Click here) and its picturesque wooden homes
- Go hiking or rafting in the unforgettable wilderness of the Altai Mountains (Click here)
- Pay your respects at the monuments to Soviet worker heroes in the mining towns of Novokuznetsk (Click here) and Kemerovo (Click here)
- Check out the ski resort at Sheregesh, popular with Russia’s skiers and snowboarders (Click here)
History
Siberia’s early Altaic people were conceivably progenitors of the Inuit-Arctic cultures and of the Mongol-Turkic groups, which expanded in westbound waves with Attila, Chinggis (Genghis) Khaan and Timur (Tamerlane). The name Siberia comes from Sibir, a Turkic khanate and successor-state to the Golden Horde that ruled the region following Timur’s 1395 invasion. From 1563, Sibir started raiding what were then Russia’s easternmost flanks. A Volga brigand called Yermak Timofeevich was sent to counter-attack. Though he had only 840 Cossack fighters, the prospect of battle seemed better than the tsar’s death sentence that hung over him. With the unfair advantage of firearms, the tiny Cossack force managed to conquer Tyumen in 1580, turning Yermak into a Russian hero. Two years later Yermak occupied Sibir’s capital Isker, near today’s Tobolsk. Russia’s extraordinary eastward expansion had begun.
Initially, small Cossack units would set up an ostrog (fortress) at key river junctions. Local tribes would then be compelled to supply Muscovite fur traders, and villages slowly developed. Full-blown colonisation only started during the chaotic Time of Troubles (1606–1613) as Russian peasants fled east in great numbers, bringing with them the diseases and alcohol that would subsequently decimate the natives. Meanwhile, settler numbers were swollen by exiled prisoners, and Old Believers seeking religious sanctuary. The construction of the first railways across Siberia in the late 19th century transformed the area. Many of today’s cities, such as Novosibirsk in 1893, were founded as the rail lines stretched east.
After the October Revolution of 1917, anti-Bolshevik resistance briefly found a home in Western Siberia, and Omsk was the centre of Admiral Kolchak’s White Russia from 1918 to 1919. As the USSR grew into a superpower, the area saw more than its fair share of Stalin’s notorious Gulag camps. Nonetheless unforced colonisation continued apace as patriotic workers and volunteer labourers undertook grandiose engineering projects, such as the construction virtually from scratch of Novokuznetsk. The area also saw an influx of pro-Soviet Westerners determined to ‘build socialism’. Many quickly left, but some ended up in the Gulags.
During WWII much heavy industry was shifted to the area, to cities like Omsk, for strategic purposes. Vast numbers of young men from the region left for the front and many German prisoners of war were set to work building cities such as Kemerovo – the results of their labour can still be seen today.
Since the USSR’s collapse in 1991, certain settlements built with Soviet disregard for economic logic have withered into gloomy virtual ghost towns. In contrast, discoveries of vast oil and gas deposits in the area have proven Russia’s greatest economic asset. Today, Western Siberia’s petroleum and gas provide the wealth that is visibly transforming not only the region’s most prosperous cities, notably Tyumen and Novosibirsk, but indeed Russia itself. The region’s new found wealth has not come without tragedy, however. In March 2007 a methane gas blast tore through the Ulyanovskaya mine in Novokuznetsk and around 100 miners lost their lives.
Climate
Siberia. Impossibly cold, right? Well, not necessarily. In some years February can dip to -50°C, which is too cold to do anything. However, March is arguably the best time to visit Siberia, with temperatures oscillating between -5°C and -25°C. On windless, sunny days the latter can even feel pleasant; the snow is crisp underfoot and you’ll feel comfy if you’re properly wrapped up in good ski wear and gloves. There’s not really any spring. One day it’s suddenly 10°C and the compacted blackened snow on the city pavements melts into slush. All those ski clothes soon feel far too warm and by midsummer temperatures can top 35°C. Air is obviously cooler and fresher in the Altai, though rain there is always possible. In the brief autumn, colours can be beautiful but the seasonal transition is similarly abrupt, albeit with some false starts.
Getting There & Away
TO/FROM RUSSIA
Several Western Siberian cities have air connections to Germany (from €500 return, Click here), the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Far East. Flying from Ürümqi (western China) to Novosibirsk handily saves getting a Kazakhstan transit visa.
The vast majority of international train connections go via Novosibirsk. Two trains run daily between Novosibirsk and Almaty, Kazakhstan (R1446, 37 hours) and three times a week to/from Beijing (from R10,000, 87 hours, Thursday, Friday and Saturday) via Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia.
For all routes a nearby road border allows hop-across independent travel. One exciting, if challenging, option is the rough road between Kosh-Agach and Olgii (Mongolia) via Tashanta.
WITHIN RUSSIA
If you book around four weeks in advance, air tickets from Moscow to Novosibirsk can sometimes cost around R7000 – that’s cheaper than some trains. See KrasAir (www.krasair.ru) and S7 (www.s 7.ru).
First-time visitors often erroneously imagine that there’s only one ‘Trans-Siberian’ train running between Moscow and Vladivostok. In fact there are dozens operating along sections of the route. In summer several extra cross-Ural services connect from various Siberian cities to Adler (near Sochi) and Kislovodsk (a Caucasus spa). Beware that certain routes cut through a corner of Kazakhstan, with potentially catastrophic consequences for your visas (which cover only Russia).
TYUMEN & OMSK REGIONS ТЮМЕНСКАЯ И ОМСКАЯ ОБЛАСТИ
The highlight of these regions is undoubtedly the charming, if tiny, former regional capital of Tobolsk. With its magnificent kremlin and welcoming, thriving artist community, the town makes a lasting and positive impression on visitors. En route, Tyumen is a fine example of a booming Siberian oil town, while Omsk hides its old-town charms behind a host of Lenin statues and construction sites.
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TYUMEN ТЮМЕНЬ
3452 / pop 507,000 / Moscow +2hr
Founded in 1586, Tyumen was the first Russian fort in Siberia. These days the city exudes a sense of growing prosperity as the booming capital of a vast, oil-rich oblast (region) stretching all the way to the Arctic Circle. The city has a businesslike drive and youthful bustle, best experienced by strolling through the newly pedestrianised City Park when the weather is good. Pleasant and liveable, Tyumen has tree-lined streets and a number of attractively ramshackle pre-Soviet buildings amid all the new construction and trendy boutiques, but if you have limited time you’d be better off seeing Tobolsk instead.
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Orientation
From the fine Trinity Monastery to well beyond the bus station, the main thoroughfare is ul Respubliki. The train station lies around 1km south of ul Respubliki at the end of ul Pervomayskaya.
MAPS
City maps and bus-route plans are sold at Knizhny Magazin (Poliklinika Bldg, Privokzalnaya ul 28a; 8.30am-6pm Mon-Sat, 9am-4pm Sun) near the train station and more expensively at Knizhnaya Stolitsa (ul Respubliki 58; 10am-7pm). They can also be found at newspaper kiosks throughout the city.
Information
Main post office (ul Respubliki 56; 8am-8pm Mon-Sat, 9am-6pm Sun)
Telephone office (ul Respubliki 51; internet per 30min R25; 24hr)
Tyumen.ru (www.tyumen.ru, in Russian) Has air and railway timetables plus information on local weather, cinema listings, etc.
Web Khauz (ul Respubliki 61; internet per hr R40; 11am-8pm) Down the stairs to the left, follow the blue signs.
Sights
TRINITY MONASTERY
Riverside Trinity Monastery (ul Kommunisticheskaya 10) is undoubtedly Tyumen’s most appealing architectural complex. Its kremlin-style crenellated outer wall is pierced by a single gate-tower. Behind, black and gold domes top the striking 1727 Peter & Paul Church. Its soaring interior is emphasised by a giant, seven-level candelabra and decorated with murals. Buses 14 and 30 from the city centre stop between here and the attractive 1791 Krestovozdvizhenskaya Church (ul Lunacharskogo 1). Backlit at sunset, the monastery domes glow majestically when viewed from near the Ukrainian consulate ( 464 076; ul Semakova 4). It’s even more photogenic seen across the ferric-brown river from tree-lined ul Bergovaya with its sprinkling of curiously twisted old wooden houses (notably numbers 73 and 53).
OTHER CHURCHES
With its voluptuously curved baroque towers, the 1786 Znamensky Cathedral (ul Semakova 13) is the most memorable of a dozen ‘old’ churches which are slowly coming back to life following years of Soviet and Yeltsin-era neglect. Saviour’s Church (Spasskaya tserkov; ul Lenina) is structurally similar but lacks the quiet backstreet location. The attractive Archangel Mikhail Church (ul Turgeneva) sits at the top of a hill leading down to streets full of even more old wooden houses. The recently restored Simeon Bogopriimtsa Church (ul Respubliki) has brought new character to the central Skver Nemetsova gardens while the 1789 Voznesensko-Georgievskaya Church (ul Bergovaya 77) has risen phoenixlike from the tatty riverside factory of which it once formed a part.
MUSEUMS
The Fine Arts Museum (Muzey izobrazitelnykh iskusstv; 469 115; ul Ordzhonikidze 47; admission R50; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) has an impressive and eclectic collection, ranging from ornate window frames saved from the city’s old wooden houses to tiny, intricately carved bone figures produced by Siberian artists. Look out for the original Kandinsky canvas.
Near Hotel Vostok, the Geological Museum (Muzey Geologi; Nefti i Gaza; 751 138; ul Respubliki 142; admission R40; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) is one of the best of its type, with three floors of minerals and petroleum-related exhibits. The 4th floor has ethnographic displays. Immediately south is a unique modern war memorial in the shape of a gigantic metal candle.
TICK WARNING
The encephalitis threat (Click here) is often underestimated in Siberia (both Western and Eastern). The ticks (kleshchi) that spread this nasty disease are alarmingly plentiful from May to July. The threat is worst in the taiga, especially in Altai, but ticks have even been found in city parks. Don’t panic, but do cover up and be vigilant. Good anti-tick sprays and creams are available in big cities.
ARCHITECTURAL ATTRACTIONS
A sprinkling of centuries-old buildings add a certain charm to the northwesterly stretches of uls Lenin and Respubliki. Most eye-catching is the blue Selskhoz Academy (ul Respubliki 7), a brick mansion that was originally a school museum. Its biggest claim to fame is being the hiding spot for Lenin during WWII. Yes, he was already dead! His embalmed body was evacuated here from Moscow for safe keeping. To the right of the academy is a Civil War monument dedicated to the locals who died during battles against the western-backed White Army immediately after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Directly opposite this is a WWII ‘students’ monument, built in memory of those Tyumen students who failed to return from ‘the Great Patriotic War’. The statue, featuring a soldier-student bidding farewell to a loved one, was unveiled in 1991 shortly before the collapse of the USSR, having been financed by donations from friends and relatives of the deceased.
A large Lenin statue commands Tsentralnaya pl, flanked by the sturdy buildings of the Tyumen Oblast Parliament and the former House of Soviets, now a local government administrative building. A tall WWII monolith makes a popular site for wedding photos. The wooden Marsharov House-Museum (461 310; ul Lenina 24; admission R40; 9.30am-12.30pm & 1.30-4.30pm Wed-Sun), with its original furnishings, and the sweet little House-Museum of 19th- & 20th-Century History (Istoriya Adnovo Doma; 464 963; ul Respubliki 18; admission R50; 9.30am-4.30pm Tue-Sun) in Tyumen’s finest carved cottage are both well worth a visit. At times fascinatingly interspersed with brand-new structures, there are other delightful wooden homes on cross streets such as ul Turgenyeva and notably at ul Semakova 1.
OTHER SIGHTS
Take a stroll in the City Park (Svetnoi Bulvar) and try to find the outrageous billboard declaring (in Russian) without a trace of irony that ‘Tyumen is the best city in the world’. The park also contains a big wheel and other fairground attractions, as well as a number of Western-style fast food cafés serving, as a local taxi driver told us, ‘burgers, fries, and all that crap’. There is also a strangely captivating mural based around the themes of time and fire at the intersection of ul 50, Let Oktyabrya and Profsoyuznaya.
Sleeping
Warning! Hotels in Tyumen will only accept foreigners if they have booked in advance via an officially recognised travel agency. The only exception to this rule is the city’s most expensive hotel, Hotel Tyumen, which has ‘come to a deal with the local authorities,’ and is able to provide accommodation to anyone who turns up with the required R6000 or so.
Hotel GUBD (247 434; ul Sovetskaya 124; s/tw without bathroom R400/520, s/tw with bathroom R750/950) Tyumen’s best-value budget hotel has no frills yet clean rooms and is very central, if unaccustomed to foreigners. Often full, so book well ahead!
Hotel Vostok (205 350; fax 206 124; ul Respubliki 159; s/tw R850/1000) In a lively area just east of the city centre, this vast Soviet monster has repainted but tired rooms with shabby private bathrooms. The cheapest single/double options are priced at R700/800 and come without TVs. A few singles at R1350 are more comfortable and sensibly priced.
Hotel Tura (/fax 282 209; ul Melnikayte 103a; s/tw/d R1370/1950/2160) This relatively small, well-kept hotel near the Vostok has pleasant, subdued rooms with shower booths. An unspectacular breakfast is included in the price.
Hotel Neftyanik (461 687; fax 460 021; ul Chelyuskintsev 12; s/tw/d R1400/2000/2500) Boasting a newly built 6th floor, this concrete block has the best position for visiting the nicer old-town areas. Double rooms have sitting areas with comfy sofas.
Prezident Hotel (/fax 494 747; ul Respubliki 33; s/d/ste R3200/4000/5500) Reached by a glass elevator through the atrium of the self-proclaimed ‘World Trade Centre’, the good-value rooms are fully equipped but lacking in charm.
Hotel Tyumen (494 040; www.hoteltyumen.ru/en/; ul Ordzhonikidze 46; s/d R5900/7900) Nicknamed ‘Quality Hotel’. Typical international business standards come complete with a gift shop and great restaurants. The complimentary breakfast is possibly the finest in the whole of Siberia.
Eating & Drinking
Pinta Taverna (250 220; ul Dzerzhinskogo 38; meals R250-400, beer R60-100; 11am-2am) Waitresses in peasant costumes and a stunted model cow star in this cosy farmyard-styled cellar restaurant beneath the Vulkan slot-machine casino.
Teatralnoe Café (ul Respubliki 36/1; meals R350-550) This refined theatre-themed café features tasty cakes, warming soups (try the solyanka – a soup of pickled vegetables, meat and potato, R90) and a wide selection of teas and coffee. The bland pizzas are to be avoided.
Yermolaevo ( 251 208; ul Kirova 37; meals R500-700; beer R90-140) This spacious new bar-restaurant is done up in a wooden, rustic style and serves filling traditional Russian meals. The Siberian mushroom soup (R60) is recommended. Also serves kvas (a drink of fermented rye bread water) to write home about and a large selection of beers, including some homebrewed options.
Serebryany Vek ( 242 212; ul Turgenova 19; meals R500-700) Opposite the Archangel Mikhail Church, this squeaky-clean cellar lounge café-restaurant offers a wide range of meals, including good fish dishes and draught beers (R90 to R150).
Kofeynya (ul Semakova 19; espresso R60; 8am-11pm) Tyumen’s top coffee house has an astonishing range of special grinds, delicious cakes and maté teas served in curious, wooden bulbs shaped like opium pipes, just as they are in South America.
If you’re out strolling in the City Park, pop into the great value Snack Bar opposite the circus (meals R250-400; beer R70-100) for shashlyk or pelmeni (meat ravioli). Alternatively try the nearby Kafe Sad (ul Lenina 61; meals R200-350, snacks R50-100, beer R60-100). Featuring a garden area when the weather is good, this cheap unpretentious bar-café serves the usual shashlyk, beer and vodka, as well as dried squid or fish snacks.
Getting There & Away
AIR
There are four daily flights to Moscow (R4300 to R7000, three hours), two direct flights a week to St Petersburg (R8021, Thursday and Sunday, 3½ hours) and daily flights to Irkutsk (R10,070, nine hours) There are also international connections to Baku (R10,960, Wednesday) and Munich (R11,328, Tuesday and Friday). Tickets are sold by UTair Aerokassa (453 131; ul Pervomayskaya 58a; 8am-8pm) opposite the train station and by Transagenststvo (ul Respubliki 156; 8am-8pm), which also sells train tickets.
BUS
From the bus station (ul Permyakova), 3km east of the centre, seven daily buses to Tobolsk (R275, five hours) travel via Pokrovskoe (R95, 1¾ hours).
TRAIN
Useful overnight rail connections include Omsk (R1466, 8½ hours, 11.23pm) and Kazan (R2471, 24 hours, 5.36pm). Seven daily trains (4½ hours) serve Tobolsk; a platskart (3rd-class ticket) is around R300, depending on the train. The most convenient leaves at 7.10am. The ticket offices are just inside the entrance to the newly renovated station, on the right.
Getting Around
Tyumen’s Roshchino Airport (496 450; www.roshino.askar.ru, in Russian) is 30km west of the centre. Take marshrutka 35 (R20 plus R10 per bag, 40 minutes) from outside Transagenststvo, which leaves within 20 minutes of the first passenger getting aboard (first 7am, last 8.40pm). Taxis to the city centre cost around R400 to R600, depending on your haggling skills.
From the train station, bus 25 serves Hotel Vostok and passes near the bus station – hop off at the Neptun/Stroitel stop, walk a block east and cross the big cloverleaf junction of uls Permyakova and Respubliki. Taxis between the bus and train stations cost R100.
Bus 13 from the train station loops around to the Hotel Neftyanik; switch to frequent buses 30 or 14 in front of the Prezident Hotel for Trinity Monastery. These follow ul Respubliki westbound but return along ul Lenina.
TOBOLSK ТОБОЛЬСК
3456 / pop 101,000 / Moscow +2hr
Once Siberia’s capital, Tobolsk is one of the region’s most historic cities, sporting a handsome kremlin (recently voted the area’s number one sight in a nationwide vote to find the new ‘seven wonders of Russia’) and a charmingly decrepit old town. Tobolsk is off the trans-Siberian main line but direct overnight trains to both Yekaterinburg and Omsk make stopping here a perfectly viable option when crossing Russia.
Tobolsk’s strategic importance started to wane in the 1760s, when it was bypassed by the new Great Siberian Trakt (post road). However, until the early 20th century it remained significant as a centre for both learning and exile. Involuntary guests included Fyodor Dostoevsky en route to exile in Omsk, and deposed Tsar Nicholas II, who spent several doomed months here in 1917.
The city was also the site of Soviet-era experiments to find a vaccine for anthrax, and the corpses of many of the horses used in the trials are buried in a mass grave near the Irtysh River – a potential time bomb that locals are understandably extremely worried about.
On a lighter note, the city is also home to a thriving community of artists, many of whom are willing and pleased to make the acquaintance of visitors to the town. Hospitable Muslim Tatars still form 30% of Tobolsk’s population, a large number of them living in the quaint, if mosquito-blighted, old town. A handy Tatar greeting is istimissis (hello); thank you is rakhmat.
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Orientation
Buses from the inconvenient train station (some 10km north) give visitors a dismal first impression. Concrete drabness reaches a glum centre around the Hotel Slavyanskaya, but don’t be put off. Tobolsk’s glories begin 3km further south around the splendid kremlin. Immediately beyond and below the kremlin, the old town sinks photogenically into the Irtysh’s boggy flood plain.
Information
Post office (Komsomolsky pr 42; 8am-6pm) Has an attached telephone office.
Servis Tsentr (internet per hr R30; 8am-10pm) Behind the telephone office.
Tyumen Energo Bank
9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-2pm Sat) In the white building behind ul Oktyabrskaya 13. Good US dollar and euro rates.
Sights
KREMLIN
Within the tower-studded 18th-century walls of the kremlin ( grounds 8am-8pm) are the intriguing but disused Trading Arches (Gostiny Dvor) and the glorious 1686 St Sofia Cathedral. Less eye-catching from the outside, but with splendid arched ceiling murals, is the 1746 Intercession Cathedral (Pokrovsky sobor). Between the two is a 1799 bell tower, built for the Uglich bell, which famously signalled a revolt against Tsar Boris Godunov. The revolt failed; in a mad fury Godunov ordered the bell to be publicly flogged, de-tongued and banished to Tobolsk for its treacherous tol-ling. A tatty copy of the bell is displayed in the Museum of the Spiritual Cultures of Western Siberia (323 715; admission R20; 10am-4pm Wed-Sun), an otherwise entertaining museum within the elegant Arkhiereysky mansion. The upper storey has a stylishly re-created 19th-century drawing room as well as plenty of stuffed animals. The middle floor has a chum (tepee-shaped tent made of birch bark) amid some interesting ethnographic items.
SIBERIAN FOLK ARTIST: MINSALIM TIMERGAZEEV
Local Tobolsk folk artist Minsalim Timergazeev is an inspiringly spiritual Tatar eccentric with wild-flowing grey hair. In his art he utilises the techniques of the original Siberian peoples to carve tiny, intricate figures out of mammoth and reindeer bone dug up from the surrounding taiga.
‘I grew up here’, Minsalim tells me, as we stand in the building that houses his studio and gallery. ‘I’m an orphan,’ he goes on, ‘and this was a children’s home in the Soviet period. They closed it in the late ’70s, when they were sure that there would be no more need for places like this under communism.’ He laughs. ‘We were all dreaming of our futures, dreaming of travelling to foreign lands and so on. We were all also ready to work hard, though, all prepared for labour. And so I set about learning a trade…’
His art is also a family business, and the studio offers courses in bone-carving and Siberian art for tourists from ‘all over Russia and Europe’.
‘Especially Scandinavian countries, there is a real link between Siberian mythology and the myths of the peoples of the north’, explains Minsalim.
Minsalim’s art is more than a way to earn a living, however. ‘The whole philosophy of Siberian shamanism and mythology has formed an integral part of my life’, he tells me.
Was it, I wondered, a problem to practise Siberian folk art in the atheist Soviet era?
‘Of course’, says Minsalim. ‘It was extremely difficult to practise anything connected with religion.’
Minsalim is very fond of the English queen. ‘Why?’ I ask him. ‘We don’t have a monarchy’, he replies. ‘You always want what you do not have’, he expounds, eyes sparkling.
‘I’ve done a piece of work dedicated to Putin too’, he says, suddenly.
‘Putin?’
‘It’s a fundamental part of Siberian mythology that a benevolent leadership will one day return rule the land’, he continues, clearing away some boxes and tools to reveal a small figure. Proud, slightly chubby, steely eyed, it is clearly Russia’s second president.
‘Putin has rescued Russia, like a warrior of old’, he says, almost reverently. We sit in silence and gaze at the bone talisman.
What, I wonder, does he make of Dmitry Medvedev?
Minsalim waves a hand in dismissal. ‘Nothing’, he answers. ‘Putin will come back to power soon enough.’
Minsalim Timergazeev is an established part of the Tobolsk artist community, and a man with deep roots in the region.
The eerie 1855 Tyuremny Zamok (Krasnaya pl 5; admission R20; 10am-4pm Wed-Sun) was once a holding prison. Tsarist exiles were temporarily incarcerated here awaiting a final destination for their banishment.
OUTSIDE THE KREMLIN
Built in 1887 for the 300th anniversary of the founding of Tobolsk, the delightful Fine Art Museum (ul Oktyabrskaya 1; admission R40, video cameras R100; 10am-5pm Wed-Sun) was renovated in 2004 and soon after visited by Vladimir Putin and later by his successor, Dmitry Medvedev. Its celebrated collection of WWI-era Russian avant-garde canvases is arguably less interesting, however, than the fine display of bone carvings. Some of these are by local artist Minsalim Timergazeev (see boxed text, opposite) whose studio is attached to the nearby art shop Minsalim Folk Trade (240 909; [email protected]; ul Oktyabrskaya 2; admission free; 9am-5pm). Here Minsalim will happily demonstrate how he turns antler fragments into a range of detailed figures, as well as give visitors the low-down on Tobolsk’s history and culture. His son and some members of staff speak English.
The tiny but friendly Iska Yer ( 242 400; 4-iy Mikrorayon 10; 10am-8pm) Tatar cultural centre and shop sells traditional Tatar hats, music and Tatar-Russian dictionaries for anyone planning on a trip to Kazan. There are also plans to open a nearby café selling Tatar food.
OLD TOWN
Wooden stairs lead beneath the kremlin’s Pryamskoy Vzvoz (gatehouse) to the wonderfully dilapidated old town full of weather-beaten churches and angled wooden homes sinking between muddy lanes.
Near the little 1918 Victory Chapel, where uls Mira and Kirova meet at a small square, is the grand Mendeleyev mansion (ul Mira 9), which once housed the family of the famous scientist. The less-eye-catching Tobolsk Rayon Administration Building (ul Mira 10) was the home in exile of the last tsar, and where he was reportedly tortured, before his fateful journey to execution in Yekaterinburg. Upstairs, beyond a security check, one small room has been restored close to its 1917 appearance as the Tsar Nicholas II Office-Museum (Kabinet-muzey Imperatora Nikolaya II; 222 776; admission R20).
Two blocks east, the attractive Archangel Mikhail Church (ul Lenina 24) has a colourfully restored interior. The character of Tatiana Larina in Pushkin’s epic Eugene Onegin is said to have been modelled on Natalya Fonvizina, a Decembrist wife who prayed here when not cultivating pineapples in her hothouse. More photogenic is the somewhat derelict 1759 Zachary & Elisabeth Church (ul Bazarnaya pl) with soaring black-tipped spires. Beyond the main red-brick mosque (322 748; ul Pushkina 27), weave through the muddy lanes of attractive Tatar cottages to reach the equally splendid baroque shell of the Krestovozdvizhenskaya Church.
The Siberian-Tatar Cultural Centre (322 713; ul Yershova 30) has occasional exhibitions and Tatar musical shows.
Sleeping & Eating
Tobolsk, unsurprisingly for such a small town, does not boast many restaurants or cafés. However, central government has begun investing large amounts of money (‘More than the entire annual budget of Kazakhstan this year alone!’ one local boasted) in a bid to transform it into a thriving tourist centre, and the situation may well change in the near future.
Resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; 495 222; train station; dm R195) Clean and friendly, the location is utterly impractical for visiting the city but ideal if you’re arriving bleary-eyed off the Omsk train or awaiting the 5.23am service to Tyumen. Showers cost R35 extra.
Hotel Novy Tobol (246 614; ul Oktyabrskaya 20; s/tw /d R800/1650/1250) This somewhat dingy concrete slab has bathrooms in each of its old-style Soviet rooms. A few of the sad doubles have been cosmetically repapered. Music blares loud and late from the bar.
Hotel Sibir (222 390; pl Remezova 1; s R1200-1600, tw/ste R2400/2800) Across from the kremlin, this once budget hotel has recently been done up but is still good value. Rooms still have that ‘just refurnished’ feel about them, and the beds are comfortable. Rooms feature photos of the nearby kremlin at different times of the year. Rates include a good breakfast.
Hotel Slavyanskaya (399 101; www.slavjanskaya.ru, in Russian; 9-iy Mikro-Rayon, pr Mendeleeva; s/tw/d from R2200/4400/6000) Astonishingly well appointed for rural Siberia, the big, modern Slavyanskaya has fully Western-standard comforts. Its only disadvantage is the uninspiring new-town location. Wider beds are available for 10% extra. A few ‘imperfect’ rooms are significantly discounted. It has tennis, a great downstairs pub and a less appealing small nightclub.
Romanov Restaurant (399 104; meals R1000-1500; noon-11pm) Housed in Hotel Slavyanskaya, it features succulent 19th-century Russian dishes and is furnished with mock period furniture. The restaurant has a family portrait of Russia’s last tsar and his family on the ceiling, and Dmitry Medvedev visited here shortly after winning Russia’s 2008 presidential elections. Staff will happily, and proudly, show you where he sat!
Fiesta (Komsomolsky pr 2; meals R100-250). This midrange café has a pleasant summer beer terrace, but the music can get appallingly loud in the evenings. Food is a Siberian approximation of American fast food. There’s a R40 cover charge from 7pm on Friday and Saturday.
WHO IS THAT MAN?
Omsk is notable for its Lenin statues. While most Russian towns only have one or two, the rest having been torn down in the early 1990s, Omsk has at least five scattered around the city, including one right outside the main train station. This is not to say, however, that the youth of Omsk are entirely clued-up as to the identity of the balding, vaguely sinister-looking fellow who haunts their town, as we discovered during our visit.
‘Who’s that?’ asked a young boy, passing the statue near the station. ‘Lenin,’ his father replied. The boy thought, and then replied, ‘Ah, so that’s why they call it Prospekt Lenina.’ His father nodded. The young boy thought some more, and then posed a question that not so long ago would have been unthinkable. ‘But who’s Lenin?’ His father was, understandably, lost for words.
Indeed, recent Russian surveys carried out in schools have shown that the nation’s children know little or nothing about the leader of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, with answers to the question, ‘Who was Vladimir Lenin?’ ranging from ‘A poet’, to, bizarrely, ‘The first creature to leave the sea and walk on dry land.’
Kids today, huh?
Getting There & Away
From Tobolsk there are five trains a day to Yekaterinburg (R1500 to R1800, 12 hours), the most convenient leaving at 7.08pm and arriving at 6.29am. Two trains leave on odd dates at 9.53am and 11.40pm for Omsk (R2145, 14 hours). For Tyumen, seven trains a day (platskart R710, 4¾ hours) are supplemented by an equal number of daily buses (R275, five hours) via Pokrovskoe (3¼ hours), Rasputin’s home village. Eight buses per day to various destinations pass Abalak.
Big ferries run around 10 times per year from June to September out of the river station (296 617) to Salekhard on the Arctic Circle (1st/2nd/3rd class R2011/740/591, four to five days) via Khanty Mansisk and Beryozovo; tickets can be in very short supply. From any of those towns you could fly back to Tyumen, and from Salekhard you can cross the river to Labytnangi from where trains run to Moscow and Vorkuta. See Lonely Planet’s Greenland & the Arctic Travel Guide.
Southbound, the ferries run to Omsk (1st/2nd/3rd class R1674/612/486, 79 hours) via Tara (51 hours).
Getting Around
Bus 4 and marshrutka 20 link the train station, new town and kremlin. Buses 1, 3 and 10 travel past the kremlin and loop around the old town. Bus 1 passes the mosque. Taxis from/to the station cost around R150.
AROUND TOBOLSK
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Abalak Абалак
3456
From Tobolsk, a quiet road skirts the border of the ancient Tatar kingdom of Isker, continuing 25km to Abalak. Here the region’s holiest monastery was built on the site of a miraculous materialising icon, which was bought up and last spotted in Australia long after the Soviets had turned the church into a tractor barn. There are charming views over the bend in the Irtysh River, with 249 steps leading down to the riverbank. Today the monastery is working again, with a copy of the icon over the door. The monastery, like many remote holy places in Russia, is home to recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, hence the guys and girls wandering around with scars and alcohol-ravaged faces.
Hotel Belaya Sova (331 279; r R5000), a charming wooden place on the river bank, is reached via a short walk to the right of the monastery. Primarily designed for newlyweds, the rooms, of which there are only three, are cosy beyond belief and have fine views of the nearby river. The hotel restaurant on the 1st floor serves hearty traditional Russian food (meals R400–800).
From Tobolsk, buses bound for Yuzhno Begishebskie, Baygara or Zagbazdina stop at the Abalak bus stop (40 minutes), from which it’s an obvious 1.5km walk to the monastery.
OMSK ОМСК
3812 / pop 1.145 million / Moscow +3hr
Vast and sprawling, Omsk’s industrial suburbs look off-putting but the gently attractive central core has some fine centuries-old architecture and is dotted with parks, museums, restaurants and quirky public sculptures.
Starting life as a 1716 Cossack outpost, Omsk grew rapidly and by 1824 had replaced Tobolsk as the seat of Siberia’s governor general. Exiled Dostoevsky nearly died from a flogging while jailed here from 1849 to 1853. During the civil war Omsk was briefly the seat of Admiral Kolchak’s government until it was overrun by the Red Army in 1919.
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Orientation
The wide Irtysh River divides the city. On the western bank are the airport and bus station. The historic centre, 4km north of the train station, is on the eastern bank at the confluence of the Irtysh with the much smaller Om River.
Maps are sold upstairs at the train station and are available throughout the city at newspaper kiosks.
Information
K2 Adventures (/fax 693 075; www.adventuretravel.ru; office 505, ul Neftezavodskaya 14) Uniquely experienced for extreme rafting and mountaineering expeditions on the toughest rivers and peaks of Siberia and Central Asia. Igor speaks English and can meet you in town, saving you a 6km trip (marshrutka 335 to bus stop Magistralnaya).
Navigator Internet Kafe (ul Lenina 14/1; per MB R3, per hr R40, beer R40-80; 9am-10pm) Night shift (10pm-9am) costs R90 to R120 plus R3 per MB.
Omni Travel (500 070; Hotel Mayak; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri) English-speaking travel agency offering simple city tours.
Post office (ul Gertsena 1; 8am-7pm Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm Sun)
Telephone office (ul Gagarina 34; 24hr) For calls prepay a deposit, dial the number (with 8-10 for international), then when connected press ‘3’.
Virt Internet Café (306 298; ul Maslinokova 7; per MB R3, per hr R25; 8am-1am Mon-Fri, 24hr Sat & Sun) Basement internet café popular with beer-drinking teenagers.
Sights
Several witty statues, including an odd Soviet 1963 ‘slacker’ brass workman emerging from a manhole and Luba’s bench, featuring the wife of a 19th-century city governor reading Pushkin, add to the elegant, centuries-old facades of upper ul Lenina. Never far away in Omsk, a relatively small Lenin monument lurks nearby (ul Lenina 10).
Grandiose flourishes make the Drama Theatre (244 065; www.omskdrama.ru; ul Lenina; cash desk 10am-7pm) Omsk’s most ornate historical building. Long closed for business, but potentially fabulous, the 1905 Hotel Oktyabrya building (Partizanskaya ul 2) faces the pointy little Serafimo-Alexievskaya Chapel which looks like it fell off a kremlin.
The Art Museum (Omsky muzey iskusstv; 313 677; admission R100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) displays a lot of fussy decorative arts but the rectilinear 1862 building is a historical curiosity in itself. It was built as the Siberian governor’s mansion and hosted passing tsars: note the original Kalmykian throne with its ebony elephant armrests and 7kg of beaten silver. In 1918–19, however, the building was home to Admiral Kolchak’s counter-revolutionary government and was the heart of White Russia before the Reds eventually claimed the city.
THE SIBERIAN FATHER OF RUSSIAn PUNK
Yegor Letov, who died in Omsk in 2007 at the age of 43 after many years of alcohol abuse, gained notoriety in the final years of the Soviet Union with his group Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Civil Defence). Soviet rock was at its peak at the time, with groups like the St Petersburg–based Kino and Akvarium performing their mixture of Western-influenced yet still uniquely Russian music. However, Letov and his group were like nothing that the Soviets had ever experienced. With their rush of roughly recorded guitars, snarling vocals and song titles suc as ‘Mne nasrat na moyo litso’ (‘I don’t give a shit about my face’), the group unsurprisingly had problems with the authorities, and was banned from live performances. Until the split up of the USSR, the band’s music was illicitly circulated from hand to hand on poor-quality cassettes. Post-USSR, in typically perverse manner, Letov suddenly discovered a nostalgia for the Soviet era and became a member of the now-banned, radical National Bolshevik party. His fans often gather to drink heavily and sing his songs at an impromptu shrine in Moscow, just off the Old Arbat. The group’s albums are available all over Russia. Russkoye Pole Eksperimentov is a good one to start with.
In the gardens behind the art museum are a war memorial and another Lenin statue, Vlad apparently preening himself in an invisible mirror. A Lenin statue used to stand outside the former town duma (pl Lenina), but after the town had erected in the same square a reconstruction of the green and golden domed Assumption Cathedral, destroyed by the atheist Soviets in the 1930s, a pious top government official apparently noticed that Lenin was pointing at the new cathedral, and ordered it to be removed overnight. Look out for the small nearby monument to victims of Stalinist repression.
The city has several fine churches, including the 1870 Krestovozdvizhensky Cathedral (Tarskaya ul 33), the 1840 neoclassical St Nicholas Cathedral (Svyato-Nikolsky sobor; ul Lenina 27a), and the Old Believers’ Chapel (ul Shchetinkina 10) housed in a timber building over 90 years old.
The Literature Museum (242 965; ul Dostoevskogo 1; admission R40; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) includes some Dostoevsky notes from the unhappy time the writer spent here.
Chunky but isolated and hardly thrilling, the Tobolsk and Tarskaya Gates are all that remain of Omsk’s second (1791–94) city walls. Across pl Dzerzhinskogo from the latter, the curious Pozharnaya Kalancha (ul Internatsionalnaya) is an unusually photogenic, seven-storey firefighters’ lookout tower. Brick with whitewashed column capitals, it was finished in 1916 and is something of a city icon.
Fans of Soviet graveyards and/or music lovers might like to take a trip (20 to 30 minutes) out to the city’s Staro-Vostochnoe Graveyard (ul 10 Let Oktyabrya). Take bus 2 from the bus stop at the start of the same (long) street in the centre (see map, Click here) or a taxi for R150 to R200. Among the multitude of red-star–topped atheist graves is the final resting place of Yegor Letov (Click here), the father of Russian punk. His grave is in the middle of the cemetery, on the left.
Sleeping
Oddly enough, there are as yet no real five-star top-end hotels in Omsk, although the Mayak, with its plush suites, also acts as the city’s ‘luxury’ hotel.
BUDGET
Hotel Omskgrazhdanstroy (251 247; Gospitalnaya ul 19; dm/s/tw R700/1300/1700) Remarkably good value, this little-known hotel is the wrong side of the busy ul Frunze intersection, but still walking distance from the centre via ul Gusarova. Rooms are nothing special, but are clean, large and all have private bathrooms – even the dormitories.
Resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; 442 347; train station; dm R900) Rebuilt, clean and relatively inviting, they’re in a separate building – exit the main station, turn left and find the door before the baggage kassa (ticket office).
Hotel Omsk (310 721; fax 315 222; ul Irtyshskaya Naberezhnaya 30; s/tw R1400/2600) Halfway between the train station and centre, this big, drab concrete block is somewhat redeemed by its river views. Rooms are mostly unreconstructed Soviet affairs but a dozen have been fairly thoroughly rebuilt in recent years. Often full, so book ahead. Take any bus along ul Karla Marksa to the circus then walk five minutes through Pobedy Park to the riverside.
MIDRANGE
Hotel Irtysh ( 232 702; www.hotel-irtysh.ru; Krasni Put 155/1; s/d R2000/3000) The Irtysh is set out of the centre in a forest on the bank of the eponymous river, offering an opportunity for relaxing strolls in the evening. Rooms are worn, but clean and large. Dark and uninviting restaurant in the basement. When we were there, the included breakfast was cold and not tasty.
Hotel Turist (316 419; www.tourist-omsk.ru; ul Broz Tito 2; economy s/tw R2400/2700, standard s/tw R2900/3200, 1st-class s/tw R3500/3700) A fairly central address with fine views of the river from upper floors. Good ‘first-class’ rooms have been recently done up, but the ‘economy priced’ rooms are long due a similar facelift.
Hotel Mayak (/fax 315 431; www.hotel-mayak.ru; ul Lermontova 2; s/tw R2860/4125) In the rounded end of the vaguely ship-shaped art deco river station, the Mayak has small, stylish rooms with artistic lines and good bathrooms. Popular with western business travellers. Friendly staff. Offers gigantic, all-mod-cons luxury suites from R5300 to R7900 if you feel like splurging.
Eating
Vilka-Lozhka (ul Lenina 21, 2nd fl; meals R60-150) Ridiculously cheap, this self-service canteen serves honest food for honest prices. Borscht goes for R20 and pancakes for R16.
Proviant (245 778; Pr Marksa 10; meals R300-500, beer R75-120) Good jazz, beer, and a range of Russian and European food make a pleasant place to spend an evening. Particularly nice cheese and potato pancakes. Live music from 7pm.
Bevitore (243 928; ul Lenina 9; meals R350-500; ) A hip restaurant-café with free wi-fi, this spacious establishment has a large range of highly recommended shashlyk dishes.
Chashka (www.hollcup.ru; 3rd fl, Pyat Zvyozd shopping mall, ul Karla Libknekhta; meals R300-650) Delft-style tiles, wooden half-wall panelling and a fireplace give a nominally Dutch decor while the menu (available in English) ranges from Creole pork to Thai beef via a satisfying forest mushroom soup that comes with sour cream (R95).
Monplezir (247 827; Partizanskaya ul 2; meals R400-700) Beneath a splendid old building, Monplezir offers salads, cakes and a large range of mainly meat-based dishes to Omsk’s slowly growing middle class. You may get odd stares if you turn up looking scruffy…
Drinking
Coffee Base (307 578; ul Mayakovskogo 17; coffee R49-100) Pleasant coffee house with sensibly priced espressos. If your palate differentiates between 80% and 100% Arabica beans, consider the more expensive ‘Elite’ blends. Food includes decent mini-bliny, pricey cakes and steaks.
Pivoman (ul Marchenko 5; beer R60-100, snacks R30-60) Right next to the train station, to the left of Grandad Lenin, Pivoman offers over 20 types of hard-to-distinguish-from-one-another beer, plus the usual dried fish.
Bunker (ul Lenina 8; beer R75-100; 8pm-6am) A dark and smoky all-night cellar bar-club that is a lot more welcoming than it looks.
Gzhel (ul Internatsionalnaya 43; beer R90-150) Named after the Russian blue-and-white traditional ceramics, this sometimes-lively bar is on the 1st floor of the city’s main shopping centre. Good selection of draught beers, although the live music at weekends (from 8pm) has the potential to annoy.
Getting There & Away
Flight destinations include Moscow (R6500, five daily) and St Petersburg (R8500, three weekly) plus international connections to Hanover (R15,195, daily except Monday) and Frankfurt (R18,500, Monday and Sunday). Numerous air-ticket agencies at the river station (pl Bukhgoltsa) sell rail tickets (R100 commission).
Train 395 leaves Omsk daily at 1.30pm for Tobolsk (R2348, 13¾ hours), and three times a day – at 12.15am, 12.25am and 12.44am – for Tomsk (R1350 to R1800, 14 to 19 hours). There are over 15 trains a day to Novosibirsk (platskart R675, 9½ hours).
On a green barge behind the river station is the Rechflot (398 563; 9am-7pm) ticket office. Also here is the jetty for hydrofoils to Tevriz via Tara and for ferries cruising the Irtysh River to Salekhard (1st/2nd/3rd class R3009/1098/888, six days) via Tobolsk (R1674/612/486, two days) roughly three times monthly. Various pleasure cruises depart from a separate jetty near Yubileyny Bridge, notably for Achairsky Monastery (R200 return, 4½ hours return, five times daily mid-May to early October).
Getting Around
From the train station, trolleybus 4 and marshrutka 335 run along pr Marksa to pl Lenina, past the main post office and on for miles up Krasny Put. Bus 60 crosses the Irtysh to the airport (517 570; Inzhenernaya ul 1) while trolleybus 7 or the faster marshrutka 366 head for the bus station. Allow over half an hour in rush-hour traffic jams.
Construction began on Omsk’s metro system back in 1985, but its opening has been delayed and rescheduled for years. The current start date is 2010, with the first two stations close to the train station in the southwest of the city.
AROUND OMSK
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Achairsky Monastery
This impressive riverside convent is 55km south of Omsk on the Pavlodar Hwy. The original 1905 buildings were destroyed in the 1930s and the site became a Gulag where, according to local guides, some 200,000 people died or were executed. Since 1992, impressive gilt-topped brick reconstructions include a five-storey belfry and a glittering nine-domed central church. Boat tours from Omsk (see opposite) stay long enough for you to stroll across the site to a holy spring that flows out beneath a cute wooden chapel in the woods. Alternatively, Achair-bound marshrutky (R35) leave roughly hourly from the ‘Lobkova’ stop, just two minutes’ walk south of Omsk train station. There are a number of kiosks selling snacks at this stop.
NOVOSIBIRSK & TOMSK REGIONS НОВОСИБИ-РСКАЯ И ТОМСКАЯ ОБЛАСТИ
The highlight of these regions is the vibrant and attractive student town of Tomsk. Its streets lined with eye-catching wooden houses and boasting a growing number of cafés and restaurants, Tomsk is one of the – as yet – undiscovered wonders of Siberia. After Tomsk, the sprawling Novosibirsk tends to disappoint but, for some, its nightlife makes up for the lack of any real sights.
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NOVOSIBIRSK НОВОСИБИРСК
383 / pop 1.5 million / Moscow +3hr
If you want a night on the town, restaurants with big town glitz, or a choice of countless Irish pubs, Novosibirsk might be your Siberian dream come true. The city also has a lively music scene, and is home to the perestroika-era Pink Floyd–influenced rock group, Kalinov Most.
For anything else, consider skipping the place or departing the same evening on an overnight train. Many Novosibirsk hotels, already overpriced, tend to be reluctant to accept foreigners without a booking through a travel agency.
Despite its size, Novosibirsk has remarkably little to see. It grew up in the 1890s around the Ob River bridge built for the Trans-Siberian Railway. Named Novo-Nikolaevsk until 1925 for the last tsar, it grew rapidly into Siberia’s biggest metropolis, a key industrial and transport centre exploiting coalfields to the east and mineral deposits in the Urals.
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Orientation
Despite its daunting scale, the ‘capital of Siberia’ has a manageably simple centre focused on pl Lenina. The city’s main axis, Krasny pr, runs through this square linking most points of interest. Across the river around Metro Studencheskaya, ul Karla Marksa has numerous dining alternatives at marginally more reasonable prices.
Information
Dom Knigi (Krasny pr 51; 10am-8pm Mon-Sat, to 7pm Sun) Has a good range of maps.
Internet Tsentr (291 8841; ul Trudovaya 1; per MB R2, per hr R40; 9am-11pm, lock-in from 11pm) Beneath an apartment block; take the first alley off Vokzalnaya magistral when walking from pl Lenina. Night shift 11pm-9am (R150).
Main
post office (ul Lenina 5; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, to 7pm Sat & Sun)
Telephone office (ul Sovetskaya 33; 24hr)
TRAVEL AGENCIES
Novosibirsk’s many travel agencies virtually all offer packaged or tailor-made trips to Altai.
Acris (218 0001; www.acris.ru; 2nd fl, Krasny pr 35; 10am-6pm Mon-Sat) Offers trips to Altai, including Mt Belukha, and can help sort out a range of awkward permits. The staff speak English.
Alie Parusa ( 227 1256; www.alparus.ru; ul Trudovaya 12 9am-6pm Mon-Sat) Good for Sheregesh and the Altai. Some English spoken.
Sibir Altai (http://sibalt.ru, in Russian; office 607a, ul Frunze 5; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 11am-3pm Sat) Packages Altai trips for local tourists, sold through numerous regional travel agencies. Minimal English. Runs direct weekend buses to Turbaza Katun.
STA-Novosibirsk (223 9534; www.sibtravel.com/eng;ul Oktyabrskaya 45a; 7am-1pm & 2-6pm) English- and German-speaking staff; offers a variety of Altai trips with set departure dates, prices varying according to take-up. The easily missed office is in a courtyard between the Mexico Kafe and the German consulate.
Sights
Novosibirsk’s pl Lenina is dominated by the huge, silver-domed Opera & Ballet Theatre (Click here). Bigger than Moscow’s Bolshoi, its grand interior alone makes performances one of the city’s highlights. In front, wearing a flapping coat, the dashing Lenin statue is flanked by waving partisans vainly trying to direct the chaotic traffic. The Lenin theme continues at Krasny pr 17 where a Soviet monument marks the awarding of the Order of Lenin to the city in honour of its WWII struggle against ‘the German-fascist occupiers’.
In an elegant mansion, the Local Studies Museum (Kraevedchesky muzey; 218 1773; Krasny pr 23; admission R180; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun) has Altai shaman coats, cutaway pioneer houses and some splendid religious artefacts. The State Art Museum (Khudozhestvenny muzey; 223 3516; http://gallery.nsc.ru/; Krasny pr 5; adult/student R180/100; 10am-5.20pm Tue-Fri, 11am-5.20pm Sat & Sun) has an extensive collection including icons, Siberian art, Braque-esque works by Nikolai Gritsyuk and numerous distinctive mountainscapes by celebrated spiritual Russian painter Nikolai Rerikh.
Platform 1 at the main train station boasts two WWII ‘family’ statues depicting a mother and her small daughter and a father and his small son waving off relatives to WWII – it was from this station that many Siberians went directly to the front.
There is a sad, abandoned Sergei Kirov statue at the back of the former Kirov Museum at ul Lenina 23 that is worth a peek if you are in the area.
The pretty little Chapel of St Nicholas (Chasovnya Svyatitelya Nikolaya; Krasny pr) was said to mark the geographical centre of Russia when it ws built in 1915. Demolished in the 1930s, it was rebuilt in 1993 for Novosibirsk’s centenary. The gold-domed 1914 Cathedral of the Ascension (Voznesensky sobor; ul Sovetskaya 91) has a wonderful, colourful interior with a soaring central space that’s unexpected from its fairly squat exterior appearance. The 1898 Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (sobor Alexandra Nevskogo; Krasny pr 1a) is a red-brick Byzantine-style building with gilded domes and colourful new murals.
Sleeping
Novosibirsk hotels are poor value by Siberian standards. Most will only accept foreigners when booked through a tour agency (incurring booking fees and commission).
Station Hotel (229 2376; 2nd fl, Novosibirsk Glavny train station; dm/tw/tr without bathroom R700/1500/1800, s/tw with bathroom R2800/4100). Only for those with onward rail tickets. Half-price for 12-hour stays. It’s frequently full. Vibrations from trains may disturb your nap.
Hotel Tsentralnaya (222 3638; fax 227 660; ul Lenina 3; s/tw without bathroom R1000/1200, s/tw with bathroom R2500/2900) Perfectly central, the no-frills basic rooms with shared, survivable bathrooms are Novosibirsk’s best budget option. Willing to accept foreigners without advance bookings. Lifts are dodgy and floor attendants oddly protective of their toilet rolls. Breakfast is not included.
Hotel Novosibirsk (220 1120; fax 216 517; Vokzalnaya magistral 1; s/tw from R1400/2100) Opposite Novosibirsk Glavny train station, this glum 23-storey Soviet-era tower has mediocre, overpriced Soviet-era rooms. The cheapest share a toilet and washbasin between pairs of rooms and lack showers altogether. You’ll pay R2900 for a private bathroom. Room rates include breakfast.
Hotel Sibir (223 1215; www.gk-sibir.sibnet.ru; ul Lenina 21; s/d from R3500/3700; ) The Sibir considers itself Novosibirsk’s international hotel and will offer visa registrations for guests. Excellent king-bedded ‘studios’ (double R6600) have party-sized bathrooms. However, standard rooms lack style or air-conditioning. ‘First category’ rooms (single/twin R4000/4600) are fully renovated but hardly justify the hefty prices. Rates include breakfast.
Private flats can be rented from R1500 per 24 hours from a local letting agency ( 214 6268; www.kvartirusdam.ru, in Russian).
For a slightly cheaper option, you could take a chance with one of the women loitering outside the train station in the evenings with ‘Квартира’ (apartment) signs pinned to their jackets.
Eating
Choice is almost endless near pl Lenina.
Vilka-Lozhka (ul Frunze 2; meals R100-180) Simple yet stylishly modern cafeteria decorated with primary-coloured cutlery to remarkably dramatic effect. Very cheap – pancakes from R12 and filling soups for R20!
Ieroglif (222 5712; Krasny pr 35; meals R350-800) This hypnotic temple of a restaurant has Chinese, Japanese and Korean offerings and a range of beers, both Russian and imported (R80 to R150). Gets busy in the evenings, so book ahead.
Tiflis (222 8181; ul Sovetskaya 65; meals R400-800) Below the fur shop of the same name, this atmospheric tavern-cavern offers the most authentic Georgian cuisine in town. Filling and delicious khachapuri po-adzharski (Georgian cheese bread with a raw egg swimming in the middle) cost R180.
Mexico Kafe (210 3420; Oktyabrskaya magistral 49; meals R400-900; 8am-1am) Dangling chillies, Aztec icons and a big charcoal grill add atmosphere while Los Gringos serenade. Great Mexican food and twice winner of the ‘Best Russian Bar-B-Q’ award (2006 and 2007).
Prices are relatively reasonable in the very central, theme-park–style ‘Siberian village’ Zhily-Bily (ul Lenina 1; meals R130-450), with English menus, a salad bar and great stuffed bliny. It’s upstairs above fast-food eatery GrillMaster (ul Lenina 1; burgers R50-80) through a central wooden door. Handy for the train station, Kaskad (ul Vokzalnaya 2; 7.30am-10pm) is a grocery store with a takeaway, pay-by-weight salad bar and a basic sit-down pelmeni.
Drinking
There are bars galore along ul Lenina, Krasny pr or Vokzalnaya magistral. Almost all serve decent, if pricey, food as well as drinks.
People’s Bar & Grill (Krasny pr 17; beer from R60, espresso R45; noon-2am) The preferred hang-out of Novosibirsk’s would-be rap stars and models. Descend the stairway opposite St Nicholas chapel.
5Nizza (ul Lenina 3; beer R80-110, snacks R50-100; noon-2am) Sharing its name with a popular Moscow reggae group, this lively bar is on the 1st floor of the Hotel Tsentralnaya.
Sibirskaya Korona (ul Frunze 3; beer R70-100; snacks R50-180; noon-1am Mon-Fri, noon-6am Sat & Sun) A noisy bar popular with local office workers on Fridays. Serves only Sibirskaya Korona beer (light, dark and nonfiltered), plus a selection of Russian and European snacks and meals.
Entertainment
Opera & Ballet Theatre (227 1537; www.opera-novosibirsk.ru; Krasny pr 36; admission R90-2000; Oct-Jun) For classical culture don’t miss an evening at this gigantic theatre. Ticket prices depend on seats and performances. Morning shows are a lot cheaper.
YANKA – SONGS FROM THE WASTELANDS
Yanka Dyagileva, born in Novosibirsk in 1966, died a mysterious death in the city at the age of 24. Before her still unexplained death, however, she left a handful of songs – none of which were ever released commercially during her lifetime – that still have the power to stop listeners dead in their tracks today. After hitching up with Omsk punk Yegor Letov (Click here), she developed a style of her own, drawing on punk, blues, and the Russian bard tradition, that expressed the everyday boredom and apathy felt by provincial Soviet youth. Blessed, or cursed, with a voice old and bitter beyond her years, Yanka’s complex and surreal songs live on in the New Russia, and are available in music stores everywhere. Sample lyric: ‘From a beautiful soul there are only scabs and lice, from universal love – faces covered in blood.’
Philharmonia (222 1511; www.philharmonia-nsk.ru; ul Spartaka 11) Concerts here range from classical symphonies to Dixieland jazz. Ticket prices are between R100 and R450.
Rock City (227 0108; www.rockcity.ru, in Russian; 3rd fl, Krasny pr 37; tickets from R250; noon until last guest) Novosibirsk’s top spot for everything from Latin dancing to heavy-rock concerts. It’s above the Old Irish pub.
Spartak stadium (217 0474; www.fc-sibir.ru, in Russian; ul Frunze 15) This 12,500-capacity venue is the current home base of local football team, Sibir. Games are usually played on Saturday, and tickets cost from R100 to R500. Matches are advertised on posters around the city.
Getting There & Away
AIR
There are two airports in Novosibirsk. Almost all the major airlines use the much bigger Tolmachyovo (216 9230; http://tolmachevoeng.faktura.ru), 30km west of Novosibirsk off the Omsk road. The website gives timetables. Regular international destinations include Beijing, Bangkok, Dubai and Seoul plus several cities in Central Asia (eg Tashkent, R7600). On Friday, Saturday and Sunday there are flights to Munich (R14,609 return) and Frankfurt (R11,689 return). There are also around 10 flights a month to Beijing (R12,016). There are regular domestic flights to a number of destinations, including Moscow (R7500) and St Petersburg (R9000). The central Aviakassa (ul Gogolya 3; 8.30am-8pm) is one of dozens of places to buy air tickets.
The much smaller Severny (228 3788), which is 6km north of the centre, handles a decreasing number of flights, including Kyzyl in Tuva (R5900).
BUS
From the bus station (Krasny pr 4) around 20 daily buses serve both Barnaul (R285, 4¾ hours, last at 7.50pm) and Tomsk (R245, five hours). For roughly double the price, shared taxis shave an hour or more off those times.
TRAIN
The city’s huge main train station, Novosibirsk Glavny (ul Shamshurina 43), has numerous daily long-distance trains.
For Moscow (48 to 55 hours via Omsk, Tyumen and Yekaterinburg), comfortable train 25 (R9812, 7.20am, on even-numbered days) is easy to book. However, the much cheaper 339 (R5986, 10.04pm, odd-numbered days) takes one night longer, saving on hotel accommodation as well as the fare. Of a dozen possible trains to Omsk, the handiest overnighter is train 45 (platskart R974, six hours and 40 minutes, daily). For Krasnoyarsk train 12 (R2126, 8.47pm, 12–14 hours, even-numbered days) is well timed.
For Altai, the handy 601 runs overnight to Biysk (R902, 10 hours, daily) via Barnaul (5½ hours). For Khakassia and Tuva you could go to Abakan direct (R2626, 2.48am, 23 hours, daily), or in two overnight hops via Novokuznetsk, for which the best option is train 605 (R932, 9½ hours). Trains to Almaty, Kazakhstan (around R3000, 32 to 37 hours) run daily at 10.31am and 1.51pm.
Getting Around
From the train station, take trolleybus 2 to Severny airport, marshrutka 1122 to Tolmachyovo airport or marshrutka 1212 for the bus station via pl Lenina. The metro (trip ticket R12) has a major north–south line running beneath Krasny pr and across the river to Studencheskaya and pl Karla Marksa. For the main train station you’ll need metro stop pl Garina-Mikhaylovskogo, which is on a second three-stop line that intersects with the major line at Sibirskaya/Krasny pr. Generally marshrutky are handier within the centre. A taxi ( 299 4646) to the airport can be ordered by phone and costs around R500. The journey from the centre takes about 30 to 40 minutes, depending on traffic.
AROUND NOVOSIBIRSK
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Akademgorodok & Seyatel Академгородок иСеятель
Akademgorodok suburbs were elite Soviet academic townships full of research institutes. Attached to most Siberian cities, they attracted scientists by offering special perks and relatively spacious apartments in peaceful surroundings. Nearly 30km south of central Novosibirsk, Siberia’s biggest Akademgorodok nestles in taiga close to the beaches of the so-called Ob Sea (in fact a large, narrow lake). The idea is interesting, but the reality is somewhat frustrating for tourists. Although most institutes have ‘museums’, most are only for invited academics. A potentially brilliant open-air museum 4km along the Akademgorodok–Klyuchi road contains a superb Yakutian wooden church and partly restored ostrog (fortress) but you can only glimpse them through the high, locked gates.
However, if you feel like lazing around on the beach or wandering in the taiga then you could stay at the cosy and good-value Zolotaya Dolina hotel ( 330 1916; www.gold-valley.ru; ul Ilyicha 10; s/d R1800/3000). The hotel has no problems with registering foreigners either.
For Seyatel, jump off marshrutka 1015 at the elektrichka (suburban train) station of the same name, 2km before Akademgorodok beside an interesting Railway Locomotive Museum (337 9622; admission R50; 11am-5pm Sat-Thu). Directly east (but hard to find behind an overgrown playground) is the small but spiritually uplifting Sun Museum (Muzey Solntsa; 339 9126, 8-913-943 9835; [email protected]; 2nd fl, ul Ivanova 11a; adult/child R40/25); call ahead for opening hours. Using carved copies of petroglyphs, religious symbols and popular art, this wonderful place examines sun symbolism across an incredibly diverse range of cultures.
Marshrutka 1015 (R30, 30 minutes) from Novosibirsk Glavny train station passes the Railway Museum then loops anticlockwise around Akademgorodok. Returning to central Novosibirsk from Seyatel is easier by hourly elektrichk (R25); or bus 622 (R12, 40 minutes). Bus 7 links Akademgorodok with Seyatel station (east of the rail tracks).
TOMSK ТОМСК
3822 / pop 473,000 / Moscow +3hr
Just 260km from Novosibirsk, but light years ahead in terms of history, ambience and tourist appeal, Tomsk is one of the most enjoyable cities in Siberia. It combines endless examples of fine wooden mansions, some grand centuries-old commercial buildings and a dynamic, modern outlook.
Tomsk is also a university city and boasts half a dozen major academic establishments –hence the youthful, intellectual atmosphere you’ll find throughout the city during term time. Although the city was closed to foreigners during the Soviet period, it is now very much open – both literally and metaphorically. It’s an excellent place for semiaimless strolls: try exploring the numerous side streets that branch off the central pr Lenina to discover some truly memorable buildings and views.
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Orientation
The bus station and Tomsk 1 (main) train station sit together about 2km southeast of the centre. The main axis is pr Lenina, an architectural and entertainment smorgasbord dotted with restaurants, bars and shops. Accurate bus maps are sold at the news kiosks in the bus and train stations. Excellent city maps are available from Dom Knigi Bookshop (pr Komsomolsky 49; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 11am-6pm Sat & Sun).
Information
Biznes Tsentr (Hotel Tomsk; internet per hr R120; 24hr) Pricey but handy when awaiting a train.
Main post office (pr Lenina 95; internet per hr R25; 9am-7.30pm Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm Sat, 9am-5pm Sun) Internet, but no postcards of Tomsk!
Netcafe (281 441; pr Lenina 32; internet per 30min R15; 9am-11pm) Pay R1 per MB for faster connection. Night shift (11pm to 8am) costs R160 for unlimited time plus traffic.
Tomskturist (528 179; pr Lenina 59; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 11am-4pm Sat) Can arrange individual walking tours of the city, with English-, French- and German- speaking guides. Based in a lovely wooden house opposite the university.
Sights
WOODEN ARCHITECTURE
Tomsk’s greatest attraction is its ‘wooden-lace’ architecture – the carved windows and tracery on old log and timber houses. The most notable concentration is along ul Tatarskaya, accessed via steps beside a lovely old house at pr Lenina 56 that houses shops selling DVDs, seeds and second-hand clothes in its basement. Ul Gagarina is also well worth strolling along – look out for the picturesque former ‘hunter’s house’ (ul Gagarina 42).
Grander wooden mansions stand along ul Krasnoarmeyskaya, including the spired, bright-turquoise Russian-German House (1906; ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 71), the Dragon House (ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 68) and the fan-gabled Peacock House (ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 67a). All are classic landmarks.
Several lesser examples line per Kononova, including Kirov’s house (per Kononova 2) where the communist mastermind lodged in 1905. Close by (but hazardous to reach from per Kononova across a slippery pipe) is the splendid, recently restored Shishkov House (ul Shishkova 10). The wooden cottage at ul Voykova 14 is all the more photogenic for the Znameniye bozhyey materi Church that rises directly behind it. There’s even a wooden-lace school, Shkola 43 (pr Karla Marksa 31).
RESURRECTION HILL
When founded in 1604, Tomsk’s original fortress sat atop Resurrection Hill. For the city’s 400th anniversary, an impressive replica of its ‘Golden Gate’ was rebuilt in wood complete with domed central tower. Beside it, the well-presented Tomsk History Museum (admission R20; 11am-5pm Tue-Sun) has resprouted its wooden lookout tower (R20): try to spot the seven historic churches from the top. The stone just outside the museum entrance marks the founding of the city.
Olde-worlde charm continues up cobbled ul Bakunina (named for the 19th-century ‘father of anarchy’ who studied in Tomsk) past the Italianate 1833 Catholic Church (ul Bakunina 4) and on towards the Voznesenskaya Church (ul Oktyabrsky Vzvoz). This Gothic edifice with five gold-tipped black spires has great potential as a Dracula movie set. A truly massive bell hangs in its new lurid-pink belfry.
About 200m beyond is the Ozero Beloye pond, whose surrounding park is popular for beer terraces and rides in horse carts or sleighs according to the season. The cute, Old Believers’ Wooden Church (Staroobryadcheskaya tserkov; ul Yakovleva) is worth a look if you’ve got any energy left, though its surroundings are relatively uninteresting.
PLOSHCHAD LENINA
Central pl Lenina isn’t really a square so much as a jumbled collection of beautifully restored historic buildings interspersed with banal Soviet concrete lumps. The frustrated Lenin statue, now relegated to a traffic circle, points at the ugly concrete of Tomsk Drama Theatre apparently demanding ‘build more like that one’. Fortunately, nobody’s listening. The theatre is flanked instead by the splendid 1784 Epiphany Cathedral, the former trading arches and the elegant 1802 Hotel Magistrat. Topped with a golden angel, in a second circle beside Lenin, is the recently rebuilt Iverskaya Chapel ( 10am-6pm) whose celebrated icon is dubbed ‘Tomsk’s Spiritual Gateway’. The 1000 Melochey Shop (pr Lenina; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat, to 6pm Sun) has a wonderful 1906 facade featuring griffins and art nouveau ironwork flourishes.
PROSPEKT LENINA
Cafés and great architecture continue either way along pr Lenina, most appealingly around per Nakhanovicha where you’ll find the thought-provoking Tomsk Art Gallery (514 106; per Nakhanovicha 5; admission R60; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun).
Built for gold-mining entrepreneur Ivan Atashev in 1842, the Atashev Palace (pr Lenina 75) was once used as a church, hence the incongruous steeple tower and wonderful organ hall where concerts are held. Two rooms host the very modest Regional Museum (514 398; http://museum.trecom.tomsk.ru/, in Russian; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun) with a few Atashev furnishings.
The gloomy 1898 brick building across the road is a supposedly haunted former school. Closed following the murder of a pupil, it later became the prison for the cruel NKVD (proto-KGB). The building’s eerie dungeon is now a memorable Oppression Museum (516 133; rear entrance, pr Lenina 44; admission R30; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri). Tours are recommended but are only in Russian. Failing that you can just wander round yourself. Look out for the stunning Gulag map, the system of Soviet labour camps depicted as an uncountable mass of red dots across the territory of the former USSR. Outside the museum there are two monuments to victims of Stalinist repression – the larger to local victims, the second to Poles slaughtered by Uncle Joe and his cronies.
The classically colonnaded main buildings of the university lie in resplendently leafy grounds, giving Tomsk the soubriquet ‘Oxford of Siberia’. Tucked away in unmarked rooms, the university hosts several quietly intriguing museums covering archaeology, geology, zoology and ethnography. (They are closed to the public, however.) Pr Lenina finally ends at the powerful mother-and-son WWII memorial (Lagerny Gardens), behind which are taiga views across the meandering Tom River.
RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS
Tomsk has many more fine churches, including the scoop-domed 1844 Trinity Church (Troitskaya tserkov; ul Oktyabrskaya), the very active Kazansky Icon Church (ul Krylova 12b) of a former monastery, the pretty new Nevsky Church (ul Gertsena) and the Byzantine-style brick Peter & Paul Cathedral (Petropavlosky sobor; ul Altayskaya 47) from 1911.
The Zaistochye district was historically the ‘Tatar’ Muslim quarter. Its unusual, whitewashed 19th-century White Mosque (Belaya Mechet; Moskovsky Trakt 43) is now fully renovated. The 1904 Red Mosque (ul Tatarskaya 22) was sacrilegiously used as a vodka factory in the Soviet era, but was reopened to worshippers in 1997.
Sleeping
BUDGET
Resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; Tomsk I train station; dm/tw R350/1050) Perfectly clean rooms with shared toilets and shower. No onward rail-ticket requirement. Curfew 1am to 5am.
TGU Hotel (534 352; 5th fl, pr Lenina 49; dm/s/tw R500/850/1300) Uniquely good-value, clean rooms have kettle, fridge and fully equipped new bathrooms (except in the dorms, which share facilities between two triples). In term-time reservations are essential (R100 booking fee) but dropping in might work in midsummer. Midnight curfew. Enter from the rear, no lift.
Hotel Severnaya (512 324; pr Lenina 86; dm/s/d R500/1200/1500) Don’t be fooled by the smart new facade. Most rooms remain ageing Soviet affairs sharing communal squat toilets. There’s a sink and kettle in every room though. Liveable, but not particularly enjoyable. A few singles (R1900) and doubles (R2400) are nicely renovated with full facilities.
Hotel Sputnik (526 660; www.sputnik.tomskturist.ru; ul Belinskogo 15; s/d/tw/tr R850/1700/1900/2400; ) Winner of Tomsk’s first hotel competition in the 1990s. Standards have slipped a touch, but the Sputnik’s rooms are still good value and spotlessly clean. The cheapest singles and doubles have shared toilets. R3000 for a massive room with its own toilet and bathroom is worth considering. Wi-fi in every room.
MIDRANGE
BonApart (534 650; www.bon-apart.ru; ul Gertsena 1a; s/tw/ste R2750/3400/4350; ) In its price range this brand-new, fully fitted private hotel is by far the best. English is spoken, floors have key-card security and the stairs are polished light marble. It’s centrally located, and the breakfast included in the price is tasty and satisfying. There’s no lift, though.
Hotel Siberia (/fax 527 225; pr Lenina 91; www.hotelsibir.tomsk.ru; s/d/ste R2100/2600/4000) Centrally located old hotel with clean and attractive singles and doubles and great suites with real fireplaces for R4000. Dinner is available for extra, but you’d be better off eating in one of the many cafés and restaurants right outside the hotel’s doors.
Hotel Tomsk (524 115; www.tomskhotel.ru; pr Kirova 65; s/tw R2460/3420) Acceptable but rather overpriced, its smartly upgraded Soviet rooms are now reasonably comfortable though baths are very small. Not so convenient for the central sights.
TOP END
Hotel Magistrat (511 111; fax 511 200; www.magistrathotel.com; pl Lenina 15; d/tw/ste R6470/7700/11500) Behind the palatial 1802 facade, the luxurious rooms are brand new in a comfortable international style though, sadly, without historical idiosyncrasies. English is spoken and the restaurant is lavish. All very good, but outrageously expensive for provincial Siberia, the hotel having seen a near 200% price increase in recent years!
Eating
There are more choices on and around pr Lenina than you can eat through in a week.
Vilka-Lozhka (pr Lenina 76; 10am-10pm) This canteen is cheap beyond belief, with pancakes at R19 and warming soups for R25.
Zhily-Bily (nab r Ushaiak 16; dishes R200-400) Serves traditional Russian food in a mock rustic setting and does great business lunches for R150.
FoodMaster (pr Lenina 83; meals R200-500) Despite the ill-fittingly banal name, this is a wonderful café with painstakingly restored plasterwork tracery on the high ceilings. The menu (in English) ranges from Chinese to Mexican – try a Siberian burrito!
Belgrad ( 564 792; pr Lenina 51; meals R250-700) Welcoming Balkan restaurant serving fine fish dishes. Belgrad makes the perfect place to linger on cold Siberian evenings.
Inzhir ( 541 809; pr Kirova 66; meals R300-750) Right opposite the train station, Inzhir (Fig) serves a variety of eastern food from Uzbek dumplings to Turkish kebabs. Often full in the evening.
People’s Bar & Grill (pr Lenina 54; meals R300-800, beer from R75; noon-2am) Beer and pizza hangout in new central location. Can get crowded at weekends. Does not take reservations over the phone. Entrance from the rear of pr Lenina.
Vechny Zov (528 167; ul Sovetskaya 47; meals R350-900; noon-4am) Named after a popular Soviet TV serial, this is one of Tomsk’s top dining options and boasts a mock Siberian ranch outside and a cosy antique-filled home feel inside.
For self-catering, there are many bargains to be had at Tomsk’s largest discount supermarket, ALPI (ul Trifonova 20; 9am-10pm), which spreads over two floors.
Drinking
Sibirsky Pub (530 047; www.siberian-pub.ru/, in Russian; pl Novosobornaya 2; Guinness per pint R190; noon-3am) Siberia’s first British pub was founded over a century ago by a certain Mr Crawley, an Anglo-Egyptian albino who’d got stuck in Tomsk after touring with a circus freak show. Today’s pub is no relation. Bands play live at weekends (cover charge).
Bulanzhe (516 735; 2nd fl, pr Lenina 80; espresso R40; 8am-midnight) Tomsk’s answer to Starbucks serves great coffee and stuffed bliny (from R40). There is another branch at ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 107.
SIBERIA – THE GRAPHIC NOVEL
Graphic novels have never taken off in Russia, with even the genre’s best works largely dismissed as being fit purely for children. This lack of a comic-book tradition makes Nikolai Malsov’s Siberia, released by the US-based Soft Skull Press in 2007, all the more astonishing. Drawn entirely in pencil on paper, Maslov’s tale of a Soviet youth (the book’s original title) spent in Siberia is bleak, bitter and beautiful, portraying with almost unbearable honesty the faces of the drunks and bullies he grew up with.
Maslov had reportedly never actually read a graphic novel before he approached the French publisher of Asterix in Russia with the first pages of the book and asked him to finance the rest. The publisher agreed, allowing Maslov to quit his job as a night watchman and devote himself to his work. Maslov tells the story of his often brutal life with a complete lack of sentimentality, using matter-of-fact, almost crude frames to portray characters and everyday scenes in Western Siberian villages and towns. One of the few works of art to portray everyday life in Soviet Siberia, as opposed to Solzhenitsyn-type Gulag tales, Maslov’s book has yet to find a publisher in his native Russia.
Jazz Café ( 516 391; www.jazz-café.tomsk.ru; pr Lenina 46; beer R70-100) A hip and literally underground basement hangout with an extensive drinks and food menu (meals R200–550) and screenings of old black-and-white films. (They were showing Chaplin’s The Great Dictator when we popped in). Live music most evenings (cover charge R100 to R300). Also boasts a large book and music shop.
Trash & Glam (pr Lenina 85; www.trash-and-glam.com; snacks R50-150, beer R70-110; 7pm-2am Mon-Fri, 7pm-6am Sat-Sun) ‘All night doggery’ promises this club, a meeting place for Tomsk’s rockers and indie kids. Cover charge for gigs.
Entertainment
Tomsk has a vibrant arts scene. TomskLife (http://life.tomsk.ru/, in Russian) has extensive listings.
Tom Tomsk FC ( 527 967; www.football.tomsk.ru; ul Belinskovo 15/1) One of Siberia’s two Premier League sides, if you’re lucky you might catch a game against 2008 UEFA Cup cham-pions Zenit, or one of the big Moscow teams. Tickets cost from R200 upwards. There is also a shop selling Tomsk scarves, T-shirts – and even slippers – attached to the stadium. It’s open 11am to 7pm Monday to Friday, and on weekends on home match days.
Other venues:
Aelita Theatre (516 131; www.aelita.tsk.ru; pr Lenina 78) Mixed offerings from rock concerts to Indian dance.
Philharmonia (515 965; pl Lenina 1) Classical music and great big-band jazz.
Tomsk Drama Theatre (512 223; pl Lenina 4)
Getting There & Away
Transport options are comprehensively listed in Russian on http://transport.sibr.ru.
Bogashevo Airport (270 084), 22km southeast of Tomsk, has two flights a day to Moscow (one way/return R9000/R17,000, 7.30am and 8am), plus some local regional services on Tomskavia (412 466; www.Tomskavia.ru, in Russian; ul Yelizarovkh). The choice is much wider from Novosibirsk’s Tolmachyovo Airport (Click here), to which there are five direct buses a day (R200, five hours) from Tomsk bus station.
For Kolorovo (R25, 35 minutes) take one of seven daily services towards Yarskoe, and from pl Yuzhny there are roughly hourly marshrutky.
For Novosibirsk, shared taxis (R600 to R700, 3½ hours) are much faster than buses from the central bus station (R300, 5½ hours, 20 daily). Buses to Kemerovo leave five times a day (R200, two hours). There are also useful buses to Novokuznetsk (R335, seven hours, three daily) and Barnaul (R425, nine hours, three daily).
From Tomsk I (main) train station there are daily services at 8.18am to Moscow’s Yaroslavsky vokszal (R10351, 56½ hours). For Omsk, the summer-only train 437 (R850, 15 hours, 6.02pm, even-numbered days) is more convenient. At other times of the year take train 953 (R2458, 4.22am). Trains run to Barnaul on even dates at 3.59pm (R960, 14¾ hours) and to Irkutsk (R3630 34 hours) via Krasnoyarsk (R1911, 14½ hours) daily in summer, even-numbered days only in winter.
Getting Around
For the airport take the rare bus 119 from pl Lenina. Other city marshrutky are very frequent. Handy route 7 runs from near the train station, along pr Frunze, up pr Lenina, then east again on ul Pushkina. Marshrutka 11 shows you the wooden houses along ul Krasnoarmeyskaya, 29 does the same for ul Tatarskaya via pl Yuzhny, while bus 4 goes west from the train station and then runs north the length of pr Lenina.
ALTAI АЛТАЙ
Greater Altai, bordering on Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia, consists of the Altai Territory and the Altai Republic. The Altai Territory, while pleasant enough, is most noteworthy as a gateway to the wonders of the unforgettable Altai Republic. With over 7000 lakes, snow-capped mountains – including Siberia’s highest peak (Mt Belukha, 4506m) – and areas of stunning desolation, the region, as one local told us, ‘draws people back to it year after year, just like a magnet’. From the otherworldliness of Mongolian border town Kosh Agach to the untouched nature of Tyungur, the Altai Republic is popular with Russian extreme-adventure travel enthusiasts and New Age types.
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Altai Culture
Asiatic ethnic-Altai people constitute around 30% of the Altai Republic’s 200,000-strong population, and a vastly lower proportion in the heavily Russianised Altai Territory. Despite strong animist undercurrents, most Altai are nominally Christian and villages aren’t visually distinct, though some rural Altai homes still incorporate a traditional ail (tepee-shaped yurt). In the Altai language, hello is yakhshler, thank you (very much) is (dyan) biyan/biyan bolzyn and beautiful is charash. Altai tea is served milky: add a bran-rich flour called talkan and it becomes a sort of porridge.
With excessive consumption of alcohol, gentle smiles can turn to unpredictable violence within a bottle. This makes Altai villages such as Ulagan and Balyktuyul somewhat dangerous, especially at night.
Some of the Altai Republic’s 5% ethnic Kazakhs are still nomadic herders living in traditional felt yurts, notably around Kosh-Agach. Most Kazakhs are Muslims who are keen on kumiss (fermented mare’s milk) but don’t generally drink vodka, making Kazakh settlements noticeably less hazardous than Altai ones. In the local Kazakh dialect, salamat sizbe means hello, rakhmat means thank you and sarlyk is a handy term for yak meat.
Planning
Remnant old areas of Biysk and Barnaul are worth a passing look, visit Gorno-Altaisk for compulsory visa registration then head for the lakes and mountains. Lake Teletskoe is touted as a ‘second Baikal’ and is arguably even more picturesque. For glimpses of local culture, rugged valleys, varying scenery and plenty of ancient stones it’s quite feasible to potter independently down the memorable Chuysky Trakt by bus or chartered Lada. However, to get closer to the snow-crested mountain tops you’ll have to hike. Generally that requires preparation: compared to Nepal or New Zealand, hiking here requires considerable self-sufficiency. Not even the most popular trails have villages, signs or teahouses. Sadly, guides and packhorses usually aren’t easy to arrange quickly in situ, except perhaps in Tyungur or Chemal. Tour agencies in Novosibirsk, Barnaul and beyond can help by prearranging various adventure, hiking, rafting or relaxation packages. Consider using them in July and August to book accommodation as demand very often outstrips supply in summer, especially if you want the luxury of a sit-down toilet.
If you are heading to the Mongolian border (further than Kosh-Agach), or to Ust-Koksa or beyond (including Tyungur), you will also need a border permit. Click here for details.
Prices remain relatively low in much of Altai, the effects of the current oil boom having yet to fully trickle down. For maps, try the Dom Knigi shops in any big city, which sporadically stock 1:200,000 Altai sheets.
BARNAUL БАРНАУЛ
3852 / pop 575,000 / Moscow +3hr
The capital of the Altai Territory, Barnaul is a fairly prosperous industrial city and has been so almost since its foundation in 1730 as Ust-Barnaulskaya. Though far from the mountains, it hosts the nearest major airport to the Altai Republic and offers enough cafés and museums to keep you amused between transport connections.
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Orientation
Pr Lenina runs 8km northwest from the river station through pls Sovetov and Oktyabrya, paralleled by Sotsialistichesky pr and Krasnoarmeysky pr, which almost meet at pl Pobedy; the bus and train stations are behind the large war memorial here. Both stations and bookshops sell maps of bus and tram routes.
Information
Altour (632 429; http://altour-rafting.com; apt 138, ul Chkalova 89) Specialist for, as one reader put it, ‘really mad, high-adrenaline experienced rafting adventures’. Not for beginners in other words. Office entered through VIP-Tur at the rear of a big apartment block.
Ekstrim (Komsomolsky pr 75; 9am-7pm) Sells climbing, fishing, camping and mountain-bike gear.
Internet Kafe Pl@zma (Apt 27, pr Lenina 58; internet per MB R2.5, per hr R35; 8am-11pm) Very fast web connection.
Koks-Travel (669 000; [email protected]; 3rd fl, ul Tolstogo 16; 8.30am-12.30pm & 1.30-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat) Major Altai tour agency, owners of Artybash’s Turbaza Zolotoe Ozero (holiday camp). Written English understood.
Penaty Bookshop (pr Lenina 85; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat, to 5pm Sun) Stocks many useful maps, atlases, postcards and Altai picture books.
Main post office (pr Lenina 54; 8am-7pm Mon-Sat, to 6pm Sun) The attached telephone office stays open until 10pm.
Skatt Tur ( 380622; [email protected]; ul Molodyozhnaya 32; 9am-7pm) Can make accommodation bookings and arrange trips around Altai.
Sputnik-Altai (367 750; www.sputnik.altai.ru, in Russian; 2nd fl, Sotsialistichesky pr 87; 9am-1pm & 2-6pm Mon-Fri, Mon-Sat in summer) This professional, well-connected tour agency can slot you into Russian Altai tours and arrange tailor-made excursions. English is spoken.
Sights
The impressively eclectic Altai Arts, Literature & Culture Museum (244 771; ul Tolstogo 2; admission R30; 10am-6pm Tue-Sat) occupies a restored, furnished 1850s mansion in which piano recitals are held on Saturday afternoons. There are some fine icons, Rerikh sketches, and even the inevitable WWII room is imaginatively handled through cartoons and theatre posters.
Founded in 1823, the reasonably interesting Regional Museum (234 551; ul Polzunova 46; admission/photos/videos R30/50/100; 10am-4pm Wed-Sun) is Siberia’s oldest museum. Top exhibits include intriguing models of various 18th-century industrial processes.
In an old brick house, the War History Museum (380 041; Komsomolsky pr 73b; admission R20; 9.30am-5pm Tue-Sat) is simple and all in Russian but the moving understatement of its Afghanistan and Chechnya memorials is particularly affecting.
The Altai Fine Art Museum (612 573; pr Lenina 88; admission R20; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) is the best of several galleries in this very cultured city.
Classical pl Demidov was once exaggeratedly dubbed a ‘slice of St Petersburg’. Now the slice is itself sliced in half by the tram tracks of Krasnoarmeysky pr and is hardly memorable, apart from the 1825 obelisk which is still faintly bullet-pocked from a 1918 skirmish.
Rapacious redevelopment has destroyed much of Barnaul’s older architecture. Nonetheless, centuries-old remnants are dotted between the shopping malls of pr Lenina’s tree-shaded southern end. A few splendid wooden-lace houses include those at ul Korolenko 96 and ul Polzunova 31 and 48. The bulbous-domed, brick Pokrovsky (ul Nikitina 135-7) is the most appealing of the city’s many churches with a fine, gilded interior. For wide river views, climb up to the gigantic Hollywood-style sign spelling ‘БАРНАУЛ’ (Barnaul).
The FSB headquarters (pr Lenina 30) is worth a peek. The bearded dude in the courtyard is Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Cheka, forerunners to the KGB and the current day FSB. A much larger monument to Iron Felix was torn down in Moscow as the USSR collapsed in 1991, and he is a very uncommon face indeed in modern Russia. Be sure to check out the large Soviet-era ‘Workers Unite!’ mural to Felix’s left. Taking photos of the FSB HQ is not advised.
Sleeping
Resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; dm per 12hr in d/q R215/190) A decent option at the train station with clean, shared hot showers.
Hotel Altai (239 247; pr Lenina 24; s/tw/without bathroom R550/950, s/tw with bathroom R1000/1600) In an early 1940s building, this good budget choice has certain elements of faded grandeur. Off corridors green with potted plants, even the simplest rooms and shared facilities are well maintained. Nearby is a statue of Lenin apparently posing as a bullfighter.
Hotel Kolos (228 605; ul Molodyozhnaya 25; s/d without bathroom R450/900) Perfectly acceptable old Soviet rooms though the shared toilets are highly communal with neither seats nor doors. Rooms with bathrooms around twice as expensive. Not so keen on registering foreigners.
Hotel Tsentralnaya (368 439; www.hotelcentral.ru, in Russian; pr Lenina 57; s/tw R1100/1400) Well renovated, perfectly central and all the rooms have good bathrooms.
Hotel Barnaul (626 222; www.barnaulhotel.ru; pl Pobedy 3; s R1300-1800, tw R2400-3200) This vast 12-storey block has been thoroughly renovated and is right next to the train and bus stations. Very good value. Cheaper rooms have stand-alone showers, while the more expensive have shower cabins. Press ‘ХОД’ to operate the older lift. Also has a convenient range of shops next to reception.
Hotel Siberia (624 200; www.siberia-hotel.ru; Sotsialistichesky pr 116; s/d R3100-3400, dR3700) This posh business hotel is built almost to international standards. Clean, quite, and comfortable. Great suites available for R5700.
Eating & Drinking
Dozens of appealing options include several summer terraces along pr Lenina.
Blinnaya (Sotsialistichesky pr 130; pancakes R40-90; 10am-10pm) The prefect place for a quick pancake break.
Pozharka (www.pozharka01.ru; pr Lenina 34; meals R300-500, beer R60-160; noon-2am) ‘Pozharka’ means ‘little fire’, and this friendly fire brigade–themed grill bar also does a wide range of sushi. Can get packed at weekends.
Rok’n’Roll (ul Anatoliya 68; beer from R60, snacks R30-100) Designer-graffiti music bar-café whose menu reads like a Beatles’ lyric sheet.
Mexico (368 688; pr Lenina 44a; meals R250-700) Plastic flashing palm trees and okay Mexican food. Be sure to ask if you want it spicy! Cover R100 from 8pm on music nights. Next door is a much cheaper beer-and-snack terrace (beer R40).
Coffee Please Kofeynya (pr Lenina 60; coffee R50-90; 24hr) Serves much-praised coffee and sandwiches.
Sibirskaya Korona (Sotsialistichesky pr 116; meals R300-500, beer R60-90) Next door to the Hotel Siberia, this popular bar-restaurant is hard to beat for good-value business lunches (R85) from 1pm to 4pm.
There are branches of the good value Vilka-Lozhka (meals R100 to R250) and Zhily-Bily, both serving filling traditional Russian food, (meals R200 to R400) right next to the Hotel Altai.
Getting There & Away
There are three direct flights a day to Moscow (R8500, 1½ hours) and a flight daily to Irkutsk (R11000, two hours). There is much more choice from (relatively) nearby Novosibirsk. Near the main Aerokassa (368 181; ul Sovetskaya 4; 8am-7pm Mon-Fri, 8.30am-5pm Sat & Sun) English-speaking KrasAir (242 251; ul Sovetskaya 10; 8am-7pm) provides free airport taxis for air-ticket customers.
For Moscow, a train leaves on odd-numbered days at 6.45pm (R6543, 59 hours) and a more expensive, slightly faster one on even dates at 8.55pm (R8812, 56½ hours). A train departs every day at 11.10pm for Novokuznetsk (platskart R369, 5½ hours). Trains to Tomsk leave daily at 12.24pm (R1529, 16 hours).
Buses are better for Novosibirsk (R290, five hours, more than 30 daily) and Biysk (R200, three hours, every hour), and the only choice for Gorno-Altaisk (R300, five hours, 10 daily).
Getting Around
From the Aerokassa, rare bus 112 runs to Barnaul’s airport in the northwestern suburbs. From the river station frequent buses 1 and 10 go straight up pr Lenina, trolleybus 5 connects to the train station and the handy bus 43 swings past pl Demidov, turns north up Krasnoarmeysky pr, then passes pl Pobedy (near the bus and train stations) before rejoining pr Lenina at pl Oktyabrya.
BIYSK БИЙСК
3854 / pop 236,000 / Moscow +3hr
Friendly Biysk, 160km southeast of Barnaul, is not worth a special detour but its modest attractions may warrant a brief stop en route to or from the Altai Mountains, for which it’s the nearest railhead.
In 1709 a group of 70 Russian soldiers with five cannons built a fort at the junction of the Biya and Katun Rivers. This didn’t impress the Dzhungarian Mongols, who sent 3000 men to burn it down. Biysk was re-established 20km to the east in 1718, and after the peace of 1756 was rapidly developed as a prosperous trade entrepôt protected by a big, Vauban-style star-shaped fortress (now completely disappeared).
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Information
Bars Travel (328 050; www.tbars.narod.ru in Russian; Hotel Tsentralnaya) Runs various Altai tours for Russian groups with three-day hiking trips (R4685 including food, transport and two nights’ accommodation) departing most Fridays.
Post office (ul Merlina 17; internet per MB R2.5, per hr 30; 8.30am-noon & 1-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-2pm Sat) One block south of the bus station.
Sberbank (9am-1pm & 2-7pm Mon-Sat) Branches at ul Lenina 244 and Krasnoarmeyskaya ul 73.
Sights
From the market near the bus station take northbound bus 23 to see the tumbledown patches of once-impressive old town, which hide intriguingly behind a vast, unprepossessing curtain of Soviet-era concrete. Get off at the once-mighty, now decrepit Firsova ex-Department Store (ul Tolstogo 144) with its crown-shaped corner domes. Walk a block east then north to find the excellent museum (337 698; ul Lenina 134; admission R20; 10am-4.30pm Wed-Sat), housed in a grand, if dilapidated, 1912 merchant’s house with its original art nouveau fittings. Further east, wobbly wooden homes and a few maudlin mansions hint at long-past wealth, but it’s better to walk down towards the riverbank and backtrack along Sovetskaya ul where there are several 1890s brick edifices, the silver-domed Assumption Church (Sovetskaya ul 13) and the grand, renovated 1916 theatre (Sovetskaya ul 25).
Sleeping
Hotel Tsentralnaya (338 307; Krasnoarmeyskaya ul; s/tw from R600/800) Three storeys have been pretty well renovated and even the older floors are pleasant for a Soviet-era hotel. All rooms have private bathroom with hot shower.
Hotel Polieks (236 440; pl 9i Yanvara 3; s/d/tw/tr from R450/600/750/1050) Very friendly with great-value en suite rooms but inconveniently far from the old town. Take westbound bus 23 to Kapelka Kafe (ul Vasilyeva 46) and walk back past Fortuna grocery.
Eating & Drinking
Blin Ok (train station; pancakes R30-70; 8am-8pm) Grab a pancake before you hop on a train at this tiny café right outside the train station.
Kavkazskaya Kukhnya (ul Lenina 314; meals R100-300, beer R30) Understandably Biysk’s most popular dinner spot, with reasonable prices, huge portions, cheap Russian beer and the best shashlyk in town. It is near the glistening Sberbank building.
Kafe Randevu (327 416; Sovetskaya ul 4; meals R300-600) Behind a beautifully renovated old-town facade, this midrange café has the most convivial atmosphere of three options on Sovetskaya ul.
Mu-Mu (ul Maksimov 4; meals R200-400) Biysk’s own version of the popular Moscow chain of cafés, Mu-Mu offers mounds of pancakes, pelmeni, and fried potatoes for hard-to-beat prices.
Getting There & Away
The bus and train stations face each other across a large square at the north end of ul Mitrofanova, 2km west of the Hotel Tsentralnaya and 4km from the historic centre. Useful overnight trains to Novosibirsk (platskart R398, 11 hours) leave at 8.15pm.
Buses leave frequently between 6.30am and 8pm for Gorno-Altaisk (R118, two hours) and Barnaul (R200, three hours). Shared taxis are faster but twice the price. Handy, if slow, buses rattle across to Novokuznetsk (R280, six to seven hours, three daily).
GORNO-ALTAISK ГОРНО-АЛТАЙСК
38822 / pop 54,000 / Moscow +3hr
Gorno-Altaisk, the capital of the Altai Republic, is a narrow ribbon of Soviet concrete blandness scarring an otherwise attractive valley. From Mayma on the M52, Gorno-Altaisk’s main street, Kommunistichesky pr, winds on for 7km before reaching central pl Lenina.
Before heading elsewhere in the Altai Republic you should register your visa at the Federal Migration Service office (62 012; top fl, Kommunistichesky pr 95; 9am-1pm Mon-Wed & Fri). It’s beside the Gorny Shopping Centre, 500m east of the market, bus stop Zhilmassiv. Enter via the stairs at the central doors. Importantly you’ll need a khodataystsvo – a document from whoever sponsored your visa, listing where in Altai you’ll be visiting. Get this before departing as having your sponsors fax it to Gorno-Altaisk can cause days of delays and annoyance. With the letter, registration should only take 15 minutes – assuming you can figure out the Russian forms.
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Information
The post office (Kommunistichesky pr 61; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri) near the bus station has an internet centre (per MB R2.5, per hr R35; 9am-9pm Mon-Fri, noon-6pm Sat & Sun). Bank Zenit (side entrance, ul Churos-Gurkina 28; 9am-1pm & 2-4pm) has good US dollar rates. Altai Info( 26864; Hotel Gorny Altai; 10am-6pm) can arrange rafting trips.
Sights
A moustachioed standing stone idol (see boxed text, Click here) welcomes visitors to the interesting museum (27 875; ul Churos-Gurkina 46; admission R30; 10am-4.30pm Wed-Sun). There’s a reconstruction of a 2000-year-old Pazyryk grave pit and some intriguing archaeological finds from the Turkic and Dzhungarian periods. There is an impressive WWII memorial opposite the Dormostsroy hotel and another Lenin monument to add to your collection outside the Hotel Gorny Altai.
Sleeping & Eating
There’s further choice in Mayma, Aya and Souzga.
Hotel Magistralnaya (62 256; 4th fl, Kommunistichesky pr 182; dm R300-450, tw/d 1800/2600) Clean, well-kept, three-bed dorms share decent new facilities. Pricier rooms have private bathrooms. Disconcertingly, you have to ring at the rear entry-phone buzzer and give your reservation details before being let in. Book ahead.
Dormoststroy (62 149; 3rd fl, per Granitny 1; tw R1000) Two cramped but comfy new twin rooms with kettle and fridge share a modern toilet and hot shower. You can pay per bed (R500). Two luxurious double rooms with own bathroom go for R2000.
Hotel Gorny Altai (95 086; ul Palkina 5; s/d R650/1000) This crumbling Soviet slab usually has a toiletless room available when all else is full. Perfectly central, more expensive rooms (single/double R1500/2000) have their own toilets and bathrooms.
Kafe Natalya (24 393; ul Churos-Gurkina 32; meals R110-170) Cosy, with quiet good taste, this is by far Gorno-Altaisk’s nicest café. Delicious daily specials are displayed in the heated cabinet making point-and-pick an easy option. Omelettes (from R40) make a good breakfast.
Pelmennaya (22 314; 2nd fl, Kommunistichesky pr 178; meals R45-80; 8am-7pm Mon-Fri, to 4pm Sat & Sun) This Soviet-era cafeteria has apparently antiphototropic pot plants and serves cheap if uninspiring breakfasts.
ALTAI BORDER ZONES
The Altai Republic’s border zones with China, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia have been under the control of the FSB (formerly the KGB) since 2006. Foreigners are required to submit an application for permission to enter these areas. This is on top of Altai Republic registration. It affects anyone heading beyond Kosh-Agach to the Mongolian border, and anyone travelling further south than, and including, Ust-Koksa. Applications must be submitted by fax at least 10 days before your journey and should include passport details (everything, including where and when issued and expiry date), planned route, purpose of journey, and home address. Applications should be made in Russian and sent to Aktash at
Getting There & Away
There’s no railway but a booth ( 9am-1pm & 2-5pm) within the bus station sells train tickets.
Buses run to Barnaul (R300, five hours, 12 daily) and Biysk (R118, two hours, nine daily), and serve most Altai Republic villages at least daily including Tyungur (R551, 1.45pm) and Onguday (R238, 2.40pm). Timetabled minibuses for Kosh-Agach (R560, 7.10am, via Aktash) don’t run on Tuesday or Saturday. If passenger numbers are low, you might not get beyond Aktash (R414, eight hours).
Private alternatives leave until mid-morning according to demand. Much faster marshrutky usually cost 50% more than buses. Shared taxis are slightly more expensive, but even faster. A complete timetable can be found at http://tis04.ru/busv.html (in Russian).
Getting Around
From central Gorno-Altaisk virtually all eastbound city buses take Kommunistichesky pr past the bus station, Federal Migration Service office and market. Buses numbered over 100 continue to Mayma, with the useful bus 102 (R12) ideal for all of Mayma’s restaurants and hotels.
AROUND GORNO-ALTAISK
38844
Mayma Майма
Hugging the M52 (ul Lenina), Mayma is effectively Gorno-Altaisk’s western lobe. There’s nothing to see but the settlement does have a large market and internet-connected post office (internet per MB R3, per hr R30) right where the road turns off to Gorno-Altaisk. Around 2km further south (on bus 102) there are some pleasant eateries and minihotels.
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SLEEPING & EATING
Hotel Nika ( 21 673; ul Lenina 129 at km443/520; s/tw/d R500/850/850) This recently built hotel in an old-style log mansion just beyond the Nika petrol station has three great-value rooms suffering somewhat from road noise.
Hotel Ostrov Yuzhny ( 8-903-074 7062; ul Pribrezhnaya 10; s/d R1000/1250) Three minutes’ walk towards the river from the Nika, this peaceful, modern house-hotel has a big sitting room and shared kitchen.
Kafé Pristan ( 22 875; ul Lenina 62; meals R180-350) Quality Russian food and kebabs served at heavy wooden bench tables overlooked by hunting trophies. Charges a cover of R30 from 7pm. Also offers a few comfortable rooms (single/double R1300/1900)
Kafe Solechny ( 23 004; ul Lenina 87, km442/521; meals R100-150; 8am-10pm) Unusually pleasant new cafeteria with decent toilets.
Aya & Souzga Ая и Соузга
There is a booming tourist scene south of Mayma concentrated around the small suspension bridge at Aya. The bridge stretches over the rock-dotted Katun River and leads to the picturesque Lake Aya. The village of Souzga is some 500m up the road after the bridge and is good for accommodation.
Many agencies around the bridge offer rafting trips (per hr R200-350) and horse rides at short notice; handy if you haven’t reserved anything more adventurous. In the summer months, right after the bridge, stalls belonging to the KTK company ([email protected]) offer a number of reasonably priced trips to Lake Teletskoe and Chemal, among other destinations.
Very basic hut-camps abound here. The cheapest are simply two beds and a window. There are also basic but clean rooms above the Aysky Most Kafe (s/d R400/600), right before the bridge.
A number of stalls in the area sell jars of natural honey for R400 and sera, a traditional Siberian ‘chewing gum’ made from cedar tree resin (R10 a stick). There are also numerous outdoor cafés serving the usual shashlyk and beer, as well as a growing number of summer open-air nightclubs.
To get to the lake, walk about 1.5km along the road, and take the first left up the steep hill to the path that slopes down to the water. Alternatively, taxis from the bridge charge around R100 for the trip. Entry to the territory of the lake costs R100, unless you want to skirt some 3km around the fence. Before you head off for the lake however, a visit to the cute, fairytale-themed Skazka Banya (per hr R400), some 300m to the left after the suspension bridge is well recommended.
Souzga village starts 500m beyond the Aya Bridge with the comfortable Gostiny Dvor ( 27 630; ul Naberezhnaya 64; s/d R1800/2900), whose rooms have good modern toilets and showers. Prices drop 25% from September to April. There are cheaper options across the road at the simple unnamed homestay (s/d R500/800). The plush Na Shumakh hotel ( 8-961-991 6000; [email protected]; ul Tsentralnaya 53; d R2300-3900) has exceedingly cosy rooms with river views. It also boasts self-contained ‘huts’ for R10,000. Easy to find and nicely positioned 4km north of Aya most (bridge) is Bely Kamen ( 8-903-919 2297; tw R500-700; Jun-Aug).
Souzga marshrutky run very rarely from opposite Mayma market. Chemal and Chuysky Trakt buses also pass by. If you have no accommodation booked consider chartering a taxi from Mayma market to check out various options, saving you very long sweaty walks. A taxi to either Aya or Souzga will cost around R300 from Gorno-Altaisk.
LAKE TELETSKOE ОЗЕРО ТЕЛЕЦКОЕ
Deep, delightful Lake Teletskoe is Altai’s serene answer to Lake Baikal, a great place simply to relax and catch your breath. Ridge after forested ridge unfolds as you scuttle along on one of the myriad little pleasure boats that buzz out of Artybash village, the lake’s charming tourist hub.
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Artybash & Iogach Артыбаш иИогач
38843 / pop 4500 / Moscow +3hr
At Lake Teletskoe’s westernmost nose, little Iogach village is the main population centre and bus stop. Across the bridge, Artybash is a pretty ribbon of cottages, homestays and minihotels straggling along ul Teletskaya to the currently closed Turbaza Zolotoe Ozera. From June to September, at 10am, noon and 3pm, there are daily lake trips (R300, four hours) to Korbu Waterfall from opposite Stary Zamok One. The falls are hardly memorable but the journey is very beautiful despite the blaring commentary. Speedboats take the same route for around R600 a head. The lake freezes over in winter and the village transforms into a winter wonderland. There is a handy Sberbank ( 9.30am-4pm Mon-Sat) that will change dollars and euros right as you leave the bridge.
SLEEPING & EATING
Iogach is convenient for transport but the walking and views are generally better from Artybash. Many of the cheaper places open in peak season only. However, all places listed here operate year-round, with reservations highly advisable in July and August. Prices drop by up to 50% off-season.
Iogach
Hotel Tayozhnaya ( 27 445; ul Naberezhnaya; dm R250-500, d R1000) Just two minutes east of the bus stand, this handy, friendly place has some very pleasant views of the lake. Cheap shared rooms have outdoor pit-toilets, while double rooms share a single indoor loo. Using the banya costs extra (R300 per hour).
Artybash
Every second house in Artybash seems to have rooms or huts to rent. Prices start from R350 without any facilities but many demand minimum groups of three or more guests in summer. Look for signs marked ‘Сдаю Дом’ and ‘Сдаётся Дом’ (house for rent). Beyond Turbaza Zolotoe Ozera there are more ‘miniresorts’; a wide, grassy free-camping area that gets very noisy on weekends; plus some cheap, very basic hut-camps. Hotel distances given are from the Iogach-Artybash bridge.
WATCH THE SKIES!
While hiking in Altai, you may occasionally want to drag your gaze away from the lush scenery around you and gaze into the heavens. Fragments from Russian rockets launched from the Baikonur space centre in nearby Kazakhstan have been falling on the Altai Republic for over 40 years. Experts estimate that some 2.5 tonnes of space waste have fallen on the republic during this period. No one has been hurt, but a number of shepherds have been scared out of their wits. In February 2008, shortly after the launch of a Proton-M rocket, a 3.5m-long rocket fragment landed a few metres from a hut belonging to an Altai shepherd. He subsequently appealed to the Russian authorities for compensation. His claim was dismissed, however, by Roscosmos, the Russian space agency that rents Baikonur. Many locals have said that they have experienced health problems after rocket fragments have fallen near their homes. Shepherds have also claimed that their animals have become sick. Roscosmos has repeatedly stated that no toxic traces have been found in areas where rocket fragments have fallen.
While travellers are extremely unlikely to be hit by falling space junk, the old sci-fi film advice still holds: watch the skies!
Stary Zamok One ( 26460; 500m; d with/without bathroom R2500 to R1200) This tiny brand-new mock-fortress hotel is opposite the departure point for boat trips. The whole hotel (five rooms) can be rented for R15,000 per 24-hour period. It is owned by the same people who run Stary Zamok Two. There is a very cheap café opposite (meals R50-100).
Stary Zamok Two ( 26 460; km1.4; d with/without bathroom R2500/1000) This sweetly kitsch little ‘castle’ has the village’s best-value upper-range accommodation. There are shared terraces, lake-view sitting rooms and a dining area.
Pensionat Edem ( 27 634; www.teleckoe.ru, in Russian; km2.5; d/tw from R1500/2250) A variety of comfy rooms and organised activities make the Edem a popular choice, though it’s in trees slightly set back from the road and lacks any lake views.
Kemping Laguna ( 26 489; km3; dm/tw off-season R550/950, tw Jun-Aug R2000-2700) Right at the gates of the turbaza
(holiday camp), the Laguna’s fully furnished en suite rooms are great value out of season. However, in summer they’re 99% booked out.
Turbaza Zolotoe Ozera ( 26 440; km3.2) This big, institutional place is currently closed ‘due to a dispute with local officials’. If it does open again, it boasts the perfect position for views and lake excursions.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Buses to Gorno-Altaisk leave from the small shop at the end of the bridge on the Iogach side of the river at 7.10am and 8am (R180, 4½ hours). Check the timetable inside the shop. From Gorno-Altaisk the 11.05am bus (R180, 5½ hours) detours via Turochak, where you spend over an hour for lunch. In summer a faster direct service (four hours) runs most afternoons at 1pm. Biysk to Artybash is only 168km and R120 but timetables mean that public transport will leave you stranded overnight in Turochak, where the very basic Hotel Lyzhny Baza ( 22 730; ul Nagornaya 1; per person R250) is an awkward 2km walk from the bus stop. Shared taxis make the journey from Biysk to Artybash for R250.
Around the Lake
Around Lake Teletskoe, half a dozen small, simple turbazy lie in complete, idyllic isolation accessible only by boat. Probably the best choice is Altyn-Tuu turbaza as it’s the closest to the mouth of the dramatic Chulyshman Valley. A 4WD track from here gets you relatively close to the phallic erosional quirks known as Mushroom Rocks (Kamennye Griby) and you can hike onwards to see the powerful 160m-high Uchar Waterfall. When the mud road is passable (easiest in autumn) it’s possible to reach Altyn-Tuu and Balykcha from the Chuysky Trakt via Balyktuyul (Click here). Hike-and-raft adventure tours sold by STA-Novosibirsk (www.sibtravel.com) approach this way, and the company can also assist with booking accommodation.
ALONG THE KATUN RIVER TO CHEMAL
Between Mayma and Chemal the rock-dotted Katun River weaves prettily through forests and between tall grey cliffs. Villages all along the route have a range of accommodation from basic summer huts to swanky new hotel-style complexes, many operating from May to September only. Most people come simply to unwind, but between all those vodka-drinking sessions with holidaying Siberians you can usually arrange easy rafting day trips. Tour agencies in Barnaul, Novosibirsk or beyond have extensive catalogues, but in July and August many have minimum three-day stays and most are heavily booked.
Many local homes rent rooms from around R300 per bed without facilities and from R500 with shared indoor bathroom. Nicknamed Zelyoni Doma, some are bookable through the excellent Russian-only website www.zel-dom.narod.ru. Otherwise, just look for door signs saying ‘Сдаётся Дом’.
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Manzherok to Ust-Sema
38844 / Moscow +3hr
In the woods towards sprawling Manzherok village, there are modestly priced riverside turbazy at km461.8, 462.2, 465.2 and 468.3. The village also has an internet-connected post office opposite the clearly numbered shop at ul Lenina 30, the main road through the settlement. At km469, Turkomplex Manzherok ( 24 399; dm/d R300/1300) sits behind a mock-Cossack stockade in a riverbank pine grove. The good-value doubles have private showers and a toilet. Manzherok’s best homestays are at the village’s prettier southern edge around km474.
At km478.7, Arzhaan Suu is a ‘holy’ cold-water spring at the roadside, shrouded by summer souvenir sellers. Just across the new suspension bridge is Talda Park with caves and a café in a bizarre wooden galleon.
Further south, development is ever less intrusive. The scenery is prettiest around Ust-Muni (where there are some homestays) and Barangol, where Tsarskaya Okhota ( 28 810; www.ohotka.ru/one_tb-tb-68.html, in Russian; s R250-500, d R800) has an eye-catching, castle-style entrance. Its café is a great place to stop and has arguably the most beautiful Katun-side position for miles around. A long suspension bridge gives footpath access to a waterfall (3km).
Ust-Sema to Chemal
38841 / Moscow +3hr
A dead-end road from Ust-Sema follows the Katun River towards Chemal through thick cedar forests, which steadily open out into patchworks of slopes and fields that make for good walking. Rural accommodation options lie within a few kilometres of the Turbaza Katun (dm Jun & Sep from R200, Jul & Aug from R250) which is cheap, if rather institutional, and has an attractive riverside position with regular rafting and other outdoor activities. Sibir Altai (Click here) in Novosibirsk can book your stay but if you only want to do some sports it’s better just to turn up. Somewhat nicer Berel (dm from R300) nearby has cramped huts and R500 beds in nicer buildings with shared sit-down toilets.
Chemal Чемал
38841 / pop 9000 / Moscow +3hr
At the attractive junction of the Chemal and Katun rivers, ever-expanding Chemal is heavily touristed in summer but remains a good base for regional explorations and makes a very pleasant day trip from Gorno-Altaisk, 95km further north. Chemal means ‘place of living waters’ in the Altai language.
Chemal bus station ( 22 517; ul Pchyolkina 62) is opposite a cute brick church (ul Pchyolkina 69a) with a metal-spired wooden tower. In summer a number of companies have stalls here offering rafting trips from R350 per hour. Walk two blocks south past the central shops and a small park, then turn right to find the Altaysky Tsentr ( 22 327; ul Beshpekskaya 6; per person/group R100/300). This comprises three Altai-style wooden ail-huts with pointed metal roofs. One is an Altai library, another celebrates Churos-Gurkin’s ethnographic work, but most interesting is the traditional ‘home’ ail. Opening hours vary. Sberbank ( 9am-4pm Mon-Fri) is near the bus station.
Ul Beshpekskaya becomes Sovetskaya ul and, after 700m, dead-ends at a pedestrian suspension footbridge. This dizzyingly wobbly construction leads across a small canyon to a craggy island in the Katun River on which is perched the tiny wooden Ioanno Bogoslavski Chapel ( 9am-7pm), rebuilt in 2001 to the original 1849 design. Beside it, the rock miraculously shaped like a Madonna-and-child sculpture is supposedly natural.
A narrow but well-trodden footpath winds high along the Katun riverbank into the Varota Sartikpayev Canyon, an important place in Altai mythology. Despite power lines and summer crowds, views remain very pretty. After walking for about 15 minutes you emerge behind a small 1935 dam (GES in Russian, an acronym for hydroelectric scheme) backed by souvenir stalls and open-air cafés. Here you can make 15m bungee jumps (pryzhki ve vodu; per jump R200; 10am-1pm & 2-7pm May-Sep) into the frothing outpour waters or ‘fly’ across on the kanatnaya daroga (per ride R250), an amusing elastic-pulley contraption. Both attractions impose ‘fines’ of R100 on anyone who backs out at the last second! You can also try traditional talkan Altai tea here (R20). For much more peaceful Katun views walk, drive or cycle at least 3km further south.
Elekmonar, 5km north of Chemal, is the starting point for multiday hikes or horse rides to the seven attractive Karakol Lakes amid picturesque bald mountain tops. The lakes are approximately 30km beyond Elekmonar – start up ul Sadovaya. A sturdy 4WD could get you most of the way.
SLEEPING & EATING
Ludmila Usadba ( 8-903-956 4814; Zelyonaya Rosha 2; s/d R500/800) Set in a peaceful garden, Ludmila Usadba’s small but excellent rooms are superb value. There is also a banya (R300).
Altai Voyazh ( 22 268; www.karakolaltai.ru, in Russian; ul Sovetskaya 4; d R800) Opposite the bus station, next to Sberbank, this hikers’ hangout offers decent rooms with shared toilets. Camping on the territory costs R200 a night. The hotel also offers a range of reasonably-priced rafting and hiking trips.
There is a very small, unnamed café (meals R75-200) opposite the bus station and another behind the football pitch next to Ludmila Usadba.
In Elekmonar, very basic homestays are available for under R400 at over a dozen homes, including Sovetskaya ul 53, 107, 115 and 157, and Tsentralnaya ul 32 and 61.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Buses run twice a day from Gorno-Altaisk at 1.35pm and 6.30pm (R109, three hours). Buses back leave at 7am and 8am, although the second bus can’t be relied upon. In summer additional services run from Barnaul (R270, seven hours) via Biysk (R150, 4½ hours).
CHUYSKY TRAKT ЧУЙСКИЙ ТРАКТ
South of Ust-Sema, the dramatic M52 road to Olgii in Mongolia is known as the Chuysky Trakt. It offers 400km of forested mountains, canyons and glimpsed vistas, emerging eventually into peak-rimmed steppe dotted with Kazakh yurts. The views are arguably better driving northbound as the woodlands are less dense on the south-facing slopes, leaving visible the photogenic rocky cliffs. Transport is incredibly limited but shared taxis run all the way to Kosh-Agach from Onguday for around R800 per seat (R3500 per car) and drivers are generally happy enough to make brief stops en route for photos of landscapes, stone idols and petroglyphs. It is also possible to take a taxi from Chemal to Kosh-Agach for around R5000, depending on your haggling skills and the season. Given that this is a 14-hour journey through some of the Altai’s most stunning scenery, this is an option well worth considering.
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Onguday Area Онгудай
38845 / pop 5100 / Moscow +3hr
The high and desolate Seminsky Pass is topped with a winter sports training centre and some snack kiosks from which the road descends to Onguday. Translating literally as ‘10 gods’ (for the 10 surrounding peaks) the large village isn’t especially appealing but its very basic, central hotel ( 21 196; ul Erzumasheva 8; dm/tw R300/600) makes a possible base for archaeologists visiting kurgany (burial mounds) at Karakol, Tuetka and Shiba. There’s a small museum in the school and the Torko Chachak handicraft shop sells Altai felts and fur hats. Just before Onguday, the turn-off at Tuekta leads to the village of Elo, about 30km away, where a huge festival celebrating Altai culture is held every two years on the first weekend in July. The festival attracts some 60,000 people, and guests attend from all over Russia and beyond.
ALTAI’S STONE IDOLS
Altai is famous for its standing stone idols. Known locally as kameniy babi (most confusingly, given their overwhelmingly masculine forms, ‘stone wenches’)the best were carved in human form with moustaches, shown holding a cup that symbolically housed the soul of the dead. Just a few have avoided being carted off to museums. Some examples of varying interest appear beside the Chuysky Trakt and in the depths of Tyungur. There are also many groups of animal-shaped petroglyphs (rock drawings) of debatable origin. These may be fascinating but most are so faint that you might miss the scratches even when you’re staring right at them.
RAFTING
Rafting can be arranged at short notice at Turbaza Katun (Click here) or around Aya Bridge (Click here).
Increasingly popular rafting-and-camping trips start at Kur-Kechu, descending the potentially dangerous Ilgumen Rapids (below). While not for beginners, they’re not Altai’s toughest challenge either. Prices start from a bargain R3000 to R5000 per person but that’s likely to mean poor food, no wet suits and mediocre safety standards. Travel Trophy (
To Onguday’s northwest, a dead-end side road to Kulada village passes through Bichiktu-Boom (with some traditional Altai aily) and an attractive valley which offers hiking and free-camping possibilities. Kulada itself is built around a rocky knob and is a holy place in Burkhanism, a curious but almost extinct Altai religion founded in 1904 by shepherd Chet Chelpan, fusing Orthodox Christianity, Buddhism and folk traditions.
Southeast of Onguday the Chuysky Trakt crosses the beautiful, serpentine Chike-Taman Pass, a death trap in winter due to rockfalls and icy roads. It descends close to the Ilgumen Rapids, which offer challenging rafting (grades 4 to 5); five-day adventures to Manzherok start by camping at the beautifully positioned Kur-Kechu (Kordon Kurechy; tent sites R70), perched just above the river, 800m east of km681. There are a few summer huts here too. See above for more on rafting in Altai.
In a cliff-ringed curl of river, Maly Yaloman has a microclimate allowing local villagers to grow cherries and apples. Up 12km of rough side track Bolshoy Yaloman has several stone idols in fairly good condition. The nearby Drevnaya Altai camp offers tent space for R100. As you enter Inya village (km706.4), be sure to keep your eyes open for one of the most dramatically placed and memorable Lenin statues in Russia. Some 3km before Iodra, on the left hand side, stands a stone idol with a well-preserved and somewhat haunting face. Look for the idol’s slightly worn sword. Directly opposite there are some faint rock drawings.
At km712.6, overshadowed by an unsightly pylon, picnic tables and prayer flags tempt you to stop for wonderful views of the meeting Ilgumen and Katun rivers far below. Just beyond, beside the slip road for the Chuy-Oozy truck stop (km714.2), very lightly scored road-side petroglyphs depict little antelope figures. There’s another petroglyph group at Kalbak Tash crag, a five-minute walk north of km721. The road then snakes scenically through the Chuya Canyon to Aktash (km790) with awesome views of snow-capped Mt Aktru to the right.
Aktash Area
AKTASH АКТАШ
38846 / pop 3400 / Moscow +3hr
This nondescript little garrison-village commands a dramatic area of craggy valleys. If bus timetables leave you stuck here, stroll 3km north from the edge of town towards Balyktuyul through the striking rocky canyon named Red Gate (Krasnyye Vorota). Look out for the graffiti written on the rocks by soldiers after returning from WWII. Aktash could make a base for mountain adventures in the lovely Northern Chuysky Range with its challenging mountaineering on Mt Aktru (4044m) and Mt Maashey (4177m) or for trekking to the Shavlinsky Lakes for idyllic mountain views. However, for all of these you will need outside help as in Aktash itself there are no tourist facilities and no waiting guides. Chartering a suitable 4WD to reach Mt Aktru base camp isn’t easy, but the trip is lovely if you succeed.
Visa registration ( 23 381; ul Mira 1a; 8am-5pm) is required if you missed registering in Gorno-Altaisk. The local border post ( 23 555; 24hr) is at the southern end of ul Pushkina. The unmarked Hotel Radio-releyniserkh ( 23 311; ul Zarechnaya 17; d R100) has four excellent rooms for a token fee. It’s designed for invited business guests, but tourists just might be allowed to stay one night by prior arrangement. Don’t rely on just turning up and getting a room, though. Finding the keyholder in the bowels of the factory at ul Zarechnaya 15 can be quite an adventure.
Hotel Selkhoztekhnika (Chuysky Trakt km767; dm/s/tw R200/250/500), isolated 3km north of town, is the very definition of the term ‘basic’. A 2003 earthquake left its walls bowed and floors strangely twisted.
The central, two-room unnamed hotel (gostinitsa; 23 831; ul Pushkina 1; dm R300) is scary – rooms are hidden within a Kafka nightmare of collapsing offices and unidentifiable detritus. Avoid except in case of emergency. The owners keep irregular hours, so if you really want to stay you may just have to wait around for someone to turn up.
Neither Aktash nor Onguday have professional taxis, but shopkeepers can suggest potential drivers. Aktash to Kosh-Agach by car can cost anywhere from R700 to R1500.
Kosh-Agach Area Кош Агач
38842 / pop 4500 / Moscow +3hr
Clouds permitting, the best views on the whole Chuysky Trakt are between Aktash and Kosh-Agach. Wide, if distant, panoramas of perennially snow-topped peaks rise formidably behind valleys known somewhat misleadingly as the Kuray and Chuy Steppe (km821 to km840 and km870 onwards). These are interspersed by more great canyons and a colourful mountainside that looks like marbled chocolate pudding (km856). The Kuray Steppe regularly hosts Russia’s paragliding championships: see the website of NGO Triada (www.triadaclub.com/kurai).
The road leading to Kosh-Agach sees the greenery start to die out, and the landscape gradually transforms into something resembling, as most guests to the area say, ‘another planet’. Some 50km from the Russian–Mongolian border, Kosh-Agach is the driest inhabited place in the Russian Federation. The town has a strange, end-of-the-world feeling about it, with its shanty-type homes petering out into magical flat steppe just beyond the Hotel Tsentralnaya. When the dusty air clears, the nearby mountains appear from nowhere like apparitions. Russians are in the minority here, with Kazakhs making up something like 75% of the population. A useful landmark is the little wooden Khazret Osman Mosque (ul Sovetskaya 62), which marks the intersection of the Chuysky Trakt with ul Sovetskaya. It’s on ul Sovetskaya that you’ll find the bus stand and three hotels. Parallel, one block west, is ul Kooperativnaya with a post office and police station ( 22 433; ul Kooperativnaya 34) for visa registration. The only real place to change money safely is Sberbank (ul Pogranichnaya 1a; 9am-noon & 2-4.30pm Mon-Fri)
The owners of the Hotel Tranzit can point you towards yurts where you can sample fresh kumiss with Kazakh nomad herders. The nearest are just 5km away on steppe that rises imperceptibly towards the distant twin peaks of Mt Saylyugem (3411m) and Mt Tapduayr (3305m). They may even be able to arrange transport.
Very adventurous travellers with a few weeks to spare have bought horses in Kosh-Agach and ridden all the way to Tyungur, Lake Teletskoe or even to Tuva.
SLEEPING
Hotel Tranzit ( 22 682; ul Sovetskaya 50-52; d R350). This ultrabasic crash pad has five doubles with shared inside toilets and showers. Guests are free to make use of the cooker and fridge.
Other hotels include the just as elementary Hotel Shankhai (ul Sovetskaya 63; dm R150) and Hotel Bazar (ul Sovetskaya 61; dm R150), both of which have shared outside toilets.
EATING
Despite posted ‘24-hour’ opening times, most shops and cafés actually close by 6pm. The Stolovaya (ul Sovetskaya 62a; meals R50-100) has simple Russian fare. Kafe Telets opposite the post office also has the usual stodgy soups and pelmeni. There is a handy supermarket ( 10am-10pm) at ul Sovetskaya 61.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
From the bus stand (ul Sovetskaya 28), the 7am minibus to Gorno-Altaisk (R420, nine hours) can’t be relied upon. Shared taxis (R700 per seat) also leave around 7am; they offer much better views and by arrangement will collect you from your hotel for no extra charge. For transport to the Mongolian town of Olgii (seats R250) it’s best to find a 4WD UAZ vehicle by asking around at the hotels and shops.
TOWARDS MT BELUKHA
Tiny Tyungur village sits in an appealing valley. Although lacking viewpoints itself, it’s the normal staging point for treks towards Mt Belukha (4506m), Siberia’s highest peak. Surrounding valleys and lakes are among Russia’s most spectacular, but access requires strenuous guided hiking.
The road to Tyungur branches off the northern Chuysky Trakt at Cherga and crosses a delightfully isolated, mostly forested area via Baragash. After the high grasslands of Ust-Kan, there are glimpses of the distant white-tops from the Kyrlyksky Pass as the road descends into the Koksa Valley. Though less dramatic than the Chuysky Trakt, the landscape is attractive with bucolic meadows framed by hills and bluffs. Watch out for the seemingly suicidal ground squirrels that sprint from one side of the road to the other as vehicles approach! The locals call the cows that stand in the middle of the road blocking traffic ‘freelance traffic cops’.
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Ust-Koksa & Tyungur Усть-Кокса и Тюнгур
38848 / pop 430 / Moscow +3hr
The valley meets the Katun River at Ust-Koksa, which has the delightful wooden Pokrovskoe Church (ul Nagornaya 31). Across the Katun River, around 10km beyond Multa, there’s a maral deer farm with a small summer turbazy en route to the beautiful Multinsky Lakes. These offer yet more great hikes if you can find a guide. In the 1930s the many Old Believers of the Koksa and Uymon Valleys offered fierce armed resistance to collectivisation, leading to the almost total destruction of their villages by the peeved Soviet state. Nonetheless, the tiny Verkhny Uymon village has an Old Believers’ Museum (Muzey Staroobryadchestva) as well as a small Nikolai Rerikh House-Museum. Opening hours vary for both and entrance costs R20 and R30 respectively.
Tyungur is a minuscule village but its well-organised Turbaza Vysotnik (opposite) is a fantastic place to go to organise trekking, rafting or ascents of the mighty Mt Belukha. Decent tents, climbing equipment and even sleeping bags can be hired here. Maps, guides and horses are also available and there’s the possibility of meeting other travellers to form a trekking group with. It’s worth emailing ahead with your requests. If you speak some Russian ask about joining an existing Russian group (much cheaper, from around R500 per person per day). Bring trekking supplies as Tyungur has minimal groceries. If you want to spy Mt Belukha without a full-blown expedition, take a long day hike from Tyungur part-way up Mt Bayda.
HIKING ROUTES
Before setting off on any of Tyungur’s five-to 12-day trekking adventures, be aware that you’re heading for real wilderness. Discuss your plans carefully with staff at one of the turbazy in Tyungur, or join an organised group by booking well ahead with one of the many trekking companies, notably those in Barnaul, Novosibirsk, Omsk or beyond.
Hiking alone or without a guide is highly discouraged. Renting packhorses for your baggage will make the treks more pleasant and horsemen often double as guides, though none speak any English.
To reach the lovely Akkem Lake from Tyungur you could cross the 1513m Kuzuyak Pass. Alternatively, start by rafting 20km down the Katun River past some well-preserved stone idols to the mouth of the Akkem River. From there, hiking the forested Akkem River valley (two days) is somewhat dull so consider a four- to five-day high loop to the east, with many marvellous mountain views en route.
Stupendous panoramas of Mt Belukha are the reward for crossing the boulder-strewn Kara-Tyurek Pass (3060m), which loops from Lake Akkem to peaceful Lake Kucherla; it takes one day if you don’t get lost, but is tricky for horses. Returning down the Kucherla River valley to Tyungur takes at least two days, but add more time for exploring and mishaps.
From the confluence of the Akkem and Katun Rivers it’s also possible to hike along the Katun River to Inya (three days) on the Chuysky Trakt.
CLIMBING BELUKHA
Ascents of Belukha (grade 3A to 5A) are only for experienced mountaineers but don’t require special permits. A two-week package (from around R12,500 per person) available from Turbaza Vysotnik (right) includes guides, food and acclimatisation climbs for individuals or small groups. Specialist mountaineering groups such as K2 Adventures in Omsk (Click here) have successfully guided mountaineers up the toughest ‘Bottle’ ascent.
SLEEPING & EATING
Ust-Kan has a basic hotel (dm R350) at its bus station, and there is a small hut-camp (d R400) with clean outside toilets and camping for R80 beside the main Tyungur road, 4km east of town near an archaeological cave site.
In Ust-Koksa, the Uimonskaya Dolina Hotel (Sovetskaya ul 71; per person R350), with multicoloured roof, has decent rooms upstairs, let down by a meet-the-neighbours shared squat toilet. Rooms with toilets go for R700 to R1400. The hotel also hires out bicycles for R50 an hour. The Nossfera bank ( 8.30am-4pm, Mon-Fri) behind the hotel changes euros and US dollars. Another unmarked three-room guesthouse (Sovetskaya ul 58; per person from R150) has a kitchen and real bathroom, but to get the key you must visit the Komkhoz office ( 22 393; ul Nagornaya 23) during business hours. The Kafe Elegiya (meals R150-300; 10am-midnight) is across the road at ul Sovetskaya 54. The attached supermarket is well stocked and is your last chance to stock up on luxuries before the wilderness begins for real.
Some 10km before Tyungur, the Dom Okhotnika guesthouse ( 22 024; d R1500) has great views and comfortable rooms. It can also organise hiking trips and river trips. Bookings can be made through Skatt Tur in Barnaul (Click here). There are two options in Tyungur itself, across the suspension bridge from the village. Keep left for the simple but very well organised Turbaza Vysotnik ( 22 024; www.belukha.ru; tw/tr/q R600/700/700, tent hire R100), popular with Russian hippies and ‘adventurers’. Double rooms with inside toilets are also available for R900. There’s a helpful English-speaking manager and a great café that is the nearest you’ll find to an international traveller hang-out in Altai. Almost anything you’ll need for mountaineering or treks into the wilderness is available for hire here, including tents and guides. The small tepee-style café across the path has cheap traditional Altai food, including fresh kumiss. Opening hours are irregular and prices very cheap.
A five-minute walk to the southwest of the Tyungur Bridge is the Turbaza Uch-Sumer ( 29 424, fax 22 872; www.uch-sumer.ru; yurt space/dm R350/600), popular with a less–New Age crowd. Dorm prices in the hotel section include a shared indoor toilet. There are also some private huts. The owners offer many tour options, notably hunting around Lake Kucherla and elsewhere in the mountains where they maintain cabins. The old Soviet helicopter on its grounds makes a good place to sit in and read and/or drink beer.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
From Gorno-Altaisk a strangely timed 1.45pm bus runs daily to Tyungur (R551, nine hours) arriving just before midnight. It returns at 8am via Ust-Koksa and Ust-Kan. Marshrutky run from Gorno-Altaisk to Ust-Koksa (R700) when full, usually two or three times each morning, departing from a corner of the bus station parking area. A taxi from here to Tyungur will cost around R300. Departures are possible as late as 10am southbound but northbound all will have usually left by 8am.
Taxis plying the Ust-Koksa–Verkhny Uymon route charge R500 return with waiting time; buses only run twice a week. The Turbaza Vysotnik in Tyungur (Click here) can arrange transfers to Biysk or Gorno-Altaisk. You may also be able to hitch a ride with fellow guests.
SOUTHERN KEMEROVO REGION
The Kemerovo region is heavily associated with the mining industry of the Kuzbass district, but there is more to the region than endless piles of coal.
Novokuznetsk, constructed almost from scratch by Soviet ‘shockworkers’ (superproductive workers) in the 1930s, is the region’s biggest city and boasts a well-laid-out centre with some remarkable Soviet-era monuments dedicated to socialist worker heroes. While worth a visit in its own right, Novokuznetsk also makes a convenient stopover point between Abakan and Biysk when overlanding between Altai and Tuva.
Some three hours drive south of Novokuznetsk lie the Gornaya Shoriya Mountains, containing the popular and rapidly developing skiing resort of Sheregesh. A very adventurous trek from Sheregesh takes mountaineers over a tough trail to the Altai Mountains.
The city of Kemerovo itself offers a slightly surreal mix of landscapes blighted by smoke-belching factories, imposing Soviet monuments, wide Stalinist avenues and areas of real natural beauty.
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NOVOKUZNETSK НОВОКУЗНЕЦК
3843 / pop 563,000 / Moscow +4hr
Founded on the right bank of the Tom River in 1618, the frequently enlarged Kuznetsk Fortress became one of the most important guardians of imperial Russia’s southeastern frontier. The chunky remnants remain one of Novokuznetsk’s main attractions. The city’s left bank, named Stalinsk until 1961, developed from 1932 as a gigantic steel town and is now the city centre. A day is just about enough to survey Novokuznetsk’s intriguingly pompous early-Stalinist boulevards fanning out to towering smokestacks.
An indication of the strength and importance of the local metal plants is that Novokuznetsk supplies 70% of Russia’s train tracks. An equally interesting statistic is that 50% of the Soviet tanks that saw action in WWII were made in the city.
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Orientation
Novokuznetsk’s main sights and hotels are mostly spread around pr Metallurgov, the prospekt that stretches away from you as you come out of the train station. There are good maps available in the kiosk inside the train station and at the Knizhni Mir bookshop (pr Metallurgov 27; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat & Sun).
Information
Internet Club ( 740 678; pr Metallurgov 27; per MB R6, per hr R24; 24hr) Calm internet café mostly free of shoot-‘em-up teens.
Main Post Office (pr Metallurgov 21; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat & Sun)
Vega Tour ( 384 042; pr Yermakova 9; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat) Friendly travel agency that can offer trips to the local Gornaya Shoriya Mountains and Altai. Some English spoken. Take bus 88 from the centre or a taxi for around R80.
Sights & Activities
An easy stroll due north from the cohabiting bus and train stations takes you up pr Metallurgov, which is a good example of Novokuznetsk’s memorable ‘Brave New 1930s’ feel. To your right after no 18, the now empty constructionist building that once housed Siberia’s first audio cinema, is the Metallurgists’ Garden (Sad Mettalurgov), guarded by two superbly reverential Soviet-era statues dedicated to metal-workers. If you walk through the gardens past the 1990s fountain you will come to Park Gagarina, which contains a bust of a jolly-looking Gagarin and Siberia’s biggest Planetarium ( 745 114; admission R50; 10am-6pm). Just past the gardens, on the right, is the grandly colonnaded main theatre ( 743 505; pr Metallurgov 28).
Leaving the park, directly opposite, on your left at the corner of Pionersky pr building no 24, the 80-year-old Regional Museum (Kraevedchesky muzey; 741 995; admission R25; 10am-6pm Mon-Sat) concentrates mostly on mining and steel industries, but also contains locally found mammoth remains and exhibits dedicated to the native Shortsi people, who dominated the area before the arrival of the Russians. The two cannons outside the museum date from the 17th century, a fact that many locals are disproportionately proud of.
Further down pr Mettalurgov, opposite no 39, stands a particularly impressive statue of Vladimir Mayakovsky. Although the doomed writer never actually visited Novokuznetsk, he was so moved by the Soviet project to build a new city that he penned a poem starting with the lines, famous all over Russia, ‘Ya znau budet gorod, ya znau sadu svest’ (‘I know there will be a city, I know the gardens will bloom’). The old Soviet Builders Club (Klub Stroiltely) is at ul Ordzhonikidzye 23 (first left after Mayakovsky statue). Guarded by two more statues of Soviet workers, wielding a hammer and a plasterer’s board, the one-time cement workers’ club is now used as a cultural centre.
For lovers of Russian matryoshki nestingdolls, don’t miss the Magazin-Galereya-Tvorchestvo ( 744 430; [email protected]; pr Metallurgov 6; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat) The shop’s friendly owner not only has a range of dolls for sale, she also offers (Russian language) lessons in painting and making them.
OLD TOWN
If you want to visit the sparse remnants of old Kuznetsk, take frequent marshrutka 5 from outside the bus station. A taxi straight there will cost about R150. Ask for the ‘Ostrog.’ Get off at Sovetsky pl and follow the road that leads steeply up beside the beautiful 1792 Transfiguration Cathedral (Preobrazhenskoi sobor; 8am-2pm & 4-7pm). On the hilltop, the restored stone ramparts of the Kuznetsk Fortress (Ostrog; 360 092; www.kuzn-krepost.narod.ru; ul Geologicheskaya; museum admission R80, photography/video R100; 10am-5pm) are massive and topped with cannons but represent only 20% of their 1810 extent.
Return to Sovetsky pl and walk five minutes south down ul Dostoevskogo. One of several wooden homes set in riverside gardens is the artistically presented Dostoevsky Museum ( 376 586; ul Dostoevskogo 40; admission R30; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat) in the log cabin where the writer stayed for three weeks in 1856–57 while attempting to persuade a local widow to tie the knot with a poor, epileptic and persecuted novelist. She eventually agreed. Request the key from ul Dostoevskogo 29. The nearby church where the couple were married was later destroyed by the Soviets.
Sleeping
Resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; 743 131; main train station; s/d 350/700;) Cheap and clean but noisy. Midnight curfew. Watch out for the dodgy characters who hang out at the station. Onward ticket required at present.
Hotel Novokuznetsk ( 460 021; ul Kirova 53; r R900) This presentable Soviet giant has clean rooms (no toilets) but standards vary widely. The R900 rooms are drab but survivable, while the R3800 singles are much more comfortable but still overpriced. It’s on the large traffic circle, two bus stops down the first right turning after Metallurgists’ Garden.
Hotel Gostiny Dvor ( 795 821; www.guest.hotel-el.ru; pr Kirova 34; s/d R2000/R3600) Set in quiet grounds a short distance from Metallurgists’ Garden, the hotel offers good-sized, reasonably priced rooms. Often full, however, so book ahead.
Hotel Aba ( 424 460; www.aba-hotel.ru; ul Kuybysheva 8; d from R2200; ) Rooms in this polite, modern hotel are bright and fairly stylish with clean, modern, shower booths and toilets. Much bigger R2700 suites have air-conditioning but the same somewhat undersized double beds. It’s 1.5km northwest of the station; three huge blocks up pr Kurako then left. There are also saunas for R600 to R800 an hour.
Hotel Persona Grata ( 390 770; www.persona-nk.ru; pr Kirova 105; s/d R5500/7700; ) Comfortable hotel with wi-fi and sparklingly clean rooms that are tastefully furnished and large. It’s 10 minutes’ walk down pr Kirova from Hotel Novokuznetsk.
Eating & Drinking
The majority of restaurants are, surprise, centred around pr Metallurgov.
Shafran ( 352 609; ul Kirova 103; meals R200-300) Next to the Hotel Persona Grata, Shafran offers a wide range of good value sandwiches and soups as well as pizza and pelmeni.
Traktir Zhily-Bily (ul Kirova 21; meals R200-400) Traditional Russian food in a rustic setting. Refreshing kvas and a wide range of pancakes.
Sushi bar (meals R250-450) Next door to Zhily-Bily, offers lip-smackingly good Japanese plum wine (R100 a glass). Just to the right of Metallurgists’ Gardens.
Forsazh ( 747 113; pr Metallurgov 19; meals R250-500) This brightly coloured Formula One–themed café-bar offers a range of cocktails and filling, if unspectacular, Russian and European fare.
Flamingo ( 740 779; ul Kutuzova 20; meals R300-400) Good Chinese food in Siberia! Friendly service as well, and the noodles are surprisingly spicy. Located round the corner from the regional museum.
There is a cheap and greasy unnamed bar-café (ul; Bardina 2; beer R50-100; meals R100-250; 24hr)opposite the train station that sells beer, vodka and the usual pelmeni etc. For self-catering the large supermarket ( 8am-10pm) at pr Metallurgov 1 is conveniently located and cheap.
Getting There & Around
There are two flights a day from Novokuznetsk’s Spichenkovo airport to Moscow. (R5000 to R65000, four hours). To get to the airport, take bus or marshrutka 160 from the train station.
Trains run daily to Abakan (R1422, 10 hours, 5.58pm). There are three trains a day to Novosibirsk, the most convenient of which leaves at 7.30pm (R1747, 10 hours). The ski-train to Tashtagol (platskart R693, five hours) departs at 2.28am and 6.20am in season.
Slow, bumpy buses run across lonely, undulating agricultural landscapes to Biysk (R279, six to seven hours) departing at 9.30am, 1.27pm and 3pm. There are also over 15 buses a day to Tashtagol (R141, four hours) and Barnaul (R214, 4½ hours).
Taxis ( 390 111) charge around R200 per hour for city tours.
SHEREGESH ШЕРРГЕШ
38473 / pop 9600 / Moscow +4hr
This former miners’ village has seen the rapid development of the skiing industry in recent years. The ski season at Sheregesh lasts from mid-November to mid-May. At some 1300m the Zelyonaya Gora (Green mountain) peak has long been sacred to the local Shortsi people, and until the 1970s remained virtually unvisited. Today the area is a favourite among skiers and snowboarders from all over Russia. The journey to and from the ski resort is an added bonus, winding through tiny villages and deserted country roads – not for nothing has Sheregesh been called Russia’s ‘little Switzerland’. If you arrive out of season, Sheregesh is also a fine place to relax and/or go hiking in the taiga and around the mountain.
The main thoroughfare, ul Gagarina, runs from the ski slope through the centre of the village.
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Information
There are as yet no lights on the Sheregesh ski slope (www.sheregesh.ru, in Russian) so, as a result, skiing is only allowed until sunset. There’s a host of firms offering skis and snowboard rental from R100 an hour at the base of the slopes. Many of these also offer lessons starting from R200 an hour. Kuba ( 8-905-947 0499) is one of the oldest companies, but there is very little variation in terms of price or quality. Opening hours are from 9am until just after sunset. The funicular costs R100 for a return trip. The two-seat ski lift costs R70, but is free from 9am to 9.30am.
Sberbank ( 9.30am-6pm) At the base of ski slope. Decent euro and US dollar rates, considering it has no competition. Also has an ATM.
Tour Academy ( in Novosibirsk 383-213 8300; [email protected]) This established company, based on the ski slope, can sort out trips to Sheregesh, including transport to and from the village.
Shoria Tour ( 30 167; www.shoria.ru; ul Pospelova 29; 8.30am-7pm) Based in nearby Tashtagol, the company’s offices are a short distance from the train station. Can arrange transport to Sheregesh and accommodation.
Sleeping
There are numerous hotels clustered around the base of the ski slope. These are the most expensive options. A short walk or taxi ride away, however, prices generally go down. Most hotels are happy to pick up guests at Kukuruza grocery shop (ul Gagarain 12; 10am-7pm Sun-Wed, 24hr Thu-Sat). Locals also let out rooms from R1300 to R2000 a night, depending on the location and your haggling skills. The Nezabudka tour company ( 8-960-922 6370; www.nezabudka-tur.ru; ul Gagarain 12; 10am-7pm Sun-Wed, 24hr Thu-Sat), inside the Kukuruza grocery shop, can suggest accommodation to match your budget. Kukuruza is also where the locals hang out waiting to let out rooms to skiers.
Many hotels use mobiles or numbers in other cities in place of local landlines. When calling mobiles don’t forget to add 8 to the start of the number if calling from within Russia – and wait for the dial tone before proceeding if calling from a Russian landline.
Stariy Sheregesh ( 8-961-703 1310; [email protected]; ul Voloponiya 4; d/tr/q R1000/1500/2000) Some 15 minutes’ walk from the ski slopes, this clean and welcoming hotel offers large rooms with great views. The friendly owners also have a banya available for R500 an hour. The large kitchen on the 1st floor makes self-catering fun and convenient.
Kedrovaya ( 34 715; www.kedr.kuzpress.ru; d R1500) Well located (opposite the slope) and well furnished, Kedrovaya is so close to the slope that ‘you can walk home without taking off your skis’. Also has a good and inexpensive restaurant.
Freestyle ( 8-905-903 3811; d/tr R2800/3500) Another perfectly located hotel (right next to Kedrovaya), Freestyle offers spacious rooms and is popular with snowboarders. Akvilon ( 8-913-436 4840; www.akvilon-hotel.ru; d/ste R2900/4100; ) The largest hotel next to the slope, Akvilon also boasts great saunas and a swimming pool. Boasts one of the best restaurants in Sheregesh (meals R350–700) and an in-house art gallery.
Eating
The restaurant scene is not particularly developed at Sheregesh. Guests generally eat at their hotels, although there is nothing to stop you checking out the food on offer at other places. There are also two small restaurants (meals R300-700; 10am-dusk) serving traditional Russian food at the top of the ski slope and small café, Zelyonaya Gora (snacks R30-100, beer R60-100), at the base of the slope.
While you are in Sheregesh, be sure to try the local wild leek. Local women sell it by the roadside for around R25 a bag. Known as kabla locally and cheremsha in Russian, its distinctive garlicky taste is one you won’t forget in a hurry!
Getting There & Away
Sheregesh is reached by bus from the village of Tashtagol. There are regular buses to Tashtagol from Novokuznetsk every hour or so from 8.30 until 7pm (R141). Services are less frequent in summer. The journey takes around three hours and 40 minutes. Trains take around five hours to make the same journey. There are also buses from Kemerovo (R345, seven hours) leaving at 10am on Monday and Tuesday and 1pm on Thursday and Sunday.
From Tashtagol, it is a 20-minute bus ride from the train station through Sheregesh to the Kukuruza grocery shop bus stop (R20). Look for the ‘Шерегеш’ bus outside the station. Taxis charge around R200 for the same journey.
KEMEROVO КЕМЕРОВО
3842 / pop 520,000 / Moscow +4hr
A visit to Kemerovo, which sits proudly but not entirely prettily on the banks on the River Tom, is likely to result in a host of mixed impressions. The city is the result of the merging of the villages of Scheglovo and Kemerovo in 1918, and bore the name of the former until 1932. Although mining has long traditionally been the central industry here, the city also contains a large number of chemical and engineering plants. While one half of the city is an industrial hell, complete with smoke-belching chimneys and flames shooting into the Siberian sky, the other half is a model of Soviet city planning – all pleasant streets and wide avenues bearing a fine range of monuments. The hills that overlook the city are great for cross-country skiing, and also contain a massive statue of a miner, complete with flaming heart.
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Orientation
The impressive Sovetsky pr runs through the centre of Kemerovo and the majority of the city’s sights are in easy walking distance of its grand Soviet-era buildings. The bus and train stations are opposite each other on Kuznetsky pr, about 1km away. To orientate yourself, odd as it may sound, look for the gigantic flame that shoots into the sky day and night from the chimney of a nearby factory (nicknamed ‘the eternal flame’ by the locals). You want to be standing on the same side of the road as traffic moving towards the eternal flame. Good maps are on sale at the train and bus station. Vesennaya ul, containing a number of cafés and the Hotel Kuzbass, branches off Sovetsky pr after the Drama Theatre.
Information
Hiking ( 368 984; 2-week hike per person R5000) Local qualified hiking guide Yelena Kaminskaya offers hikes into the surrounding countryside. All equipment provided – English spoken. Freelance and works from home.
Internet Café (per MB R1, per hr R35; 24hr) A clean and calm internet café popular with local students rather than kill-em-all teens. Next door to the post office.
Kuzbasskaya Kniga ( 252 943: Nogradskaya ul 4: 10-7pm) Sells good maps and is a short walk from Sovetsky pr. Head in the direction of the train station and it’s in the next street.
Main post office (Sovetsky pr 61; 8am-9pm) Opposite the Lenin statue. International calls are available.
Web camera (http://camera.kemernet.ru/index1024.htm) Check out Sovetsky pr and the city’s Drama Theatre from the comfort of your living room.
Sights & Activities
The Drama Theatre ( 365 379; Sovetsky pr 42; ticketsR200 to R500; shows daily at 7pm) is the grandest building on Sovetsky pr and a good place to begin an investigation of Kemerovo or to sit and relax and admire the view of the local hills. A few buildings down, at Sovetsky pr 51, is the small Regional Museum (tickets R30; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat, 10am-3pm Sun)containing some fascinating Russian-language exhibits on the development of the city.
Heading towards the hills along Vesennaya ul you’ll see a monument to Alexey Leonov, the first man to walk in open space. To the left of the monument, down a side turning and to the right is a great local banya ( 366 341; Vesennaya ul 5a; per 90 min R100; 10am-9pm), with towels etc available for hire. On the bank of the river at the end of Vesenaya is a huge WWII monument. There is also an extensive war museum ( 254 566; Pritomskaya nab; admission R40; 10-7pm Mon-Sat, 10-2pm Sun) containing exhibits about conflicts ranging from WWII to Chechnya, opposite the memorial. Heading back onto Sovetsky pr and turning left with your back to the hills brings you to pl Sovetov, where a particularly aggressive-looking Lenin statue is flanked by administrative buildings. Heading back up Sovetsky pr and down Vesenaya in the direction of the train station, keep walking past Hotel Kuzbass and you should stumble upon the surreal and unforgettable monument to Mikhailo Volkov, the man who discovered coal in the region in 1721.
To reach the solemn monument to the region’s miners that stands on the hills overlooking the city, take a left after Sovetsky pr 41 and walk down Novogradskaya ul until you see the city’s football stadium ( 362 956; pl Kirova 1; www.football.kemcity.ru; tickets R100-300), home to Kuzbass FC, a side in the third tier of Russian football. Outside the stadium is a bus stop. Take bus 51, 54, 55 or 58 to the first stop across the bridge, from where it is an obvious minute’s walk to the monument, created in New York by local émigré architect Ernst Neizvestniy and shipped to Kemerovo in 2003. The stunningly bleak view of the city’s factories from the foot of the monument is one that you will not forget for a very long time. Heading away from the monument, follow the first right down to the concrete steps at the bottom of the road. Climb the steps into the forest, heading right all the time, to come out on the hilltop where a huge green cross stands. In winter, skis are available for cross-country skiing (per hr R100-150) in the hut at the top of the steps and in summer you can rent mountain bikes (per hr R80).
Sleeping
Resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; 288 205; main train station; s/d 370/650) With a 50% discount offered for 12-hour stays, the train station’s clean (though noisy) resting rooms are worth considering.
Hotel Tom ( 259 902; Pritomskaya nab 7; s/d R600/900) While the cheapest rooms have shared toilets, there are singles and doubles with all mod cons for R1300/1500 in this Soviet hotel on the banks on the River Tom. Turn right at the WWII monument to find it.
Hotel Kuzbass ( 250 254; www.hotelkuzbass.ru; ul Vesennaya 20; s/d R1800/2400) Shabby, but not unpleasant; all rooms have toilets and bathrooms. It’s sad that this is what counts for a good deal in Russia these days.
Hotel Krystal ( 496 505; www.hotelcrystal.ru; pr Lenina 90; s/tw R3500/4600; ) A five-storey business hotel close to the train and bus stations, Krystal has spacious, if anonymous, rooms. Also offers internet for R4 per MB.
Eating & Drinking
Kemerovo is not exactly famed for its res-taurant scene. The vast majority of cafés and restaurants are on Sovetsky pr or ul Vesennaya. None of these places accept reservations by phone.
Traveler’s Coffee (ul Vesennayay 16; coffee from R40; ) This cosy café offers sandwiches, cakes, and great breakfast deals for R80. Also has wi-fi.
Vienna Café (ul Vesennaya 6; snacks R100-200, beer R80-100) The favoured hang-out of Kemerovo’s intellectuals offers salads, snacks, coffee and beer.
Blok Pitaniya (sovetsky pr 43;meals R150-200; 10am-8pm) A very cheap self-service café with a bright welcoming interior.
Traktir Yo Moyo! (ul Vesennyaya 13; meals R300-450) With its ‘village’-themed interior and traditional Russian food, this is one of Kemerovo’s best-value and most popular cafés. Great kvas.
Druzhba Narodov (ul Vesennaya 6; meals R400-600) The ‘Friendship of the People’ café-restaurant has the most interesting and varied menu in Kemerovo, with a range of tasty dishes from Uzbek to Chilean.
Getting There & Away
There are two daily flights to Moscow (R8500, 4¼ hours).
A train departs for Moscow every day at 9.25am. (R10015, 55 hours). The handy train 59 leaves daily for Novosibirsk at 7.30pm (R1747, 9¾ hours).
There are five buses daily to Tomsk, the first leaving at 8am. (R200, three to five hours). Six buses depart daily for Novosibirsk. (R255, five hours). There are also two daily buses to Barnaul at 8.15am and 10am (R470, eight hours).
Getting Around
To get from the bus and train stations on Kuznetsky p to Sovetsky pr, take bus 23 or 100 or trolleybus 3 or 6. The city’s airport is some 11km southwest of the centre of the city. To get there, take bus 101 (R9) or marshrutka (R15) from the bus station. Taxis to the airport cost around R300 from the centre. From the airport, bus 101 will take you to ul Vesennaya via the bus station.
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Eastern Siberia Восточная Сибирь
KHAKASSIA REPUBLIC & SOUTHERN KRASNOYARSK TERRITORY ХАКАССИЯ И ЮЖНЫЙ КРАСНОЯрский Край
KRASNOYARSK REGION КРАСНОЯРСКИЙ КРАЙ
UST-KUT & LENA УСТЬ-КУТ И ЛЕНА
TUNKA VALLEY ТУНКИНСКАЯ ДОЛИНА
SEVEROBAIKALSK СЕВЕРОБАЙКАЛЬСК
SOUTHERN BURYATIYA & ZABAIKALSKY TERRITORY ЮЖНАЯ БУРЯТИЯ & Забайкалский край
From the Arctic Circle in the north to the grasslands of Tuva and Buryatiya in the south, Eastern Siberia is a vast swathe of the planet, viciously cold in winter, roasting hot in summer and with a history of exile and brutality. Not everyone’s first choice of travel destination, you might think, but there is far more to this far-flung region than ice, snow, Gulags and mosquitoes.
Southern Siberia’s peak-tickled underbelly is a playground for rafters, hikers and climbers. Below the peaks impenetrable taiga gives way to steppe where timber cottages brighten timeless ramshackle villages with elaborately carved window frames. The Trans-Siberian Railway’s ribbon of steel joins the dots of Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude and Chita, where travellers step off the train to admire faded 19th-century grandeur alongside quirky socialist realism. Irkutsk is the gateway to magnificent Lake Baikal, by far the most touristed spot.
Away from the railway tracks, local Buddhist and shamanistic beliefs remain close to those of Mongolia or Tibet. Local cultures retain their own sports, traditions and languages while their ancient histories are faintly visible in mysterious kurgany (burial mounds), standing stones, petroglyphs and kameny baba (standing stone idols).
Tuvans, Buryats and Russians are a hospitable bunch, always willing to help out a traveller with food, accommodation or directions. Sadly, Siberia is not the bargain it once was and you’ll have to search out midrange meals and accommodation in big cities. Independent travel requires a few words of basic Russian, though English-speaking tour agencies are on hand in tourist hot spots to help arrange treks, Baikal cruises and temple visits.
HIGHLIGHTS
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History
For century after tranquil prehistoric century, Eastern Siberia’s indigenous peoples, such as the Evenki (Tungusi) north of Lake Baikal and the Kets of the Yenisey River, lived a peaceful existence in harmony with nature, harvesting the thick taiga of its game and berries, fishing the rivers and building their chums (tepees), largely oblivious of the outside world. In the south, horse-riding nomads of the Scythian culture (700 BC–AD300) thrived in what is now Tuva, leaving behind fields of standing stones and circular kurgany packed with shimmering gold. Slowly, however, Mongol-Turkic tribes began their expansion north and west, led by fearsome leaders such as Attila the Hun. The Buryats gradually headed north from Mongolia to assimilate local peoples and become the dominant ethnic group in Eastern Siberia. In the early 13th century, Chinggis (Genghis) Khaan united Mongol tribes across the region and went on to conquer China. Subsequent khans would sweep west across the steppe to sack the great cities of European Russia.
Enter the Russians. With a firm foothold in Western Siberia, small Cossack units began arriving further east in the early 17th century, establishing an ostrog (fortress) at river confluence positions such as Krasnoyarsk (1628), Ulan-Ude (1666, originally Verkhneudinsk) and Irkutsk (1651). Traders arrived from European Russia and pressed indigenous peoples into supplying sable pelts at bargain prices. Russian peasants followed in large numbers, and the original defensive forts burst like popcorn into ramshackle timber towns. Banished prisoners were the next group to make the treacherous journey from the west, and Old Believers followed after the religious rift of 1653. Other banished troublemakers included the influential Decembrists who’d failed to pull off a coup in 1825 (Click here) and political prisoners from the uprisings in Russian-occupied Poland. In the 18th century, Tibetan Buddhism arrived in Buryat settlements and was successfully superimposed onto existing shamanistic beliefs.
Siberia’s fur-based economy rapidly diversified, and the discovery of gold further encouraged colonisation. Trade with China brought considerable wealth following the treaties of Nerchinsk in 1689 and Kyakhta in 1728. Lucrative tea caravans continued trudging the Siberian post road until put out of business by the Trans-Siberian Railway after 1901. The railway instantly changed the fortunes of cities, according to whether or not they were on the line, most notably Kyakhta on the border with Mongolia. Once one of the richest towns in all Russia, it plunged into provincial obscurity when the tea trade dried up. In the early 20th century the newly finished line brought another influx of Russian settlers east.
Following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, Siberia declared itself firmly in the White camp under Admiral Kolchak. After much fierce fighting along the Trans-Siberian Railway, Red forces finally took the region in 1919. Kolchak was arrested and executed in Irkutsk in 1920, and the last shots of the civil war were fired in Tuva. From 1920 to 1922 Eastern Siberia was nominally independent with the pro-Lenin Far Eastern Republic centred on Chita. As the USSR stabilised and Stalin’s infamous Gulags were created, Siberia reverted to its old role as a land of banishment. Nonetheless, unforced colonisation continued apace, especially after WWII when much heavy industry was shifted east for strategic security. Prisoners, volunteers and Soviets seeking higher pay for working in the east arrived to construct dams and transport infrastructure. The greatest of these projects was the ill-conceived Baikalo-Amurskaya Magistral (BAM) railway stretching a colossal 4234km from Tayshet to Sovetskaya Gavan on the Pacific coast.
Since the end of the USSR in 1991, many towns and villages away from the economic beaten track (such as the BAM zone and along the Yenisey River) have deteriorated into virtual ghost towns. Others, such as Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk, have benefited from Russia’s new-found economic strength on the back of high oil and gas prices. Lake Baikal is attracting more tourists than ever, and Moscow has declared certain areas on its shores special economic zones slated for high-rise development. Things are better across the region than they have ever been, but Siberia’s ecologically sensitive habitats may be starting to pay the cost of this recent prosperity.
Climate
Click here for general information on Siberia’s climate. March is great for driving across ice-bound Lake Baikal. Midsummer temperatures can top a sweaty 40°C, especially in the Chita region, which has one of the harshest climates in Siberia. Air is noticably cooler and fresh in the Sayan Mountains and around Lake Baikal, and snow can fall in the Ergaki Mountains as late as June.
Getting There & Away
TO/FROM RUSSIA
Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk are the main gateways into the region, though neither enjoys direct flights to Europe. Irkutsk has connections to Mongolia, China and the Far East.
Trains run between Irkutsk and Ulaan Baatar (Mongolia) nine times per week and between Chita and Manzhouli (China) three times per week. For all routes a nearby road border allows hop-across independent travel. Direct through-carriages from Berlin and Warsaw (weekly July to August) are a novel, if long-winded, way of reaching Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk, and a service also links major stops in the region with distant Kharkov in Ukraine (five times per week).
The only international bus service in the region is the daily hop between Ulaan Baatar and Ulan-Ude, which is cheaper and spends considerably less time at the border than the train.
WITHIN RUSSIA
Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Abakan, Bratsk and Chita all have direct connections to Moscow, with fares starting at around R5000 – cheaper than a kupe (2nd-class compartment) fare on the train. S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) is the main operator in the region; Krasnoyarsk is the hub for KrasAir (www.krasair.ru) and Abakan is a secondary hub for Vladivostok Airlines (www.vladavia.ru). If you’re crossing the region by train see also Click here.
Getting Around
Distances are great but travel is remarkably painless if you break journeys into overnight train hops – an ideal routing is Krasnoyarsk–Irkutsk–Ulan-Ude–Chita, with side trips by bus and/or boat from each city. Summer hydrofoils operate the length of Lake Baikal and, as well as saving time, are a good way to see some of the remoter shores. However, there are, somewhat surprisingly, no cross-lake services. Short-hop flights from Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk to Nizhneangarsk save days on the train; the only other domestic service of use to travellers is the Kyzyl–Irkutsk flight (Saturday), which lets you continue east from Tuva without having to backtrack via Abakan.
KHAKASSIA REPUBLIC & SOUTHERN KRASNOYARSK TERRITORY ХАКАССИЯ И ЮЖНЫЙ КРАСНОЯрский Край
The Ireland-sized Khakassia Republic rises from lake-dotted taiga through a vast agricultural plain to meet richly forested mountains on the Tuvan border. Geographically, it is inextricably linked with Southern Krasnoyarsk Territory. For both areas, transport connections focus on the Khakass capital, Abakan.
Like culturally similar Altai, Khakassia was a cradle of Siberian civilisation. Standing stones and kurgany pock the landscape; many are more than 3000 years old, though the most visually impressive date from the Turkic period (6th to 12th centuries). The Khyagas (Yenisey Kyrgyz) Empire, from which the name Khakassia is derived, ruled much of Central Asia and central Siberia from around AD 840 until its golden age ended abruptly with the arrival of Chinggis Khaan and company.
Most Khyagas later migrated to what is now Kyrgyzstan. Those who remained were picked on by neighbours until joining the Russian Empire in 1701. Compared to neighbouring Tuva, Russian colonisation in relatively fertile Khakassia was comprehensive. Outnumbered eight-to-one, the shamanist Khakass people have been largely Christianised and integrated into Russian society, although the area around Askiz remains something of a Khakass cultural stronghold.
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ABAKAN АБАКАН
3902 / pop 165,000 / Moscow +4hr
Khakassia’s capital is an agreeable, leafy but terminally dull 20th-century transport hub. It started life as a Russian fort in 1707, but until the 1930s remained insignificant compared to suave neighbouring Minusinsk, which was the region’s centre of European civilisation.
The main streets are pr Lenina and ul Shchetinkina, and the heart of the city is where their tree-lined lengths intersect. Ul Shchetinkina becomes pr Druzhby Narodov after 2km as it veers northwest and barrels towards the cathedral and airport.
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Information
Bank Khakassii (pr Lenina 65; 9am-4pm Mon-Fri) offers good exchange rates but the ATM takes only local cards. To withdraw roubles try the ATM (8am-5pm Mon-Fri) in the nearby Sibirtelekom building next to the post office in ul Shchetinkina.
Abakan Tours (223 284; [email protected]; Hotel Park-Otel; 9am-noon & 1-5pm Mon-Fri) Flexible, imaginative and helpful English- and German-speaking tour agency with competitively priced, personalised excursions throughout Khakassia and Tuva for any group size. A unique six-berth boat experience down the Sayano-Shushenska Dam to Chaa Khol in Tuva runs upon request. Address emails to attention: Sergei Mechtanov.
Elektrorosvyazrkh telephone office (Sovetskaya ul 45; internet per hr R36; 8am-11pm) Modern with an air-conditioned internet salon.
Main post office (ul Shchetinkina 20; internet per MB R4.80; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm Sat, 9am-6pm Sun)
Sights & Activities
A forest of ancient totem stones lining the street outside is about the only exhibit you’re likely to see at the Khakassia Museum (222 606; ul Pushkina 96; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun) as for the last few years it has been closed for renovation. Nevertheless, it’s worth looking in here as the foyer boasts a superb gift shop, and one hall still hosts temporary exhibitions. Museum staff are being kept firmly in the dark about a reopening date. The Martyanov Museum (Click here) in nearby Minusinsk holds similar but better collections.
A cluster of sparkling gilt onion domes makes the Spasko-Preobrazhenskoy Cathedral (pr Druzhby Narodov) rather impressive despite the off-white concrete walls and its odd position amid the high-rise apartments of Mikro-Rayon 4. The interior boasts a striking iconostasis and astonishing acoustics. It’s 2km northwest of the city centre; get there from ul Shchetinkina by bus 11, return by bus 10.
The Railway Museum (Muzey Zheleznoy Dorogi; 294 484; station concourse; admission R100; 11am-7pm) might inspire train buffs with its exhibits of engineers’ uniforms through the ages, 22 types of historical rail couplings and a model of Abakan station in 1925.
Other passing curiosities include a latter-day totem stone (pr Lenina) resembling a huge tattooed forefinger, a cross-legged Lenin statue (Pervomayskaya pl) and a couple of new churches, most notably the St Konstantin Church (ul Pushkina) with its brightly painted facades but disappointingly plain interior.
Sleeping
Hotel Abakan (223 025; pr Lenina 59; s/tw without bathroom R630/700, s with bathroom R1060-2030, tw with bathroom R1620-1940) Behind a misleadingly grand facade, this place has simple but perfectly acceptable rooms and the communal showers are clean and modern. Rooms can be booked online.
Hotel Sibir (252 548; www.hotelsiberia.ru; pr Druzhby Narodov 9; s R950-1700, tw R1900-3400; ) Rooms, like the staff, range from pleasant and modern to barely reconstructed Soviet. The fully refurbished rooms are reasonable value with kettle, minibar and air-con. The Sibir is tricky to locate: take bus 11 one stop beyond the (not recommended) Hotel Druzhba, then cross the road and walk through the courtyard play area of pr Druzhba Narodov 13. The hotel website has a detailed map.
Hotel Khakassia (223 703; pr Lenina 88; s R1100-1700, tw R2000-3000) The new reception area sparkles misleadingly; rooms have bathrooms and are passably spruced-up but remain fundamentally Soviet creations. Many suffer from traffic noise and cigarette odour. Rates include unappetising breakfasts of gherkin salad and underdone fried eggs, but not the ‘masseuse’ who does the rounds of the single rooms in the late evening. Free visa registration.
Hotel Park-Otel (227 452; [email protected]; ul Pushkina 54a; ste R1800-3000) The six plush, if slightly ageing, suites all come with marble bathtub. Central yet quiet, the two-storey building has a green gate and is hidden behind the ‘Kristall’ shop and a new office block. Some English is spoken.
Hotel Anzas (226 364; www.anzas.ru; ul Vokzalnaya 7a; d R1900-3000) The cheaper rooms are of typical could-be-anywhere international standard while huge lyux suites have more space than style. Sauna costs from R500 per hour. Booking fee only 10%.
Hotel Persona (240 088; ul Chkalova 23; d R2300-3300; ) A soothing atmosphere of air-conditioned exclusivity extends from the lobby to the six luxurious suites at this tranquil retreat for the well-heeled. Downstairs, Abakan’s poshest bar gives access to Orlenok Park.
Eating & Drinking
Many cheap cafés and food kiosks ring the central market (rynok; ul Shevchenko) across from the bus station, with more on ul Pushkina close to the train station. For picnickers and self-caterers the Stolichny supermarket (ul Chertygasheva 108; 8am-11pm) is the best-stocked grocery in the city centre.
Pizza Iceberg (223 122; ul Vyatkina 25; pizza slices R40; 8am-11pm Mon-Fri, 10am-11pm Sat & Sun) Join Abakan’s youth in this modern pizza place for some fast food eaten to a techno beat. The R50 grilled chicken and R40 salads are better than the microwaved pizza, and a chemical coffee in melting plastic cup is just R10.
VSK Bistro (Sovetskaya ul 40; meals R40-100, coffee R9; 8am-11pm) Cheap but tidy cafeteria serving stodgy belly-fillers such as bliny (R20 to R40), pizza (R40) and Russian cakes, all consumed under the rising skirt of Marilyn Monroe.
Kafe Abakan (pr Lenina 80; meals R50-100; 8am-11pm) Prancing petroglyphs and traditional Khakass motifs welcome you to Abakan’s newest self-service cafeteria and best cheap eat. Appetising sweet-and-sour chicken meatballs, plov (meat and rice), steaks, sausages and many other Russian favourites mean packed tables inside and out at mealtimes. The Russian-only menu is posted at the entrance, so you can decipher at your leisure.
Coffee House (227 355; ul Shchetinkina 26; coffee R91-235; 10am-midnight; ) Stone and dark-wood interiors. Twelve types of real but pricey coffee.
Kafe Napoleon (224 981; ul Shchetinkina 18; mains R100-250; 12pm-3am; ) The city centre’s swankiest restaurant has cork walls, gold-and-magenta colour scheme and a portrait of Old Boney ignoring a startled turkey. There’s live music almost every evening but this triggers a hefty cover charge of R150. The menu comprises Russian and international staples.
Taverna Kakadu (250 336; ul Pushkina 36a; meals R190-450; 11am-4pm & 5pm-2am) Small, dimly lit bar-restaurant with pirate-themed in-terior. There’s good Russian food but the place overheats even in winter. Cover charge R100 from 8pm.
Getting There & Away
AIR
Abakan’s airport (282 854; www.abakan-airport.ru) is 3km northwest of the city. Vladivostok Airlines (www.vladavia.ru) links Moscow (R9600, daily) and Vladivostok (R15000, daily) via Abakan. The only other service is to Norilsk (Wednesday, Friday and Saturday) but special travel permits must be obtained before booking. Buy tickets from the train station Aviakassa (239 170; 8am-7pm Mon-Fri, to 6pm Sat & Sun).
BUS
From the bus station (ul Shevchenko) hourly day and night buses serve Krasnoyarsk (R397, 6½ to nine hours) via Divnogorsk. Others run frequently to Sayanogorsk (R90, 1¼ hours), 11 times daily to Shushenskoe (R88, 1¾ hours), six daily to Yermakovskoe (R80, two hours), hourly to Abaza (R200, 3½ hours) via Askiz and eight daily to Kuragino (R90, 2½ hours).
Road transport for Tuva leaves from the Mezhgorod Taxi Booth (237 888) in the far southeastern corner of the square in front of the train station. The adjacent ticket kiosk is for snail-paced, wheezing buses to Kyzyl, (R500, nine to 11 hours) which depart from outside the kiosk (next to the taxi booth) at 7.30am, noon and 7pm daily. Shared taxis ask around R800 per seat and will collect you from your hotel if you book ahead. No extra charge. To Ak-Dovurak there are no buses and shared taxis are rare.
TRAIN
To and from Krasnoyarsk, overnight train 124 (R1400, 10 hours) is the best of three alternatives. Train 695 to Novokuznetsk (R975, 10 hours) is handy if you’re heading to Altai. The daily Khakassia to Moscow’s Yaroslavsky vokzal (R11800, 73 hours) runs via Novosibirsk (22 hours) and Yekaterinburg (45 hours).
Getting Around
Bus 15 and trolleybus 3 run from the airport to central ul Shchetinkina. Bus 11 passes near the train station before heading up ul Shchetinkina and pr Druzhba Narodov to the cathedral, looping back via Mikro-Rayon 4 Market. Bus 10 also passes the train station but adds a loop via ul Marshala Zhukova (beyond the bus station) and pr Lenina before heading up ul Shchetinkina and pr Druzhby Narodov to Mikro-Rayon 4 Market, returning via the cathedral.
AROUND ABAKAN
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Minusinsk Минусинск
39132 / pop 75,000 / Moscow +4hr
Minusinsk’s scattering of partly derelict 18th- and 19th-century buildings offers more architectural interest than Abakan, and its riverside houses can look picturesque when very selectively photographed. The old section is 25km east of Abakan across the protoka Minusinskaya waterway from new-town Minusinsk’s domineering concrete blandness. Jump off buses 120 or 10 beside the elegant 1803 Saviour’s Cathedral (Spasskiy sobor; ul Komsomolskaya 10) and cross the square to find the excellent Martyanov Museum (20 752; ul Martyanova 6; admission R50; 9am-6pm Wed-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat & Sun). Over a century old, its highlights include splendid archaeological and cultural exhibits, and the preserved little library in which Lenin occasionally studied while genteelly exiled at Shushenskoe. The museum’s gift shop sells town maps.
One block along ul Lenina then two blocks northeast up ul Kravchenko is overgrown pl Lenina, dotted with crumbling mansions including the gutted Vilner Palace (ul Oktyabrskaya 65) with maudlin echoes of former grandeur. Almost next door, to the right, stands a timber house where Lenin stayed briefly on his return from exile in January 1900. A block southwest, the complex of wooden buildings where Lenin often met up with fellow banished comrades (1897–1900) is now a small museum (ul Oktyabrskaya 73; admission R50; 9am-5pm Mon-Wed & Fri, 10am-5pm Thu). Earlier exiles are the theme of the small but interesting Decembrist Museum (ul Oborony 59; admission R50; 9am-5pm Mon-Wed & Fri, 10am-5pm Thu) in a hard-to-find location one block west from the church and three blocks along ul Oborony.
Other places of interest include the 1882 Drama Theatre (ul Podinskaya 75) hidden behind an old factory one block northwest of the cathedral, and a sinister black-granite Chornobyl monument dating from 2006 (across the main road from the cathedral).
SLEEPING & EATING
Hotel Amyl (20 106; ul Lenina 74; dm R300, s R600-900, tw R800, d R1000) This old house-hotel, half a block southeast of the Martyanov Museum, has faint hints of style. Most rooms are very basic, there’s a tiny weekday-only zakusochnaya
(pub-café) on the premises and R50 town maps are sold in reception.
Hotel Severnoe Siyane (25 906; ul Oborony 32; dm/s/tw R450-700/1000/1100) Clean, basic rooms sharing good showers, hidden within an unlikely apartment block, five blocks northeast of the theatre.
Old Minusinsk has three basic cafés. Kafe Sibir (20 842; ul Lenina 97; meals R40-80, beer R35) is unlovely but cheap. Enter from ul Kravchenko. Vesna (25 355; ul Lenina 102; meals R40-100) has more choice and a central location just off pl Lenina, while Stary Gorod (22 363; ul Oktyabrskaya 66; 11am-3am Mon-Fri, 7pm-3am Sat & Sun) is good for knocking back some locally brewed beer but is inexplicably closed most of the weekend. For picnic supplies head for the surprisingly bright Yenisey supermarket (ul Kravchenko 16; 9am-7pm) hidden behind the Vilner Palace.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
The easy way from Abakan is by bus or marshrutka (fixed-route minibus) 120 (R25, 25 to 40 minutes) direct to old-town Minusinsk. Both leave from the left-hand side of the bus station, and tickets are only available from the dispatcher at the vehicle door. Catch returning services from opposite the cathedral.
VISSARION – MESSIAH OF SIBERIA Daniel Kalder
For me, Russia is another world – dark and ugly, beautiful and fantastic in equal measure. It’s endlessly absorbing and, no matter how much time you spend there, it’s always possible to find new wonders in the vast and varied landscape. One of my favourite ‘wonders’ is located on top of a mountain in southern Krasnoyarsk, about 200km from the city of Abakan. He’s called Vissarion Christ and claims to be the Son of God, though he was born Sergei Torop and spent a few years as a Soviet traffic cop in Krasnodar before he made this amazing discovery in 1991. I went out there to interview him in 2005 for my book Strange Telescopes and discovered a community of thousands living around his mountain, basking in the divine light, waiting for the end of the world. They were trying to create a perfect society in Siberia, with new art, new music and new beliefs. I wasn’t converted, but I was impressed, and I think that it’s only in vast places like Russia or America that it’s possible to conduct these kinds of experiments on yourself and your own psyche, to disappear and then reemerge, transformed. Vissarion and his followers are very warm and embrace visitors, so there’s nothing to stop the adventurous from dropping in – though you might not score a one-on-one audience with the Messiah himself.
Salbyk Салбык
This Stonehenge-sized remnant of a ‘royal’ kurgan is Siberia’s most impressive ring of standing stones. Excavated in 1956, it’s in open fields, 5.6km down unsurfaced tracks south of km38 on the Chernogorsk–Sorsk road. About 2km before Salbyk notice the large, grassy dome of the unexcavated ‘Princess’ kurgan which it once resembled. Taxis from Abakan want at least R1000 return. Bring buckets of mosquito repellent.
Kuragino & the Vissarion Villages Курагино
39136 / Moscow +4hr
The scruffy market town of Kuragino has an eccentric church but little else to see unless you’re interested in Vissarion (see boxed text, Click here). If so, start by contacting the religion’s Info Tsentr (23 594; www.vissarion.ru; 8.30am-noon & 1-7pm), a R100 taxi ride from central Kuragino – ask for Motorskoe Obshchizhitye.
Vissarionites are mostly vegans growing their own food and espousing an eventual goal of independence from the global energy and financial systems. Tobacco and alcohol are considered vices, and a woman’s place is seen very traditionally as homemaker and loyal supporter for her husband. Horse carts are preferred over polluting tractors, and low-technology agriculture is encouraged both as a meditation and for its ecological sustainability.
Petropavlovka village, 83km east of Kuragino, is the most accessible Vissarion village and has a particularly attractive wooden church. Considerably further east is the utterly isolated City of the Sun where Vissarion and his apostles are building their ‘new Jerusalem’ above beautiful Lake Tiberkul. Entry is by invitation only, and pilgrim jeeps from Cheremshanka to the trailhead (whence you trek the last four hours on foot) generally only run on Sunday, so expect to stay a while. The best time to visit Petropavlovka is during the 18 August summer festival, when the whole village turns out to sell handicrafts and food in front of the curvy timber church.
A block from Kuragino bus station, the basic Hotel Tuba (23 478; ul Partizanskaya 108; s/tw R600/1100) has private indoor toilets in a few river-facing rooms. Vissarion villagers in Petropavlovka are often happy to welcome and accommodate guests, feed you great vegetarian food and discuss plenty of interesting philosophy (in Russian, naturally).
Up to eight buses and marshrutky a day run between Kuragino and Abakan via Minusinsk (R90, 2¾ hours). A single bone-shattering bus from Kuragino to Cheremshanka via Petropavlovka (R88, 2½ hours) departs at 4pm, returning at 6am the next day.
Abakan-bound overnight train 658 from Krasnoyarsk (R1130) arrives at Kuragino’s rather inconveniently located train station at 8.07am.
Shushenskoe Шушенское
39139 / pop 20,000 / Moscow +4hr
As every good Soviet knows, Shushenskoe played host to Lenin for three years of (relatively comfortable) exile. But fewer of them know that in 1898 the young atheist was married in Shushenskoe’s Peter & Paul Church (ul Novaya; 10am-3pm), much to his later embarrassment.
For the 1970 centenary of Lenin’s birth a two-block area of the village centre was reconstructed to look as it had in 1870. These well-kept ‘old’ Siberian houses now form the Lenin Memorial Museum (32 074; www.shush.ru; ul Novaya 1; admission R70, photography/video R50/100; 10am-7pm). Many are convincingly furnished, and in summer costumed craftsmen sit around carving spoons. It’s gently interesting, but as all trips are guided (in Russian unless you pay R300 extra for a translator) the visit is somewhat slow and you’re locked into spending over an hour and a half seeing everything. In addition to Lenin’s private quarters, other highpoints include the fully-stocked late 19th-century shop and a vodka bar, both towards the end of the tour. Nearby a gift shop sells souvenirs and an interesting guide to Lenin-related sites in Siberia.
Behind the fenced museum area, but with no direct access from it, a pink Lenin head perches on a disproportionately tall plinth. Another Lenin statue on the main square (Tsentralnaya pl) seems to be showing visitors the way back to the bus station. Along ul Pushkina towards the hotel there is a sculpture garden dotted with troll-like figures, and beyond the cinema is a striking mother-and-dove memorial statue.
In mid-July around 25,000 music fans besiege Shushenskoe during the annual Sayan Ring International Ethnic Music Festival (www.festival.sayanring.ru), which attracts ensembles from across Siberia and the occasional overseas act for a week-long folk-music bash.
The post office (ul Polukoltsevaya 5; 8am-1pm & 2-8pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat, 9am-2pm Sun) offers internet and telephone connection and sells rail and air tickets. Bus station kiosks stock town maps (R70).
SLEEPING & EATING
Hotel Turist (32 841; fax 32 941; ul Pushkina 1; dm R420, s with full board R1200) has a few renovated rooms, but many remain worn and rather musty Soviet relics. Prices aren’t unreasonable given the private bathrooms, though the basic showers tend to flood the toilet floor. Ultrasimple summer-only Turbaza Iskra (32 151; dm R200), in a collection of old huts across the river from the Lenin head, will soon be outclassed by a new timber cottage complex, under construction at the time of research, which has been laid out as a continuation of one of the museum’s 19th-century streets.
Just 100m from the bus station, Medved (31 261; ul Pervomayskaya 50; meals R75-190, wine R23 to R57 per glass; 11.30am-3.30pm & 9pm-4am) has dark-wooden hunters’ decor and reasonable prices. The house speciality is veal steak with cheese and nuts (R107). Slightly more appealing is the unexpectedly bright Kofeynya Sadko (37 199; ul Pervomayskaya 1; meals R100-150, coffee R30-50; noon-2am), opposite the church, where flavoursome food comes on trendy square plates, and waitresses speak some English.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Buses serve Abakan (R88, 1¾ hours, 10 daily), Krasnoyarsk (R500, 10½ hours) morning and evening, Kyzyl (R447, eight hours) at 9am and Sayanogorsk (R89, two hours) departing at 5.30am, 9.20am, 12.20pm and 3.45pm. While waiting for buses, take time to admire the bus station’s spectacular chunk of socialist realism, a gigantic collage celebrating the USSR’s achievements, now partially obscured by mobile-phone kiosks.
Sayanogorsk Саяногорск
39042 / pop 56,000 / Moscow +4hr
The vast Khakassian grasslands slam into the forested Sayan Mountains at Sayanogorsk, a huddle of concrete towers thrown up in the 1970s to house workers from the Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam (opposite), 30km away. Between the town and the dam lies the expanding modern ski resort of Gladenkaya (www.ski-gladenkaya.ru, in Russian; Nov-May), one of Russia’s best and a regular venue for the national ski championships.
Sberbank (ul Lenina; 9am-6.45pm Mon-Sat) cashes travellers cheques for R150 commission and houses a couple of ATMs. Sayan Tour Service (M/R Sovetsky 41), behind the Hotel Meridian, and the friendly Gladenkaya Agency (73 742; [email protected].; M/R Sovetsky 38) can book accommodation at Zharki and the Sport Hotel at Gladenkaya. They also arrange ski packages, ecotrekking tours to Mt Borus and horse-riding trips, as well as visits to the Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam, given two working-days’ notice to prepare the necessary permits.
Central Sayanogorsk addresses confusingly bear no relationship to the road layout. Sayanogorsk Online (http://city.sayan.ru/info/map, in Russian) has a basic city map.
Hotel Meridian (62 510; www.meridian.hotelsiberia.ru; ul Lenina, M/R Sovetsky 40; apt s/d R1500/2000) offers large, well-equipped apartments; great value with breakfast included. Behind is a bright cafeteria-style kofeynya (12pm-10pm) and an excellent restaurant (62 466; meals R150-300; noon-1am Mon-Fri, noon-3am Sat & Sun) which, despite its somewhat Soviet ambience, serves imaginative meals including some vegetarian options (evening cover charge R50 to R120). The Vivid Neo internet room (per hr R38; 8am-1am Sun-Thu, 8am-3am Fri & Sat) is next door.
Zharki Resort (42 378; fax 73 811; dm R500) is a former sanatorium 3.5km east of the Maynskaya Dam (18km from Sayanogorsk). The glavny korpus
(main building) has freshly renovated rooms with showers and toilets shared between pairs of rooms. Rooms in other buildings have private facilities from R1600 for a single, R3500 for a twin. Rates rise only slightly during the ski season.
With chunky beams and wagon-wheel decor, the resort’s excellent café-restaurant (meals R200-350; 8.30am-1am) offers a range of garlic-enriched dishes at very fair prices. In winter, five daily shuttles (R50, 8km) run to the lower Gladenkaya cable car.
Sport Hotel Gladenkaya (73 742; fax 73 811; s R2800 d R4100;
) is set amid alpine meadows, 2.6km east of Zharki by road. This ecofriendly four-star retreat was completed in 2006 and has already made a name for itself as one of Siberia’s finest places to stay. Feel-good rooms boast plush furnishings, DVD players, flat-screen TVs and wi-fi, and have a natural wood and stone finish. The list of services and facilities provided is almost as long as the nearby ski slopes. Rates increase by around 25% during the winter season.
Sayanogorsk’s brand-new bus station, 1km south of the Hotel Meridian, has minibus services to Abakan (R90, 1½ to 2¼ hours, twice hourly), Shushenskoe (R89, two hours, four daily), Krasnoyarsk (R590, 10 hours) at 7.30am and Askiz (R112, 2½ hours) at 7.10am and 3.30pm. The latter, via Beya, passes through some archetypal Siberian villages and follows a lovely foothill ridge with wide views over the plains below.
Around Sayanogorsk
SAYANO-SHUSHENSKAYA DAM САЯНО-ШУШЕНСКАЯ ГЕС
Beside a trout hatchery near the turning for Gladenkaya (15km south of Sayanogorsk) there are fine views of the steep-sided river valley from the unremarkable Maynskaya Dam.
The vastly more impressive Sayano- Shushenskaya Dam, Russia’s biggest and the world’s fourth in terms of energy production, is 15km further south. Privatised in 1993, it cunningly survived a recent renationalisation battle with the Khakassian government by nominally ‘relocating’ itself in Krasnoyarsk territory. No physical move was needed as the dam straddles the provincial border. To join by-appointment Russian-language tours of the dam’s turbine rooms (71 808; admission R300) you’ll need copies of your passport, visa and registration plus an invitation letter arranged by a local hotel or Sayanogorsk agency. Expect to wait around three days for permission to come through.
To reach the dam, take Sayanogorsk city bus 2 (R10, 30 minutes, every 40 minutes) which runs as far as ‘Tsentralny’ in Cheryomushki, from where the free dam (GES) workers’ tram (10 minutes, hourly on the half-hour) continues 4km to the dam. Alternatively, observe the dam distantly from the Cheryomushki bridge. Valley views are more photogenic from the main Mayna–Cheryomushki road at around km29, where you’ll catch several glimpses of beautiful Mt Borus (2318m).
The enormous reservoir that the dam created is surrounded by largely untouched wilderness, now constituting the Sayano-Shushensky Biosphere Reserve. Sightings of its estimated 30 camera-shy snow leopards are exceedingly rare, though ibex are easier to spot. Abakan Tours (Click here) in Abakan can help you organise a visit.
USINSKY TRAKT УСИНСКИЙ ТРАКТ
First built in 1910, the Usinsky Trakt (now the M54 federal highway) is the main road between Minusinsk and Kyzyl in Tuva. Until the Kuragino–Kyzyl railway is completed in 2013, this narrow ribbon of asphalt will remain essentially the only route in and out of Tuva for people and goods, most notably Tuva’s much-valued coal. Around two hours out of Abakan the road skirts the modest, historical township of Yermakovskoe and passes the little fruit-growing villages of Grigorevka and Chyornaya Recha before climbing into pretty birch-wood foothills. After a tea stop in Tanzybey (km560) the route climbs more steeply. A truly magnificent view of the crazy, rough-cut Ergaki Mountains knocks you breathless just before km598. Powerful views continue to km601 and resume between km609 and km612. Expect heavy snowfalls here as late as early June. A roadside cross (km603-4) marks the spot where former Krasnoyarsk governor Alexander Lebed (who negotiated an end to the first Chechen War in 1996) died in 2002 when his helicopter snagged power lines. Walk 1.5km up the steep track towards the radar station above for fabulous views from the ridge.
As the track descends, the scenery morphs through wooded river valleys into Tuva’s panoramic roller-coaster grasslands. The first settlement the road bisects within Tuva is Turan, an attractive village of old wooden homes largely inhabited by ethnic Russians. A cute little museum (ul Druzhby 44) is now the only attraction since the St Inokent Church received a tasteless makeover in blue plastic. A road barrelling west just before the village heads towards Arzhaan through Tuva’s spectacular Valley of the Kings (Click here). From Turan the road scales one final mountain pass before hurtling down into Kyzyl.
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Ergaki Mountains Хребет Ергаки
Rising in magnificent horned peaks above forests and glistening lakes, roadless Ergaki (a word meaning fingers in ancient Turkic) is one of the most beautiful regions in all of Siberia. If you want more than the glimpses from the Usinsky Trakt, consider making a two-day trek to the classic viewpoint above Lake Svetloe. Start from Turbaza Yermak, where there’s guarded parking, a left-luggage service and tent and sleeping-bag hire. A popular forest path follows the stream, dodging fallen trees and swampy patches, flower-filled meadows and fields of eccentric rocks. Wonderful. A guide is sometimes available to show you the way – recommended, as getting lost is easy. Bring all food supplies. For many mountaineering ideas and some beautiful photos see websites owned by Krasnoyarsk State University (www.ergaki.krasu.ru/gallery.shtml, in Russian) and Tourism Russia (www.nkz.tourism.ru/climb/ergak/, in Russian).
Sleeping
Turbaza Yermak (39138-21 762; Tushanchik Most, km622/445) rents one bare room with a heating stove and a wooden bench-bed big enough for five. The small, new Tormozakovski Most Turbaza (39133-547 18; km614.5) is used predominantly as a climbing base. There’s a further Baza Otdykha Ergaki (3902-256 923; www.ergaki.com, in Russian; km605) near Lake Oyskoe, with several multibedded huts from R600 to R2600. All the above are utterly isolated without associated village or shop. Bring food and emergency camping gear. If you’re stuck in Yermakovskoe, the friendly Hotel Oya (39138-21 274; ul Lenina 7; s R340-800, tw R290-600), on the central square, is perfectly survivable.
Getting There & Away
Buses run from Abakan and Shushenskoe to Yermakovskoe, and from Kyzyl to Arzhaan via Turan, but for the central, spectacular mountain passes the only public transport is on Abakan–Kyzyl buses and shared taxis. The latter are well worth the extra cash and may stop for photos if politely requested.
SOUTHWEST KHAKASSIA
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Askiz Аскиз
39045 / pop 24,000 / Moscow +4hr
Culturally Askiz is the most Khakass town of Khakassia. However, there’s little to see and it’s really only interesting during Tun Payran (Pasture-opening Festival). The event features wrestling, horse racing, archery and much merriment. It’s held in June but dates are infamously changeable.
About 30km west, appealing Camp Kug (Akhtas Yurt Camp; dm R1000) offers comfy ail (tepee-shaped yurt) accommodation in a lovely rural setting, close to a series of shamanic sites and sacred bluffs. At the far western end of very quaint Kazanovka village, turn right immediately after crossing the river bridge. Just after you’ve turned you should see a sign, ‘Музей’, which will confirm you’re on the right track. Follow the bumpy track for 4km, bearing right at the only fork. The aily have washbasins and chemical toilets plus there are shared hot showers. Khakass cultural shows are performed when tour groups stay. Book ahead through Sayan Ring Travel (Click here) in Krasnoyarsk.
Towards Western Tuva
Between Askiz and the iron-ore mining town of Abaza are hundreds of ancient standing stones, notably at km109/307, where remarkable concentrations stand right beside the A161. The curious can visit the roadside Maral Deer Farm (km163/253) in May when you can watch the traditional practice of cutting the animals’ antlers, valued for their aphrodisiac properties.
Abaza’s passable, shared-facility Hotel Kedr (39047-29 870; ul Parkovaya 2a) has a pleasant restaurant. Alternatively, hidden within the trees off the Ak-Dovurak road are two decent summer places for those with their own transport; prices for both include full board and banya
(bathhouse). Kubayka Camp (39022-54 855) has 10 riverside log houses at a pretty spot 1km off the main road from Kubayka hamlet. Toilets are outside. Abaza tour agency Rodnik (39047-23 281; www.rodnikltd.ru, in Russian; ul Filatova 8-1) runs the ecofriendly Snow Leopard Camp (Turbaza Snezhny Bars; tw R3400-3700, tr R3990-4800) in thick, tick-free woodland 1.6km west of km296/120. A few R1000 single-bed lofts are also available and all prices include full board. English-speaking guides can organise hikes and horse treks taking you to associated hunting lodges and tent camps in the lake-dotted mountains above. The Abaza–Ak-Dovurak road sees precious little traffic and there’s no public transport. Pre-arrange private transfers in Abakan or Krasnoyarsk.
TUVA ТУВА
Independent before WWII, fascinating Tuva (Тыва in Tuvan) is culturally similar to neighbouring Mongolia but has an international cult following all of its own. Philatelists remember Tannu Tuva’s curiously shaped 1930s postage stamps. World-music aficionados are mesmerised by self-harmonising Tuvan throat singers. And millions of armchair travellers read Ralph Leighton’s Tuva or Bust!, a nontravel book telling how irrepressible Nobel Prize–winning physicist Richard Feynman failed to reach Soviet-era Kyzyl despite years of trying. Now that visitors are finally allowed in, Leighton’s Friends of Tuva (www.fotuva.org) organisation keeps up the inspirational work with an unsurpassed collection of Tuvan resources on its website. With forests, mountains, lakes and vast undulating waves of beautiful, barely populated steppe, Tuva’s a place you’ll long remember.
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History
Controlled from the 6th century by a succession of Turkic empires, in the 1750s Tuva became an outpost of China, against whose rule the much-celebrated Aldan Maadyr (60 Martyrs) rebelled in 1885. Tibetan Buddhism took root during the 19th century, coexisting with older shamanist nature-based beliefs; by the late 1920s one man in 15 in Tuva was a lama.
With the Chinese distracted by a revolution in 1911, Russia stirred up a separatist movement and took Tuva ‘under protection’ in 1914. The effects of Russia’s October Revolution took two years to reach Tuva, climaxing in 1921 when the region was a last bolt-hole of the retreating White Russians. They were swiftly ejected into Mongolia by ‘Red Partisans’, to whom you’ll see monuments in Kyzyl and Bay Dagh. Tuva’s prize was renewed, if nominal, independence as the Tuvan Agrarian Republic (Tyva Arat Respublik, TAR), better known to philatelists as Tannu Tuva. However, to communist Russia’s chagrin, Prime Minister Donduk’s government dared to declare Buddhism the state religion and favoured reunification with Mongolia. Russia’s riposte was to install a dependable communist, Solchak Toka, as prime minister, and, later, to force Tuvans to write their language in the fundamentally inappropriate Cyrillic alphabet, creating a cultural divide with Mongolia. Having ‘voluntarily’ helped Russia during WWII, Tuva’s ‘reward’ was incorporation into the USSR. Russian immigration increased, Buddhism and shamanism were repressed and the seminomadic Tuvans were collectivised; many Tuvans slaughtered their animals in preference to handing them over.
Today, some people have reverted to traditional pastoralism but, unlike in neighbouring Mongolia, yurt camps are often hidden away in the remoter valleys, largely because gangs of ruthless rustlers have scared herders off the most accessible grasslands. Buddhist-shamanist beliefs survived the oppressions rather better. Even avowed atheists still revere local arzhaan (sacred springs), offer food to fire spirits and tie prayer ribbons to cairns and holy trees using the colours of the national flag: blue for sky, yellow for Buddhism and white for purity and happiness.
Tuvan Culture
Of the republic’s 310,000 people, about two-thirds are ethnic Tuvans; Buddhist-shamanist by religion, Mongolian by cultural heritage, and Turkic by language. Confusingly in Tuvan ekii is ‘hello’ while eki is ‘good’. Tuvan Cyrillic has a range of exotic extra vowels and most place names have different Russian and Tuvan variants.
Colourful khuresh is a form of Tuvan wrestling similar to Japanese sumo but without the ring, the formality or the huge bellies. Multiple heats run simultaneously, each judged by a pair of referees, flamboyantly dressed in national costume. They’ll occasionally slap the posteriors of fighters who seem not to be making sufficient effort. Tuvans also love Mongolian-style long-distance horse races but are most widely famed for their khöömei throat singers. Khöömei is both a general term and the name of a specific style in which low and whistling tones, all from a single throat, somehow harmonise with one another. The troll-like kargyraa style sounds like singing through a prolonged burp. Sygyt is reminiscent of a wine glass being rung by a wet finger: quaintly odd if you hear a recording but truly astonishing when you hear it coming out of a human mouth. Accompanying instruments often include a jew’s-harp, a bowed two-stringed igil or a three-stringed doshpular (Tuvan banjo).
WHICH WAY TO TUVA?
There are two road routes from Abakan to Tuva. Krasnoyarsk and Abakan agencies tout the full loop as the ‘Sayan Ring’, including side trips to Minusinsk and Shushenskoe en route. Doing the loop independently is possible but you might have to pay a taxi for the Abaza-Ak-Dovurak section. That route has some lovely scenery in the Tuvan half, crossing a high, Sound of Music–style alpine pass topped with idyllic flower-filled fields, but as you descend into Khakassia the thick forest hides all views until you reach Abaza. Thereafter the mountains are replaced by grasslands with some interesting clumps of standing stones on the outskirts of Askiz (Click here).
Safer and easier for public transport, the Abakan–Kyzyl road is also more scenically spectacular, especially when clouds clear to reveal the gorgeous Ergaki Mountains (Click here). Flying one way Kyzyl–Irkutsk (Saturday only) is a great time-saver, making it much more viable to add Tuva to a trans-Siberian trip.
Ironically, it is often easier to get CDs of Tuvan music in the west than in Tuva itself. The most interesting groups are all-star Chirgilchin, inventive Alash (www.alashensemble.com) and Kaigal-ool’s Huun Huur Tu (www.huunhuurtu.com). Better-known Kongar-ol Ondar (www.ondar.com) has collaborated with Frank Zappa and worked on the soundtrack for the Oscar-nominated film Genghis Blues. You can listen to and watch some khöömei numbers at the websites of Pure Nature Music (www.purenaturemusic.com/chirgilchin) and Khoomei.com (http://khoomei.com/vids.htm).
Festivals
Tuva’s most dramatic festival is Naadym, usually held in mid-August. Vastly less touristy than the Mongolian equivalent, Naadym is your best chance to hear khöömei concerts, watch horse races and to see if Russia’s sumo champion Mongush ‘Elephant’ Ayas (www.sumo.boom.ru/eng/sumotori_m.html) wins the khuresh wrestling as usual. Similar elements accompany the International Khöömei Symposium (held roughly every three years; the next one is in 2011). More significant for local families is Shagaa, Tuvan New Year (February) the biggest festival of the year, with sangalyr (purification ceremonies) including a huge spring clean, gift giving, visits to relatives and temple rituals.
Tuvan Food
Almost every rural household keeps a vat of khoitpak (fermenting sour milk), which tastes like ginger beer with a sediment of finely chopped brie. Khoitpak is drunk as is or distilled into alcoholic araka. Roast dalgan (a cereal, similar to Altai’s bran-rich talkan) can be added to your salted milky tea, or eaten with oreme (sour cream). Local cheeses include stringy byshtag and rock-hard Kazakh-style kurut balls.
Tuvans are said to have learnt from Chinggis Khaan a special way to kill their sheep without wasting any of the animal’s blood. Collected with miscellaneous offal in a handy intestine, this blood makes up the local delicacy, han sausage. You may be less than disappointed to find that restaurants rarely serve it – not that there are many restaurants anyway! Beyond Kyzyl, truck stops, pelmeni (ravioli stuffed with meat) steamers and temperamental but incredibly cheap village stolovaye (canteens) are your best hopes for a hot meal unless you’re staying with families. Kyzyl residents take their own supplies when travelling to the provinces.
Dangers & Annoyances
Meeting locals is the key to experiencing Tuva but be aware that Tuvans are notorious for their reaction to alcohol, becoming disproportionately aggressive, even among friends. Although the situation has improved in recent years, travellers should still take extra care in towns and villages in Western Tuva, making sure to steer well clear of drunks, and avoid drinking vodka with local ‘friends’. Wandering Kyzyl’s streets after dark without local company is also not recommended.
KYZYL КЫЗЫЛ
39422 / pop 104,000 / Moscow +4hr
The most memorable attractions in Kyzyl are ephemeral – meeting shamans, hearing throat singing or watching a wrestling competition. Tuva’s capital may grandly claim to be the ‘centre of Asia’, but architecturally it’s mostly disappointing Soviet-era concrete. Fortunately, the central area’s streets are pleasantly tree lined, and from the riverside there are quietly picturesque views across to a tiny Buddhist shrine on the unpopulated north bank. Behind that the steppe is backed by a horizon of arid, low mountains.
In 1914 the imperial authorities decided to construct an administrative capital for their new protectorate from scratch as no other settlement in Tuva was up to the job. It was originally christened Belotsarsk (White Tsarville); the Soviet regime, for obvious reasons, changed the name in 1925 to Kyzyl, a Tuvan word which simply means ‘red’.
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Orientation
The spread-out street grid is centred around the theatre with ul Kochetova as the main commercial thoroughfare. Maps are very hard to find but are sometimes stocked in Delovye Melochi Bookshop (Krasnoarmeyskaya ul 100; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat) in the basement next to Kafe Dom Pechati. It also sells decent Russian-language guides to Tuva (R200). Alternatively, readers in the USA can buy maps mail-order through Tuva Trader (www.scs-intl.com/trader/) for US$8 plus postage.
Information
Registering your visa is essential in Tuva as passports are often checked in Kyzyl and elsewhere in the republic. You will be fined (R1500) if caught without the necessary stamps. Kyzyl hotels and tour companies will do this for you, but homestay hosts should register guests at PVS (Pasportno-Vizovaya Sluzhba; ul Lenina 64; 9am-1pm & 2-6pm Tue-Fri). Calling ahead to find out exactly which documents and photocopies are required can save a lot of time. Regulations change frequently.
Alash Travel (34 826; www.alash-travel.narod.ru, in Russian; ul Kochetova 60/12) Offers full-scale rafting and climbing expeditions, and can arrange horse-riding trips between Tuva and Altai. English spoken by some guides but not in the office.
Aylana Irguit (23 796; www.tyvantranslator.com; [email protected]) Charming translator with perfect English and many local contacts.
EcoTuva (10 527, 14 579; www.ecotuva.ru; top fl, Apt 32a, ul Lenina) Enthusiastic tour agency offering horse-back trips with throat singing and yurt stays as well as week-long tours coinciding with Naadym.
Post office (ul Kochetova 53; internet per hr R60; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, 8am-7pm Sat, 9am-6pm Sun) Internet room and telephone office attached. For parcels use entry at ul Druzhby 156a.
Rosbank (ul Tuvinskikh Dobrovoltsev 10; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-7pm Sat) 24-hour ATM accepting almost every kind of card.
Sberbank (ul Kochetova 34a; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat) Exchange counter and ATM inside.
Sean Quirk ([email protected]) US-born manager of the Alash throat-singing ensemble is the best person to contact in Kyzyl if you’re interested in throat-singing performances.
Tsentr Asii (/fax 32 326; Hotel Odugen) Helpful, friendly agency that can arrange air tickets and vehicle transfers.
Tuva Travel (50 721; www.tuvatravel.com; [email protected]) Mountaineer and tour guide Mergen can arrange homestays and any kind of activity in Tuva but specialises in the mountainous west. Three months’ notice is needed to organise the necessary permits for the Buddhist New Year ascent of Mongun Tayga, Tuva’s highest peak.
Sights
If you take a map of world, cut out Asia and balance the continent on a pin, the pinpoint will be Kyzyl. Well, only if you’ve used the utterly obscure Gall’s stereographic projection. However, that doesn’t stop the town perpetuating the ‘Centre of Asia’ idea first posited by a mysterious 19th-century English eccentric and still marked with a concrete globe-and-obelisk Centre of Asia monument on the riverbank, at the end of Komsomolskaya ul.
The Aldan Maadyr National Museum (38 328; www.tuvamuseum.ru; ul Titova 30; admission R200; 11am-7pm Wed-Sun) finally moved into its new state-of-the-art home in 2008. As well as the old museum’s array of stuffed animals, 6th- to 12th-century stone figures, and banknotes, stamps and photos from the 1930s independence period, the 16 halls also house freshly installed exhibitions on throat singing, European art and Tuvan shamanism. The Hermitage in St Petersburg has pledged to return intricately fashioned Scythian gold jewellery unearthed at Arzhaan-II once a secure exhibition space has been created within the new building.
A tiny Museum of Oppression (Gööguzuneng muzeyi; Komsomolskaya ul 5; admission R30; 8am-4pm) has moving, dog-eared, copied photos of those who disappeared in the Stalin years. Across the grass is the chest-puffing statue of a Nepokorennyy (‘undefeated’) Aldan Maadyr martyr in his pointy slippers. Two blocks east stands the white pagoda-style Buddhist temple Tsechenling Datsan (ul Shchetinkina-Kravchenko 1). Brightly-coloured prayer flags flutter in the breeze outside but it’s disappointingly plain inside.
Activities
TUVAN MUSIC
Throat singing is Tuva’s great draw, yet finding performances is rather haphazard. Sometimes they’re listed on www.tyvantranslator.com. If not, try asking at the distinctive white concrete National Theatre (11 566; ul Lenina 33), whose slightly oriental wooden flourishes make it the city’s most architecturally distinctive building. On the 1st floor of the sizable Cultural Centre (ul Shchetinkina-i-Kravchenko 46), the Khöömei Centre (33 424) can help arrange throat-singing lessons – to find it, walk between the cloakroom and snack bar and keep going. However, to simply hear a sample try going up to the 3rd floor from here (by the back rather than the main stairs) to a room where Tuvan musicians practise most afternoons around 2pm. Alternatively, contact Sean Quirk (Click here) or Aylana Irguit (Click here), who can usually arrange a short demonstration of the various styles.
SHAMANISM CENTRES
Visiting a shaman is fascinating if you have a translator and a tangible ‘problem’ to have examined. This might be a medical, mental or emotional purification or perhaps seeking ‘luck’ with your travels. Typical ceremony costs are in the R2000 to R3000 range. Less authentic ‘shaman shows’ are organised for tourist groups.
Riverfront totem poles and reception yurts make Tos Deer Shaman Centre (32 023; ul Krasnykh Partizan 18a; 8am-8pm) the most photogenic. If someone has stumped up the cash, there might be sunset ceremonies here but shamans are touchy about (unpaid) photography.
Adyg-Eeren Shaman Centre (‘Bear’s Spirit’ Shaman Centre; 14 483; ul Shevchenko 225-7; 8am-8pm) looks like a used-car lot but in one room there is a stuffed bear and all the shamanic accoutrements.
Dungur Shaman Centre (‘Drum’ Shaman Centre; 31 909; ul Rabochaya 245; 8am-8pm) is another option.
Sleeping
Hotel Kyzyl (21 107; ul Tuvinskikh Dobrovoltsev 13; dm/s/tw with toilet R300/600/700, s/tw with bathroom & TV R1200/1500) The only redeeming feature of this seedy last resort is its wonderfully central location.
Hotel Mongulek (31 253; ul Kochetova 1; dm R450-720, s R640-720, d R1140-2150, tr R1350) Considerable cosmetic improvements have made the rooms bright and fairly fresh, but the private toilets are mostly old Soviet issue and only the most expensive rooms have dowdy bath-shower units. One of the last hotels in Eastern Siberia to still charge foreign guests shamefully higher prices.
Hotel Odugen (32 518; ul Krasnykh Partizan 36; s R600-2200, tw R1400-2200, ste R3500) The cheaper rooms here are slightly less comfortable than at the Kottedzh, but top-floor suites have sitting rooms and much better decor. There are river views from even-numbered rooms.
Hotel Buyan Badyrgy (51 720; ul Moskovskaya 1; s R700-1000, d R1600; ) The Tuvan capital’s newest, most comfortable and best-run place to stay is located a R50 taxi ride from central Kyzyl. The 36 Western-standard rooms are rather bland but do come with TV, fridge, phone and air-con. The price-to-quality ratio has made this a foreigner favourite and a preferable choice to Kyzyl’s dubious central hotels. Rates include breakfast.
Hotel Kottedzh (Gostiny Dvor; 30 503; ul Krasnykh Partizan 38; s R800, tw R800-2200) As well as an illustrious list of former guests including Boris Yeltsin and the Dalai Lama, this 12-room hotel has reasonably cosy rooms and acceptable private bathrooms. Two cheaper rooms have toilet only. Breakfast is included.
Camp Ai (Biy-Khem Yurta; s/tw R1265/1820; May-Sep) Sixteen traditional-style yurt tents with private chemical toilets and shared hot showers on a magnificently isolated riverside 18km north of Kyzyl. Nearby are some minor petroglyphs and shaman ‘ceremonies’ and throat-singing demonstrations are arranged for visiting tour groups. Book ahead through Sayan Ring Travel (Click here) in Krasnoyarsk.
Eating
Most hotels have basic eateries while the market (ul Druzhby) has a range of fresh produce and is ringed by several cheap cafés and shashlyk grills.
Vostorg (ul Shchetinkina-i-Kravchenko 35; mains R30-50, coffee R8; 8am-11pm) Perched above a supermarket of the same name, Kyzyl’s best cheap eat is a plasticky no-frills self-service cafeteria where cash-strapped students and office workers fill up for a few roubles on generous platefuls of pelmeni, bliny, meatballs, plov, pork roast and Ukrainian holubtsi (cabbage rolls stuffed with rice and meat). Fresh doughnuts and pastries make this a perfect budget breakfast spot.
Kafe Dom Pechati (ul Krasnoarmeyskaya 100; meals R50-100; 11am-4pm) With its hand-written menu of Russian stodge and snarling dinner ladies, this hard-to-find basement stolovaya is not as good value as the Vostorg but offers a more Soviet dining experience.
Kezhik (32 904; ul Druzhby 151; meals R50-150; 10am-1am) The only central café to serve authentic Tuvan fare such as sogozha (stuffed grilled liver), manchi (mutton ravioli) and the dreaded han sausage. Gaudy black and gold decor and carefully laid tables lend it a grander ambience than it deserves.
Arlekina Kafe (10 207; ul Kochetova 99; mains R90-140, coffee R15, beer R50; 10am-11pm; ) Bright colours, Venetian carnival masks and big-screen DVD make this clean, family-friendly place an upbeat choice. The menu is extensive and the R100 lunch is filling, if unexciting.
Art Kafe (24 836; Theatre Bldg; mains R150-270) Neither arty nor a café, the rather threadbare theatre restaurant has affordable lunch menus, a R50 evening cover charge and poor service.
Getting There & Away
Kyzyl’s shockingly up-to-date but sorely underexploited airport (50 667) handles flights to Krasnoyarsk (R3300, daily), Novosibirsk (R6640, Tuesday) and Irkutsk (R5300, Saturday). Moscow flights were halted once again in 2008 due to poor ticket sales. To Todzha it’s around R3000 by plane or helicopter (big discounts for locals) but domestic services are notoriously sketchy, depending largely it would seem on weather, passenger numbers and the price of fuel. Aziya-99 (22 214; ul Lenina 58) opposite the new museum building sells air tickets for all flights.
For the spectacularly scenic drive to Abakan, marshrutky (R600 to R800 per seat, 5½ hours) are well worth the difference over the grindingly slow, overbooked buses (R500, 10 hours), which depart from the bus station daily at 6.50am, 8pm and 9pm. The last of these continues on to Krasnoyarsk (R950). Abakan-bound marshrutky and others heading to destinations within Tuva congregate in and around the chaotic car park behind the Hotel Mongulek. Buses/marshrutky run at least once a day to Ak-Dovurak via Chadan (R290/350), Saryg-Sep (R80/100) and Erzin (R290/350).
Plans to hook Kyzyl up to the railway network are well under way, and the first train should pull into the Tuvan capital sometime in 2013. The new set of tracks, laid essentially to ship Tuva’s high-quality coal to Russia proper, will join the Krasnoyarsk–Abakan line at Kuragino. Until the new Kyzyl terminus is constructed (location yet to be decided), tickets for trains out of Abakan can be bought from the post office (special entrance on ul Chuldum) and the Aziya-99 ticket agency.
Summer hydrofoils leave from the boat quay and shoot along the Yenisey rapids up to Toora-Khem in Todzha (R1700, 10 hours upstream, seven hours back) on alternate days. Book ahead at the hydrofoil ticket office (21 897; ul Krasnykh Partizan 28; 9am-4pm). You’ll need your passport.
Getting Around
The airport is 6km southwest of the centre by buses 1 and 1A (R10). Almost all marshrutka routes use ul Kochetova. Marshrutky 1, 2, 6 and 10 pass the bus station.
AROUND KYZYL
On the Yenisey’s northern bank, multiple springs gurgle straight from the rocks amid totem poles and trees heavy with prayer flags at cliff-side Bobry Istochnik (Beaver Spring). This popular barbecue and picnic spot with picturesque Kyzyl views can only be reached by taxi (at least R1000).
The giant Kadarchy herder statue surveys the city from a bare hill, five-minutes’ drive from Kyzyl’s southernmost edge. Beyond, prayer rags photogenically deck the Tos Bulak spring which is the closest arzhaan (sacred spring) to the capital. To get a taste for the steppe, consider the relatively easy excursion to mirage-like Cheder salt lake 3km off the M54 highway. The popular but slightly ramshackle lakeside Cheder health spa (39422-33 905; d R1000-1700) has basic en suite rooms, but book well ahead as the summer months see hundreds of locals invade this remote location to take mud cures and cool off in the briny waters. Isolated amid endless grassy steppe, Lake Dus Khol is crowded with comically mud-blackened health-vacationers; its waters are so salty that you float Dead Sea–style. Larger Lake Khadyn nearby is great for summer swimming and camping, though the water is still too salty to drink or use for cooking. To reach both, turn off the M54 at the 840km marker and head 20km along sandy, unsurfaced access tracks; arrange a prepaid private transfer with a Kyzyl agency if you don’t fancy putting yourself at the mercy of local taxi drivers.
Following the Ka-Khem (Maly Yenisey) River southeast of Kyzyl, the steppe gives way to agricultural greenery around low-rise Saryg-Sep, beyond which an appallingly rutted road continues through woodland to the pretty Old Believers’ village of Erzhey. Despite the extraordinary inaccessibility, there are several bungalow-hotels and hunting lodges en route and beyond. A good deal is at Bilbey (33km from Saryg-Sep) where the surprisingly pleasant Turbaza Vasilyevka (39432-22 253) lies beside a curious cable-ferry in a flower-filled field.
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VALLEY OF THE KINGS Долина царей
This broad grassy vale begins a few kilometres beyond a turning off the M54 highway north of Turan. It’s famous in archaeological circles for its pancake-shaped Scythian kurgany named after the village of Arzhaan at the end of the paved road. These have produced the most significant archaeological finds ever made in Tuva, but until the Hermitage deems Kyzyl’s national museum sufficiently secure, the mainly gold ceremonial jewellery will stay in St Petersburg. A few low-value finds are displayed in the museum in Turan 12km to the northeast.
The first roadside kurgan is Arzhaan II, which lies opposite shimmering Ak Khol (White Lake). During excavations in 2001 archaeologists unearthed some magnificent artefacts in several graves dating from the 7th century BC. Less well-maintained Arzhaan I, a little further along the road, is the largest kurgan in Tuva. A dig in the early 1970s turned up kilograms of gold and silver and the graves of two Scythian VIPs, 16 servants and 160 horses, but today only a large disc of rubble remains. The valley holds an amazing 700 burial sites and eight large kurgany await the archaeologist’s trowel. However, digs are unpopular with local villagers and shamans who believe the spirits should be left undisturbed.
FROM KYZYL TO ERZIN
The paved M54 offers a wonderfully varied scenic feast with archetypal Central Asian grassland, then parkland-style rolling woodlands after Balgazyn, thickening to pine forest beyond the two tiny cafés at Shurmak. Spot shamanic cairns and prayer-rag ticker tape on passes and herders’ yurts in picturesque meadows. The landscape gets starkly drier descending past Samagaltay and Bay Dagh, a former camel-breeding centre where memorials commemorate the last scuffles of the civil war in 1921. Between km1023 and km1024 radar posts look down on the junction of a smooth, scenic but unpaved road to Mören, 18km away, passing near holy mountain Ak-Khayyrakan (1148m). EcoTuva (Click here) can show you its revered spring (whose seasonal flow is aided each summer by multiple shamanic ceremonies) and arrange unforgettable yurt stays with nomadic cattle herders in the glorious valleys beyond.
The asphalt main road ends at Erzin, which has a clean, basic, mural-brightened hotel (ul Komsomolskaya 31) near the bus stand and a photogenic competitor for the world’s smallest Buddhist temple (ul Komsomolskaya 22) competition.
Sandy tracks continue 20km south past Dali-esque rocky outcrops to Lake Tore-Khol, a popular local picnic spot. Although at the edge of the desert zone, herded horses trotting through the shallows give the area a slight feel of the Camargue in France. Across the water is Mongolia, but the border is closed to foreigners. Tore-Khol yurt camp (per tent R1000) on the banks of the lake can be booked through Tuva Travel (Click here). To the east of Tore-Khol the dunes of the Tsugeer-Els protected landscape rise high along the left bank of the Tec Khem River. Foreigners require special permits to travel into the border zone beyond Erzin. Given plenty of notice, the head office of the Ubsunur Basin Biosphere Reserve (39422-53 818; [email protected]) in Kyzyl can arrange these.
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TODZHA (TODZHU) ТОДЖА (ТОДЖУ)
‘If you haven’t seen Todzhu you haven’t seen Tuva’, sighs a popular local saying. Most Tuvans haven’t. Mainly lake-dappled forest, this roadless northeastern lobe of the republic has a distinctly different culture, traditionally based on reindeer herding. Above unnavigable rapids on the Biy-Khem River, salmonlike taimen grow to 15kg (even 30kg by some reports), safe from any fisherman unable to fork out nearly US$10,000 for helicopter hire.
Without time and extensive planning casual visitors are limited to the area around Toora-Khem village, accessible from Kyzyl by air or splashing up the beautiful Biy-Khem (Bolshoy Yenisey) River by somewhat claustrophobic hydrofoil. Register immediately with the police upon arrival.
Some 40 minutes’ drive down a jeep track from Toora-Khem, the area’s main attraction is serene, forest-edged Lake Azas, famed for its water lilies. Beautifully positioned at the lakeside is the astonishingly isolated but semiderelict collection of shacks, Azas Turbaza (mid-Jun–mid-Sep). Well before leaving Kyzyl ask an agency to warn the caretaker of your arrival date so he can buy provisions and pick you up from the boat dock or airfield. The price is agreed upon arrival. Bring emergency camping gear just in case. At Azas you can row on the lake, walk to smaller Noghaan Khol and imagine that the bears you hear in the woods are only aural mirages.
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WESTERN TUVA ЗАПАДНАЯ ТУВА
The route looping round to Abakan from Tuva via Askiz is scenically varied, often beautiful and mesmerisingly vast in scale, though the Chinggis Khaan stone (right) near Ak-Dovurak is virtually the only real ‘sight’. Independent travellers should be aware of Western Tuva’s fearsome reputation for wild lawlessness and unprovoked knife attacks. Even other Tuvans are nervous about travelling without a truly local companion. Sayan Ring tours (opposite) come this way.
The spectacularly picturesque and virtually traffic-free grassland route from Kyzyl to Ak-Dovurak is lined with sacred mountains, nomads’ yurts and newly raised stupas. Some 80km out of Kyzyl, dramatic Mt Khayyrakan (1148m), a spiky ridge blessed by the Dalai Lama in 1992, comes into view but isn’t reached until km107. Climb towards the stupa at the base of the mountain from the roadside café where buses make a brief stop. The best place to break the 300km journey is the simple midway Kafe Aziya (km145; mains R15-30; 8am-11pm) beyond which the con-ical stand-alone Mt Syyn-Churee is scored with almost 200 petroglyphs. The small town of Chadan (Chadaana) is attractively dotted with wooden cottages and there’s an appealing little museum (ul Lenina 33; 9am-4pm Mon-Fri). The town is most famous as Tuva’s former spiritual centre, but the once-great Ustuu Khuree temple was utterly devastated in the Soviet era. Only sad, chunky stumps of mud wall now remain, lost in peaceful woodlands some 6km south of Chadan and accessed via tracks off the road to Bazhin-Alaak. Stalled repairs are due to restart in the coming years, and to fund the reconstruction a large annual music festival (www.ustuhure.ru) is held on the grounds in mid-July, embracing everything from khöömei to grunge rock. Participants camp in tents and yurts. Ak-Dovurak and Kyzyl Mazhalyk are another hour’s drive west.
From Khandagayty, where the Mongolian border remains closed to foreigners, a glorious but notoriously tough truck track runs to Kosh-Agach in Altai via Mugur-Aksy, passing high, bald, glacier-topped Mt Mongun-Tayga (3976m). Bring food, a reliable guide, ample extra fuel and spare parts if you plan a truck or jeep convoy. With many deep fords, this route is impassable after rain. It’s much more pleasant on horseback; Alash Travel in Kyzyl (Click here) can help you organise horses. In ideal conditions it’s possible to make the trip by mountain bike in around a week but getting lost is dangerously easy. For a mountaineering report see Mountain.ru (www.mountain.ru/eng/adv enture/2004/na_grani/).
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Ak-Dovurak & Kyzyl Mazhalyk Ак-Довурак & Кызыл-Мажалык
39441 / Moscow +4hr
The world’s largest open-pit asbestos mine dominates Ak-Dovurak, Tuva’s unlovable second ‘city’. Around 10km away, the main attraction is the Chinggis Khaan stone, a remarkably well preserved 1.5m-high moustachioed stone idol (kameny baba in Russian, kizhigozher in Tuvan). To find it, cross the Shui River to Kyzyl-Mazhalyk town then drive 8km towards Ayangalty. About 500m after you pass the turn-off to tiny Bizhiktig Khaya village, the stone figure stands all alone in a field, 400m west of the road. The surrounding meadows are peppered with less prominent standing stones. Ak-Dovurak taxis want at least R400 return.
Long rows of standing stones and Turkic burial sites can be seen by turning onto a dirt track just before the 10km marker on the Teeli road west of Ak-Dovurak. Most still bear fading petroglyphs. The village of Teeli some 28km further is altogether unremarkable but does have a very basic hotel, Chonar Dash (24 222, 21 192; ul Lenina 25, Komsomolskaya ul 121). Yet more delicately etched ancient stonework is the star attraction at Kyzyl Mazhalyk’s Regional Museum (culture centre, ul Khomushku Vasily 23), alongside an independence-era newspaper printed in the Tuvan Latin script, a mock-up of a yurt and figures sculpted in soapstone, a tradition practised in the area since Scythian times.
SLEEPING & EATING
Ak-Dovurak’s Hotel MPP ZhKKh (21 255; ul Tsentralnaya 6; s R280, d R500-R800) has survivable rooms and staff are friendly. It’s upstairs in the rear of the building whose giant Soviet-era mural faces the east side of bright Kafe Mirazh (ul Tsentralnaya 2; meals R15-40, coffee R10; 9am-11pm). Things are marginally better over in Kyzyl Mazhalyk, where the spotlit and squeaky-clean Kafe 55555 (ul Churgyy-Ool 70; 10am-11pm) serves Russian and Tuvan staples. A small Western-style hotel of the same name is set to open on the floor above. Homestays with local families can be arranged through Kyzyl agencies.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
From Kyzyl, sporadic marshrutky (R350) plus daily buses (R290, departures 9am and 1pm,) serve Ak-Dovurak (five to seven hours) via Chadan. Two buses a day run from Ak-Dovurak to Teeli. For the A161 via Abaza it’s sometimes possible to find shared taxis leaving at dawn for the journey between Ak-Dovurak bus station and Abakan train station (R800 per seat, six hours), but it’s hit-and-miss. You might have to pay for the whole car. Ak-Dovurak city buses run from the centre of town via the bus station (1.5km) to Kyzyl-Mazhalyk.
KRASNOYARSK REGION КРАСНОЯРСКИЙ КРАЙ
Vast and beautiful, the Greenland-shaped Krasnoyarsk region stretches all the way from the Arctic islands of Servernaya Zemlya to a mountainous tip at Mt Borus near Sayanogorsk. Formerly divided into three autonomous regions, it was reunited following a 2005 referendum. This has further aided the growth of its lucrative petroleum industries, which make Krasnoyarsk city such a buzzing, forward-looking metropolis.
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KRASNOYARSK КРАСНОЯРСК
3912 / pop 910,000 / Moscow +4hr
Vibrant, youthful and backed by attractive spikes of jagged forested foothills, Krasnoyarsk has a much more appealing setting than most typically flat Siberian cities. While its architecture isn’t a particular strength, amid the predominantly unaesthetic concrete of post-WWII industrialisation are a few outstandingly well-embellished timber mansions and a sprinkling of art nouveau curves. Pleasant river trips and the nearby Stolby Nature Reserve as well as the region’s best concert halls, theatres and museums make Krasnoyarsk a most agreeable place to break a trans-Siberian journey between Tomsk (612km west) and Lake Baikal.
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Orientation
Near the Yenisey River’s north bank, the centre is a pedestrianised, ferroconcrete square where ul Uritskogo is gashed by thundering ul Veynbauma. The zoo and Stolby Reserve are over 10km west along the Yenisey’s south bank. Extremely useful Krasnoyarsk transport maps (R99) are sold within the bus and train stations, at bookshops such as Russkoe Slovo (Map; ul Lenina 28; 10am-2pm & 3-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat) and within the Regional Museum. Russkoe Slovo also stocks unusually helpful maps of other nearby towns.
Information
Internet Klub (Map; ul Lenina 153; per hr R40; 10am-11pm) Beneath the Playboy shop.
KBPE (Map; Krasnoyarskoe Byuro Putishestvy i Ekskursy; 271 626; [email protected]; 1st fl, Hotel Krasnoyarsk; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, to 3pm Sat) Commercial tour agency.
Paradoks (Map; 239 795; pr Mira 96; internet per MB R4, per hr R24; 24hr) The best, central internet access. Enter from an inner courtyard; follow the signs to the Alazani Georgian restaurant, which is opposite Paradoks.
Post office (Map; ul Lenina 62; internet per hr R30; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, until 7pm Sat)
ROSBank (Map; pr Mira 7; 9am-7pm Mon-Thu, 9am-5.45pm Fri) Changes US dollars (pristine notes only) and travellers cheques but service is slow.
Sayan Ring Travel (/fax 523 363; www.gotosiberia.ru; ul Uritskogo 41; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri) Specialist agency for Tuva and Khakassia tours.
Sberbank (Map; Surikova 15; 9am-7pm Mon-Sat) Exchanges even the most dog-eared dollar notes.
SibTourGuide (512 654; www.sibtourguide.com) Experienced tour guide Anatoliy Brewhanov offers thoughtfully personalised English-speaking tour services aimed at independent travellers. Useful website, congenial homestays and imaginative trips.
Telephone office (Map; 9am-noon & 1-6pm) pr Mira (pr Mira 102); ul Lenina (ul Lenina 49)
Sights
STOLBY NATURE RESERVE & BOBROVY LOG SKI RESORT
Arguably Krasnoyarsk’s greatest attractions are the spiky volcanic rock pillars called stolby. These litter the woods in the 17,000-hectare Stolby Nature Reserve (Zapovednik Stolby) south of the Yenisey River. To reach the main concentration of pillars, start by walking 7km down a track near Turbaza Yenisey (bus 50). Halfway along is a visitors centre. Alternatively, there is much easier access via a year-round chair lift (Map; Tue-Sun) belonging to the new ski resort. From the top, walk for two minutes to a great viewpoint or around 40 minutes to reach the impressive Takmak Stolby. Tours are available, personalised in English with SibTourGuide (priced according to itinerary) or all in Russian through KBPE (for groups of many/three/two/one R500/700/1000/1500 per person, six hours). Infected ticks are dangerous between May and July and tick protection or predeparture encephalitis jabs are essential at this time.
Below the stolby the slap and swish of skis and snowboards can be heard at the spanking new Bobrovy Log ski resort (Map; 568 686; www.bobrovylog.ru). Snow canons keep the slopes going well into May, and in the summer months the Roedelbahn (a kind of downhill forest rollercoaster), a pool and regular sports events keep the fun level high. Ask at the English-speaking year-round information centre about ski hire, lift passes and other tickets. Bus 37 (R10) runs from the train station direct to the resort.
Nearby, the relatively humane Roev Ruchey Zoo (Map; 698 101; adult/child R100/20; 10am-6pm, to 9pm Wed-Sun Apr-Oct) is home to numerous Siberian species rare and not so rare, along with happily humping camels. Take bus 50 or 50A.
MUSEUMS
The Regional Museum (Kraevedchesky muzey; Map; 226 511; ul Dubrovinskogo 84; admission R70; 11am-7pm Tue-Sun) is one of Siberia’s best. Its wonderfully incongruous 1912 building combines art nouveau and Egyptian temple-style features. Arranged around a Cossack explorer’s ship are models, icons, historical room interiors and nature rooms where you can listen to local birdsong and animal cries. The basement hosts a splendid ethnographic section comparing the historical fashion sense of shamans from various tribal groups. The gift shop sells old coins, medals, postcards and excellent maps.
The Surikov Museum-Estate (Muzey-usadba V I Surikova; Map; 231 587; 231 507; ul Lenina 98; admission R45; 10am-6pm Tue-Sat) preserves the house, sheds and vegetable patch of 19th-century painter Vasily Surikov (1848–1916). The heavy-gated garden forms a refreshing oasis of rural Siberia right in the city centre. More of Surikov’s work is on show at the cute Surikov Art Museum (Map; 652 881; ul Parizhskoy Kommuny 20; admission R45; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun).
The Literature Museum (Literaturny muzey; Map; 274 830; ul Lenina 66; admission R20; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) within a glorious 1911 merchant’s mansion occasionally hosts classical music performances.
A fascinating little museum (Map; 277 487; pl Pobedy; admission free; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun) at the Victory Memorial relates Krasnoyarsk’s role in WWII, when much Soviet industry was strategically shifted east away from potential bomber raids.
On pr Mira a new statue of Nikolai Rezanov (Map), 18th-century Russian diplomat and nobleman who died in the city in 1807, gazes towards a slightly temporary looking arch raised in 2003 to mark the site of the first Cossack stronghold.
HISTORIC BUILDINGS
Dotted about Krasnoyarsk are some very fine wooden houses, notably ul Lenina 88 and 67 and ul Karla Marksa 118. There are also many art nouveau facades such as pr Mira 76, ul Lenina 62 and ul Parizhskoy Kommuny 13. Attractive old churches abound including the fancy 1795 Intercession Cathedral (Pokrovskoe sobor; Map; ul Surikova) and the top-heavy but elegant 1804–22 Resurrection Church (Blagoveshchensky tserkov; Map; ul 9 Yanvarya), which was decapitated in the 1930s but given a new tower in 1998–99. Its icon-filled interior billows with incense. For great city views climb Karaulnaya Hill to the pointy little Chasovnya (Chapel; Map) which features on the Russian 10-rouble banknote. At midday there’s a deafening one-gun salute here.
LENIN MEMORABILIA
In April 1897 the goateed wonder stayed in Krasnoyarsk at ul Markovskogo 27, now preserved and surveyed by a pensive, remounted statue (Map). A big, much prouder, Lenin statue (Map) stands opposite the popular city park. Permanently docked below an ugly brown-concrete exhibition centre (formerly the Lenin Museum) is the boat SV Nikolay (Map; 239 403; admission R15; 10am-8pm Tue-Sun) which transported Vladimir to exile in Shushenskoe. Other communist curiosities include a splendid mosaic (Map; ul Vyborsky 9) on the outer wall of the station square post office and a bust of proto-KGB founder Felix Dzerzhinsky (Map; ul Dzerzhinskogo).
Sleeping
There are plenty of accommodation options in Krasnoyarsk, including a few budget choices. Though way out of the centre, there are several small, peaceful hotels in the Stolby area (south of the river), relatively handy for skiing and trips to the Stolby Nature Reserve. Use bus 50.
For a great insight into local life take an English-speaking homestay organised by SibTourGuide. Most such homestays are in the high-rise Vyetluzhanka area, which is 20 minutes’ drive west of the centre but well served by city buses 91, 75 and 43 and close to attractive forest and ski areas. Vyetluzhanka’s petal-towered St Nicholas Church is a striking landmark. Prices include a free station pick-up.
CITY CENTRE
Budget
Hotel-ship Mayak (Map; 276 355; ul Dubrov-inskogo; s/tw berths R450/700, lyux berths R1200) This antique river steamer is moored handily close to the river station and rents well priced but cramped cabins that can be noisy and are not always secure – windows are rarely lockable. Toilets are shared. At the time of research flustered receptionists were turning away foreigners due to registration problems.
Hotel Gostiny Dvor (Map; 232 857; pr Mira 81; dm R550-700, s R700-1000, tw R1000-2200) The best cheap sleep in town enjoys a superb central position, a lovely facade and fully renovated rooms sharing brand-new toilets and showers. Kettles in some rooms. Booking fee 25%.
Krasnoyarskstroystrategiya (Map; 276 611; pr Mira 12; s/tw R1100/2400) Good value if utterly unpronounceable. Spruced up but now slightly overpriced ex-Soviet rooms have new furniture and double glazing holding back the incessant traffic din. Enter from ul Karatanova.
Other cheap possibilities:
Resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; Map; 484 635; train station; dm per 12hr from R250) Clean station dorm rooms.
Hotel Kolos (Map; 235 667; ul Kerchinskogo 65; dm/s/tw R440/620/1140) Simple, acceptable rooms but with dubious, market-trader clientele and a seedy location.
Hotel Ogni Yeniseyya (Map; 275 262; ul Dubrovinskogo 80; s R650-1380, tw R2000) Has miserable rooms off bile-green corridors, but there are private bathrooms and visa registration is possible.
Midrange
All rates include breakfast.
Hotel Sever (Map; 662 266; [email protected]; ul Lenina 121; s/tw R1600/2600) Once grand, now cheap but friendly with patchy renovation beyond the deceptively glitzy reception.
Hotel Krasnoyarsk (Map; 749 400; www.hotelkrs.ru; ul Uritskogo 94; s/tw/ste from R2630/3780/7400; ) This sprawling eight-storey concrete slab dominates Krasnoyarsk’s central square. It retains the Soviet-vintage dezhurnaya (floor-lady) system but is well kept with bright corridors, totally rebuilt full-service rooms and English-speaking receptionists. Only the suites have air-conditioning.
Metelitsa Guest House (Map; 652 928; pr Mira 14a; s/d R2895/R3895; ) Small, central and very comfy but, judging by the black suits and Bentleys outside, aimed at well-heeled Russian biznesmen.
Hotel Oktyabrskaya (Map; 273 780; www.hoteloctober.ru; pr Mira 15; s R3800, d R5800) Comfortable and professionally run with rooms approximating chintzy Western standards, albeit without air-conditioning. Satellite TV includes CNN and some English is spoken. The trendy lobby area has a very stylish juice bar.
SOUTH OF THE YENISEY
Hotel Turist (Map; 361 470; ul Matrasova 2; s R1900-2400 tw R2200) On a busy roundabout directly across the long Yenisey Bridge from the city centre, this 16-storey Soviet monolith has a variety of rooms with toilet and shower. Some are pleasantly renovated. At night the disco sets the whole tower vibrating.
Siberian Safari Club (Map; 613 335; www.hotelsafari.ru; ul Sudostroitelnaya 117a; s/d R3000/4000) This intimate and well-appointed 34-room hotel occupies a pleasantly quiet spot on the riverbank and, although walls are thin, it’s arguably Krasnoyarsk’s best option. Attentive reception staff speak faultless English, there’s a classy terrace restaurant (meals from R1000) and booking is advisable (25% booking fee applies to ‘standard’ rooms only). Bus 36 stops a 10-minute walk away.
STOLBY AREA
Turbaza Yenisey (Map; 698 110; ul Sverdlovskaya 140/7; d/tw R500-2000;
) Despite the name this is a two-storey hotel, not a camp. Good-value renovated rooms are simple but neat and share sparkling-clean showers. Some of the pricier doubles have private facilities. There’s a glimpse of river view from the small communal terrace but no café.
Khutorok (Map; 698 325; ul Sverdlovskaya 245; d R1200) Above this popular Ukrainian restaurant are eight newish, if already scuffed, rooms with shower and toilet. Sauna R500 per hour.
Snezhnaya Dolina (Map; 693 033; per cottage R3600-11,000) Excellent full-facility cottages form slightly cramped rows within a peaceful walled orchard. Each has kitchen, covered terrace and no reservation fee. There’s also a shared tennis court.
NORTHWESTERN SUBURBS
Hotel Polyot (Map; /fax 201 047; ul Aerovokzalnaya 16; s R1700, tw R1100-2500) Two minutes’ walk from the bus station, the Polyot has upped its game and its prices in recent years. Presentable rooms have toilets and short bathtubs, but renovation is ongoing so view before committing. Crisply uniformed reception staff speak good English.
Hotel Yahont (off Map; 566 767; www.yahont.ru, in Russian; ul Telmana 44a; s/d/ste R2500/4300/7500) Popular with tour groups. Rooms are modern and well furnished, but prices seem excessive given the very inconvenient suburban location near the far end of trolleybus route 7. Some may gain juvenile amusement in mispronouncing the hotel’s name.
Eating
There are plenty of eateries along pr Mira, summer cafés on the promenade near the river station and cheap snack stalls in the extensive central market (Map; 8am-6pm). On summer evenings, lively beer bars and shashlyk grills give the concrete, fountain-filled square outside Hotel Krasnoyarsk a convivial piazza feel.
RESTAURANTS
Burzhuy (Map; 661 072; Metropol bldg, 2nd fl, pr Mira 10; pelmeni R40; 10am-8pm) Cheap and very popular self-service lunch spot where office workers swap chitchat over plates of pelmeni at formica tables. The ‘ear bread’ comes with countless fillings, or choose from other hot dishes and salads.
Kalinka Malinka (Map; 238 824; pr Mira 91a; mains R70-200; noon-midnight). Nostalgia meets Russian MTV at this trendy new Soviet theme café that celebrates the diverse cuisine of all the former Soviet Republics minus the knick-knackery that plagues other retro eateries. Enjoy a Eurasian feast of Ukrainian serniki (cottage cheese fritters), Georgian khachapuri and Kazakh beshparmak (horse meat and noodles) washed down with Moldovan wines or Russian beer. Enter from ul Dzerzhinskogo. Second branch at pr Mira 85.
Krasnaya Palatka (Map; 560 686; Bobrovy Log ski resort; meals R100; 10am-10pm) Watch skiers slither down the slopes from the huge circular windows at this film-themed self-service cafeteria. The decor is trendy, but the Russian and international dishes are unexciting and perhaps appreciated more after a long hike or climb in the Stolby.
Sultan Suleyman (Map; 270 070; ul Perensona 20; meals R150-350; noon-midnight) Behind the lovely 1913 Dom Ofitserov building, midpriced Turko-Russian food is served in a semioriental basement. In front is a handy fast-food joint.
Terrasa Kafe (Map; top fl, ul Karla Marksa 149; meals R150-350, coffee R50-100; noon-6am) The Luch entertainment complex (right) contains several eateries, including fast food, fine Russian cuisine and notably the airy glassed-in Tererasa. Enjoy fine views across pl Lenina. Menus range from Japanese to Uzbek and there’s a remarkably filling R150 lunch deal, available daily.
Mama Roma (Map; 661 072; www.mamaroma.ru; pr Mira 50a; pizzas R200-390, pasta R220-380; 11am-1am ) Herb-filled air wafts temptingly from the best Italian eatery in town. Freshly baked pizzas are half price until 6pm. English menu.
Retro (Map; 277 203; pr Mira 29; meals R300; noon-midnight). Confused decor combining Marilyn Monroe, the Eiffel Tower and cobbled Central Europe, but tasty, if pricey, meat, seafood and salads. For dessert try ‘gifts of the taiga’ – ice cream with forest berries, honey and cedar nuts. English menu.
QUICK EATS
Stolovaya OK (Map; ul Uritskogo 33; meals R20-60; 11am-6pm Mon-Sat) Well signposted from ul Parizhskoy Komunity, this supercheap and ultrabasic student canteen keeps both stomachs and wallets happy. Handwrittenmenu.
Miks Patio (Map; ul Perensona 20; meals R30-65; 10am-10pm) With budget airline decor, a menu heavy with Slavic comfort food and prompt service, this is the stolovaya dragged into the 21st century.
Drinking
Krem (Map; 581 538; pr Mira 10; ice creams R100, coffee R60-100; 24hr) Krasnoyarsk’s top coffee house has black-and-white photography and dark, modern wooden furniture, spotlit by metallic pod-lamps.
Kinopark Pikra (Map; ul Perensona 29a; beer R35-50) An atmospheric, great-value basement pub within a cinema-bar complex. The bar is easy to miss: follow signs to the toilets.
Bar Chemodan (Map; 230 259; ul Lenina 116; biznes lunch R350, beer R280; noon-midnight) A wonderfully atmospheric, if fiercely expensive, 1920s-themed pub-restaurant stocking dozens of whiskies. The stair lift outside is for both the disabled and the inebriated.
Kofemolka (Map; 221 308; pr Mira 114; coffee R100-200; 10am-midnight) Sip roasts from every corner of the bean-growing world amid retro coffee sacks, twirling art nouveau–style wrought iron and sham mahogany at Krasnoyarsk’s newest caffeine stop. Long dessert menu.
Traveller’s Coffee (Map; pr Mira 54; coffee R55-100; 8am-midnight) The tempting aroma of newly milled beans lures you into this Starbucks-style coffeehouse, which blends empire-style sofas with exposed heating pipes. Smiley service and sensibly priced milkshakes, muffins and pancakes.
Entertainment
Krasnoyarsk has a variety of concert halls and theatres.
Opera-Ballet Theatre (Map; 278 697; ul Perensona 2; tickets from R120) This architecturally nondescript theatre has up to five early-evening shows per week from October to June.
Philharmonia (Map; 274 930; pl Mira 2b) Has three concert halls showcasing folk, pop and classical music.
Luch (669 966; www.kinoluch.ru; ul Karla Marksa 149) A futuristically angular entertainment complex with cinemas, video games, pool tables and a moai-guarded nightclub. Plenty of fun for children.
Che Guevara (Map; 595 857; ul Bograda; admission after 7pm R300-500; noon-1am Sun-Wed, to 5am Thu-Sat) Has dancing or live music in a fun saloon-club with 1950s pin-ups and a commie-Cuba theme.
Rock-Jazz Kafe (Map; 523 305; ul Surikova 12; 4pm-6am Tue-Sun) Entered through a small bar beside the Dublin Irish Pub, this dark venue showcases live bands around an upturned motorcycle from 6pm most days.
Havana Club (Map; 216 416; ul Bograda; admission R250-300; Mon-Thu 8pm-1am, Fri & Sat to 3am) A big nightclub with three dance floors and Moscow DJs. Seems to have gone more hardcore in recent years with regular nonstop striptease nights. Wednesday is still student night and Monday’s Russian nostalgia discos are fun.
Shopping
Source all the equipment you need for a trek into the Siberian wilderness or replace lost or broken camping gear at Ekspeditsiya (Map; 523 362; ul Uritskogo; 10am-7pm), a small outdoor shop next to the Sayan Ring office.
Getting There & Away
AIR
From Krasnoyarsk’s Yemelyanovo Airport, you can fly to almost anywhere in Russia. Handy but expensive KrasAir (www.krasair.ru, in Russian) connections include Moscow (from R12,000, up to four daily), Barnaul (from R4000, four per week) and Novosibirsk (from R1600, daily). Katekavia operate flights to Kyzyl (R3300, daily), and SIAT (SibAviaTrans; www.siat.ru, in Russian) flies to Igarka and Turukhansk. Just a handful of flights use Cheremshanka Airport, 3km south of Yemelyanovo: double-check that yours isn’t one of them. Bilet Market (Map; 661 432; www.b-m.su; ul Lenina 115; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, until 7pm Sat & Sun) is a centrally located one-stop shop for all bus, train and air tickets.
BOAT
Every few days in summer, passenger boats from Krasnoyarsk’s spired river station (Map; 274 446; 8am-7pm) ply the Yenisey to Dudinka (1989km, 4½ to five days) but foreigners may not proceed beyond Igarka (Click here).
Summer hydrofoils to Divnogorsk depart at 1pm, 3pm and 5pm daily plus 11am and 7pm at weekends, returning an hour later. Buy tickets (R150) on board.
BUS
The main bus station (Map; 520 975; ul Aerovokzalnaya 22) is reached by bus 1 from the train station or bus 53 from ul Karla Marksa. Destinations include Yeniseysk (R433, seven hours, hourly), Abakan (R495, 8¾ hours, nine daily), Shushenskoe (R582,10½ hours, four daily) and Sayanogorsk (R586, 10¼ hours, six daily).
Marshrutka 106 to Divnogorsk (R43, one hour) leaves very regularly from a small bus station on the opposite side of the roundabout to the Hotel Turist. Buy tickets from the driver.
TRAIN
Useful overnight hops include Tomsk (platskart R565, 14 hours) and Lesosibirsk (platskart R525, 9½ hours) for Yeniseysk. Six or more trains daily take around 19 hours to Irkutsk (R2040). Train 055 is the best sleeper choice for Novosibirsk (R2560, 11½ hours), Yekaterinburg (32 hours) and Moscow (59 hours). Train 092 along the BAM takes 30 hours to Severobaikalsk (R2660). Three overnight trains run to Abakan; train 124 (R1400, 10½ hours) is much the fastest, while train 658 is better for Kuragino. All services use the main Krasnoyarsk station.
There are railway booking offices in the river and bus stations, but Bilet Market (left) is the most central option.
Getting Around
Bus 135 (R48, 1¼ hours) runs 16 times daily from the bus station to Yemelyanovo Airport, 46km northwest of the city. It passes Cheremshanka Airport en route.
Within the city centre, almost all public transport runs eastbound along ul Karla Marksa or pr Mira, returning westbound on ul Lenina. Frequent, if slow, trolleybus 7 trundles from the train station via ul Karla Marksa, up ul Surikova and passes Hotel Yakhont after more than half an hour. Bus 21 from ul Karla Marksa is faster. Useful bus 50 starts beyond the zoo, passes the Turbaza Yenisey and comes through the centre of town, winding on to the bus station. Bus 50A repeats the first half of the route then turns left along ul Lenina and passes the train station.
AROUND KRASNOYARSK
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Divnogorsk Дивногорск
39144 / pop 30,000 / Moscow +4hr
From Krasnoyarsk a popular day trip by bus and/or summer hydrofoil follows the Yenisey River 27km to Divnogorsk town through a wide, wooded canyon. Some 5km beyond Divnogorsk’s jetty is a vast 90m-high dam. Turbine-room visits are not permitted but if you’re lucky you might see ships being lifted by a technologically impressive inclined plane to the huge Krasnoyarsk Sea reservoir behind. A few kilometres beyond you can observe ice fishing from December to March or, in the summer, hire boats and yachts from Aly Parus (3912-403 187).
The Krasnoyarsk–Divnogorsk road has a panoramic overlook point at km23 and passes quaint Ovsyanka village. From the main road walk 100m (crossing the train tracks) to Ovsyanka’s cute, though new, wooden St Inokent Chapel (ul Shchetinkina) then 50m right to find the house-museum (ul Shchetinkina 26; admission R30; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) of famous local writer Victor Astafiev, who died in 2001. Directly opposite in Astafiev’s grandma’s cottage-compound is the more interesting Last Bow Museum (ul Shchetinkina 35; admission R30; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun), giving a taste of rural Siberian life.
The riverside Hotel Biryuza (ul Lenina 55), under five minutes’ walk south of Divnogorsk’s jetty (bus 1 from Divnogorsk bus stand), was undergoing a total refit at the time of research but should be up and running again in mid-2009.
Hydrofoils (R150, 45 minutes, up to five daily) depart from Krasnoyarsk’s river station and regular marshrutky (R43) leave from a small bus station south of the river. Taxis meet boats on arrival in Divnogorsk and want at least R500 return to shuttle you to a dam-overlook point. However, it’s potentially cheaper, safer and more fun to hire a mountain bike (R100) from a stand 200m downstream from the quay. SibTourGuide (Click here) offers various tailored excursions in English or will include the Divnogorsk loop as part of its ‘10-Rouble Tour’.
Buses going from Krasnoyarsk to Abakan (R500, five hours) pick up in Divnogorsk and drive right in front of the dam.
NORTH ALONG THE YENISEY
From early June to early October, elegant Yenisey passenger ships with wood panelling and shiny brass fittings depart Krasnoyarsk for Dudinka in the Arctic Circle (4½ days) via Yeniseysk (17 hours) and Igarka (R4700 to R8850, 74 to 79 hours). There are three to four sailings per week, most departing at 7am. Returning upstream, journeys take 50% longer so most independent travellers choose to fly back to Krasnoyarsk. Trips are more meditative than scenic, days merging as the northern sun barely sinks below the Arctic horizon. However, foreigners may not go beyond Igarka as Dudinka and nearby Norilsk are ‘closed’ towns. It might be possible to get Dudinka permits by joining a luxury 12-day return cruise with Acris (www.acris.ru; cruises US$655-1252) but triple-check well in advance. Visiting Yeniseysk is vastly easier.
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Yeniseysk Енисейск
39115 / pop 20,000 / Moscow +4hr
Using Lesosibirsk overnight trains, historic Yeniseysk makes an engaging two-night, one-day excursion from Krasnoyarsk, 340km away by train. Founded in 1619, this was once Russia’s great fur-trading capital, with world-famous 18th-century August trade fairs, and 10 grand churches gracing its skyline. Eclipsed by Krasnoyarsk despite a burst of gold-rush prosperity in the 1860s, the town is now a delightfully peaceful backwater with an unexpectedly good Regional Museum (ul Lenina 106; admission R20; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat), the faded commercial grandeur of ul Lenina and many old houses; over 70 are considered architectural monuments. Most appealing of the surviving churches are the walled 1731 Spaso-Pereobrazhensky Monastery (ul Raboche-Krestyanskaya 105) and the Assumption Church (Uspenskaya tserkov; ul Raboche-Krestyanskaya 116) with its unusual metal floor and splendid antique icons.
SLEEPING & EATING
Should you wish to linger, tolerable Hotel Yenisey (23 149; ul Khuzinskogo 2; s/tw R460/850), near the quay, has burping old toilets and washbasins in the best rooms. If it’s not packed with pilgrims, the ultrasimple Assumption Church guesthouse (ul Raboche-Krestyanskaya 116; dm R40) has what must be Eastern Siberia’s cheapest beds.
The only place to eat is the timber Skazka Kafe (riverbank; noon-3pm & 5pm-1am) serving Siberian staples and beers on a terrace with superb Yenisey views. Otherwise head for the one-table buffet (9am-9pm)at the bus station or the Edelvejs 24-hour shop (ul Babkina) on the other side of the crossroads.
GETTING THERE AND AWAY
Between Yeniseysk and Krasnoyarsk there are buses (R433, seven hours, hourly), hydrofoils (R800, 10 hours, weekly) and Yenisey River passenger ships (R1400 to R3022, 17 hours downstream, several per month).
Lesosibirsk Лесосибирск
39145 / pop 77,000 / Moscow +4hr
This uninteresting timber town is only really useful as the railhead for Yeniseysk, 36km further north. But do stop to admire its breathtaking new Krestovozdvizhensky Church, south of ul Gorkogo 81, with gleaming clusters of golden domes. A bus meets the overnight train from Krasnoyarsk (platskart R525, 9½ hours) and takes passengers to Lesosibirsk bus station where they must alight, queue up to buy a ticket and reboard. After that there are at least hourly departures to Yeniseysk throughout the day (R60, 45 minutes). Bus 13 links the bus and train stations very infrequently.
Igarka Игарка
39112 / pop 8000 / Moscow +4hr
The depressing ex-Gulag town of Igarka is the end of the line for foreign cruise passengers unless they have hard-to-obtain permits to continue to Dudinka. That said, Igarka is above the Arctic Circle and far enough for most people. The town’s semiderelict state is somewhat redeemed by its award-winning permafrost museum (Muzey Vechnoy Merzloty; 22 744; www.museum.ru/M1405; ul Bolshoy Teatr 15a; admission R127; 9am-12.45pm & 2-5pm Sun-Fri). SibTourGuide (Click here) in Krasnoyarsk can help arrange a boat-plane round trip to Igarka including cruise-ship bookings, hotel accommodation, local guide and flights back to Krasnoyarsk.
WESTERN BAM ЗАПАДНЫЙ БАМ
The 3100km-long Baikal-Amur Mainline (Baikalo-Amurskaya Magistral, BAM) is an astonishing victory of belief over adversity. This ‘other’ trans-Siberian line runs from Tayshet (417km east of Krasnoyarsk) around the top of Lake Baikal to Sovetskaya Gavan on the Pacific coast. Begun in the 1930s to access the timber and minerals of the Lena Basin, work stopped during WWII. Indeed, the tracks were stripped altogether and reused to lay a relief line to the besieged city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd). Work effectively started all over again in 1974 when the existing Trans-Siberian Railway was felt to be vulnerable to attack by potentially hostile China. Much of the route was cut through virgin taiga and pesky mountain ranges. To encourage patriotic volunteer labourers the BAM was labelled ‘Hero Project of the Century’. Even so, building on permafrost pushed the cost of the project to US$25 billion, some 50 times more than the original Trans-Siberian Railway.
New ‘BAM towns’ grew with the railway, often populated by builders who decided to stay on. However, the line’s opening (1991) coincided with the collapse of the centrally planned USSR and the region’s bright Soviet future has not really materialised. While Bratsk and Severobaikalsk have survived, many other smaller, lonely settlements have become ghost towns.
The BAM route crosses virtually virgin territory that is more impressively mountainous than anything along the trans-Siberian main line. For most travellers the most popular BAM stop is Severobaikalsk, as a hub for visiting north Baikal. For details on eastern BAM towns Tynda, Komsomolsk-na-Amure, Vanino and Sovetskaya Gavan, see the Russian Far East chapter, Click here.
The official start of the BAM is Tayshet, but through services from Krasnoyarsk and Moscow and elsewhere mean there’s little reason to stop there. Bratsk is famous for its giant dam. There are irregular hydrofoil services from Ust-Kut (Lena) along the Lena River to Lensk for Yakutsk.
There are particularly fine mountain views between Kunerma and mini-spa Goudzhekit, with the line performing a full 180-degree switchback before tunnelling through to Daban. The line between Severobaikalsk and Nizhneangarsk offers flashes of dazzling Lake Baikal views. It then continues to Tynda via Dzelinda, another tiny spa, and the 15km-long Severomuysk Tunnel.
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BRATSK БРАТСК
3953 / pop 258,000 / Moscow +5hr
A stop in Bratsk neatly breaks a Krasnoyarsk to Severobaikalsk trip into two overnight rides, but a day here is plenty. Its raison d’être is a gigantic 1955 dam (GES), which caused the drowning of the original historic town. New Bratsk is a confusing necklace of disconnected concrete ‘subcities’ with a high-rise Tsentralny area that is spirit-crushingly dull. It does, however, have two English-speaking tour agencies: Taiga Tours (416 513; www.taiga-tours.ru; 2nd fl, Hotel Taiga) and Lovely Tour (Lavli Tur; 439 909; [email protected]; ul Sovetskaya 3, Tsentralny; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, to 4pm Sat). Given two days’ notice, either agency can organise permits and guides to visit the dam’s turbine rooms.
The dam itself is 30km further north in Energetik and the BAM trains go right across it.
Between the two, the impressive Angara Village (412 834; admission R100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun, to 8pm summer) is an open-air ethnographic museum featuring a rare wooden watchtower and buildings rescued from drowned old Bratsk. A series of shaman sites and Evenk chum (tepee-shaped conical dwellings) lie in the woods behind. The attractive lakeside site is a lonely 3km walk from Sibirsky Traktir, an isolated highway café off the main marshrutka routes 10 or 50. Taking a taxi makes more sense.
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Sleeping
PANDUN/ENERGETIC
Hotel Turist (378 743; ul Naymushina 28, Energetik; s/tw from R1400/R1500) Good-value cheaper twins (half-price for single occupancy) are clean, if typically Soviet, with just-functional bathrooms. ‘First-class’ rooms look better but new wallpaper and carpet don’t justify paying almost tripled prices. You can walk to the dam in 15 minutes.
TSENTRALNY
Hotel Taiga (414 710; ul Mira 35; s/d R1900/2400) Behind a smart new facade, wobbly Soviet-era corridors host very green bedrooms – good singles but cramped, overly intimate doubles. Some staff speak English, guest visas are registered and there’s a decent hotel restaurant.
Hotel Bratsk (438 436; ul Deputatskaya 32; s/tw from R500/700; ) Upstairs a wide variety of clean but essentially Soviet rooms all have private bathrooms and peeling paint so, unless you want a malfunctioning old TV, take the cheapest available.
Eating
Kalipso (376 781; ul Naymushina 54; meals R160-350; noon-7pm & 8pm-3am) The nicest pub-café in Energetik is at bus stop GES. It has a nautical interior, porthole windows and a beer-garden terrace that almost overlooks the lake. There are two more branches at ul Sosnova 2 and ul Kirova 27.
Getting There & Away
The three main train stations are an hour’s ride apart. Padunskie Porogie is closest to Energetik and Padun. Gidrostroitel is several kilometres east of the dam. For Tsentralny, get off at Anzyobi and transfer by bus or elektrichka.
Eastbound there are afternoon and night trains to Severobaikalsk (R170, 14 to 17 hours) via Lena (R1150, eight hours) near Ust-Kut. Afternoon trains from Severobaikalsk run overnight to Krasnoyarsk (R1700, 13 hours) and for Irkutsk there’s daily train 87 (R2050, 17 hours). Irkutsk can also be reached by comfortable coach (R700, 11 hours) from the Tsentralny bus station (ul Yuzhnaya) and in summer by hydrofoil (13 hours, three per week) from a river station in southeast Tsentralny.
Getting Around
Marshrutky 10 and 50 shuttle regularly between Hotel Turist in Energetik and Tsentralny bus station (45 minutes).
Bus 8 starts at the GES stop beside the Kalipso café and wiggles around Energetik’s Mikro-Rayon 7 estate to a no-man’s-land bus stop nearly opposite Padunskie Porogie train station.
UST-KUT & LENA УСТЬ-КУТ И ЛЕНА
39565 / pop 70,000 / Moscow +5hr
Quietly attractive old Ust-Kut, centred 8km west of Lena station, is worth a stroll if you’re stuck here a while, but the only real reason to stop is for the patchy hydrofoil service on the Lena River towards Yakutsk, 2000km downstream. This requires changing boats in Lensk, for which there are departures several times per week in summer. The Osetrovo river station is handily located across the central square from Lena train station past the Lena Hotel (51 507; ul Kirova 88; d R1700), which has neat rooms with shower and toilet.
Lena station (not to be confused with the tiny Ust-Kut halt) is a major stop on the BAM railway, with trains running to Severobaikalsk (R980, 7½ hours) via Goudzhekit (seven hours) leaving on odd-numbered days at 6am and even-numbered days at 2am. Three westbound trains a day stop here, including one bound for Moscow (R8500, three days and 14 hours).
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LAKE BAIKAL озеро Байкал
Crystal-clear Lake Baikal is a vast body of the bluest water, surrounded by rocky or tree-covered foreshores behind which mountains float like phantoms at indeterminable distances. Baikal’s meteorological mood swings are transfixing spectacles, whole weather systems dancing for your delectation over Siberia’s ‘climatic kitchen’.
Shaped like a banana, Baikal is 636km from north to south and up to 1637m deep, making it the world’s deepest lake. Incredibly, it contains nearly one-fifth of the planet’s unfrozen fresh water, more than North America’s five Great Lakes combined and, despite some environmental worries (see boxed text, Click here) it’s pure enough to drink.
In the past, foreign tourists have typically visited Baikal from Listvyanka via Irkutsk, but options are rapidly expanding and it’s now equally feasible to approach via Ulan-Ude (for eastern Baikal) or Severobaikalsk (on the BAM railway). Choosing well is important as there’s no round-lake road and the northern reaches are in effect cut off by land from the southern shores. Not even the Great Baikal Trail (see boxed text, Click here) will create a complete loop as some stretches of shoreline are just too remote. Hydrofoil-ferry connections are limited to summer services in the south plus the Irkutsk–Olkhon–Nizhneangarsk run. Inexplicably there are no scheduled boat services linking the east and west shores.
March is arguably one of the best times to visit the region: the scenery is pristine white and there’s no need to charter expensive excursion boats as (in places) you can hop in a taxi and drive across the world’s deepest lake – a thrilling proposition. Other adventurous, if potentially foolhardy, crossing methods include kayaking (www.chargelife.com), motor biking (www.iceride.com), mountain biking and ice trekking – which usually involves overnighting on the ice.
Note that this section also includes the beautiful inland Tunka and Barguzin Valleys as they’re accessed via Baikal towns.
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IRKUTSK ИРКУТСК
3952 / pop 591,000 / Moscow+5hr
Historic, if vaguely seedy, Irkutsk, 1090km southeast of Krasnoyarsk, is the nearest big city to glorious Lake Baikal, though it’s still 70km away. With some fancifully rebuilt churches, grand 19th-century architecture, plenty of Anglophone agencies, numerous imaginative eateries and some real (if small) hostels, it’s no wonder Irkutsk has become the most popular stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway between Moscow and all points east.
Founded in 1651 as a Cossack garrison to control the indigenous Buryats, Irkutsk was the springboard for 18th-century expeditions to the far north and east including Alaska, then known as ‘Irkutsk’s American district’.
As eastern Siberia’s trading and administrative centre, Irkutsk dispatched Siberian furs and ivory to Mongolia, Tibet and China in exchange for silk and tea. Three-quarters of the city burnt down in the disastrous fire of 1879. However, the 1880s Lena Basin gold rush quickly saw its grand brick mansions and public buildings restored. Known as the ‘Paris of Siberia’, Irkutsk did not welcome news of the October Revolution. The city’s well-to-do merchants only succumbed to the Red tide in 1920, with the capture and execution of White army commander Admiral Kolchak, whose controversial statue was re-erected in 2004. Soviet-era planning saw Irkutsk develop as the sprawling industrial and scientific centre that it remains today.
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Orientation
Grand ul Karla Marksa is the historic commercial centre. Paralleling the Angara River, main axis ul Lenina runs from the administrative centre (pl Kirova) to the Raising of the Cross Church, where it becomes ul Sedova. Nearly 6km further south this road’s continuation reaches the Angara Dam (GES). Beyond are the SibExpo area, several hotels and the ‘Raketa’ hydrofoil station.
The attractive train station is across the Angara River, and is bypassed by ul 2-Zheleznodorozhnaya. This becomes ul Lermontova, the main west-bank axis, leading to the Angara Dam (9km).
Many souvenir stalls, news kiosks and bookshops sell various city maps.
Information
BOOKSHOP
Knigomir (ul Karla Marksa 28; 9am-7pm Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm Sun) Sells maps of Irkutsk (R80) and many other Baikal towns as well as Russian guides, atlases and large wall maps of Lake Baikal (R250).
INTERNET ACCESS
Epitsentr (ul Bogdana Khmelnitskogo 1; per MB R3, per hr R60; 9am-10pm Mon-Fri, 11am-9pm Sat & Sun) Irkutsk’s only surviving internet café located in a cellar behind a computer shop.
INTERNET RESOURCES
Baikal.ru (www.baikal.ru) Partly translated with old-postcard portraits of various Irkutsk streets.
IrkutskOut (www.irkutskout.ru, in Russian) A wealth of practical details including café and restaurant listings, but often goes offline.
WWW Irkutsk (www.irkutsk.org) Bags of information on every aspect of the city.
MONEY
ATMs abound.
Moy Bank (ul Gryaznova 1; 11am-3pm & 4-6.45pm Mon-Fri) Counter No 1. Good euro rates.
Sberbank (2nd fl, ul Uritskogo 19; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, until 5pm Sat, 10am-4pm Sun) Change, even the shoddiest dollar notes at counter 8.
VTB Bank (ul Sverdlova; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri) Only bank in town willing to change British pounds and Chinese yuan.
POST
Post office (ul Stepana Razina 23; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, 9am-8pm Sat, 9am-6pm Sun) Other branches at per Bogdanov 8 and ul Karla Marksa 28.
TRAVEL AGENCIES
Local tour operators are useful not only for organising excursions but also for booking hotels and train tickets. Note that most have only one or two overstretched English speakers, so you may need some patience.
BaikalComplex (461 557; www.baikalcomplex.com) Busy, well-organised operation offering homestays and trips tailored for international travellers. Call to arrange a meeting.
Baikal Discovery (207 931; www.baikal-discovery.com/en) Adventure tours in the Baikal region and beyond.
Baikal Safari (483 310; www.baikal-safari.ru; ul Polenova 33) Offers homestays in Bolshoe Goloustnoe and trips Maloe More; competitive but mostly for local tourists. Minimal English is spoken.
Baikaler (336 240; www.baikaler.com) Imaginative Jack Sheremetoff speaks very good English and is well tuned to budget-traveller needs. Original, personalised tours and a great central hostel.
BaikalExplorer (357 199; www.baikalex.com) Baikal cruises, fishing and diving trips.
Baikalhostel (525 742; www.baikalhostels.com; ul Lermontova 136-1) Tours, a hostel and lots of useful information. It’s several kilometres south of the train station; take marshrutka 12 to stop Mikrochirurgia Glaza.
Baikalinfo (707 012; www.baikalinfo.ru; ul Krasnykh Madiyar 50; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri) Commercial tour company that touts itself as a tourist information centre. Lost a lot of foot traffic since it moved from the city centre.
Green Express (734 400; www.greenexpress.ru; ul Dekabrskikh Sobyty 24) Big, professional outfit with a hotel in Listvyanka, yurts on Olkhon Island and many mountain-biking, horse-riding and other tour options.
Sights
Irkutsk’s sights are spread around the city centre and you will need to use public transport to reach some of them. If you’ve only got a few hours between trains, the Volkonsky House Museum, the Art Gallery and the Znamensky Monastery are the city’s must-sees.
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MUSEUMS
Irkutsk’s pleasant, if fairly standard, Regional Museum (Kraevedchesky muzey; 333 449; ul Karla Marksa 2; admission R100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) is within a fancy 1870s brick building that formerly housed the Siberian Geographical Society, a club of Victorian-style gentlemen-explorers. The small gift shop is good for birch-bark boxes and jewellery made from purple chaorite, a unique Siberian mineral. Across the road, a newly recast statue of Tsar Alexander III stands bushy-bearded on the riverfront promenade, copying a 1904 original.
A short walk behind the pretty pink Preobrazheniya Gospodnya Church (ul Timiryazeva) then through big heavy gates is the Volkonsky House-Museum (207 532; per Volkonskogo 10; admission R90; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun). It’s the preserved home of Decembrist Count Sergei Volkonsky, whose wife Maria Volkonskaya cuts the main figure in Christine Sutherland’s book The Princess of Siberia. The mansion is set in a courtyard with stables, barn and servant quarters (beware of the dog). Downstairs is an (over-) renovated piano room; upstairs is a photo exhibition including portraits of Maria and other 1820s women who romantically followed their husbands and lovers into exile (see the boxed text, Click here). Labels are only in Russian but a R70 English-language pamphlet tells the stories. The smaller Trubetskoy House-Museum (ul Dzerzhinskogo) was dismantled and carted off for renovation in late 2007 but its return is imminent so it’s worth checking.
BAIKAL’S ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Home to an estimated 60,000 nerpa seals, Lake Baikal is beautiful, pristine and drinkably pure in most areas. As it holds an astonishing 80% of Russia’s freshwater, environmentalists are keen to keep things that way. In the 1960s, despite the pressures of the Soviet system, it was the building of Baikal’s first (and only) lakeside industrial plant that galvanised Russia’s first major green movement. That plant, the Baikalsk paper-pulp factory, is still monitored today while the owners argue over a costly, World Bank–assisted clean-up plan. These days some two-thirds of Baikal’s shoreline falls within parks or reserves, so similar factories would not be allowed.
But the ecosystem extends beyond the lake itself. Another challenge includes polluted inflows from the Selenga River, which carries much of Mongolia’s untreated waste into the lake. The most contentious of recent worries is the US$16-billion Eastern Siberia oil pipeline from Tayshet to the Pacific coast. The route deliberately loops north, avoiding the lakeshore itself. Nonetheless, when finished more than 70 million tonnes of oil a year will flow across the lake’s northern water catchment area, an area highly prone to seismic activity. Environmentalists fear that a quake-cracked pipeline could spill vast amounts of oil into the Baikal feedwaters. Ironically, the government decree allowing the project to proceed was signed in December 2004, just days after a huge earthquake caused the disastrous Southeast Asian tsunami.
A more recent and rather ominous development was the July 2008 exploration of the bottom of Lake Baikal by a Russian submarine team (the same group that rather comically planted a Russian flag on the bottom of the Arctic Ocean in 2007). Some claim the team was secretly looking for oil reserves, prompting local environmentalists to fear the worst.
For more information see the websites of regional ecogroups Baikal Wave (www.baikalwave.eu.org/eng.html) and Baikal Watch (www.earthisland.org/baikal/) and the wonderful Baikal Web World (www.bww.irk.ru), which has lots about the wildlife, history and legends of the lake.
The grand old Art Gallery (ul Lenina 5; admission R100; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun) has a valuable though poorly lit collection ranging from Mongolian thangkas (Buddhist religious paintings) to Russian Impressionist canvases. Behind a photogenic 1909 facade its sub-gallery (ul Karla Marksa 23; admission R100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) is strong on Siberian landscapes and petroglyph rubbings and has some superb 17th-century icons.
A collection of Soviet tanks and missile launchers guard the Dom Ofitserov (Officers Club; ul Karla Marksa 47), which has a sporadically open museum and occasional concerts of patriotic songs.
Small, far from central, but well presented, the City History Museum (381 020; ul Chaikovskogo 5; admission R50; 10am-6pm Thu-Tue) shows various eras through shop-window–style displays. Take bus 8, 11, 23 or 25, or trolleybus 8 or 10K to the ‘Muzey’ stop.
ARCHITECTURE & CHURCHES
Don’t miss strolling along ul Karla Marksa, whose grand brick facades exude 19th-century architectural charm. Some fine wooden houses are sparsely dotted around town, notably on ul Dekabrskikh Sobyty, east of ul Timiryazeva.
The magnificent Annunciation Cathedral that once dominated pl Kirova was demolished during one of Stalin’s bad moods. It was replaced by a hulking concrete regional administrative building, the ex-Communist Party headquarters. Tragic. Behind this ugly centrepiece, however, two notable churches survive. The whitewashed 1706 Saviour’s Church (Spasskaya tserkov; 8am-8pm) has remnants of murals on its facade and until a few years ago housed a museum, hence the rather colourless interior. Much more eye-catching is the fairy-tale ensemble of the Bogoyavlensky Cathedral (ul Nizhnaya Naberezhnaya), whose restored salmon, white and green towers add a colourful dazzle to the otherwise rather grimy riverfront.
Set in a leafy garden behind a noisy roundabout, the 1762 Znamensky Monastery is 1.5km northeast of the Bogoyavlensky Cathedral. Echoing with mellifluous plainsong, the interior has splendidly muralled vaulting, a towering iconostasis and a gold sarcophagus holding the miraculous relics of Siberian missionary St Inokent. Celebrity graves outside include the nautically themed tomb of Grigory Shelekhov, the man who claimed Alaska for Russia, and a much humbler headstone belonging to Decembrist wife Ekaterina Trubetskaya. White-Russian commander Admiral Kolchak was executed by Bolsheviks near the spot where his statue was controversially erected in November 2004 at the entrance to the monastery grounds; the plinth is exaggeratedly high enough to reduce vandalism.
The 1758 baroque Raising of the Cross Church (Krestovozdvizhenskaya tserkov; ul Sedova 1; admission by donation) has a fine interior of gilt-edged icons and examples of intricate brickwork in a rounded style that’s unique to Irkutsk and the Selenga Delta village of Posolskoe. The newest gilt spires to puncture Irkutsk’s boxy skyline belong to the 18th-century Trinity Church (Troitsky khram; ul 5 Armii 8) where restoration work continues apace. The gigantic Kazansky Church is a theme park–esque confection of salmon-pink walls and fluoro turquoise domes topped with gold baubled crosses. Get off tram 4 two stops northeast of the bus station.
DAM & SIBEXPO AREA
Some 6km southeast of the centre, the 1956 Angara Dam is 2km long. Its construction raised Lake Baikal by up to 1m, causing various human and environmental problems, but the dam itself is hardly an attraction. Moored nearby, the Angara ice-breaker (10am-6pm Tue-Sun; admission R40) was originally imported in kit form from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to carry Trans-Siberian Railway passengers across Lake Baikal (the trains went on her bigger sister ship Baikal, which sank years ago). The steamer is now a less-than-inspiring museum reached by a permanent gangway.
Sleeping
Although options are expanding, Irkutsk accommodation still gets very full in summer. Bookings are generally a very good idea.
Travel agencies arrange homestays in Irkutsk and villages around Lake Baikal. Prices typically start at R500 per bed, though R800 (sometimes with full board) is more common. Check the location: the cheapest places can be 10km or more from the city centre.
There are also resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; per hr R45, sheets R57) at the train station.
BUDGET
Hostels
Irkutsk has four tiny private hostels. All have good, shared toilets, shower and kitchen. They are ideal for finding English-speaking assistance, arranging tours or meeting fellow travellers and, unlike hotels, they don’t charge booking fees.
Baikalhostel (525 742; www.baikalhostels.com; apt 1, ul Lermontova 136; dm R400-500) This German-owned hostel receives rave reviews from several travellers, despite the very inconvenient and insalubrious location, several kilometres south of the train station; take marshrutka 12 to stop Mikrochirurgia Glaza. Excellent website.
Irkutsk Downtown Hostel (334 597; www.hostel.irkutsk.ru; apt 12, ul Stepana Razina 12; dm R500) A snug and welcoming 11-bed apartment-hostel above the Vostochny Ekspress Bank. Breakfast is included and there’s internet access for R1 per minute. May be moving to larger, more central premises, so check the website. Take tram 1 from the train station.
Admiral Hostel (742 440; apt 1, ul Cheremkhovsky 6; dm R500) The name may have been inspired by Admiral Kolchak but things are less than ship-shape here, as this newcomer was being left unstaffed for long periods when we visited and lacked the busy backpacker vibe of the others. These may be teething problems as otherwise the spacious dorm, large kitchen and city-centre location make these decent digs.
Baikaler Hostel (336 240; apt 11, ul Lenina 9; www.baikaler.com; dm R600;
) Beds are limited at this fantastic, super-central apartment hostel. Spacious dorms are cleaned every day and friendly staff will bend over backwards to help. Entrance is from the rear of the building. Free internet and wi-fi.
Hotels
Uzory (209 239; ul Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsi 17; s/tw/tr R600/900/1350) Clean, unpretentious rooms with leopard-skin-patterned blankets but communal bathrooms and toilets. Popular with independent travellers and the best budget option when the city’s hostels are all fully booked.
Hotel Profsoyuznaya (357 963; ul Baikalskaya 263; dm R649, tw R1130) Simple but well-kept Soviet-era rooms, albeit far from the centre in the distant SibExpo area. Tram 5 stops outside.
Hotel Gornyak (243 754; ul Lenina 24; s R1300-1800, tw R3000) Friendly, central and small, this hotel has reasonably presentable rooms with private shower and toilet. However, with no breakfast or visa registration this cuts a poor deal. Enter from ul Dzerzhinskogo.
MIDRANGE & TOP END
Central
Hotel Angara (255 105; www.angarahotel.ru; ul Sukhe-Batora 7; s/d from R1710/2620; ) The higher the floor number, the higher the standard of room and the bigger the price tag at this much upgraded Soviet-era slab-hotel. The 4th- and 5th-floor rooms have been brought up to 21st-century standards; staff remain stubbornly pre-perestroika. The pricey 1st-floor London Pub attracts expat drinkers.
Hotel Yevropa (291 515; www.europehotel.ru; ul Baikalskaya 69; s/d from R2500/3500;
) Behind nine Doric columns immaculate rooms are realistically priced at this four-star newcomer. Reception staff speak English and the Western-style breakfast is reportedly the best town.
Hotel Delta (794 090; www.grandbaikal.ru; ul Karla Libknekhta 58; s/d R3000/4400;
) The functional new motel-standard rooms here have little panache, but are good value for their relatively central position; vastly preferable to the old Soviet hotels but aimed primarily at business travellers.
Hotel Zvezda (540 000; www.zvezdahotel.ru; ul Yadrintseva 1ж; s/d 3500/3800, ste R5700-12000;
) Within a new, Swiss chalet–style building, rooms here are modern and comfortable, service is pleasant and English is spoken. The peaceful location is 300m south of Retro 2. Its atmospheric restaurant specialises in game and exotic meats.
Hotel Gloria (540 326; Sovetskaya ul 58; s R3800, tw & d R4300, ste R9500; ) This pastel-beige tower has nine international-class rooms and two bigger suites which have bath as well as shower. English is spoken and the minibars overflow with alcoholic choices.
SibExpo Area
The SibExpo-Solnichny area is some 6km south of the centre by tram 5. Rates include breakfast.
Baikal Business Centre (259 120; www.bbc.ru; ul Baikalskaya 279; tw R3800-5300;
) This functional business hotel is a white and blue-glass tower approximating international standards. Bathrooms have showers but no bath-tub, and there’s BBC World TV.
Sun Hotel (255 910; www.eastland.ru; ul Baikal-skaya 295b; s R4000-5000, d R5000-6000;
) Impressive bathrooms and minibar complement stylish dark-wood furnishings in the Sun’s modern rooms. Reception staff speak English but the lobby lacks facilities.
Eating
RESTAURANTS
Krendel (706 156; ul Gryaznova 1; mains R80-180, bliny R45, coffee R30-70; 10am-2am Mon-Fri, 11am-2am Sat & Sun) The half-baked rustic theme detracts from tasty and sensibly priced grub at this new self-service open-all-hours café. The hot soups do the trick when the mercury goes south.
Snezhinka (344 862; opposite ul Karla Marksa 25; meals R200-350; 11am-midnight) Warm, cosy belle époque café-restaurant with attentive service and consistently good food. The swirling ironwork furniture is suitably padded.
BEST OF BAIKAL – WHAT’S BEST WHERE?
Accommodation (charm) Port Baikal, Olkhon Island
Accommodation (choice) Listvyanka, Irkutsk
Beaches (photogenic) Eastern Baikal, Olkhon Island, Severobaikalsk
Beaches (swimming) Maloe More
Buddhist datsans Tunka Valley
Cruises (best value) Nizhneangarsk
Cycling Olkhon Island
Day trip Irkutsk–Bolshie Koty
Dog-sledding (summer) Olkhon Island
Dog-sledding (winter) Listvyanka
Easiest lake access Slyudyanka
English-speaking help Irkutsk, Severobaikalsk, Olkhon
Gulag Near Nizhneangarsk
Hiking (easy) Baikalskoe, Arshan
Hiking (expedition) Goudzhiket
Hot springs Khakusy
Ice driving Severobaikalsk Ust-Barguzin
Ice fishing (through a hole) off Slyudyanka
Ice fishing (with a net) Katun village
Lakeside church Posolskoe
Meeting foreign travellers Khuzhir (Olkhon), Irkutsk hostels
Nerpa seals (captive) Irkutsk, Listvyanka
Nerpa seals (wild) Ushkanny Islands (Svyatoy Nos)
Quaint villages Baikalskoe, Suvo (Barguzin Valley)
Scenery Ust-Barguzin, Barguzin Valley, Tunka Valley
Scenic train rides Baikalsk to Slyudyanka, Circumbaikal Railway
Scuba diving Irkutsk agencies
Shamanism Olkhon Island
Skiing & snowboarding Baikalsk
NEP (202 117; ul Krasnogo Vosstaniya 20; mains R300-400, lunch menu R180; noon-5am) Waitresses clad in Red Army khaki, a decor of Soviet regalia and a menu of fun-poking takes on proletariat fare make this communist theme restaurant an amusing if pricey choice. Some English spoken.
Kochevnik (200 459; www.modernnomads.mn; ul Gorkogo 19; mains R150-400; 6pm-2am) Take your taste buds to the Mongolian steppe for some yurt-size portions of mutton, lamb and steak as well as filling soups and buuzy (pozi). Ulaan Baatar aficionados may know its sister chain of Modern Nomad restaurants. English menu and smiley service.
Pervach (201 288; ul Chkalova 33; meals R200-350, beer R100; noon-1am) Pervach offers imaginative Baikal-based menus in a vaulted stone-and-brick cellar, heated by real fires in winter. Some English is spoken.
Lancelot (202 328; Kievskaya ul 2; mains R200-400; noon-midnight Sun-Thu, noon-2am Fri & Sat) Flaming torches lead down through a portcullis into an amusing neomedieval castle interior. There’s a menu in English with Arthurian-named dishes and European prices.
Arbatski Dvorik (200 633; ul Uritskogo; mains R350-500, lunch menu R200; 11am-midnight) An upmarket restaurant with English menu and a remarkable interior of imitation houses, doorways and lanterns. Incongruously, access is by walking through Fiesta fast food.
Korchma (209 102; ul Krasnykh Madiyar 52; meals R250-600; noon-2am) Home-cooked traditional Russian food in a one-room cottage restaurant. It’s set amid other more-genuine Siberian log homes which have so far survived development pressures. Meals are presented on two-tone ceramics while an accordionist accompanies a costumed folk singer (R50 to R100 cover). There’s a 10% service charge.
CAFÉS
Russkaya Chaynaya (201 676; ul Karla Marksa 3; mains R150-300, coffee R70-140; 10am-11pm) Wonderful place boasting a plush fin de siècle interior equipped with gleaming samovars, matryoshka salt and pepper shakers and a collection of yesteryear tea boxes. The astroturfed summer beer garden belongs to the Red Hall Pub downstairs.
Na Zamorskoy (290 891; ul Timiryazeva; meals R200-400, coffee R35-200; 9am-11pm Mon-Fri, from 11am Sat & Sun) Fresh roses, rattan furniture, raffia-threaded blinds and lots of potted plants make this a soothing lunch spot. Enjoy delicious ham-and-cheese stuffed bliny and an excellent latte while watching the trams rattle past the churchopposite.
Wiener Café (Venskoe Kafe; 202 116; ul Stepana Razina 19; meals R300-450, coffee R70-230; 10am-11pm) Alluring coffee house with marble-top tables, Parisian-bar chairs and sepia photos. Reasonably priced pastries and freshly prepared porridge make this a great breakfast retreat.
Kafe 16 (242 682; ul Sukhe-Batora 16; meals R300-600, coffee R60-150; 10am-11pm) Enticing brown and beige tones purring with jazz beckon you through a unique art deco clamshell archway. Try the hard-hitting espressos (R60), and tastily garlic-edged fried cheese starters.
QUICK EATS
Fiesta fast food (ul Uritskogo; snacks R50-120; noon-11pm) is the most atmospheric and congenial of Irkutsk’s numerous fast-food outlets, and has free wi-fi if you eat there. Domino (ul Lenina 13a; bliny R40, pizza slices R70; 24hr) is popular for its all-night service.
Most appealing of the city’s cheap pozi joints is Poznaya Sytny Ryad (ul Partizanskaya 9a; meals R70-150; 10am-11pm) in a primly faux-rural timber house surrounded by the disarray of the Chinese quarter.
Drinking
Liverpool (202 512; ul Sverdlova 28; imported beer R80-160; noon-3am) This Fab Four theme pub may be a bit more Wings than Beatles, but it’s one of Irkutsk’s top watering holes, with an intercontinental beer menu and laid-back service. All the meals are imaginatively named after Beatles tracks, but we were assured that ‘In an Octopus’s Garden’ contains no octopus.
Chili (332 190; ul Karla Marksa 26; cocktails from R200; 24hr) Aztec-themed night-spot and all-day bar where you can join Irkutsk’s moneyed youth on beige couches bathed in flamingo neon for a flashy cocktail or outrageously overpriced meals (R250 to R600). Very central.
U Shveyka (242 687; ul Karla Marksa 34; beer R110; noon-midnight; ) This Czech-style cellar pub with staring elk head and yin-yang condiments has a good summer beer terrace. Much better value than Bierhaus.
Bierhaus (550 555; ul Karla Marksa; beer from R210; noon-2am Mon-Thu, until 4am Fri & Sat, until midnight Sun) Upmarket Bavarian-style bierstube (beer hall with heavy wooden furniture) serving Newcastle Brown and Guinness as well as German beers and sausages. English menu.
Cheshskaya Pivovarnaya (538 482; ul Krasnogvardeyskaya 29; meals R200-425, beer from R110) Irkutsk’s unpretentious microbrewery-pub creates its own Czech Pils.
Monet (201 771; bul Gagarina 42; coffee R70-300, meals R160-1000; 9am-11pm) Overpriced and pretentiously dubbed a ‘coffee fashion club’, the Monet’s most intriguing feature is its downstairs oriental lounge illuminated with fragrant candles and big-screen Russian MTV.
Ryumochnaya (ul Litvinova 16; vodka R30, beer R60; 24hr) Get slammed with rough-edged locals at tables that are too chunky to be thrown at anyone…hopefully.
Entertainment
On summer evenings romantic couples and jolly groups of locals stroll the Angara promenade and the grassy areas behind the fine Okhlopkov Drama Theatre (200 477; ul Karla Marksa 14), where Russian classics are staged regularly from September to June.
Circus (336 139; ul Zhelyabova; tickets R100-250) Puts on eye-boggling Cirque du Soleil–style performances. Avoid the cheapest front seats where you’ll get poor views and a regular splashing.
Other options:
Aystyonok Puppet Theatre (290 666; Sovetskaya ul) Marionette shows for the kiddies.
Musical Theatre (277 795; ul Sedova; tickets from R500;box office 10am-7pm Tue-Sun) Pantomimes, ballets and costumed musical-comedy shows in a big concrete auditorium.
Philharmonic Hall (241 100; ul Dzerzhinskogo 2) Historic building staging regular children’s shows and musical programs from pop to classical.
Polish Church (pl Kirova) Organ concerts are occasionally held in the hall of this neo-Gothic church.
Poznaya Disko-bar (ul Chekhova 17; admission R100; 9pm-4am) Tobacco-fugged dive popular with student drinkers on modest budgets.
Stratosphera Night Club (243 033; www.strata-club.ru; ul Karla Marksa 15; admission from R250; 6pm-6am Fri-Sun) Irkutsk’s most central late-night hot-spot, with bowling alley, two-storey disco and three-storey drink prices.
Shopping
Fanat (ul Timiryazeva; 10am-7pm) Sells western-brand camping, fishing and skiing equipment, hiking boots and mountain bikes.
Getting There & Away
AIR
Irkutsk’s antiquated little ‘international’ airport is handily placed near the city centre. Foreign destinations include Baku (R16,500), Tashkent (R14,500) and Dushanbe (R13,300), as well as Bangkok (R20,350), Beijing (R17,000) and the Chinese cities of Shenyang (R14,000) and Dalian (R10,000). MIAT (Irkutsk Airport; 266 210; www.miat.com) operates flights to Ulaan Baatar (Monday, Wednesday and Saturday).
For Moscow Domodedovo there are direct flights with S7 Airlines (R7980 to R10,150, daily) and Aeroflot (R6650, daily). Irkutsk also enjoys direct air links to dozens of other domestic destinations, with tickets for all services sold through the convenient Central Air Agency (341 596; ul Gorkogo 29; 8am-8pm, until 7pm winter). The offices of S7 Airlines (211 119; ul Gorkogo 31; 8.30am-7.30pm daily) are next door.
Flights within Russia:
BOAT
In July and August hydrofoils buzz up Lake Baikal to Severobaikalsk and Nizhneangarsk (R2000, 11½ hours) stopping off in Port Baikal and Olkhon Island (R1500). Departures from Irkutsk are timetabled at 8.50am on Tuesday and Friday, returning the next day, but changes and cancellations are frequent.
Twice daily from June to September hydrofoils also serve Listvyanka (R180, 1¼ hours) and Bolshie Koty (R240, 1¾ hours).
All of the above depart from the Raketa hydrofoil station beyond the Angara Dam in Solnechny Mikro-Rayon, two minutes’ walk from bus 16 stop ‘Raketa’. Timetables are posted by the quay.
From a different jetty beside floating Kafe Iveriya, VSRP (356 726) hydrofoils run to Bratsk (R1150, 12 hours) on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from June to late September.
BUS
From the chaotic bus station (209 115; ul Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsii; 5.45am-9pm) book tickets at least a day ahead in summer for Arshan (R200, 8am and 10am), Khuzhir on Olkhon Island (R290, 9am, frequency varies seasonally) and Listvyanka (R64.50, 1¼ hours, four daily). The latter are supplemented by regular marshrutky (R70, 50 minutes) leaving when full. Marshrutky also leave every 30 minutes for Ust-Orda (R70, one hour) and several times a day for Taltsy (R70, 40 minutes).
Comfortable private express coaches for Bratsk (R700, 8pm) leave from a special ticket booth and tiny left luggage office (R50 per bag) opposite the bus station. Intercity minibuses to Ulan-Ude (R500, seven hours) depart throughout the day but more frequently in late evening from the train station forecourt.
In winter and spring when there are no regular buses to Olkhon Island, minibuses still operate as far as Sakhyurta (better known as MRS) from where passengers either walk across the ice or, if the ice has cleared sufficiently or not yet formed, take the ferry. In both cases travellers are picked up on the other side by another minibus waiting at the ferry quay. When the ice is melting or just forming, enterprising locals glide visitors across in mini hovercraft. Ask Irkutsk tour companies and hostel staff for exact details of these seasonally improvised arrangements.
TRAIN
The old train station has numbered sections. Northernmost section No 1 sells same-day tickets; No 2 has advance domestic ticketing. Upstairs in area No 3 is the Servis Tsentr (636 501; 8am-7pm) for international tickets and the resting rooms (komnaty otdykha); downstairs is left luggage. An unnumbered fourth area beyond sells elektrichka tickets (eg to Slyudyanka, R43.60) and accesses the platforms. Train tickets are also sold at the Central Air Agency, upstairs in the airport and at the Bratsk coach ticket booth. All charge commission (around R100 domestic, R300 international).
The best, if most expensive, train to/from Moscow is the 9/10 Baikal (R11,570, 78 hours) but platskart berths on slower trains such as 43 and 339 (three days and 15 hours) only cost around R3000 via Krasnoyarsk (R900, 18 hours).
There are several alternate-day trains for Vladivostok including train 2 (R11,900, 70 hours) and train 32 (R7890, 72 hours) via Khabarovsk (58 to 60 hours). Trains for Beijing (R10,100, 70 hours) via Chita pass through Irkutsk on Tuesday at 10.31am. Those via Mongolia depart Saturday at 5.13am. Alternatively, for Ulaan Baatar (R4000) fast train 6 (Sunday and Monday) is a full seven hours quicker than the daily 362 (38 hours). If you’re heading east, consider stopping first in Ulan-Ude (platskart R500, seven to nine hours), enjoying views of Lake Baikal en route.
In July and August only there are special through carriages to and from Warsaw (four days and 15 hours, weekly) and Berlin (five days, weekly)
Getting Around
Within the central area, walking is usually the best idea as one-way systems make bus routes confusing. When the big new Angara bridge is completed in 2009 much of Irkutsk’s public transport system will be thrown into disarray, as the current bridge linking the city centre and the train station will be closed for repairs expected to last several years.
Frequent marshrutka 20 runs from the airport, up ul Dekabrskikh Sobyty, ul Karla Marksa and ul Lenina before passing the Hotel Angara and crossing to the train station. Trolleybus 4 (R10) takes a similar route but via ul Sovetskaya and Hotel Gloria.
From the train station trams 1 and 2 run to uls Lenina and Timiryazeva, while bus 7 crosses to pl Kirova, then loops round the centre and out past the Znamensky Monastery. Bus 16 continues down ul Lenina, past the Raising of the Cross Church and (eventually) the Angara Dam. It then passes within 500m of the SibExpo hotels before looping back beside the Raketa hydrofoil station to the Angara steamship. Slow tram 5 from the Sun Hotel trundles to the central market, and from there tram 4 goes past the bus station and Kazansky Church.
FISHY FUN
No trip to Baikal is complete without tasting omul, a distant relative of salmon that’s delicious raw and better still freshly smoked. Over 50 other varieties of Baikal fish include perch, black grayling, ugly frilly-nosed bullheads and tasty sig (lake herring). While the lake isn’t Russia’s greatest place for anglers, from February to April it offers the unusual spectacle of ice fishing. There are two forms: individuals with immense patience dangle hooked lines through Inuit-style ice holes; elsewhere, especially in shallow waters, whole teams of villagers string extraordinarily long, thin nets beneath the ice and pull out omul by the hundred, carting them home on horse-drawn troikas.
You can get beneath the ice yourself with Irkutsk’s very professional scuba-diving outfits Aqua-Eco(Akva-Eko;
For the west bank, both bus/marshrutka 3 from the central market and marshrutky 12 and 72 (to Solnichny) from the train station cover the whole length of ul Lermontova.
AROUND IRKUTSK
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Taltsy Museum of Wooden Architecture Музей Деревянного Зодчества Тальцы
About 47km east of Irkutsk, 23km before Listvyanka, Taltsy (145 249; admission R120, photography permit R100; 10am-5pm summer, to 4pm winter) is an impressive outdoor collection of old Siberian buildings set in a delightful riverside forest. Amid the renovated farmsteads are two chapels, a church, a watermill, some Evenki graves and the eye-catching 17th-century Iliminsk Ostrog watchtower. Listvyanka–Irkutsk buses and marshrutky stop on request at Taltsy’s entrance (look out for the roadside ‘Музей’ sign), and the ticket booth is a minute’s walk through the forest.
LISTVYANKA ЛИСТВЯНКА
3952 / pop 1700 / Moscow +5hr
As the closest lakeside village to Irkutsk, this is where most independent travellers first dip their toe in Baikal’s chilly waters. By far the most popular ‘resort’ on the lake’s shores, Listvyanka offers winter dog-sledding and summer boat and horse rides, and is ideal for watching the Siberian nouveau riche at play. Outside busy weekends, the village is still reasonably quiet, with inspiring views towards the distant snow-capped Kamar Daban Mountains.
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Information
ATMs can be found in the Mayak and Baikal hotels.
Post office (ul Gorkogo 49; internet per hr R35; 8am-2pm & 3-8pm Mon-Fri, until 6pm Sat) Internet access.
Tourist office (496 987; hydrofoil quay; 10am-1pm & 2pm-6pm) Really just another commercial tour company masquerading as an information centre, though this one does endeavour to give out free maps, provide bus, ferry and hydrofoil timetables and book accommodation. Some English spoken.
Sights & Activities
Having glimpsed Lake Baikal and picked over some freshly smoked omul fish (a relative of salmon and trout) at the port, many visitors are left wondering why they came. Boat rides or gentle strolls are common time-fillers with old log cottages to photograph up uls Gudina and Chapaeva, though ongoing gentrification is starting to impinge on their architectural integrity. About 2km west in Krestovka, the pretty, if unremarkable, Svyato-Nikolskaya Church was named for an apparition of St Nicholas which supposedly saved its sponsor from a Baikal shipwreck. Nearby is Retro Park (admission R15), a garden full of wacky sculpture pieces fashioned from old Soviet-era cars and motorbikes.
Another 2km towards Irkutsk at Rogatka, tour groups are herded into the Baikal Museum (250 551; ul Akademicheskaya 1; admission R150; 9am-5pm Oct-May, to 7pm Jun-Sep), where gruesomely discoloured fish samples and seal embryos in formaldehyde are now supplemented with tanks containing two frolicsome nerpa seals and various Baikal fish that you’d otherwise encounter on restaurant menus.
From December to March the Baikal Dog Sledding Centre (496 829; www.baikalsled.ru; ul Gornaya 17, Krestovka) offers thrilling dog-sledding on forest tracks. The shortest run, 3km with three dogs, costs R700, but whole multiday cross-Baikal expeditions are possible with bigger dog-teams. The owners’ sons speak English.
On warmer winter weekends snowmobiles and even horses can be informally hired on the ice near the Proshli Vek restaurant, while hovercraft rides are available from the main port area. On the beachfront, locals photograph one another in front of weirdly shaped frozen waves.
Sleeping
There is a vast choice of accommodation. However, with minimal public transport, no taxi service and no left-luggage office, finding a room in summer without reservations can take some tiresome trekking around. Leave heavy bags in Irkutsk. Anything under R500 is likely to be very basic with outside squat toilet, dorm-style beds or both. Virtually every Irkutsk tour agent has its own guesthouse or homestay in Listvyanka; value varies.
In the port area, handy but predominantly unexotic homestays abound on lakefront ul Gorkogo, ul Chapaeva (eg Nos 1, 6, 11 and 16) and ul Gudina (No 64). Slightly less convenient than the port area for public transport, Krestovka is nonetheless more of a ‘real’ village and offers an ever-expanding choice of accommodation.
BUDGET
Galina Vasilievna’s homestay (496 798; ul Kulikova 44, Krestovka; dm/tr R500/1200) Galina offers cheap, saggy dorm beds in a delightfully genuine old home with a large traditional stove-heater but minimal facilities. Ask for keys at the Dariya grocery shop in front.
Priboy (496 725; upper fl, ul Gorkogo 101; dm R500/tw R1000-2000) Spitting distance from the lake in the port area, this glass-and-steel block of incongruity has cheap, if unappealing, dorms and some basic rooms with shared toilet, shower and dubious taste in wallpaper. Downstairs is a quite fancy restaurant (open noon to 11pm).
Baikal Dream (496 758; ul Chapaeva 69; s R1000-1200, d R1300-2000) Brick-built Baikal Dream offers big bright comfortable rooms with underfloor heated bathrooms but minimalist decor. There’s also a common room with leather sofas and TV and a guest kitchen. Eager-to-please owner Nikolai will pick you up from the bus stop and cook you delicious meals. He also guarantees you won’t forget his ‘banya experience’. Breakfast included.
Briz (496 944; www.baikal-briz.ru; ul Gudina 71; standard tw winter R1000-1200, summer R1300-1900) A good price–quality balance with 17 pine-fragrant rooms, distant Baikal views and a large new korpus building opening in 2009, meaning more choice. Firing up the guesthouse banya costs R1000 per hour including birch switches, towels and tea.
Green House (496 707; ul Shtorkmana 3; tw 1000-2000) Timber guesthouse right by the market with five cosy rooms kept suitably toasty in winter by ceramic wood-burning stoves. TV room and guest kitchen.
MIDRANGE
Derevenka (496 737; www.village2002.narod.ru; ul Gornaya 1; s/d R1500/2000) On a ridge behind the Baikal-front road, lovely little wooden huts with stove-heaters, private toilets and hot water (but shared showers; banya R250) offer Listvyanka’s most appealing semibudget choice. Very friendly owners can organise snowmobile, sled and boat hire. Rates include breakfast.
Devyaty Val (496 814; ul Chapaeva 24; d R1600-2000) The better rooms are relatively good value with big beds, TV and private shower and toilet in a long timber extension. There’s a small indoor pool (R250 per hour) and rates include breakfast.
U Ozera (250 444; Irkutsk Hwy km3; d winter/summer R2000/2500) New, reasonably comfortable if cramped log-built motel overlooking the lake between Krestovka and Rogatka.
Hotel Mayak (496 910; www.mayakhotel.ru; ul Gorkogo 85; s/tw R2200/2600 summer, R1200/1800 winter) If Baikal’s mayors and developers have anything to do with it the shores of Lake Baikal will soon be lined with plasticky upmarket hotels like the ‘Lighthouse’. Rooms are Western standard but occupied by Russia’s nouveau riche who lend the place an uptight atmosphere of styleless extravagance.
Krestovaya pad (496 863; www.baikalvip.ru; ul Gornaya 14a; d winter/summer from R2600/3600) Big, brash and pricey, this recently built complex housing very comfortable international standard pine-clad rooms dominates the hillside above Krestovka.
Baikalskie Terema (780 120; www.gotobaikal.ru; ul Gornaya 16; d R3000-4500) For Western comforts this fully equipped pine-furnished hotel remains Listvyanka’s snazziest option so far. There are half-price room rates for 12-hour stays – handy if you arrive on the last bus from Irkutsk and are continuing next day by hydrofoil to Bolshie Koty.
Eating
Near the port the large fish and souvenir market is the best place to buy delicious smoked omul and is surrounded by greasy spoons offering relatively cheap plov and shashlyk.
Shury Mury (496 858; meals R80-350, sandwiches R30-80; 10am-11pm) This handy café (next to the information centre) boasts a lakeside summer terrace and evening live music (cover R30).
Café Podlemore (496 472; ul Gorkogo 31; meals R80-140, porridge R25, coffee R30,) Has an English menu, oven-fresh pastries but nonplussed serving staff.
Pyaty Okean (496 726; ul Gorkogo 59a; meals R200, beer R35-70; 11am-10pm) The speciality at this lakeside place is Baikal Abyss – fish and potatoes baked in sour cream. Eat indoors or out by the gurgling Cheremshanka stream.
Proshli Vek (496 984; ul Lazlo 1; meals R200-500) Has character and an omul-centric menu.
Getting There & Away
Four daily buses (R64.50, 1¼ hours) and roughly hourly marshrutky run from outside the information centre (where bus tickets are bought) to Irkutsk, passing the Baikal Museum and Taltsy.
From mid-May to late September hydrofoils stop at Listvyanka port between Irkutsk (R240) and Bolshie Koty (R120) daily.
Year-round a tiny, battered car ferry lumbers across the never-frozen Angara River mouth to Port Baikal from Rogatka. It supposedly departs at 8.15am, 11.15am, 4.15pm and 6.15pm but times are by no means guaranteed.
Various short trips by yacht, fishing boat or even hovercraft are available at the main port depending on the season. For longer cruises enquire well ahead through Irkutsk agencies.
AROUND LISTVYANKA
Hydrofoils (in summer), ferries (all year-round) or taxis (across the winter ice) lead on to more isolated roadless villages. Port Baikal and Bolshie Koty are the most accessible and are easy to visit as a day trip. In summer consider taking the hydrofoil to Bolshie Koty and hiking back to Listvyanka via a spectacular 20km section of the Great Baikal Trail (see the boxed text, Click here). Sturdy hiking boots or trail shoes are a must, and take plenty of food and water.
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Port Baikal Порт Байкал
3952 / pop 432 / Moscow +5hr
Seen from Listvyanka across the unbridged mouth of the Angara River, Port Baikal looks like a rusty semi-industrial eyesore. But the view is misleading. A kilometre southwest of Stanitsa (the port area), Baranchiki is a ramshackle ‘real’ village with lots of unkempt but authentic Siberian cottages and a couple of handy accommodation options. The village rises steeply, making excellent Baikal viewpoints easily accessible. Awkward ferry connections mean that Port Baikal remains largely uncommercialised, lacking Listvyanka’s ‘attractions’ but also its crowds. Thus it’s popular with meditative painters and walkers, but its main draw is as the start and finishing point of the Circumbaikal Railway.
From 1900 to 1904 the Trans-Siberian Railway tracks led to Port Baikal from Irkutsk. They continued on Lake Baikal’s far eastern shore at Mysovaya (Babushkin), and the rail-less gap was plugged by ice-breaking steamships, including the Angara, now restored and on view in Irkutsk (Click here). Later, the tracks were extended south and around the lake. This Circumbaikal line (opposite) required so many impressive tunnels and bridges that it earned the nickname ‘The Tsar’s Jewelled Buckle’. With the damming of the Angara River in the 1950s, the original Irkutsk-to-Port Baikal railway section was submerged and replaced with an Irkutsk–Kultuk shortcut (today’s Trans-Siberian). That left poor little Port Baikal to wither away at the dead end of a rarely used branch line.
SLEEPING & EATING
B&B Baikal (201489; www.baikal.tk, in Russian; ul Baikalskaya 12, Baranchiki; dm R1200, with full-board R1500) Set 400m back from the lakeside in a house with a conspicuous, wood-framed picture window. Various newly decorated but unpretentious rooms share two Western-style toilets and a shower.
Yakhont (250 496; www.baikalrest.ru, in Russian; ul Naberezhnaya 3, Baranchiki; tw R2600) This could be the Siberian boutique hotel you’ve been dreaming of. It’s a traditionally designed log house decorated with eclectic good taste by well-travelled, English-speaking owners. There’s even a little hookah-smoking salon. Guests congregate in the stylish communal kitchen-dining room, above which rooms have perfect Western bathrooms. A large restaurant is under construction below the hotel. Advance bookings are essential.
If the last ferry back to Listvyanka has just left, the B&B is full and the Yakhont is too expensive, it’s always possible to fall back on several basic homestays in Baranchiki. Ask around or look out for ‘ сдаются комнаты’ signs.
Until the Yakhont restaurant is built, Port Baikal will continue to have nowhere to eat. A couple of poorly stocked grocery kiosks are the only sources of sustenance. Both accommodation options listed here offer meals and homestays very often have a kitchen guests can use.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
The ferry to Rogatka near Listvyanka’s Baikal Museum (R23, 20 minutes) runs year-round, supposedly four times daily at 6.40am, 10.30am, 3.50pm and 5.15pm, but times can change at whim. There are direct hydrofoils to Irkutsk (50 minutes) in summer. Very infrequent trains come via the slow Circumbaikal route from Slyudyanka.
Circumbaikal Railway Кругобайкальская Железная Дорога
Excruciatingly slow or a great social event? Opinions are mixed, but taking one of the four-per week Slyudyanka-to-Port Baikal trains along this scenic, lake-hugging branch line remains a very popular tourist activity. You’ll need to juggle sunglasses, fan and torch as the carriages are unventilated and unlit. The most picturesque sections of the route are the valley, pebble beach and headland at Polovinnaya (around halfway), and the bridge area at km149. Views are best if you can persuade the driver to let you ride on the front of the locomotive – possible on certain tour packages. Note that most trains from Port Baikal travel by night and so are useless for sightseeing.
The old stone tunnels, stolby-cliff cuttings and bridges are an attraction even for non–train buffs who might drive alongside sections of the route on winter ice roads from Kultuk. Hiking the entire route or just sections of the peaceful track is also popular and walking a couple of kilometres from Port Baikal leads to some pleasant, if litter-marred, beaches. Or get off an Irkutsk–Slyudyanka elektrichka at Temnaya Pad (R38.60, three hours) and hike down the stream valley for about an hour. You should emerge at km149 on the Circumbaikal track, from where you can continue by train to Port Baikal if you time things well.
There are roughly a dozen isolated turbazy (tourist camps) of varying quality along the route. Perhaps the most usefully positioned is the rambling, very basic Baza Alpinistov (902-178 3502; dm R200) at km149. Bring your own food.
At the time of research short, wooden-seated Matanya trains departed from a side platform at Slyudyanka I station at 1pm, four times per week – check timetables carefully. In summer an additional tourist train direct from Irkutsk departs at 7.42am on Saturday. Wonderfully detailed website Circumbaikal Railway (http://kbzd.irk.ru/Eng/) has regularly updated timetables plus photographs of virtually every inch of the route.
Irkutsk agencies such as Krugobaikalsky Ekspress (3952-202973; www.krugobaikalka.ru) run organised Circumbaikal tours (R1100 including lunch), though some travellers grumble about the rather superfluous ‘guides’ who tag along for the entire nine-hour trip.
Bolshie Koty Большие Коты
Founded by 19th-century gold miners, roadless Bolshie Koty makes an easy day trip by boat or ice-drive from Listvyanka or a picturesque hike. The little museum opposite the jetty has a few pickled crustaceans and stuffed rodents. Otherwise, the village is simply a pleasant place to stroll, snooze and watch fish dry. A few basic homestays include ul Baikalskaya 55 (lovely lakeside position) and neater, inland ul Zarechnaya 11b. Great fresh-smoked omul are sold at the port when boats arrive.
Hydrofoils originating in Irkutsk (R240) depart Listvyanka (R120, 25 minutes) at least daily in summer, staying two or three hours before returning. That’s plenty for most visitors.
UST-ORDA Усть-Орда
39541 / pop 14,000 / Moscow +5hr
Ust-Orda’s smiley Asian faces and low-rise timber skyline come as an enjoyable change to Irkutsk’s all-Slav features and 19th-century pomp. This small town 62km northeast of Irkutsk has just a handful of undemanding sights, providing at least a taste of Buryat culture for those not planning a trip to Baikal’s Buryat-dominated eastern shore, and a brief introduction for those who are.
This compact settlement used to be the ‘capital’ of the Ust–Ordinsky Buryat Autonomous Region, a layer of administration which voted itself out of existence in a 2006 referendum and merged with the Irkutsk Oblast.
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Sights & Activities
The town’s trump card is its Regional Museum (31 402; ul Lenina 6; admission R100; 9am-1pm & 2pm-5pm Mon-Fri), three halls of petroglyphs, shamanic knick-knackery and frayed taxidermy. Call ahead to arrange Buryat folk music (R3500 with food) and shamanic rituals (R1000) performed in front of a timber courtyard yurt. Across ul Lenina a tank has its gun trained on the museum roof.
The upswept roof of Ust-Orda’s pocket-sized datsan (ul Kalandarashvili), 2km along the Irkutsk road, is hardly noticeable from the main road, its dimensions perhaps reflecting the continuing dominance of shamanism over Buddhism among Buryats on Baikal’s western shore. Inside, only a couple of thangka, a few butter lamps and offerings of rice, coins and incense distract the eye.
Behind the newly renovated cinema on ul Lenina stands the pristine Trinity Church (Troitsky khram; 11am-4pm). Beyond the Hotel Baikal a Lenin statue (ul Lenina)has Vladimir Ilych fingering his lapels from a black granite pedestal.
Sleeping & Eating
The only place to hang your hat is the Hotel Baikal (32 236; ul Lenina 24; s/tw R2300/4600), an unexpectedly polished operation with 12 comfortable if bland rooms and vegetarian breakfast options.
Meals come with a generous dollop of Soviet nostalgia at the classic Stolovaya Anna (ul Kalandarashvili; meals R50, 8am-8pm), next to the bus station – almost worth the bus fareon its own. The lace-trimmed dinner ladies, prison canteen decor and, to some extent, the prices are lodged firmly in the 1980s. Magic. Poznaya Odon (cnr ul Lenina & ul Kalinina; pozi R20; 11am-8pm) is a simple but well-likedlunch spot among locals, but a better class of Buryat fare is served at the semi-slick Baikal hotel restaurant (noon-2am) where you can tuck into bukhuler (mutton or lamb broth), salamat (creamy sour porridge) and steaming pozi at prettily laid tables. You can also dine nomad-style in the hotel yurt if you call reception beforehand.
Getting There & Away
Minibuses (R68.50, one hour) run every 30 minutes to and from Irkutsk bus station. Ust-Orda’s tiny terminus is near the museum at the end of ul Lenina. Coming from Irkutsk, ask the driver to drop you off at the datsan (Buddhist temple) on the edge of town to save you a 40-minute walk there and back.
OLKHON ISLAND ОСТРОВ ОЛЬХОН
pop 1500 / Moscow +5hr
Halfway up Lake Baikal’s western shore and reached by a short ferry journey from Sakhyurta (aka MRS), the serenely beautiful Olkhon Island is a wonderful place from which to view the lake and relax during a tour of Siberia. Considered one of five global poles of shamanic energy by the Buryat people, the 72km-long island’s main settlement is Khuzhir, which has seen something of a tourist boom over the last few years, mainly thanks to the inspiring efforts of Nikita’s Guest House. There’s a good map of the island on the website of Baikal Explorer (www.baikalex.com/info/map_olkhon.html).
Although peak season is July and August, also consider visiting during the quiet winter months, as you can drive across the ice to the island until early April.
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Sights & Activities
There are unparalleled views of Baikal from sheer cliffs that rise at the island’s northern end, culminating in dramatic Cape Khoboy. Day-long jeep trips here including lunch (R400) can be arranged through Nikita’s and Khuzhir’s other guesthouses.
Khuzhir’s small museum (ul Pervomayskaya 24; admission R50; 12am-7pm Mon-Fri) displays a random mix of stuffed animals, Soviet-era junk, local art and the personal possessions of its founder, Nikolai Revyakin, a teacher for five decades at the school next door.
Consider dropping by Nikita’s even if you aren’t staying there to admire the inventive kid’s playground and general atmosphere of the place. A short walk north of Nikita’s, the unmistakable Shaman Rocks are neither huge nor spectacular, but they make a perfect meditation focus for the ever-changing cloudscapes across the picturesque Maloe More. East of the rocks is a long strip of sandy beach.
The island’s southern end is rolling grassland – great for off-road mountain biking or gentle hiking, and if Baikal proves too cold for a dip you can cool off in the small Shara-Nur Lake, where naturally occurring (harmless) chemicals in the water dye your skin red if you wallow too long.
Sleeping & Eating
Khuzhir has an ever-growing range of places to stay, though the vast majority of independent travellers bunk down at Nikita’s. Irkutsk agencies offer a choice of basic cottage homestays in Khuzhir at around R800 with full board. If you just show up there’s a fair chance of finding a similar place from around R600. Toilets are always outside the rooms and the banya will typically cost extra. The village is small enough that it won’t take you long to find the following recommended places.
Nikita’s Guest House (www.olkhon.info; ul Kirpichnaya 8, Khuzhir; full board per person R750-1000; reception 8am-11pm) Run by a former Russian table-tennis champ and his wife, Siberia’s premier travellers hang-out is a fantastic place to stay and ecofriendly to boot. If it’s overrun with backpackers (as it often is in high season) the owners will find you a place to stay elsewhere in the village. The basic rooms on site are attractively decorated. Scrub up in an authentic banya and pig out on delicious home-cooked meals. There’s a cycle hire centre and a packed schedule of excursions and activities. Staff can also register your visa (R350).
Solnechnaya (3952-683 216; www.olkhon.com; ul Solnechnaya 14; full board per person R780-900) Not quite as happening a scene as Nikita’s but still a pleasant place to stay offering a good range of activities. Accommodation is in two-storey cabins, cooler 2nd-floor rooms being the more expensive.
Hotel Olkhon (708 885; www.alphatour.ru; Baikalskaya 64; summer huts s R900-1700, d R1200-1900, hotel s R900-2700, d R1200-3500) For those who prefer toilets to flush, water to run hot and a bit less hectic backpacker scene than at Nikita’s, this peaceful brick-built family hotel just off Kuzhir’s main square is surrounded by an enclosure of timber Monopoly houses.
Five kilometres north of Khuzhir near the tiny hamlet of Kharansty, summer-only Yurt Camp Harmony (www.sokoltours.ru; full board per person in 4-bed yurt R1000) has 20 large circular felt tents shaded by trees in a lakeside camp site. It’s used for the company’s tours, but independent travellers can stay if there’s room.
Getting There & Away
From June to August there are at least three and usually four buses daily between Khuzhir and Irkutsk (R290, seven hours), with an additional minibus leaving from Nikita’s daily at 8.30am (R600). Frequency drops off drastically outside peak summer season. With a little warning, agencies or hostels can usually find you a ride in a private car to Irkutsk (5½ hours) for R900 per seat, R3500 for the whole car. Prices include the short ferry ride to MRS – from mid-January to March an ice road replaces that ferry. When ice is partly formed or partly melted, the island is completely cut off for motor vehicles, though an ad hoc minihovercraft service is sometimes operated by locals on demand.
In summer a hydrofoil service operates three times weekly from Irkutsk to Olkhon (R1500, seven hours), dropping passengers near the ferry terminal, from where it’s possible to hitch a paid lift into Khuzhir.
MALOE MORE Малое Море
The relatively warm, shallow waters of the Maloe More (Little Sea) offer a primary do-nothing holiday attraction for Siberians. Main activities here are swimming, hiking to waterfalls and drinking. Dozens of camps, huts and resorts are scattered amid attractive multiple bays backed by alternating woodland and rolling grassland scenery. Since each widely spaced ‘resort’ is frequently fully booked and hard to access without private transport, you’d be wise first to visit Irkutsk agencies and leaf through their considerable catalogues. Booking something not too far from MRS makes it easier to continue later to Olkhon Island. Arguably the most appealing bay is Bukhta Kurkutskaya, where the Baza Otdykha Naratey has showers and bio-toilets. Several new resorts offer weekly transfers from Irkutsk for guests (around R600), including Baikal-Dar (3952-266 336; www.dar.irk.ru; d/tr with full board R1800/2700). The further north, Olkhon-facing Khadarta Bay between Sarma and Kurma is becoming ever more popular.
From mid-June to late August marshrutky run to Kurma (R500, 5½ hours) at 9am via Sarma (R380) from in front of the Hotel Angara in Irkutsk. They return at 2pm the same afternoon. Public buses from Irkutsk serve MRS.
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SOUTH BAIKAL
From trans-Siberian train windows there are attractive lake glimpses along much of Baikal’s south coast. Lacking any architectural charm, neither Slyudyanka nor smelly Baikalsk tempt many Westerners off the train, yet these drab, functional places have superb mountain-backed lakeside settings and accommodation that’s cheaper than Irkutsk’s. Slyudyanka is also the best place to start Circumbaikal train rides or excursions to the lovely Tunka Valley.
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Slyudyanka Слюдянка
39544 / pop 19,000 / Moscow +5hr
Slyudyanka I, the famous all-stone train station, is a mere five-minutes’ walk from Lake Baikal’s shore. En route you pass a photogenic timber church in multicoloured, Scooby-Doo style. Across the tracks, former locomotive workshops host an interesting though all-in-Russian museum (Kraevedchesky muzey; ul Zheleznodorozhnaya 22; admission R40; 11am-5pm Wed-Sun) with archaeological finds, old railway switching boxes and an identification guide to 47 locomotive types. Geology buffs should also consider heading to the privately run Baikal Mineral Museum (Muzey Samotsvety Baikala; 53 440; ul Slyudyanaya 36; admission R100; 8am-9pm), which claims to exhibit every mineral known to man. Take any marshrutka heading from the bus station up ul Slyudyanskikh Krasnogvardeytsev and ask to be dropped off at the museum. A popular picnic excursion is to Cape Shaman,an easy 4km stroll north towards Kultuk along Baikal’s gravelly shore.
With moulting lino, very basic rooms and shared showers, the friendly Hotel Chayka (54 073; ul Frunze 8a, M/R Perival; d R400) charges R250 for 12-hour stays. To get there from the train station cross the long footbridge and walk two blocks further to a little bus station (ul Lenina); from here the hotel is 4km west by very frequent marshrutka 1 (last at 11pm). A taxi costs R50. The Mineral Museum homestay (53 440; ul Slyudyanaya 36; dm R500) is little more than a two-bed garden cottage which the museum curator rents out in the summer months. Hostel Slyudyanka (ul Shcholnaya 10, apt 7; dm R400) is really just another homestay but is very cheap and can be booked through Hostelworld (www.hostelworld.com). Arrange for the owners to pick you up from the station (R200) as it’s tricky to find.
Located handily opposite the bus station, Slyudyanka’s only eatery is Kafe-Gril (ul Lenina 118; meals R50-100; 10am-9pm) where inexpensive belly-filling stodge is served on melting plastic. At the adjacent Bonus Supermarket (ul Lenina 116; 9am-10pm) you can stock up on enough noodles, cheese, bread and instant porridge to keep you going all the way to Beijing.
Trains from Irkutsk take 3¼ hours (elektrichka) or 2½ hours (express). Slyudyanka 1 is the usual starting point for the Circumbaikal Railway trip (Click here). Two cheap but very scenic elektrichki run daily to Baikalsk and marshrutky from outside the station depart to both Kyren and Arshan at an ungodly 5.15am (or earlier depending on when train 125 arrives from Ulan-Ude). An additional bus to Arshan (R125, two hours) leaves around 2pm from the bus station. From here bus 103 also runs six times daily to Baikalsk.
Baikalsk Байкальск
39542 / pop 17,000 / Moscow +5hr
Lakeside Baikalsk is the site of a huge, controversial Baikal-polluting pulp mill (see boxed text, Click here), which gives the town a faint but unpleasantly pervasive perfume of decomposing cellulose. However, the mountains that rise abruptly behind town offer the region’s best snowboarding (www.worldsnowboardguide.com/resorts/russia/baikalsk-sobolinaya/) and skiing at the very active Gora Sobolinaya Resort (www.baikalski.com, in Russian). The complex has a handy left-luggage office (per day R80) as well as modern ski-lifts (10am-5pm). Equipment hire ranges from R500 to R1500 for ski-boot-pole sets or R700 to R1000 for snowboards.
SLEEPING
All hotels charge a 50% first-day booking premium and ask big weekend and seasonal surcharges.
Hotel Sobolinaya (32 455; www.baikalski.com/hotel_sobols.html; dm R500, s R500-650, d R1000-1300, tr R1500-1900) Just 600m from the ski-pulls, Hotel Sobolinaya is somewhat dreary but all rooms have a good new toilet and shower (some shared between pairs). The R3500 lyux suite hosted President Putin when he slapped on his skis in 2002.
Hotel Uyut (37 312; www.baikaltur.ru; Stroitelnaya 13; d low/mid-season R900/1200, d high season R900-2000) Comfortable new rooms are individually designed though the tiger-skin, floral and wave motifs may not appeal to every taste. You can also watch BBC World TV from vivid lemon-yellow settees in the airy communal hallway/billiard room. The hotel is 5km from the ski slopes and 400m from a pretty Baikal beach.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Baikalsk’s main station on the trans-Siberian main line is bizarrely inconvenient, 9km east of the centre – that’s 12km from the ski slopes. Handier Baikalsk Passazhersky station is only used by the twice-daily elektrichka services to Slyudyanka.
Selenga Delta Villages
Posolskoe was the site where Imperial Russia’s first trans-Baikal diplomatic mission to the Mongolian khan was ambushed and robbed in 1651; by the 1680s its monastery was spearheading the evangelism of Buryatiya. Closed in the 1920s but recently renovated, the monastery’s Spaso-Preobrazhensky Church dominates what is now a quiet little wooden-cottage fishing village. The church stands on a slight rise overlooking a long, pebbly beach where inhabitants quietly fill horse-drawn barrels with Baikal water.
Tvorogovo also has a notable old church, beside the Posolskoe–Kabansk road. Quietly attractive Kabansk has a museum and a big Soviet ‘flame’ monument.
Bird spotters who want to come and observe the amazing variety of wildlife in the delta itself should contact Baikal Naran Tour (Click here) who can arrange transfers to and from Ulan-Ude and accommodation in a delta village.
Shared taxis (R30) run between Kabansk and Timlyuy station on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Posolskoe buses are rare from Kabansk and run twice daily from Ulan-Ude train station (3½ hours, last return at 6pm).
TUNKA VALLEY ТУНКИНСКАЯ ДОЛИНА
When the clouds clear, sawtooth Sayan peaks rise spectacularly above the cute Buddhist villages of the wide, rural Tunka Valley, which starts about 30km west of Kultuk and continues all the way to the Mongolian border near Mondy. Smoke rising gently from cottage chimneys adds to the wisps of romantic morning mist. Beyond justifiably popular Arshan, there’s minimal tourist infrastructure and the grandly panoramic mountains are generally set too far back for easy access. Nonetheless, hiking maps are sold in Irkutsk and Tunkinskiye Goltsy (http://tunki.baikal.ru, in Russian) has great photos and useful mountaineer’s schematics.
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Arshan Аршан
30156 / pop 900–3800 (seasonal) / Moscow +5hr
This popular hot-springs village is nestled right at the foot of soaring forested mountains. Relaxing short walks take you to a series of rapids and waterfalls, but there are plenty of longer, more challenging treks and climbs with detailed information (in Russian) on a site owned by Irkutsk State University (http://tunki.baikal.ru/, in Russian).
From the big, six-storey Sayany Spa, Arshan’s patchily attractive main street (ul Traktovaya) fires itself 2km straight towards the mountains. Opposite the spa grounds, the Dechen Ravzhalin Datsan has two sparkling new prayer wheels, a miniature stupa and a dazzlingly colourful interior. Beyond the post office, Internet Zal (ul Traktovaya 32, per hr R50; 11am-1pm & 2-6pm Mon-Fri, 12.30-6pm Sat & Sun) and bus-ticket kiosk (ul Traktovaya 3), ul Traktovaya swerves west past the Altan Mundarga Information Booth (97 384; ul Traktovaya 6) and the sprawling Kurort Arshan resort. Keep walking 20 minutes through the forest to find the dinky little Bodkhi Dkharma Datsan, set in an idyllic mountain-backed glade, or walk up the stream to access the mountain footpaths.
SLEEPING & EATING
Many log cottages offer basic homestays from R200 per bed. Look for ‘Дом Жильё’ signs.
Kurort Arshan (97 740; ul Traktovaya 1; s from R500; reception 8am-8pm summer, 9am-1pm & 4-7pm winter) Basic institutional sanatorium with various sized buildings spread through the forest, used mostly by those seeking a cure at its hot springs.
Pensionat Sagaan Dali (3952-205 315; www.sagaan.ru; ul Deputatskaya 14; d/ste R580/1160) Inexpensive but with all the charm of a 1970s council block, rooms here are cosmetically upgraded but still have rather sad old toilets. Suites are bigger but not better. The access footpath from ul Traktovaya skirts the Sayan Sanatorium, passing a spluttering sulphurous spring-water faucet marked by prayer flags.
Priyut Alpinista (97 697; www.iwf.ru; ul Bratev Domshevikh 8; tw R2000-3300) This character-filled climber’s centre has the atmosphere of a Western youth hostel, but rooms have private toilets and better ones have hot showers. Hire bicycles (R120 per hour), buy climbing maps and watch videos of Arshan’s attractions in the comfortable sitting room before adding comments to the ‘magic tree’. It’s a modest wooden building three minutes’ walk along ul Pavlova from the bus stand. The owners offer erected tent places, including supplies, high in the mountains (R500 per person including food) so that hikers and mountaineers don’t need to carry a rucksack.
Hotel Zamok Gornogo Korolya (92 384; ul Gagarina 18; d R2500-4000) This modern pseudo-castle has crenellations, green-tipped towers and four comfortable rooms with questionable ‘artistic’ taste in nude derrières.
As many visitors book full-board stays at the spas, there are only a handful of eateries for the independent traveller to choose from. For a proper sit-down meal try Novy Vek (97 330; ul Traktovaya 4; 10am-midnight), the latest addition to the Arshan dining scene with an extensive menu and yapping FM radio. The typically austere Zakusochnaya Khamar Daban (ul Traktovaya; 10am-4am), opposite the Sayan Sanatorium, serves up pozi and other meat-and-dough combinations for a handful of roubles, but is not as much fun as the unrepentantly Soviet stolovaya (ul Traktovaya 13; meals R40-70; 9am-7pm) near the post office.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Buses or marshrutky (slightly more expensive) run to Kyren (R70, 1¼ hours, 10.30am, noon and 2pm), Slyudyanka (R125, 7.30am and 2pm), Ulan-Ude (R450, 11 hours, 7.45am, four times per week) and Irkutsk (R350, 11am and 4pm).
Kyren Кырен
30147 / pop 6000 / Moscow +5hr
The valley’s unkempt, low-rise little ‘capital’ is home to the Tunka National Park HQ (91 793; ul Lenina 69). Its small, onion-topped church (ul Kooperativenaya) adds foreground to the photogenic alpine backdrop. Walk south between the cottages of muddy ul Kooperativenaya to find open fields for carefree strolls across bird-serenaded grasslands. A few hours is probably enough in Kyren, and a 150% supplement dissuades foreign guests from using the very basic Hotel Druzhba (91 580; upstairs, ul Lenina 109; dm/s/tw R400/750/1200), with shared toilet and no showers whatsoever.
From outside the Poznaya Chaynaya (ul Lenina 112; meals R40-75; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri), about 1km east of the hotel, buses or marshrutky depart for Slyudyanka (R140, three hours, three times daily), Arshan (R70, 1¼ hours, 7.30am and 2pm), Nilova Pustyn (11.40am) and Irkutsk (10am).
Beyond Kyren
The Tunka Valley road leads to Mondy near the peak of Munko-Saridak, the highest mountain in Eastern Siberia. There are provisional plans to open up the nearby Mongolian border to foreigners in 2010, making it feasible to join Russian vodka-and-fishing tourists who already visit Mongolia’s appealing Khövsgöl Lake. Check with Irkutsk tour agents, notably Baikal Discovery (Click here). En route the road passes near Nilova Pustyn, a minor spa where locals voluntarily subject themselves to radioactive radon baths. It’s tucked into an attractive pine valley, from where a tough 70km trek crosses a 2700m pass to reach the wild, forested Shumak region, famous for its medicinal rhododendrons.
EASTERN BAIKAL
30144
Sparsely scattered beach villages of old-fashioned log cottages dot the pretty east Baikal coast. They are well described in a usefully practical Pribaikalsky booklet, available for free download from Tahoe-Baikal Institute (www.tahoebaikal.org). Further north is the dramatic Barguzin Valley, from which Chinggis Khaan’s mother, Oilun-Ehe, is said to have originated. Access is across a forested pass from Ulan-Ude via tiny Baturino village with its elegantly renovated Sretenskaya Church.
After around 2½ hours’ drive, the newly paved road first meets Lake Baikal at pretty little Gremyachinsk, a popular trip out of Ulan-Ude for hurried Trans-Siberian travellers with a day to spare. Buses stop at a roadside café from which Gremyachinsk’s sandy but litter-strewn beach is a 15-minute walk up ul Komsomolskaya past several shadoof-style lever-wells. Marshrutky back to Ulan-Ude are often full so consider prebooking your return. If you’re stuck overnight, Pensionat Pribaikalsky (58 691; ul Lesnaya 36; tw R1800-2200) has comfortable rooms in timber cottages, or alternatively ask around for a homestay. Approximately 5km from Gremyachinsk (no taxis), at least 10 large tourist camps are strung around Kotokel Lake, whose thermal springs keep it warm year-round.
The main road offers surprisingly few Baikal views until the fishing port of Turka, where there is small museum and a newly built church but little reason to stay over. Bigger Goryachinsk,around 3km from the lake, is centred on a typically institutional hot-springs kurort (sanatorium complex; 55 195; dm from R400), with cheap cottage homestays in the surrounding village. Marshrutky run to Ulan-Ude (R250, 3½ hours) at least three times a day. Picturesque Baikal beaches stretch northwest of quaint little Maksimikha fishing hamlet, with several huts and turbazy including Svetlaya Polyana (tw R1200-1800; Apr-Oct). Book ahead through agencies in Ulan-Ude.
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Ust-Barguzin Усть-Баргузин
30131 / pop 7,300 / Moscow +5hr
Low-rise Ust-Barguzin has sandy streets of traditional log homes with blue-and-white carved window frames. These are most attractive towards the northern end of the main street, ul Lenina, where it reaches the Barguzin River ferry. From here, views are magical towards the high-ridged peaks of the Svyatoy Nos Peninsula. Apart from watching the rusting car ferry being towed by a fume-belching motorboat across the fast-flowing Barguzin River, the only other activity is a visit to the new Banya Museum (91 574; per Bolnichny 9; by appointment only), displaying four traditional timber bani lovingly fashioned by national park ranger, Alexander Beketov, who also runs a very comfortable homestay (full board per person R1100) at the same address.
Shik Poznaya (ul Lenina 2b; meals R15-50; 10am-10pm) at the ferry quay is the village’s only source of public nourishment, with ultracheap belly-warmers listed on a handwritten menu. Hotel Salyut (606 336; ul Lenina 16; dm R500) next to the post office has five basic rooms with short beds, busy decor and shared showers. There’s a 24-hour shop in the same building.
Buses to Barguzin leave at 8.15am and 5pm (R50, 1¼ hours) from either the north ferry quay (summer) or opposite the post office (other seasons). When the river is part-thawed, buses divert via a long, rough forest track. Daily marshrutky to Ulan-Ude (R300, seven hours) depart around 8am and will pick you up from your accommodation if you book ahead. In February or March driving across Lake Baikal to Severobaikalsk takes around five hours.
Svyatoy Nos (Holy Nose) Peninsula Полуостров Святой Нос
Rising almost vertically out of shimmering waters, dramatic Svyatoy Nos is one of Lake Baikal’s most impressive features. It’s within the mostly impenetrable Zabaikalsky National Park and joined to Ust-Barguzin by a muddy 20km sand bar that’s possible but painful to drive along (there’s also a toll). Guides can be hired at the national park offices (30131-91 578; per Bolnichny 9) in Ust-Barguzin for all-day trek-climbs to the top of the peninsula, more than 1800m above Lake Baikal. The views from the summit are truly awe-inspiring.
Nerpa seals are particularly abundant off the peninsula’s west coast around the Ushkanny Islands, accessible by charter boat from Ust-Barguzin. Ask around at the ferry quay or in the Hotel Salyut. You’ll pay around R5000 (speedboat) or R10,000 (sailing boat).
The warm and fish-filled waters of the Chivyrkuysky Gulf appeal to rich-but-hardy Russian tourists, who pay absurd sums to stay in minimalist boat-hotels off Kurbulik village or in Snake Bay (up to R5000 without bathrooms). Access is by boat from uninhabited Monakhovo, where the already bad Ust-Barguzin track degenerates into a mudslide. Gulf access is much easier in February and March when the ice-road to Severobaikalsk passes right beside Katun village.
Barguzin & the Barguzin Valley Баргузин & Баргузинская Долина
30131 / pop 7000 / Moscow +5hr
The road north from Ust-Barguzin emerges from thick forests at Barguzin, a low-rise town of wooden cottages that dates back to 1648. Walking from the bus station you can see its handful of dilapidated historic buildings in about 20 minutes by heading along ul Krasnoarmeyskaya past the cursorily renovated old church to pl Lenina. Opposite the quaint little post office, the wooden-colonnaded former Uezdnogo Bank (ul Krasnoarm-eyskaya 54) was once the grand home of Decembrist Mikhail Kyukhelbeker. Other exiles to make a home in Barguzin were Jews from Poland and European Russia who arrived here in the 1830s and 1860s. The last signs of the Jewish community can be seen in the crumbling old cemetery (a block northeast of the church) where crooked, Hebrew-inscribed graves stand to the left and orthodox headstones, including that of Kyukhelbeker himself, to the right.
Barguzin’s real interest is as a base for visiting the stunningly beautiful Barguzin Valley as it opens out into wide lake-dotted grassland, gloriously edged by a vast Toblerone of mountain peaks. These are most accessibly viewed across the meandering river plain from Uro village. Similarly inspiring panoramas continue for miles towards the idyllic village of Suvo, overshadowed by rock towers of the Suvo Saxony (Suvinskaya Saksoniya), so-called for its similarity to rock formations on the Czech–Saxony border. A few kilometres beyond Suvo the roadside Bukhe Shulun (Byk), a huge boulder resembling a bull’s hoof, is considered to have miraculous powers. Heading north you’ll pass through widely scattered, old-fashioned villages where horse carts and sleighs outnumber cars. Way up on the valley’s mountainous west side, Kurumkan (411km northeast of Ulan-Ude) has a small but photogenic peak-backed datsan. The valley tapers to a point 50km north of Kurumkan at Alla where a tiny kurort (sanitarium)can accommodate guests in the summer months.
Barguzin’s friendly but basic hotel (ul Lenina 25; s R400-600, tw R700) has bearable rooms, some with private toilets. Homestays are not much in evidence and it may be better to head south to Ust-Barguzin where there is more choice. Two blocks south of the hotel, simple Kafe Brigantina (ul Dzerzhinskogo; 8am-8pm Mon-Thu, to 11pm Fri-Sun) is the only eatery.
Buy tickets ahead for Ulan-Ude marshrutky (R351, eight hours), departing at 8am and 10.30am. Buses run to Ust-Barguzin (1¼ hours) at 7am and 4pm, to Uro (35 minutes) three times daily and to Kurumkan (R150, 2½ hours) in the early morning and late afternoon.
SEVEROBAIKALSK СЕВЕРОБАЙКАЛЬСК
30139 / pop 35,000 / Moscow +5hr
With friendly, English-speaking help at hand, Severobaikalsk makes a convenient base from which to explore the beautiful yet little-visited North Baikal area. It’s a refreshingly uncommercial sort of place and, although the centre is a depressingly typical regiment of prefabricated earthquake-proof 1970s apartment blocks, just a short walk across the train tracks are some peaceful Baikal viewpoints.
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Information
INTERNET ACCESS
Internet Room (Leningradsky pr 6; per hr R38; 10am-2pm & 3-6pm) Post-office internet room.
Library (Leningradsky pr 5; 10am-6pm Mon-Thu & sat, 10am-2pm Fri) Cheap internet available. Enter through the video stall.
INTERNET RESOURCES
North Baikal Tourist Portal (www.sbaikal.ru) Comprehensive regional overview.
MONEY
Sberbank (per Proletarsky; 9am-6.30pm Mon- Fri) Changes travellers cheques for 3% commission.
POST & COMMUNICATIONS
Post office (Leningradsky pr 6; 10am-2pm & 3-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm & 3-5pm Sat).
Telephone office (per Proletarsky 1; 24hr)
TOURIST INFORMATION
Tourist office (train station forecourt; 9am-7pm Mon-Sat Jun-Aug) Yellow kiosk on train station forecourt. A mine of information on the North Baikal area. Can arrange permits to land on Baikal’s eastern shore.
Baikal Hospitality Centre (8-914-875 9818; Leningradsky pr 9; 10am-6pm, Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat) Operated by the School of Environmental Education, this bona fide information centre is open year-round. Can book accommodation, sells tours and hands out advice and ideas with a smile.
TRAVEL AGENCIES
The following agencies and individuals can help you arrange accommodation and Baikal boat trips, but check very carefully what is and is not included in any deal you arrange. See also 109 Meridian in Nizhneangarsk (Click here).
Baikal Service (/fax 23 912) This tour agency is a professional outfit with its own boat, hotel, permit arrangements and tour program, but staff don’t speak English.
Maryasov family (26 491; [email protected]) English-speaking Alyona and her father Yevgeny run Severobaikalsk’s hostel and information centres as well as organising adventure tours through Tayozhik (20 323).
Rashit Yakhin/BAM Tour (/fax 21 560; www.gobaikal.com, ul Oktyabrya 16/2) This experienced full-time travel-fixer, guide and ex-BAM worker suffered an immobilising stroke in the mid-1990s rendering his spoken English somewhat hard to follow. Nonetheless he is quick to reply to emails and is always keen to please. He rents out a brilliant, central apartment (R500, negotiable).
Sights & Activities
For lake views that hint at Baikal’s enormous size, head for the summer shashlyk stand at the eastern end of town (marshrutka 3 or 103). A steep path leads down from here onto a scenic pebble beach. In winter you can walk across the ice to the Neptuna area, where unsophisticated but curiously photogenic dachy incorporate boat sheds into their lower storeys. A short winter taxi ride onto the ‘desert’ of lake ice is memorable – watch offshore fishermen freezing their hands baiting omul through little holes in the ice. (Ask around the taxi rank at Severobaikalsk train station.) In warmer months Severobaikalsk makes a great base for relatively high-endurance hiking and for very pleasant boat rides on Lake Baikal. Yacht club Bely Parus (24 556; [email protected]; Severobaikalsk port) hires out windsurfers (ails parusniye), water-skis (vodnye lyzhi) and wet suits, but the water’s very chilly.
The friendly little museum (21 663; ul Mira 2; admission R50; 10am-1pm & 2-5pm Tue-Sun) has exhibits on BAM railway history and some Buryat artefacts. There’s also an associated art gallery (ul Druzhby 40; admission R50; 10am-1pm & 2-4pm). While not historic, the blue-and-white plank-clad church (ul Truda 21; services 6pm Tue & Sat, 9am Sun) has a lovably dishevelled, wobbly appearance. The orthodox church on Leningradsky pr is so new it hadn’t even been consecrated at the time of research, but did already sport two impressive onion domes in gleaming gold.
THE GREAT BAIKAL TRAIL
Inspired largely by the Tahoe Rim Trail (a hiking path encircling Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada), in summer 2003 a small band of enthusiasts began work on the first section of what was grandly named the Great Baikal Trail (GBT; in Russian, Bolshaya Baikalskaya Tropa, BBT). Every summer since has seen hundreds of volunteers flock to Lake Baikal’s pebbly shores to bring the GBT organisation’s stated aim – the creation of a 2000km-long network of trails encircling the whole of Lake Baikal – closer to fruition. This lofty ambition may still be a far-off dream, but the GBT is nonetheless the first such trail system in all Russia.
These rudimentary bits of infrastructure, the GBT organisation hopes, will attract more low-impact tourists to the region, thus encouraging ecofriendly businesses to flourish and providing an alternative to industrial and mass tourism development. Volunteers and local activists are also involved in raising awareness of environmental issues among local people, visiting schools and fundraising. Nomination as a finalist in National Geographic’s 2008 Geotourism Challenge is arguably the GBT’s greatest achievement to date and has greatly raised its profile in the world of ecotourism.
Many Baikal explorers simply enjoy trekking the 540km of trails created thus far, but every year young and old from around the world join work crews for a few enjoyable weeks of clearing pathways, cutting steps, creating markers and cobbling together footbridges. Those eager to volunteer should visit the GBT website (www.greatbaikaltrail.ru), or contact Tanya Yurchenko, GBT’s International Volunteer Coordinator ([email protected]).
Sleeping
Finding a bed became a lot easier in 2008 with the opening of the Baikal Trail Hostel, bookable through Hostelworld (www.hostelworld.com). Homestays are organised by some of the helpers listed, Click here.
Resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; train station; dm per hr R34-46) Clean, cheap dorm beds are charged by the hour with a six-hour minimum. Hot shared showers (5am-12pm).
Podlemore (23 179; pr 60 let SSSR 21a; s/tw/tr R452/904/975) The obvious if unmarked red-and-yellow tower beside the train station is a sanatorium that rents decent-value 7th-floor rooms with attached hot showers. Views of Baikal are across the railway marshalling yard – light sleepers might tire of the ever-disgruntled train dispatcher and her distorting loudspeaker.
Baikal Trail Hostel (23 860; www.baikaltrailhostel.com; [email protected]; ul Studentcheskaya 12, apt 16; dm R500) Initially set up to house Great Baikal Trail volunteers working in the North Baikal area, this spacious eight-bed apartment-hostel is well equipped with kitchen, bathroom, washing machine and internet access. Breakfast is included.
Baikal Resort (Dom u Baikala; 23 950; www.baikal-kruiz.narod.ru; ul Neptuna 3; tw R950-1100) Unusually comfortable for this price range, this ‘resort’ is really just a house and a row of cabins in a quiet area, walking distance from the lake. Rooms have a new shower and toilet, but summer-only huts are much more cramped and have no shower.
Zolotaya Rybka (21 134; www.hotel-golden-fish.ru; ul Sibirskaya 14; tw R1200-1600) Thoroughly renovated ‘cottages’, each containing three rooms that share a modern shower, kitchen, tasteful sitting area and two toilets. The pleasant setting between pine trees offers glimpses of Baikal and the Neptuna area below.
Baikal Service Bungalows (/fax 23 912; www.baikaltour.irk.ru; ul Promyshlennaya; dm R700, d/tr incl breakfast R2500/3500) Hidden in a peaceful pine grove at the otherwise unpromising northeast end of town, Baikal Service has comfortable chalets with well-appointed doubles and less appealing upstairs triples with sitting room. Cheaper options include summer yurts, camping pitches and dorm beds in the ‘student’ house, sharing a fridge and good hot shower.
Eating & Drinking
Goryache Pozi (pr Leningradsky 6; pozi R20; 9am-8pm; ) Basic café beside the market serving Central Asian food.
TIC (Railway Culture Centre, Tsentralny pl; mains R70-150; noon-3pm & 6pm-2am). Enjoy appetising grub by day (including some veggie dishes) or a few late beers in the evening. Provides at least a bit of nightlife for Severobaikalsk’s jaded youth.
Anyuta (ul Poligrafistov 3a; mains R90-180; 6pm-2am) Evening dinner spot housed in a new red-brick building amid high-rise blocks at the northern end of town.
Sportsbar OverTaim (Tsentralnaya pl; meals R150-200, beer R50; 8pm-1am) No sports but no cover charge either. Slightly more upmarket than the general standard in Severobaikalsk, this new pub-restaurant is popular with the youth crowd.
For cheap groceries try VIST supermarket (pr Leningradsky 5 8.30am-9pm; ul Studentcheskaya 8.30am-8pm).
Getting There & Away
An aerokassa (22 746; Tsentralny pl; 9am-noon & 1-4pm Wed-Fri, Sun & Mon) in Dom Kultury Zhelezno Dorozhnikov sells tickets for flights from Nizhneangarsk, 30km northeast.
BOAT
From late June to late August a hydrofoil service runs the length of Lake Baikal between Nizhneangarsk, Severobaikalsk and Irkutsk (R2000, 12 hours) via Olkhon Island. Unfortunately, the precise timetable is only announced days before the service begins, making advance planning difficult.
Boat trips are fun and reveal the lake’s vastness. Baikal’s mountain backdrop looks most spectacular from about 3km offshore, so going all the way across doesn’t add a lot scenically and you’ll need permits to land on the almost uninhabited east coast (Click here). It’s possible to negotiate cheap charters with fishermen at Severobaikalsk, Nizhneangarsk or Baikalskoe, but think carefully before taking a boat that’s small, slow or seems unreliable if you’re going far: storms can come from nowhere and getting help in the middle of icy-cold Baikal is virtually impossible. To hire better, long-distance boats typically costs from R1500 to R3000 per hour; try local travel agencies (Click here).
BUS
From outside Severobaikalsk’s train station marshrutky run to Baikalskoe (two daily) and Goudzhekit (four daily). The half-hourly marshrutky 103 to Nizhneangarsk airport (R34, 30 minutes) passes Severobaikalsk’s hydrofoil port and yacht club (2km), then follows the attractive Baikal shore.
In February and March locals regularly drive across Lake Baikal to Ust-Barguzin, en route to Ulan-Ude. For a paid hitchhike to Ust-Barguzin, around R800 per person is appropriate. Ideally, ask local contacts to find you a ride, offering to pay ‘petrol money’. Otherwise, try going out to a lonely but well-known hitching spot on the ice near the Profilaktoriya (Lager) children’s camp. It’s on an attractive curve of Baikal shore: take a marshrutka 2km south of the museum towards Zarechny, then turn left and walk another 2km via either fork. Best chances are between 6am and 9am on Friday and Saturday but it’s hit and miss, and waiting can get lonely and very cold.
TRAIN
Heading towards Moscow, train 91 (even-numbered days, 3 days, 21 hours) starts in Severobaikalsk whereas train 75 (odd-numbered days, 3 days, 20 hours) comes from Tynda further along the BAM. On odd-numbered days train 71 loops round to Irkutsk (R3670, 32 hours); on even-numbered days train 347 runs to Krasnoyarsk (R2800, 34 hours). All go via Lena (six or seven hours), Bratsk (14 to 18 hours) and Tayshet (20 to 24 hours). They also stop in Goudzhekit (platskart R200, 40 minutes), though the trip is vastly cheaper and more convenient by elektrichka (R40, one hour, twice daily).
Eastbound train 76 (R3300, 27 hours, odd-numbered days) goes all the way to Tynda. There are also daily trains to Taksimo (eight hours) and a very slow elektrichka to Novy Uoyan (departs 6.30am), both via Dzelinda (two hours).
Getting Around
Marshrutka 3 connects Zarechny suburb to Tsentralnaya pl via the museum, then continues to the train station and loops right around to the far side of the tracks, passing the Baikal Resort one way. Marshrutka 1 passes the access road for Baikal Service en route to the train station, Tsentralnaya pl and the museum.
AROUND SEVEROBAIKALSK
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Baikalskoe Байкальское
This timeless little fishing village of log-built houses 45km south of Severobaikalsk has a jawdroppingly picturesque lakeside location backed by wooded hills and snow-dusted peaks. Your first stop should be the small, informal school museum (admission R100; 10am-4pm) where hands-on exhibits tell the story of the village from the Stone Age to the seal hunts of the 20th century. The only other sight is the wooden Church of St Inokent, which strikes a scenic lakeside pose.
Most come to Baikalskoe on a day trip from Severobaikalsk, but if you do want to stay the night, ask at the school, as where teachers are generally happy to put people up in their homes. There’s no café, just a couple of shops selling basic foodstuffs.
Marshrutky leave from outside Severob-aikalsk train station at 8am and 5pm on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, returning an hour or so later. A taxi for the 45-minute drive costs from R500 each way plus waiting time; you can stop at an appealing viewpoint en route.
HIKES FROM BAIKALSKOE
A section of the Great Baikal Trail heads north from the fishing port 20 minutes up a cliffside path towards the radio mast, from which there are particularly superb views looking back towards the village. Beyond that, Baikalskoe’s shamanic petroglyphs hide in awkward-to-reach cliffside locations and can only be found with the help of a knowledgeable local. The well-maintained trail continues another 18 scenic kilometres through beautiful cedar and spruce forests and past photogenic Boguchan Island to chilly Lake Slyudyanskoe, where there is the small Echo turbaza (dm R300) – book through Tayozhik in Severobaikalsk (Click here). The hike makes for a rewarding day trip and, with the path hugging the lake most of the way, there’s little chance of getting lost. From the Echo turbaza head along a dirt track through the forest to the Severobaikalsk–Baikalskoe road to hitch a lift, or prearrange transport back to Severobaikalsk.
You’ll need to charter a boat to reach Cape Kotelnikovsky, from which a difficult trek on overgrown, ill-defined trails leads to lovely Gitara Lake, several waterfalls around Tazik Lake and eventually to the glaciers which descend from Mt Cherskogo, the region’s highest peak. This is serious wild trekking in bear country, and a guide is essential for the trip, which lasts several days.
Goudzhekit Гоуджекит
30139 / Moscow +5hr
Goudzhekit’s lonely BAM station is beautifully situated between bald, high peaks that stay dusted with snow until early June. Five minutes’ walk to the right, the low-rise spa (25 852; 7am-3am) has two pools fed by thermal springs discovered accidentally in the 1970s during construction of the BAM railway. The water is a soothing 40ºC and a relaxing 90-minute wallow costs just R70.
Opposite the spa there are two places to stay. Hotel Vstrecha (26 610; d R700) has five very comfortable rooms but no showers. Larger Hotel Goudzhekit (21 276; d R800) boasts a spring-water pool and a café. The Pogrebok café (9am-1pm) beneath the spa does a good line in salads and sandwiches.
With suitable guides, a 12-day trekking expedition can take you through the lovely, though mosquito-plagued, mountains behind Goudzhekit into the impressive, very isolated Tyya Valley.
Goudzhekit can be reached by BAM train or slower elektrichka, but much more convenient are marshrutky which leave from in front of Severobaikalsk train station at 6.30am and 6pm, returning an hour later.
Nizhneangarsk Нижнеангарск
30130 / pop 5595 / Moscow +5hr
Severobaikalsk might be much bigger but Nizhneangarsk, 30km northeast, is much older and remains the administrative centre of northern Baikal. A small museum (admission R50; by request, inquire at school) in the high school traces the history of the settlement back to the 17th century. Most buildings are wooden and the town forms a quietly attractive low-rise ribbon of long parallel streets stretching 5km along the lakeside from the port to the airport. To the east of the town a long spit of land known as Yarki Island caps the most northerly point of Lake Baikal and keeps powerful currents and waves out of the fragile habitat of the Verkhnaya Angara delta.
Friendly tour agency 109 Meridian (47 700; ul Rabochaya 143, airport; www.109meridian.ru; 10am-7pm Sun-Fri) based inside the airport terminal, runs reasonably priced summer coach excursions to Evenki villages and Baikalskoe, as well as multiday boat trips on Lake Baikal and up the Verkhnaya Angara. Staff can also arrange permits to land on Baikal’s eastern shore and book accommodation in Dzelinda, Goudzhekit and Severobaikalsk. Unfortunately, no English is spoken in the office.
The very appealing Gostiny Dom (22 506; ul Rabochaya 10; tw R1600) is a wooden house-hotel. Well-appointed standard rooms have attached bathrooms. The two suites have big double beds and great views across the mudflats towards Baikal. It’s a wonderfully peaceful location but there’s no restaurant or any nearby café. Basic Baikalsky Bereg (ul Pobedy 53; meals R100; 8am-7pm) has an attractive lakeside location and a hand-written menu of borscht, meatballs and pelmeni, while the airport snack bar next to the 109 Meridian office stays open even when there are no flights (which is most of the time).
Scenic low-altitude flights cross Lake Baikal to Ulan-Ude (R3450, five per week) and Irkutsk (R3800, three per week) when weather conditions allow.
Marshrutka 103 from Severobaikalsk runs every 30 minutes along ul Pobedy then continues along the coast road (ul Rabochaya) to the airport, returning via uls Kozlova and Lenina. The last service is at 8pm, or 6pm at weekends.
Dzelinda Дзелинда
Tiny timber Dzelinda is another hot-springs spa by the BAM railway but with a much more appealing forest location. Thermal springs keep the outdoor pools at a toasty 44°C even in winter, and when the surrounding hills are thick with snow and the temperature sinks to −35°C, a warm swim can be exhilarating. Guests stay in timber houses (dm R600-700), one of which has an intricately carved gable. All meals are provided. Book through 109 Meridian in Nizhneangarsk (opposite).
Elektrichka 656 leaves Severobaikalsk at 6.15pm, arriving at the Dzelinda halt 92km later at 7.58pm. The spa is a short walk along a newly paved road through the forest.
Akokan Gulag
The shallow, marshy delta of the Verkhnaya Angara is most photogenically viewed from tiny Dushkachan hamlet. Some 15km beyond, 3km north of the turning to Kholodnaya village, a track to your left is the start of a forest hike to remnants of the small mica-mining Akokan Gulag (1931–33). Assuming you have a reliable guide, it’s about an hour’s walk to reach some ‘officers’ huts’. Above are the main prison-camp ruins with a collapsed watchtower and a kitchen area, where three Marie Celeste–like cauldrons seem to await use. About 15-minutes’ climb beyond, a small railway has tiny bucket wagons and a magical pile of mica remnants leading to the collapsed mine entrance.
There’s no public transport to Akokan. Contact helpers in Severobaikalsk (Click here) or 109 Meridian in Nizhneangarsk (opposite) to arrange transport or a guided tour.
Khakusy & Northeast Baikal
The virtually impenetrable Frolikha Reserve (Frolikhinsky zapovednik) lies directly opposite Severobaikalsk on Baikal’s eastern shore. Access is generally from Nizhneangarsk, where you can also get the necessary permits. These are required to land your boat on lovely, shaman-haunted Ayaya Bay or to trudge seven mud-soaked kilometres to visit biologically unique Lake Frolikha.
Khakusy, an idyllically isolated hot-spring turbaza (dm/tw/tr R500/1300/1700; mid-Jun–early Sep), requires permits in summer but these are waived in February and March, when it takes about an hour to drive across the ice from Severobaikalsk. Bathing (per person R60) is fun in the snow and frozen steam creates curious ice patterns on the wooden spa buildings. Most local summer guests stay two weeks (from R9000 per person full board, including ferry ride from Nizhneangarsk). The ferry is generally fully booked, but if there’s space it offers the cheapest way for individual travellers to cross the unfrozen lake.
Even less accessible, the mostly deserted village at Davsha (population five), around 100km south of Khakusy, has been partly restored as a scientific hamlet and there’s now a little museum.
In spring and autumn, when the ice is half-melted or half-formed, all these places are totally cut off.
SOUTHERN BURYATIYA & ZABAIKALSKY TERRITORY ЮЖНАЯ БУРЯТИЯ & Забайкалский край
Scenically magnificent, Buryatiya crouches on the Mongolian border like a cartographic crab squeezing Lake Baikal with its right pincer. Much of the Baikal region covered earlier also falls within the republic, including Severobaikalsk and the Tunka Valley. Though its English version is limited, Buryatiya now has a tourism website (www.baikaltravel.ru), while another useful link is the official government website (http://egov-buryatia.ru/eng/), which has English-language tourist information.
The vast, sparsely populated Chita region stretches as far east as the wild Chara Mountains on the BAM railway, but in its more accessible southern reaches it’s most interesting for the vibrant capital (Chita), the Buddhist culture of its autonomous Agin-Buryat enclave and as an access route to China.
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Buryat Culture
Indigenous ethnic Buryats are a Mongol people who now comprise around 30% of Buryatiya’s population, as well as 65% of the Agin-Buryat Autonomous District southeast of Chita. Culturally there are two main Buryat groups. During the 19th century forest-dwelling western Buryats retained their shamanic animist beliefs, while eastern Buryats from the southern steppes mostly converted to Tibetan-style Buddhism, maintaining a thick layer of local superstition. Although virtually every Buryat datsan was systematically wrecked during the Communists’ antireligious mania in the 1930s, today Buryat Buddhism is rebounding. Many (mostly small) datsany have been rebuilt and seminaries for training Buddhist monks now operate at Ivolginsk and Aginskoe. The Buryat language is Turkic, though very different from Tuvan and Altai. Dialects vary considerably between regions but almost everyone speaks decent Russian. Hello is sainbena/sambaina, thank you (very much) is (yikhe) bai yer la. Buryat oral history is traditionally recited to the twangs of a khuchir (two-stringed lute).
ULAN-UDE УЛАН-УДэ
3012 / pop 380,000 / Moscow +5hr
The appealing capital of Buryatiya, ‘UU’ is 456km east of Irkutsk by rail and makes a sensible staging post for visiting Mongolia or eastern Lake Baikal. Founded as Verkhneudinsk in 1775, the city prospered as a major stop on the tea-caravan route from China via Troitskosavsk (now Kyakhta). Ulan means ‘Red’ in Buryat, yet Ulan-Ude is pleasantly green, cradled attractively in rolling hills. Despite the inevitable concrete suburban sprawl, it remains one of the most likable cities in Eastern Siberia.
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Orientation
The city’s heart is pl Sovetov and its backbone ul Lenina, but most traffic bypasses the latter on uls Borsoeva and Baltakhinova. The commercial centre is increasingly focused around the Sagaan Morin market and shopping mall across the railway tracks on pr 50-let Oktyabrya.
Information
There are exchange bureaus in the Geser and Buryatiya hotels. Witty, widely travelled schoolteacher Pyotr Ishkin (555 250, 8-902-167 1779; [email protected]) speaks great English and enjoys voluntarily helping foreign visitors find their feet during his free time.
Baikal Bank (pl Sovetov 1; 9am-8pm Mon-Fri, 9am-7pm Sat) Most centrally located place for changing dollars and euros.
PhotoPlus (ul Kommunisticheskaya 16; 9am-7pm Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm Sun) Three-minute passport photos for that Mongolian visa, R70.
Post office (ul Lenina 61; 8am-noon & 1pm-5pm Mon-Thu, until 4pm Fri) Multitasking office with internet room (per hour R35), that stays open longer, and air and rail ticket windows.
Telephone office (ul Borsoeva; 9am-8pm) Internet access here is R35 per hour but there are only three PCs.
TRAVEL AGENCIES
Ulan-Ude has many agencies happy to sell you Buryatiya and Baikal tours. The following companies are among those more orientated to Westerners and have at least some English-speaking staff.
Baikal Naran Tour (215 097; [email protected]; room 105, Hotel Buryatiya, ul Kommunisticheskaya 47a) Director Sesegma (aka Svetlana) is infectiously passionate about Buryatiya, offers horse-riding adventures and has dozens of fascinating one-off ideas.
Buryat-Intour (216 954; www.buryatintour.ru; ul Kirova 28a) Can arrange bird-watching in the Selenga Delta, monastery visits and city tours. Also sells air tickets.
Firn Travel (555 055; www.firntravel.ru; ul Babushkina 13a) Ecological projects and tours.
MorinTur (443 647; www.morintour.com; Hotel Sagaan Morin, ul Gagarina 25) Focuses on east Baikal, offering various ice and fishing adventures, a horse-sledge trip, seal watching, rafting in the Barguzin Valley and climbing on Svyatoy Nos (Holy Nose) Peninsula.
Siberia Tours (222 277; www.siberia-t.com; ul Nekrasova; 9am-7pm Mon-Sat) English-speaking travel and tour agency.
Sights
CITY CENTRE
A certain 19th-century opulence is still visible in the attractive commercial buildings on and around ul Lenina. Viewed from the 2006 replica of a 1891 triumphal arch honouring the then imperial heir, Nicholas II, or from the adjacent 1930s Opera House (undergoing a thorough makeover at the time of research), this street is given a photogenic focus by the gold-tipped spires of the 1785 Odigitria Cathedral (ul Lenina 2), which was rescued from near collapse in the late 1990s. It commands an appealing area of the old town, with carved wooden cottages extending as far as ul Kirova. At the other end of ul Lenina the main square, pl Sovetov, is awesomely dominated by the world’s largest Lenin head, which some maintain looks comically cross-eyed. The 7.7m-high bronze bonce was installed in 1970 to celebrate Lenin’s 100th birthday. Oddly, UU’s bird population never seem to streak Lenin’s bald scalp with their offerings – out of respect for the great man’s achievements, claim die-hard communists. Located beside a recently rebuilt 1830 chapel (ul Lenina), the renovated 1838 trading arcades are now filled with modern shops. Ul Lenina’s pedestrianised section, extending two blocks north, is a popular early-evening hang-out.
Backed by a park with a Ferris wheel and Gaudi-esque fountain, the active Trinity Church (ul Dimitrova 5a) sprouts a series of green bulb-domes.
The Historical Museum (210 653; Profsoyuznaya ul 29; admission per floor R70; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) charges per single-room floor (or R150 for access to all areas). The best is Buddiyskoe Iskustvo (3rd floor), displaying thangka, Buddhas and icons salvaged from Buryatiya’s monasteries before their Soviet destruction. Note-sheets in English fail to explain the fascinating, gaudy papier-mâché models of deities and bodhisattvas rescued from Buryatiya’s many prewar datsany. Note the home shrine table (every Buryat house once had one) and the sometimes gory Tibetan medical charts (this was practiced in the region until the 1940s). The less interesting 2nd floor traces Buryat history in maps, documents and artefacts. Spy it for free from the balcony above.
In an attractive 1847 wooden house, the Buryatiya Literary Museum (Literaturny muzey; 213 722; ul Sovetskaya 27; admission R50; 10am-6pm Tue-Sat) contains old photos and manuscripts. A rare 108-volume Atsagat Ganzhur (Buddhist chant book) is inscribed in multicoloured Tibetan script on special black lacquer made from blood, sugar and pounded sheep’s vertebrae.
The Nature Museum (Muzey Prirody Buryati; 214 149; ul Lenina 46; admission R61; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun) has big stuffed animals and a scale model of Lake Baikal showing just how deep it is.
The Geological Museum (Geologchesky muzey; ul Lenina 59; admission free; 11am-5pm Mon-Fri) is modest but well presented, while the Fine Arts Museum (Khudozhestvenny muzey; 212 909; ul Kuybysheva 29; admission per exhibition R100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) has small, regularly changing exhibitions.
OUTSKIRTS
In a forest clearing 6km from central Ulan-Ude is the worthwhile Ethnographic Museum (Etnografichesky muzey; 335 754; admission R70; 9am-5pm Tue-Sun), an outdoor collection of local architecture plus some reconstructed burial mounds and the odd stone totem. Although lacking the pretty lakeside setting of equivalents in Bratsk and Irkutsk, it features occasional craft demonstrations, has a splendid wooden church and sports a whole strip of Old Believers’ homesteads. Marshrutka 8 from pl Sovetov passes within 1km and upon request will detour to drop you at the door for no extra charge.
En route you’ll notice Ulan-Ude’s attractive new pair of datsany (Barguzinsky Trakt) backed by stupas and trees that flutter with prayer flags; there are services from 9am to 11am most mornings. The nearby hippodrome (442 254) is the venue for major festivals including the Surkharban in early June, the biggest Buryat sporting event of the year featuring archery, wrestling and exhilarating feats of horsemanship.
Sleeping
Showers can run very cold when the city’s central hot water system is turned off for several days or even weeks in early summer for annual maintenance to be carried out.
BUDGET
Resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; 282 696; Ulan-Ude train station; per hr R71) Well maintained crash pad at the station.
Hotel Barguzin (215 746; Sovetskaya ul 28; s R470-960, tw R1320-2400, tr R1650-1800) Until someone opens a hostel in Ulan-Ude, the lacklustre Barguzin will continue to be the most survivable budget place to kip. Beyond the spruced- up foyer with lurking stuffed bear, rooms have en suite facilities, TV, lino and cigarette burns. No breakfast.
Hotel Profsoyuznaya (222 373; ul Vorovskogo 25; s R1000, d R1300) Despite its scratchy towels and clumsy Soviet-era plumbing, this often overlooked former trade-union hostel is a fairly decent choice, and some rooms have been upgraded. There’s a 25% booking fee and no breakfast.
Hotel Ayan (415 141; ul Babushkina 164; s R1300-2500, tw R1800-4000;
). The inconvenient location 2km south of the city centre is more than recompensed by pristine international-standard rooms, some with air-conditioning. The cheapest singles are a good deal and every room has its own water heater. Floors one to three have paid wi-fi and there’s also a tiny café. Incredibly this six-storey new-build has no lift. Take bus 40 from the city centre.
Hotel Sagaan Morin (White Horse; 444 019; www.morintour.com/eng/sagaan-hotel/, in Russian; ul Gagarina 25; s/tw/tr R1300/2400/3600) This perfectly appointed three-star tower is a popular choice among independent travellers and booking ahead in summer is advised. The entrance is somewhat hidden by the melee of the market outside. The owners also run a large turbaza in the pretty village of Sukhaya on Baikal’s eastern shore, 170km north of Ulan-Ude.
Hotel Buryatiya (211 505; ul Kommunisticheskaya 47a; s R1350-1800, tw R1500-2100) The mammoth Buryatiya, the former Intourist hotel, has 220 rooms of wildly differing sizes and standards, some like broom cupboards with Soviet plumbing, others almost palatial with sparkling European bathrooms. One advantage to staying here is the convenience of extra services (internet room, tour companies, souvenir kiosks, ATMs) on the 1st floor – there’s even a Buddhist temple!
MIDRANGE
Hotel Baikal Plaza (210 838; www.baikalplaza.com; ul Erbanova 12; s R2000, d R3500, tw R3000). The tired old Baikal reinvented itself in 2006 and, following renovation, standards have rocketed. The 68 modernised rooms are arguably UU’s finest offering, and the central location overlooking the Lenin Head is unrivalled.
Hotel Sibir (297 257; www.hoteltrk.ru; ul Poch-tamtskaya 1; s R2200, d R3300-5900; ) This futuristic metallic cube stands in stark contrast to the ageing Buryatiya opposite. Welcoming doubles have dark wood–furniture, impeccable en suite bathrooms and flat-screen TVs, but singles are a touch austere.
Hotel Geser (/fax 216 151; www.geser-hotel.ru; ul Ranzhurova 11; s/tw/ste R2500/3100/6600) For a Soviet place this former Party hang-out has relatively spacious rooms, some of which have been passably modernised. However, others retain clunky old toilets and one would expect vastly better facilities for these prices. Rates include breakfast and one or two staff members speak English.
Eating
In summer many open-air cafés appear near the river and around the opera house serving mostly beers and shashlyk. A few fast-food vans sell burgers and snacks near the trading arches.
RESTAURANTS
Marusya (218 066; ul Lenina 46; mains R50-200; 10am-10pm) A coy 19th-century makeover with polished samovars, matryoshka dolls and waitresses trussed up in pseudo folk costume has brought the Ulger Theatre restaurant back from the dead. Enjoy inexpensive Russian meals at tightly packed tables to the sound of dreamy 1970s Russian chansons on CD, or flee the chintz for the pleasantly sunny terrace.
Baatarai Urgöö (267 810; Barguzin Rd, Verkhnyaya Berezovka; mains R80-130; noon-11pm) Two carved Mongol warriors guard this unusual collection of restaurant yurts near the Ethnographic Museum. The central dining hall is how you’d imagine Chinggis Khaan’s spaceship, powered by a central dragon-stove. The menu includes many Buryat specialities: liver and onions, battered omul, shangi (scone-bread) and khuushuur (meat turnovers) washed down with astringent arsa (a warm, sour milk concoction). Take marshrutka 8 from pl Sovetov to the Yurt stop.
Modern Nomads (ul Ranzhurova 1; mains R100-200; 11am-11pm Mon-Fri, from noon Sat & Sun) Join student drinkers, snackers and diners at this clean-cut and very popular place serving Mongolian dishes with a contemporary twist.
Samovar (464 188; ul Gagarina 41; meals R150-300; 11am-11pm) Friendly, costumed staff add to the old-Russia atmosphere of this cute basement restaurant with wooden ceiling beams, spinning wheels and garlands of medicinal herbs. The menu is firmly traditional Russian, heavy with pelmeni and bliny.
Serp i Molod (Hammer & Sickle; 214 114; ul Erbanova 7a; mains R200; 8am-11pm) A tongue-in-cheek Soviet theme, a menu in English and live music most nights make this a fun place to eat. The atmosphere improves the later it gets. Hidden just off pl Sovetov; follow the hammer and sickle signs.
Chingiskhan (415 050; Sun Tower, Karla Marksa 25a; mains R200-400; 11am-11pm) A huge carved portrait of Chinggis himself offers a stern welcome to this upmarket restaurant crafted in the shape of a traditional circular yurt. The steppe bon vivant and conqueror of half the world would no doubt approve of the eclectic Eurasian menu of expertly fused Russian, Buryat and Chinese dishes and the finely tuned feng shui. The restaurant is situated in the Sun Tower, south of the river Uda. Take any tram heading south from the market and alight at the Sayany stop.
Geser Restaurant (211 178; Hotel Geser, ul Ranzhurova 11; meals R200-400; noon-4pm & 6-11pm) Smart restaurant with a menu in English and a variety of sensibly priced Siberian specialities, including omul fillet in cream sauce (R165) and several vegetarian options.
QUICK EATS & SELF-CATERING
Happyland (ul Lenina 52; meals R50-90; 10.30am-11pm) This everything-with-chips canteen in the cinema foyer is the cheapest source of empty calories in the city centre. Popular bar with Baltika and Carlsberg on tap.
King’s Burger (ul Lenina 21; burgers R70, pizzas R100-150; 8am-11pm) A frugally post-Soviet version of a fast-food emporium.
King’s Food (basement, ul Kommunisticheskaya 43; meals R100; 11am-11pm) So-so food, striking pillar-box red and jet-black decor and crass Russian MTV; on hot days use the cutlery to slice a hole in the air to breathe through. On the plus side it’s cheap, clean and conveniently central.
Sputnik Supermarket (ul Kommunisticheskaya 48; 24hr) is a handy but pricey central grocery. Get there early for real freshly-baked croissants. The Ekonom Supermarket (ul Tolstogo 3; 8am-10pm) is marginally cheaper.
Drinking
Mir Igry (222 020; ul Kommunisticheskaya 52; beer R100-150; 10am-1am) This casino complex has three great bar-restaurants (meals R100 to R400), each with its own theme and atmosphere. It’s popular with young professionals and a great place to strike up conversations over a shot of vodka or 10. The large beer and shashlyk terrace is the place to eat on sultry summer evenings.
Kakadu (pr 50-let Oktyabrya 10; snacks R20-50, beer R35-90; 10am-11pm) Smoky, upbeat basement pub with a very nominal Mexican theme. Entry is from a side alley opposite the less-appealing Dauriya bar.
Kofeynya Shokolad (223 659; ul Kuybysheva 38; coffee R40-75, ice creams from R45; 8.30am-11pm) Remarkably suave for the surroundings, this minicafé makes the best macchiato in town and serves 11 types of latte. It’s built into the front terrace of the Buryat National Theatre building and uniquely enjoys simultaneous views of Ulan-Ude’s two finest churches.
Kofeynya Marco Polo (ul Kommunisticheskaya 46; coffee R50-70; 9am-10.30pm; ) Cosy coffee house with some character, great desserts and wi-fi for R3 per MB.
Shopping
The Ulan-Ude branch of Ekspeditsiya (ul Borsoeva 19; 9am-6pm) sells good-quality sleeping bags, tents and other essential outdoor kit. For Buryat and Baikal souvenirs such as oriental costumed dolls, shaman drums, colourful felt hats and lovable nerpa-seal soft toys, head for the Baikal Naran Tour souvenir kiosk (room 105, Hotel Buryatiya; ul Kommunisticheskaya 47a) or Gobi (ul Kommunisticheskaya; 10am-7pm), the yurt in front of the Hotel Buryatiya.
Getting There & Away
AIR
For a major city, Ulan-Ude’s ageing Mukhino Airport (11km from the city centre) handles surprisingly few flights. Locals grumble about the lack of air transport to Ulaan Baatar and the high cost of flights to Moscow. S7 Airlines (220 125; ul Sukhe-Batora 63; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, to 6pm Sat & Sun) operates a daily direct service to Moscow Domodedovo (from R5500 when purchased three months in advance), while planes belonging to VIM Airlines (www.vim-avia.com) refuel in UU twice a week on their way between Moscow (R16,000) and Vladivostok (R9000). Buryat Airlines (212 248; ul Erbanova 14; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, until 6pm Sat, noon-6pm Sun) has very scenic flights to Nizhneangarsk near Severobaikalsk (R3450, five per week) and Irkutsk (R1870, three per week). Tickets can be bought from offices at the Hotel Barguzin, Hotel Buryatiya, the post office and Akbes Tur (212 212; ul Kommunisticheskaya 46; 9am-8pm, from 9.30am Sun).
BUS
At 7.30am daily a bus runs from a stop near the opera house roundabout to Ulaan Baatar (R950, 10 hours) via Kyakhta. Buy tickets from Baikal Naran Tour.
Use the utterly disorganised main bus station (Sovetskaya ul) for Barguzin (R351, 8.10am), Kurumkan (R400, 8am) and Ust-Barguzin (R306, seven hours, 7.30am) supplemented by similarly timed marshrutky from the yard opposite. Marshrutky to Kyakhta (R250, 4½ hours) via Novoselenginsk leave in the morning when full. There’s also a 7.45am bus to Arshan (R450, 11 hours).
Marshrutky to Arshan (R550, six hours), Irkutsk (R800, eight hours) and Chita (R700, seven hours) run overnight from the courtyard of the train station, departing throughout the day when full but mainly around 9pm. Sporadic daytime marshrutky serve Kabansk and Posolskoe from the same place.
From the similarly anarchic Banzarova bus station (ul Banzarova) very rare marshrutka 104 departs for the Ivolginsky Datsan early mornings, around noon and late afternoon. Alternatively, use the very frequent 130 service to Ivolga (R25) then switch to a taxi.
TRAIN
Beijing-bound trains pass through Ulan-Ude on Tuesday (via Chita) and Saturday (via Mongolia). Fast trains to Ulaan Baatar pass through on Sunday and Monday at 1.30pm and waste vastly less time at the border than train 362 (R2000, 28 hours), which departs 7am daily. Buy international tickets from the servis tsentr (282 460) upstairs at the train station. For Chita, train 340 (R1500, 10 hours) is the handiest overnight option. Towards Irkutsk, day trains (platskart from R460, seven to 10 hours) are popular for Baikal views.
Getting Around
Ulan-Ude has a vast, frequent but confusing public transport web. From pl Sovetov marshrutka 77 (R10, 20 minutes) runs a few times hourly to the airport while marshrutka 8 passes the datsany, hippodrome, Ethnographic Museum and Baatarai Urgöö restaurant – last return around 9pm. Tram 7 (R8) between ul Baltakhinova and the Hotel Odon is a relatively direct way to approach the train station, avoiding the sometimes convoluted marshrutka routes.
AROUND ULAN-UDE
The most popular attractions are the local datsany, although even interesting Ivolginsk, Buryatiya’s biggest, is somewhat ‘tinny’ and far less visually impressive than the Tibetan-style equivalents at Tsugol and Aginskoe in Chita region.
First founded in 1741, Tamchinski Datsan (160km south of Ulan-Ude) was Buryatiya’s first Buddhist monastery. The original was destroyed in the 1930s and the modern reconstruction is small scale and surrounded by the slowly dying village of Gusinoe Ozero (30km south of Gusinoozersk). View the newly renovated former school of philosophy, test out the amazing acoustics of the main temple and chat with the mobile-phone–toting head lama who, for a donation, may let you camp in the grounds and eat in the small refectory. To get there, take the 6.55am Naushki train from Ulan-Ude (platskart R267, 3½ hours) and alight at Gusinoe Ozero. A train runs back to Ulan-Ude at 5.35pm.
Atsagat Datsan was once the centre of Buryat Buddhist scholarship and has an important scriptorium. There are fine examples of Atsagat manuscripts displayed in Ulan-Ude’s literary museum (Click here). Like Tamchinski, the datsan was completely destroyed in the 1930s, but has crawled back to life and has a tiny Ayvan Darzhiev museum commemorating the Atsagat monk who became a key counsellor to the 13th Dalai Lama. Photogenically gaudy, the little monastery sits on a lonely grassy knoll and is set back from km54 of the old Chita road – unfortunately there is no convenient public transport. A tour from Ulan-Ude will cost around R3000 for up to three people.
The hilly steppe around Ulan-Ude is pimpled with forgotten Hun ‘castles’, so ancient that they are effectively invisible undulations in the flower-filled grass. Baikal Naran Tour (Click here) can show you one such area, but in reality it’s the butterflies, flowers and the guide’s enthusiasm that are the biggest attractions of the trip. There are several relatively accessible Old Believers’ villages, notably Tarbagatay (50km south of Ulan-Ude), with its whitewashed church and small museum, and nearby Desyatnikovo, but visits are only really interesting when costumed shows are put on. These can be arranged through most Ulan-Ude agencies.
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Ivolginsk (Ivolga) Datsan Иволгинский Дацан
This multibuilding datsan complex (admission free) was founded in 1946 and is the centre of Siberian Buddhism. Flanked by a few log cottages and a small canteen, it sits in a wide green valley edged by mountain foothills. Viewed distantly across grassy fields, low morning sunlight glints enthrallingly from the gilded roof-wings of the 1972 main temple building. Closer up, however, the exterior is less impressive, with slapdash paintwork, tacky tiger guardian statues and brick-patterning painted onto the whitewashed walls. Some of the lovably basic prayer wheels are crafted from old tin cans. The main temple’s interior (no photography please) is colourful and very atmospheric despite discordantly chuntering cash registers. Nearby notice the glassed-in bodhi tree, convolutedly descended from the Bodh Gaya original beneath which the Buddha achieved enlightenment.
Within the datsan complex is the beautiful, Korean-style wooden Etigel Khambin Temple honouring the 12th Khambo Lama, whose body was recently exhumed. To general astonishment, seven decades after his death his flesh had still not decomposed. Some ‘experts’ have even attested that the corpse’s hair is still growing, albeit extraordinarily slowly. The body is displayed seven times a year, attracting pilgrims from across the Buddhist world.
The datsan’s unheated hostel is for pilgrims, but Buddhist-minded tourists just might be accommodated upon polite request and for a small donation.
The first direct bus from Ulan-Ude arrives well before the 9am khural (prayer service), giving ample time to wander among the prayer flags of the mosquito-infested surrounding swamp. Returning buses leave at 1.30pm, 5.30pm and 8.30pm. Alternatively, take a taxi to uninteresting Ivolga, from where marshrutka 130 shuttles to Ulan-Ude several times hourly (R25). Several Ulan-Ude tour agencies offer small group excursions combining visits to Ivolginsk, a local stupa and a hill-top oobo (sacred whitewashed boulders) site with lovely views and shamanistic overtones. The typical cost is R2000 to R3000 per person.
TOWARDS MONGOLIA
Although there are faster weekend expresses, the daily Ulaan Baatar-bound train from Irkutsk is excruciatingly slow, taking a mind-numbing 11 hours to clear the borders. It’s just one or two kupe carriages appended to train 362, which has no restaurant car and doesn’t make food stops between Naushki (on the border) and Ulan-Ude (six to eight hours). Southbound you can save money by travelling platskart to Naushki, buying the Naushki–Sükhbaatar ticket separately then purchasing a Sükhbaatar to Ulaan Baatar ticket, paid in Mongolian tögrög (T), on arrival in Mongolia.
Much faster is the daily bus to Ulaan Baatar from Ulan-Ude which queue-jumps at the border. More interesting than either is to make marshrutka hops to the Mongolian border via Novoselenginsk and the once-opulent tea-route town of Kyakhta.
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Novoselenginsk Новоселенгинск
30145 / pop 9500 / Moscow +5hr
Stockades and wooden houses on broad dust-blown roads give this small, 19th-century town a memorable Wild West feel. Learn something of Novoselenginsk’s interesting history at the Decembrist Museum (Muzey Dekabristov; 96 716; ul Lenina 53; admission R40; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun), which is housed in an unmissable 200-year-old colonnaded house in the town’s centre. Lower floors are stocked with 19th-century furnishings, while upstairs are maps and photos relating to the Decembrist exiles and their wives (Click here), as well as a long-armed naive-style crucifixion scene rescued from the town’s 18th-century church.
If you walk a couple of kilometres east of the museum through the town towards the Selenga River you’ll see on the grassy far bank the isolated ruins of the whitewashed Spassky Church; this is all that remains of Staroselenginsk, the original settlement, which was abandoned around 1800 due to frequent floods. Some low hills here provide photogenic viewpoints across the landscape. You’ll also find an unremarkable obelisk commemorating Martha Cowie, the wife of a Scottish missionary who spent 22 years here translating the Bible into Mongolian and trying (wholly unsuccessfully) to ween the Buryats off Buddhism.
Marshrutky from Ulan-Ude (1½ hours, six or seven daily) all pause here on their way to Kyakhta. Novoselenginsk has no hotel, and nowhere to eat, but there’s little reason to linger beyond the couple of hours it takes to see the town.
Kyakhta Кяхта
30142 / pop 18,400 / Moscow +5hr
Kyakhta lacks the cinemascope landscapes of Novoselenginsk but retains three once-grand churches, a quirky but engaging old museum and a surprisingly good hotel. Formerly called Troitskosavsk, Kyakhta was a town of tea-trade millionaires whose grandiose cathedral was reputed to have had solid silver doors embedded with diamonds. By the mid-19th century as many as 5000 cases of tea a day were arriving via Mongolia on a stream of horse or camel caravans, which returned loaded with furs. Compressed tea ‘bricks’ were used as money, a practice continued by Buryat nomads as recently as the 1930s.
This gloriously profitable tea trade was brought to shuddering end with the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Almost overnight all commerce was redirected via Vladivostok or Harbin, and Kyakhta withered into a remote border garrison town, bristling with weapons instead of gilded spires.
Modern Kyakhta is effectively two towns. The main one is centred around ul Lenina, where the bus terminus sits next to the 1853 trading arcade (ryady gostinye). The smaller Sloboda district, 4km south of the commercial centre, is where you’ll find the border post.
SIGHTS
The impressive shell of the 1817 Trinity Cathedral (Troitsky sobor) lies at the heart of the overgrown central park. Northeast along ul Lenina, the delightfully eccentric museum (92 333; ul Lenina 49; admission R100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) retains its original 1922 hardwood exhibition cases full of pickled foetuses and pinned butterflies. Peruse musty displays of treasures salvaged from Soviet-plundered churches and datsany, bricks of tea, Buryat folk costumes and artwork brought back from trans-Asia expeditions by19th-century Russian gentlemen explorers.
Running parallel to ul Lenina, ul Krupskaya has several attractive wooden buildings, including No 37 where the first meeting of the Mongolian Revolutionary Party was held in 1921. The street ends at Kyakhta’s only working church, the Uspenskaya Church, with a subdued iconostasis and frescoed dome.
In Sloboda, a dwarfish Lenin glares condescendingly at the grand but sadly ruined 1838 Voskresenskaya Church and its splendid Italianate cupola. Behind Lenin is the rather mutilated 1842 Historic Customs Warehouse (Zdanie Gostinogo Dvora) with appended Communist-era spire. Directly behind is the frontier station for crossing into Mongolia.
SLEEPING & EATING
Hotel Druzhba (91 321; ul Krupskaya 8; dm from R280, ste R560) Beside the Uspenskaya Church, 10 minutes’ walk south of Kyakhta’s main centre, this place has good-value suites with hot water, sitting room and king-size bed. Its restaurant-bar is one of the better places to eat in town, too.
Eating options are very limited. Sloboda Zakusochnaya (border post; meals from R50; 24hr), is a run-of-the-mill pozi joint popular with cross-border truck drivers. Troika Café (ul Lenina; 10am-midnight) serves reasonably priced Buryat and Chinese fare opposite the museum.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Ulan-Ude-Kyakhta marshrutky (R150, 3½ hours) take a pleasantly scenic route with a break in Novoselenginsk.
The Mongolian border (10am-7pm) is open to bicycles and vehicles, and some officials speak English. You can’t walk across, so pedestrians need to negotiate passage with private drivers. Start asking as close as possible to the front of the chaotic queue: processing takes about an hour, with only a handful of vehicles allowed through at any one time. The going rate is around R200 per passenger across no-man’s-land, but it’s well worth negotiating a ride all the way to Sükhbaatar train station (around R150 extra) rather than becoming prey to rip-off taxi drivers in Altanbulag, the dreary Mongolian border village. From Sükhbaatar to Ulaan Baatar, trains (obshchiy/kupe T3500/8400, nine hours) depart at 9.45pm and 6.10am – they’re rarely full.
Naushki Наушки
The only reason to come here is to catch the border-hop train to Sükhbaatar (kupe R400, one hour). This is often a single carriage, but when it’s officially ‘full’, a suitably tipped provodnik (carriage attentdent) might still be prepared to get you aboard. Naushki to Ulan-Ude (platskart R320) is an attractive but excruciatingly slow ride, taking six hours to travel 255km. Ticket offices in Ulan-Ude occasionally refuse to sell Naushki tickets to foreigners as officially this is a no-go border zone. Just try another ticket window. Two or three buses shuttle the 35km between Kyakhta and Naushki (one hour) to connect with Ulaan Baatar–Irkutsk trains.
CHITA ЧИТА
3022 / pop 372,000 / Moscow +6hr
The golden domes of Chita’s cathedral entice train travellers to hop off and explore this historic, patchily attractive city. If its architectural gems were less widely dispersed the city might be considered one of Siberia’s more appealing. Sadly, each attractive area is a little too diffuse to make the overall impact particularly memorable. Nonetheless, the vibrant, go-ahead atmosphere and lack of (non-Chinese) tourists makes Chita an engaging place to spend a day or two.
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History
Founded in 1653, Chita developed as a rough-and-tumble silver-mining centre till force-fed a dose of urban culture after 1827 by the arrival of more than 80 exiled Decembrist gentlemen-rebels – or more precisely by their wives and lovers who followed, setting up homes on what became known as ul Damskaya (Women’s St). That’s now the southern end of ul Stolyanova, where sadly only a handful of rotting wooden cottages remain amid soulless concrete apartment towers.
As gateway to the new East Chinese Railway, Chita boomed in the early 20th century, despite flirting with socialism. Following the excitement of 1905, socialists set up a ‘Chita Republic’ which was brutally crushed within a year. After the ‘real’ revolutions of 1917, history gets even more exciting and complex. Bolsheviks took over, then lost control to Japanese forces who possibly intercepted part of Admiral Kolchak’s famous ‘gold train’ (carriages containing Russia’s gold reserves, given to the White admiral for safekeeping in Omsk) before retreating east. By 1920 Chita was the capital of the huge, short-lived Far Eastern Republic, a nominally independent, pro-Lenin buffer state whose parliament is now garishly over-renovated at ul Anokhina 63. The republic was absorbed into Soviet Russia in December 1922 once the Japanese had withdrawn from Russia’s east coast. Closed and secretive for much of the Soviet era, today Chita is prosperous, rejuvenated and once again flooded with Chinese traders.
THE DECEMBRIST WOMEN
Having patently failed to topple Tsarist autocracy in December 1825, many prominent ‘Decembrist’ gentlemen-revolutionaries were exiled to Siberia. They’re popularly credited with bringing civilisation to the rough-edged local pioneer-convict population. Yet the real heroes were their womenfolk who cobbled together the vast carriage fares to get themselves to Siberia: in prerailway 1827 the trip from St Petersburg to Irkutsk cost the equivalent of US$200 (about US$10,000 today).
And that was just the start. Pauline Annenkova, the French mistress of one aristocratic prisoner, spent so long awaiting permission to see her lover in Chita that she had time to set up a fashionable dressmakers’ shop in Irkutsk. By constantly surveying the prisoners’ conditions, the women eventually shamed guards into reducing the brutality of the jail regimes, while their food parcels meant that Decembrists had more hope of surviving the minimal rations of their imprisonment. The Decembrist women came to form a core of civil society and introduced ‘European standards of behaviour’. As conditions eventually eased, this formed the basis for a liberal Siberian aristocracy, especially in Chita and Irkutsk where some Decembrists stayed on even after finishing their formal banishment.
Orientation
Three blocks north of the main Chita 2 train station, uls Butina and Leningradskaya form the sides of the wide pedestrianised expanse of pl Lenina. Perpendicular to this, attractively tree-lined ul Lenina parallels the train tracks from either side of the square. Parallel uls Amurskaya and Babushkina are major thoroughfares.
Information
Dauria Ecology-Centre (357 739; www.dauria.chita.ru; ul Chkalova 120) Protecting and promoting the gorgeous, little-known landscapes of the Transbaikal region. It hosts some great web photos, but is not tourist orientated.
Flamingo Travel (352 282; www.flamingo.chita.ru, in Russian; office 5, ul Lenina 102; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 11am-3pm Sat in summer) Small tour agency, with some English-speaking staff.
Foreign Languages Faculty (ul Butina 65) Helpful students here are keen to practise their English with those rare tourists.
Internet Tsentr (ul Chaikovskogo 24; per MB R3.20, per hr R42; 9am-2pm & 3-8.30pm)
KiberPochta (ul Lenina 2; internet per MB R4, per hr R35; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, until 7pm Sat, until 6pm Sun) Internet access.
Lanta (353 638; ul Leningradskaya 56; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat) Runs weekend tours to Alkhanay and Duldurga (Click here). No English is spoken.
Main post office (ul Butina 37; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, to 8pm Sat, 9am-6pm Sun) Quaintly spired wooden building on pl Lenina.
Rus Tur (264 283; www.rustur.chita.ru; ul Lenina 93, office 410) Can arrange tours to Tsugol (R8000 per car); some English is spoken in the office.
Telephone office (ul Chaikovskogo 22; 8.30am-1pm & 2-5pm Mon-Fri) Has an ATM.
VTB Bank (ul Amurskaya 41; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri) Changes US dollars, euros, Chinese yuan and even British pounds.
Sights
Chita has a wealth of grand, century-old mansions liberally mixed with Stalinist and post-communist edifices of lesser quality. To enjoy the greatest concentration, walk along uls Anokhina, Amurskaya and Lenina for three blocks southeast of pl Lenina. That central square is also fairly imposing, dominated by a constipated-looking pink granite Lenin statue, surrounded in midwinter by ice sculptures. Chita also has a fair sprinkling of delightful old wooden houses, notably at ul Lenina 104, ul Chkalova 146, ul Babushkina 82, ul Anokhina 53 and ul Lermontova 3. Although the former historic centre is now mostly trampled by concrete towers, some timber cottages also remain on ul Dekabristov, southeast of the city centre. Hemmed in behind apartment blocks, the lovely 1771 Archangel Michael log church (ul Selenginskaya) is an unexpected sight. It houses a small but interesting Decembrist Museum (Muzey Dekabristov; 310 412; admission R30; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun), with a posse of old-age pensioners as potential guides. The church’s position close to an impressive 1907 former synagogue (ul Ingodinskaya 19) and eye-catching 1909 brick mosque (ul Anokhina 3a) has led certain Chita residents to declare rather absurdly that the area is some sort of ‘Siberian Jerusalem’. Rather like some parts of the Holy Land, these rundown streets should definitely be avoided after dark.
The excellent Kuznetzov Regional Museum (Kraevedchesky muzey; 260 315; ul Babushkina 113; admission R65; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) is housed in an early-20th-century mansion. Beyond the gratuitous stuffed elk, you’ll find some pretty interesting local exhibits, including a very thorough examination of the heritage and architectural renaissance of the city and region.
The Art Museum (Oblastnoy khudozhestvenny muzey; ul Chkalova 120a; admission R50; 10am-6.30pm Tue-Sun) shows frequently changing exhibitions by school children and local artists, not always especially talented.
The dry, Russian-language-only Military Museum (Muzey istori voysk ZaBVO; 343 492; ul Lenina 86; admission R30; 9am-1pm & 2-5pm) is only for those with a passion for Eastern Siberia’s military history, though it does contain some semi-interesting exhibits on Beketov’s Cossacks, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and communist repressions. Each of the six floors bristles with weapons, and the museum’s collection of tanks and artillery can be seen by walking up the passage between the museum and the impressive Officers’ Club building next door.
All of the above sights are completely outshone by Chita’s star attraction, the perfectly proportioned cathedral. The bright turquoise facades and huge gilt onion domes reflecting the train station opposite are impressive, though inside it’s lamentably plain. The recent-looking Voskreseniya Church (ul 9-go Yanvarya) is actually the city’s oldest, but was almost burnt to the ground in 1996. Some of the original 19th-century icons are displayed inside.
Sleeping
BUDGET
Chita has little budget accommodation and homestays are nonexistent. Cheap digs are often jam-packed with on-leave military and Chinese migrants.
Hotel Taiga (262 332; 4th fl, ul Lenina 75; dm R340-510, d 880-1020; ) Expect plenty of teen spirit at this survivable crash pad above the Forestry College student dorms. Some rooms have TV and there’s a guest kitchen. The front door is locked at midnight.
Hotel AChO (Gostinitsa Upravleniya delami Administratsi Chitinskoi Oblasti; 351 968; ul Profsoyuznaya 19; dm R625-800, s from R2000, tw R3600-4000 ) Painted taupe and white, this fine brick mansion was built in 1906 for a printing magnate and used as a WWI hospital and tobacco factory before becoming a hotel. Rooms are now fully renovated with polished wooden floors, a fridge and showers with doors! Admire the wrought ironwork of the grand doorway and banisters.
Hotel Chitaavtotrans (355 011; ul Kostyushko-Grigovicha 7; dm/s/tw R900/1300/1800) Cosmetically improved but cramped rooms have TV and fridge but wobbly old shower floors. Doubles are overpriced but singles are just about spot on. Quiet yet central.
MIDRANGE
Hotel Arkadia (352 636; www.arkadia.chita.ru; ul Lenina 120; s R1500-2900, tw R2000-2600) A newly built place set back from ul Lenina and equipped with 35 blandly done-out but comfy rooms.
Hotel Zabaikale (359 819; www.zabaikalie.ru; ul Leningradskaya 36; s from R2100, tw from R2860) Unbeatably located overlooking the main square. A thorough makeover has given the Zabaikale’s rooms minibars and Russian MTV. Showers are piping hot, if poorly mounted. Rates include ham-and-egg breakfast in the kitschily grand new 2nd-floor restaurant. A further floor of rooms was being added at the time of research. Booking charge 25%.
Vizit (356 945; [email protected]; ul Lenina 93; s/tw R2850/R5200 ) Occupying the 5th floor of an ultramodern smoked-glass tower at the busy intersection of uls Lenina and Profsoyuznaya, this is Chita’s best luxury offering with relaxing en suite rooms, tasteful leather sofas and sparkling bathrooms. Some doubles have baths and the air-con provides relief from Chita’s superheated summers. Half-price for stays of between six and 12 hours.
Hotel Dauria (262 350; Profsoyuznaya ul 17; s from R3200, tw from R3200) Renovated, very comfortable en suite rooms with new furniture mean this is no longer the backpacker favourite it once was. It’s above the Kharbin Chinese Restaurant. Booking fee 25%.
Eating
With a couple of exceptions, Chita’s dining scene amounts to an unexciting assortment of greasy spoons and crass theme restaurants, with just enough choice to mean you won’t go hungry. Menus are more likely to be in Chinese than English.
RESTAURANTS
Kafe Morozhenoe (ul Babushkina 50; meals R50-100; 10am-10pm; ) In primary blue and yellow this striking ice-cream parlour serves cheap meals, wine by the glass and trendy terracotta pots of Chinese green tea.
Zelenaya Rosha (322 714; ul Lenina 65; meals 150-250, beer R50; 10am-2am) A canopy of plastic foliage covering the ceiling and a tackily dribbling water feature make this a low-lit retreat from the scorching sun outside. Down a few cheap beers or tuck into some basic Siberian comfort food. Chita’s most accessible semipublic WC is in the entrance.
Khmelnaya Korchma (352 134; ul Amurskaya 69; mains R150-300; noon-midnight Mon-Thu & Sun, noon-3am Fri & Sat; ) Plastic sunflowers, dangling onion strings, folksy embroidered tea towels and a menu of borscht, salo (pig fat), vareniki (sweet ravioli-type dumplings) and holubtsi (cabbage rolls stuffed with rice) teleport you to rural Ukraine. Live music, liberal helpings and a low-priced lunch menu (R150) makes this arguably Chita’s best option.
Kafe Kollazh (228 138; ul Bogomyagkova 24; meals R150-400; noon-11pm; ) A laughing Buddha welcomes you to this mood-lit and cosy place adorned with spinning wheels, old samovars and dried flowers. The international-themed food is tasty but overpriced.
Kafe Traktyr (352 229; ul Chkalova 93; mains R170-300; noon-2am) Russian home-style cooking is served at heavy wooden tables in this rebuilt wooden-lace cottage, with a quietly upmarket Siberian-retro atmosphere. The summer beer-and-shashlyk tent is a popular drinking spot.
Tsiplyata Tabaka (327 490; ul Ostrovskogo 20; meals R200-250; noon-5pm & 6pm-1am) Floral murals and fake stone carvings contrast intriguingly with Austin Powers–style lighting. Roast chicken priced by weight is the only main course (R36 per 100g). Add salads, vegetables and reasonably priced wine.
QUICK EATS
If pozi are your thing, Poznaya Altargana (ul Leningradskaya 5; pozi R22; 10am-11pm) is your place, but the tasty plov and meatballs are an equally filling alternative. The future is orange at Fast Fud (Alexandrovsky Sad bldg, ul Leningradskaya; chips R40, shashlyk R100), a garishly decorated McDonalds rip-off, situated on the 1st floor of what will one day be the Alexandrovsky Sad Hotel. Choose mediocre burgers, chips and salads from the picture menu – portions are stingy.
Drinking
Several dive bars fill basements on ul Amurskaya, two blocks north of the train station. Super-cheap beers (R35) mean you’ll meet many swaying, overfriendly local drunks.
Pivnoy Tryum (352 680; ul Babushkina 127; beer from R45; noon-midnight) Guarded by a hook-handed pirate, this nautically themed pub-restaurant is entered down a stairway from ul Zhuraleva.
Kino Teatr Tsentavr (ul Amurskaya 69; beer from R50; 10.30am-midnight) The inexpensive bar of this cinema complex is a popular youth hang-out.
Kofeynya Kofe Moll (Hotel Arkadia, ul Lenina 120; coffee R50-150, cocktails R200-600; 24hr) Occupying half of a hotel lobby, it’s the only place in town offering true solace to disciples of the bean.
Entertainment
Zolotoy Olymp (371 288; ul Amurskaya 78; admission R200-250; 9pm-6am) This discordant glass and yellow-concrete monstrosity is Chita’s top disco and bowling alley.
Dvorets Iskusstv (ul Butina) Cultural centre with mixed offerings of theatre and music including local rock bands. Events often start around 5pm.
Getting There & Away
Kadala airport (338 404) is 15km west of central Chita on marshrutka 12 or 14. Limited flights connect to Moscow (R12,500), Krasnoyarsk (R9000) and Yekaterinburg (R10,300). AviaEkspress (325 572; www.aviaexpress.ru, in Russian; ul Lenina 55; 9am-10pm Mon-Sat) sells tickets from anywhere to anywhere else with sharp discounts for purchasing well ahead.
The main train station is Chita 2. For China the Vostok (train 020) runs to Beijing (R5000, 53 hours) very early Wednesday morning while trains to Manzhouli (R2100, 25 hours) depart on Thursday and Saturday evening. Alternatively, take the nightly service to the border town of Zabaikalsk (R1700, 11½ hours) then bus hop into China.
Other destinations include Blagoveshchensk (train 350, R3760, 33¾ hours, four per week), Tynda (train 078, platskart R1060, 26 hours, even-numbered days) and several Ulan-Ude services (R1470, nine to 10 hours), some overnight. For R150 commission, the helpful service centre (Chita 2 train station; 8am-noon & 1-7.30pm) issues tickets while you relax on comfy settees.
Buses and marshrutky run from the intercity bus stand near Chita 2 train station to Olovyannaya (R330, 8.30am), Aginskoe (R200, two hours, hourly) and Zabaikalsk (R700, 7.45am, noon and 2pm). A sole minibus departs for Nerchinsk at 4pm (R350, five hours) but, as there’s no accommodation there, overnight train is a better option. Buy bus tickets in advance from the kiosk opposite the stops. For Alkhanay use services to Duldurga, Uzon or Aksha. Long-distance marshrutky to Ulan-Ude (R700, seven hours) leave when full in the evenings from the same place.
AROUND CHITA
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Aginskoe Агинское
30239 / pop 15,000 / Moscow +6hr
For an intriguing trip from Chita, take a marshrutka (R200, two hours) to the incredibly smart Buryat town of Aginskoe, capital of the Agin-Buryat Autonomous District. Scenery en route transforms from patchily forested hills via river valleys into rolling grassy steppe. In Aginskoe, hop straight on marshrutka 12 or 14 (or a taxi, R80) to visit the beautiful old Buddhist datsany (5.5km west of the centre) before returning to the central square to see the shaman’s gabala cup (made from a human skull) and beautiful Buryat folk costumes in the excellent Tsybikova Museum (34 462; ul Komsomolskaya 11; admission R30; 10am-1pm & 2-5.30pm Mon-Fri). Opposite stands the custard-yellow 1905 St Nicholas Church whose recent reconstruction was bankrolled by Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov.
Continuing the same day to brilliant Tsugol Datsan (Click here) is feasible but more awkward. First take the hourly marshrutka (R50) across the endlessly undulating grasslands to the unspectacular village of Mogoytuy (population 7400). From there trains to Olovyannaya are poorly timed so hire a taxi (from R2000) to take you to Tsugol, wait an hour or so and drop you off in Olovyannaya. Agree the price before committing.
Hotel Sapsam (/fax 34 590; www.megalink.ru/sapsan; tw/d R1500/1800), just off the approach road from Chita, is the town’s only place to stay. Rooms are past their best, but the hotel boasts the finest eateries for miles around. Bright, self-service Kafe Biznes Lanch (ul Lenina 58; meals R50-100; 8.30am-2am) on the opposite side of the square to the museum has an unpretentious Siberian menu. Zakusochnaya Yukhen Tug (ul Tataurova 17; mains R20-50; 9am-8pm) near the market is a no-frills greasy spoon where tasty goulash, plov and salad are piled tall on saucer-size plates.
Tsugol, Olovyannaya & Zabaikalsk Цугол, Оловянная и Забайкальск
Set just 2km from the ‘holy’ Onon River, Tsugol village is not particularly pretty but the perfectly proportioned Tsugol Datsan is surely the most memorable Buddhist temple in Russia. Built in 1820, it is just four years younger than Aginskoe Datsan and even more photogenic, with gilded Mongolian script-panels, wooden upper facades and tip-tilted roofs on each of its three storeys. The interior is less colourful than Ivolginsk, but clinging to the front is a unique, colourfully painted wrought-iron staircase. Make sure your taxi waits unless you’re happy to walk the 13km to Olovyannaya, home to the nearest train station. The nightly train to Chita (platskart R470, six hours) reaches this depressing railway town at 1.31am, so consider hopping on the 5.30pm elektrichka south to Borzya. As that’s much further south, returning to Chita from Borzya gives you two hours’ extra sleep en route. Alternatively, from Borzya you could attempt to find transport into the Dauria Biosphere Reserve (Daursky Zapovednik; www.nature.chita.ru), whose vast, periodically emptying Torey Lakes attract rare crane species and where you’ll find the magical but very hard-to-reach Adon-Chelon Oboo (Buddhist-shamanist pilgrim stones).
Before departing Chita, consider booking the return train ticket from Borzya or Olovyannaya as train occupancy is high, with Chinese traders on board. Alternatively, if you’re heading for China there are two elektrichki (3½ hours from Borzya) a day to the bustling border town of Zabaikalsk, then minibuses ferry you across no-man’s-land.
Alkhanay & Duldurga Алханай и Дулдурга
30256 / pop 7000 / Moscow +6hr
Alkhanay, a Buryat-run national park 130km south of Chita, is reckoned by local Buddhists to be the religion’s fifth most important holy ‘mountain’. In fact you’ll see forested hills, not mountains, through which a devotional six- to seven-hour return trek takes pilgrims to a small stupa and a window rock (a curtain of rock with a hole in it), considered the Gate of Shambala, an entry to spiritual paradise. The flowers, pious pilgrims and bird-watching are as interesting as the scenery. Alkhanay’s entrance is 20km from Duldurga village, where there’s a helpful Alkhanay National Park Office (21 458; ul Gagarina 47) and two simple hotels. There’s more accommodation in turbazy around the park entrance including a yurt camp (beds R500).
July to September, Chita-based agency Lanta (Map; 3022-353 638; ul Leningradskaya 56; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, Sat 10am-6pm) runs weekend tours, departing Friday and including two-nights’ accommodation; no English is spoken. Marshrutky from Chita to Duldurga (R230, three hours) run three times daily and a single daily bus links Duldurga to Aginskoe (90km).
NERCHINSK НЕРЧИНСК
30242 / pop 15,300 / Moscow +6hr
Once one of eastern Siberia’s foremost towns, forgotten Nerchinsk is quietly intriguing. While hardly worth a special 300km trip from Chita, a day here handily breaks up a long Chita–Blagoveshchensk journey.
Founded in 1654 by Pyotr Beketov’s Cossacks, Nerchinsk was the venue where China signed the immensely important 1689 border treaty recognising Russia’s claims to the trans-Baikal region. The town profited from resultant Sino–Russian trade and boomed from the 1860s with the region’s development of rich silver mines. Mikhail Butin, the local silver baron, also created steel and wine industries and built himself an impressive crenellated palace, furnished with what were then claimed to be the world’s largest mirrors. He’d bought the mirrors at the 1878 World Fair in Paris and miraculously managed to ship them unscathed all the way to Nerchinsk via the China Sea and up the Amur River.
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Sights
Butin’s four mammoth mirrors form the centrepiece of the Butin Palace Museum (41 694; Sovetskaya ul 83; admission R50; 10am-1pm & 2-5.30pm Tue-Sat), along with a delightful pair of hobbit-style chairs crafted from polished tangles of birch roots. Three-quarters of the palace, including the grand, triple-arched gateway (demolished in 1970), have yet to be rebuilt.
A block from the museum, the active 1825 Voskresensky Cathedral (ul Pogodaeva 85) looks like an opera house from the outside; its interior is plain and whitewashed.
Head around the sports pitch with its little silver Lenin, to the imposing though now crumbling 1840 Trading Arches (gostiny dvor), slated for desperately needed renovation in the coming years. Nearby is a fine colonnaded pharmacy and the very grand facade of the pink former Kolobovnikov Store (ul Shilova 3), now a barnlike Torgovy Tsentr filled with some desultory stalls and kiosks. Trains stop just behind at an unmarked platform facing Kolobovnikov’s former wooden-lace home, now the children’s music school (ul Yaroslavskaya 24).
About 1km south of the museum, just before the post office and bank, a little pink column-fronted building was once the Dauriya Hotel (Sovetskaya ul 32). As locals will proudly tell you, Chekhov stayed here in June 1890. Diagonally across the same junction, the Kozerog shop doubles as a minuscule bus station with a minibus to Chita at 6am and a few daily runs to Priiskovaya. In the same building hides the very welcome Kedr grocery store (24hr), the only place to buy breakfast if you’ve just got off the Chita train.
Sleeping & Eating
Having wandered the dusty streets and seen the handful of sights, you may even be glad there’s nowhere to stay in Nerchinsk. Most visitors are on a bus to Priiskovaya train station before lunchtime. Restoran Plaza (ul Sovetskaya 76; 6pm-1am Sun-Thu, to 3am Fri & Sat) is surprisingly smart but few travellers stick around long enough to see it open. The unwelcoming Kafe Russkaya Dusha (meals R50-100; 9am-3am) sadly vacated the Trading Arches when it was gutted by fire in 2006. It relocated to a pink building in a madly out-of-the-way location, 20 minutes’ uphill walk from the centre. It’s the only café around so ask for directions.
Getting There & Away
Nerchinsk is up a 10km dead-end railway spur from Priiskovaya on the trans-Siberian main line. A single Nerchinsk-bound platskartny carriage from Chita (R369, 10 hours) is attached to train 392 departing Chita at 9.36pm daily. The usually half-empty carriage is detached at Priiskovaya, where it waits for five hours before rumbling up to Nerchinsk station to arrive bang on time. Instead of waiting for the return service at 7.10pm, take a local bus (R35) back to Priiskovaya, where connections include the 12.08pm train to Blagoveshchensk (odd-numbered days), the 9.35pm to Khabarovsk, the 2pm elektrichka back to Chita and several Moscow-bound services a day.
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Russian Far East Дальний Восток
KOMSOMOLSK-NA-AMURE КОМСОМОЛЬСК-НА-АМУРЕ
NIKOLAEVSK-NA-AMURE НИКОЛАЕВСК-НА-АМУРЕ
VANINO & SOVETSKAYA GAVAN ВАНИНo & СОВЕТСКАЯ ГАВАН
SAKHALIN ISLAND ОСТРОВ САХАЛИН
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK ЮЖНО-САХАЛИНСК
KURIL ISLANDS КУРИЛЬСКИЕ ОСТРОВА
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY ПЕТРОПАВЛОВСК-КАМЧАТСКИЙ
AROUND PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY
Russia’s distant end of the line, the wild wild east, feels likes its own entity. ‘Moscow is far’ runs the local mantra, and trade and transport connections with Asian neighbours are growing fast.
For those who’ve not been, the Russian Far East seems impossibly forbidding and it’s often mistaken for Siberia (just west). The truth is it’s bigger, more remote and, in winter, even colder. Areas of snow-capped mountains and taiga, bigger than some European countries, separate former Cossack fort towns, old Gulag camps, decaying Soviet towns along railways heading nowhere special, towns raised on stilts over permafrost, and once-closed Soviet ports roaring with new business.
The easiest access is along the Trans-Siberian Railway, which completes its epic trip in Vladivostok, whose cobbled streets are increasingly clogged with used Japanese cars. Further north, the less-heralded BAM (Baikal-Amur Mainline) train clanks east past timeless Soviet-era towns unchanged from the watch of Stalin or Brezhnev. The natural beauty beyond – filled with skiing, rafting and climbing options – looms agonisingly close to city limits, but getting to it can require permits and costly 6WD transport. If you’re prepared to splurge, nothing beats Kamchatka, the remote peninsula towards Alaska, filled with steaming volcanoes, moonlike lava fields, reindeer herds and bear-populated lake areas.
Many travellers skip the Far East entirely, cutting south from Lake Baikal to China – but that’s all the better for those who make it. Elbow room is definitely not in short supply.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Splurge on a volcano-climbing trip to Kamchatka (Click here), one of Russia’s greatest natural settings
- Search out the best views of Vladivostok (Click here), a mountain-spiked setting of snaking bays at the terminus of the trans-Siberian Railway
- Give yourself a day at Khabarovsk (Click here), one of the most refreshing Trans-Siberian towns, with Tsar-era buildings and lovely parks on the Amur River
- See the city of stilts standing over permafrost at the remote, fascinating Sakha town of Yakutsk (Click here), where horse meat makes it onto most menus
- Revisit Soviet power at friendly Komsomolsk-na-Amure (Click here), the most polished of BAM towns, with ‘Stalin tours’ of nearby Gulags available
History
The Far East is Russia’s ‘wild east’, where hardened Cossacks in the early 17th century – and young Soviets (and Gulag prisoners) in the 20th – came to exploit the region’s untapped natural resources – such as gold of the Kolyma, diamonds of Sakha and oil off Sakhalin Island. Russian explorers and plunderers even leapfrogged the Pacific from Kamchatka to stake claims on what is today part of the USA.
Locally, much ado is made of Anton Chekhov’s trip through the Far East to Sakhalin in 1890. WWII receives much tribute in regional museums, but so does the Russo-Japanese War, which humiliated Russia and ended with Japan taking the southern half of Sakhalin Island in 1905 (Click here); the USSR got it back after WWII. China and the USSR had their diplomatic burps too, including an outright battle over an unremarkable river island near Khabarovsk in 1969.
In June 2005 Russia and China finally settled a four-decade dispute over their 4300km border by splitting 50-50 the Bolshoy Ussurysky and Tarabarov Islands near the junction of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, outside Khabarovsk.
Climate
As in most of Russia, thermometers go as far below zero as they do above. Winters are cold, of course – Sakha Republic is home to the world’s coldest inhabited town (Oymyakon, which hits −60°C in January). The sea brings warmer temperatures in winter (and cooler in summer) to coastal towns – Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky drop to only −10°C, and rarely go above the 20s in summer. Khabarovsk, the sunniest town in the Far East, is also the hottest – temperatures sometimes reach the mid-30s in July.
Getting There & Away
The airports at Khabarovsk, Vladivostok and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk have international connections with China, Korea and Japan, while Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky has a weekly flight to/from Anchorage, Alaska. Other than direct flights (connecting most cities listed here with Moscow, St Petersburg, Novosibirsk or Krasnoyarsk), the train is the easiest way into the region. The Trans-Siberian runs near the Chinese border; the eastern BAM cuts through the taiga north of Lake Baikal – both reach port towns on the coast. Twice-weekly train connections between Vladivostok and Harbin, China, are slowed by border checks.
Getting Around
A host of local airlines (including S7 Airlines, Vladivostok Airlines, Domodedovo and Yakutia Air) connect many of the towns within the region, though trains are always cheaper. Some flights are adventures: free-for-alls regarding seat reservations, with DIY-unloading policies on arrival as queues build around the plane’s small cargo load on the runway.
Two main train lines cross the region – the Trans-Siberian along the Chinese border to Vladivostok, and the BAM from the northern shore of Lake Baikal to Sovetskaya Gavan on the Sea of Okhotsk. A railway extension from BAM at Tynda now reaches Tommot (north of Neryungri) and eventually – locals promise – will terminate in Yakutsk.
Aside from the train, vans or 4WD (or 6WD) vehicles reach some of the more remote destinations. Ferry services connect Khabarovsk with Komsomolsk-na-Amure and Nikolaevsk-na-Amure, and Vanino with Sakhalin Island.
EASTERN TRANS-SIBERIAN
Most travellers that make it this far east stick within this region, along the final 60 hours or so of railroad that runs on the south side of Lake Baikal and the Yablonovy Mountains, along the Chinese border to the flatter Khabarovsk Territory and the green, mountainous final dip of Primorsky Territory, ending at Vladivostok, just 100 miles from the North Korea border.
Natural attractions are generally more rewarding in regions further north, but Khabarovsk and Vladivostok are the region’s most lively cities, with sushi bars, big business, and plenty of fashionistas pounding summer sidewalks. Also, the Russian Far East’s best beaches are nearby, including a few outside the rarely seen (and easy to reach) Nakhodka.
Author Anton Chekhov was particularly pleased with his river ride to Blagoveshchensk and Khabarovsk during his famous 1890 trip across Russia. He wrote, ‘It is quite beyond my powers to describe the beauties of the banks of the Amur.’
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BLAGOVESHCHENSK БЛАГОВЕЩЕНСК
4162 / pop 210,000 / Moscow +6hr
It’s sometimes easy to forget where you are out here – in deepest Asia – until you find a place like this modest border town, 110km south of the Trans-Siberian and across the Amur River from China. The mix of scattered tsarist-era buildings and Chinese tourists walking past Lenin statues is fascinating. On hot days, locals share the river, jumping in from beaches on opposite shores.
The border is peaceful now, but once was tense. In 1900, Cossacks, seeking to avenge European deaths in the Chinese Boxer Rebellion, slaughtered thousands of Chinese people in the city. In the ’60s and early ’70s, Blagoveshchensk (meaning ‘good news’) endured round-the-clock propaganda being pumped over the river. One elderly local explained, ‘It was awful. Their embankment was lined with pictures of Mao, and we listened to broadcasts – all in Chinese. We were scared.’
Blagoveshchensk was originally settled as Ust-Zaysk military post in 1644; by the late 19th century Blagoveshchensk was outdoing Vladivostok and Khabarovsk in Sino-Russian commerce.
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Orientation & Information
The train station is 4km north of the river on ul 50 Let Oktyabrya, which is a main north–south artery; it meets pl Lenina (and east–west ul Lenina) a block from the river.
Amur Tourist ( 530 005, 530 036; www.amurturist.amur.ru, in Russian; ul Kuzhnechnaya 1; 8am-noon & 1-5pm) Open daily, but sometimes uncomfortable with independent travellers (particularly at weekends), this company offers area information, books city tours and helps you get to China.
Sights
Central ploshchad Lenina – where teen skaters take over the Lenin statue steps, and tots take over the fountains – is a good starting-point for a walk down the riverside promenade. About 250m west, you’ll reach the Muravyov-Amurski statue, and after another 200m the red arch by the former river port, where Anton Chekhov came through (before heading straight to a Japanese prostitute, as recounted luridly in his later-published letters).
From the river come in a block to ul Lenina, then another block west, to find the remarkable Amur Regional Museum (Amursky Oblastnoi Kraevedchesky muzey; 522 414; ul Lenina 165; admission R120; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun), housed in a former tsarist-era market and Soviet-era HQ for the Communist Youth League (Komsomol). Inside are a whopping 26 halls, with plenty of interesting photos, 1960s record players, and a meteor that fell in 1991 near Tynda.
At the museum, pick up the darling Starri Blagoveshchensk (Old Blagoveshchensk) map (R10) to plot your own walking tour of the dozens of glorious tsarist-era buildings on shady backstreets around the centre.
Sleeping & Eating
At the time of research, construction was underway of an overdue new hotel called Aziya (ul 50 let Oktyabr), near a new shopping mall, several blocks from the river.
Druzhba Hotel ( 376 140; www.hoteldruzhba.ru, in Russian; ul Kuznechnaya 1; s/d incl breakfast from R950/1600;
) About 600m east of pl Lenina, this riverside Soviet survivor has a variety of rooms – the cheapest have China views, but no air-con. The wi-fi access works in the lobby café. Its casino draws a fair share of Chinese visitors.
Churin Hotel ( 441 868; [email protected]; r incl breakfast from R4000;
) Behind an official building, just in from ul Lenina, this business-oriented hotel is a safe bet for a bit more comfort, with over-the-top stone-covered entrances and standard rooms with wi-fi access.
Most restaurants in Blagoveshchensk tend to be Chinese. A couple of good ones are near the intersection of ul Lenina and ul Shipchenko, about 200m west of pl Lenina, including Khing An ( 520 333; Shevchenko 11; mains R150-350; 11am-midnight). The red-brick exterior is nice, but the inside is a bit plain – most locals sit on the covered front patio. There’s a photo menu, plus live music at 8pm Saturday and Sunday.
Locals like stopping for beer or ice cream along the riverside’s open-air stands in good weather.
Getting There & Away
Blagoveshchensk is 110km off the Trans-Siberian, reached via the branch line from Belogorsk. Taxi vans connect the Belogorsk train station (R200, two hours) with Blag’s bus station ( 442 313; ul 50 let Oktyabrya 42/2).
Of the several trains leaving the Blagoves-hchensk train station ( 494 205), the 385 and 386 run on odd-numbered days to/from Vladivostok (R2900, 33 hours), passing through Khabarovsk (R1690, 16 hours); the 81 and 82 travel to/from Tynda (R2540, 20 hours).
The Passazhirskoe Port Amurasso ( 595 764; ul Chaykovskogo 1), 500m east of the Druzhba Hotel, sends a dozen daily boats to Heihe, China (one-way/return R875/1150, 15 minutes) from 9.30am to 4.30pm or 5pm. You’ll need a Chinese visa and a multiple-entry Russian visa to return. In Heihe, an overnight train leaves at 7.10pm daily for Harbin (about 12 hours). The nearest Chinese consulate is in Khabarovsk.
KHABAROVSK ХАБАРОВСК
4212 / pop 590,000 / Moscow +7hr
The Far East’s most pleasant surprise – and a welcome break after days of relentless taiga on the train – Khabarovsk roars with life, optimism and plenty of pretty tsarist-era buildings facing the Amur River. Unlike so many places, the city has shelled out funds to develop its riverside in the public interest – it boasts a great strolling area with multicoloured tiles, parks, monuments and walkways. A one-day stop is easily filled looking around.
It’s hot in summer, but winter temperatures give it the unglamorous title of ‘world’s coldest city of over half a million people.’ Locals brag more about its recent victory in a poll as Russia’s ‘most comfortable city’.
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History
Khabarovsk was founded in 1858 as a military post by Eastern Siberia’s governor general, Count Nikolai Muravyov (later Muravyov-Amursky), during his campaign to take the Amur back from the Manchus. It was named after the man who got the Russians into trouble with the Manchus in the first place, 17th-century Russian explorer Yerofey Khabarov.
The Trans-Siberian Railway arrived from Vladivostok in 1897. During the Russian Civil War, the town was occupied by Japanese troops for most of 1920. The final Bolshevik victory in the Far East was at Volochaevka, 45km west.
In 1969, Soviet and Chinese soldiers fought a bloody hand-to-hand battle over little Damansky Island in the Ussuri River. Since 1984, tensions have eased. Damansky and several other islands have been handed back to the Chinese.
Orientation
Khabarovsk’s train station is about 3.5km northeast of the Amur waterfront at the head of broad Amursky bul; the airport is 9km east of the centre.
MAPS
Knizhny Mir (ul Karla Marksa 37; 9am-8pm) stocks a good range of city and regional maps for the entire Russian Far East (Khabarovsk maps are R120; an OK city guide in English and Russian is R170).
Information
INTERNET ACCESS
Internet Mir (ul Muravyova-Amurskogo 28; per hr R72; 8am-10pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & Sun) Next to the post office.
RedCom (ul Karla Marksa 74; per hr R72; 9am-8pm Mon-Fri, 11am-6pm Sat)
MEDICAL SERVICES
The Hotel Intourist (Click here) has a doctor on its 1st floor, who can help with some cases or refer to city specialists.
POST
Post office (ul Muravyova-Amurskogo 28; 8am-10pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & Sun)
TRAVEL AGENCIES
Any of the following can book rail or plane tickets, help with one-month China tourist visas (seven-day turnaround; about R3000 to R3500), as well as various city and regional tours.
LIFE IN A SOVIET EXPERIMENT
‘How can anyone live here?’ is the nagging question from many outsiders who can’t fathom enduring life at −50°c in winter. Another one, some argue, is ‘Should anyone be living here?’
The Soviet experiment – of (forcibly) relocating millions to develop the Far East and Siberia – has yielded a bizarre network of disconnected cities across one of the world’s most forbidding regions. Russia gets colder as you move east, yet population density never falters. During the Soviet era, populations of cities such as Yakutsk and Khabarovsk rose 1000%; Komsomolsk, meanwhile, grew from an empty riverside meadow into an industrial city of more than a quarter million.
That’d be impressive if productivity and expenses were on par with European Russia. But during winters that can stretch over half a year, productivity suffers and expenses go way up, requiring bail-out subsidies.
Winter brings disasters, too. In recent years, parts of Magadan became an ice block when water pipes burst in winter, and the Russian army had to bomb the Lena River to destroy ice dams created when rising temperatures in the south of the north-flowing river outpaced the spring thaw.
Siberian Curse, by Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy, is a fascinating look at Russia’s ‘temperature per capita’. It suggests that much of Russia is simply too cold and that over-populated areas in the Far East burden the national economy. Of course the tsars sent the first Russians this far, but the outposts were more strategic – nothing like the mass cities developed later. The authors feel a partial migration to the materik (or ‘mainland’, as locals here sometimes refer to European Russia) needs to be encouraged, with migrant workers in the east during summer (as happens with Canada’s north).
Locals we talked to had different answers, and understandably so. A Komsomolsk journalist shrugged off the idea of the cold – ‘it’s easier here than in St Petersburg or Moscow, where winters are wetter’ – but feels locked to his homeplace by distance: ‘I’d like to move to Yekaterinburg or St Petersburg but I don’t have the money – and I’d hate to come home as a failure if it didn’t work out.’ Some will never leave, and many miss the Soviet days. One Sakhalin Island construction worker in a depressed coastal town of closed factories explained, ‘We miss the Soviet Union here’ – the days when Moscow paid to keep everything working.
If you stop off at purpose-built towns along the BAM such as Novy Urgal, or make it further north to Magadan (which has lost over a third of its population since the Soviet Union fell), it’s tempting to surmise that the whole region is in decline. The truth is far more chequered. Busy Vladivostok will host the high-profile Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in 2012, and Sakhalin Island is running wild in oil revenue. Even remote Yakutsk is seeing a surge in population, due largely to income from diamonds and gold in the area.
One local told us, ‘See these mountains, these rivers? Moscow doesn’t have anything like this. I was born here and I want to die here.’
Dalgeo Tours ( 318 829; www.dalgeotours.com; ul Turgeneva 78; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri) English-speaking staff are helpful, though local tours get pricey (eg Baltika brewery tours from US$66 per person).
Intour-Khabarovsk ( 312 119; www.intour-khabarovsk.com; Hotel Intourist, bul Amursky 2; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri) Offers free maps, but mostly deals with pre-booked tourist groups.
Welcome (Velcom; 735 990; www.welcome.khv.ru; ul Dzerzhinskogo 24; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm Sat) The name sure applies to the cheerful staff, who offer slightly cheaper variants of city tours and visa fees.
Sights & Activities
MUSEUMS
No place in the Far East asks more for its museums, and ticket prices for foreigners have risen an additional 67% since 2006. So, until the city comes to its senses, it might be worth just sticking with its best, the Regional History Museum (Kraevedchesky muzey; 312 054; ul Shevchenko 11; admission R140, photo permits R100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun). The museum offers a series of well laid-out halls in an evocative 1894 red-brick building. Highlights are many, particularly a far-better-than-average look into native cultures, a few English captions in the stuffed-animal section, and a full-on panorama of the snowy 1922 civil war battle at Volochaevka. No Gulag coverage, though the nearby prison population was bigger than the city’s in the ’30s. At research time, the museum was busy adding on a second wing as the Amur River Museum, which may require an additional ticket.
The nearby Military Museum (Voyenny muzey; 326 350; ul Shevchenko 20; admission R140; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun) is a not uninteresting four-room frenzy of battle-axes, guns, knives, and busts and photos of moustached heroes of past conflicts. Lined up in the back courtyard are army trucks, cannons, tanks and a luxury officers-only rail carriage dating from 1926.
The highlights of the small Archaeology Museum (Muzey Arkheology; 324 177; ul Turgeneva 86; admission R180; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun) are the reproductions and diagrams of the wide-eyed figures found at the ancient Sikachi-Alyan petroglyphs (Click here).
Far Eastern Art Museum (Dalnevostochny Khudozhestvenny muzey; 328 338; ul Shevchenko 7; admission R200; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun) Lots of religious icons, Japanese porcelain and 19th-century Russian paintings.
Amur Fish Aquarium (Muzei-akvarium Rybbi-Amura; 315-596; Amursky bul 13A; admission R130; 11am-5pm Wed-Sun) This new aquarium gives props to the gilled friends from the nearby Amur.
OTHER ATTRACTIONS
So vital to Khabarovsk’s rise, the Amur River can be seen on relatively expensive cruises offered by local travel agents (a two-hour deal is R1250 per person with Intourist). Much cheaper are the (at times rollicking) party cruises which leave from the riverfront in summer. Hour-long cruises (R120) leave at 1.30pm, 3.30pm and 5.30pm, and 90-minute versions (R200) leave at 7.30pm, 9.30pm and 11.30pm.
Dinamo Park, behind the Theatre of Musical Comedy, brims with sun- and shade-seekers in good weather; the ponds on the south side are popular swim-and-splash spots.
Walking Tour
Khabarovsk’s compact city centre is perfect for a day’s worth of looking about. Start at Komsomolskaya pl (1), dominated by a monument for Soviet revolutionary soldiers and a towering, reconstructed Orthodox church Khram Uspenya Bozhey Materi (2). Towards the river, to your left, is the golden headquarters of the Amur Steamship Company.
Steps lead down to an impressive makeover of the riverfront (3), with shady parks, open-air stands selling ice cream and beer, and walkways leading in both directions. Follow the bluff path to the right, where you’ll pass a sassy Count Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky monument (4) and a nearby cliff-top tower, in which a troupe of WWI Austro-Hungarian POW musicians were shot for refusing to play the Russian Imperial anthem.
Follow the path north along the waterfront, then head east towards the grey Intourist Hotel. You’ll see the four-pillared Soviet entrance (5) to another riverside park on your left. Go right, slightly uphill, where you’ll see the expanding Regional History Museum (6; Click here), probably the Russian Far East’s best museum.
WALK FACTS
Start Komsomolskaya pl
Finish River Boat Landings, Amur River
Distance 4.5km
Duration Two hours
Head back to Komsomolskaya pl, and turn left onto the city’s favourite avenue, ul Muravyova-Amurskogo. The first building on the left is the striking red-and-black brick Far Eastern State Research Library (7; ul Muravyova-Amurskogo 1), built from 1900 to 1902.
A couple of blocks down, note the Mercury statue atop the mint-green, Style Moderne Tsentralny Gastronom (8; opposite), built in 1895. Another couple of blocks is the former House of Pioneers (9; Dom Pionerov; ul Muravyova-Amurskogo 17) and parliament building, now a souvenir shop.
Continue east to pl Lenina (10), an elaborately renovated square filled with fountains, flowers and posing wedding couples (or ice sculptures in January); a relatively tiny Lenin looks on from the north side. Head downhill along ul Pushkina and return to the river along the green parks of Ussuriysky bul (11), perhaps stopping for a meal at the delightfully kitsch Russky Restaurant (12; opposite), before enjoying a beer aboard a party cruise (13) on the Amur.
Sleeping
Dalgeo Tourist’s homestay service is probably only worth considering for solo travellers (US$66 per person including breakfast, but not visa registration!). All hotels below charge a 20% or 25% reservation fee unless otherwise noted.
BUDGET
If you’re stopping for just a night, consider the train station’s quite nice resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; 383-710; 3rd fl; 12-/24-hr from R360/510).
Hotel Tsentralnaya ( 303 300, 324 759; ul Pushkina 52; s/d R1500/1700; ) It’s been years since the staff would let us see a room (maybe they were burned by Paul Theroux when he stayed here while researching The Great Railway Bazaar) but now foreigners are welcome. The frowns up front aren’t completely gone, but rooms are spruced up considerably, and half the 200 rooms look over pl Lenina. All rooms have desks and refrigerators.
Ekspress Vostok ( 384 797; ul Komsomolskaya 67; s/d R1700/2400;
) Just a couple of blocks from the river and the main crawl, this fine budget hotel has tiny rooms that manage to squeeze in an armoire, desk, balcony and wi-fi.
Versailles (Versal; 659-222; Amurski bul 46A; s/d incl breakfast R1900/2950;
) This cheerful hotel, an easy walk from the train station, has pleasant, red-carpeted rooms with fridge and funny photos of squirrels. It’s set back from the street, fronted with seal lamp posts – just like back in France.
MIDRANGE
Hotel Turist ( 439 674; fax 439 421; www.habtour.ru; ul Karla Marksa 67; r incl breakfast with/without air-con R2400/2100; ) It’s eight floors tribute old-school templates, with balconies that overlook the clover-leaf web of roads outside. In all, not bad – rooms were redone in 2008; still compact, but a fresh dose of vinyl on the floors and ruby red on the curtains.
Hotel Zarya ( 310 101; fax 310 103; [email protected]; ul Kim Yu Chena 81/16; r incl breakfast from R2150;
) Tidy modern rooms between the train station and town centre, Zarya is set in a plain white-brick building on a back street, but its modern makeover of rooms, nice buffet breakfast, downstairs banya (bathhouse; R600 to R1000 per hour) and great staff give it a ‘boutique hotel’ feel.
Hotel Intourist ( 312 313; fax 326 507; www.intour.khv.ru; Amursky bul 2; r from R2960;
) Teeming with tour groups, this big Bolshevik still breathes as if it’s 1975. Elevators are often under remont (repairs), the business centre’s internet is often down, you pay an extra R500 or so for your foreign self, and the updated rooms are closet-sized (but do have remarkable river rooms on upper floors). There’s a good Japanese restaurant on the 11th floor.
TOP END
Hotel Amethyst ( 420 760; fax 324 699; [email protected]; ul Lva Tolstogo 5a; s/d R3200/3400;
) This cute boutique-style back-streeter has frumpy, comfy rooms – the double considerably larger than the single, and with balcony. All come with refrigerator, wi-fi access and a fair share of curlicue designs on walls and bedspreads. There is no reservation fee. Breakfast is R300.
Hotel Sapporo ( 226-745; [email protected]; ul Komsomolskaya 79; s/d incl breakfast R4000/4300;
) Just off the main crawl, the Sapporo’s 20 rooms are the city’s best high-end rooms once you get past the banal lobby. There’s a slight Japanese air in the rooms, with blond–wood bed frames and a bit of bamboo. There’s a good sauna on the premises.
Parus ( 327 270, 649 510; [email protected]; ul Shevchenko 5; s/d incl breakfast R4200/5600;
) Part of a century-old brick building near the water, the Parus sure makes a grand entrance – with chandeliers, iron staircase and reading room – but rooms are rather standard, with thin carpets and cheesy art. Opt up for the R4700 room with river views. No reservation fee.
Eating & Drinking
Tsentralny Gastronom (ul Muravyova-Amurskogo 9; meals R150-300; 11am-10pm) In a 19th-century building, this cute, modernised-yet-retro self-service café has a good selection of meals – and much more sense of history than the fast-food burger and pizza lounge in the basement.
Teplan-Yaki ( 324 763; ul Muravyova-Amurskogo 11; sushi from R400, teriyaki meals R600-750; noon-11pm) This popular loungey spot on the main strip offers a host of sushi options with a chilled electronica soundtrack in a classy bamboo setting.
Chocolate ( 420 097; ul Turgeneva 74; meals R500-750; 24hr) Albeit with a slightly snooty air, Chocolate has slick international snacks (fajitas, burgers and brownies) and free wi-fi.
Russky Restaurant ( 306 587; Ussuriysky bul 9; meals R1000-1500; noon-1am) Nearly all Russian restaurants get a bit kitschy, but this one goes all out – but in a way that never betrays its authenticity. There are paintings of tsars, side-rooms in dacha style, and traditional music kicking off dinners that frequently require reservations.
Many of Khabarovsk’s busiest eating spots are simple cafés or open-air stands, with cheap hot dogs (R25), ice cream and beer; particularly popular are the riverside cafés.
If you just need groceries, the best places are Citi HK Supermarket (ul Karla Marksa 76; 9am-11pm) and Pelikan (ul Vladivostoskaya 61; 24hr), near the train station.
Entertainment
You may need some Russian-language skills to be ‘entertained’ in Khabarovsk.
Drama Theatre (Teatr Dramy; 303 531; ul Dzerzhinskogo 44) Lots of Chekhov.
SovKino (ul Muravyova-Amurskogo 32) Shows dubbed Hollywood flicks for R100 to R150.
Theatre of Musical Comedy (Teatr Muzykalnoy Komedy; 227 021; ul Karla Marksa 64; tickets R80-800) Music, jokes and the occasional heavy metal concert (Ronnie James Frickin’ Dio started his 2005 tour here).
Shopping
Tainy Remesla ( 327 385; ul Muravyova-Amurskogo 17; 10am-7pm) Best souvenir shop in town, located in the old House of Pioneers building.
The main market (cnr Amursky bul & ul Lva Tolstogo; 8am-7pm) covers everything from plug adaptors and fishing gear to underwear and fresh produce.
Getting There & Away
Most travel agents book train or air tickets. The friendliest we found in the Far East is InterVizit ( 316 262; ul Dzerzhinskogo 39; 9am-8pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & Sun), which charges about R80 to R120 commission for train tickets (available to purchase from 10am to 6pm Monday to Friday).
AIR
The airport ( 263 268) is about 7km east of the town centre. For domestic services, Click here.
Vladivostok Air has China-bound flights twice weekly to Harbin (R6400) and Dailin (R8240) and once to Beijing (R13,500), plus twice-weekly flights to Niigata, Japan (R12,000). Vladivostok Air and Asiana (www.flyasiana.com) split almost daily flights to Seoul (R10,835). International flights usually include the R800 departure tax in the quoted price.
Airlines have offices at the airport, and Aeroflot ( 783 435; www.aeroflot.ru; ul Pushkina 50) also has an office in town.
BOAT
Between May and October, hydrofoils leave at 7am daily from the river station ( 468 832; Ussuriysky bul; 8am-7pm) for Komsomolsk (R700, six hours) and Nikolaevsk (R1400, 17 hours). There is also a whirlwind of competing boats offering rides to nearby Fuyuan, China (R1600, 90 minutes), leaving around 7am and 7pm daily. A couple of companies include Velkomp ( 421 158) and Tor ( 468 666, 301 447).
BUS
The bus station ( 343 909; ul Voronezhskaya 19), 500m north of the train station (go by tram or autobus 6), sends hourly buses to Komsomolsk (R430, six hours).
TRAIN
Shining from a finished renovation, the lovely train station ( 382 222) has a nice, air-conditioned waiting lounge on the 3rd floor, but there is little in the area grocery-wise.
DOMESTIC FLIGHTS FROM KHABAROVSK
Heading west, train 1 (‘Rossiya’) departs for Moscow (R16,00, 5½ days), Chita (R6900, 40 hours) and Irkutsk (R9500, 60 hours) on even-numbered dates. Running on alternate days in summer, trains 43 and 239 are a bit cheaper to reach Irkutsk (R6400) or Moscow (R10,800), as is the Novosibirsk-bound 7, which stops in Irkutsk (R6200).
The 385 goes to Blagoveshchensk (R1690, 16 hours). See right for details on getting to Birobidzhan.
Heading east, Vladivostok is best reached on the daily 6 Okean service (R2700, 13 hours).
Other daily services (all leaving in the evening) include the 326 to Tynda (R2800, 30 hours), and on to Neryungri; for Komsomolsk, the best train is the 67 (R1750, eight hours), while 351 continues on to Vanino (R1900, 24½ hours).
The train to Harbin (R3900) leaves at 8pm Monday and Thursday.
Getting Around
Trolleybuses, trams and marshrukty (fixed-route minivans) make journeys around town (all R12). From the train station, bus 4 goes to pl Komsomolskaya in the centre and trams 1 and 2 go near pl Lenina; from the airport, trolleybus 1 goes to pl Komsomolskaya along ul Muravyova-Amurskogo and bus 35 goes to the train station. Bus 89 or tram 6 go from the centre to the bus station.
A taxi to the centre from the airport is R300; usually R200 or R250 the other way.
AROUND KHABAROVSK
Khabarovsk travel agents run a number of regional tours (US$100 dacha tours, visits of Khekhtsir nature park), which are – frankly – less enticing (and more expensive) than other offerings around the Far East. Travellers short on time tend to stick with a day in town.
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Birobidzhan Биробиджан
42162 / pop 80,000 / Moscow + 7hr
Quiet and shady, Birobidzhan is the capital of the 36,000-sq-km Jewish Autonomous Region (Yevreyskaya Avtonomnaya Oblast) and is a couple of hours shy of Khabarovsk on the Tran-Siberian line (if you’re heading east). Its concept has always been a bit more interesting than its reality (as evidenced by the quick influx of Jews coming to ‘Stalin’s Zion’ in the 1920s, then leaving the undeveloped swamp just as quickly), though it’s pleasant enough for a half-day visit.
Birobidzhan (named for the meeting place of the Bira and Bidzhan Rivers) was opened to settlement in 1927, when the Soviet authorities conceived the idea of a homeland for Jews. Most of the Jews came from Belarus and Ukraine, but also from the US, Argentina and even Palestine. The Jewish population never rose above 32,000, and dropped to 17,500 by the end of the 1930s, when growing anti-Semitism led to the ban of Yiddish and synagogues.
Since 1991 diplomatic ties between Russia and Israel have led to an outward flood of Jews. Of the estimated 22,000 who lived here then, only a few thousand remain – about 2.4% of the region’s population.
Business, in the form of iron exports to China, is likely to rise in Birobidzhan, as a 2100m bridge across the nearby Amur River is – supposedly – going to be finished by 2010. The project is also supposed to include a US$800 million rail upgrade.
For most visitors, an easy DIY day trip from Khabarovsk is more than enough time. A tour with some Khabarovsk travel agents runs up to R4200 to R5000 per person (some going by train and returning by car); consider just hiring an interpreter for the day (in Khabarovsk) and coming by bus or train instead. Alternatively, those coming from the west on the Trans-Siberian could stop off, have a look and then grab a late train or bus for Khabarovsk.
ORIENTATION & INFORMATION
The town is quite walkable. Parallel to the tracks to the south are the main streets ul Lenina, then ul Sholom-Aleykhema and pr 60 Let SSSR, reached from the station via ul Gorkogo along Pobedy Park.
There’s internet access next to a big, ugly theatre – with fountains and a Jewish fiddler statue – at the main post office (pr 60 Let SSSR 16; per hr R60; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm Sat, 9am-6pm Sun).
SIGHTS
Across from the train station, Pobedy Park is devoted to WWII. Halfway along the square, then west on ul Lenina, are the two main sights in town. Freid ( 41531, 41529; ul Sholom-Aleykhema 14A; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri) is Birobidzhan’s Jewish culture centre. The lively director is often around to talk local history or get you a souvenir yarmulke (skull cap). The synagogue next door usually holds a service at 10am Saturday.
About 100m further west, the Regional Museum (Kraevedchesky muzey; 68321; ul Lenina 25; admission R100; 10am-6pm Wed, Thu, Sat & Sun, 10am-5pm Fri) has exhibits on local Jewish history (including an ad for a cheesy 1980s band Freilekhs), plus boars and bears and a mini-diorama of the Volochaevka civil war battle (akin to Khabarovsk’s bigger one, but here blood pours from the 3-D dead guy’s head).
SLEEPING & EATING
For a quick stop, the train station’s resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; 91605; 2-/4-bed dm R350/475, lyux R1165), with shared bathrooms and shower (R67) is probably just as good as Hotel Vostok ( 65330; ul Sholom-Aleykhema 1; s/d R1400/2000), a nice building by a lively market. The rather fuddy-duddy rooms have fans and vinyl floors. Its restaurant is the best option for sit-down meals.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
You can hop off any trans-Siberian train here, but if you’re heading to Khabarovsk, it’s cheaper on the elektrichka (suburban train; R120, three hours), which leaves at 9.40am and 6pm daily; a platskartny (3rd class) seat on other trains runs to R300.
You can also catch hourly minibuses to Khabarovsk (R200, three hours) from beside the train station.
Fuyuan (China) Фуюань
A shopping destination for locals, the small Chinese border town of Fuyuan is reached by a daily hydrofoil service from Khabarovsk from mid-May to mid-October (Click here).
You’ll need a Chinese visa to go, and a multiple-entry Russian visa to return. Fuyuan has hotels and a bus service to Harbin.
Sikachi-Alyan Сикачи-Алян
Hard to reach by public transport, Sikachi-Alyan, 75km north of Khabarovsk, is a scrappy, mostly Nanai village with a long, riverside beach area popular with fishers and swimmers; a tourist complex; and – its claim to fame – faint stone carvings of strange graphic figures, supposedly dating back 12,000 years.
Most come to the tourist complex operated by Welcome (Click here), which has a basic cabin (per person R500, meals R1000), honey-making bees, traditional dwellings made by the Khabarovsk Archaeology Museum and a nearby beach, where you can seek out the (subtle) carvings. Ancient-culture buffs will enjoy seeing the two groups of carvings; others may find the trip disappointing for the effort. The carvings are hard to find on your own: the first group is 750m away, the second 2.5km further.
All agencies in Khabarovsk offer pricey tours (Dalgeo and Intourist charge R4800 per person, including lunch). You can also hire a taxi for R500 per hour and a guide (about R250 per hour) – you’d need about five or six hours.
VLADIVOSTOK ВЛАДИВОСТОК
4232 / pop 610,000 / Moscow + 7hr
At first look, Vladivostok is something like ‘Russia’s San Francisco’– a real stunner, with pointed mountains springing up above a network of bays, most strikingly the crooked dock-lined Golden Horn Bay (named for its likeness to Istanbul’s). Closer up, it can be a little grey, with Soviet housing blocks squeezed between new condos and century-old mansions. But it’s a great place to kick off or finish a trans-Siberian trip – but be warned: leg muscles not used to the ups and downs of hilly streets will get more sore than a butt on the Trans-Siberian.
Big changes are coming for Vladivostok. The city is set, with a big push from the likes of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, to host the 2012 Asian Pacific Economic Conference (APEC), and up to US$6 billion worth of projects (including a bridge or two, some casinos, new business hotels and roads) are in the works. Some locals love the new direction, but most retain a healthy dose of ‘believe it when we see it’ cynicism. Considering the city’s recent history of disappeared public funding and jailed mayors – ex-mayor Vladimir Nikolayev was sentenced to four years of imprisonment for corruption in late 2007 – it’s a city still trying to recover from a ‘Wild East’ rep. One local 70-something lady told us, ‘They’ve said they were going to build that bridge since I was a little girl!’
Timing-wise, June can often be grey and wet, while September and October are often the nicest, sunniest months.
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History
Founded in 1860, Vladivostok (meaning ‘To Rule the East’) became a naval base in 1872. Tsarevitch Nicholas II turned up in 1891 to inaugurate the new trans-Siberian rail line. By the early 20th century, Vladivostok teemed with merchants, speculators and sailors of every nation in a manner more akin to Shanghai or Hong Kong than to Moscow. Koreans and Chinese, many of whom had built the city, accounted for four out of every five of its citizens.
After the fall of Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, Vladivostok took on an even more crucial strategic role, and when the Bolsheviks seized power in European Russia, Japanese, Americans, French and English poured ashore here to support the tsarist counterattack. Vladivostok held out until 25 October 1922, when Soviet forces finally marched in and took control – the last city to fall.
In the years to follow, Stalin deported or shot most of the city’s foreign population. Closed from 1958 to 1992, Vladivostok opened up with a bang – literally (mafia shoot-outs were a part of early business deals) – in the ’90s, and is only startling to settle down in recent years.
Orientation
The heart of central Vladivostok is where Okeanskaya pr intersects with ul Svetlanskaya, the city’s main waterfront axis. West of Okeanskaya pr, ul Fokina is an action-packed pedestrian shopping street, usually called ‘Arbat’ by locals.
MAPS
Vladivostok city maps and Primorsky Territory maps are available at stalls and bookshops such as Dom Knigi (ul Svetlanskaya 43; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm Sun), which also keeps postcards and a funny Vladivostok-photo matchbox set (R180); Knigomir ( 414 852; ul Aleutskaya 23; 10am-9pm); and Flotsky Univermag (Click here).
Information
INTERNET ACCESS
Wi-fi access is available across Vladivostok with prepaid cards (R100 to R150 for two hours). The Hotel Vladivostok lobby has free wi-fi access.
OS (ul Fokina 4; per hr R40; 8am-10pm) Simple internet café through an archway from ul Fokina.
Post office (ul Aleutskaya; per hr R3.60; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, 8am-10pm Sat, 9am-6pm Sun) The business centre on the 2nd floor has very fast connection.
LAUNDRY
Most hotels charge obscene rates (eg R150 per pair of socks) but Hotel Moryak (Click here) charges R250 per load.
MEDIA
Vibirai A free Russian-language biweekly entertainment mag available in hotel lobbies and many restaurants.
Vladivostok News (www.vladivostoknews.com)
Vladivostok Putyevoditel This annual free ad-based guidebook (in Russian, with some English) has listings for most tourist-based services. Available at kiosks around town.
Vladivostok Putyevoditel Sound familiar? This guidebook (R80), found at kiosks and some bookstores, has more listings than the same-named freebie.
Vladivostok Times (www.vladivostok.ru)
MEDICAL SERVICES
MUZ Hospital No 1 ( 258 663; ul Sadovaya 22)
MONEY
There are currency exchange desks and ATMs all over town.
Sberbank (ul Aleutskaya 12; 8.45am-8pm Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm Sun) Accepts travellers cheques (charges 2% commission).
POST
DHL ( 407 407; Hotel Hyundai; ul Semonvskaya 29; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat)
Post office (ul Verkhneportovaya; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, 8am-10pm Sat, 9am-6pm Sun) Opposite the train station.
TELEPHONE
You can make calls at the post office or from Dalsvyaz (ul Svetlanskaya 57; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat).
TRAVEL AGENCIES
Most agencies can usually help you get a Chinese tourist visa in three to five days for about US$100. Otherwise the Chinese consulate ( 495 037; Hotel Gavan, ul Krygina 3) accepts visa applications from 9.30am to 12.30pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the same price. Generally travel agencies’ tours are quite pricey, but they can help with train and air tickets too.
Dalintourist ( 410 903; www.dalintourist.ru; ul Fokina 8; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri,10am-3pm Sat) Much of its work is outbound – the English-speaking manager on the 2nd floor helps with area tours and info, and can get you English-speaking guides (per hr R400) or tours to Arkhipovka Lodge in Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve, five hours north.
Discovery Travel Club ( 777 679; www.discoveryclub.info; ul Pogranichnaya 15B; 9am-noon, 1-6pm Mon-Sat) At the helm of this operation, Julia speaks excellent English and is a good source of information (if you can track her down!). Arranges homestays, helps with visa needs and handles red tape if you’re bringing your car (for R500 fee).
Lucky Tour ( 449 944; www.luckytour.com; ul Moskovskaya 1; 9.30am-6pm Mon-Fri) Friendly tour agent, offering area tours, Kamchatka trips and trans-Siberian train tickets. One interesting option is eating a Russian meal with a local family (without a guide or transport it’s R500 per person). Lucky Tour is on the east side of Pokrovsky Park (just northeast of Okeansky pr).
VISA REGISTRATION
OVIR ( 490 802; ul Posetskaya; 10am-12.30pm Tue & Thu, 2-4.30pm Wed & Fri) Registers visas for free – no English. Go to room 15 in the little red-brick entrance to the right of the police station.
Sights & Activities
On tram-lined streets around the city centre you’ll find plenty of tsarist-era buildings from Vladivostok’s first crazy incarnation a century past. The main areas for locals to mill about is pl Bortsov Revolutsii (on ul Svetlanskaya at the southern end of Okeansky pr) and the rather scrappy Sportivnaya Harbour, near the west end of ul Fokina (aka ‘the Arbat’). There you can find a topless mermaid statue on a popular beach, beer and shashlyk stands and a sad dolphin cage offshore.
Much of the water facing Vladivostok is quite polluted (one local brochure brags of the beaches then notes ‘swimming is prohibited’ at all but one – something locals often ignore). You’ll find better swimming on Popov or Russky islands, or near Nakhodka (Click here).
ARSENEV REGIONAL MUSEUM
Grey-haired ladies keep watch over every Russian museum in existence, but none do it more sweetly than at the interesting Arsenev Regional Museum (Kraevedchesky muzey Arseneva; 413 977; ul Svetlanskaya 20; adult/child R100/70; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun), which dates from 1890. You’re likely to befriend at least a couple of ‘guards’ while walking through the three floors of exhibits recounting Vladivostok history. Exhibits are in Russian only, but it’s still enjoyable for non-Russian speakers. On the 1st floor note the stuffed tiger and bear interlocked as if dancing; the 2nd floor is filled with great 19th-century photos of Vlad’s early days, including a display of the Brynner family; also note the turn-of-the-last-century telephone booth and a collection of samovars anchored by – what else? – a stuffed bear.
FUNICULAR & AROUND
Vladivostok’s favourite attraction may just be the smoothest running operation in the Far East: the well-oiled funicular railway (funikulyor; ul Pushkinskaya; ticket R5; 7am-8pm), which every few minutes makes a fun 60-second ride up a 100m hill. At the top, go under ul Sukhanova via the slummy underpass to a great (but strewn with empty beer bottles and cigarette butts) lookout beside the buildings of DVGTU (Far Eastern State Technical University) for the best view of the bay.
DIY TOP FIVE
Those wanting to avoid pricey city tours and organised excursions can easily do these fiver on their own:
- Funicular ride (above) - It’s R5 up and R5 down from Vlad’s best view. Locals like it best at night (with beer).
- R25 bay cruise (opposite) - Take the Russky ferry and stay on for the return: a 90-minute DIY ‘cruise’ past the shipyards of the Golden Horn Bay.
- Antique Automobile Museum (Click here) - This simple museum is devoted to the Soviet’s four- and two-wheeled wonders.
- A central walk (Click here) - Starting at the end of the Trans-Siberian marker.
- Secret lookout - About four stops south of the train station on bus 60 – and one before the end – is a bluff-top lookout near the southern tip of Vladivostok that few people know about.
CAR CITY Robert Reid
It’s hard to walk around the centre’s traffic-jammed streets without noticing that Vladivostok’s gone Texas about cars. You have to have one, the bigger the better. One local with a Bentley told me he wouldn’t go to a nearby cinema: ‘No parking, and I don’t want to walk.’ The mass import of Japanese cars with right-hand steering causes some confusion on Russian streets, where cars stick to the right. But the city’s so fanatic over the imports that when Yeltsin and later Putin tried to restrict the use of right-hand steering cars, officials in Vladivostok practically threatened revolution.
Not long ago, locals exchanged old cars in a sketchy park in eastern Vladivostok, but now just enter one of 50 ‘live auction houses’ across town. The auction houses broadcast 30-second internet auctions to bid on used Japanese and Korean cars that arrive a week later. Many of the cars coming will be shipped across Russia; meanwhile, all can be seen, awaiting customs, in multi-level garages along Golden Horn Bay.
For fun, I stopped by an auction house at the Morskoi Vokzal and asked about getting a 1977 Russian Lada. ‘Oh, very bad,’ the mulleted attendant protested. ‘Can’t we bid on a Toyota Corolla for you?’ Three-year-old Corollas go for US$12,000, plus US$500 shipping and US$3000 customs. I passed. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘this is a very good business.’
While you’re up here, cross ul Aksakovskaya to reach the Artetazh ( 608 902; 4th fl, ul 12 Aksakovskaya; admission free; 10am-6pm Tue-Fri, 11am-5pm Sat & Sun), DVGTU’s humble modern art showcase (in the second aluminium-siding building); the permanent exhibits have a few intriguing piss-takes at the country’s red past, such as the 12 full commandments painted in Soviet style.
It’s not a long walk from the centre – maybe 15 minutes – but several buses run from the train station to nearby ul Svetlanskaya, including the 23, 31 and 49.
FORTS
Attention fort fans: Vladivostok teems with sprawling, rather unique subterranean forts (130 in all) built between the 1880s and early 20th century to ward off potential Japanese (or American) attacks. Neophytes are best sticking with the easily accessible Vladivostok Fortress Museum (Muzey Vladivostokskaya Krepost; 400 896; ul Batereynaya 4A; admission R70; 10am-6pm), overlooking Sportivnaya Harbour. This hilltop museum is built in a fort that operated from 1882 to 1923, and is now home to many cannons and a five-room indoor exhibit of models, photos and artefacts – all refreshingly subtitled in English. You can climb onto (and aim) anti-aircraft guns pointing towards Hokkaido. You reach the fort from ul Zapadnaya.
Sixteen protective forts encircle Vladivostok in a 13km arc (as the gull flies). The best to visit is the hilltop Fort No 7, 14km north of the centre. It has 1.5km of tunnels, pretty much untouched since the last 400 soldiers stationed here left in 1923. Views are good too. Visiting on your own is difficult, as the fort doesn’t keep regular hours and it’s hard to find. One option is hiring a guide and taking a taxi.
Many organised tours to Russky Island (see below) include visits to Voroshilova (about 5km southeast of the final ferry stop). There’s also an occasional bus on Russky Island that gets near the fort, if you’re feeling adventurous and want to reach it on your own.
Local adventurers run gritty tours of underground tunnels (some 3.5km long) around Vladivostok that are link old forts. Check www.vtc.ru/~vladdig (in Russian) for details.
RUSSKY ISLAND
Russky Island, a fully militarised island for most of the past 150 years, only opened to foreigners this decade. It’s just offshore, and it’s possible to ferry out on your own and tour yourself – but it’s big, and finding the forts and canon embankments or beaches is difficult. Tours are easier, but expensive. See if you can get a local to take you.
The first island (severed from the rest of Russky by a canal built in 1901) is Elena Island, filled with military relics (from various eras, including a bullet-marked wall supposedly from mass executions during the Stalin era) overcome by forest. There’s also a sweet family who live in an 1895 storeroom for weapons and artillery who will show you around their bizarre home. They know a bit of English.
A SEAMAN SPEAKS: KONSTANTIN BURKIN
Just because Vladivostok was closed for half of the last century doesn’t mean that locals couldn’t get out. Now in his eighties, Konstantin Burkin, former chief engineer (‘number two man’) of a trade ship and presently an antique collector, spent more than 40 years at sea.
Not many people have travelled as much as you. What was your favourite place? Such a difficult question. I went to so many places – Los Angeles, Tokyo, Shanghai, India, France, England, New York… I lived in Poland for two years. But probably the favourite was New Zealand. So beautiful.
It seems there are more imported cars than sailors or seamen on incoming boats these days. Changed a bit, huh? A lot. So many ships are now in private hands. The FESCO [Far Eastern Shipping Company] fleet used to have 300 ships; now just 55. After the Soviet Union fell, people just sold off ships to make money.
How was it when Vladivostok opened in ’92? It was a happy time. It became a very different atmosphere, with tourists and foreigners coming in. Like a different city.
Now that your sea legs are retired, do you miss travel? No, I still travel! I go to Hon Chung, China [near the North Korea–Russia–China border], twice a month. Just to rest for a few days and have a medical massage. My travels definitely changed how I think about life.
There’s a scrappy spa on the opposite side of the island, Bely Lebed (White Swan; 920 741; r from R1500), with potential boat tours.
Ferries to Russky leave from the coastal ferries station ( 220 823), 100m east from the S-56 submarine. At research time, six daily boats head to a couple of points on Russky (R50 return, 30 minutes) – around 6.30am, 9.10am, noon, 2.30pm, 5.30pm and 8pm – staying for 10 minutes, then returning to Vladivostok, making for an easy DIY shoestring bay cruise past the Russian Pacific Fleet and giant icebreakers. If you’re planning to tour the island, boats stopping at ‘podnozhye’ (past an island canal) are best.
POPOV ISLAND
Just beyond Russky is Popov Island, better regarded for its beaches and filled with many guesthomes and dachas. You’ll need to overnight if you go on any night but Tuesday and Thursday (of all things); ask at a travel agent if they can help with accommodation before going.
One or two boats leave the coastal ferries station daily for Popov (R70 return, 1½ hours) – most days one leaves at 1pm, returning at 3pm, while Tuesday and Thursday two leave, at 6.15am and 4.30pm.
OTHER SIGHTS
Vladivostok’s bipolar art museum, the Primorsky Art Gallery (Primorskaya kartinnaya galereya; 427 748, 411 162; pr Partizanski 12; admission west/east gallery R50/R40; 9am-6pm Tue-Sun), has a small collection at its original locale (ul Aleutskaya 12), but the main collection has moved indefinitely to two separate halls east of Park Provotsky (with separate admissions). The one to the west features 19th- and early 20th-century oil masters (including Feshin’s sassy Golden Hairs from 1914), packed onto limited wall space. The east gallery features changing exhibits of local painters (when we dropped by they featured fascinating graphic artwork from ’60s Soviet-ho! books).
If you’re a bit of a car (or Soviet) nerd, the newish Antique Automobile Museum (Muzey Avtomotostarini; 212 477; ul Sakhalinskaya 2A; admission R70; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) – stranded under the smoke of a nearby factory in east Vladivostok – is an absolute classic. A room full of Sovietmobiles (motorcycles, too) from the 1930s to 1970s, includes a 1948 M&M-green GAZ-20 ‘Pobeda’ (Victory). If they start selling reproductions of the poster with an acrobat on a motorcycle holding a Stalin flag, send us one, please! Take bus 31 along ul Svetlanskaya and exit after it reaches ul Borisenko’s end.
Just north of Sportivnaya Harbour is an aquarium (Okeanarium; ul Batareynaya 4; adult/child R180/70; 10am-8pm Tue-Sun, 11am-8pm Mon).
Keeping with the aquatic theme, the S-56 submarine (Memornalnoi Gvargeiskoi Podvodnoi Lodke S-56; 216 757; Korabelnaya nab; adult/child R50/25; 10am-8pm) is worth a look. The first half is a ho-hum exhibit of badges and photos of men with badges (all in Russian). Keep going: towards the back you can climb through porthole doors to peek at various rooms, including a lounge of sorts and a bunk room with Christmas-coloured torpedos. Outside note the ‘14’, marking the WWII sub’s ‘kills’.
In the centre, drop by to see the free, changing exhibits at the Arka Art Gallery (ul Svetlanskaya 5; 11am-6pm Tue-Sat), located in an alley.
On ul Aleutskaya you’ll find Yul Brynner’s house (ul Aleutskaya 15), where The King and I actor was born. Don’t tribute Yul by smoking: though the plaque on the four-storey house shows Yul with a cigarette, lung cancer took his life in 1985.
Travel agencies offer bay cruises. Kaleidoskop ( 411 485; ul Tigrovaya 25/1) can arrange three-hour evening cruises (from R3500).
Walking Tour
This walk passes many of Vladivostok’s nicest buildings – look out for many not mentioned here – and finishes with its most famous view, from Eagle’s Nest Hill.
Begin at the train station, where at the north end of the main platform a bronze marker indicates the Trans-Siberian Railway terminus (1) (reading 9288km, the distance from Moscow). Then wander inside the street-level waiting room of the 1911 train station to see murals (2) that were restored (to pre-Soviet originals) in 1996.
Across the street is an unusually animated Lenin statue (3) (pointing to the nearby tram stop). Ignore him and head up ul Aleutskaya, lined with many impressive building from the early 1900s. Half a block down on your left is Yul Brynner’s house (4; left), where Yul entered the world in 1920. It’s above the street-side concrete wall, where (ironically?) a small barbershop is now in place. Consider getting a baldie haircut. (Baldness was a ‘liberation’ to the famously head-shaved Yul, who dismissed hair as ‘stupid vanity’.) The hill above, Tiger Hill, is so named – it’s said – for the tigers who roamed here before the city was settled.
Continue north, maybe popping into the Arsenev Regional Museum (5; Click here), before going under the underpass east along ul Svetlanskaya (first known as ul Amerikanskaya for one of the first Russian ships to discover the bay here, then ul Leninskaya). Towering to the right is the forbidding White House (6; Bely Dom), a government building that replaced green gardens for a Soviet HQ in 1983. Just beyond is Vladivostok’s most stunning meeting point, pl Bortsov Revolutsii, with the sombre Monument to the Fighters for Soviet Power in the Far East (7).
WALK FACTS
Start Train station
Finish Funicular
Distance 1km
Duration Two hours
Continuing east on ul Svetlanskaya, it’s worth popping into the still-going department store GUM (8; Click here), with a host of souvenir stands and faded elegance inside. Outside the 1885 building, you can see various god figures from the building’s original Dresden-inspired architecture.
A block east, turn right through the reconstructed triumphal arch (9) built originally for Tsar Nicholas II in 1891 (then destroyed by Soviets and rebuilt by New Russians). Beyond to the right, you’ll see the green-and-grey S-56 submarine (10; Click here).
Facing it, on the water, is the Krasny Vympel (11), the Soviet Pacific Fleet’s first ship, built in 1911. The on-board museum has been closed for renovations for years; sometimes guards let you board for a quick photo.
Return to ul Svetlanskaya, continue east a couple blocks and go left on ul Pushkina, past Pushkin Theatre to the Funicular (12; Click here), where you can go up Eagle’s Nest Hill for the city’s greatest view.
Sleeping
Vladivostok’s pricey and, at times, disappointing accommodation situation is supposed to get a boost as Marriot and Accor Hotels are planning to open (overdue) business hotels during the life of this book.
BUDGET
Locals holding ‘kvartiri’ (apartments) signs may lull you to homestays from the train platform, or you can find one from a friendly, Russian-speaking apartment agency (kvartiri; 413 415; 3rd fl, ul Verkhneportovaya 2a; 9am-9pm) in the post office across from the train station, from R1000 per day. Travel agents, at last pass, claimed to be able to find one (about US$55 for a double) but couldn’t seem to track one down when asked. If you go this route, you need to arrange your visa registration (Click here).
Ekzotik-DV ( 308 063, 561 738; Hotel Amursky Zaliv, ul Naberezhnaya 9; s/d R500/1000) This scrappy annex to the Amursky Zaliv has a concrete-glob entry marked ‘gostinitsa’, and is humbly Vladivostok’s best budget deal. It’s definitely not great – worn-out wood-floor rooms with rust-coloured floral bedspreads and faded-tile bathrooms – but it’s clean and you get a balcony overlooking the water.
MIDRANGE
Hotel Moryak ( /fax 499 499; [email protected]; ul Posetskaya 38; r with/without hot water R1800/1400) Just above from Yul’s old home, this grey-brick, yet cheerful, place has an endearing lobby with live frogs and a stuffed version of the hotel namesake – a sea man. The colourful rooms are compact, with thin walls (and mattresses) and tiny bathrooms. Laundry is a reasonable R250 per bag. No lift.
Hotel Amursky Zaliv ( 412 808, 411 941; ul Naberezhnaya 9; www.azimuthotels.ru; r incl breakfast R1800/2500) Approaching this bayside hotel, all you see is a gravel lot filled with flirting teens, but down from the tile-decorated doorway, a seven-floor hotel with out-of-sight bay views looms. The cheaper rooms are carpeted, old-school deals, while the newer ones were redone in 2007 (slick bathrooms, better TVs, shocking-gold bedspreads). All have balconies with Vladivostok’s best views. No services though – plan ahead if you need a bottle of water. Open from March through November.
Hotel Vladivostok ( 412 808; www.azimuthotels.ru; ul Naberezhnaya 10; s/d 2000/2500; ) Once the only hotel alive in the centre, the 12-floor grey tower now needs a serious makeover outside. Inside the rooms are OK – a bit dark and smokey on occasion, and with worn carpets. Half the rooms have great views of the water. The lobby has free wi-fi.
Hotel Primorye ( 411 422/582; ul Posetskaya 20; economy s/d R2550/2750, superior s/d R2750/3450;
) Considering quality and location, it’s Vladivostok’s best. Economy rooms are spotless and small, but with playful details like funny artwork and a clock. The higher-priced superiors face Golden Horn Bay. Wi-fi access throughout. The lovingly run sauna (with a Jacuzzi deep enough to dive into, one attendant insisted – not that we suggest you try this!) is extra (R700 to R800 per hour). The 4th-floor café offers a R180 breakfast.
Venice Hotel ( 307 603, fax 307 602; www.venice.far-east.ru; ul Portovaya 39; s/d R2300/3200) This small business hotel is across from the airport – perfectly fine if you have an early flight or late arrival.
Hotel Visit Vladivostok ( 413 453; www.vizit.vl.ru; ul Naberezhnaya 10; s/d incl breakfast R3400/3800;
) Taking over the 4th floor of the Hotel Vladivostok, these 36 inviting, refurbished rooms feel a world away from the grey tower they’re housed in. There’s free wi-fi and a small nautical-themed bar that overlooks the water.
TOP END
Hotel Gavan ( 497 454; www.gavan.ru; ul Krygina 3; s/d incl breakfast from R4000/4500;
) It’s out of the centre and boxed in by housing, but its standard rooms are well kept and there’s a pool. Without breakfast and air-con the double rate drops to R3200.
Vlad Motor Inn ( 388 888; www.vlad-inn.ru; ul Vosmaya 35, Sanatornaya; r R4600;
) The 35-room Vlad feels a world away from the often grim blocks of Siberian towns. It’s way outside the centre – 20km towards the airport – in the lovely, leafy outskirts near an OK beach. It’s seriously understyled, but rooms are very well kept and the restaurant draws high-rollers for R2000 steaks. You can bus here, but the local train is far more comfortable (six stops to Sanatarnaya, R12, 40 minutes).
Hotel Versailles ( 264 201; www.versailles.vl.ru, in Russian; ul Svetlanskaya 10; s/d R4500/5500) Desperately needing a makeover, the Versailles (usually pronounced ‘Versal’ here) tries to recapture the pre-USSR grace of the century-old hotel that reopened in the ’90s, but falls victim to aged rooms and enigmatic pairings throughout (’70s lounge seats, tsarist-style chandeliers).
Hotel Hyundai ( 402 233, 407 250; www.hotelhyundai.ru; ul Semenovskaya 29; s/d incl breakfast from R6000/6500;
) Big with Asian business travellers and groups, this 12-floor, 335-room tower is perfectly fine – standard carpeted rooms with writing desk, satellite TV, modern bathroom and some nice views on higher floors. Staff can be a bit clunky in their duties at times – surprising if you consider the room rates! There’s a casino, barber, Korean restaurant and a sauna (costs vary) and pool (nonguests R450) – guests get half-price entry for either – plus a nice rooftop bar.
Eating
Eating options coat the town, offering more class and types of cuisine than pretty much anywhere between here and Moscow or Alaska.
Some restaurants offer ‘business lunches’ from noon to 4pm for R200 to R300.
RUSSIAN
King Bufet (ul Peryaya Morskaya 9; meals R150-200; noon-10pm) This is a snazzy mezzanine cafeteria, with Russian food served until 7pm.
Republic (ul Aleutskaya; meals R150-250; 9am-11pm Mon-Thu, 9am-midnight Fri, 10am-midnight Sat & Sun) Inside the glass pyramid across from the train station, this perfectly respectable stolovaya (cafeteria) draws more than a couple of cheap dates with its tasty Russian dishes and own beer (R90). A loungelike, newer branch at ul Svetlanskaya 83, near the funicular, has the same prices and opening hours but is dressed up with prints of old Russian newspapers.
Izbushka ( 510 269; ul Fokina 9; meals R200-500; 11am-11pm) A popular little Russian eatery with two themed rooms: a ‘taiga’ room and a ‘dacha’. Traditionally dressed staff clank their high heels on the wood floors under a soundtrack of lightly played hip-hop. The food is hearty and good (a bread-covered bowl of shchi – cabbage, potato and beef – is R115).
Gutov ( 414 821; ul Posetskaya 23; meals R700-1000; noon-midnight) This beer hall with chunky wood tables serves large Russian meals – mostly meats and fish fillets cooked up with a host of vegetable toppings. On one occasion a local got too excited over the home-brewed beer and got arrested as a selfless researcher looked on. ‘Business lunch’ means gentler pricing of the same dishes.
Nostalgiya ( 410 513; ul Pervaya Morskaya 6/25; meals R700-1200; 8am-11pm) This compact, long-running restaurant offers hearty and tasty Russian meals with a little for-the-tsars pomp. Most visitors come for the souvenir shop (big collection of paintings and handicrafts) or a snack at the café.
ITALIAN
Pizza M ( 413 430; ul Posetskaya 20, Hotel Primorye; meals R350-700; 24hr) Classier than its name might suggest, the M (inside Hotel Primorye) is one of Vlad’s coolest hangouts, with two unique rooms setting their style-sights higher than the humble slice. The pizzas (R200 to R500) are quite good (note: a small is not enough for one).
Mauro Gianvanni ( 220 782; ul Fokina 16; meals R400-800; noon-midnight Sun-Thu, 24hr Fri & Sat) This slick little brick-oven pizzeria – run by an Italian – pumps VH1 videos in the modern interior, though most sit out on the deck when weather behaves. The dozen-plus pizzas are crispy and tasty (R240 to R310), probably the best pie east of the Urals. There’s also a selection of pastas and ‘Italian burgers’.
The Mauro Gianvanni café ( 205 762; Okeansky pr 9; 11am-midnight) is slightly cheaper, with set pasta meals from R240, but no pizza.
ASIAN
Bombay 1 (Bombei 1; 432 167; ul Fontannaya 15/2; meals R250-700; noon-midnight) Vlad’s only curry saver. There are R200 thali lunches noon to 3pm and a host of North Indian-style curries served as Bollywood films play on the telly.
Pyongyang (Pkhenyan; 964 458; Hotel Korona, ul Verkhnyeportovaya 68B; meals R500-1000; noon-midnight) Staffed by newcomers from North Korea, this two-room Korean restaurant seems to like sitting Koreans in one room, Russians and foreigners in the other. You can pick from a photo menu of excellent food (BBQ starts at R480). It’s about four stops south of the train station via bus 60 (just before the railroad bridge).
Edem ( 261 990; ul Fokina 22; meals R1600-2200; 11am-midnight Sun-Thu, 11am-2am Fri & Sat) Vladivostok’s first and best sushi bar is in an attractive cellarlike space with nooks to sit in. Sushi and sashimi combos start at R1600; an eight-piece California roll is R300. ‘Sushi time’ is 11am to 5pm, and 6pm to 11pm only.
OTHER
Five O’Clock ( 945 531; ul Fokina 6; pastries R50; 8am-8pm Mon-Sat) Vladivostok, take note of this novel idea – coffee, brownies, cakes and quiche (R50), all made daily and sold for less than an espresso at most ‘cafes’. Lots of midday snackers come in, perhaps to see the Queen plate behind the register.
Studio Coffee ( 552 222; ul Svetlanskaya 18; meals R300-500; 24hr) Vladivostok’s cool crowd comes to this indoor-outdoor café to enjoy a drink or well-prepared light meals (chicken sandwiches for R150) and breakfasts (eggs, bacon and toast for R129).
Syndicate ( 469 460; ul Komsomolskaya 11, Ignat Mal; meals R600-1750; noon-midnight) Taking over Vladivostok in an Al Capone frenzy, this ultra-1930s themed restaurant – ‘Chicago, New York, whatever’, per one waitress – has seats next to faux storefronts and a stage that lights up with live music at the weekend. Big spenders stick with the steaks – an Aussie rib-eye runs to R1750, but there are R300 burgers and R360 pastas. It’s a couple of kilometres north of the centre, near ul Komsomolskaya, and is reachable via any ‘Vtornaya Rechna’ bus.
QUICK EATS & SELF-CATERING
In good weather, open-air stands cook up sizzling shashlyk (R130 to R150) and shaverma (doner kebab; R70) around Sportivnaya Harbour – and several stands around town sell passable hot dogs (R25).
For self-caterers, the Clover Leaf (cnr ul Semenovskaya & ul Aleutskaya) mall has a 24-hour supermarket with a deli. There’s another supermarket (ul Verkhneportovaya; 24hr) across from the train station.
Drinking
Locals like grabbing a beer and sitting on the benches overlooking Sportivnaya Harbour – or any other available bench.
Sky Bar (Hotel Hyundai, 12th fl, ul Semenovskaya 29; 6pm-2am) Excellent bay views.
El Dorado ( 407 781; Okeansky pr 29; 24hr) You’re likely to get into weird conversations with harmless drunks playing slots, but the ten or so screens will be playing the sport you need (NBA, Premiership, NFL, maybe netball) – best is the viewing room with rows of old airplane seats.
Brauhaus Hans ( 406 875; ul Fokina 25A; 24hr) Hans pours a mean mug at this all-the-way German beer house with upstairs live music at night and all-day snacks and meals. Accessed from ul Semenovskaya.
Grand Café ( 302 722; 4th fl, Marine Terminal; noon-1am) Atop the ferry terminal, behind the train station, this MTV-ready club/restaurant goes for glittering parties at night, but its wide-open views, sandwiches and roof deck make for good beer or coffee sips during the day, too.
Entertainment
Stadium Dinamo (ul Pogranichnaya) The popular local football team, Luch-Energiya, plays games at this bayside stadium from April to November. On other days you can pay R35 to jog on the track.
Okno ( 555 222; 3rd fl, ul Batareynaya 3A; entry incl all drinks R3000; 10pm-3am or 4am Wed-Sat) Vlad’s coolest club’s price keeps the luxury to a high degree – plus there’s a minimum age (25 for guys, 21 for women). This 3rd-floor spot has a full-front window overlooking the water, baroque gold-painted armchairs, visiting DJs, and dance bands that finish sets with ‘I Will Survive.’
Zabriskie Point ( 215 715; ul Naberezhnaya 9A; entry Mon-Thu R700-1000, Fri-Sun R500; 8pm-4am) Attached to the rear of the Hotel Amursky Zaliv, Zabriskie is Vladivostok’s main rock and jazz club. Live music from 11pm every night but Monday. Pricey, but not without character.
Philharmonic Hall (Filarmoniya; 264 022, 260 821; ul Svetlanskaya 15) Hosts classical music and also jazz shows.
Shopping
And in other news, an explosion of modern malls! It’s happened across Vladivostok – often with a confusing network of shops selling similar (but not quite the same) collections of imported clothing.
Clover Leaf (cnr ul Semonovskaya & ul Aleutskaya; 10am-9pm) A convenient mall with a nice top-floor eating area and a good selection of clothing stores.
Magazin Kollektsionera (ul Fokina 5/3; 10am-6pm) A retired navy vet opened this collection of (mostly) Soviet keepsakes about two decades ago. Super stuff: Soviet cameras, watches, toy soldiers, warship clocks, banners, Stalin paintings – all very reasonably priced.
Flotsky Univermag (ul Svetlanskaya 11; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, to 6pm Sat & Sun) For unusual souvenir turf, follow the navy – this outfitter has those cute blue-and-white striped navy undershirts (R140) and other navy gear.
Nostalgiya (ul Pervaya Morskaya 6/25; 10am-8pm) Nostalgiya keeps a good range of pricey handicrafts (wood boats from R250 and way up); upstairs are many art pieces imported from around Asia and oil paintings of Vladivostok (from R1800).
GUM (ul Svetlanskaya 35; 10am-8pm Mon-Sat, 10am-7pm Sun) This Soviet-style department store is the Far East’s most art deco elegant. Some traditional souvenirs on the 1st floor.
Getting There & Away
AIR
Domestic
An ongoing airport renovation may allow some of Moscow’s budget airlines to reach Vladivostok over the life of this book. Until then, shop around online or different airlines for varying fares. Airlines include S7 (Sibir Airlines), Dal Avia (DA), Sakhalinsky-Aviatrassy (SAT) and Yakutia (YK).
Ticket agents all over town can sell tickets, including Biletur ( 407 700; www.airagency.ru; ul Posetskaya 17; 8am-7pm Mon-Sat, 9am-6pm Sun).
International
Prices get nutty on international routes. At research time, the Vietnam Airlines flight to Hanoi (R12,000, six hours, weekly) was sometimes cheaper than the Vladivostok Air or Korean Air flight to nearby Seoul (R12,000 to R14,000, 90 minutes, six per week) or Pusan.
For China, Vladivostok Air also flies to Beijing (R8,000, 2½ hours, two per week) and Harbin (R7800, two hours, two per week).
For Japan, Vladivostok Air flies to Niigata (R15,000, 1¾ hours, two per week), Osaka (R18,800, 2¼ hours, two per week) and Toyama (R17,800, 2¾ hours, four per week).
BOAT
The Biznes Intur Servis ( 497 393; www.bisintour.com; 3rd f, Okeansky pr 1, Marine Terminal; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri) sells tickets for the fairly regular ferries (supposedly every Monday) between Vladivostok and the Japanese port of Fushiki from late February to early January. The often rough trip takes 36 or more hours. The 400-plus capacity is never full. Four categories of berths range from US$440 to US$1000 one way; the return trip is usually filled with 100 used cars from Japan.
Dong Chun Ferry Company ( 302 660; www.dongchunferry.co.kr, in Korean; Rm 241, Okeansky pr 1, Marine Terminal; 10am-5.30pm Mon-Fri, 7am-9am Sat) sells tickets for weekly ferry service to Sokcho, Korea (US$232 to US$422 one way, 24 hours), leaving 10am Saturday. In Sokcho, you can bus to Seoul (about US$15, 3½ hours) every couple of hours. ‘It’s not such a great boat,’ an agent warned us. ‘You may get sick.’
BUS
The bus station ( 323 378; ul Russkaya), 3km north of the centre, sends many buses around the Primorsky Territory, such as frequent departures for Nakhodka (four hours). Some southbound destinations may be off-limits to foreigners without a permit.
Ask travel agents about eight-hour bus rides to Harbin, China.
TRAIN
At the time of writing, the 1 service, the Rossiya, leaves the train station ( 491 005) for Moscow (R16,300, 6½ days) on odd-numbered dates, passing through Khabarovsk (R2560, 12 hours), Irkutsk (R11,250, 72 hours) and Novosibirsk (R13,780, 4 days and 4 hours). A cheaper service, on even dates, is the 239 – it’s R10,900 for a Moscow kupe ticket, R7500 for Irkutsk. On odd dates the 7 Sibir
(2nd-class apartment) to Novosibirsk (R9250, four days) is also a cheaper option for Irkutsk (R7500).
DOMESTIC FLIGHTS FROM VLADIVOSTOK
A sample of one-way summer rates for direct flights priced a month in advance:
Other trains include the daily 5 Okean overnight to Khabarovsk (R2600, 12 hours), and the daily 351 via Khabarovsk to Komsomolsk-na-Amure (R2300, 27½ hours) and Vanino (R2920, 40 hours).
The 53 service to Kharkiv, Ukraine – on odd dates – has a less-than-stellar reputation for comfort and cleanliness.
Presently leaving (local time) Monday and Thursday, the 185 connects Vladivostok with Harbin (R1500, 41 hours) in the Heilongjiang province of northern China, from where there are daily connections to Beijing. The trip has many stops and border checks. The train crosses the border at the Chinese town of Suifenhe and also stops at Mudanjiang.
Tickets for long-distance trains are sold in the office beside the main platform. If there are long queues here you can buy tickets at the Service Centre ( 248 404; train station; 8am-noon & 1-7.45pm), at the southern end of the building, for a R185 commission.
Getting Around
TO/FROM THE AIRPORT
A rail link connecting the centre with the airport (42km north) is in the works and may be completed during the life of this book. Meanwhile, taxis charge about R600 for the trip (allow at least 90 minutes).
Connecting the train station and airport, bus 107 (R55) runs every 45 to 75 minutes from 6.40am to 5.45pm. Call 360 360 for info.
LOCAL TRANSPORT
Trolleybuses and trams cost R10 a ride; pay when exiting. From in front of the train station, trams 4 and 5 run north then swing east onto ul Svetlanskaya to the head of the bay; tram 7 stays on ul Aleutskaya, running north past the bus stop by Clover Leaf Mall. The many buses are quicker. Buses 23, 31 and 49 run from the train station along ul Svetlanskaya.
One local taxi company is PrimTaxi ( 555 555).
AROUND PRIMORSKY TERRITORY
The broad, mountainous Primorsky Territory is beloved by locals with cars, who visit the beaches and mountains. Some go on raft tours of the 6000 rivers in the area, notably the Kema River (check www.pfst.narod.ru for some information).
Those without their own wheels lean on pricey tours to get very far. The easiest trip to do by public transport is to Nakhodka, where you can bus or taxi to nearby beaches.
Return to beginning of chapter
Nakhodka Находка
42366 / pop 176,000 / Moscow + 7hr
What, you want more? The Trans-Siberian finishes 9288km east of Moscow at Vlad-ivostok, but there’s still four more hours of track to go. Discovered by a desperate, storm-tossed Russian ship in 1859 – Nakhodka means ‘lucky find’ – Nakhodka served as the end of the Trans-Siberian during the Soviet years when Vladivostok was closed. A major port, expanded by the Soviets in the 1950s as Russia’s only Pacific port open to foreign ships, Nakhodka’s otherwise-lovely bays are lined with ship-repair yards and loading docks. But the setting’s still pretty, with nice beaches and dramatic coastal rock formations.
ORIENTATION & INFORMATION
Made up of once-separate villages, the city features distinct huddled neighbourhoods connected by 15km of road, the centre of which is Nakhodkinski Prospect. The train station (‘Tikhookeanski’) is a walkable bus stop north; the bus station is two more stops north.
The sweet International Marine Club Nakhodka ( 56 250; [email protected]; ul Leninskaya 22; 9am-midnight) is a seamen’s hangout, with free karaoke, pooltable and email access, plus a bar after 6pm and travel information from the motherly English-speaking staff.
There are ATMs on ul Leninsakaya.
SIGHTS
Nakhodka Museum (ul Vladivostokskaya 6; admission R100; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun), at the ul Leninskaya bus stop, is a compact but intriguing museum, with half of the space devoted to its several sister cities (including Oakland, California – home to Lonely Planet USA) and a room devoted to local travellers (yes, we love this place). No English subtitles.
From here, you can walk along the road uphill, past the train station, to reach several lookouts over the bay. The pointed mountain across the bay is the ‘Sister’ of the Brother and Sister (Brat i Sistra) combo. Brother had his head chopped off by mining Soviets in the ’70s; there’s an often-overgrown trail going up the 300m Sister though; reach it by bus 26 from the bus station (R15, 30 minutes).
The area’s beaches are cleaner than those near Vladivostok. In town, bus 4 heads to one OK beach area near town called Zalatari. Better ones include Vrangel, reached by bus 26 from the bus station (R30, one hour) – which is also near the popular Tri Ozera (Three Lakes) – and Livadiya, reached via bus 22 (R38, 1½ hours).
SLEEPING
Both hotels are at the Leninskaya bus stop. Visa registration is R200.
Yuan Dun ( 59 995; Nakhodniskhi Pr 51; r from R1200) This ‘Chinese hotel’ is atop a hill just south of the bus stop, visible from the train tracks. Standard rooms have good bathrooms, but are quite smoked in.
Piramid-Otel ( 52 209; [email protected]; ul Vladivostokskaya 2, at Nakhodsky Pr; r incl breakfast R2600 & R3200; ) It’s pricey and housed in a grey box, but inside the super ‘Piramid’ looks something like an upscale Transylvanian tavern, with juicy blood-red arm chairs and heavily detailed wooden doors.
EATING & DRINKING
Anktrakt (ul Leninskaya 16; meals R200-250; 10am-10pm) This simple family-friendly zakusachnaya (snack bar) serves simple Russian meals and an omelette.
Masis (Nakhodniski Pr 7a; meals R200-350) Across from the bus station, this Armenian restaurant is excellent, with a better-than-usual shashlyk coated in dill and onion (R150 to R180). Complete with menu in English.
GETTING THERE & AROUND
Two daily trains connect Vladivostok with Nakhodka (2nd class R232, four hours), returning to Vladivostok from Nakhodka at around 8am and 4pm. Nakhodka’s train station ( 56 825) is called ‘Tikhookeanski’.
Frequent buses connect the cities for the same price, leaving Nakhodka’s bus station ( 643 495) from 6.20am to 7.30pm daily.
Local buses cost R7. Many, including the 2, go between the bus station, train station and ul Leninskaya. For a taxi call 690 690.
Gaivoron & Lake Khanka Гаиворон и Озеро Ханка
The Far East is all about its Amur (or Siberian) tigers, and here at Gaivoron, 235km north of Vladivostok, you can see a couple at the Russian Academy of Sciences biological research reserve, run by Dr Victor Yudin and his daughter. Tiger fans will cherish it, but others might feel it’s a lot of time (and money) to see a striped duo living in a 2-hectare compound.
Tours by Vladivostok agents (Click here) include about 90 minutes of tiger time, lunch and a four-hour ride each way. A private tour is R2900 per person (with two going). It’s not possible to go independently.
Nearby, the shallow 4000-sq-metre Lake Khanka, spanning the Chinese border and covered in giant lotus flowers, is home to around 350 species of bird every summer. Some two-day trips here see both, including accommodation at the nearby town Spassk-Dalny.
Slavyanka Славянка
Vlad’s locals enjoy making a day trip by ferry to the port of Slavyanka, 50km south towards the (off-limits) North Korean border. It’s best used as a hub for nearby beaches, such as Vityaz, reached by a 90-minute drive south by 4WD (about R1500 one way). There are also forts, a series of bays and the ruins of an early 19th-century explorer’s home to explore. Discovery Club (Click here) in Vladivostok can help make transport and accommodation arrangements (R1000 to R2000 including meals).
A few daily boats leave for Slavyanka from Vladivostok’s coastal ferries station (Map; 220 823). The hydrofoil (R300) takes an hour, ferries (R100) take three. Foreigners need a permit to go to Slavyanka by land (travel agencies may be able to help).
Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve Сихоте-Алинский Заповедник
Home to the Russian-American Siberian Tiger project, this 3440-sq-km forested reserve, headquartered in the coastal town of Terney, stretches from the Sikhote-Alin Mountains past clear salmon streams and a savannahlike oasis to the Pacific coast and rocky beaches. Chances of seeing a tiger are slim, but it’s beautiful.
It’s an 11- or 12-hour ride one way. Dalintourist’s ‘Tigerland’ trip (Click here) lasts six days, including a stay in its rural Arkhipovka lodge; the trip (including guide, transport, accommodation and meals) runs from US$950 per person.
EASTERN BAM
The tsars had their Trans-Siberian, but Stalin and the Soviets had the BAM, an engineering marvel that makes its greatest achievements on this 80-hour stretch east of the north lip of Lake Baikal. Here, the money-losing train passes through a 15.7km tunnel cut through solid rock and past snow-capped mountains, hours from any settlement. Many trees you’ll see out the window stand lifeless: the roots of these so-called ‘drunken trees’ have been severed by the cruel permafrost below the surface.
Amid all this natural wonder are rather uninspired Soviet towns, created – often by Gulag labourers – to finish the railroad. Other than Dervla Murphy (who stumbled her way across some of the BAM in Through Siberia By Accident, Click here), few visitors come this way; even most Russians see the BAM as something of a train to nowhere. But there’s fascination in that for the patient (and willing) adventurer. As one BAM local put it, ‘In Khabarovsk, they have to go 200km or 300km to find any nature; here the taiga is one step outside town.’
A few links cut down to the Trans-Siberian: from Tynda (also with rail-then-road connections north to distant Yakutsk), Novy Urgal and colourful, surprising Komsomolsk-na-Amure (itself the best stop-off town along the way, with nearby ski slopes and Gulag tours). The end of the line comes near Vanino, where you can ferry to Sakhalin Island.
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TYNDA ТЫНДА
41656 / pop 39,000 / Moscow +6hr
The king of the BAM, Tynda is a nondescript BAM HQ flanked by low-lying, pine-covered hills. Many stop here, as it’s a hub for trains between Severobaikalsk, Komsomolsk-na-Amure and, on the ‘Little BAM’, Blagoveshchensk to the south, or, on the in-progress AYaM (Amro-Yakutskaya Magistral), Neryungri and Tommot to the north.
Don’t expect quaint. Tynda’s fully Soviet – there was nothing but a few shacks before BAM centralised its efforts here in 1974.
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Orientation & Information
The train station – the city’s most striking landmark – is across the Tynda River. A pedestrian bridge leads 1km north to the central ul Krasnaya Presnaya. There’s an ATM at the train station. You can get online at the post office (ul Krasnaya Presnaya 53; 8am-noon & 1-7pm Mon-Fri, 8am-2pm Sat & Sun) at the street’s eastern end.
Contact feisty adventurer Alexey Podprugin ( 8-914-552 1455; [email protected]) for kayaking, hiking and cross-country skiing trips.
Sights & Activities
The BAM Museum ( 41 690; ul Sportivnaya 22; admission R100; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun, by appointment), a couple of blocks southwest of the Orthodox cathedral (Sobor Svyatoy Troitsy), covers native Evenki culture, WWII, local art and regional wildlife, but is known for its four rooms of BAM relics and photos (no English). Two rooms cover the railway’s early years and the Gulag prisoners who built it. Look for the photo of sci-fi author Ivan Efremov, who secretly wrote while in the Gulag.
Tynda’s public banya (bathhouse; 40 030; ul Amurskaya; admission R200, private room R540-690; women 1-9pm Sat, men 1-9pm Sun) is the real McCoy when it comes to the hellishly hot steam room and chilly dunks in a pool. Freshly cut birch branches are available. It’s in a red-brick building 50m south of a dramatic sledgehammer-wielding BAM worker statue at the eastern end of ul Krasnaya Presnaya.
Zarya is a native Evenki village nearby. Bus 105 from the train station goes eight times daily (30 minutes).
Sleeping
Resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; 73 297; train station; bed per 6/12/24hr R191/325/592) Comfy and clean dorm rooms in the train station. Shower available.
Hotel Yunost ( 43 534; ul Krasnaya Presnaya 49; s/d R1350/2300) This faded but fine hotel in the centre is where Dervla Murphy recuperated as related in her book Through Siberia by Accident. Reservation fee: 25%.
Getting There & Around
Trains 75 and 76 link Tynda with Moscow (R10,000, five days) on even numbered days, stopping in Severobaikalsk (R2800, 26 hours). Trains 963 and 964 connect Tynda with Komsomolsk (R2850, 37 hours, daily), 81 and 82 with Blagoveshchensk (R2644, 16 hours, every second day), and 325 and 326 with Khabarovsk (R2800, 28 hours, daily). Many of these trains go on to Neryungri (R790, 5½ hours), as do Tynda–Neryungri link 658 and 657.
Bus 5 outside the train station goes every 20 or 30 minutes along ul Krasnaya Presnaya.
NERYUNGRI НЕРЮНГРИ
41147 / population 70,000 / Moscow +6hr
Set on a flat-top hill about 220km north of Tynda, modern Neryungri loses most views due to its 30-year-old housing blocks. It’s worth a visit only for the land link with Yakutsk, 800km north. The banks have no ATMs.
One of the world’s largest open-cut coal mines (razrez) is just outside town – adventurers (apparently) can fairly freely wander the facilities and see mammoth trucks that transport chunks of coal. Take bus 3 (R12, 25 minutes).
If you plan to stay overnight, it’s worth booking ahead for one of the four rooms at Hotel Arigus ( 30 173; [email protected]; pr Druzhby Narodov 27; s/d R1250/2000).
See above for train links here. Taxi vans leave from the train station, 3km east of the centre, a couple of times daily to Yakutsk (around R2800, 20 to 24 hours).
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NOVY URGAL НОВЫЙ УРГАЛ
42149 / pop 6700 / Moscow + 7hr
This scrappy BAM crossroads town, with links south to the Trans-Siberian, satisfies those rare macabre longings for a kept-real, fading pocket of ’70s Sovietlandia – or a short cut to Khabarovsk. The town was founded in 1974 by Ukrainian railway workers.
From the station, head up the steps, where you’ll see a cubelike BAM monument, a hospital-shaped culture house to your right (there’s a library and club inside) and a plain main square ahead. The huge grey building on the opposite side of the square has internet and groceries on the 1st floor.
The shady road going west – ul Kievskaya – leads a block to the lone attraction, a cute BAM Museum ( 7416; 3rd fl, ul Kievskaya 7; admission free; 11am-2pm Tue-Sun), with a talkative guide and models of Novy Urgal since the days of ’74.
With time, you can bus or taxi to nearby Chegdomyn, a mining village with a museum, North Korean monuments (and North Koreans). A bus goes every couple of hours from the central square (40 minutes, 32km).
A block south (towards the tracks) on nearby ul Donetskaya you’ll find a yellow-and-white hotel ( 9286; ul Artema; r per person R400, lyux R1150), which was under serious renovation when we visited.
Food-wise, the best option is the simple, windowless Aisberg (ul Kievskaya 5).
Train 663 goes to Khabarovsk (R1500, 15 hours), or the 963 and 964 stop here en route to Tynda (R2000, 23 hours) or Komsomolsk (R1350, 14 hours).
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KOMSOMOLSK-NA-AMURE КОМСОМОЛЬСК-НА-АМУРЕ
4217 / pop 280,000 / Moscow +7hr
After days of taiga and grey Soviet towns, Komsomolsk-na-Amure hits the BAM adventurer like a mini St Petersburg. A convenient hub between Khabarovsk (290km south) and all points BAM (including the Vanino ferry to Sakhalin Island), this friendly city – set along a few grand boulevards – is worth a little time for its centre full of tsarist-era style buildings in salmon, sky blue and pink, all made under Stalin’s watch. Nearby attractions include ski slopes, Nanai villages and rafting options.
Komsomolsk began in 1932, built by Communist Youth League (Komsomol) volunteers and mostly by Gulag labourers – all to help populate the east, build a railroad, and set up an aircraft and shipbuilding factory on the Amur River. Things have slowed since USSR days, with a dip of about 30,000 in population.
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Information
Gladiator (2nd fl, pl Lenina, Dom Kulturi Stroiltini; internet per hr R25, per MB R3; 10am-10pm) In a pillared mint-green building behind Lenin’s statue is this internet café with a King Arthur theme.
Nata Tour ( 529 767, 8-914-189 1784; www.komsomolsknata.ru; office 110, ul Vasyanina 12; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri) Located in the big grey building in back, this experienced travel service arranges homestays in town (R1000 per person), ‘Stalin tours’ of city communist sites (including a Gulag camp; R400/300 per person for groups of two/four) and regional tours for fishing, rafting, skiing or homestays at Vernyaya Ekon (R2000).
Post office (pr Mira 27; 8am-7pm Mon-Fri, to 6pm Sat, to 3pm Sun)
Telephone office (pr Mira 31; 8am-11pm)
Sights
Worth it even if you can’t read Russian, the well-arranged Municipal Museum of Regional Studies ( 592 640; pr Mira 8; admission R100; 9.30am-5pm Tue-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat & Sun) has several rooms filled with old photos and knick-knacks showing how Komsomolsk rose from the tent camps of original pioneers in 1932 to an industrial Soviet city. One exhibit triumphs the Soviet devushki (young women) who followed the calls for women out to this all-male city in 1937.
Just northwest of the river station, Komsomolsk’s landmark sight is the impressive WWII memorial, which features stoic faces chipped from stone, with nearby pillars marking the years of WWII. Just east of the river station is a beach, which is well attended on nice days.
The ladies running the Fine Art Museum ( 590 822; pr Mira 16; admission R70; 10am-5.45pm Tue-Sun) will be eager to help you appreciate the two floors of changing exhibits, often modest works by regional artists. One recent exhibit we saw was of Khabarovsk-based artist Nikolai Dolbilkin, who made many of the wonderful Soviet mosaics around town when he lived here in the ’50s and ’60s. In the central grey building at Sudostroitel Park you’ll see Dolbilkin’s WWII mosaic (2nd fl, pr Mira & ul Truba), a double triptych celebrating the end of the war; his relief Nauka mosaic is at the Polytechnical Institute on pr Lenina, a block east of Hotel Voskhod.
A tiny Gulag victims monument – an unremarkable jagged piece of rock – is hidden in a tiny park, ominously next to the city court building on pr Lenina. There’s also a simple Japanese POW memorial off pr Mira.
If you have a few days to wait for permission, Nata Tour (above) can help arrange visits of the Yury Gagarin Aircraft Factory, about 1km northeast of the centre. A museum shows its current and past works. A tour is R700.
WHAM BAM, IT’S THE RED ELVIS!
One of the more bizarre tours of all time rolled through Tynda in August 1979 when the ‘Red Elvis’ – Dean Reed, an American singer turned Marxist – did a 19-day tour on BAM, immortalised in his song ‘BAM’ (‘Everybody sing along… the towns are here to stay, it’s the future of our day!’).
His show at Tynda’s Festivalnaya Hill drew 25,000 spectators, but didn’t kick off the way he wanted: according to one story, told on the priceless website www.deanreed.de, a local refused to let the American use his horse for a dramatic cowboy entrance.
Reed’s an unknown in the West these days – not surprising with songs like ‘Wake Up America’ and photos of him chumming around with Central American revolutionaries. That may change. In 2006, Tom Hanks bought the rights to make a film on Reed, who died under mysterious circumstances in East Germany in 1986.
Tip: Hours – and hours – of enjoyment can be had YouTubing Dean’s videos.
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Sleeping
Nata Tour (opposite) can arrange homestays (R1000 per person including breakfast).
The sparkling clean resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; 284 193; s R375/630 per 12/24 hr, dm in tr R275/455) are on the east side of the train station. Showers are R57.
Hotel Amur ( 590 984; [email protected]; pr Mira 15; s/d from R480/700) A rare budget hotel in the Far East. The Amur has 15 old-fashioned rooms (many with shared toilet and shower) in a lovely 1932 building.
Hotel Voskhod ( 535 131; pr Pervostroiteley 31; r from R1600; ) This eight-storey grey hotel is the all-around best choice. Its renovated rooms come with wi-fi access and fans if you ask. The top-floor café serves good food, there’s bowling next door, and it’s a 10-minute walk south of the train station.
Dacha Krushcheva ( 540 659; ul Khabarovska 47; r R1600-2500; ) Built for Nikita Khrushchev, the back-street dacha is a step back in time. The massive suites could fit a Young Pioneers troupe, but only have a sofa bed and double. All rooms are a bit stuffy for the price. There’s a sauna. For history buffs only.
Biznestsentr ( 521 522; [email protected]; ul Dzerzhinskogo 3; r R2000-4000;
) A modern building behind the bus station, the Biznestsentr has 17 carpeted rooms with desks and increasing elbow room per the ruble spent – a tad more comfortable than the Voskhod. Restaurant on site.
Eating
Cafe Rodnik (pr Mira 12; meals R150-300; 8am-11pm) This fun little eatery serves a host of Russian and Chinese dishes in a compact Chinese-style setting popular with locals. A mug of local Flora beer (a bit sweet) is R50.
U City (pr Lenina 19; meals from R150; 10am-11pm) This new one-screen cinema has a flashy 1st-floor pizza place (slices R50 to R60) with comfy booths and Komsomolsk’s coolest kids.
Vstrecha ( 537 135; ul Pervostroiteley 20; meals R500-750; noon-3am) This mini banquet hall has cloud-painted ceilings and fussed-up tables wrapping around a simple disco-ball stage for live music after 9pm (when entry is R60 to R140). Food is quite good; the Russian dishes (cutlets, soups, salads) more so than the Chinese.
Getting There & Around
From Komsomolsk’s pink train station ( 282 297; pr Pervostroiteley) the daily 351 leaves for Khabarovsk (R1350, nine hours) and Vladivostok (R2300, 27 hours); the 67 goes to Khabarovsk (R1570, nine hours).
On the BAM, 963 heads west to Novy Urgal (R1350, 14 hours) and Tynda (R2800, 37 hours); to reach Severobaikalsk, you’ll need to change in Tynda.
Local and long-distance buses leave from the simple bus station ( 591 154) near the river station. Buses bound for Khabarovsk (R430, six hours) leave every 90 minutes or so from 7am.
June through August it’s possible to travel by hydrofoil to/from Khabarovsk (R700, six hours) and Nikolaevsk-na-Amure (R1820, 12 hours). At the time of research, boats left the river station ( 591 154, 592 935) for Nikolaevsk at 7.30am, and for Khabarovsk at 1pm.
Within the city, tram 2 runs from the train station, past all hotels to the river station (R12). Bus 102 runs from the bus station every 45 minutes to the airport (R20), 25km west of town.
AROUND KOMSOMOLSK-NA-AMURE
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Activities
It gets wild an hour outside of Komsomolsk, where you can find hunting lodges, streams for fishing or rafting, and mountains for skiing.
RAFTING
There are numerous rafting trips in the region. You can take day trips on rafts down the Gur River, 90 minutes south of Komsomolsk by road, finishing at the village of Voznesenskoe. Nata Tour (Click here) offers a one-day trip for R2400 per person, or a two-day camping trip, with a float back along the Amur River, for R3000 per person. Also ask Nata about longer rafting trips reached by the BAM.
SKIING
There are several skiing options near Komsomolsk, including Kholtimy, reached by an hour-long bus during winter season. The lift is about R100 per ride, ski or snowboard rental is R300 per hour.
Verkhnyaya Ekon Верхняя Экон
Tucked between the Amur River and bear-inhabited hills, this village of 500 (of which half are Nanai) makes a fun day trip from Komsomolsk across the river. Its school has a small Nanai Museum, with old shaman costumes and plenty of Nanai traditional pieces. It’s possible to hike up the mountain, or rest along the waterfront.
Some homes here are open to homestays, something Nata Tour (Click here) can help with (about R1500 per person).
Three daily buses come from Komsomolsk (R30, 30 minutes), but if you arrange for a taxi you can visit an eerie, unfinished 800m-long BAM tunnel at nearby Pivan village (north of the Amur Bridge), with rusted pieces left from the project that was abandoned after WWII broke out.
NIKOLAEVSK-NA-AMURE НИКОЛАЕВСК-НА-АМУРЕ
42135 / pop 35,000 / Moscow +7hr
If the road from Komsomolsk, 12 hours south on the northward-flowing Amur River, ever gets finished, welcome change may come to the historic and humbled port town of Nikolaevsk. Meanwhile, it’s a bit rough around the edges, with a sad air and crumbling concrete apartment blocks.
Named after the tsar, this shipbuilding port was founded in 1850 as a fortress near the mouth of the river and the Tatar Strait. Many convicts bound for the tsarist-era penal colony on Sakhalin Island came through here, as did Gulag convicts in the 20th century.
For more on local history, visit the simple Regional Museum ( 23 247; ul Gorkogo 27A; admission R100; 10am-1pm & 2-5pm Wed-Sun), which includes exhibits on locals sent to the Gulag in 1937–38.
Hotel Sever ( 22 174; ul Sibirskaya 117; r per person R760-790) is a hotel with peeling-paint, hot-water showers and an OK restaurant. From the river station it’s a 20-minute walk, left on ul Sovetskaya, right on ul Volodarskogo to pl Lenina.
From late May through August or so, the daily hydrofoil leaves at 11.45pm from the river station ( 23 277; 10am-4pm) headed for Komsomolsk (R2000, 12 hours) and Khabarovsk (R3000, 17 to 18 hours). There’s also an airport with links to Khabarovsk.
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VANINO & SOVETSKAYA GAVAN ВАНИНo & СОВЕТСКАЯ ГАВАН
Vanino 42137, Sov Gavan 42138 / Moscow +7hr
BAM completists and those planning on taking the ferry to Sakhalin Island get two grey Soviet port towns for the price of one. Few others would consider visiting, though some travel agencies in Khabarovsk offer fishing or hunting tours to the nearby green hills, rivers and lakes.
Reached by train and ferry, Vanino (population 18,500) was founded during WWII. Its often foggy bay sees some 20 million tonnes of goods (eg coal, lumber, gas) shipped in and out each year, overlooked by the – chto eto? (what’s this?) – two lighthouses in the middle of its main street.
Thirty-six kilometres further southeast, Sovetskaya Gavan (population 30,500) – originally Imperator Gavan (Imperial Harbour), and now ‘Sov Gavan’ to most – has more life (and Soviet mosaics).
Both towns have a museum, and the ride between the two revives the drama of the scenery here. Vanino’s Historical Museum (Muzei Vystavochni Sal-Dom; 71 045; ul Matrosova; admission free; 2-7pm Tue-Fri, 10am-2pm Sat) has rooms dedicated to Russian and Japanese history in the region. It can be found behind the big blue building 300m to the east of the train station.
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Sleeping & Eating
From Vanino’s blue train station, take the blue pedestrian bridge until you reach the intersection; go right, past a ticket office and bank, to the lone Vanino
Hotel ( 7473; r from R1500; ) with comfortable rooms and Wi-fi access.
If it’s full (and it sometimes is), there’s the train station’s nice resting rooms (komnaty otdykha; 64 295; dm in tr per 12/24 hr R255/420, shower R75) or Sov Gavan’s Hotel Sovetskaya Gavan ( 46 783; s/d from R1430/2246), an old-fashioned hotel near the main square.
Both hotels have simple cafés.
Getting There & Away
A recently finished road reaches Khabarovsk in eight hours, but the microbus service was already discontinued when we came by.
AIR
The airport, between the two ports, has weekday flights to/from Khabarovsk on Vladivostok Air (R4500, one hour).
BOAT
Inside Vanino’s train station, you can buy ferry tickets (if you’re lucky) daily (in summer) for the Kholmsk service, Sakhalin Island (four-berth/two-berth from R944/1004 per person; 18 hours or more, depending on weather). The wild elbows-out ticket-procuring scene begins at 7am and sometimes goes on until the night trains leave. Cancellations occur and delays are the norm. You will save some hours of waiting if you reserve a seat by phone beforehand; call 57 708 or 73 916. (One traveller we met made the whole trip, including wait time and fog delays, in 56 hours!)
TRAIN & BUS
Trains leave Vanino nightly. The best are 351 and 352, which go to Komsomolsk-na-Amure (R1192, 11 hours), Khabarovsk (R2140, 23 hours) and Vladivostok (R2920, 41 hours).
The BAM’s first/last stop, ‘Sovetskaya Gavan-Sortirovka’, 15 minutes east, is not to be confused with the town, which is best reached from Vanino by bus 101 (R60, one hour, about five times daily) or taxi (about R500, 30 minutes).
OUTER FAR EAST
Looming like a giant inverted iceberg north of the BAM line, the sprawl of remote Sakha Republic (the country’s largest), Khabarovsky Territory and (further up) Magadan Oblast take time and effort to reach (or an air ticket). Life is noticeably different here. The buildings of Yakutsk – a friendly place where Russians are the minority – stand on stilts. Built by Gulag labour, Magadan embraces its natural setting of mountains, salmon streams and rocky beaches facing the Sea of Okhotsk.
More remote Okhotsk, south of Magadan and reached by air, is popular with Russian (and some foreign) hunters who go on expensive trips, often reaching bear, moose or caribou trails by helicopter.
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YAKUTSK ЯКУТСК
4112 / pop 215,000 / Moscow +6hr
Talk about bizarre: the world’s coldest city stands on stilts (the shifting permafrost collapses buildings otherwise) and is pretty much cut off from the already remote Far East; a dodgy road to the BAM line takes a ferry ride and 24 hours, and airfares can cost R20,000 just to reach Khabarovsk! Yet, unlike so many remote Russian cities out here, Yakutsk roars with optimism and gusto. New buildings – some with far more dramatic architecture than you’ll see anywhere else in Russia – are popping up all over the city and the population is rising (all the regional gold and diamonds certainly have something to say about why).
The population is split nearly evenly between Russians and Sakha (the correct term for the local ethnic group commonly called by the Evenk name for ‘horse people’: Yakut). Brace yourself for weird weather. It’s hot in June and July (reaching the upper 30s) and freezing in winter (January averages −40°c).
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History
One of the oldest cities in the Far East, Yakutsk was founded in 1632 as a Cossack fort and later served as a base for expeditions to the Pacific coast. The most unrepentant dissidents (including Decembrists and Bolsheviks) were exiled here. It was a ‘jail without doors’, as the swamps, mountains, ice and bug-infested forests did a pretty good job of keeping people from going anywhere. In the late-19th century, Yakutsk became a boozy, bawdy rest-and-recreation centre for the region’s increasing number of gold miners.
Orientation & Information
The main street is pr Lenina, most of it between pl Druzhby to the west and pl Ordzhonikidze to the east. The Lena River and river boat station is east of Ordzhonikidze, the bus station on ul Oktyabrskaya just 500m north of Lenina.
Bank Moskvy (ul Kirova, near Stary Yakutsk) Some Yakutsk ATMs don’t like foreign bank cards; this one does.
Globus ( 423 072; pr Lenina 18; 9am-noon, 1-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat) Sells city and regional maps (from R100).
Post & telegraph office (pl Ordzhonikidze; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 9am-7pm Sat & Sun)
Telephone & internet centre (pr Lenina 10; 24hr) Lines often form for internet connections (R60 per hour).
TourService Centre ( 351 144; www.yakutiatravel.com; 2nd fl, ul Poyarkova 12; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri) Experienced, helpful English-speaking staff can pre-arrange Sakha trips or sell Lena Pillar boat trips. They also offer trips to Sakha villages, but transport costs add up very quickly. Guide service is about R1000 per day. Enter from first door at back.
Sights
The world of global-warming activist watches goings on at places like Yakutsk’s Permafrost Institute (Institut Merzlotovedeniya; 334 476; ul Merzlotnaya; admission R600; by appointment), about 2km west of the centre. Buses 17 or 41 will get you nearby. It’s a real institute, but opens its 12m-deep icicle-filled basement (a lab in the frozen earth) to the public. The lab stays a constant −6°C (wrap up warmly, though there are usually coats around to use). A tour includes a short film. You’ll see 10,000-year-old deposits of vegetation (though some melted due to excess visitors in 2007). There’s also a model of a baby mammoth discovered on the Kolyma River in 1977 (the original was hauled off to St Petersburg’s Museum of Zoology, Click here).
All that permafrost in the area has resulted in some of the world’s best preserved mammoth skeletons. You can see some at the two-pack of museums, the Mammoth Museum and Archaeology & Ethnography Museum ( 361 647; UGU Bldg, ul Kulakovskogo 48; admission R150; 10am-1pm & 2-5pm Tue-Fri, 11am-1pm & 2-4pm Sat), with skeleton sketches comparing the hair and trunk of mammoths with those of elephants. It’s in one of the university buildings facing the canal.
A good place to delve deeper into Sakha culture, the Regional Museum ( 425 174; pr Lenina 5/2; admission R100; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun) packs nine rooms devoted to wildlife (including a 2900-year-old human skeleton), first Russian settlers, regional minerals, revolution, WWII and Soviet life. Outside there’s a huge whale skeleton found in 1961. The museum is actually located off pr Lenin (a wood sign across from Le Grand hotel points the way).
Try to look past the (tripled) foreigner admission price at the excellent new National Art Museum ( 335 274; ul Kirova 9; admission R300; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun), as its three floors show off many local customs and much scenery, with huge oil paintings (of heroic train construction, the life-like pillars atop Mt Kisilyakha etc). English descriptions follow changing themes over the years.
The Sokrovischnitsa (Treasury Museum; 482 364; 3rd fl, ul Kirova 9; admission R350; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri) is a secretive, heavily guarded collection of local diamonds, gold and other minerals and jewels. Access it around the corner, in the glass office building, from the Tygyn Darkhan hotel.
Jew’s harps play a big part of Sakha culture – concerts occur year-round, when performers imitate natural sounds such as a horse neighing. The unexpected (and unfortunately soundtrack-free) Museum Khomus ( 428 675; ul Kirova 33; admission R100; 10am-1pm, 2-5pm Mon-Sat) has a collection showcasing international Jew’s harp heroes (including local guru Spiridon Shishigin) and old 45s; they sell a Sakha-made harp for R1700.
In recent years Yakutsk has put up many monuments around town, but none more bile-raising than the controversial ‘message of love,’ a grey, heart-stamped ugly globe (cnr ul Kirova & Ordzhonikidze). Many locals hate it; we like it.
If you want to see some of the Lena River, there’s a three-hour Lena cruise at 10am on weekends June through August for R600 per person. Call 344 725, or show up at the river port; if you’re a bit strapped for cash you can instead take the ferry there across the river to Nizhnoi Bestyakh (R150), where the highway to Neryungri begins. The boat leaves every 90 minutes or so from 7am to 6:20pm, the last returning around 7:30pm.
Sleeping
The railroad link will likely make it here before any new budget deals appear. For now, budget travellers can try TourService Centre (opposite), which offers private apartments that can fit four comfortably for R3000. Expect a 25% reservation fee at nearly all hotels listed.
Hotel Ontario ( 369 318; www.ontario-hotel.ru; ul Sergelyakhskoe 13km; r R3000, lyux R5000; ) Way out of the centre – try 13km – the 22-room Ontario lets you wake with singing birds (in good weather) and the smell of cedar in rather modern, carpeted rooms. Some have refrigerators and fans. The two-room lyux suite (R5000) is air-conditioned. There’s a restaurant. The hotel is near the end of the line for buses 15 and 41; a taxi ride to the centre is about R180. No internet out here.
Hotel Lena ( 424 892; fax 424 214; www.lena-hotel.ru; pr Lenina 8; r incl breakfast from R2300;) Still pretty Soviet in a lot of the wrong ways, Lena’s rooms are a bit cramped, with ancient bathrooms and vinyl floors. Some get wi-fi access.
Hotel Sterkh ( 425 908; fax 342 701; www.sterkh.biz; pr Lenina 8; r/lyux incl breakfast R2500/3600;
) Sparkling after a makeover in 2007, Sterkh’s 50 rooms offer a bit of style (billowy curtains, air-con, refrigerator) overlooking pl Ordzhonikidze. There’s a huge jump up in space and quality if you go with the lyux. Wi-fi access.
Hotel Parus ( 423 727; fax 425 309; pr Lenina 7; s/d incl breakfast R2770/3420; ) Staff can be snippy, but the Soviet-retro, compact rooms feel fresher than Lena’s (the all-new bathrooms and air-con units make the difference).
Hotel Tygyn Darkhan ( 435 109; fax 435 354; www.tygyn.ru; ul Ammosova 9; s/d incl breakfast from R3600/4300;
) Just steps from pl Lenina, TD’s regular rooms follow a standard set-up, but are freshly updated and have modern bathrooms; the similar-sized deluxes get air-con. All get use of the indoor pool and sauna.
Le Grand ( 444 143, fax 444 286; [email protected]; pr Lenina 4; s/d incl breakfast from R3700/4600) Opened in 2006, this nice 12-room hotel earns its little ‘Le’ from its royal effect of wall mouldings, frumpy curtains and pleasant lobby sitting area.
Polar Star Hotel ( 341 215; www.alrosahotels.ru/eng/polar; pr Lenina 24; s/d incl breakfast from R4500/6400;
) Yakutsk’s top choice for business and cash-happy travellers, the modern Polar Star has fine, air-con rooms reached by a glass elevator, wi-fi access, a pool (R350 per hr) and – vot eta da! – a two-lane bowling alley (R200 to R300 for 30 minutes).
Eating
Bistro Assol (pr Lenina 21; meals from R180) One of a couple of central open-air cafés – in summer, that is – selling beer and cheap meals, such as microwaved lagman (noodles and meat in broth; R75) and crab salad (R45).
Tamerlyan (pl Ordzhonikidze; meals from R200; 11am-midnight Sun-Wed, to 2am Thu-Sat) This fast-food spot (with battle axes on the wall) gets busiest at lunch, when it has a pick-and-watch-cook (then eat) Mongolian BBQ (R229 for one trip) and a business lunch (R200) from 11am to 4pm weekdays.
Tygyn Darkhan Restaurant (Hotel Tygyn Darkhan; ul Ammosova 9; meals R500-750; 7am-10am, noon-3pm & 6-11pm) Probably Yakutsk’s most memorable restaurant is this simple well-lit place and its Sakha specialties. Locals love the indigirka (frozen raw fish and onions – it’s like eating frozen fish in a ball of snow); far easier for the uninitiated is the fine, tender zherebyatiny (fillet of colt meat; R170) and a glass of kumiss (fermented mares milk).
Chochu Muran ( 8-924-366 8877; usually by appointment) In a wonderful Cossack-style lodge filled with antiques and massive moose heads, the Chochu Muran is set at the edge of town, 15km west, near hills. Call ahead to arrange meals, or drop by to see mammoth artefacts or the dogs that give sled rides in winter, when there’s also ice fishing.
Margarita (pr Lenina 23; meals R500-750) Done up with painted windows showing off Tuscan scenes, this family-run spot is big on pizza and pasta (R210 to R370); locals enjoy beer and dessert on the covered sidewalk seats.
Drinking & Entertainment
Yakutsk’s favourite entertainment complex – for food, disco and beer – is Drakon (ul Poyarkova), just east of the bus station.
Sakha Theatre ( 343 113; pl Ordzhonikidze) is a strikingly modern venue that has theatre and music in the Sakha language; engaging even if you don’t get a word of it.
Shopping
Sakhabult ( 435 537; pr Lenina 25; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 11am-6pm Sat & Sun) Long-running shop where locals go for coats, boots and hats made of rabbit, muskrat, reindeer and other pelts. It’s pricey if you’re looking for big norka (mink) hats, but a (real) reindeer Christmas ornament is R250.
There are a few intriguing souvenir and antique shops scattered about the Starii Gorod complex, made to resemble the original Cossack fort; it’s south of pl Lenina.
Getting There & Away
See opposite for information on the Kolyma Hwy between Yakutsk and Magadan.
AIR
The airport, 6km northeast of the town centre, tends to have jacked-up prices. Near daily flights go to Neryungri (R9500, one hour), Khabarovsk (R12,000 to R15,000, two hours) and Moscow (R15,000, six hours). There are also twice-weekly flights to Blagoveshchensk (R11,000, two hours) and many connections on little Yakutia Air around Sakha republic, including thrice-weekly flights to Tiksi (R24,000 return, around three hours). The weekly flight to Magadan has been suspended.
Yakutsk loves its main air ticket office GAVS ( 425 782; www.gavs.yakutia.ru, in Russian; ul Ordzhonikidze 8; 8am-7pm Mon-Fri, to 4pm Sat & Sun), which also sells train tickets. Pack a lunch for the waits, or try one of the dozens of other ticket offices (some can be found on pr Lenina).
BOAT
At research time, there was no river connection between Yakutsk and Ust-Kut on the BAM line via the Lena River. The river ferry service from here only goes as far as Olyokmensk (14 hours), leaving at 5am on even dates from June to September and returning from Olyokmensk at 5am on odd dates. This may change.
YSYAKH FESTIVAL
One of Russia’s better-kept secrets, the major Sakha festival of Ysyakh (tough to pronounce; try ‘ehh-sekhh’) is celebrated all over the Sakha Republic each year in June. The biggest event occurs in Us Khatyn field near the village of Zhetai, about 20km north of Yakutsk, on the first Saturday and Sunday after the summer solstice (June 21 and 22). Don’t miss the opening, at noon on Saturday, when there are hundreds of costumed performers – including Chinggis Khaan-like soldiers reenacting battles – and people handing out free skewers of horse meat and offering sips of horse milk.
Stands are filled by Sakha from across the republic, often set up around modern irasa (teepees); the rare foreigner is likely to be drawn in for more horse meat (as we were by the local communist party offering looks at their embroidered Stalins, and – no joke – hugs).
The ‘no alcohol’ policy keeps things sober during the day, but it can’t be guaranteed later on, when many locals come to greet the dawn – an all-night party for young and old. It’s well worth planning your Yakutsk detour around this event.
Packed buses head to/from the festival regularly from pr Lenina in Yakutsk (R40, 45 minutes).
The ferry across the Lena to Nizhnoi Bestyakh (R150, 50 minutes), a transit town for the rough ride south to Tommot, Neryungri and the AYaM train line, leaves from the Yakutsk river port (rechnoy port; 219 013, 456 761), 2km northeast of the centre, every 80 or 90 minutes from 7am to 6.20pm, returning from 8.20am to 7.40pm.
BUS & TAXI
Hardened souls can venture south to reach the train lines on a rough 1200km highway. Buses go from the Yakutsk bus station (avtovokzal; ul Oktyabrskaya 24), but it’s more common and convenient to go by shared taxi to Tommot (R2000, about 10 to 14 hours) or Neryungri (R2800, 14 to 20 hours). The road is worst between Nizhnoi Bestyakh and Tommot, beyond which it smoothens. Many locals continue by car to Neryungri, where there are passenger train connections. (At research time, nearly all trains out of Tommot were for cargo only.)
Getting Around
A handy city bus is line 8 (R12) which goes past pr Lenina’s hotels on its way between the river port and bus station. Bus 4 goes to the airport. Taxis charge R100 and up for most rides, or about R400 to R600 per hour. Try flagging a random car down on your own, or have a restaurant or hotel call one for you.
AROUND YAKUTSK
Sakha Republic, cut by the 4265km Lena River (which inspired a certain Vladimir to change his name to Lenin), is bigger than France and, as costs are high even in Yakutsk, getting very far is expensive and requires pre-arranged transport and guides. As a result, few get far out of Yakutsk. The easiest trip is to Lena Pillars (below).
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Day Trips from Yakutsk
Yakutsk’s city limits can get a little grey and grubby times, but things get natural – and wild – quickly once you leave town. By just hiring a taxi (about R400 to R600 per hour), you could reach a couple places; others involve boats.
About 45km south on the road to Pokvovsk, Orto Doidu ( 350 373; admission R100; noon-midnight Wed-Sun) is a nature complex with local animals and shady trails, plus an architectural area with Sakha totems and traditional dwellings.
Sottinsty, about 60km north (on the opposite side of the Amur), is home to the Druzhba Historical Park – a collection of traditional dwellings. It requires arranging a boat to reach, however.
Locals enjoy fishing on Elanka Island, a two-hour drive north (via ferry), where there’s a few rest houses, a small museum and a peaceful patch of the Lena River. A beach-side area where ice remains all year, Bulus is reached by car ferry, then a drive south (a three-hour trip).
Lena Pillars Ленские Столбы
Sakha Republic’s top (and easiest to access) attraction is the 80km-long Lena Pillars (Lenskie Stolby), a 35-million-year-old stretch of Kimberly limestone on the edge of the Lena River, about 220km south of Yakutsk. Jagged spires and picturesque crumbling fronts (almost bricklike) look like ancient ruins if you squint. A laid-back, two-night cruise in a particularly comfy 70-cabin ship costs about R5900/11,800 (single/double).
THE POLE OF COLD
When thermometers dip further below zero than they go above, and as many as two out of three days of your life are spent slipping on snow, you make some adjustments. In many towns around the Far East, including Oymyakon, hot-water pipes are elevated above the damaging permafrost. Giant fur coats aren’t fashion but (an expensive) necessity, and drivers spring for heated garages and keep their cars running wherever they go during the day. ‘If your engine goes off,’ one local told us, ‘that’s it – you have to wait till spring.’
But locals swear that this area – which commonly hits −50°C, and reached −66°C in Yakutsk in 2007 – isn’t as bad as outsiders think. For one, transport is easier. Rivers freeze over, offering new ‘roads’ to reach otherwise isolated areas. ‘It’s not like kids can’t go out and play’, one local said. ‘It’s really not as bad as Moscow, because it’s dry here. I don’t know how they survive the winters there!’
Trips include about five to eight hours at the pillars, a shaman ceremony and the chance to fish or swim. Boats leave from Yakutsk four days per week from June to September; weekends can be busier. Meal deals are R1400 extra. Call 4112-423 303 for info.
Another option is a day trip from Yakutsk by hydrofoil, which fits 30 and goes three times per week in July. It’s R3500.
Buotama River
Between the Lena Pillars and Yakutsk, cutting west from the Lena, this narrow, tree-lined river is popular for kayaking-camping trips, where you can spot bear and fish in the wild. Tour-Service Centre (Click here) offers three- to eight-day trips, all inclusive (a five-day trip, including a night in Yakutsk, runs to R45,000 per person).
Mt Kisilyakh
Кисиляк
Another trip starting to attract locals is to Mt Kisilyakh, in northeast Sakha Republic, reached by flight to Batagai. A guided trip – including a two-hour boat ride and four-hour climb – includes camping on a stunning mountain-top, long considered a holy site for Sakha shaman, amid lifelike rock formations.
In Yakutsk, Arktika ( 8-914-227 4500; www.kisilyakh.ykt.ru) has a seven-day trip (with Russian-language guides) for R32,000 per person.
Oymyakon Оймякон
The reason for visiting this remote village, a breeding station for reindeer, horses and silver foxes, and located 650km north of Yakutsk, is that it holds the record as the coldest inhabited spot on earth (it’s known locally as the ‘pole of cold’). Temperatures have been recorded as low as −71°C (in the nearby valleys they go down to −82°C).
Trips are best in March (when it’s a relat-ively balmy −25°C) and usually include ice fishing, reindeer sled rides and a visit to meet the mayor! An eight-night trip with Tour-Service Centre (Click here) runs to US$4450/3450 per person for groups of two/four people.
Overland to Magadan
A dream for hardened adventurers, the infamous Kolyma Hwy – aka the ‘road of bones’ due to the Gulag labour used to build it – makes for a tough three- or four-day journey 2200km west to Magadan. It’s possible to try to negotiate a ride with a truck for the trip, or to hire 6WD vehicles going in either direction (at least US$3000 one way). The ride on the frozen Indigerka River is actually quicker after December, and things get slushy and often impassable by May.
Consider travelling it on Yakutsk’s TourService Centre’s 17-day ‘Siberian Pioneers’ trip (Click here) for US$3000 per person (including transport, meals, rafting and fishing). DVS-Tour in Magadan (opposite) also has information.
Tiksi Тикси
Found where the Lena drops into the Arctic Ocean, Tiksi (a strategic air force town in Soviet times, and still a controlled zone requiring a permit to visit) can be reached by air but is best reached on a 14-day cruise from Yakutsk (twice in July). The cruise takes in Sottintsy, the Lena Pillars and several other stops – while plenty of bird-watching opportunities loom, particularly at the delta at the Artic Ocean. A double cabin runs R60,000 per person. Contact the TourService Centre in Yakutsk to book it.
MAGADAN МАГАДАН
4132 / pop 105,000 / Moscow +8hr
Tucked between hills, facing the Sea of Okhotsk, and a world away from anything but the bear droppings and gold nuggets of the wide Kolyma Region, Magadan is a quiet city with an almost cute, rather European centre in pastels. Not exactly what you expect from the so-called ‘gateway to hell’, as it was called by its builders: the estimated two million Stalin-era Gulag prisoners who passed through here.
These days, most of the locals you’ll meet arrived in the 1960s after Stalin’s death. That said, probably no other town in Russia wears the stigma of the Gulag more – and probably no other place (including Moscow) has done as good a job of paying tribute to the victims.
The rare visitor can camp at a Gulag, fish or raft on the Arman River, cross-country ski, see birds, hike – or set off on the Kolyma Hwy to Yakutsk.
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Information
The helpful English-speaking staff at DVS-Tour ( 23 296; www.dvs-tour.ru; pr Lenina 3; 9am-1pm, 2-6pm Mon-Fri) can arrange bay cruises (from US$100 for one day) for bird-watching, fishing or relaxing trips in bear country, staying at their two remote wilderness lodges, or trips to Dneprovsky Gulag including 6WD transport (from US$1000).
The post office (ul Proletarskaya 10; 8am-9pm) has internet access.
Sights
On a small hill overlooking the town, the striking Mask of Sorrow (Maska Skorbi) was built in 1991 in memory of those who perished in Kolyma’s Gulag camps. Names of old camps are along the small hillside down from the monument – a grey stone face with minifigures, an inner cell and a weeping woman behind. Views take in two bays. The monument is about 500m south of the bus station and is visible the whole way there.
‘GATEWAY TO HELL’
Though you’re pretty near a Gulag site anywhere in Russia, Magadan and the surrounding Kolyma Region is most often linked to the terror of the Gulag. Following the discovery of gold here in 1932, prisoners poured in. The setting was perfect for Gulag overseers: ice-locked and 9000km from Moscow, with mountains and ice providing barriers in winter; sludge and mosquitoes in summer. Escape was impossible.
As in most of Russia, prisoners lacked proper clothing or housing for the freezing temperatures, enough food to keep up with 14-hour workdays, or even adequate tools with which to build roads or dig mines. The trip here, aboard packed trains and boats, consumed many. One ship tried to beat the winter, but got stuck in ice on the way from Vladivostok; all 3000 prisoners aboard froze to death. It’s estimated that two million came here during Stalin’s reign.
Gulag prisoners all over knew about Kolyma and dreaded a move to what they called ‘the planet’ (for its remoteness) or ‘gateway to hell’ (for its conditions). Winter jobs clearing trees for new roads often left few survivors and thousands of frozen bodies – thus, the Kolyma Hwy linking Magadan with Yakutsk is called the ‘road of bones’.
Many visitors to Russia remark on how little is said or seen on the subject of the Gulag in Russia. In the Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago, he constantly calls for a film to show the horrors, but nothing akin to Schindler’s List has yet retold the tragedy. Magadan has confronted its past more than Moscow or other places. Its Mask of Sorrow may be the most moving symbol for Gulag victims in the country.
For more information, read Anne Applebaum’s excellent Gulag: A History.
The Regional Museum ( 651 148; pr Karla Marksa 55; admission R25; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun) is worth seeing for the upstairs Gulag exhibit that features relics and the top of a watchtower. Shocker alert: same ticket price for Russians and foreigners.
Two bays near town have beaches; the best is Novaya Vesolaya at Gertner Bay, reached by bus 3.
Sleeping & Eating
Hotel VM-Tsentralnaya ( 621 200; [email protected]; pr Lenina 13; r per person incl breakfast R1600) Magadan’s best hotel is central and clean. Higher-priced rooms are probably not worth the extra. All rooms come with TV, private bathroom and hot water. There’s a bar on the 2nd floor.
Hotel Magadan ( 699 557; ul Proletarskaya 8, 5th fl; s/d incl breakfast R1300/1800) A nearby backup option.
Toragi ( 624 795; ul Pushkina 1; meals R250-500; noon-10pm) This homey eight-table restaurant serves a mix of Korean and Central Asian meals. The kuksu (beef-and-cabbage soup with noodles, R50) is great.
Getting There & Away
AIR
The airport, 61km northeast in Sokol, has direct services to Khabarovsk (R10,000 to R14,000, 2½ hours, four per week), Irkutsk (R12,500, four hours, weekly), Moscow (R13,900 to R22,700, 10 hours, five per week), and Vladivostok (R12,800, three hours, twice weekly). The less-popular flight to Petropavlovsk is infrequent.
Admiral-Tur ( 623-496; ul Portovaya 1; 9am-9pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat & Sun) sells air tickets.
BUS & TRUCK
The Magadan bus station (cnr pr Lenina & ul Proletarskaya) has daily bus services around the region; the furthest route goes to Susuman (385km, 10 hours), on the way to Yakutsk. Bus 111 goes to the airport from here (70 minutes).
CHUKOTKA ЧУКОТКА
‘Out there’ to a region already considered ‘out there,’ Chukotka Autonomous Region brushes its icy nose with Alaska’s, and is off the radar of most travellers and travel agencies around the Far East. Backed by eroded mountains of permafrost (some as high as 1800m), Chukotka is almost solely inhabited by indigenous peoples (including the Chukchi, Evenki, Yupik and Chuvantsi) and a fair share of whales and walruses. Famously, Roman Abramovich (the Chelsea Football Club owner and the former governor of Chukotka) has poured a lot of money into the region in recent years.
Heritage Expeditions (www.heritage-expeditions.com) runs a couple of trips here, including a 14-day trip in August that reaches polar bear–infested Wrangel Island, way above the Arctic Circle (from US$7000 per person).
Circumpolar Expeditions ( 907-272 9299; www.arctictravel.net; Anchorage, Alaska) has nine-day trips for US$5000 per person (group of four or more) – it takes 60 days to arrange. They also have custom tours and even one-day visits from Nome, Alaska.
Check out www.chukotka.org for more information on Chukotka.
The two main access points are Anadyr and Provideniya, where a number of US-based tours come by charter flight via Nome (June to August). There are few weekly flights to Anadyr from Moscow (R24,000 one way).
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SAKHALIN ISLAND ОСТРОВ САХАЛИН
El Dorado for oil-struck businessfolk, and ‘hell’ to Anton Chekhov in 1890 (not to mention the thousands and thousands of prisoners shipped here from the late 19th century), Sakhalin these days is decaying in chunks, and booming in others (such as its hub, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk). It’s frequently beautiful, too – with much of it filled with a wild terrain of forests, islands of seals, bears wandering atop 1500m mountain-tops, streams full of fish and slopes for skiing. But it’s pricey.
About 10% of the local population are Korean Russians, some of whom are descendants of force labourers – aka slaves – brought by the Japanese during WWII.
The main 948km-long island is one of 59 (including the Kurils) that make up the Sakhalinskaya Oblast (Sakhalin Region). March to June can be wet and grey; mid-September to October brings on the foliage.
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History
The first Japanese settlers came across from Hokkaido in the early 1800s, attracted by marine life so rich that one explorer wrote ‘the water looked as though it was boiling’. The island – mistakenly named for an early map reference to ‘cliffs on the black river’ (‘Saghalien-Anaghata’ in Mongolian) – already had occupants in the form of the Nivkhi, Oroki and Ainu peoples but, just as this didn’t give pause to the Japanese, the Russians were equally heedless when they claimed Sakhalin in 1853. Japan agreed to recognise Russian sovereignty in exchange for the rights to the Kuril Islands.
Japan restaked its claim on Sakhalin, seizing the island during the Russo-Japanese War, and got to keep the southern half, which they called Karafuto, under the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth, 1905. In the final days of WWII, though, the Soviet Union staged a successful invasion, and Sakhalin became a highly militarised eastern outpost of the Soviet empire, loaded with aircraft, missiles and guns. The island hit the international headlines again in 1983, when the off-course Korean Airlines flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet fighter plane. All 267 people on board were killed.
Getting Around
Few of the oil guys streaming in for work spend much time exploring the island and, possibly as a result, local agencies are less oriented to helping visitors get into the island’s wide pockets of nature, with mountain trails, offshore islands to dive or streams for fishing. But with money and effort, there are a few things to seek out. The independent-minded can follow Chekhov’s footsteps to the sad but beautifully situated Aleksandrovsk (Click here); other destinations usually require a propusk (border permit). Ask an agent.
Click here for some travel agents that can tailor trips to Sakhalin Island.
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK ЮЖНО-САХАЛИНСК
4242 / pop 240,000 / Moscow +7hr
There will be budgets broken. New office towers and hotels and apartment buildings (and sushi bars) are rising – along with prices – all over the oil town’s streets (which are still named after Lenin, Marx and other communists). It’s quite relaxed, with pleasant tree-lined sidewalks and looming mountains that you can ride chairlifts up and ski or climb down, and a couple of nods to its distant Japanese history.
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History
Vladimirovka (Yuzhno’s original name) was basically a hamlet of convicts when the Japanese renamed it Toiohara and developed it into a thriving township. After WWII, the USSR Russified the new centre, renaming it Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Southern Sakhalin).
In 1990, Muscovite governor Valentin Fyodorov vowed to create capitalism on the island. He privatised retail trade, but most people soon found themselves poorer. Fyodorov left, head down, in 1993. The demise of the USSR and the influx of thousands of oil-industry internationals succeeded where Fyodorov couldn’t.
Orientation
The town’s main axis, running roughly north–south, is ul Lenina, with pl Lenina and the train station at its midpoint. Kom-munistichesky pr runs east from the train station.
Information
SakhinCentr (Kommunistichesky 32) has a little bit of everything: ATMs, banks, (sometimes working) wi-fi access, stands selling the English-language weekly Sakhalin Times (www.sakhalintimes.com; R30), an International SOS Clinic ( 462 911, 474 911) if you’re in need of English-speaking doctor, American Express Office ( 499 693; rm 416; 9am-noon, 1-5pm Mon-Fri), a bookstore ( 10am-5pm Mon-Fri, 11am-4pm Sat) that sells a Yuzhno map for R100, a sports bar, a cafeteria and more than a few oil guys.
If you can find it, Ajay Kamalakaran’s Sakhalin Unplugged is a full guide to the island in English.
Other services around town:
Intour-Sakhalin ( 424 386; www.intour-sakhalin.ru; office 207,ul Dzerzhinskogo 36; 9am-1pm & 2-5pm Mon-Fri) The Russian-speaking manager has a lot of area information, and can help you do just about anything (eg very expensive trips to the Kurils or Moneron Island, or to visit the Nevkh communities near Nogliki). An interpreter is about US$18 per hour, cars are US$30 per hour.
Omega Plus ( 723 410; www.omega-plus.ru; rm 341, ul Kommunistichesky 86,; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat) Friendly staff help with area trips, including day trips to Tikhonaya Bay (about R2000 per person) and seven-day trips to the Kurils.
Ovir ( 789 085; ul Pobedy 6A) If you need to register your visa on your own.
Post office (pl Lenina; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, 9am-4pm Sat & Sun)
Servisny Tsentr (Service Centre; ul Lenina 220) Has internet access (per hr R60; open 10am to 8pm) and telephone booths (open 8am to 10pm).
Sights & Activities
The pagoda-roofed Sakhalin Regional Museum (Kommunistichesky pr 29; admission R50, camera/video R70/100; 11am-5pm Tue, to 6pm Wed-Sun) has a 21st-century exhibit exploring the Japanese/Soviet overlap of the city’s history, typified by the building itself, which served as the home of the Karafuto administration before the Soviets seized the island from the Japanese in 1945. The 1st floor is full of much older exhibits, including realised dreams of taxidermy and some fascinating Aino artifacts and photos from back before the original south Sakhalin inhabits fled to Japan. The front gardens are a popular sitting area for locals, as are the armoured vehicles next to a jet fighter at the old Officers’ Club (Dom Ofitserov), a block east.
A few blocks northwest, the (brace yourself for the name) Museum of Sakhalin Island: A Book by AP Chekhov (ul Kurilskaya 42; admission R20, camera R50; 11am-6pm Tue-Sat) is a simple two-floor showing of Chekhov’s few months on Sakhalin, including a picnic photo with visiting Japanese dignitaries (looking rather like the bearded Bob Dylan on the New Morning album cover). A couple of signs are in English.
A couple of blocks west, the upstairs permanent collection (pre-Soviet Russian oils, Korean and Japanese textiles) at the Art Museum ( 722 925; ul Lenina 137; admission R50; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) usually beats the changing exhibits of local artists downstairs; best is getting inside the unique building, a former Japanese bank built in 1935.
Gorny Vozdukh ( 742 416) ski area looms east of town. A chairlift (R120 per ride) runs all year and leads up the mountain – another heads down the back side. You can rent skis or snowboards in winter, or go up for a hike in summer (weekends only). It’s reached off ul Komsomolskaya, just east of the stadium, about 300m south of the 220-acre Gagarin Park, named for a cosmonaut and big with rides, shaded walkways and weekend concerts in summer; it gets dodgy after 6pm or so.
Sleeping
The island’s oil boom has finally expanded the hotel scene, but booking ahead is a good idea considering all the business going on.
BUDGET
In a rare perverse sense of justice, the cheapies have the best location. Don’t expect English though. The airport info booth ( 788 390) can help find a room on arrival, including homestays by the airport (R1500) and in the centre (R2000).
Moneron ( 723 454; Kommunistichesky pr 86; s/d from R1000/1300) This sky-blue building facing pl Lenina and the train station is the best cheapie and a fun place to revisit Soviet-style arrangements, with a stunning array of friendly staff and a few quirks. There are two shared toilets per floor, while the shared shower (note lack of plural) costs R60. The small clean rooms have a TV, refrigerator and sink. Reservation fee: R250.
Rybak ( 723 768; fax 722 671; ul Karla Marksa 51; s/d incl breakfast R1500/2000, lyux s/d R2200/3000; ) Across the square, and nicer, the Rybak’s standard rooms are set up like suites – with two separate rooms sharing a separate toilet and shower. The smart, old-fashioned rooms come with TV, refrigerator and desk. Lyux rooms get their own bathroom. Wi-fi access available.
MIDRANGE
This price level means a little English at the front desk, and private bathrooms and a phone in your room.
Lotus Hotel ( 430 918; ul Kurilskaya 4A; s/d incl breakfast R3000/3500;
) This new business hotel has small comfortable rooms. No lift.
Gagarin Hotel ( 498 400; www.gagarinhotel.ru; ul Komsomolskaya 133; s/d incl breakfast from R3300/4180;
) Looking out over the namesake park, this pleasant business hotel has two wings – the cheaper, three-floor old one (pink walls, some with fancy new beds and desks) and the nicer, newer nine-floor wing (standard rooms with a bit more style). There’s a gym and tiny basement bar guarded by a dinosaur robot.
Natalya ( 464 949; [email protected]; ul Antona Buyukly 38; s/d incl breakfast from R3500/4600;
) This surprising business hotel offers basic, apartment-style rooms, with a full kitchen (including stove and microwave), wi-fi access, TV and oodles of room in the carpeted bedroom. For another R1200, two bedrooms share a kitchen. Entrance is in the back.
TOP END
Rubin Hotel ( 422 212; www.rubinhotel.ru, in Russian; ul Chekhova 85; s/d incl breakfast from R4500/5000;
) One of Yuzhno’s most popular hotels looks like a polished little Scandinavian motor inn – perfectly run, clean and welcoming. All rooms get a kitchenette, use of the gym, and breakfast in the popular Mishka Pub in the basement.
Pacific Plaza Sakhalin ( 455 000; www.sakhalinpacificplaza.ru; pr Mira 172; r incl breakfast from R4900;
) Built in a green-and-grey blob of modernity in 2006, the eight-floor Pacific has 149 rooms, all stylish, carpeted deals with various sizes. The top-floor Lounge 8 has an outside deck with mountain views and nightly BBQ.
Hotel Sakhalin-Sapporo ( 721 560; fax 723 889; [email protected]; ul Lenina 181; s/d incl breakfast R5422/5982;
) Once the city’s finest, just steps from Lenin’s statue, the Sapporo looks horrible from outside (a depressing white box) but is business-standard inside and has a good restaurant. You can get wi-fi for R190 for two hours (available to nonguests, along with food, in the lobby restaurant/bar).
Mega Palace Hotel ( 450 450; www.megapalacehotel.com; ul Detskaya 4; r incl breakfast R5510-7250, ste from R9860;
) Newly anointed as Yuzhno’s most luxurious hotel, by a slam dunk, Mega sets on a nice spot west of Gagarin Park, with mountains and forest out most windows. Locals occasionally make wedding pictures in the towering lobby. Room-wise, either stick to simple (the standard, at R5510, is actually a bit bigger with essentially the same amenities as the higher-priced superior or deluxe) or the sprawling ‘mega’ suite (R11,020).
Eating
Torgovy Kompleks Pervy (cnr uls Lenina & Popovicha; 24hr) Well-stocked supermarket with deli.
Kafe Kolobok (ul Lenina 218; meals R150-200; 8am-7pm) When your budget’s stretched and stomach’s empty, no one does it like Kolo. A newer take on the old stolovaya. Freshly made dishes such as bliny, chicken or sausage meals, plus the happy breakfast bowls of kasha
(porridge; R29) are shown in a removable-slot board by the serving line.
Cippolini (ul Chekhova 78; meals R250-400; 8:30am-4pm & 6pm-midnight Mon-Fri, 6pm-midnight Sat) In the happening basement of the Sfera business centre, this slick restaurant-bar hauls in the rubles for the R320 set lunch – pizzas (R225 to R415) get going later.
Nihon Mitai ( 551 901; pr Pobedy 28B; meals from R300; 11am-11pm) Yuzhno’s favourite sushi spot is a bit out of the centre, but the stylish, bamboo-central, 2nd-floor dining room is good for soba noodles (R265 to R390) and picking from the sushi conveyor belt after 6pm (from R80 per piece).
Pacific Café (Kommunistichesky pr 32; meals from R350; 8am-8pm Mon-Sat) In the SakhinCentr, this all-Western standard self-serve café is a de facto business-meeting venue. The Texas-big ‘business lunch’ fills trays from noon to 3pm weekdays; you can get a burger (R270) and fries (R60) anytime, or order an American breakfast. Same menu is used in the Kona Bar next door.
Taj Mahal ( 499 488; ul Antona Buyukly 38; meals from R350; 11:30am-11:30pm Mon-Thu, to 12.30am Fri & Sat, to 10pm Sun) Cheerful place with colourful murals and very good Indian curries. The lunch set meals start at R230 (not including drinks). The door is in back of the building.
Drinking
Kona Bar (SakhinCentr, Kommunistichesky pr 32; noon-midnight) Patronised by many oil-talking businessmen, the Kona Bar is bamboo-loungey and masculine – with football on the big screen and upscale machismo over by the pool table. Food is from Pacific Café next door.
Mishka Pub (ul Chekhova 85; 6:30am-1am) In the Rubin Hotel’s basement, this tiny expat heaven – complete with an Oklahoma pennant over one of the muted TVs – is popular for its huge Russian business lunch (noon to 3pm, R250) and messy cheeseburgers (R270) and beer later on.
Shopping
Ya Maika (basement, ul Lenina 218; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat, 11am-5pm) It’s here if Mom asked for a ‘I love Sakhalin’ pen (R70) or T-shirt (R450).
Getting There & Away
AIR
The airport is 8km south of the centre. There are daily flights on a few airlines to/from Khabarovsk (about R5000, 1½ hours), Moscow (R8000 to R12,000, nine hours) and Vladivostok (about R6000, two hours), and to Kunashir on the Kuril Islands four times per week (about R4500) and three per week to Komsomolsk (about R5500, 1½ hours). There’s talk of Aeroflot beginning a Moscow–USA flight via Yuzhno.
In addition to domestic flights, SAT ( 462 288; Kommunistichesky pr 49; 10am-7pm) flies twice weekly to/from Hakodate (about R12,000, two hours) and once weekly to Sapporo (R12,500, 1½ hours), both on the Japanese island of Hokkaido; and four times per week to Seoul (R15,000, three hours).
You can buy domestic or international tickets at Biletur ( 437 474; Kommunistichesky pr 74; 8am-7pm).
BOAT
Boat services leave from various ports around southern Sakhalin (all reached by bus).
Getting information or tickets for the leave-when-full-and-when-weather-allows ferry to Vanino (and the BAM rail line) is a madhouse. Try calling 8233-66 098 or 8233-66 516 for information (in Russian) on departure times (from R944, 18 or more hours). Boats leave from Kholmsk; take bus 56 (R180) from the train station.
From May to October, once or twice weekly (far smoother) ferries run more reliably from Korsakov to Wakkanai on Hokkaido (about Y24,000 one way, five hours). Book tickets at Bi-Tomo ( 726 889; [email protected]; ul Sakhalinskaya 1/1).
BUS
From the main bus stop outside the train station you can catch bus 56 for Kholmsk (R180, about 45 minutes) hourly from 8.45am to 8pm, bus 115 to Korsakov (R100, about 45 minutes) half hourly, or bus 111 to Aniva (about one hour).
TRAIN
From the train station ( 712 134), facing pl Lenina, the fastest train is the 1, which heads north at 6.25pm daily, stopping at Tymovsk (R1890, 11 hours) and the end of the line, Nogliki (R2300, 14½ hours). It comes back, leaving Nogliki daily at 7.10pm and Tymovsk at 10.25pm.
Getting Around
Although Yuzhno is compact enough to walk around, microbuses run regular routes about the city. Bus 63 leaves for the airport, going east, from the bus stop in front of Kino Oktyabr (R10, 30 minutes). A taxi to/from the airport costs about R250.
AROUND YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK
Southern port towns can be reached by public bus.
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Tikhaya Bay Тихая Бухта
About 140km north of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Tikhaya Bay is a nice destination for a walk along a gorgeous rocky coastline, where you can reach a shallow beach. Omega Plus (Click here) offers full-day tours with guide and lunch (R2000 per person with group of five).
Korsakov Корсаков
About 40km south of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is the grimy port of Korsakov, centre of the island’s hugely profitable fishing industry, and the place to come for the ferry to Wakkanai on Hokkaido and Kunsahir of the Kuril Islands.
The lone hotel is Alfa ( 8235-41 010; ul Krasnoflotskaya 3; r from R1800).
Bus 115 comes here from Yuzhno’s train station regularly (R100, 60 minutes).
Aniva Анива
This simple, mostly wooden town, about 50km southwest of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, is just inland from the wide Aniva Bay – and can be reached via bus 111 from the Yuzhno train station. As beaches go, it’s popular, but rather trashy.
Kholmsk Холмск
Southern Sakhalin’s other major port, Kholmsk, 40km west of Yuzhno, is where ferries connect the island with Vanino on the mainland. There’s a waterfront promenade to kill time before the ferry, plus a few hotels, including Hotel Kholmsk ( 42433-50 623; fax 51 824; ul Sovetskaya 60; r from R1000).
Bus 56 connects Yuzhno with Kholmsk (R180, two hours), leaving hourly from 8.45am to 8pm.
CHEKHOV’S SAKHALIN
Perhaps no one will every really know why, in 1890, Russian lit giant Anton Chekhov left his fame in Moscow and crossed a pre–Trans-Siberian Siberia to come and document the hellish scene of prison life on Sakhalin, which had become a penal colony eight years earlier.
Though cryptic in explaining his move, Chekhov neatly summed up his experiences in the fascinating, if tedious at times, book Sakhalin Island, which dryly notes population counts and colourfully describes prisoners chained to wheelbarrows, prisons crawling with cockroaches, freely wandering mass murderers, local Gilyaks feverishly stopping him to see if he’d seen a lost dog, and an overbearing sense of nihilism for many who were banished to the island for life.
Possibly fearing censorship, Chekhov kept a distance from overarching criticism, but wrote to show how a penal system is no way to develop a new region. He summed up, ‘If I were a convict, I would try to escape from here, no matter what.’
Chekhov’s name now seems forever linked with the island, though many locals seem to shrug their shoulders over the connection. The friendly woman running the Chekhov museum in Aleksandrovsk confessed to us to never having read his work. Another local, fond of the Soviet days, told us, ‘He was bourgeoisie! He didn’t think about the revolution, only vulgar things like prostitution!’
Moneron Island Остров Монерон
In the Tatar Strait, 50km southwest of Sakhalin, is the largely uninhabited Moneron Island, surrounded by a marine park with diving and snorkelling opportunities. Prices make it almost impossible to consider – a charter boat from Nevelsk is R55,000 return, not including permit or the guesthouse.
If you can stomach the price (take us!), there are many birds to see, including black-tailed gulls and long-billed guillemot.
For more information, inquire with travel agents (Click here).
NORTHERN SAKHALIN
Anything above Yuzhno is often lumped into the ‘North.’ Daily trains connect Yuzhno with Tikhy, Poronaisk, Tymovsk and Nogliki, nearly 15 hours north. To get anywhere but some grisly towns on the line usually requires prearranged (and costly) transport.
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Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky Александровск-Сахалинский
42434 / population 17,000 / Moscow +7hr
The one-time capital of ‘North Sakhalin,’ Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky is on the map mostly because Anton Chekhov first arrived on Sakhalin here in 1890 and lived in a (now recreated) wood home that’s now a museum.
Otherwise Aleksandrovsk has not fared well in the free age, as abandoned loading docks and rusting ships on the beach attest. There are no ATMs.
From central Lenin Square (previously the site of the prison), the well-presented Historical-Literature Museum ‘Chekhov & Sakhalin’ ( 43 005; ul Chekhova 19; admission R35, camera R100; 9am-5pm Wed-Sun) is straight ahead, down the steps, behind the Dom Kulturi, and 250m ahead.
Keep going west, over a bridge and left, to the coast (about 400m west), strewn with castaway rusting ships and abandoned shipyards.
To the far south, you’ll see the famed Tri Bratya (Three Brothers), three small rock formations off the coast; a bus goes to the coal loading docks, just next to a beach. At low tide, you can walk past the brothers through a tunnel to reach a gorgeous scene, home to the Zhonkier Lighthouse, built in 1886, and coastal formations such as the Tri Sestri (Three Sisters). Beware of falling rocks on the steep coast.
Just north of the centre is the Historical Regional Museum of the City (ul Tsapko; admission R15, camera R100; 9am-5pm Wed-Sun), housed in a local hero’s 1915 home. Soviet-era exhibits, stuffed animals and at least three Stalin photos.
The unmarked Hotel Tri Bratya ( 42 518; r R2000) has stunning two-part rooms in the ugly white-brick mall across from Lenin Sq. There are no restaurants or (open) cafés; get what you want to eat from the several stores (open 9am to 9pm daily).
Without a car, you can reach Aleksandrovsk via the daily train from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to the depressing town Tymovsk (R1880, 11 hours). The 1 train arrives at 5.20am, when one of two daily buses leave for Aleksandrovsk (R150, 1¼ hours). Buses from Aleksandrovsk leave for the train station at 3.20am and 8pm. Taxis are available in both towns.
Nogliki Ноглики
The last stop by train, drab Nogoliki has a simple museum highlighting local Nevsk culture, and Hotel Nogliki ( 42345-96 351; ul Sovetskaya 6; r from R2200). Otherwise, the boom of oil has hardly had an effect. Some tour groups go through here on Nevsk tours, but it’s mostly locals and a handful of oil-industry foreigners rushing through. Ask in Yuzhno about arranging a Nevsk concert in Nogliki (about US$120).
The daily train 2 heads back to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (R2300, 14½ hours).
KURIL ISLANDS КУРИЛЬСКИЕ ОСТРОВА
842455 / Moscow +7hr
Spreading northeast of Japan, like stepping stones to Kamchatka, is this gorgeous and rugged 56-island chain of 49 active volcanoes, azure-blue lagoons, steaming rivers and boiling lakes. The Kurils are part of the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ – the islands being the visible tips of an underwater volcanic mountain range.
The Kurils have long been a political wedge between Russia and Japan. A treaty of 1855 divided possession of the chain between the countries, before an 1875 treaty gave them all to Japan in exchange for recognising the Russians’ right to Sakhalin. But then, in the last days of WWII, the Soviets invaded and, technically, Japan and Russia have never concluded any peace treaties after WWII because of it.
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Tours
It’s practically impossible to visit the Kurils on your own; many agencies in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk book tours, and they require a bit of preplanning, as permits need to be arranged. Many agencies run seven-day trips to Kunashir from mid-June through mid-September, leaving on Tuesday; July is the most popular time to go. There is a flight to Kunashir, but delays are so common (particularly during foggy August) that tours go with the 24-hour ferry ride from Korsakov.
Big spenders from abroad lately go with Heritage Expeditions (www.heritage-expeditions.ru) for a 13-day cruise of the Kurils that starts on Sakhalin Island and finishes at Petropavlovsk; it goes twice yearly, in May and June (from US$6530 per person).
A seven-day tour with Omega Plus (Map; 4242-723 410; www.omega-plus.ru; rm 341, ul Kommunistichesky 86, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat) books a trip for R29,000 per person (including guide, transport, meals and accommodation). This includes several (full day) day trips from Kunashir to the rock formations of Chyortov Palets on the sea; to Mys Stolbchaty, where rock formations tower over the water, and below – as you can see with a snorkel (there’s also a hot spring nearby), and to two volcanoes (the smoking Medelyev, and Golovnina, a seaside crater-formed lake).
Intour-Sakhalin (Click here) also books tours.
Sleeping
On Kunashir, Flagman Hotel ( 21 555; r per person R1500) is a simple hotel near the sea port with seven rooms and shared shower. Due to open during the lifetime of this book is the nicer-looking Iceberg Hotel (Ausberg; 22 693).
Getting There & Away
A tour agency will handle all your arrangements.
Sakhali-Kurili ( 4242-762 524) operates the Tuesday and Friday ferry, which makes stops at the Kurils’ Kunashir, Shikotan and Iturup islands (about R3500 per person). SAT airlines flies to Kunashir on Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
KAMCHATKA КАМЧАТКА
The 1000km-long Kamchatka Peninsula – home to a few hundred volcanoes and many more bears, reindeer, moose and mosquitoes – is a stunning paradise of raw outdoor adventure. Dangling across from Alaska between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea, Kamchatka sees a growing number of (deep-pocketed) visitors who climb into fuming volcanic craters, heli-ski down glaciers or kayak past bears feeding on salmon. Sometimes called the ‘land of fire and ice,’ volcanic activity remains a daily occurrence, many still spurting, spewing and bubbling in such a manner that suggests Creation hasn’t quite finished with Kamchatka.
Visiting takes time, patience – and money. So few roads mean that many attractions, such as the famous Lake Kurilskoe or Valley of the Geysers, are reached by expensive helicopter rides. Even reaching nearby volcanoes often requires costly overland 6WD transport and permits, while hiring good local guides who know which bear trail to hike down is another well worthwhile expense.
The central hub, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, isn’t exactly a charmer, despite its setting on the gorgeous, volcano-rimmed Avacha Bay.
August is the peak travel season, though winter trips are equally enticing. Be prepared for varying conditions and potential delays. We’ve sunk in waist-deep snow on volcano tops in July; fog is common in Petropavlovsk, often grounding helicopter rides and even boat trips.
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History
The man credited with the discovery of Kamchatka, in 1696, was the half-Cossack, half-Sakha adventurer Vladimir Atlasov who, like most explorers of the time, was out to find new lands to plunder. He established two forts on the Kamchatka River that became bases for the Russian traders who followed.
The native Koryaks, Chukchi and Itelmeni warred with their new self-appointed overlords, but fared badly and their numbers were greatly diminished. Today, the remnants of the Chukchi nation inhabit the isolated northeast of Kamchatka, while the Koryaks live on the west coast of the peninsula with their territorial capital at Palana. There’s also a community of Even, related to the Evenki of the Sakha Republic, based around Esso, where they migrated to some 150 years ago. Some of these peoples still maintain a traditional existence as reindeerherders.
Kamchatka was long regarded as the least hospitable and remote place in the Russian Empire. When Alaska was sold off in 1867, Kamchatka might also have been up for grabs if the Americans had shown enough interest.
During the Cold War, Kamchatka was closed to all outsiders (Russians too) and took on a new strategic importance; foreign interest was definitely no longer welcome. It became a base for military airfields and early warning radar systems, while the coastline sheltered parts of the Soviet Pacific Fleet.
Activities
Most people visiting Kamchatka will be here for climbing a volcano or two. There are also other activities that frequently make up whole trips, or parts of trips.
HELISKIING & BACK-COUNTRY SKIING
Heliskiing tours of the mountains and volcanoes that make an arc around Petropavlovsk are booming – and will stay that way as long as skiers can weather the rising transport costs. Trips run from December to mid-May, and include unreal experiences such as skiing onto Pacific beaches or into Mt Mutnovskaya’s fuming crater. Weather conditions vary wildly. On occasion, visitors get only four days of skiing in a 10-day period, for example, leaving would-be skiers fumbling about Petro, trying out the hot springs or simpler ski slopes. Technically, conditions are more reliable in February and March.
Back-country skiing, such as trips into Nalychevo Valley (Click here) where there are also hot springs to splash in, is a cheaper, more reliable alternative.
Most agencies book ski tours. Alpin Travel (www.alpintravel.ch) offers trips with six skiing days for €3900; also try the Russian Heliboarding Club (www.helibo arding.ru).
Fyodor Farberov ([email protected]) is an English-speaking heliski and back-country ski guide in Petropavlovsk, with lots of information. He charges R4000 per day. He sometimes leads on 14-day ski trips to Tolbachik, but there’s ‘at least 30% bad weather up there – all you can do those days is just camp and survive.’
HORSEBACK RIDING
Many agencies offer horseback riding trips. Explore Kamchatka (Click here) has it as part of a ‘Kamchatka triathlon’ tour, along with rafting and climbing. One interesting trip is an eight-day expedition to Timovskoye hot springs in Nalychevo. Hotel Petropavlovsk’s tour agent (Click here) arranges day trips for R1700 per person.
RAFTING
From Petropavlovsk, the Bystraya River is the easiest to arrange and reach; the most-travelled section is the 120km southwest-flowing stretch between the village of Malki, 80km northwest of Yelizovo, and the Ust-Bolsheretsk bridge just before the Bystraya empties into the Sea of Okhotsk, taking three or four days. A more leisurely version is Kamchatintour’s weekly two-day fishing/rafting tour (Click here) leaving Saturday for R5550 per person.
Perhaps more rewarding options are from Esso (Click here).
Getting Around
Locals are fond of repeating that on Kamchatka ‘there are no roads, only directions’. You will have a hard time getting ‘out there’, where the bulk of Kamchatka’s glory is (volcano bases, rivers, geysers), without an arranged 6WD truck or helicopter (or several-day hike) – though longer hikes in are a possibility too. Regular bus connections go between Petropavlovsk and Paratunka, as well as north to Esso.
HOW TO SEE KAMCHATKA
If you’re used to showing up in a place, and then figuring out where to go and what to see, you might want to rethink your style for Kamchatka. Limited infrastructure, high transport costs and necessary permits make going on some sort of a preplanned tour quite practical. Considering the sulphurous fumes, boiling pits and prowling bears, a misstep in the wild can be dangerous, and you’re best off having an experienced guide with you wherever you go. This ain’t Disneyworld. (A couple of local geologists were eaten by bears in 2008.)
To do a tour doesn’t mean packing onto a busload of 50 camera-toting tourists. Some groups are private, just two to four people. Plan ahead. Otherwise days can be wasted scrambling for a guide to return from a trip or transport to be arranged from expensive, ho-hum Petropavlovsk. Note that snow can block some roads into July.
TOUR GROUPS
Most tour groups are small (up to 10 people), often private and tend to stick with many of the same highlights, which – despite the popularity – can feel quite remote at times. Trips usually include everything once you land – guides, transport, permits, hotels or tents to sleep in, sleeping bags and food. Prices tend to be around €1500 for a week-long trip.
A few agents with good reputations:
- Lost World (Map; 74152-498 328; www.travelkamchatka.com; room 4 ul Frolova 4/1, Petropavlovsk) Highly professional operation with very experienced guides (including outdoorsy vulcanologist vets) that specialises in small groups. Generally less helpful for last-minute help, but have been able to merge agreeing groups with a few days’ notice. Their 10-day trip to Kurilskoe, Mt Mutnovskaya and the Valley of the Geysers is €2800 per person.
- Explore Kamchatka ( 41531-26 601; www.explorekamchatka.com; ul Bolshokova 41, Yelizovo) Run by an Alaskan who promotes alternate destinations (often with more environmentally friendly means, ie no helicopters or 6WD vehicles) and frequently helps visitors with unique requests (eg film crews seeking unique fishing spots). Can book trips or point you the way you want to go.
- Kamchatintour ( 41522-71034; www.kamchatintour.ru; ul Leningradskaya 124B; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri) Group-oriented agency that often works with Japanese groups, can also hire interpreters (R2000 per day) and help with some last-minute trips, such as two-day trips to Avachinskaya (R6000 per person), climbing Vachkagnets volcano (R5400) and rafting on the Bystraya (R5500) – typically these go on Saturday, but groups of four or more can be arranged any day.
If you have a few days to spare, the Hotel Petropavlovsk Travel Agency (
DIY WITHOUT GUIDES
If you must go alone, the easiest fully DIY trips into Kamchatka include a hike up the well-marked trails from Mt Avachinskaya to Nalychevo Valley (Click here), joining an Avacha Bay cruise (R2000, opposite), bussing on your own to Esso (Click here) and arranging a rafting trip.
We’ve heard of back-country skiers getting off the Esso bus halfway and heading into the mountains on their own. However, only the very experienced, and ones who have consulted with local experts before setting off, should ever consider such travel in Kamchatka; we do not recommend it.
DIY WITH GUIDES
If you’re wanting to get more ‘out there’ than Nalychevo or Esso, another option is simply hiring a local guide and going on a week-long or longer trek. Some travellers have done so to explore huge pockets of wilderness not featured here.
Explore Kamchatka (above) can point you to good local guides; one good English-speaking one is Petropavlovsk-based Fyodor Farberov ([email protected]), who grew up by the volcanoes and offers information or leads trips into lesser-seen areas.
Also talk with Chip Levis in Esso (Click here) for suggestions.
Used by vulcanologists and travellers alike, Mi-2 (capacity: six or eight people) and Mi-8 (capacity: 20 people) helicopters charge by time travelled in the air. The price is high (about R40,000 to R72,000 per hour, plus set pilot fee) and it’s risen astronomically over the past several years. Rides can be exciting (and loud), with windows you can open and room to roam about.
Two helicopter companies, Krechet ( 41531-24 345; www.krechet.com) and Kamchat Avia Tur ( 41531-73 407, 8-961-966 7007), fly from the Yelizovo helipad.
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY ПЕТРОПАВЛОВСК-КАМЧАТСКИЙ
4152 / pop 195,000 / Moscow +9hr
Most of Kamchatka’s hub city hides from its history and its charm – the wide, volcano-rimmed, 25km-long Avacha Bay – leaving visitors with a day (or more) to spare among the Soviet housing feeling a little stranded. Often overcast skies block nearby volcano views. (During our last July visit, two of six days had sunshine.)
Petropavlovsk is actually one of the Russian Far East’s oldest cities. Founded in 1741 by Vitus Bering (for whom the Bering Sea was named), a Danish-born Russian captain, the town was named for Bering’s ships, the Svyatoy Pyotr (St Peter) and Svyatoy Pavel (St Paul). It became the tsars’ major Pacific sea port and was used as the base for explorations that turned up the Aleutian Islands and Alaska.
The seaport became a useful base for exploring Alaska. In August 1854, the British (with the French in tow) sailed into Avacha Bay during the Crimean War and were unexpectedly repulsed by the small Petropavlovsk garrison.
During the Soviet era the town became a sizable Pacific Fleet submarine base, but its present prosperity is owed completely to the fishing industry.
In 2005, international headlines turned to Petropavlovsk, when an AS-28 mini-submarine got stuck on a seafloor nearby. When the British navy offered to rescue the seven sailors, one navy wife here hilariously protested, ‘Oh no, please not the British! My husband hates foreigners!’ The Brits rescued them anyway.
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Orientation
Petropavlovsk is strung along one main axis, the road that runs in from the airport 30km west. It enters the city limits as pr Pobedy and changes its name 11 times as it snakes around bayside hills.
Pre-buy Petropavlovsk maps in Vladivostok or Khabarovsk if you can. Local malls carry them for double the price, about R300.
Information
Make sure to get your visa registered on your first night. Occasionally out-bound travellers have had problems (ie US$100 fines) at the airport.
INTERNET ACCESS
All hotels listed have wi-fi access. You can also get online for R120 per hour at the post offices listed below.
MEDICAL SERVICES
Hospital ( 128 610; ul Leningradskaya 114)
Hotel Petropavlovsk Medical Centre ( 291 426; 2nd fl, pr Karla Marksa 31a; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri)
Rescue Service ( 412 222)
MONEY
You can find ATMs in some hotels and at Planeta shopping centre (ul Lukashevskogo 5) and Galant (ul Leningradskaya), across from Hotel Avacha.
POST
Main post office (ul Leninskaya 61; 8am-10pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat)
Main telephone & telegraph office (ul Vladivostokskaya 7)
Post office (ul Tushkanova 9; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat)
TRAVEL AGENCIES
Hotel Petropavlovsk Travel Agency (www.petropavlovsk-hotel.ru; pr Karla Marksa 31a) In the hotel’s lobby.
Lost World ( 498 328; www.travelkamchatka.com; rm 4,ul Frolova 4/1, Petropavlovsk) Highly professional operation with very experienced guides.
Sights & Activities
Most package tours include a well worthwhile Avacha Bay cruise of Petropavlovsk’s stunning harbour, with fascinating rock formations and volcano views all around. Best are full-day tours that reach Starichkov Island, a haven for bird life. Travel agencies book six-hour tours for R2000 per person, including lunch.
With time to spare, the best thing to do is have a wander around the historic centre – the only part of Petropavlovsk with beach access. There are cafés serving beer and tea on the water, Nikolskaya Hill to climb (or a stone beach on its bayside to walk down). Facing it is a big Lenin statue (more recently labelled with an United Russia flag and a ‘Putin’s Plan will be realized’ banner).
Several Crimean War monuments can be seen off ul Leninskaya, which you can follow south a few hundred metres and reach the Kamchatka State Unified Museum ( 412 644; ul Leninskaya 20; admission R150; 10am-5pm Wed-Sun), housed in an attractive half-timbered building overlooking the bay. The museum features an imaginative mix of relics and murals that outline Kamchatka’s history, for example dioramas of nomadic herders, old cannon balls and flags, photos of the 1975 Tolbachik eruption and maps showing Alaskan expansion.
One way to begin a volcano-centric trip is by taking in an expert’s lecture at the one-room exhibit in the Institute of Volcanology ( 259 346, 257 122; bul Piypa 9; admission per group R500; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri). You’ll need to pre-arrange an interpreter (about R1000 to R2000 per group) with a travel agency.
South of Petropavlovsk along the bay – reached by taxi or some buses – is Rakovaya village; much of the road runs along hilltops overlooking the bay. A bit further south, at Zavoiko, is a black-sand beach, one of the area’s nicest, with plenty of sea birds, including puffins.
Sleeping
Conditions at Petro’s hotels are all about the same – pretty good but overpriced. All have friendly staff and Soviet-era rooms with TV, refrigerator, hot water, free breakfast and wi-fi access.
Hotel Oktyabrskaya ( 412 684; [email protected]; ul Sovetskaya 51; s/d with shared bathroom R1400/2400, with private bathroom R2200/3500; ) Set in the ‘historic centre’ – with the waterfront and museum an easy stroll away – the Oktyabrskaya is a bit worn-out, but welcoming and cheap.
Hotel Geiser ( 258 595; ul Toporkova 10; s/d R1900/2200; ) Set on a hill-top with a stunning, sweeping view of Avacha Bay, the Geiser is a bit of a grey beast, reached by a long gravel road from the main street. Rooms benefit from a recent renovation, but there are some quirks – hot water only at set hours, and some plumbing issues at last pass.
Hotel Edelveis ( 253 324; www.idelveis.com; pr Pobedy 27; s/d with shared bathroom R2300/3000, with private bathroom R2500/3500; ) Street-cred from outside (wrecked cars in dreary hood), rather grandmotherly inside, with old-fashioned but comfy rooms and great staff.
Hotel Avacha ( /fax 427 331; www.avacha-hotel.ru; ul Leningradskaya 61; s/d R3300/4700; ) Across from a market (and a tank) in the centre, Avacha has small rooms with great bathrooms. There’s a sauna, air-ticket agency and (formal) casino.
Hotel Petropavlovsk ( 250 374; www.petropavlovsk-hotel.ru; pr Karla Marksa 31a; s/d from R3400/4400; ) This cubey block of a building, near San Marino restaurant, is where most tour groups stay; its rooms are basic and boxy, but comfortable – some even face the Avachinskaya volcano. Travel agency on hand.
Eating
All the hotels have cafés.
Slavyansky (pr Pobedy; 9am-9pm) A collection of grocery stalls behind the bus station.
Bistro (ul Sovetskaya 49; meals R100; 10am-8pm Mon-Sat, 11am-6pm Sun) This simple cafeteria in the historic centre cooks up a host of fillets or microwaves little pizzas and hamburgers.
Yamato ( 267 700; Planeta shopping centre, ul Lukashevskogo 5; meals R200-400; noon-midnight Sun-Thu, to 3am Fri & Sat) Past the shopping centre’s video games, Yamato serves surprisingly tasty sushi amid soothing Japanese-style screens. Set lunches run R190 to R270.
Planeta Pizza ( 230 368; Planeta shopping centre; meals R250-350; 10am-midnight) Next to Yamato, Planeta is a comfy spot with plenty of windows and couples eating pizzas (from R150) and sipping milkshakes (R85).
San Marino ( 293 355; ul Karla Marksa 29/1; meals R700-1250; noon-1am) Back from a hard trek, San Marino is Petropavlovsk’s best splash for a fancy, excellent meal (even ‘security’ is in a suit – you can come casual though). It’s big on fish – the theme is nautical – but you’ll also find moose and reindeer on the menu. There’s also a R235 express lunch.
Shopping
Alpindustriya-Kamchatka ( 230 246; [email protected]; pr 50 let Oktyabrya 22; 11am-7pm Mon-Fri, to 6pm Sat, to 5.30pm Sun) This valuable camping-gear shop rents tents (from R150 per day), backpacks (R40 to R60), sleeping bags (R40) and sleeping mats (R20). It’s about 75m off the road, amid housing.
Bez Tormozov ( 234 841; ul Tushkanova 10; 10am-8pm Mon-Fri, 11am-6pm Sat & Sun) Another outdoor gear shop with real-live North Face on hand.
GUM (ul Leninskaya 54; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 11am-6pm Sat) Clothes and souvenirs, including new Stalin pocket watches (R1300).
Getting There & Away
From the Petropavlovsk airport in Yelizovo, 30km northwest, there are daily flights to Khabarovsk (R11,500, 2½ hours, daily), Moscow (R11,000 to R12,000, nine hours, daily) and Vladivostok (R12,000, 3½ hours, six per week). There’s also at least one weekly flight to Novosibirsk, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. Vladivostok Air flies weekly from Anchorage, Alaska, in summer (about US$1500 return, four hours).
The central air ticket office ( 410 997; 50 Let Oktyarbskaya 17; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm Sat & Sun) also sells train tickets around Russia.
From the ‘10km bus station’ (avtostantsiya desyaty kilometr; 94646; pr Pobedy), you can catch the morning bus 215) to Esso (R950, nine to 10 hours).
Getting Around
Buses (R15) run from the 10km bus station, on pr Pobedy at the northern end of town, to the Kamchatka State Unified Museum. Marshrutky (R15) provide most of the rest of the town’s transportation.
All buses and marshrutky for the airport (R25 to R35, 45 minutes) depart from the 10km station; take anything marked ‘Aeroport’ or ‘Yelizovo’, the town near the airport. From the airport, take any bus from the ‘Petropavlovsk’ stop across from the terminal. Taxis run to about R500.
AROUND PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY
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Yelizovo Елизово
4152 / Moscow +9hr
Near the Petropavlovsk airport, this leafy town of dachas and a compact centre is a potential alternative to Petropavlovsk, 30km northwest of Petropavlovsk. Low-key Yelizovo is conveniently set on the highway junction which heads north to Esso and south to Paratunka.
On ul Lenina, a couple blocks west of the Lenin statue and a block east of the main bus stop, the travel agent Diligans Kamchatka ( 71 660; rm 38, ul Lenina 15; www.kamchatka-trip.com; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 11am-3pm Sat) has English-speaking staff to help with trips and visa registration. A block north, along parallel ul Zavoiko, is the post office (ul Zavoiko 9; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat & 9am-2pm Sun) with internet (R50 per hr).
The small Regional Museum ( 62 750; ul Kruchiny 13; admission R50; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun) was under renovation at last pass.
Several kilometres west of town, the lovely Yelizovo B&B ( 41531-26 601; www.explorekamchatka.com; 41 Bolshakova ul; r per person incl breakfast R1000), run by an American woman who operates Explore Kamchatka, has three inviting rooms with shared bathroom.
Back in town, Art Hotel ( 411 790, 8-909-882 3369; www.artotel.ru; ul Kruchiniy 1; r with shared/private bathroom R2200/2500) is a cheerful place with nice rooms. Breakfast is R150.
All Yelizovo’ buses from Petropavlovsk stop at the airport to/from Yelizovo and continue on to the main bus stop in town (R35, 45 minutes).
Paratunka Паратунка
Sprawled-out Paratunka (25km south of Yelizovo) is a leafy network of spa resorts set up around natural or pool-like hot springs. Many tours fit in a day here. One of many, Golubaya Laguna (Blue Lagoon; 124 718; www.bluelagoon.ru) is also a hotel geared to Russian tourists, and has a couple of popular pools (with slides, Jacuzzi) surrounded by woods.
If you have private transport and a local guide, the natural springs on the slopes of Goryachaya, 15km further south, are better.
Many area travel agents can arrange a vodka-downing Exotic Picnic with a Farmer (aka ‘dinner with Sasha’), an engaging Muscovite transplant who makes vegetarian meals from wild plants by his dacha, sings folk songs and makes many toasts. For some, it gets too drunken; for others, this researcher included, it’s a wonderful night out. It’s about R1000 to 1500 per person.
Frequent buses (including 111) connect Paratunka with Yelizovo and Petropavlovsk.
Mt Avachinskaya Гора Авачинская
elev 2741m
Two volcanoes near to Petropavlovsk stand side by side 20km north of town (about 35km by road). The smaller, and more famous, one on the east is Mt Avachinskaya, generally included on tours and one of Kamchatka’s ‘easier’ volcanoes to summit (about six to eight hours up). Avachinskaya last erupted in 1991, but you can see it smoking daily. The base camp complex sees a lot of action – including skiers and snowmobiles into early July; it gets quieter as you climb up.
Unfortunately there’s no public transport here. Trips can be expensive (about R3000 per person, including transport, guide, two-hour climb and lunch), and drop-off transport isn’t that much cheaper. Kamchatintour (Click here) offers two-day trips from R6000 per person.
It’s possible to hike the 40km from here to Nalychevo Valley nature park (below) in two days.
More forbidding Mt Koryakskaya (3456m) takes experienced climbers about 12 hours to climb.
SOUTHERN KAMCHATKA
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Nalychevo Valley Долина Налычево
One of Kamchatka’s easiest attractions that travellers can reach on their own is this nature park, about 40km north of Mt Avachinskaya. The valley is home to many thermal springs that can be swam in, a few volcanoes to climb, plus a network of trails that a handful of rangers stationed there in summer can point out. The catch is its growing popularity, notably the snow-mobiles in winter.
There’s camping in designated areas or in seven simple cabins (no water, toilets). In Yelizovo there’s a park office ( 4152-411 710; ul Zaivoko 19).
Travel agents can arrange permission (necessary), plus a drop-off transfer to the trail (about US$175 both ways).
Mt Mutnovskaya Гора Мутновская
elev 2322m
Walking down into an active 4km-wide cone, past boiling mud pools and ice crevices cut by hot vapors of volcanic fumes is like Frodo and Sam’s last trek in The Lord of the Rings. Kamchatka vulcanologists, who love all of Kamchatka’s volcanoes, seem to hold Mutnovskaya in special regard – for studying, climbing or looking at. One said, ‘It’s easier to reach than the Valley of Geysers, and much more alive, smoking and bubbling.’
A wild road – handled by 6WD or good 4WD vehicles – reaches the base, but only after snows melt in mid-August (when some Petropavlovsk agencies offer day trips here). Otherwise it’s an 8km to 15km hike (up to four hours one way, though not a difficult climb), depending on accessibility, to reach the cone, where you can hike (or ski) down past boiling mud pools.
It’s particularly important to have a guide here. Weather can turn suddenly, and it’s easy to get lost.
Many tours climb the oval-shaped caldera of nearby Gorely (1829m). Base camps here are tent only and far more remote than Avachinskaya.
It’s possible to go snowboarding from June to August in Rodnikovoe, about 15km north of Mt Mutnovskaya in the Vilyucha River valley.
Lake Kurilskoe Озеро Курильское
Kamchatka’s ‘bear lake’ – reached by helicopter – is so popular with the area’s bears that, in August and September (when up to three million red salmon come to spawn), visitors can almost get bored of looking at them. The huge lake, formed by an eruption nearly 9000 years ago, is rimmed by volcanoes and home to a couple of lodges. The only trails in the area are bear trails. Don’t wander alone: a Japanese photographer was eaten by a bear here in 2000. Visits are best done by boat, where you can drift by the shoreline – seeing bears, or Stellar sea eagles flying above.
A helicopter ride here is R140,000 on a day trip. Lost World (Click here), offers a six-day trip here for about US$1600.
NORTHERN KAMCHATKA
Milkovo and Esso are easily reached by public transport – much of the rest of the north requires a helicopter, 4WD or 6WD.
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Valley of the Geysers Долина Гейзеров
One of Kamchatka’s most-famous attractions lies 200km northeast of Petropavlovsk in the spectacular Valley of the Geysers (Dolina Geyzerov). Discovered in 1941, the 8km-long valley of a few dozen geysers cut through by the Geysernaya River is part of the protected Kronotsky Biosphere State Reserve. A 2007 earthquake, contrary to some outside reports, did not destroy the valley, though a few areas were lost.
PERMIT NEEDED? (CONFUSION REIGNS)
Expect some confusion on whether you can do anything outside of Petropavlovsk without having a special propusk (permit). To visit most destinations – including volcanoes or a hike into the Nalychevo Valley – you’ll need permits, and any agent will handle this for you (it takes a few days to organise).
Much more confusing are destinations reached by public bus, such as Paratunka or Esso. Most agents say you must have it; others says ‘no need’. But if you’re planning to get out of the towns, you must have them. You risk being turned back, or, on a bad day, possibly deported, if you venture way off the main roads without one.
Around 200 geothermal pressure valves sporadically blast steam, mud and water heaven-wards. The setting is exquisite and walking tours along a boardwalk take you past some of the more colourful and active geysers. The valley is closed for a 40-day period between May and June because of migrating birds.
To get there you must travel by helicopter on a day trip. Rising petrol prices, perhaps, explain the gigantic boom in price – from US$250 in 2004, to US$500 in 2005 to over US$760 a couple of years later. Helicopter companies (Click here) run daily tours, weather willing, which include about four or five hours of travel time. Many visitors feel it’s simply too much for what you get.
If you go, be sure to add a stop at Uzon Caldera (only about US$40 more), the remains of a 40,000-year-old volcano, now a 10km crater with steamy lakes.
Esso Эссо
41542 / pop 3000 / Moscow +9hr
The totally independent travellers’ best destination in Kamchatka, Esso (aka the ‘Switzerland of Kamchatka’, whatever that means) is set snug in a valley of green mountains, with hot-spring pools in town and rafting and horseback options nearby. It’s a quiet, lovely place with the scent of pine, and locals who live in picturesque wooden cottages (many of whom let rooms cheaply).
Evenki people migrated here 150 years ago from what is now the Sakha Republic, becoming the distinct Even people in the process. Here they met the local Itelmeni and Koryak people as well as Russians. Although Esso remains a mixed community, the nearby village of Anavgay is 100% Even.
There’s no ATM in town.
SIGHTS & ACTIVITIES
You can find out much about the history of the area’s peoples in the local museum ( 21 319; ul Naberezhnaya 14a; admission R100; 10am-6pm), a small but nicely designed wooden building set beside the burbling river that flows through Esso. The museum guides really care about what they do – one bragged about putting an ‘old Englishman’ to sleep after a 4 ½ hour tour! Warning: a visit usually includes a dance lesson. Trying to sit it out is futile.
Esso’s folk dance troupe, Nulgur (meaning ‘strangers’ or ‘travellers’), often plays hour-long concerts for visiting groups. The 18-member group perform many dances and songs collected from native people around Kamchatka, including throat chants and shoulder dances to emulate the sounds and swagger of reindeer. If you’re not on a group, see if one’s in town you can join (usually about R1000).
Esso is proud of its hot springs. Most hotels have a simple one, and there’s a big, popular public pool in town.
Probably the biggest reason tour groups come here is to fly by helicopter to track down one of the three Even-managed reindeer herds. A flight into a small nomadic camp, where you should be able to watch the Even round up (and sometimes slaughter) at least one of their 1500-strong herd of snorting reindeer is certainly an unforgettable experience.
Costs are based on how long it takes to reach the camp, plus an excursion fee of approximately US$300. You stay three hours maximum. Guesthouses can help arrange a trip.
Rafting options surround Esso; many are daytrips on the swift Bystraya River near town. Another interesting option is kayaking with Chip Levis (www.kamchatkachip.com), a post-hippie American who offers small-group trips (of the lesser-visited Koserevsk and Kamchatka rivers) in kayaks he made himself. Chip is going to enjoy the trip as much as you will. A trip is €150 per person per day (including food and some alcohol). Trips run mid-June through mid-October.
SLEEPING & EATING
Many Kamchatka residents treat Esso as a holiday base, and there are several small, simple hotels and private rooms to let. All arrange meals.
Alyona Tur ( 21 271; [email protected]; r per person R550-650; ) A small complex with shared bathrooms (and often partying Koreans). There’s a small hot-springs pool in the back.
Hotel Altai ( 21 218; ul Mostovaya 12A; r per person R500; ) Gingerbreadlike house that also offers daytrip rafting tours (R2000 for three to five people) & horse riding (R2500 per person per day).
Sechov ( 21 294, 8-914-622 9682; ul Naberezhnaya 5) Lets rooms in a private house, recommended by locals.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
A daily bus runs here from the 10km bus station in Petropavlovsk (R850, nine to 10 hours); at research time it left Esso at 9am. Prebook tickets in summer, when buses get filled a couple days in advance (at least). In Esso, buy tickets at the plank-wood ticket office ( 21 399; ul Mostovaya 9), which doubles as the bus station.
Mt Tolbachik Толбачик
elev 3682m
Six hours east of Esso by 6WD and river ferry, Tolbachik’s main volcano to climb is Plosky Tolbachik, a flat-topped, often snow-splattered volcano that erupted in 1941, creating a 3km crater (a six-hour hike up). To the south are three black volcano craters created from flat ground in 1975. Chunks of volcanic rock line the road, atop are sulphuric craters, and just past this is a dead forest with the bare tops of birch sticking up from a sea of hardened lava. The area is so moonlike, the Soviet space program tested its ‘moonwalker’ vehicle here before sending it out into space.
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Directory
CONTENTS
ACCOMMODATION
Russia offers everything from cosy homestays to five-star luxury hotels. You’ll occasionally come across hotels that refuse to let you stay because you’re a foreigner, or that will only offer you the most expensive rooms. Otherwise, you can generally stay where you like, though beware – a few of the cheapest hotels won’t want to register your visa (Click here).
It’s a good idea to book a few nights in advance for big cities, but elsewhere it’s usually not necessary. Make bookings by email or fax rather than telephone so you get a written copy of your reservation. Note that many hotels charge a booking surcharge (bron) which can be up to 50% of the first night’s accommodation rate.
If you’re looking for cheaper places to stay, head for the smaller towns or consider a homestay; many travel agencies can arrange these. Inexplicably, twin rooms are occasionally cheaper than singles, especially in small towns. It’s often possible to pay half again when only one person is staying (though you may end up sharing with a stranger): ask for potselenye (twin room).
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Camping
Camping in the wild is allowed, except in those areas signposted Не разбивать палатку (No putting up of tents) and/or Не разжигать костры (No camp fires). Check with locals if you’re in doubt.
Kempingi (organised camp sites) are rare and usually only open from June to September. Unlike Western camp sites, small wooden cabins often take up much of the space, leaving little room for tents. Some kempingi are in quite attractive woodland settings, but communal toilets and washrooms are often in poor condition and other facilities few.
Homestays
Taking a room in a private home (usually a flat) and sharing with the owners – often referred to as ‘bed & breakfast’ (B&B) or ‘homestay’ – gives you a glimpse into how Russians really live. Most places that take in guests are clean and respectable, though rarely large! If you stay in a few you’ll be surprised how, despite outward similarities, their owners can make them so different.
HOMESTAY AGENCIES
The following agencies can arrange homestays mainly in Moscow and St Petersburg (as can some travel agencies; see individual city listings for details). It’s worth knowing that your host family usually only gets a small fraction of the price you pay the agent.
Flatmates.ru (www.flatmates.ru/eng) A spin off of Way to Russia(www.waytorussia.net)
International Homestay Agency (www.homestayagency.com/homestay/russia.html)
Host Families Association (HOFA;
Russian Home Travel (
Uncle Pasha (www.unclepasha.com)
PRACTICALITIES
- Russia uses the metric system (see the inside front cover). Menus often list food and drink servings in grams: a teacup is about 200g, a shot-glass 50g. The unit for items sold by the piece, such as eggs, is shtuka (‘thing’ or ‘piece’) or sht.
- Access electricity (220V, 50Hz AC) with a European plug with two round pins. A few places still have the old 127V system. Some trains and hotel bathrooms have 110V and 220V shaver plugs.
- TV channels include Channel 1 (Pervy Kanal; www.1tv.ru), NTV (www.ntv.ru), Rossiya (www.rutv.ru), Kultura, Sport, RenTV (www.ren-tv.com), MTV-Russia, and Russia Today (http://RussiaToday.ru), an English-language satellite channel. Each region has a number of local channels, while in many hotels you’ll have access to CNN and BBC World, plus several more satellite channels in English and other languages.
- Radio is broken into three bands: AM, UKV (66MHz to 77MHz) and FM (100MHz to 107MHz). A Western-made FM radio usually won’t go lower than 85MHz. The BBC World Service’s short-wave (SW) frequencies in the morning, late evening and night are near 9410kHz, 12,095kHz (the best) and 15,070kHz, though exact settings vary depending on your location; see www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice.
- Russia’s main video format, SECAM, is incompatible with the system used in Australia and most of Europe (France and Greece are among the exceptions), and with North America’s NTSC. Russian DVDs are region code 5.
Moscow and St Petersburg have organisations specifically geared to accommodating foreign visitors in private flats at around €30 to €40 per person, normally with English-speaking hosts, breakfast and other services, such as excursions and extra meals. Many travel agencies and tourism firms in these and other cities, as well as overseas, also offer homestays. The price will depend on things like how far the flat is from the city centre, whether the hosts speak English, and whether any meals are provided. Also check whether a homestay can provide visa support and registration and what the costs of this might be.
Hostels
A hostel movement has yet to emerge across Russia although you will find them in Irkutsk, Moscow, Novgorod, St Petersburg, the Solvetsky Islands, Suzdal and Vyborg (see each location’s sleeping listings for details). For a dorm bed in a Moscow or St Petersburg hostel you can expect to pay R550 to R750.
Hotels
Russian hotels run the gamut from dirt-cheap flophouses to megabuck five-star palaces. Some hotels have one price for Russians and a higher price for foreigners – this is against Russian law (hence increasingly rare), but in practical terms there is little you can do about it, even if you arrive with Russian friends. In such cases we list the prices hotels charge foreigners.
You can just walk in and get a room on the spot at most hotels. A few hotels aren’t registered for foreign guests or will only take you if you’ve already registered your visa, though these are fairly rare. In the Soviet era, receptionists had a habit of pretending that their half empty hotels were actually full. These days that classic theatricality is uncommon, though some old-style places do sometimes have a spare room or two salted away for the politely persistent traveller.
In big cities many midrange and top end hotels catering to businesspeople drop their prices at weekends. There can also be significant seasonal variations, with top prices kicking in over holiday periods such as the first nine days of January and May.
PROCEDURES
When you check in practically all hotels will ask to see your passport – they may then keep it for anywhere up to 48 hours in order to register you with the authorities (Click here).
At old-style hotels each floor has a dezhurnaya (floor lady) who guards the keys for all the rooms in her little kingdom. When the dezhurnaya’s dozing or away for lunch you’ll be effectively locked out of your room until she deigns to return.
Modern hotels generally have a checkout time (usually noon). However, many older Russian hotels charge by sutki, ie for a stay of 24 hours. Check which you’ve paid for before rushing to pack your bags. If you want to store your luggage somewhere safe for a late departure, arrange it with the dezhurnaya or front-desk staff.
ROOMS
Most hotels have a range of rooms at widely differing prices. Receptionists tend to offer foreigners the most expensive ones, often feeling, quite genuinely, that cheaper rooms are ‘not suitable’. Fortunately for the budget conscious, there’s always a price list displayed (on the wall or in a menu-style booklet on the counter) listing the price for every category. Staff are generally obliging about allowing guests to look around before checking in: ask ‘Mozhno li posmotret nomer?’ (May I see the room?).
Not all hotels have genuine single rooms and ‘single’ prices often refer to single occupancy of a double room. Some hotels, mainly in the bottom and lower-middle ranges, have rooms for three or four people where the price per person comes to much less than a single or double would. Beds are typically single and where there is a double bed you’ll generally pay somewhat more than for a similarly sized twin room.
Hot water supplies are fairly reliable, but since hot water is supplied on a district basis, whole neighbourhoods can be without it for a month or more in summer when the system is shut down for maintenance (the best hotels have their own hot water systems).
A lyux room equates to a suite with a sitting room in addition to the bedroom and bathroom. A polu-lyux room is somewhat less spacious. Size doesn’t always equate to better quality.
Budget
Rooms may have their own toilet, washbasin or shower, or you may have to use facilities shared by the whole corridor. Some places are clean, if musty, and even include a TV or a huge, Soviet-era fridge in the rooms; others are decaying, dirty and smelly, and lack decent toilets and washing facilities. Take care with security in some cheap hotels.
A double room with bathroom in a budget hotel in major cities will cost anywhere up to R3000. Elsewhere budget hotels can be as cheap R500 a night with shared facilities, although R700 toR1500 is a more realistic minimum.
Midrange
The ‘mini-hotel’ boom that started in St Petersburg, continues to spread across the country, providing options over the old midrange choice of Soviet-era hotels, several of which have been spruced up nicely. Don’t always trust the sparkling new facades, however. Sometimes the rooms have not received the same treatment.
Nonetheless, rooms are usually clean, reasonably comfortable with private bathrooms (standards vary greatly), and there will be a restaurant along with a bar or bufet (snack bar). These are the most common hotels in cities and you’ll pay R1500 to R4000 for a midrange twin (except in Moscow and St Petersburg, where the midrange prices start above R3000).
Top End
Luxury hotels in the major cities are up to the best international standards, with very comfortable rooms boasting satellite TV, minibars, fawning service, fine restaurants, health clubs, and prices to match, from around R10,000 upwards. (Prices may be quoted in euros or US dollars, and will typically include the 20% VAT – the 5% local tax will sometimes be on top of that.)
In smaller cities and towns, the ‘top end’ (where it exists) is composed mainly of the very best Soviet-era tourist hotels, along with the occasional former Communist Party hotel or smaller, newer private ventures. Expect to pay upwards from R4000 (R10,000 for Moscow and St Petersburg), although you may get better prices through a travel agent.
Resting Rooms
Resting rooms (komnaty otdykha) are found at all major train stations and several of the smaller ones. Generally, they have basic (but often quite clean) shared accommodation with communal sink and toilet. Some have showers but you’ll often pay an extra fee to use them. Sometimes there are single and double rooms and, rarely, more luxurious ones with private bathrooms. The beds are usually rented by the hour (from R50), half-day (from R300) or 24-hour (from R600) period. Some will ask to see your train ticket before allowing you to stay.
Turbazy, Rest Houses & Sanatoriums
A great way to get a feel for the average Russian’s holiday is to book into a turbaza, typically a no-frills holiday camp aimed at outdoor types. Cheap, basic accommodation is usually in spartan multiroom wooden bungalows or domiky (small huts). Don’t expect indoor plumbing. In the Soviet era, turbazy were often owned by a factory or large company for use by its employees. Many became somewhat decrepit, but these days more and more are privatised and being rebuilt. At some, you can arrange boating, skiing, hiking or mountaineering.
Doma otdykha (rest houses) are similar to turbazy, although generally somewhat more luxurious. In peak seasons it’s often essential to book through travel agencies in regional cities as demand can be very high.
Zanatory (sanatoriums), usually booked through local travel agencies, have professional medical staff on hand to treat your illnesses (real or imagined), design your diet and advise you on correct rest. Most are generally ugly concrete eyesores in otherwise attractive rural or coastal settings. Sanatoriums can be spas, sea resorts (there are several good ones in Sochi and the Kaliningrad Region), or resorts where you can get some kind of nontraditional treatment (with kumiss, fermented mare’s milk, for instance).
BUSINESS HOURS
Usual business hours are listed inside the front cover. Exceptions to this have been noted in individual listings in this book.
Almost all services and businesses post official opening hours on their doors, but restaurants will frequently close earlier if there’s nobody to serve and museums can be reluctant to let you in anywhere near their closing or lunch hours. Note that exchange operations at banks sometimes have very different timetables to the posted opening times of the bank itself.
Government offices open from 9am or 10am to 5pm or 6pm weekdays.
In major cities, 24-hour shops and kiosks selling food and drink are common. Restaurants typically open from noon to midnight except for a break between afternoon and evening meals.
Museum hours are not uniform. They close one day a week and there will be one extra ‘sanitary’ day per month when the facility is closed for cleaning.
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CHILDREN
Russians love children and travelling there with them can be fun as long as you have a relaxed attitude and a degree of patience. Click here and Click here for ideas of how to entertain the little ones in Moscow and St Petersburg respectively. If you’re heading for Siberia, Nikita’s on Olkhon Island (Click here) has a fantastic kids’ playground.
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Practicalities
Baby changing rooms are uncommon and you wouldn’t want to use many public toilets yourself, let alone change your baby’s nappy in them. Head back to your hotel or to one of the coffee-house chains or fast-food joints where the toilets, while typically small, should be clean. Nappies, powdered milk and baby food are widely available except in very rural areas.
Finding English-language kids’ publications will be a challenge, although there’s no shortage of toy shops.
Lonely Planet’s Travel with Children contains useful advice on how to cope with kids on the road and what to bring to make things go more smoothly.
CLIMATE CHARTS
It’s no surprise that Russia has long, cold winters. Other seasons do get a look in, though, and summers can be scorchers. Click here for more information concerning climate and when to go, and Click here for sample climate charts.
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COURSES
Apart from Russian-language courses in Moscow and St Petersburg, there are a handful of other courses that may appeal to those who like to combine travel with learning. We know of the following:
Cooking courses St Petersburg (Click here)
Russian decorative craft courses Novgorod (Click here)
Throat singing lessons Khöömei Centre in Kyzyl (Click here)
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Language
There are plenty of opportunities to study Russian in Russia. The English-language publications in Moscow and St Petersburg regularly carry advertisements for Russian-language schools and tutors. The cost of formal coursework varies widely, but one-on-one tutoring can be a bargain given the low local wage levels – numerous professors and other highly skilled people are anxious to augment their incomes by teaching you Russian.
Another option for learning Russian is through one of the many international universities operating in Moscow and St Petersburg. These are usually affiliated with a school in either Britain or the USA. Or you could take a course through the Eurolingua Institute (www.eurolingua.com), which offers homestays combined with language courses.
For other specific course recommendations, Click here and Click here.
CUSTOMS
Customs controls in Russia are relatively relaxed these days. Searches beyond the perfunctory are quite rare. This said, clearing customs, especially when you leave Russia by a land border, can be lengthy. Apart from the usual restrictions, bringing in and out large amounts of cash is limited, although the amount at which you have to go through the red channel changes frequently. At the time of writing, visitors are allowed to bring in and take out under US$3000 (or its equivalent) in currency, and goods in value under R65,000, weighing less than 50kg, without making a customs declaration.
On entering Russia you might be given a customs declaration (deklaratsia) on which you should list any currency you’re carrying as well as any items of worth. Make sure you list any mobile phones, cameras and laptops to avoid any potential problems when leaving Russia.
It’s best if you can get your customs declaration stamped on entry (to do so go through the red lane at the bigger airports) and then simply show the same declaration when you exit Russia. However, customs points are sometimes totally unmanned, so this isn’t always possible. The system seems to be in total flux, with officials usually happy for you to fill out declarations on leaving the country if necessary.
If you plan to export anything vaguely ‘arty’ – manuscripts, instruments, coins, jewellery, antiques, antiquarian books – it must be assessed by the Committee for Culture (Moscow Map; 495-244 7675; ul Arbat 53; Smolenskaya; St Petersburg Map; 812-311 5196; Malaya Morskaya ul 17; Nevsky Pr). The bureaucrats will issue a receipt for tax paid (usually 100% of the purchase price; bring your sales docket), to be presented to customs on your way out. If you buy something large, a photograph is usually fine for assessment purposes.
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DANGERS & ANNOYANCES
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Crime
STREET CRIME
The streets of big cities such as Moscow and St Petersburg are about as safe (or as dangerous) as those of New York and London: there’s pickpocketing, purse-snatching and all the other crimes endemic to big cities anywhere. Travellers have reported problems with groups of children who surround foreigners, ostensibly to beg, closing in with dozens of hands probing pockets (or worse).
The key is to be neither paranoid nor unconcerned – use common sense and try to fit in: shun clothes and accessories that show you’re a tourist.
SCAMS
Be wary of officials, such as police (or people posing as police), asking to see your papers or tickets at stations – there’s a fair chance they’re on the lookout for a bribe and will try to find anything wrong with your documents, or basically hold them ransom. The only course of action is to remain calm and polite and stand your ground. Try to enlist the help of a passer-by to translate (or at least witness what is going on).
Another scam involves the use of devices in ATMs that read credit card and PIN details when you withdraw money from the machines, enabling accounts to be accessed and additional funds withdrawn. In general, it’s safest to use ATMs in carefully guarded public places such as major hotels and restaurants.
THEFT
Don’t leave anything of worth in a car, including sunglasses, CDs and cigarettes. Valuables lying around hotel rooms also tempt providence. At camp sites, watch for items on clothes lines and in cabins. If you stay in a flat, make sure it has a well-bolted steel door.
It’s generally safe to leave your belongings unguarded when using the toilets on trains, but you’d be wise to get to know your fellow passengers first.
Dangerous Regions
Check with your government’s foreign affairs ministry at home or your embassy in Russia for the latest danger zones. Heading to Chechnya is obviously a dumb idea, as is going to Dagestan, another location of civil unrest and general lawlessness; Click here for more details. Certain very isolated villages suffer from the unpredictable side effects of chronic alcoholism, especially in western Tuva where locals are frequently drunk and armed with knives.
DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE MAFIA
In Russia, ‘Mafia’ is a broad term encompassing the country’s small- and big-time gangsters, as well as the many thousands of corrupt officials, businesspeople, financiers and police. However, they will be the least of your problems while travelling in the country – big-time crime’s impact on tourists is pretty much nonexistent.
In more remote areas of the country specific natural hazards include bears and, in late May to July, potentially fatal tick-borne encephalitis (particularly in Siberia and Ussuriland in the Russian Far East). And if trekking in Kamchatka, remember that many of those volcanoes are volatile.
Transport & Road Safety
Click here for details on air travel safety. Take care when crossing the road in large cities: some crazy drivers completely ignore traffic lights, while others tear off immediately when the lights change (which can be suddenly), leaving you stranded in the middle of the road.
Annoyances
Customer service is certainly improving, but the single most annoying thing travellers encounter in Russia is the combination of bureaucracy and apathy that turns some people in ‘service’ industries into surly, ill-mannered, obstructive goblins.
Russians also have very specific rules for queuing (holding someone’s place in the line while they shop or whatever for several hours is common, as is pushing in at the last minute if you’re at the train station, say, and the train is about to go). In most cases, neither politeness nor anger will help. If you have the head for it, sharpen your elbows, learn a few scowling phrases, and plough head first through the throng. Good luck.
It’s not unheard of for unsolicited prostitutes to visit or telephone hotel rooms offering sex; you’ll usually be left alone though if you make it clear you’re not interested. Be prepared for strip shows, male and female, at many nightclubs and some restaurants.
Racism & Discrimination
Sadly, racism is a problem in Russia; Click here. It’s a good idea to be vigilant on the streets around Hitler’s birthday (20 April), when bands of right-wing thugs have been known to roam around spoiling for a fight with anyone who doesn’t look Russian. Frightening reports of racial violence appear from time to time in the media, and it’s a sure thing that if you look like a foreigner you’ll be targeted with suspicion by many (the police, in particular). Moscow, St Petersburg and Voronezh have all seen violent attacks on non-Russians.
DISABLED TRAVELLERS
Disabled travellers are not well catered for in Russia. Many footpaths are in poor condition, hazardous even for the mobile. There’s a lack of access ramps and lifts for wheelchairs. However, attitudes are enlightened and things are slowly changing. Major museums such as the Hermitage offer good disabled access. There’s even a tour agency specialising in wheelchair-accessible tours in St Petersburg (Click here) and, in Severobaikalsk, tour guide Rashit Yakhin (Click here) has plans to rent out motorized wheelchairs and buy a special vehicle to transport wheelchair users around the northern Lake Baikal region.
Before setting off, get in touch with your national support organisation (preferably with the travel officer, if there is one). The following organisations offer general travel advice:
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Australia
Nican (02-6241 1220, 1800-806 769; www.nican.com.au; Unit 5, 48 Brookes St, Mitchell, ACT 2911)
Germany
Mare Nostrum (711-285 8200; www.mare-nostrum.de; Am Schnarrenberg 12, Stuttgart D-70376)
UK
Holiday Care Service (0845-124 9974; www.holidaycare.org.uk; Tourism for All, The Hawkings Suite, Enham Place, Enham Alamein, Andover SP11 6JS)
USA
Accessible Journeys (800-846 4537; www.disabilitytravel.com; 35 West Sellers Ave, Ridley Park, PA 19078)
Mobility International USA (541-343 1284; www.miusa.org; 132 East Broadway, Suite 343, Eugene, Oregon, 97401)
DISCOUNT CARDS
Full-time students and people aged under 26 can sometimes (but not always) get a substantial discount on admissions – always flash your student card or International Student Identity Card (ISIC) before paying. If you’re not a student but are under 26, ask a student agency at home for an ISIC Youth Card.
Senior citizens also might get a discount, but there are no promises: carry your pension card or passport anyway.
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EMBASSIES & CONSULATES
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Russian Embassies & Consulates
Check out www.russianembassy.net for a full list of Russian embassies and consulates overseas. The best advice is to get your Russian visa in your home country – it’s practically impossible (ridiculously expensive and time consuming) to get a visa for Russia in China or Mongolia, for example.
Australia (02-6295 9033; 78 Canberra Ave, Griffith, ACT 2603) Also a consulate in Sydney.
Belarus Minsk Embassy (250 3666; vul Staravilenskaya 48); Brest (0162- 237 842; vul Pushkina 19)
Canada (613-235 4341; 285 Charlotte St, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 8L5) Also consulates in Montreal and Toronto.
France (01-4504 0550; 40-50 Blvd Lannes, 75116 Paris) Also consulate in Marseilles and Strasbourg.
Germany (030-229-111; Unter den Linden 63-65, 10117 Berlin) Also consulates in Bonn, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Rostock.
Ireland (01-492 2048; 184-186 Orwell Rd, Rathgar, Dublin 14)
Japan (03-3583 4224; 2-1-1 Azabudai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0041) Also consulates in Niigata, Osaka and Sapporo.
Netherlands (70-345 1300; [email protected]; Andries Bickerweg 2, 2517 JP Den Haag)
New Zealand (04-476 6113; 57 Messines Rd, Karori, Wellington 6012)
UK (020-7229 3628; www.rusemblon.org; 6/7 Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8 4QX) Also a consulate in Edinburgh.
USA (202-298 5700; 2650 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Washington DC 20007) Also consulates in Houston, New York, San Francisco and Seattle.
Embassies & Consulates in Russia
If you will be travelling in Russia for a long period of time (say a month or more), and particularly if you’re heading to remote locations, it’s wise to register with your embassy. This can be done over the telephone or by email. For a full list of embassies in Moscow, check http://guides.moscowtimes.ru/travel/detail.php?ID=13425.
Australia Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-956 6070; www.russia.embassy.gov.au; Podkolokolny per 10A/2; Kitay Gorod); St Petersburg Consulate (Map; 812-315 1100; Italiyanskaya ul1; Nevsky pr); Vladivostok Consulate (4232-427 464; ul Krasnogo Znameny 42)
Belarus Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-924 7031; fax 928 6633; www.embassybel.ru; Maroseyka ul 17/6, 101000; Kitay Gorod); Kaliningrad Consulate (Map; 4012-214 412; ul Dm Donskogo 35A); St Petersburg Consulate (Map; 812-274 7212; ul Bonch-Bruevicha 3A; Chernyshevskaya) Tyumen Consulate (3452-259 382; ul 2-ya Lugovya 35)
Canada Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-925 6000; www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/missions/russia-russie/menu-eng.asp; Starokonyushenny per 23; Kropotkinskaya)
China Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-938 2006; consular 499-143 1540; www.ru.china-embassy.org; ul Druzhby 6; Universitet); Khabarovsk Consulate (Map; 4212-302 353 or 302 432; Lenin Stadium 1); St Petersburg Consulate (Map; 812-714 7670; nab kanala Griboedova 134; Sadovaya/Sennaya Pl); Vladivostok Consulate (Map; 4232-495 037; Hotel Gavan, ul Krygina 3) In Khabarovsk, visa applications are taken from 10.30am to 1pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday. A visa can be arranged in a day for about R4200 or in a week for R2400. In Vladivostok, visa applications are accepted from 9am to 12.30pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday. A visa costs about US$125 and takes three to seven days.
Finland Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-787 4174; www.finland.org.ru; Kropotkinsky per 15/17; Park Kultury); Murmansk Consulate (Map; 8512-543 275; ul Karla Marksa 25A); Petrozavodsk Consulate(Map; 8142-761 564; Pushkinskaya ul 15); St Petersburg Consulate (Map; 812-331 7600; Preobrazhenskaya pl 4; Chernyshevskaya)
France Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-937 1500; www.ambafrance.ru; ul Bolshaya Yakimanka 45; Oktyabrskaya); St Petersburg Consulate (Map; 812-332 2270; nab reki Moyki 15; Nevsky Pr)
Germany Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-937 9500; www.moskau.diplo.de; Mosfilmovskaya ul 56; Universitet, then bus No 119); Moscow Consular Section (Map;495-933 4311; Leninsky pr 95A; Prospekt Vernadskogo, then bus Nos 616 or 153); Kaliningrad Consulate (Map; 4012-326 923; www.kaliningrad.diplo.de; ul Demyana Bednogo 13A); Novosibirsk Consulate (Map; 383-223 1411; www.nowosibirsk.diplo.de; Krasny pr 28); St Petersburg Consulate (Map; 812-320 2400; Furshtatskaya ul 39; Chernyshevskaya); Yekaterinburg Consulate (Map; 343-359 6399; ul Kuybysheva 44)
Ireland Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-937 5911; www.embassyofireland.ru; Grokholsky per 5; Prospekt Mira)
Japan Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-229 2550; www.ru.emb-japan.go.jp; Grokholsky per 27; Arbatskaya); Khabarovsk Consulate (Map; 4212-326 418; fax 4212-327 212; ul Pushkina 38a); St Petersburg Consulate (Map; 814 1434; nab reki Moyki 29; Nevsky pr); Vladivostok Consulate (off Map; 4232-267 481, 267 502; ul Verkhne-Portovaya 46); Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Consulate (4242-726 055; ul Lenina 234)
Korea Vladivostok Consulate (Map; 4232-402 222; ul Pologa 19)
Latvia Kaliningrad Consulate (Map; 4012-706 755; Englesa ul 52A)
Lithuania Kaliningrad Consulate (Map; 4012-959 486; ul Proletarskaya 133)
Mongolia Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-290 6792; www.mongolianembassy.ru; Borisoglebsky per 11; Arbartskaya) Consular Section (Map; Spasopeskovsky per 7/1; Smolenskaya); Irkutsk Consulate (Map; 3952-342 145; fax 342 143; ul Lapina 11; 9.30am-noon, 2.30-5pm Mon, Tue, Thu & Fri); Ulan-Ude Consulate (Map; 3012-211 078; ul Profsoyuznaya 6; Mon, Wed & Fri).
Netherlands Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-797 2900; www.netherlands-embassy.ru; Kalashny per 6; Arbatskaya)
New Zealand Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-956 3579; www.nzembassy.msk.ru; Povarskaya ul 44; Arbatskaya)
Norway Murmansk Consulate (Map; 8152-400 620, 453 879; ul Sofyi Perovskoy 5)
Poland Kaliningrad Consulate (Map; 4012-950 419; www.polkon-kaliningrad.ru; Kashtanovaya Alleya 51)
Sweden Kaliningrad Consulate (Map; 4012-959 400; Kutuzova ul 29); Murmansk Consulate (Map; 8152-400 620, 453 879; ul Sofyi Perovskoy 5)
UK Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-956 7200; www.britemb.msk.ru; Smolenskaya nab 10; Smolenskaya); St Petersburg Consulate (Map; 812-320 3200; pl Proletarskoy Diktatury 5; Chernyshevskaya); Vladivostok Consulate (off Map; 4232-410 516; ul Svetlanskaya 5); Yekaterinburg Consulate (Map; 343-379 4931; www.britaininrussia.ru; ul Gogolya 15)
Ukraine Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-629 9742; www.mfa.gov.ua; Leontevsky per 18; Pushkinskaya); Rostov-On-Don Consulate (863-227 0551; ul Khalturinskiy 28/40); Tyumen Consulate (3452-464 076; ul Semakova 4)
USA Moscow Embassy (Map; 495-728 5000; www.moscow.usembassy.gov; Bol Devyatinsky per 8; Barrikadnaya); St Petersburg Consulate (Map; 812-331 2600; ul Furshtatskaya 15; Chernyshevskaya); Vladivostok Consulate (4232-300 070; ul Pushkinskaya 32); Yekaterinburg Consulate (Map; 343-379 4691; www.uscgyekat.ur.ru; ul Gogolya 15)
FESTIVALS & EVENTS
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January
Russian Orthodox Christmas (Rozhdestvo; 7 January) Begins with midnight church services.
February to April
Men’s Day (23 February) Originally established in 1918 as Defenders of the Fatherland Day.Pancake Week (Maslenitsa; late February and/or early March) Folk shows and games celebrate the end of winter, with lots of pancake eating before Lent (pancakes were a pagan symbol of the sun).
Women’s Day (8 March) Celebrated like St Valentine’s Day, with women getting presents of flowers, chocolates and the like and a chance to rest up.
Tibetan Buddhist New Year (Tsagaalgan) A movable feast lasting 16 days, Tsagaalgan celebrates the lunar new year and hence advances by about 10 days annually. It’s mainly celebrated at family level in Buryatiya and Tuva, where it’s known as Shagaa.
Festival of the North (last week of March/early April) Murmansk and other northern towns hold reindeer races, ski marathons and so on; Click here for more information.
Easter (Pashka; March/April) The main festival of the Orthodox Church year. Easter Day begins with celebratory midnight services. Afterwards, people eat kulichy (dome-shaped cakes) and paskha (cheesecake), and may exchange painted wooden Easter eggs. The devout deny themselves meat, milk, alcohol and sex during Lent’s 40-day pre-Easter fasting period.
Alexander Nevsky Festival (second week of April) Held in Novgorod, this festival sees historical clubs reenacting the battle scenes at the Kremlin Walls.
May
Victory Day (9 May) A public holiday celebrating the end of WWII, or what Russians call the Great Patriotic War. Big military parades are held in Moscow and St Petersburg and are well worth attending.
Graduates Day (traditionally 25 May) A day for those finishing school – they parade about their home towns in traditional student garb.
June
Glinka Festival (1–10 June) In the composer’s hometown of Smolensk, an annual festival (Click here) is held in Mikhail Glinka’s honour.
Sadko Festival (first weekend in June) Held in Novgorod, this event offers traditional Russia folk music, games and food.
Stars of the White Nights Festival Involves general merrymaking and staying out late, as well as a dance festival in Russia’s cultural capital, St Petersburg.
Tun-Payram (Opening-of-Summer-Pastures Festival) With traditional food, costumes and sports, this festival is celebrated in Askiz (Click here), usually on the first or second Sunday of the month, and then in villages.
Ysyakh (around 22 June) Eat traditional food while watching local sports and spectacular costumed reenactments of battles near Yakutsk (Click here).
Interfest (www.moscowfilmfestival.ru) Russia’s premier film festival is held in Moscow.
Grushinsky festivals Folk music festivals held in Samara (Click here).
July & August
Elo festival (first weekend of July) Experience traditional Altai culture (Click here).
Belo-ozero Festival (second weekend of July) Medieval costumed performances at the Belo Ozero lakeside and the Kremlin ramparts; Click here.
Maitreya Buddha Festival Held at Ivolginsk datsan (monastery) near Ulan-Ude.
Buryatiya Folk Festival Celebrated at the hippodrome near the ethnographic museum in Ulan-Ude; highlights include horse riding and wrestling.
Kamwa Festival (late July, early August; www.kamwa.ru) Held in Perm and Khokhlovka this festival combines ancient ethno-Ugric traditions and modern art, music and fashion.
Naadym The main summer festival in Tuva (Click here) with khuresh (Tuvan wrestling), long-distance horse racing and throat singing.
Syzran tomato festival Join in a tomato battle modelled on the Spanish La Tomatina festival; Click here.
November
National Reconciliation Day (7 November) The old Great October Socialist Revolution Anniversary – still a big day for Communist Party marches. Otherwise, monarchists mourn and others drink while closing down their dachy for winter.
Ded Moroz’s Birthday (18 November) Head to Veliky Ustyug, Farther Frost’s home, to celebrate the Russian Santa Claus’ birthday.
December
December Nights Festival Moscow’s most prestigious music event.
Sylvester & New Year (31 December & 1 January) The main winter and gift-giving festival, when gifts are put under the yolka (traditional fir tree). See out the old year with vodka and welcome in the new one with champagne while listening to the Kremlin chimes on TV.
Russian Winter Festival Features tourist-oriented troika (horse-drawn sleigh) rides and folklore performances at Irkutsk through into January.
FOOD
Dining options throughout Russia have improved immeasurably over recent years. It’s only in small villages and remotes parts of the country where you’ll struggle to find something decent to eat; Click here for more details.
Restaurant and café listings in this book give an indication of how much you’ll pay for a main course or a meal (with a starter and drink). In general, for a budget meal you’ll be looking at R300 or less, with a midrange place costing anything up to R1500 and top end places over R1500.
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GAY & LESBIAN TRAVELLERS
Young Russian urban sophisticates couldn’t give a hoot who you love, but this is sadly not true for the broader population. Not everyone goes as far as Moscow’s mayor Yury Luzhkov, who sided with the ultraconservative protestors who broke up a gay parade in the capital in 2008, calling such events “satanical”, but this is a conservative country in general and being gay is frowned upon.
There are active gay and lesbian scenes in both Moscow and St Petersburg, and newspapers such as the Moscow Times and St Petersburg Times feature articles and listings on gay and lesbian issues, clubs, bars and events (although you shouldn’t expect anything nearly as prominent as you might find in other major world centres). Away from these two major cities, the gay scene tends to be pretty much underground.
For a good overview, visit Gay.ru (http://english.gay.ru) for up-to-date information, good links and a resource that will put you in touch with personal guides for Moscow and St Petersburg. They’re also involved in publishing the gay magazine Kvir. St Petersburg’s Krilija (Wings; 812-312 3180; www.krilija.sp.ru) is Russia’s oldest officially registered gay and lesbian community organisation.
Cracks in the Iron Closet: Travels in Gay & Lesbian Russia, by David Tuller and Frank Browning, is a fascinating account of modern Russia’s gay and lesbian scene. A combination of travel memoir and social commentary, it reveals an emerging homosexual culture surprisingly different from its US counterpart.
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HOLIDAYS
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Public Holidays
New Year’s Day 1 January
Russian Orthodox Christmas Day 7 January
Defender of the Fatherland Day 23 February
International Women’s Day 8 March
International Labour Day/Spring Festival 1 May
Victory Day 9 May (marks the WWII victory over the Germans in 1945)
Russian Independence Day 12 June (marks the day the Russian republic of the USSR proclaimed its sovereignty in June 1991)
Unity Day 4 November
Many businesses are also closed from 1 to 7 January. Easter Monday is also widely celebrated across Russia.
School Holidays
Russia’s academic year runs from September to June, with major school breaks around the end of December through to the beginning of January, and typically also in April and May for the Easter, International Labour Day and Victory Day holidays.
INSURANCE
It’s wise to take out travel insurance to cover theft, loss and medical problems. There are many policies available, so check the small print for things like ambulance cover or an emergency flight home. Note: some policies specifically exclude ‘dangerous activities’, which can include scuba diving, motorcycling and trekking.
You may prefer for the insurance policy to provide for payment to doctors or hospitals directly, rather than you having to pay on the spot and claiming it back later (if you do have to claim the money back later, make sure you keep all documentation). Some policies ask you to call back (reverse charge) to a centre in your home country where an immediate assessment of your problem is made.
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INTERNET ACCESS
Major cities aside, we found that internet cafés have become less common. The best place to start is the main post office or telephone office, as they often have the cheapest rates (typically around R30 to R40 an hour), although they can’t be guaranteed to have a working system!
Wireless internet (wi-fi) is becoming more common, particularly in Moscow and St Petersburg and other large cities, where many bars, cafés, restaurants and hotels have it. Go to the Russian-language website www.intel.com/cd/products/services/emea/rus/247127.htm for a listing of wi-fi hotspots in the major cities.
There are several connection options if you have your own computer:
- Regular dial-up – some hotels will sell you an ‘internet card’; it’s just like a phonecard and sometimes the same card can be used for both. Use the number listed on the card to connect via a land line to slow-speed internet. These cards can also be bought in the same places telephone cards are bought.
- Via high-speed link – many hotels have high-speed links and many provide the connection cords you’ll need for your computer.
- Via wi-fi.
For both high-speed and wi-fi, check with the hotel to see whether this is free or whether you pay an hourly or daily rate – at some hotels, particularly top-end ones, the rates charged can be ridiculous.
To access your home account, you’ll need your incoming (POP or IMAP) mail server name, your account name, and your password; your ISP or network supervisor will be able to give you these. It also pays to become familiar with the process for accessing mail from a net-connected machine before you leave home.
Click here for a list of useful Russian web resources.
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LAUNDRY
While self-service laundries are very rare beasts in Russia, you can get laundry done in most hotels: ask the floor attendant. It usually takes at least a day and costs around R700 a load (although we’ve been stung for much more, so do check before you hand over your washing). If you plan on doing it yourself, it’s a good idea to bring along a universal sink plug as many cheap hotels don’t have sinks with plugs.
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LEGAL MATTERS
In general, it’s best to avoid contact with the myriad types of police. It’s not uncommon for them to bolster their puny incomes by extracting ‘fines’ from the unaware; you always have the right to insist to be taken to a police station (we don’t recommend this) or that the ‘fine’ be paid the legal way, through Sberbank. If you need police assistance (ie you’ve been the victim of a robbery or an assault) go to a station with a local for both language and moral support. Be persistent and patient.
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Arrest
If you are arrested, the Russian authorities are obliged to inform your embassy or consulate immediately and allow you to communicate with it without delay. Although you can insist on this course of action, you can’t count on the rules being followed, so be polite and respectful towards officials and hopefully things will go far more smoothly for you. In Russian, the phrase ‘I’d like to call my embassy’ is ‘Pozhaluysta, ya khotel by pozvonit v posolstvo moyey strany’.
MAPS
Maps are freely available across Russia. The following are some good overseas sources for maps:
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Australia
Mapland (03-9670 4383; www.mapland.com.au; 372 Little Bourke St, Melbourne 3000)
Travel Bookshop (02-9261 8200; Shop 3, 175 Liverpool St, Sydney 2000)
France
Librairie Ulysse (01-4325 1735; www.ulysse.fr, in French; 26 rue Saint Louis en L’Isle, 75004, Paris)
UK
Stanfords Map Centre (020-7836 1321; www.stanfords.co.uk; 12-14 Long Acre, London WC2E 9LP)
USA
Map Link (800-627 7768; www.maplink.com; Unit 5, 30 S La Patera Lane, Santa Barbara, CA 93117)
Coming of Age
- Russians can vote once they’re 18.
- The legal age for driving is 18.
- The legal drinking age is 18.
- Both heterosexual and homosexual sex is legal at 16.
RUSSIAN STREET NAMES
We use the Russian names of all streets and squares in this book to help you when deciphering Cyrillic signs and asking locals the way. To save space, the following abbreviations are used:
bul – bulvar бульвар – boulevard
nab – naberezhnaya набережная –embankment
per – pereulok переулок – side street
pl – ploshchad площадь – square
pr – prospekt проспект – avenue
sh – shosse шоссе – road
ul – ulitsa улица – street
Please also note that some of the Communist-era names for streets and places are being changed back to their prerevolutionary names or to new names, unlinked with the Soviet past. In Volga cities such as Samara and Ulyanovsk you’ll find street signs with both the historical and official Soviet names which many residents still use. There are campaigns to make similar changes in Perm and Yekaterinburg, while in the Kaliningrad Region you’ll often come across old Prussian town names and locations.
MONEY
We’ve listed most prices in this book in roubles (abbreviated to R), with the main exceptions being some (but not all) hotel prices, which may be quoted in US dollars or euros (€).
Consult the inside front cover for a table of exchange rates and refer to Click here for information on costs.
With the rouble now a steady currency, there are plenty of exchange bureaus and banks where you’ll get a decent rate (not to mention ubiquitious ATMs) so there’s absolutely no reason to change money with shady characters on the street or elsewhere.
For rules on taking money in or out of the country, Click here.
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ATMs
ATMs, linked to international networks such as AmEx, Cirrus, MasterCard and Visa, are common right across Russia – look for signs that say bankomat (БАНКОМАТ). Using a credit card or the debit card you use in ATMs at home, you can obtain cash as you need it – usually in roubles, but sometimes in dollars or euros, too.
If you are going to rely on ATMs though, make certain you have a few days’ supply of cash at hand in case you can’t find a machine to accept your card. Check Click here for information on ATM scams.
Credit Cards
Credit cards are commonly accepted, but don’t rely on them outside of the major cities and particularly not across Siberia or the Russian Far East. Most sizable cities have banks or exchange bureaus that will give you a cash advance on your credit card, but be prepared for paperwork in Russian.
Currency
The Russian currency is the rouble (ru-bl), written as ‘рубль’ and abbreviated as ‘ру’ or ‘р’. There are 100 kopecks in a rouble and these come in coin denominations of one (rarely seen), five, 10 and 50. Also issued in coins, roubles come in amounts of one, two, five and 10, with banknotes in values of 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 roubles. Finding change can sometimes be a problem, so it’s wise to hang on to a stash of smaller notes and coins.
It’s illegal to make purchases in any currency other than roubles. When you run into prices in US dollars (or the pseudonym ‘units’, often written as ‘уе’ – the abbreviation for uslovnye yedenitsy, conventional units) or euros in expensive restaurants and hotels you will still be presented with a final bill in roubles.
Exchanging Money
You’ll usually get the best exchange rates for US dollars, though euros are increasingly widely accepted and often get even better rates, for instance in Moscow and St Petersburg. British pounds are sometimes accepted in big cities, but the exchange rates are not so good; other currencies incur abysmal rates and are often virtually unchangeable.
Any currency you bring should be pristine: banks and exchange bureaus do not accept old, tatty bills with rips or tears. For US dollars, make certain they are the new design, with the large offset portrait, and are looking and smelling newly minted.
Carrying around wads of cash isn’t the security problem you might imagine. Divide your money into three or four stashes hidden out of view about your person, and take solace in the fact that, nowadays, there are a lot of Russians with plenty more money on them than you.
Every town of any size will have at least one bank (most often Sberbank; www.sbrf.ru) or exchange office – be prepared to fill out a lengthy form and show your passport. Your receipt is for your own records, as customs officials no longer require documentation of your currency transactions. As anywhere, rates can vary from one establishment to the next, so it’s always worth shopping around.
International Transfers
Larger cities will have at least one bank that can handle Western Union money wires. Ask at any bank for this information – they will be happy to steer you to a bank in town that can handle wire transfers.
Taxes
At the time of research, Value Added Tax (VAT, or NDS in Russian) was 18% but there are moves afoot to reduce it to around 12% by 2010. It is usually included in the listed price for purchases – ask to make sure. In Moscow and St Petersburg, there’s also a 5% sales tax, usually only encountered in top-end hotels.
Tipping & Bargaining
Tipping is common in the better restaurants, about 10%; elsewhere, 10% is also fine if the service warrants it. Tip your guide, if you have one, a similar amount to their daily rate; a small gift is appropriate if service is especially good.
Prices in stores are usually firm; for goods at markets and souvenir stalls, make a counter bid somewhat lower than the merchant’s price. Russia is not really the place for protracted haggling.
Travellers Cheques
It can be difficult to exchange travellers cheques outside the largest cities and the process can be lengthy, involving trips to numerous different cashiers in the bank, each responsible for a different part of the transaction. Expect to pay 1% to 2% commission.
Not all travellers cheques are treated as equal by those Russian establishments that are willing to handle them. In descending order of acceptance, the favourites are American Express (AmEx), Thomas Cook and Visa; you’ll have little or no luck with other brands. The most likely bank to cash travellers cheques is Sberbank, with branches in all the major cities.
PHOTOGRAPHY
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Film & Equipment
Any town or city will have several photographic shops where you can download digital snaps to CD and buy memory cards and major brands of print film. Slide film is not widely sold, so bring plenty of rolls with you. The same rare specialist shops that sell slide film will also have a smattering of camera gear by leading brands such as Nikon and Canon.
Photographing People
As anywhere, use good judgement and discretion when taking photos of people. It’s always better to ask first, and if the person doesn’t want to be photographed, respect their privacy; a lifetime living with the KGB may have made older people uneasy about being photographed, but a genuine offer to send on a copy can loosen your subject up. Remember that many people will be touchy if you photograph Russian ‘embarrassments’ such as drunks, run-down housing and other signs of social decay.
In Russian, ‘May I take a photograph of you?’ is ‘Mozhno vas sfotografirovat?’.
Restrictions
You should be particularly careful about photographing stations (including metro stations), official-looking buildings and any type of military-security structure – if in doubt, don’t snap! Travellers, including an author of this book, have been arrested and fined for such innocent behaviour.
Some museums and galleries forbid flash pictures, some ban all photos and most will charge you extra to snap away (typically R100). Some caretakers in historical buildings and churches charge mercilessly for the privilege of using a still or video camera.
Technical Tips
Avoid running films through airport X-ray machines. No matter what the attendant says, these machines are not film-safe: the effects are cumulative and too much will fog your pictures. Lead ‘film-safe’ pouches help, but the best solution is to have your film and camera inspected by hand. You can minimise officials’ annoyance by having all film in clear plastic bags.
Camera batteries get sluggish in the cold, so carry your camera inside your coat and keep spare batteries warm in your pocket. Film gets brittle at very low temperatures and a motor drive’s fast advance or rewind can break it and leave static marks. Frame-filling expanses of snow come out a bit grey unless you deliberately overexpose about one-half to one stop. Deep cold can play tricks with exposure too, so ‘bracket’ your best pictures with additional shots about one stop underexposed and overexposed each.
Avoid magenta-tinted pictures by protecting your film from fierce summer heat. Leave it at the hotel, or line a stuff-sack with a piece cut from an aluminised Mylar ‘survival blanket’ – your film will stay cool inside all day.
For more professional tips on taking decent photos, read Lonely Planet’s Travel Photography by Richard I’Anson.
POST
The Russian post service is Potcha Rossia (www.russianpost.ru/portal/en/home/posta). Pochta (ПОЧТАМТ) refers to any post office, glavpochtamt to a main post office, and mezhdunarodny glavpochtamt to an international one. The main offices are open from 8am to 8pm or 9pm Monday to Friday, with shorter hours on Saturday and Sunday; in big cities one office will possibly stay open 24 hours a day.
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Sending Mail
Outward post is slow but fairly reliable; if you want to be certain, use registered post (zakaznaya pochta). Airmail letters take two to three weeks from Moscow and St Petersburg to the UK, longer from other cities, and three to four weeks to the USA or Australasia. To send a postcard or letter up to 20g anywhere in the world by air costs R19 or R16.10, respectively.
You can address outgoing international mail just as you would in any country, in your own language, though it might help to precede the address with the country name in Cyrillic.
Some Cyrillic country names:
| America (USA) | Америка (США) |
| Australia | Австралия |
| Canada | Канада |
| France | Франция |
| Germany | Германия |
| Great Britain | Великобритания |
| Ireland | Ирландия |
| New Zealand | Новая Зеландия |
In major cities you can usually find the services of at least one of the international express carriers, such as FedEx or DHL.
Incoming mail is so unreliable that many companies, hotels and individuals use private services with addresses in Germany or Finland (a private carrier completes the mail’s journey to its Russian destination). Other than this, your reliable options for receiving mail in Russia are nil: there’s no poste restante, and embassies and consulates won’t hold mail for transient visitors.
If sending mail to Russia, or trying to receive it, note that addresses should be in reverse order: Russia (Россия), postal code (if known), city, street address, then name.
SHOPPING
Russia offers plenty of attractive souvenirs, if you know where to look – the shopping sections in each chapter will help. Most regions have some local craft specialities (Click here) and, of course, vodka is available everywhere: Click here for some recommendations of what to buy.
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Traditional Souvenirs
Few visitors leave Russia without buying a matryoshka (a set of wooden dolls nesting within each other), a true folk art, with all manner of intricate painted designs. Hunt around because sometimes matryoshki can be seedy little things, ie poorly painted dolls depicting Soviet and Russian leaders, the Keystone Cops – you name it. Small, mass-produced sets go for just a couple of dollars, but the best examples of the craft can easily set you back US$100 or more. For this price you can also take along a family photograph to Moscow’s Izmylovo Market (Click here). Come back the following week to collect your very own personalised matryoshka set.
Quality is similarly varied with the enamelled wooden boxes known as palekh (named after the town east of Moscow where they originated), each with an intricate scene painted on its lid – they’re usually even more expensive. The best will set you back several hundred dollars. Cheaper but cheerful are the gold, red and black wooden bowls, mugs and spoons from Khokhloma, a bit further east, which are widely available.
Another attractive Russian craft is the blue-and-white ornamental china called gzhel (after its home town, east of Moscow).
The trademark Russian textile is the ‘babushka scarf’ – officially the Pavlovsky Posad kerchief (pavlovoposadsky platok), again named after its home town east of Moscow. These fine woollen scarves with floral designs go for R500 or more in shops, but you may find cheaper ones in markets. Other Russian textiles include wool shawls so fine they look almost like lace, and flax products (tablecloths, clothes, dolls) in Smolensk.
Other regional specialities include: amber (yantar) from Kaliningrad (though beware of the fake stuff in St Petersburg and Moscow markets and shops) – a good necklace or ring can be US$50 to US$200; big, hairy Cherkessian hats and domed felt Georgian hats in the Caucasus; intricately beautiful beresta bark boxes from across Siberia; and bone carvings, a speciality of Tobolsk.
Other Items
Russia is one of the world’s largest markets for bootleg recorded music, videos and computer software. Just remember, you get what you pay for with these black market products. Be especially wary of cheap software; it’s rumoured that 75% of all computer program CD-ROMs sold in Russia have a defect or virus on them.
More souvenir ideas include: paintings from street artists and art markets (there’s some talent amid the kitsch); art and children’s books from bookshops; posters, both old Socialist exhortation and modern social commentary, from bookshops or specialist poster (plakat) shops; little Lenin busts, Communist-era metal badges and other Soviet memorabilia from street stands and tourist and flea markets.
CHANGING TELEPHONE NUMBERS
Russian authorities have an annoying habit of frequently changing telephone numbers, particularly in cities. We’ve listed the correct phone number as at the time of research, but it’s likely that some will change during the lifetime of this book, particularly in cities such as Moscow.
TELEPHONE & FAX
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Fax
Faxes can be sent from most post offices and the better hotels.
Telephone
Russian area codes are listed in this book under the relevant section heading. The country code for Russia is 7.
Local calls from homes and most hotels are free. To make a long-distance call or to call a mobile from most phones, first dial 8, wait for a second dial tone, then dial the area code and phone number. To make an international call dial 8, wait for a second dial tone, then dial 10, then the country code etc. Some phones are for local calls only and won’t give you that second dial tone.
From mobile phones, just dial + and then the country code to place an international call.
MOBILE PHONES
There are several major networks, all offering pay-as-you-go deals, including the following:
Beeline (www.beeline.ru/index.wbp)
Megafon (www.megafon.ru)
MTS (www.mts.ru)
Skylink (www.skylink.ru)
Reception is available right along the Trans-Siberian Railway and increasingly in rural areas. MTS probably has the widest network, but also the worst reputation for customer service. Our researchers found Beeline to be pretty reliable.
To call a mobile phone from a landline, the line must be enabled to make paid (ie nonlocal) calls. SIM and phone call-credit top-up cards, available at any mobile phone shop and costing as little as R300, can be slotted into your regular mobile phone handset during your stay. Call prices are very low within local networks, but charges for roaming larger regions can mount up; cost-conscious locals switch SIM cards when crossing regional boundaries.
Topping up your credit can be done either via prepaid credit cards bought from kiosks or mobile phone shops or, more commonly, via brightly coloured ATM-like machines found in all shopping centres, metro and train stations and the like. Choose your network, input your telephone number and the amount of credit you’d like to top up by, insert the cash and it’s done, minus a small fee for the transaction. Confirmation of the top-up comes via a text message to your phone.
PAY PHONES
Taksofon (pay phones, ТАКСОФОН) are located throughout most cities. They’re usually in working order but don’t rely on them. Most take prepaid phonecards. There are several types of card-only phones, and not all cards are interchangeable. Cardphones can be used for either local and domestic calls, or for international calls.
PHONECARDS & CALL CENTRES
Local phonecards (telefonnaya karta) in a variety of units, are available from shops and kiosks everywhere and from metro stations in Moscow and St Petersburg – they can be used to make local, national and international calls.
Sometimes a call centre is better value for international calls – you give the clerk the number you want to call, pay a deposit and then go to the booth you are assigned to make the call. Afterwards, you either pay the difference or collect your change. Such call centres are common in Russian cities and towns – ask for mezhdunarodny telefon.
TIME
From Kaliningrad in the west to Kamchatka in the far east, the time in Russia varies in a 10-hour range around the standard time calculated from Moscow. From the early hours of the last Sunday in September to the early hours of the last Sunday in March, Moscow is GMT/UTC plus three hours. From the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in September, ‘summer time’ is in force: GMT/UTC plus four hours.
The following international relationships will be wrong by an hour for short periods as other cities change to ‘summer time’ on different dates. When it’s noon in Moscow and St Petersburg, the time in other cities around Russia and the world is as follows:
TRAIN TIME
It’s important to remember that Russian train timetables everywhere are generally written according to Moscow time. Sometimes suburban services run on local time, but not always, so always double check. Station clocks in most places are also set to Moscow time. In this guide we list how far ahead cities and towns are of Moscow time, eg
| 1pm |
| 2pm |
| 3pm |
| 4pm |
| 5pm |
| 6pm |
| 7pm |
| 8pm |
| 9pm |
| 1am |
| 4am |
| 9am |
| 10am |
| 11am |
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TOILETS
Pay toilets are identified by the words платный туалет (platny tualet). In any toilet Ж (zhensky) stands for women’s, while М (muzhskoy) stands for men’s.
You’ll find clusters of temporary plastic toilets in popular public places in cities, although other public toilets are rare and often dingy and uninviting. A much better option are the toilets in major hotels or in modern food outlets such as McDonald’s.
In all public toilets, the babushka you pay your R10 to can also provide miserly rations of toilet paper; it’s always a good idea to carry your own.
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TOURIST INFORMATION
Tourist offices as you may be used to elsewhere are as rare as Fabergé eggs in Russia. We’ve located ones in Kaliningrad, Kazan, Moscow, Novgorod, St Petersburg and Svetlogorsk. And that’s about it, folks, for tourist offices in the world’s largest country!
Instead, you’re mainly dependent for information on the moods of hotel receptionists and administrators, service bureaus and travel firms. The latter two exist primarily to sell accommodation, excursions and transport – if you don’t look like you want to book something, staff may or may not answer questions.
VISA AGENCIES
If you’re really pressed for time, or especially badly affected by impersonal bureaucracies, there are agencies that specialise in getting visas. In the US, try Zierer Visa Services (
Russia has no overseas tourist offices and most of its consulates and embassies have little practical information. Travel agencies specialising in Russian travel are your best bet (Click here).
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VISAS
Everyone needs a visa to visit Russia and it’s likely to be your biggest single headache in organising a trip there – allow yourself at least a month before you travel to secure one. There are several types of visa, but for most travellers a tourist visa (single or double entry and valid for a maximum of 30 days from the date of entry) will be sufficient and getting this should be relatively straightforward. If you plan on staying longer than a month, it’s advisable to apply for a business visa (opposite). Whatever visa you go for, the process has three stages – invitation, application and registration.
Note that application and registration rules for trips to sensitive border regions, such as the Altai (Click here), Astrakhan (Click here), Caucasus (Click here) parts of northern European Russia (Click here) and Tuva (Click here) are slightly different; see each of these chapters for specific details. Also, there are a few regions and places in Russia that for security reasons you will not be granted a visa for.
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Invitation
To obtain a visa, you first need an invitation. Hotels and hostels will usually issue anyone staying with them an invitation (or ‘visa support’) free or for a small fee (typically around €20 to €30). If you are not staying in a hotel or hostel, you will need to buy an invitation – costs typically range from €15 to €35 for a tourist visa, depending on whether you require a single- or double-entry type and how quickly you need the invitation, and €45 to €270 for the various types of business visa. This can be done through most travel agents, via specialist agencies (see above) and online:
Express to Russia (www.expresstorussia.com)
Russian Business Visa (www.russian-business-visa.com)
Russia Direct (www.russiadirect.co.uk)
Visa Able (www.visaable.com)
Way to Russia (http://waytorussia.net)
Note that if you are flying directly from abroad into any of the following cities, special invitation rules are likely to apply (see http://waytorussia.net/RussianVisa/Types.html Restricted for more details): Barnaul, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Khabarovsk, Irkutsk, Murmansk, Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Petrozavodsk, Pyatigorsk, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Ufa, Vladivostok and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
Application
Invitation in hand, you can then apply for a visa at any Russian embassy. Costs vary – anything from US$50 to US$450 – depending on the type of visa applied for and how quickly you need it. Rather frustratingly, Russian embassies are practically laws unto themselves, each with different fees and slightly different application rules – avoid potential hassles by checking well in advance what these rules might be.
We highly recommended applying for your visa in your home country rather than on the road – indeed, the rule is that you’re supposed to do this, although we know from experience that some embassies and consulates can be more flexible than others. Trans-Mongolian travellers should note that unless you can prove you’re a resident of China or Mongolia, attempting to get visas for Russia in both Beijing and Ulaan Baatar can be a frustrating, costly and ultimately fruitless exercise.
Registration
On arrival in Russia, you should fill out an immigration card – a long white form issued by passport control; these are often given out in advance on your flight. You surrender one half of the form immediately to the passport control, while the other you keep for the duration of your stay and give up only on exiting Russia. Take good care of this as you’ll need it for registration and could face problems while travelling in Russia – and certainly will on leaving – if you can’t produce it.
You must register your visa within three working days of arrival. (You’re not required to register for stays of less than three days.) If you’re staying at a hotel, the receptionist should be able to do this for you for free or for a small fee (typically around €20). Note that the very cheapest places sometimes will not oblige. Novosibirsk is notorious for forcing visitors into overpriced hotels to get that registration stamp, so it makes a bad arrival point. Once registered, you should receive a separate slip of paper confirming the dates you’ll be staying at that particular hotel. Keep this safe – that’s the document that any police who stop you will need to see.
If staying in a homestay or rental apartment, you’ll either need to pay a travel agency (anything from €20 to €70) to register your visa for you (most agencies will do this through a hotel) or make arrangements with the landlord or a friend to register you through the post office. See http://waytorussia.net/RussianVisa/Registration.html for how this can be done as well as for the downloadable form that needs to be submitted at post offices. Note, while registering at post offices in cities and large towns is likely to be straightforward, this procedure cannot be guaranteed in more remote places.
Depending on how amenable your hotel or inviting agency is, you can request that they register you for longer than you’ll actually be in one place. Otherwise, every time you move city or town and stay for more than three days, it’s necessary to go through the registration process again. There’s no need to be overly paranoid about this, but the more thorough your registration record, the safer you’ll be. Keep all transport tickets (especially if you spend nights sleeping on trains) to prove to any over-zealous police officers exactly when you arrived in a new place.
Registration is a hassle, but it’s worth doing for peace of mind since it’s not uncommon to encounter fine-hungry cops hoping to catch tourists too hurried or disorganised to be able to explain long gaps in their registration.
Types of Visa
Apart from the tourist visa, other types of visas could be useful to travellers.
BUSINESS VISA
A business visa is far more flexible and desirable for the independent traveller than a tourist visa. These can be issued for three months, six months or two years, and are available as single-entry, double-entry or multiple-entry visas. They are valid for up to 90 days of travel within any six month period.
To obtain a business visa you must have a letter of invitation from a registered Russian company or organisation, and a covering letter from your company (or you) stating the purpose of your trip. The agencies mentioned under Invitation (opposite) can all arrange such invitations.
TRANSIT VISA
This is for ‘passing through’ Russia, which is loosely interpreted. For transit by air, it’s usually good for 48 hours. For a nonstop Trans-Siberian Railway journey, it’s valid for 10 days, giving westbound passengers a few days in Moscow; those heading east, however, are not allowed to linger in Moscow.
72-HOUR ON-DEMAND VISA
Valid for visits of up to 72 hours, thus good for a long weekend, this visa is only available for the Kaliningrad region and allows you to skip the application step at a Russian embassy or consulate. It’s also only available to citizens of certain countries (Click here). You need to apply a least a week in advance of your travel dates via specific travel agencies in the region; you’ll then be met at the airport by a representative of the agency.
Visa Extensions & Changes
Any extensions or changes to your visa will be handled by offices of UFMS (Upravleniye Federalnoy Migratsionnoy Slyzhby), Russia’s Federal Migration Service, often just shortened to FMS. It’s likely you’ll hear the old acronyms PVU and OVIR used for this office.
Extensions are time consuming, if not downright difficult; tourist visas can’t be extended at all. Try to avoid the need for an extension by asking for a longer visa than you might need. Note that many trains out of St Petersburg and Moscow to Eastern Europe cross the border after midnight, so make sure your visa is valid up to and including this day. Don’t give border guards any excuses for making trouble.
WOMEN TRAVELLERS
Russian women are very independent and, in general, you won’t attract attention by travelling alone as a female. Sexual harassment on the streets is rare, but be prepared for it elsewhere. Any young or youngish woman alone in (or near) flashy bars full of foreigners risks being mistaken for a prostitute. A woman alone should also certainly avoid ad-hoc taxis at night – have one called for you from a reputable company.
Stereotyping of gender roles remains strong. If you’re with a man, finer restaurants may hand you a ‘ladies’ menu’ without prices. Russian men will also typically rush to open doors for you, help you put on your coat, and, on a date, act like a ‘traditional’ gentleman. (In return, they may be expecting you to act like a traditional lady, and let them.)
Russian women dress up and wear lots of make-up on nights out. If you wear casual gear, you might feel uncomfortable at a restaurant, a theatre or the ballet; in rural areas, revealing clothing will probably attract unwanted attention.
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WORK
Given the large number of unemployed and well-educated Russians, the chances of foreigners finding work in the country are slim. The most likely positions available are as English teachers (look in the Moscow and St Petersburg Times for ads); your odds for other positions will be slightly increased if you speak fluent Russian.
Full-on bureaucracy also makes starting a business a hassle, but it’s certainly possible and you’ll encounter several expats who have done so. In the event that you do find work in Russia or are sent there by your company, it would be wise to use a professional relocation firm to navigate the country’s thicket of rules and regulations surrounding employment of foreigners. Good websites for expats are www.expat.ru and www.red tape.ru.
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Transport
CONTENTS
GETTING THERE & AWAY
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ENTERING THE COUNTRY
Bordering 13 countries and with flights and even boats to many more around the world, there’s no shortage of options for getting to and from Russia.
Unless you have a transit visa (Click here), you can enter the country on a one-way ticket (even if your visa is only good for one day, it’s unlikely anyone will ask to see your outgoing ticket), so you have a great deal of flexibility once inside Russia to determine the best way of getting out again.
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AIR
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Airports & Airlines
Moscow’s Sheremetyevo-2 (airport code SVO; 495-232 6565; www.sheremetyevo-airport.ru) and the much more congenial Domodedovo (airport code DME; 495-933 6666; www.domodedovo.ru) airports host the bulk of Russia’s international flights. There are also many daily international services to St Petersburg’s Pulkovo-2 (airport code LED; 812-704 3444; www.pulkovoairport.ru/eng) airport.
However, you don’t necessarily have to fly into either Moscow or St Petersburg – plenty of other cities have direct international connections, including Arkhangelsk (airport code ARH), Irkutsk (airport code IKT), Kazan (airport code KZN), Khabarovsk (airport code HNV), Krasnodar (airport code KRR), Kavkazskiye Mineralnye Vody (airport code MRV), Murmansk (airport code MMK), Nizhny Novgorod (airport code GOJ), Novosibirsk (airport code OVB), Perm (airport code PEE), Vladivostok (airport code VVO), Yekaterinburg (airport code SVX) and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (airport code UUS).
Airlines flying into Russia include the following. Phone numbers are given for the Moscow office, where applicable.
Aeroflot Russian International Airlines (airline code SU; 495-223 5555; www.aeroflot.ru/eng; hub Sheremetyevo Airport, Moscow)
Air China (airline code CA; 495-292 3387; www.china-airlines.com/en/index.htm; hub Beijing Capital Airport, Beijing)
Air France (airline code AF; 495-937 3839; www.airfrance.com; hub Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris)
Alitalia (airline code AZ; 495-967 0110; www.alitalia.com; hub Malpensa Airport, Milan)
Austrian
Airlines (airline code OS; 495-995 0995; www.aua.com; hub Vienna International Airport, Vienna)
Belavia (airline code B2; 017-210 4100; www.belavia.by; hub Minsk Airport, Belarus)
bmi (airline code BD; 0870-607 0555 in UK; www.flybmi.com; hub London Heathrow, London)
British Airways (airline code BA; 495-363 2525; www.britishairways.com; hub London Heathrow, London)
ČSA (Czech Airlines; airline code OK; 495-973 1847, 978 1745; www.czechairlines.com; hub Prague)
Delta Air Lines (airline code DL; 800-700 0990; www.delta.com; hub Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, USA)
THINGS CHANGE…
The information in this chapter is particularly vulnerable to change. Check directly with the airline or a travel agent to make sure you understand how a fare (and ticket you may buy) works and be aware of the security requirements for international travel. Shop carefully. The details given in this chapter should be regarded as pointers and are not a substitute for your own careful, up-to-date research.
RUSSIA THROUGH THE BACK DOOR
Russia can be reached via a wide range of budget flights out of European cities. Germany is particularly well served with Air Berlin (airline code AB;
SAS has good deals, flying via its hubs of Stockholm and Copenhagen, to both Moscow’s Sheremetyevo-2 and St Petersburg. If you need to get to Murmansk, Norwegian.no (airline code DY;
From the Baltic States, you can fly from Tallinn to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo on Estonian Air (airline code OV;
Finland is also a popular back-door way into Russia with both Helsinki and Tampere being connected by various budget airlines to other parts of Europe. From either city you can take a bus or trains to St Petersburg. Also check out http://waytorussia.net/Transport/International/Air.html for some ideas on how to get cheaply to Moscow or St Petersburg from across Europe. One more option is to get yourself through Poland to Kaliningrad and then take an internal Russian flight from there, or to use the local airline KD Avia’s good network of flights from across Europe.
There are also (particularly during summer) charter flights to and from Russia, mainly to resort towns in Turkey, Greece, Egypt and other countries. These flights, which never show up on regular schedules, may be cheap, but sometimes the planes being used leave a lot to be desired in terms of comfort and, more worryingly, safety. Buyer beware!
El Al Israel Airlines (airline code LY; 495-232 1017; www.elal.co.il; hub Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv)
Finnair (airline code AY; 495-933 0056; www.finnair.com; hub Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, Helsinki)
Japan Airlines (airline code JL; 495-730 3070; www.jal.co.jp/en; hub Narita Airport, Tokyo)
KD Avia (airline code KD;495-641 1074; www.kdavia.eu; hub Khrabrovo Airport, Kalininingrad)
KLM (airline code KL; 495-258 3600; www.klm.com; hub Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam)
Korean Air (airline code KE; 495-725 2727; www.koreanair.com; hub Incheon International Airport, Seoul)
Kuban Airlines (airline code GW; 861-219 1146; www.alk.ru, in Russian; hub Krasnodar)
LOT Polish Airlines (airline code LO; 800-5082 5082; www.lot.com; hub Frederick Chopin Airport, Warsaw)
Lufthansa (airline code LH; 495-980 9999; www.lufthansa.com; hub Frankfurt International Airport, Frankfurt)
MIAT Mongolian Airlines (airline code OM; 495–241 0754 in Moscow, 976-11-379 935 in Ulaan Baatar; www.miat.com; hub Ulaan Baatar)
Rossiya (airline code FV; 495-995 2025; http://eng.pulkovo.ru/en; hub Pulkovo International Airport, St Petersburg)
S7 Airlines (airline code S7; 495-777 9999 in Moscow, 383-298 9090 in Novosibirsk; www.s7.ru; hub Novosibirsk)
SAS (airline code SK; 495-775 4747; www.flysas.com; hub Copenhagen Airport, Copenhagen)
Singapore Airlines (airline code SQ; 495-775 3087; www.singaporeair.com; hub Changi Airport, Singapore)
Swiss International Airlines (airline code LX; 495-937 7767; www.swiss.com; hub Zurich Airport, Zurich)
Thai Airways International (airline code TG; 495-647 1082; www.thaiair.com; hub Bangkok International Airport)
Transaero Airlines (airline code UN; 495-788 8080; www.transaero.com; hub Sheremetyevo-2 Airport, Moscow)
Turkish Airlines (airline code TK; 495-980 5202; www.thy.com; hub Istanbul Ataturk International Airport, Istanbul)
Ural Airlines (airline code U6; 343-345 3645 in Yekaterinburg; www.uralairlines.ru; hub Yekaterinburg)
UTair (airline code UTA; 3452-492 462 in Tyumen; www.utair.ru; hub Noyabrsk)
Vim Airlines (airline code NN; 8-800-700 0757, 495-783 0088; www.vim-avia.com, in Russian; hub Domodedovo, Moscow)
Vladivostok Air (airline code XF; 495-626 8888 in Moscow, 4232-307 000 in Vladivostok; www.vladivostokavia.ru; hub Vladivostok)
Tickets
Good deals on tickets can be found online and with discount agencies. Use the fares quoted in this book as a guide only. They are approximate and based on the rates advertised by agencies and online at the time of research. Quoted airfares do not necessarily constitute a recommendation for the carrier.
There are many websites specifically aimed at selling flights; sometimes these fares are cheap, but often they’re no cheaper than those sold at a standard travel agency, and occasionally they’re way too expensive. However, it’s certainly a convenient way of researching flights from the comfort of your own home or office. Many large travel agencies also have websites, but not all of them allow you to look up fares and schedules. Click here for a list of agencies who specialise in tours to Russia: some of these will offer discount fares, too.
Websites worth checking:
www.cheapflights.com Really does post some of the cheapest flights but get in early to get the bargains.
www.dialaflight.com Offers worldwide flights out of Europe and the UK.
www.expedia.com A good site for checking worldwide flight prices.
www.kayak.com Great search engine for flight deals with links through to its selections.
www.lastminute.com This site deals mainly in European flights, but does have worldwide flights, mostly package returns.
www.statravel.com STA Travel’s US website. There are also UK and Australian sites (www.statravel.co.uk and www.statravel.com.au).
www.tch-fly.de/en German agency Transport Clearing House can pull up flights with Air Berlin and Niki, with connection onwards with Russian airlines Transaero, Ural, Siberian Airlines, Krasair, Domodevskie Avia, Vladivostok Air, Samara Air, Sky Express, Polet, UTAir and Azal.
www.travel.com.au A good site for Australians to find cheap flights.
To make a bid for last-minute tickets online try Skyauction (www.skyauction.com). Priceline (www.priceline.com) aims to match the ticket price to your budget. Another lower priced option is an air courier ticket but it does carry restrictions: for more information check out organisations such as Courier Association (www.aircourier.org) or the International Association of Air Travel Couriers (IAATC; www.courier.org).
Australia
Flights from Australia to Europe generally go via Southeast Asian capitals, involving stopovers at Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok or Singapore.
Two well-known agencies for cheap fares, with offices throughout Australia, are Flight Centre (133 133; www.flightcentre.com.au) and STA Travel (134 782; www.statravel.com.au).
The cheapest flight you’re likeyl to find would be something like Sydney to Seoul and then Seoul to Moscow: a Korean Air deal starts at A$1500 return. Seoul is also the most convenient transfer point for flights on to Vladivostok or Khabarovsk.
Canada
Canadian discount agencies, also known as consolidators, advertise their flight specials in major newspapers such as the Toronto Star and the Vancouver Sun. The national student travel agency is Travel CUTS (866-246 9762; www.travelcuts.com).
In general, fares from Canada to Russia cost 10% more than from the USA. From Vancouver to Moscow return flights start from C$1400 (with two changes of plane); from Montreal, C$1200 (with one change of plane).
China
There are multiple options for getting to and from China. Moscow, naturally, has the best connections, with daily flights offered by Air China and Aeroflot to Beijing (from return Y6000). There are five flights a week between Shanghai and Moscow (return Y6830). Transaero flies weekly from Moscow Domodedovo to Hong Kong and Sanya. There are also direct flights from Beijing to Irkutsk, Khabarovsk, Novosibirsk and Vladivostok; Dailin to Irkutsk and Khabarovsk; Harbin to Khabarovsk and Vladivostok; and Shenyang to Irkutsk.
Continental Europe
Generally there is not much variation in airfare prices from the main European cities. All the major airlines usually offer some sort of deal, as do travel agencies, so shop around.
Standard return fares to Moscow from major Western European cities start at around €250. For budget airlines from European cities, see the boxed text, Click here.
FRANCE
Nouvelles Frontières (0825-000 747; www.nouvelles-frontieres.fr, in French) has many branches in Paris and throughout France. Also try Anyway (0892-893 892; www.anyway.fr, in French) and Lastminute (0892-705 000; www.fr.lastminute.com, in French).
Germany
Germany is an excellent jumping-off point for Russia, with not only plenty of connections to a range of Russian cities with Lufthansa but also connections through budget airlines such as German Wings (see the boxed text, Click here). Many Russian airlines also fly direct between Germany and Russia, including KMV Avia (www.kmvavia.aero, in Russian), S7 (www.s7.ru) and Aeroflot-Don (www.aeroflot-don.ru, in Russian), which may be operating under a different name by the time you read this (see the boxed texts, Click here and Click here).
Recommended agencies in Germany include Just Travel (089-747 3330; www.justtravel.de), STA Travel (069-7430 3292; www.statravel.de) and Travel Overland (01805-276 370; www.travel-overland.de, in German).
ITALY
CTS Viaggi (199-501 150; www.cts.it, in Italian) specialises in student and youth travel fares.
NETHERLANDS
Recommended agencies are Airfair (0900-771 7717; www.airfair.nl, in Dutch) and NBBS Reizen (0900-102 0300; www.nbbs.nl, in Dutch).
SPAIN
Try Barceló Viajes (902-200 400; www.barceloviajes.com, in Spanish).
Japan
Reliable discount agencies in Japan include No 1 Travel (03-3205 6073; www.no1-travel.com) and Across Travellers Bureau (03-3340 6745; www.across-travel.com), as well as STA Travel (03-5391 2922; www.statravel.co.jp, in Japanese) with branches in both Tokyo and Osaka.
Return flights from Tokyo to Moscow are around ¥170,000, although at certain times of the year 60-day excursion fares on Aeroflot can go as low as ¥60,000 return.
Other useful connections are from Niigata to Khabarovsk and Vladivostok, and from Osaka and Toyama to Vladivostok. From Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido there are flights from Hakodate and Sapporo to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Click here).
Mongolia & Central Asia
Ulaan Baatar is connected with Moscow (one way/return from US$361/580) and Irkutsk (US$117/210).
There are dozens of connections to Central Asia. From Moscow there are many direct flights, while from Novosibirsk you can reach Almaty in Kazakhstan, Andizhan and Tashkent in Uzbekistan, Dushanbe and Khudzhand in Tajikistan and Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.
New Zealand
The New Zealand Herald has a travel section in which travel agencies advertise fares. Flight Centre (0800-243 544; www.flightcentre.co.nz) and STA Travel (0800-474 400; www.statravel.co.nz) have branches in Auckland and elsewhere in the country; check the websites for complete listings.
Airfares from New Zealand to Russia are similar to those from Australia.
Singapore, Thailand & Vietnam
In Singapore, STA Travel (6737 7188; www.statravel.com.sg) offers competitive discount fares for Asian destinations and beyond. Singapore, like Bangkok, has hundreds of travel agents, so you can compare prices on flights.
Although most Asian countries are now offering fairly competitive deals, Bangkok is still one of the best places to shop around for discount tickets. Khao San Rd in Bangkok is the budget travellers’ headquarters. Bangkok has a number of excellent travel agencies but there are also some suspect ones; ask the advice of other travellers before handing over your cash. STA Travel (02-236 0262; www.statravel.co.th; Rm 1406, 14th fl, Wall St Tower, 33/70 Surawong Rd) is a reliable place to start. Aeroflot has direct flights to Moscow from Bangkok. S7 flies to Novosibirsk, and several other Russian airlines offer seasonal charters.
There’s also a weekly Vietnam Airlines flight between Hanoi and Vladivostok.
South Korea
Seoul in South Korea is a possible international travel hub for Siberia and the Russian Far East, with almost daily flights to Khabarovsk and Vladivostok and weekly ones Novosibirsk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. There are also flights connecting Pusan and Vladivostok.
Turkey, the Caucasus & the Middle East
There are scheduled flights from Moscow and Yekaterinburg to Istanbul as well as plenty of summer charter flights to elsewhere in Turkey, especially Antalya.
Moscow also has regular flights to all the major cities in the Caucasus (except Tiblisi) and Middle East. Elsewhere in Russia there are weekly flights to Baku in Azerbaijan, from Tyumen, Irkutsk and Novosibirsk; from the latter there are also twice-weekly flights to Yerevan, Armenia.
Emirates and Qatar Airways provide very useful connections in the Gulf and some of the best value-for-money options for all over Asia. They both fly to Moscow’s Domodedovo airport.
UK & Ireland
Newspapers and magazines such as Time Out and TNT Magazine in London regularly advertise low fares to Moscow. Start your research with the major student or backpacker-oriented travel agencies such as STA and Trailfinders. Through these reliable agents you can get an idea of what’s available and how much you’re going to pay – however, a bit of ringing around to the smaller agencies afterwards will often turn up cheaper fares.
Reputable agencies in London:
ebookers (0871-223 5000; www.ebookers.com)
Flight Centre (0870-499 0040; www.flightcentre.co.uk)
STA Travel (0871-230 0040; www.statravel.co.uk)
Trailfinders (0845-058 5858; www.trailfinders.com)
Travelbag (0800-804 8911; www.travelbag.co.uk)
Shop around and you may get a low-season one-way/return fare to Moscow for £150/200. Flights to St Petersburg are a bit more expensive at around £200/250. Aeroflot and bmi generally offer the cheapest deals. Also check out deals with KD Avia, which flies out of Gatwick to Kaliningrad and beyond.
USA
Discount travel agencies in the USA are known as consolidators (although you won’t see a sign on the door saying Consolidator), and they can be found in the Yellow Pages or the travel sections of major daily newspapers such as the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Examiner. You’ll generally come across good deals at agencies in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and other big cities.
STA Travel (800-781 4040; www.statravel.com) has a wide network of offices.
Economy-class airfares from New York to Moscow can go as low as US$750 return. From Los Angeles you’re looking at return fares to Moscow of around US$925.
LAND
There are numerous land routes to Russia, popular approaches being on trains and buses from Central and Baltic European countries or on either the trans-Manchurian or trans-Mongolian train routes from China and Mongolia.
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Border Crossings
Russia shares borders with Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, North Korea, Norway, Poland and Ukraine; all except Azerbaijan, Georgia and North Korea are open to non-Russian travellers. Before planning a journey into or out of Russia from any of these countries, check out the visa situation for your nationality.
On trains, border crossings are a straightforward but drawn-out affair, with a steady stream of customs and ticket personnel scrutinising your passport and visa. If you’re arriving by car or motorcycle, you’ll need to show your vehicle registration and insurance papers, and your driving licence, passport and visa. These formalities are usually minimal for Western European citizens.
On the Russian side, chances are your vehicle will be subjected to a cursory inspection by border guards (your life will be made much easier if you open all doors and the boot yourself, and shine a torch for the guards at night). You pass through customs separately from your car, walking through a metal detector and possibly having hand luggage X-rayed.
Train fares for trips to/from Russia listed under individual countries in this section are for a kupe (compartment) in a four-berth compartment. Certain routes also offer cheaper platskartny (3rd-class open carriage) fares.
Belarus
BUS
There are at least two buses a week from Minsk to Moscow and one a week to St Petersburg.
CAR & MOTOCYCLE
Long queues at border crossings are common. There are six main road routes into Russia from Belarus, the recommended one being the E30 highway that connects Brest and Minsk with Smolensk and finishes up in Moscow.
TRAIN
Minsk is well connected by train with Kaliningrad (from R1096, two daily, 13 hours), Moscow (R2830, 20 daily, 11 hours), Smolensk (from R693, 15 daily, four hours) and St Petersburg (R3000, daily, 15 hours).
China
CAR & MOTORCYCLE
The road from Manzhouli to Zabaikalsk in the Chitinskaya Region is open to traffic and it’s also possible to cross from Heihe to Blagoveshchensk (Click here) using a ferry across the Amur River.
TRAIN
The classic way into Russia from China is along the trans-Mongolian and trans-Manchurian rail routes; see the boxed text, Click here.
Also see Vladivostok (Click here) and Khabarovsk (Click here) for other options on travelling overland to China.
Estonia
The nearest border crossing from Tallinn is at Narva. There are daily trains between Tallinn and Moscow (R3300, 15 hours) and St Petersburg (R1485, 9½ hours). Tallinn is also connected with St Petersburg by seven express buses daily (R900, 7½ hours) and by a daily bus service with Kaliningrad (R1190, 14 hours).
Finland
BUS
There are many daily buses between Helsinki and St Petersburg. For more details Click here. Also Click here for routes into and out of Finland from northern European Russia.
CAR & MOTORCYCLE
Highways cross at the Finnish border posts of Nuijamaa and Vaalimaa (Brusnichnoe and Torfyanovka, respectively, on the Russian side). Fill up with petrol on the Finnish side (preferably before you get to the border petrol station, which is more expensive than others and closes early). Note: there’s a speed trap just outside the St Petersburg city line, where the limit is 60km/h. Be sure to watch for all road signs; a few roads involve tricky curves and signposting is not all it should be. It’s best to make this drive for the first time during daylight hours.
TRAIN
There are currently three daily trains between St Petersburg and Helsinki, with plans to add new high-speed rail services by the end of 2010; Click here for details. There’s also the daily 31/34 ‘Leo Tolstoy’ service between Moscow and Helsinki (R5320, 13½ hours).
Kazakhstan
CAR & MOTORCYCLE
Roads into Kazakhstan head east from Astrakhan, and south from Samara, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg and Omsk.
TRAIN
There are trains every two days between Moscow and Almaty (R6260, 78 hours) and daily from Astrakhan to Atyrau/Guryev, in addition to a variety of services from Siberia. Beware that some domestic Russian trains cut through Kazakhstan en route, including Chelyabinsk–Omsk, Chelyabinsk–Magnitogorsk and those Yekaterinburg–Omsk services routed via Kurgan. Visa checks are not always made leaving Russia, but coming back in you may find yourself in serious trouble if you don’t have a Kazakhstan visa and a double/multiple entry Russian visa, too.
Latvia
BUS
There are two daily buses from Rīga to St Petersburg (R700 to R1050, 11 hours); Click here. There are also daily buses between Rīga and Kaliningrad (R660, 10 hours) and two to three buses daily to Moscow (R800, 14 hours). There’s also a daily bus between Rīga and Moscow that is operated by Ecolines (R1425, www.ecolines.ru, in Russian).
CAR & MOTORCYCLE
The M9 Rīga–Moscow road crosses the border east of Rezekne (Latvia). The A212 road from Rīga leads to Pskov, crossing a corner of Estonia en route.
TRAIN
From Latvia, handy overnight trains run daily between Rīga and Moscow (R4020, 16 hours) and St Petersburg (R3280, 13 hours).
Lithuania
BUS
There are frequent buses daily from Kaliningrad to Lithuania; Click here for details.
CAR & MOTORCYCLE
The main border crossing points from Kaliningrad into Lithuania are Chernyshevskoe/Kibartay, Sovetsk/Panemune, Pogranichnoe/Ramonishkyay, and Morskoe/Nida.
TRAIN
Services link Vilnius with Kaliningrad (R1700, four weekly, six hours) Moscow (R2890, three daily, 15 hours) and St Petersburg (R2230 to R2735, every other day, 15¼ hours). The St Petersburg trains cross Latvia, and the Moscow ones cross Belarus, for which you’ll need a Belarus visa or transit visa.
Mongolia
BUS
There are direct daily buses between Ulaan Baatar and Ulan-Ude (Click here).
CAR & MOTORCYCLE
It’s possible to drive between Mongolia and Russia at the Tsagaanuur–Tashanta and Altanbulag–Kyakhta borders. The process of getting through these borders can be very slow, and it’s a good idea to have written permission from a Mongolian embassy if you wish to bring a vehicle through.
TRAIN
Apart from the trans-Mongolian train connecting Moscow and Beijing (Click here), there’s a direct train twice a week from Ulaan Baatar to Moscow (R15,000, four days and five hours) as well as a daily service to and from Irkutsk (R4000, 25 to 35 hours).
Norway
For details of bus connections between Norway and Russia, Click here.
Poland
BUS
There are two daily buses between both Gdansk and Oltshyn and Kaliningrad as well as daily buses to/from Warsaw. For further details on buses to/from towns in Poland, Click here.
CAR & MOTORCYCLE
The main border crossing between Poland and Kaliningrad is at Bagrationovsk/Bezledy on the A195 highway. Queues here can be very long.
TRAIN
Warsaw is connected with Moscow (R4500, 18 to 21 hours, two daily) and St Petersburg (R3000, 29 hours, daily). The Moscow trains enter Belarus near Brest. The St Petersburg trains leave Poland at Kuznica, which is near Hrodna (Grodno in Russian) in Belarus. Changing the wheels to/from Russia’s wider gauge adds three hours to the journey. You’ll need a Belarus visa or transit visa.
UK & Europe
TRAIN
Travelling overland by train from the UK or Western Europe takes a minimum of two days and nights. It is, however, a great way of easing yourself into the rhythm of a long Russian journey, such as one on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
There are no direct trains from the UK to Russia. The most straightforward route you can take is on the Eurostar (www.eurostar.com) to Brussels, and then a two-night direct train to Moscow via Warsaw and Minsk (Belarus). The total cost can be as low as £150 one way. See www.seat61.com/Russia.htm for details of this and other train services to Moscow.
Crossing the Poland–Belarus border at Brest takes several hours while the wheels are changed for the Russian track. All foreigners visiting Belarus need a visa, including those transiting by train – sort this out before arriving in Belarus. To avoid this hassle consider taking the train to St Petersburg from Vilnius in Lithuania, which runs several times a week via Latvia. There are daily connections between Vilnius and Warsaw.
From Moscow and St Petersburg there are also regular international services to European cities including Amsterdam, Berlin, Budapest, Paris, Prague, Vienna and Warsaw; Click here for Moscow, and Click here for St Petersburg details.
For European rail timetables check www.railfaneurope.net, which provides a central link to all of Europe’s national railways.
Ukraine
BUS
There is a handful of weekly buses travelling from Kharkiv across the border into Russia on the E95 (M2) road. The official frontier crossing is 40km north of Kharkiv, and is near the Russian border town of Zhuravlevka.
CAR & MOTORCYCLE
The main autoroute between Kyiv and Moscow starts as the E93 (M20) north of Kyiv, but becomes the M3 when it branches off to the east some 50km south of Chernihiv.
Driving from Ukraine to the Caucasus, the border frontier point is on the E40 (M19) road crossing just before the Russian town of Novoshakhtinsk at the Ukrainian border village of Dovzhansky, about 150km east of Donetsk.
TRAIN
Most major Ukrainian cities have daily services to Moscow, with two border crossings: one used by trains heading to Kyiv, the other by trains passing through Kharkiv.
Trains from Kyiv to Moscow (R2000 to R2400, 9½ hours, 18 daily) go via Bryansk (Russia) and Konotop (Ukraine), crossing at the Ukrainian border town of Seredyna-Buda. The best trains to take (numbers are southbound/northbound) between Moscow and Kyiv are the 1/2 and 3/4. The best train between Moscow and Lviv is 73/74 (R2200, 23 hours, daily via Kyiv). Between Moscow and Odessa (R2200 to R2600, 23 hours, daily via Kyiv) there’s the 23/24, the Odesa. There are also daily trains to/from St Petersburg to Lviv (31 hours via Vilnius) and Kyiv (24 hours).
Trains between Kharkiv and Moscow (R1800 to R2200, 13 hours, about 14 daily via Kursk) cross the border just 40km north of Kharkiv. The best train is the night train, the Kharkiv, 19/20. Between Moscow and Simferopol (26 hours, daily via Kharkiv), the best train is 67/68, the Simferopol. Trains between Moscow and Donetsk (22 hours, three daily), Dnipropetrovsk (20 hours, twice daily), Zaporizhzhya (19 hours, twice daily) and Sevastopol (29½ hours, daily) all go through Kharkiv.
Many trains travelling between Moscow and the Caucasus go through Kharkiv, including a daily service to Rostov-on-Don (12 hours). There are also daily international trains passing through Ukraine to/from Moscow’s Kyivsky vokzal (station). These include the 15/16 Kyiv–Lviv–Chop–Budapest–Belgrade train, with a carriage to Zagreb three times a week.
SEA
There is a handful of opportunities to reach Russia by sea from:
- Sassnitz (Germany) to Kaliningrad (Click here)
- Trabzon (Turkey) to Sochi (Click here)
- Fushiki on Japan’s main island of Honshu to Vladivostok (Click here)
- Wakkanai on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido to Korsakov on Sakhalin (Click here)
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TOURS
If you have time, and a certain degree of determination, organising your own trip to Russia is easily done; in fact to places such as Moscow and St Petersburg it’s very straightforward. But for complex itineraries, opting for the assistance of an agency in booking transport and accommodation and securing guides, not to mention helping with the visa paperwork, is preferable.
Also, you may want to arrange an outdoor activity, such as hiking or rafting, for which the services of an expert agency is almost always required. Or you may choose to go the whole hog and have everything taken care of on a fully organised tour.
The following agencies and tour companies provide a range of travel services; unless otherwise mentioned they can all help arrange visas and transport tickets within Russia. Numerous, more locally based agencies can provide tours once you’re in Russia; see the destination chapters for details. Many work in conjunction with overseas agencies, so if you go to them directly you’ll usually pay less.
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Australia
Eastern Europe/Russian Travel Centre (02-9262 1144; www.eetbtravel.com)
Passport Travel (03-9500 0444; www.travelcentre.com.au)
Russian Gateway Tours (02-9745 3333; www.russian-gateway.com.au)
Sundowners (03-9672 5300; www.sundownersoverland.com) Specialises in trans-Siberian packages and tours.
Travel Directors (08-9242 4200; www.traveldirectors.com.au) Upmarket trans-Siberian tour operator.
Canada
Trek Escapes (866-338 8735; www.trekescapes.com) Canada’s top adventure tour agency offers Sundowners and Imaginative Traveller trans-Siberian packages. Has branches in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver.
China
Monkey Business (8610-6591 6519; www.monkeyshrine.com) Offers tours on the trans-Siberian, trans-Manchurian and trans-Mongolian trains.
Moonsky Star Ltd (852-2723 1376) Monkey Business’s Hong Kong partner.
Germany
Lernidee Reisen (030-786 0000; www.lernidee-reisen.de)
Japan
MO Tourist CIS Russian Centre (03-5296 5783; www.mo-tourist.co.jp) Can help arrange ferries and flights to Russia.
UK
Go Russia (020-3355 7717; www.justgorussia.co.uk) Cultural and adventure holiday specialist.GW Travel Ltd (0161-928 9410; www.gwtravel.co.uk) Offers luxury trans-Siberian tours on the Golden Eagle, a private train made up of Pullman-style carriages where all the sleeping compartments have attached showers.
Imaginative Traveller (0845-077 8802; www.imaginative-traveller.com) Trans-Siberian tours.
Intourist Travel (020-7792 5240; www.intouristuk.com)
Page & Moy Holidays (08708-334 012; www.pageandmoy.com) Offers Moscow to St Petersburg river cruises.
Regent Holidays (0845-277 3317; www.regent-holidays.co.uk)
Russia Experience (020-8566 8846; www.trans-siberian.co.uk) Very experienced and reliable operator that has adventurous programs in the Altai and Tuva as well as to all the usual destinations. Also runs the Beetroot Experience (www.beetroot.org) offering budget trips geared towards backpackers.
The Russia House (020-7403 9922; www.therussiahouse.co.uk) Agency experienced at dealing with corporate and business travel needs.
INDEPENDENT VS GROUP TOUR
Your enjoyment of independent travel will be directly in proportion to your ability to speak and read Russian. Away from the major cities, your odds of meeting anyone who speaks English are slim. With limited language skills, everything you attempt will likely be more costly and difficult. However, it’s far from impossible; if you really want to meet locals and have a flexible itinerary, independent travel is the way to go.
To help things along, it’s a good idea to consider using a specialist travel agency to arrange your visa and to make some of your transport and accommodation bookings. Most will be happy to work on any itinerary. It’s also possible to arrange guides and transfers – the prices can sometimes be better than those you’d be able to negotiate yourself (with or without language skills). Using a tour agency to buy train tickets only, though, can work out much more expensive than if you were to do it yourself in Russia: check prices carefully and only consider doing this if you absolutely must travel on certain dates and want a specific class of ticket. There are also websites through which you can book train tickets directly (see the boxed text, Click here).
Once in Russia, excursions and trips can be booked through agencies in all large cities; elsewhere, it’s usually not too difficult to find locals ready to escort you on nature expeditions, treks and the like. Many interesting places are far off the beaten path and the best way to reach them is often through a local guide or travel agent – see the various destination listings for recommendations.
On group tours everything is taken care of; all you need to do is pay and turn up. Tours can cater to special interests and range from backpacker basics to full-on tsarist luxury. Bear in mind that you’ll seldom be alone, which can be a curse as well as a blessing (depending on the company). This will also reduce your chances of interacting with locals, with opportunities to head off the beaten track or alter the itinerary limited, if not impossible.
Russian Gateway (08704-461 812; www.russiangateway.co.uk) Small specialist agency that offers mainly city-break packages and river cruises via its sister company Russiana River Cruises (www.russiana.co.uk).
Russian National Tourist Office (020-7495 7570; http://visitrussia.org.uk) Offers tours across the country.
Scott’s Tours (020-7383 5353; www.scottstours.co.uk/index.php)
Steppes East (01285-880 980; www.steppeseast.co.uk) Specialises in catering to offbeat requirements.
Travel for the Arts (020-8799 8350; www.travelforthearts.co.uk) Specialises in luxury culture-based tours to Russia for people with a specific interest in opera and ballet.
Voyages Jules Verne (020-7616 1000; www.vjv.co.uk) Offers a variety of upmarket tours in Russia.
USA
Cruise Marketing International (800-578 7742; www.cruiserussia.com) Books tours on cruises along Russian waterways such as the Volga River.
Exeter International (813-251 5355; www.russiatours.com) Specialises in luxury tours to Moscow and St Petersburg.
Go To Russia Travel (404-827 0099; www.gotorussia.com) Has offices in Atlanta, San Francisco and Moscow; offers tours and a full range of travel services.
Mir Corporation (206-624 7289; www.mircorp.com) Award-winning operation with many different tours, including ones by steam train from Kyiv and Murmansk.
Ouzel Expeditions (907-783 2216; www.ouzel.com) Specialises in Kamchatka fishing trips.
Red Star Travel (206-522 5995; www.travel2russia.com)
Sokol Tours (/fax 724-935 5373; www.sokoltours.com) Tour options include train trips, Tuva and Kamchatka.
Viking Rivers Cruises (800-304 9616; www.vikingrivercruises.com) Upmarket Russian cruise operator.
VisitRussia.com (800-755 3080; www.visitrussia.com) Can arrange package and customised tours; offices in New York, Moscow and St Petersburg.
World Wise Ecotourism Network (206-282 0824; www.traveleastrussia.com) Ecoadventure tour company specialising in Far East Russia and Siberia.
GETTING AROUND
Getting around Russia is a breeze thanks to a splendid train network and a packed schedule of flights between all major and many minor towns and cities. In the summer months many of the rivers and lakes are navigable and have cruises and ferry operations. For hops between towns there are buses, most often marshrutky (fixed-route minibuses).
Don’t underestimate the distances involved: Russia is huge. From Yekaterinburg at the western limits of Siberia to Vladivostok on the Pacific coast is about the same distance as from Berlin to New York, while even a relatively short overland hop, such as the one from Irkutsk to its near neighbour Khabarovsk, is still roughly equivalent to the distance from London to Cairo. And you were wondering about taking a bus?
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AIR
Flying in Russia is like the country itself – a unique experience. Fights can be delayed, often for hours and with no or little explanation.
Almost every small town has an airport, but don’t expect much; most of these places have fewer facilities than the average bus shelter. If nothing else, it will at least have flights to the nearest big town or city, and from there you’ll be able to make nationwide connections. Recent years have seen the emergence of small, regional airlines, some still using old Aeroflot machines with a fresh coat of paint (see the boxed text, Click here).
A few of Russia’s airlines allow you to book over the internet (see the boxed text, opposite). Otherwise it’s no problem buying a ticket at ubiquitous aviakassa (ticket offices). Generally speaking, you’ll do better booking internal flights once you arrive in Russia, where more flights and flight information are available, and where prices may be lower. Fares are generally 30% cheaper (60% on major Moscow routings) for advance bookings or evening departures.
CRISIS IN THE RUSSIAN SKIES
In August 2008, AiRUnion, which consisted of five airlines – Kras Air, Omskavia, Samara Airlines, Domodedovo Airlines and Sibaviatrans – went bust; some of its routes were taken over by Atlant-Soyuz (www.atlant-soyuz.ru), based at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport. A few weeks later Dalavia was taken over by Vladivostok Air (www.vladivostokavia.ru). The crash of an Aeroflot-Nord flight outside of Perm in September 2008 caused the main Aeroflot company to cut all ties with this franchise operation, along with another subsidiary, Aeroflot-Don (see the boxed text, Click here). The futures of Aeroflot-Nord and Aeroflot-Don hung in the balance as we went to press, but if both survive they will likely operate under different names.
AIR TICKETS VIA THE WEB
Online agencies specialising in Russian air tickets with English interfaces include Avantix (
Using modern 737s, Sky Express (airline code XW;
Primorskoye Aeroagentsvo(
Whenever you book airline tickets in Russia you’ll need to show your passport and visa. Tickets can also be purchased at the airport right up to the departure of the flight and sometimes even if the city centre office says that the plane is full. Return fares are usually double the one-way fares.
Make sure you reconfirm your flight at least 24 hours before take-off: Russian airlines have a nasty habit of cancelling unconfirmed tickets. Airlines may also bump you if you don’t check in at least 90 minutes before departure.
Many planes have special stowage areas for large carry-on pieces. Also note that you put your carry-on luggage under your own seat, not under the one in front of you. However, Russian airlines can be very strict about charging for bags that are overweight, which generally means anything over 20kg. One way of getting around this is to bulk out your coat and clothing pockets with heavier items and repack once you’re through the check-in procedure.
Have your passport and ticket handy throughout the various security and ticket checks that can occur, right up until you find a seat. Some flights have assigned seats, others do not. On the latter, seating is a free-for-all.
Beware: most internal flights in Moscow use either Domodedovo or Vnukovo airports; if you’re connecting to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo-2 international airport, allow a few hours to cross town.
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BOAT
One of the most pleasant ways of travelling around Russia is by river. You can do this either by taking a cruise, which you can book directly with an operator or also through agencies in Russia and overseas, or by using scheduled river passenger services. The season runs from late May through to mid-October, but is shorter on some routes. There are also ferry services that combine a pleasant sea or lake journey with public transport.
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Moscow, St Petersburg & the Volga
There are numerous cruise boats plying the routes between Moscow and St Petersburg, many stopping at some of the Golden Ring cities on the way. Longer cruises to northern European Russia and south along the Volga also originate in either of these cities. Some cruises are specifically aimed at foreign tourists; Click here for the names of some overseas travel companies that can book such trips.
Generally, for lower prices, you can also sail on a boat aimed at Russian holiday-makers. The food and accommodation may be less lavish. Some other boat operators and agencies include:
Cruise Company Orthodox (Map;499-943 8560; www.cruise.ru; ul Alabyana 5, Moscow; Sokol) Also has an office in Rostov-on-Don.
Infoflot (Map; 495-684 9188; www.infoflot.com, in Russian; ul Shchepkina 28, Moscow; Prospekt Mira) The market leader, with offices also in St Petersburg and Samara.
Mosturflot (495-221 7222; www.mosturflot.ru, in Russian)
Rechflot (495-363 9628; www.rechflot.ru, in Russian)
Rechturflot (495-638 6611; www.rtflot.ru, in Russian)
Russian Voyage (Russky Voyazh; 863-244 1066; www.rusvoyage.aaanet.ru, in Russian; Beregovaya ul 29, Rostov-on-Don) Agent for Don and Volga River cruises.
Solnechny Parus (Map; 812-279 4310; www.solpar.ru; ul Vosstania 55, St Petersburg; Chernyshevskaya) Also has its own fleet of yachts and motorboats for charter.
Vodohod (495-223 9611; www.vodohod.com/eng)
USEFUL RUSSIAN TERMS FOR RIVER TRAVEL
| речной вокзал | rechnoy vokzal | river station |
| ракетa, комета, метеор | raketa, kometa, meteor | types of hydrofoil |
| теплоход | teplokhod | large passenger boat |
| катер | kater | smaller river or sea boat |
| паром | parom | ferry |
| вверх | vverkh | upstream |
| вниз | vniz | downstream |
| туда | tuda | one way |
| туда и обратно | tuda i obratno | return |
Northern European Russia
Northern European Russia (including St Petersburg) is well served by various waterborne transport options. Apart from hydrofoil services along the Neva River and the Gulf of Finland from St Petersburg to Petrodvorets, there are also very popular cruises from St Petersburg to Valaam in Lake Ladoga, some continuing on to Lake Onega, Petrozavodsk and Kizhi (Click here). Also, from Rabocheostrovsk you can take boats to the Solovetsky Islands (Click here).
Black Sea
Between June and September, frequent hydrofoils connect the Black Sea ports of Novorossiysk and Sochi.
Siberia & the Russian Far East
Siberia and the Russian Far East have a short navigation season (mid-June to September), with long-distance river transport limited to the Ob and Irtysh Rivers (Omsk–Tara–Tobolsk–Salekhard), the Lena (Ust–Kut–Lensk–Yakutsk) and the Yenisey (Krasnoyarsk–Igarka–Dudinka). You can also make one-day hops by hydrofoil along several sections of these rivers, along the Amur River (Khabarovsk–Komsomolsk–Nikolaevsk) and across Lake Baikal (Irkutsk–Olkhon–Severobaikalsk–Nizhneangarsk). Other Baikal services are limited to short hops around Irkutsk/Listvyanka and from Sakhyurta to Olkhon unless you charter a boat, most conveniently done in Listvyanka, Nizhneangarsk, Severobaikalsk or Ust-Barguzin. Irkutsk agencies can help.
Ferries from Vanino cross the Tatar Strait to Sakhalin, but it can be murder trying to buy a ticket in the summer months; although sailings are supposed to take place daily, in reality there is no set schedule. There are also irregular sailings from Korsakov, on Sakhalin, across to Yuzhno-Kurilsk in the Kuril Island chain.
Out of Vladivostok there is a range of ferries to nearby islands and to beach resorts further south along the coast. For the truly adventurous, with a month or so to spare, it’s possible to hitch a lift on one of the supply ships that sail out of Nakhodka and Vladivostok up to the Arctic Circle towns of Anadyr and Provideniya.
Beware that boat schedules can change radically from year to year (especially on Lake Baikal) and are published only infuriatingly near to the first sailing of each season. When buying tickets for a hydrofoil, try to avoid ryad (rows) one to three – spray will obscure your view, and, although enclosed, you’ll often get damp.
BUS & MARSHRUTKY
Long-distance buses complement rather than compete with the rail network. They generally serve areas with no railway or routes on which trains are slow, infrequent or overloaded.
Most cities have a main intercity bus station (автовокзал, avtovokzal). Like long-distance bus stations everywhere, they are often scoundrel magnets and are rarely pleasant places to visit after dark. Tickets are sold at the station or on the bus. Fares are normally listed on the timetable and posted on a wall. As often as not you’ll get a ticket with a seat assignment, scribbled almost illegibly on a till receipt. Prices are comparable to 2nd-class train fares; journey times depend on road conditions. A sometimes hefty fee is charged for larger bags.
Marshrutky (a Russian diminutive form of marshrutnoye taksi, meaning a fixed-route taxi) are minibuses that are quicker than the rusty old buses and rarely cost much more. Where roads are good and villages frequent, marshrutky can be twice as fast as buses, and are well worth the double fare.
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CAR & MOTORCYCLE
Bearing in mind the frequently dire quality of the roads, lack of adequate signposting, keen-eyed highway police and, in remote areas, the difficulty of obtaining petrol (not to mention spare parts), driving in Russia will not be every-body’s cup of tea. But if you’ve a sense of humour, patience and a decent vehicle, it’s an adventurous way to go.
Motorbikes will undergo vigorous scrutiny by border officials and highway police, especially if you’re riding anything vaguely flashy. Motorcyclists should also note that while foreign automobile companies now have an established presence in Moscow, St Petersburg and other major cities, you shouldn’t count on being able to access any necessary spare parts across the country. A useful general site for motorcyclists, with some information on Russian road conditions, is www.horizonsunlimited.com.
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Bring Your Own Vehicle
Apart from your licence, you’ll also need your vehicle’s registration papers and proof of insurance. Be sure your insurance covers you in Russia. To minimise hassles, make sure you have all your documents translated into Russian. A customs declaration promising that you will take your vehicle with you when you leave is also required. For more details see http://waytorussia.net/Transport/International/Car.html.
Driving Licence
To legally drive your own or a rented car or motorcycle in Russia you’ll need to be over 18 years of age and have a full driving licence. In addition, you’ll need an International Driving Permit with a Russian translation of your licence, or a certified Russian translation of your full licence (you can certify translations at a Russian embassy or consulate).
AIRLINE SAFETY IN RUSSIA
Since the break up of Aeroflot, the former Soviet state airline, Russia has witnessed the boom and bust of hundreds of smaller airlines (see the boxed text, Click here), not to mention some deadly lapses in aircraft safety. The worst crash was in Irkutsk in August 2001, in which 145 people died, prompting the authorities to revoke scores of licences. In September 2008 an Aeroflot-Nord flight crashed on the outskirts of Perm, killing 88 people.
Tales of Russian airline-safety lapses are common, though often apocryphal. Obtaining reliable statistics is difficult, but people familiar with the Russian aviation scene say that the safety of domestic airlines varies widely. In its annual safety report released in April 2008, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) noted that Russia and the CIS had zero accidents in 2007, following a disastrous year in 2006 in which air fatalities were 13 times the global average. The vast majority of crashes involve small airlines in Siberia (connecting district centres with remote villages or mines) or military planes.
Of more concern is the checking procedure that’s meant to prevent terrorist bombings and hijacks. Two crashes in 2004 involved explosive devices where the bombers were allowed on the planes after they bribed officials. In the wake of these and other terrorist incidents around the world, security checks at Russian airports have increased.
Generally, Aeroflot Russian Airlines (www.aeroflot.com) is considered to have the highest standards; after the 2008 crash in Perm it banned all subsidiary companies, including Aeroflot-Nord and Aeroflot-Don, from using the main Aeroflot name and logo. This airline took over the old international routes of the Soviet-era Aeroflot and today offers Western-style services on mostly Western-made aircraft such as Boeing 757s and 737s. The airline also offers domestic services on many routes; see the website for further information. Transaero (www.transaero.com) also has a consistent safety record.
If you’re worried about airline safety, the good news is that for many destinations in Russia, getting there by train or bus is practical, and often preferable (if you have the time). Also, on routes between major cities it’s possible that you may have a choice of airlines (although given a lack of hard facts and continually changing circumstances, it’s impossible to recommend one operator over another). But in some cases – where you’re short of time or where your intended destination doesn’t have reliable rail or road connections – you will have no choice but to take a flight.
DRIVING ACROSS RUSSIA
For intrepid souls the challenge of driving across the vast expanse of Russia is irresistible. Most famously, Corriere della Sera journalist Luigi Barzini documented the road trip he made from Beijing to Paris in 1907, led by Prince Scipione Borghese. The journey took them two months, during which time they frequently resorted to driving along the railway rather than the mud tracks that constituted Siberian roads.
More recently, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman wrote about their Russian adventures in Long Way Round (www.longwayround.com/lwr.htm); their round-the-world route took them from Volgograd all the way to Yakutsk and Magadan via Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The celebrity bikers had a camera crew and support team following them. For a more accurate view of the trials suffered by ordinary mortals read The Linger Longer by brothers Chris and Simon Raven who somehow coaxed a rusty Ford Sierra from the UK to Vladivostok.
Should you be planning to drive the 11,000km from St Petersburg to Vladivostok along the unofficial trans-Siberian highway, it’s worth knowing that the rockiest section remains the 2100km Amur Highway, opened in 2004 between Chita and Khabarovsk. About 800km of this road remains gravel-topped, meandering and pock-marked. Full completion of the asphalt road is slated for 2009–2010. For some information in Russian on this section of the road see http://amur-trassa.ru.
Fuel & Spare Parts
Western-style gas stations are common. Petrol comes in four main grades: 76, 93, 95 and 98 octane. Prices range from R22.50 to R30 per litre. Unleaded gas is available in major cities; BP gas stations usually always sell it. Dizel (diesel) is also available (around R24 a litre). In the countryside, petrol stations are usually not more than 100km apart, but you shouldn’t rely on this.
Rental & Hire Cars
Self-drive cars can be rented in all major Russian cities. For details of rental companies in Moscow Click here, and in St Petersburg Click here. Depending on where you’re going, consider renting a car with a driver – they will at least know the state of local roads and be able to negotiate with traffic police should you be stopped.
Private cars sometimes operate as cabs over long distances and can be a great deal if there’s a group of you to share the cost. Since they take the most direct route between cities, the savings in time can be considerable over slow trains and meandering buses. Typically you will find drivers offering this service outside bus terminals. Someone in your party must speak Russian to negotiate a price with the driver which typically works out to about R30 per kilometre.
Select your driver carefully, look over their car and try to assess their sobriety before setting off. Note that you’ll always have to pay return mileage if renting ‘one way’, and that many local drivers want to get home the same night, even if that’s at 3am.
Road Conditions
Russian main roads are a mixed bag – sometimes smooth, straight dual carriageways, sometimes rough, narrow, winding and choked with the diesel fumes of the slow, heavy vehicles that make up a high proportion of Russian traffic. Driving much more than 300km in a day is pretty tiring.
Russian drivers use indicators far less than they should, and like to overtake everything on the road – on the inside. Russian drivers rarely switch on anything more than sidelights – and often not even those – until it’s pitch black at night. Some say this is to avoid dazzling others, as, for some reason, dipping headlights is not common practice.
Road Rules
Russians drive on the right and traffic coming from the right generally (but not always) has the right of way. Speed limits are generally 60km/h in towns but usually there are no signs to say so – you have to intuit from a town’s name plate that the limit applies on an otherwise fast, straight road. Limits are between 80km/h and 110km/h on highways. There may be a 90km/h zone, enforced by speed traps, as you leave a city. Children under 12 may not travel in the front seat, and seat belt use is mandatory. Most drivers will be keen that you buckle up to avoid any chance of them being fined R500 by the GAI (below). Motorcycle riders (and passengers) must wear crash helmets.
The maximum legal blood-alcohol content is 0.03%. This is a rule that is strictly enforced. Police will first use a breathalyser test to check blood-alcohol levels – in Moscow and other big cities the equipment is fairly reliable, but old Soviet test kits are not. You have the legal right to insist on a blood test (which involves the police taking you to a hospital).
Traffic lights that flicker green are about to change to yellow, then red. Beware, you will be pulled over if the police see you going through a yellow light, so drive cautiously.
The GAI
The State Automobile Inspectorate, GAI (short for Gosudarstvennaya Avtomobilnaya Inspektsia), skulks about on the roadsides, waiting for speeding, headlightless or other miscreant vehicles. Officers of the GAI are authorised to stop you, issue on-the-spot fines and, worst of all, shoot at your car if you refuse to pull over.
The GAI also hosts the occasional speed trap – the Moscow–Brest, Moscow–Oryol and Vyborg–St Petersburg roads have reputations for this. In Moscow and St Petersburg, the GAI is everywhere, stopping cars and collecting ‘fines’ on the spot.
There are permanent GAI checkpoints at the boundary of many Russian regions, cities and towns. Random spot checks are rarer than in previous years but still occur. For serious infractions, the GAI can confiscate your licence, which you’ll have to retrieve from the main station. If your car is taken to the GAI’s parking lot, you should try to get it back as soon as possible, since you’ll be charged a huge amount for each day that it’s kept there.
Get the shield number of the arresting officer. By law, GAI officers are not allowed to take any money at all – fines should be paid via Sberbank. However, in reality Russian drivers normally pay the GAI officer approximately half the official fine, thus saving money and the time eaten up by Russian bureaucracy, both at the police station and the bank.
HITCHING
Hitching is never entirely safe in any country in the world, and Lonely Planet doesn’t recommend it. Travellers who hitch should understand that they are taking a small but potentially serious risk.
That said, hitching in Russia is a very common method of getting around. In cities, hitching rides is called hailing a taxi, no matter what type of vehicle stops (Click here). In the countryside, especially in remote areas not well served by public transport, hitching is a major mode of transport.
Rides are hailed by standing at the side of the road and flagging passing vehicles with a low, up-and-down wave (not an extended thumb). You are expected to pitch in for petrol; paying what would be the normal bus fare for a long-haul ride is considered appropriate.
While hitching is widely accepted – and therefore safer than in some other countries – you should still use common sense to keep safe. Avoid hitching at night. Women should exercise extreme caution. You should avoid hitching alone and let someone know where you are planning to go.
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LOCAL TRANSPORT
Most cities have good public transport systems combining bus, trolleybus and tram; the biggest cities also have metro systems. Public transport is very cheap and easy to use, but you’ll need to be able to decipher some Cyrillic. Taxis are plentiful and usually cheap by Western standards.
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Boat
In St Petersburg, Moscow and several other cities located on rivers, coasts, lakes or reservoirs, public ferries and water excursions give a different perspective on the place. For details, see Getting Around in the relevant chapters or sections.
Bus, Marshrutky, Trolleybus & Tram
Even in cities with metros you’ll often need to use above-ground forms of public transport. Services are frequent in city centres but more erratic as you move out towards the edges. They can get jam-packed in the late afternoon or on poorly served routes.
A stop is usually marked by a roadside ‘А’ sign for buses, ‘Т’ for trolleybuses, and ТРАМВАЙ or a ‘Т’ hanging over the road for trams. The normal fare (R10 to R20) is usually paid to the conductor; if there is no conductor, pass the money to the driver. You may be charged extra if you have a large bag.
THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY
Extending 9289km from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Pacific, the Trans-Siberian Railway and connecting routes are among the most famous and potentially enjoyable of the world’s great train journeys. Rolling out of Europe and into Asia, through eight time zones and over vast swaths of taiga, steppe and desert, the Trans-Siberian – the world’s longest single-service railway – makes all other train rides seem like once around the block with Thomas the Tank Engine.
Don’t look for the Trans-Siberian Railway on a timetable, though. The term is used generically for three main lines and the numerous trains that run on them. The trains most people use are the daily Rossiya 1/2 service linking Moscow and Vladivostok (or the Baikal 9/10 service from Moscow to Irkutsk for part of the way); the weekly 3/4 trans-Mongolian service via Ulaan Baatar to Beijing; and the weekly 19/20 trans-Manchurian service, also from Moscow to Beijing but via Harbin in China. A far less-travelled alternative Trans-Siberian Railway is the Baikal–Amur Mainline (BAM) – for details, Click here. All the above are regular Russian Railways services; if you’re looking for something fancier, contact GW Travel (see under UK tour company listings, Click here) to find out about their luxurious private Golden Eagle train tours.
For the first four days’ travel out of Moscow’s Yaroslavsky vokzal, the trans-Siberian, trans- Manchurian and trans-Mongolian routes all follow the same line, passing through Nizhny Novgorod on the way to Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains and then into Siberia. If you’re taking the BAM route to the coast you’ll branch off at Tayshet, 4515km east of Moscow.
Many travellers choose to break their journey at Irkutsk to visit Lake Baikal (we recommend you do) but, otherwise, the three main services continue on round the southern tip of the lake to Ulan-Ude, another possible jumping off point for Baikal. From here trans-Siberian trains continue to Vladivostok, while the trans-Mongolian ones head south for the Mongolian border, Ulaan Baatar and Beijing. The trans-Manchurian service continues past Ulan-Ude to Chita, then turns southeast for Zabaikalsk on the Chinese border.
For full details of how to do the journey, read Lonely Planet’s Trans-Siberian Railway guide. For general information on buying tickets and travelling on trains in Russia, see opposite. Also see www.transsib.ru/Eng, the best website on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Within most cities, marshrutky double up official bus routes but are more frequent. In certain towns they’re prepared to stop between official bus stops, which can save quite a walk.
Metro
The metro systems of Moscow and St Petersburg are excellent. There are smaller ones in Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Samara, Vologda and Yekaterinburg. See the Getting Around sections of the relevant city chapters for details on riding these systems.
Taxi
There are two main types of taxi in Russia. The official ones are either taxis you order by phone (see city listings for numbers), or the rarer four-door sedans with a chequerboard strip down the side and/or a green light in the front window that cruise the streets of Moscow. There are also ‘private’ taxis (ie any other vehicle on the road).
Official taxis have a meter that they sometimes use, though you can always negotiate an off-the-meter price. There’s a flag fall, and the number on the meter must be multiplied by the multiplier listed on a sign that should be on the dashboard or somewhere visible. Extra charges are incurred for radio calls and some nighttime calls. Taxis outside of luxury hotels often demand usurious rates although, on the whole, official taxis are around 25% more expensive than private taxis.
To hail a private taxi, stand at the side of the road, extend your arm and wait until something stops. When someone stops for you, state your destination and be prepared to negotiate the fare – it’s best to fix this before getting in. If the driver’s game, they’ll ask you to get in (sadites), but always act on the cautious side and consider your safety before doing this.
Check with locals to determine the average taxi fare in that city at the time of your visit; taxi prices around the country vary widely. Practise saying your destination and the amount you want to pay so that it comes out properly. The better your Russian, the lower the fare (generally). If possible, let a Russian friend negotiate for you: they’ll do better than you will.
RISKS & PRECAUTIONS
Avoid taxis lurking outside foreign-run establishments, luxury hotels, railway stations and airports. They charge far too much and get uppity when you try to talk them down. Know your route: be familiar with how to get there and how long it should take. Never get into a taxi that has more than one person already in it, especially after dark.
Keep your fare money in a separate pocket to avoid flashing large wads of cash. If you’re staying at a private residence, have the taxi stop at the corner nearest your destination, not the exact address. Trust your instincts – if a driver looks creepy, take the next car.
TOURS
Once in Russia, you’ll find many travel agencies specialising in city tours and excursions. Sometimes these are the best way to visit out-of-the-way sights. See the travel agencies listed in the relevant city sections.
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TRAIN
Russian Railways (or RZD, standing for Rossiyskie Zheleznye Dorogi; www.rzd.ru) runs one of the largest networks in the world with 85,500km of track. Long-distance trains are generally comfortable, and depending on the class of travel, relatively inexpensive, making them an excellent way to get around, see the countryside and meet Russians from all walks of life. A good 1st- or 2nd-class berth on a sleeper train is likely to prove more civilised than one in Western Europe, as they’re larger and often more comfortable.
Trains are rarely speedy but have a remarkable record for punctuality, with most departing each station to the minute allotted on the timetable. However, there are underlying reasons for this punctuality: managers have a large portion of their pay determined by the timeliness of their trains. This not only inspires promptness, but it results in the creation of generous schedules. You’ll notice this when you find your train stationary for hours in the middle of nowhere only to suddenly start up and roll into the next station right on time.
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Buying Tickets
At any station you’ll be confronted by several ticket windows. Some are special windows reserved exclusively for use by the elderly or infirm, heroes of the Great Patriotic War or members of the armed forces. All will have different operating hours and generally unhelpful, non-English-speaking staff.
The sensible option, especially if there are horrendous queues, is to avail yourself of the servis tsentr (service centre) found at most major stations. At these air-con centres – a godsend in summer – you’ll generally encounter helpful, sometimes English-speaking staff who, for a small fee (typically around R200), can book your ticket. In big cities and towns it’s also usually possible to buy tickets at special offices and some travel agencies away from the station – individual chapters provide details. Also you can buy online (Click here) and have the ticket delivered to your home or hotel, or pick it up at an agency or at the train station.
BUYING TRAIN TICKETS ONLINE
It’s possible to book train tickets online at several sites, including that of RZD (www.rzd.ru), which has plans to launch an English-language booking service. Other Russian-language services include UFS (www.ufs-online.ru/rzhd/getInitParams.aspx) and Tutu (www.tutu.ru), which enables you to look up all train times, including those of elektrichka (local services) and to book airline tickets.
Sites in English, all with offices in Moscow:
- Your Train (www.poezda.net/en) Uses the CIS railway timetable search system, which partners with Bilet.ru.
- Russian Rails (916-202 6070; www.russianrails.com)
- Trains Russia.com (888-263 0023 in US, 495-225 5012 in Moscow; www.trainsrussia.com/en/travels) Authorised US agent for RZD. Tickets are issued in their Moscow office and can be picked up there or delivered to any address in Moscow for $15, to any Moscow airport or rail station for $30 or sent via international DHL delivery to your home address.
- VisitRussia.com (800-755 3080 in US; www.visitrussia.com)
HOW TO BUY AND READ YOUR TICKET
When buying a ticket in Russia, it’s a good idea to arrive at the station or travel agency prepared. If you don’t speak Russian, have someone who does write down for you, the following information in Cyrillic:
- How many tickets you require
- Your destination
- What class of ticket
- The preferred date of travel and time of day for departure. Use ordinary (Arabic) numerals for the day and Roman numerals for the month.
Also bring your passport; you’ll be asked for it so that its number and your name can be printed on your ticket. The ticket and passport will be matched up by the provodnitsa (female carriage attendant) before you’re allowed on the train – make sure the ticket-seller gets these details correct.
Tickets are printed by computer and come with a duplicate. Shortly after you’ve boarded the train the provodnitsa will come around and collect the tickets: sometimes they will take both copies and give you one back just before your final destination; sometimes they will leave you with the copy. It will have been ripped slightly to show it’s been used. It’s a good idea to hang on to this ticket, especially if you’re hopping on and off trains, since it provides evidence of how long you’ve been in a particular place if you’re stopped by police.
Sometimes tickets are also sold with separate chits for insurance in the event of a fatal accident (this is a small payment, usually less than R30) for linen and for some or all meals. The following is a guide for deciphering the rest of your Russian train ticket.
Train number – the lower the number, the higher the standard and the price; the best trains are under 100. Odd- numbered trains head towards Moscow; even ones head east, away from the capital.
Train type
Departure date – day and month
Departure time – always in Moscow time
Carriage number and class: Л = two-bed SV, М = four-bed SV, К = kupe, П = platskartny, О = obshchiy
Supplement for class of ticket above platskartny
Cost for platskartny ticket
Number of people travelling on ticket
Type of passenger: полный (polny, adult); детский (detsky, child); студенческий (studenchesky, student)
From/to
Bed number – if this is blank, the provodnitsa will allocate a bed on boarding
Passport number and name of passenger
Total cost of ticket
Tax and service fee
Arrival date
Arrival time – always Moscow time for long-distance trains
Bookings cannot be made any earlier than 45 days before the date of departure. You’d be wise to buy well in advance over the busy summer months and holiday periods such as New Year and early May, when securing berths at short notice on certain trains can be difficult. Tickets for key trains on the busy Moscow–St Petersburg route can also be difficult to come by, although those with flexible options should be able to find something.
Even if you’re told a particular service is sold out, it still may be possible to get on the train by speaking with the chief provodnitsa (see the boxed text, Click here). Tell her your destination, offer the face ticket price first and move slowly upwards from there. You can usually come to some sort of agreement.
Tickets for suburban trains are often sold at separate windows or from an avtomat (automatic ticket machine). A table beside the machine tells you which price zone your destination is in.
RZD’s rules allow passengers to break their journey once (for not more than 10 days) on any route, but the bureaucracy involved is off-putting, even to those who speak good Russian and have plenty of time on their hands. Hence, if you are travelling from, say, Moscow to Vladivostok, and plan on spending a night or two in Nizhny Novgorod and Irkutsk, you’ll need three separate tickets: Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod–Irkutsk and Irkutsk–Vladivostok. The tickets will all be for a specific berth on a specific train on a specified day.
Long Distances
The regular long-distance service is a skory poezd (fast train). It rarely gets up enough speed to really merit the ‘fast’ label. The best skory trains often have names, eg the Rossiya (the Moscow to Vladivostok service) and the Baikal (the Moscow to Irkutsk service). These ‘name trains’, or firmeny poezda, generally have cleaner cars, polite(r) attendants and more-convenient arrival and departure hours; they sometimes also have fewer stops, more first-class accommodation, and functioning restaurants.
A passazhirsky poezd (passenger train) is an intercity train, found mostly on routes of 1000km or less. Journeys on these can take rather longer, as the trains clank from one small town to the next. However, they are inexpensive, and often well timed to allow an overnight sleep between neighbouring cities. Avoid trains numbered over 900. These are primarily baggage or postal services and are appallingly slow, often sitting in stations for several hours.
Short Distances
A prigorodny poezd (suburban train), commonly nicknamed an elektrichka, is a local service linking a city with its suburbs or nearby towns, or groups of adjacent towns – they are often useful for day trips, but can be fearfully crowded. There’s no need to book ahead for these – just buy your ticket and go. In bigger stations there may be separate timetables, in addition to prigorodny zal (the usual name for ticket halls) and platforms for these trains.
Timetables
Timetables are posted in stations and are revised twice a year. It’s vital to note that the whole Russian rail network runs mostly on Moscow time, so timetables and station clocks from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok will be written in and set to Moscow time. The only general exception is suburban rail services, which may be listed in local time – it’s best to check this.
Most stations have an information window; expect the attendant to speak only Russian and to give a bare minimum of information. Sometimes you may have to pay a small fee (around R10) for information. For ways to crack the timetable code on your own, see the boxed text, Click here. Online timetables are available through www.poezda.net and the sites mentioned in the boxed text, Click here.
Classes
In Europe and America people travel in a train fully aware that it belongs either to a state or company and that their ticket grants them only temporary occupation and certain restricted rights. In Russia people just take them over.
Laurens van der Post,
Journey into Russia
READING A TRAIN TIMETABLE
Russian train timetables vary from place to place but generally list a destination; train number; category of train; frequency of service; and time of departure and arrival, in Moscow time unless otherwise noted (see the following information on arrival and departure times).
Trains in smaller city stations generally begin somewhere else, so you’ll see a starting point and a destination on the timetable. For example, when catching a train from Yekaterinburg to Irkutsk, the timetable may list Moscow as the point of origin and Irkutsk as the destination. The following are a few key points to look out for.
Number – Номер (nomer). The higher the number of a train, the slower it is; anything over 900 is likely to be a mail train.
Category – Скорый Пассажирский Почтово-багажный Пригородный (Skory, Passazhirsky, Pochtovo-bagazhny, Prigorodny – and various abbreviations thereof). These are train categories and refer, respectively, to fast, passenger, post-cargo and suburban trains. There may also be the name of the train, usually in Russian quotation marks, eg ‘Россия’ (‘Rossiya’).
Frequency – Ежедневно (yezhednevno, daily); чётные (chyotnye, even-numbered dates); нечётные (nechyotnye, odd-numbered dates); отменён (otmenyon, cancelled). All of these, as well, can appear in various abbreviations, notably еж, ч, не, and отмен. Days of the week are listed usually as numbers (where 1 is Monday and 7 Sunday) or as abbreviations of the name of the day (Пон, Вт, Ср, Чт, Пт, С and Вск are, respectively, Monday to Sunday). Remember that time-zone differences can affect these days. So in Chita (Moscow +6hr) a train timetabled at 23.20 on Tuesday actually leaves 5.20am on Wednesday. In months with an odd number of days, two odd days follow one another (eg 31 May, 1 June). This throws out trains working on an alternate-day cycle so if travelling near month’s end pay special attention to the hard-to-decipher footnotes on a timetable. For example, ‘27/V – 3/VI Ч’ means that from 27 May to 3 June the train runs on even dates. On some trains, frequency depends on the time of year, in which case details are usually given in similar abbreviated small print: eg ‘27/VI – 31/VIII Ч; 1/IX – 25/VI 2, 5’ means that from 27 June to 31 August the train runs on even dates, while from 1 September to 25 June it runs on Tuesday and Friday.
Arrival & Departure Times – Corresponding trains running in opposite directions on the same route may appear on the same line of the timetable. In this case you may find route entries like время отправления с конечного пункта (vremya otpravlenia s konechnogo punkta), or the time the return train leaves its station of origin. Most train times are given in a 24-hour time format, and almost always in Moscow time (Московское время, Moskovskoye vremya). But suburban trains are usually marked in local time (местное время, mestnoe vremya). From here on it gets tricky (as though the rest wasn’t), so don’t confuse the following:
- время отправления (vremya otpravleniya) Time of departure.
- время отправления с начального пункта (vremya otpravleniya s nachalnogo punkta) Time of departure from the train’s starting point.
- время прибытия (vremya pribytiya) Time of arrival at the station you’re in.
- время прибытия на конечный пункт (vremya pribytiya v konechny punkt) Time of arrival at the destination.
- время в пути (vremya v puti) Duration of the journey.
Distance – You may sometimes see the растояние (rastoyaniye) – distance in kilometres from the point of departure – on the timetable as well. These are rarely accurate and usually refer to the kilometre distance used to calculate the fare. Note that if you want to calculate where you are while on a journey, keep a close eye out for the small, black-and-white kilometre posts generally on the southern side of the track. These mark the distance to and from Moscow. In between each kilometre marker are smaller posts counting down roughly every 100m. The distances on train timetables don’t always correspond to these marker posts (usually because the timetable distances are the ones used to calculate fares).
Russians have the knack of making themselves very much at home on trains. This often means that they’ll be travelling with plenty of luggage. It also means inevitable juggling of the available space in all classes of compartment.
In all but local trains there’s a luggage bin underneath each of the lower berths that will hold a medium-sized backpack or small suitcase. There’s also enough space beside the bin to squeeze in another medium- sized bag. Above the doorway (in 1st and 2nd class) or over the upper bunks (in 3rd class) there’s room to accommodate a couple more rucksacks.
In all classes of carriage with sleeping accommodation, if you’ve not already paid for a pack of bedding linen and face towels (called pastil) in your ticket price, the provodnitsa (the female carriage attendant; see the boxed text, below) will offer it to you for a small charge, typically around R60. In 1st class the bed is usually made up already.
1st CLASS/SV
Most often called SV (which is short for spalny vagon, or sleeping wagon), 1st-class compartments are also called myagky (soft class) or lyux. They are the same size as 2nd class but have only two berths, so there’s more room and more privacy for double the cost. Some 1st-class compartments also have TVs on which it’s possible to watch videos or DVDs supplied by the provodnitsa for a small fee (there’s nothing to stop you from bringing your own, although they’ll need to work on a Russian DVD player). You can also unplug the TV and plug in your computer or other electrical equipment. These carriages have the advantage of having only half as many people queuing to use the toilet every morning. A couple of special services between Moscow and St Petersburg and Moscow and Kazan offer luxury SV compartments each with their own shower and toilet.
2ND CLASS/KUPE
The compartments in a kupeyny (2nd class, also called ‘compartmentalised’ carriage) – commonly shortened to kupe – are the standard accommodation on all long-distance trains. These carriages are divided into nine enclosed compartments, each with four reasonably comfortable berths, a fold-down table and just enough room between the bunks to turn around.
In every carriage there’s also one half-sized compartment with just two berths. This is usually occupied by the provodnitsa, or reserved for railway employees, but there’s a slim chance that you may end up in it, particularly if you do a deal directly with a provodnitsa for a train ticket.
3RD CLASS/PLATSKARTNY
A reserved-place platskartny carriage, sometimes also called zhyostky (‘hard class’) and usually abbreviated to platskart, is essentially a dorm carriage sleeping 54. The bunks are uncompartmentalised and are arranged in blocks of four down one side of the corridor and in twos on the other, with the lower bunk on the latter side converting to a table and chairs during the day.
If you don’t mind the lack of privacy, we recommend platskart. They’re ideal for one-night journeys. In summer the lack of compartment walls means they’re not usually as stuffy as a kupe can be. Many travellers (women in particular) find platskart a better option than being cooped up with three (possibly drunken) Russian men. It’s also a great way to meet ordinary Russians. What is likely to clinch the deal is that platskart tickets cost half to two-thirds the price of a 2nd-class berth.
However, on multiday journeys some platskart carriages can begin to resemble a refugee camp, with clothing strung between bunks, a great swapping of bread, fish and jars of tea, and babies sitting on potties while their snot-nosed siblings tear up and down the corridor. Only the hardy would want to do Moscow to Vladivostok or a similar nonstop journey this way.
SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED
On any long-distance Russian train journey you’ll soon learn who’s in charge: the provodnitsa. Though sometimes male (provodniks), these carriage attendants are usually women. Some of them sport the most distinctive hairdos you’ll come across this side of a drag queen convention.
Apart from checking your ticket before boarding the train, doling out linen, and shaking you awake in the middle of the night when your train arrives, the provodnitsa’s job is to keep her carriage spick-and-span (most are very diligent about this) and to make sure the samovar is always fired up with hot water. They will have cups, plates and cutlery to borrow, if you need them, and can provide drinks and snacks for a small price; some have even been known to cook up meals and offer them around.
On long journeys the provodnitsa works in a team of two; one will be working while the other is resting. Butter them up the right way and your journey will be all the more pleasant.
If you do travel platskart, it’s worth requesting specific numbered seats when booking your ticket. The ones to avoid are 1 to 4, 33 to 38, 53 and 54, found at each end of the carriage, close to the samovar and toilets, where people are constantly coming and going. Also note that 39 to 52 are the doubles with the bunk that converts to a table.
4TH CLASS/OBSHCHIY
Obshchiy (general) is unreserved. On long-distance trains the obshchiy carriage looks the same as a platskartny one but, when full, eight people are squeezed into each unenclosed compartment, so there’s no room to lie down. Suburban trains normally have only obshchiy class, which in this case means bench-type seating. On a few daytime-only intercity trains there are higher grade obshchiy carriages with more-comfortable, reserved chairs.
Costs
Unless otherwise specified, we quote 2nd-class (kupe) fares. Expect 1st-class (SV) fares to be double this, and 3rd-class (platskartny) to be about 40% less. Children under five travel free if they share a berth with an adult; otherwise, children under 10 pay a reduced fare for their own berth.
Complicating matters is Russian Railways’ policy of varying fares by the season. At peak travel times, eg early July to early August and around key holidays such as Easter and New Year, fares can be between 12% and 16% higher than the regular fare. The inverse happens at slack times of the year such as early January to March when there are discounts on fares. On 9 May (Victory Day) Russian Railways have also been known to discount fares to half price. On skory and firmeny trains it’s also possible to have two grades of kupe fare: with or without meals.
Fares quoted in this book were collected between March and July 2008, so please take them as a general guide only.
Dangers & Annoyances
Make certain on all sleeper trains that your baggage is safely stowed, preferably in the steel bins beneath the lower bunks. In 1st- and 2nd-class compartments you can lock the door but remember that it can be unlocked with a rather simple key; on the left side of the door, about three-quarters of the way up, there’s a small steel switch that flips up, blocking the door from opening more than a few centimetres. Flip this switch up and make sure to stuff a piece of cork or equivalent in the cavity so it can’t be flipped back down by a bent coat hanger. At station halts it’s also a good idea to ask the provodnitsa to lock your compartment while you go down to stretch your legs on the platform. Ironically, in cheaper platskartny carriages your unguarded possessions are often safer as there are more people around to keep watch.
Generally, Russians love speaking with foreigners; on long train rides, they love drinking with them as well. Avoiding this is not always as easy as it would seem. Choose your drinking partners very carefully on trains, and only drink from new bottles and only when you can watch the seal being broken.
Left Luggage
Many train stations have a left-luggage room (камера хранения, kamera khranenia) or left-luggage lockers (автоматические камеры хранения, avtomaticheskiye kamery khranenia). These are generally secure, but make sure you note down the room’s opening and closing hours and, if in doubt, establish how long you can leave your stuff for. Typical costs are around R100 per bag per day (according to size) or R100 per locker.
Here is how to work the left-luggage lockers (they’re generally the same everywhere). Be suspicious of people who offer to help you work them, above all when it comes to selecting your combination.
- Buy two zhetony (tokens) from the attendant.
- Put your stuff in an empty locker.
- Decide on a combination of one Russian letter and three numbers and write it down.
- Set the combination on the inside of the locker door.
- Put one token in the slot.
- Close the locker.
To open the locker, set your combination on the outside of your locker door. Note that even though it seems as if the knobs on the outside of the door should correspond directly with those on the inside, the letter is always the left-most knob, followed by three numbers, on both the inside and the outside. After you’ve set your combination, put a token in the slot, wait a second or two for the electrical humming sound and then pull open the locker.
On the Journey
There is nothing quite like the smell of a Russian train: coal smoke, coffee, garlic, sausage, sweat, vodka and dozens of other elements combine to form an aroma that’s so distinctive it will be permanently etched in your sensual memory.
Smoking is forbidden in the compartments, but permitted in the spaces at the ends of the cars, past the toilets.
Sleeping compartments are mixed sex; when women indicate that they want to change clothing or get out of bed, men go out and loiter in the corridor. Be aware that toilets can be locked long before and after station stops (there’s a timetable on the door) and that except on a very few trains there are no shower facilities – improvise with a sponge, flannel or short length of garden hose that you can attach to the tap for a dousing.
FOOD & DRINK
It’s a safe bet you won’t go hungry. On long trips Russian travellers bring great bundles of food that they spread out and, as dictated by railway etiquette, offer to each other; you should do the same. Always remember to bring along bottled water for the trip, although every sleeping carriage has a samovar filled with boiling water that’s safe to drink and is ideal for hot drinks or instant noodles and porridge.
The quality of food in dining cars varies widely. Rather than for eating they become the place to hang out, drink beer and play cards, particularly on the long trans-Siberian trip. Note also on the trans-Mongolian and trans-Manchurian trains that the dining cars are changed at each border, so en route to Beijing you get Russian, Chinese and possibly Mongolian versions. Occasionally, between the Russian border and Ulaan Baatar there is no dining car.
A meal in a restaurant car can cost anything from R400 to R1000. If you don’t fancy what’s on offer, there’s often a table of pot noodles, savoury snacks, chocolate, alcohol, juice and the like being peddled by the staff. They sometimes make the rounds of the carriages, too, with a trolley of snacks and drinks. Prices are typically a little more than you’d pay at the kiosks or to the babushkas at the station halts.
Shopping for supplies at the stations is part of the fun of any long-distance Russian train trip. The choice of items is often excellent, with fresh milk, ice cream, grilled chicken, boiled potatoes, home cooking such as pelmeni (Russian-style ravioli dumplings) or pirozhki (savoury pies), buckets of forest berries and smoked fish all on offer. Prices are low and it’s a good idea to have plenty of small change on hand.
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Health
CONTENTS
AVAILABILITY & COST OF HEALTH CARE
BEFORE YOU GO
Prevention is the key to staying healthy. A little planning, particularly for preexisting illnesses, will save trouble later. See your dentist before a long trip, carry a spare pair of contact lenses and glasses, and take your optical prescription with you. Bring medications in original, labelled containers. A letter from your physician describing your medical conditions and medications, including generic names, is also a good idea. If carrying syringes or needles, have a physician’s letter documenting their medical necessity.
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INSURANCE
Good emergency medical treatment is not cheap in Russia, so take out a policy that covers you for the worst possible scenario, such as an accident requiring an emergency flight home. Find out in advance if your insurance plan will make payments directly to providers (the preferable option) or reimburse you later for overseas health expenditures.
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RECOMMENDED VACCINATIONS
No vaccinations are required for travel to Russia, but the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that all travellers should be covered for diphtheria, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella and polio, regardless of their destination. Since most vaccines don’t produce immunity until at least two weeks after they’re given, visit a physician at least six weeks before departure.
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INTERNET RESOURCES
The WHO’s publication International Travel and Health is revised annually and is available online at www.who.int/ith/en.
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IN TRANSIT
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DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS (DVT)
Blood clots may form in the legs during plane flights, chiefly because of prolonged immobility. The longer the flight, the greater the risk. The chief symptom of DVT is swelling or pain of the foot, ankle or calf, usually but not always on just one side. If a blood clot travels to the lungs it may cause chest pain and breathing difficulties. Travellers with any of these symptoms should immediately seek medical attention.
To prevent DVT on long flights you should walk about the cabin, contract the leg muscles while sitting, drink plenty of fluids and avoid alcohol. If you have previously had DVT speak with your doctor about preventive medications (usually given in the form of an injection just prior to travel).
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JET LAG & MOTION SICKNESS
To avoid jet lag (common when crossing more than five time zones) try drinking plenty of nonalcoholic fluids and eating light meals. Upon arrival, get exposure to natural sunlight and readjust your schedule (for meals, sleep and so on) as soon as possible.
TRAVEL HEALTH WEBSITES
It’s usually a good idea to consult your government’s travel health website before departure, if one is available:
Australia www.smartraveller.gov.au
Canada www.hc-sc.gc.ca
UK www.dh.gov.uk
US www.cdc.gov/travel
Antihistamines such as prochlorperazine (Phenergan), dimenhydrinate (Dramamine), and meclizine (Antivert, Bonine) are usually the first choice for treating motion sickness. The main side effect of these medications is drowsiness. A herbal alternative is ginger.
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IN RUSSIA
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AVAILABILITY & COST OF HEALTH CARE
Medical care is readily available across Russia but the quality can vary enormously. The biggest cities and towns have the widest choice of places, with Moscow and St Petersburg well served by sparkling international-style clinics that charge handsomely for their (admittedly, generally excellent and professional) service: expect to pay around US$100 for an initial consultation.
Some foreigners, Brits for instance, are theoretically entitled to free treatment in state-run noncommercial clinics, according to bilateral agreements from Soviet times. In practice this means that in Moscow they might be treated for free in cases of major injury. In remote areas doctors won’t usually charge travellers, although it’s recommend to give them a present – such as a bottle of Armenian cognac, chocolate or just money.
In some cases, medical supplies required in hospital may need to be bought from a pharmacy and nursing care may be limited. Note that there can be an increased risk of hepatitis B and HIV transmission via poorly sterilised equipment.
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INFECTIOUS DISEASES
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Rabies
Spread by infected animals through bites or licks on broken skin, rabies is always fatal unless treated promptly. Animal handlers should be vaccinated, as should those travelling to remote areas where a reliable source of postbite vaccine is not available within 24 hours.
Tickborne Encephalitis
Spread by tick bites, tickborne encephalitis is a serious infection of the brain and vaccination is advised for those in risk areas – which, from May to July, is anywhere in rural Russia – who are unable to avoid tick bites (such as campers, forestry workers and walkers). Two doses of vaccine will give a year’s protection; three doses will protect for up to three years. For more information see the website www.masta.org/tickalert.
Typhoid & Hepatitis A
Both of these diseases are spread through contaminated food (particularly shellfish) and water. Typhoid can cause septicaemia (blood poisoning); hepatitis A causes liver inflammation and jaundice. Neither is usually fatal but recovery can be prolonged.
TRAVELLER’S DIARRHOEA
To prevent diarrhoea, avoid tap water unless it has been boiled, filtered or chemically disinfected (with iodine tablets) and steer clear of ice. Only eat fresh fruits or vegetables if they’re cooked or peeled; be wary of dairy products that might contain unpasteurised milk. Eat food that is heated through and avoid buffet-style meals. If a restaurant is full of locals the food is probably safe.
If you develop diarrhoea, be sure to drink plenty of fluids, preferably an oral rehydration solution (eg Dioralyte). A few loose stools don’t require treatment, but if you start having more than four or five stools a day, you should start taking an antibiotic (usually a quinolone drug) and an antidiarrhoeal agent (such as Loperamide). If diarrhoea is bloody, persists for more than 72 hours or is accompanied by fever, shaking, chills or severe abdominal pain, seek medical attention.
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ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS
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Altitude Sickness
Lack of oxygen at high altitudes (over 2500m) affects most people to some extent. As far as Russia is concerned only people climbing mountains in the Caucasus, the Altai or Kamchatka need be concerned.
Symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), such as headache, lethargy, dizziness, difficulty sleeping and loss of appetite, usually develop in the first 24 hours at altitude but may be delayed for up to three weeks. There is no hard-and-fast rule as to what is too high: AMS has been fatal at 3000m, although 3500m to 4500m is the usual range.
Treat mild symptoms by resting at the same altitude until recovery, usually a day or two. Paracetamol or aspirin can be taken for headaches. If symptoms persist or become worse, however, immediate descent is necessary; even 500m can help. Drug treatments should never be used to avoid descent or to enable further ascent.
Diamox (acetazolamide) reduces the headache of AMS and helps the body acclimatise to the lack of oxygen. It is only available on prescription and those who are allergic to the sulphonamide antibiotics may also be allergic to Diamox.
In the UK, fact sheets are available from the British Mountaineering Council (www.thebmc.co.uk). Also check out the Travel Health Zone website (www.travelhealthzone.com/away/altitude/).
Heat Exhaustion & Heat Stroke
Best avoided by drinking water on a constant basis, heat exhaustion occurs following excessive fluid loss with inadequate replacement of fluids and salt. Symptoms include headache, dizziness and tiredness. Dehydration is already happening by the time you feel thirsty. To treat heat exhaustion, replace lost fluids by drinking water and/or fruit juice, and cool the body with cold water and fans. Treat salt loss with salty fluids such as soup or Bovril, or add a little more table salt to foods than usual.
Heat stroke is much more serious, resulting in irrational and hyperactive behaviour and eventually loss of consciousness and death. Rapid cooling by spraying the body with water and fanning is ideal. Emergency fluid and electrolyte replacement by intravenous drip is recommended.
Hypothermia & Frostbite
Proper preparation will reduce the risks of getting hypothermia. Even on a hot day in the mountains the weather can change rapidly; carry waterproof garments and warm layers, and inform others of your route.
Acute hypothermia follows a sudden drop of temperature over a short time. Chronic hypothermia is caused by a gradual loss of temperature over hours.
Hypothermia starts with shivering, loss of judgment and clumsiness. Unless rewarming occurs, the sufferer deteriorates into apathy, confusion and coma. Prevent further heat loss by seeking shelter, warm dry clothing, hot sweet drinks and shared bodily warmth.
Frostbite is caused by freezing and subsequent damage to bodily extremities. As it develops the skin blisters and then becomes black. To prevent frosbite, wear adequate clothing, stay dry, keep well hydrated and ensure adequate calorie intake. Treatment involves rapid rewarming. Avoid refreezing and rubbing the affected areas.
Insect Bites & Stings
TICKS
Always check all over your body if you have been walking through potentially tick-infested areas such as forests and fields – particularly in Siberia and the Russian Far East – as ticks can cause skin infections and other more serious diseases. If you find a tick attached, press down around its head with tweezers, grab the head and gently pull upwards. Avoid pulling the rear of the body as this may squeeze the tick’s gut contents through the attached mouth parts into the skin, increasing the risk of infection. Smearing chemicals on the tick will not make it let go and is not recommended.
LYME DISEASE
This is a tick-transmitted infection that may be acquired throughout the region. It usually begins with a spreading rash at the site of the tick bite, accompanied by fever, headache, extreme fatigue, aching joints and muscles and mild neck-stiffness. If untreated, these symptoms usually resolve over several weeks, but over subsequent months disorders of the nervous system, heart and joints may develop. There is no vaccination against the disease. Treatment should be sought as soon as possible for best results.
MOSQUITOES
A problem in summer all across Russia, mosquitoes here may not carry malaria but can cause irritation and infected bites. Use a DEET-based insect repellent.
From May to September in rural areas bordering Mongolia, China and North Korea, take extra care as mosquito bites can cause Japanese encephalitis. If visiting rural areas you should consider immunisation.
LEECHES
You’ll often find leeches in damp forest conditions; they attach themselves to your skin to suck your blood. Trekkers often get them on their legs or in their boots. Salt or a lighted cigarette end will make them fall off. Do not pull them off, as the bite is then more likely to become infected. Clean and apply pressure if the point of attachment is bleeding. An insect repellent may keep them away.
Snake Bites
Avoid getting bitten – do not walk barefoot or stick your hand into holes or cracks. Keep an eye out for snakes in forest areas, particularly in Western European Russia and the Russian Far East. Half of those bitten by venomous snakes are not actually injected with poison (envenomed). If bitten, do not panic. Immobilise the bitten limb with a splint (eg a stick) and apply a bandage over the site firmly, similar to a bandage over a sprain. Do not apply a tourniquet, or cut or suck the bite. Get the victim to medical help as soon as possible so that antivenin can be given if necessary.
Water
It is best to assume that tap water in Russia isn’t safe to drink, so we recommend that you stick to bottled water, boil water for 10 minutes or use water purification tablets or a filter. Do not drink water from rivers or lakes as it may contain bacteria or viruses that can cause diarrhoea or vomiting.
TRAVELLING WITH CHILDREN
All travellers with children should know how to treat minor ailments and when to seek medical treatment. Make sure the children’s routine vaccinations are up to date, and discuss possible travel vaccines well before departure (some vaccines are not suitable for babies aged under a year).
If your child has vomiting or diarrhoea, lost fluid and salts must be replaced. It may be helpful to take rehydration powders with you, to mix with boiled water.
Children should be encouraged to avoid and mistrust any dogs or other mammals because of the risk of rabies and other diseases. Any bite, scratch or lick from a warm-blooded, furry animal should immediately be thoroughly cleaned. If there is any possibility that the animal is infected with rabies, immediate medical assistance should be sought.
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WOMEN’S HEALTH
Tampons and sanitary pads are readily available across Russia.
Travelling during pregnancy is usually possible but always consult your doctor before planning your trip. The most risky times for travel are during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and after 30 weeks.
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SEXUAL HEALTH
Condoms are available across Russia from all pharmacies and certainly should be used: see HIV & AIDS, below. Emergency contraception (ie the ‘morning-after pill’, available from doctors by prescription) is most effective if taken within 24 hours after unprotected sex. The International Planned Parent Federation (www.ippf.org) can advise about the availability of contraception in different countries. When buying condoms, look for a European CE mark, which means they have been rigorously tested, and then keep them in a cool, dry place or they may crack and perish.
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HIV & AIDS
Infection with HIV may lead to AIDS, a fatal disease. According to a report submitted to the UK by the Russian government the total number of people registered with HIV in the country in 2007 was 416,113. Most experts, however, believe the true figure is at least 1 million and rising rapidly. Unicef reports that almost 100 new cases of HIV are registered every day, that 1% to 2% of adults are HIV-positive, that 80% of those infected are 15 to 30 years old and that 43% of all newly registered HIV cases are women of childbearing age (www.unicef.org/russia/hiv_aids_1784.html).
Any exposure to blood, blood products or body fluids may put the individual at risk. HIV/AIDS is often transmitted through sexual contact or dirty needles – vaccinations, acupuncture, tattooing and body piercing can be potentially as dangerous as intravenous drug use. It can also spread through infected blood transfusions; Russia’s record of blood screening is not perfect. If you need an injection, ask to see the syringe unwrapped in front of you, or take a needle and syringe pack with you.
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Language
CONTENTS
Just about everyone in Russia speaks Russian, though there are also dozens of other languages spoken by ethnic minorities. Russian and most of the other languages are written in variants of the Cyrillic alphabet. It’s relatively easy to find English speakers in St Petersburg and Moscow, but not so easy in small cities and towns.
Russian grammar may be daunting, but your travels will be far more interesting if you at least take the time to learn the Cyrillic alphabet (Click here), so that you can read maps and street signs. For a more in-depth handling of Russian, grab a copy of Lonely Planet’s Russian Phrasebook.
TRANSLITERATION
There’s no ideal system for going from Cyrillic to Roman letters; the more faithful a system is to pronunciation, the more complicated it becomes. The transliteration system used in this language guide differs from that used in the rest of this book (which follows the US Library of Congress System I – good for deciphering printed words and rendering proper names); it’s intended to assist you in pronouncing Russian letters and sounds, with an emphasis on practicality. Most letters are transliterated in accordance with the sounds given in the alphabet table. The combination кс becomes ‘x’.
Italicised syllables in the transliterations indicate where the stress falls in a word.
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PRONUNCIATION
The ‘voiced’ consonants (ie when the vocal cords vibrate) б, в, г, д, ж, and з are not voiced at the end of words (eg хлеб, ‘bread’, is pronounced khlyep) or before voiceless consonants. The г in the common adjective endings -его and -ого is pronounced ‘v’; ничего, for example, is pronounced ‘ni·chi·vo’.
Two letters have no sound but are used to modify the pronunciation of other letters. A consonant followed by the ‘soft sign’ ь is spoken with the tongue flat against the palate, as if followed by a faint ‘y’. The ‘hard sign’ ъ is rarely seen; it occurs after consonants and indicates a slight pause before the next vowel.
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ACCOMMODATION
How much is a room?
Do you have a cheaper room?
What’s the address?
Could you write it down, please?
THE RUSSIAN CYRILLIC ALPHABET
Cyrillic Roman Pronunciation
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CONVERSATION & ESSENTIALS
Words you’re sure to use are the universal ‘hello’, здравствуйте (zdrast·vuy·tye), and пожалуйста (pa·zhal·sta), the word for ‘please’ (commonly included in all polite requests), ‘you’re welcome’, ‘pardon me’, ‘after you’ and more.
Can you help me?
Помогите, пожалуйста? pa·ma·gi·tye pa·zhal·sta
When introducing yourself, use your first name, or first and last name. Russians often address each other by first name plus patronymic, a middle name based on their father’s first name – eg Natalya Borisovna (Natalya, daughter of Boris), Pavel Nikolayevich (Pavel, son of Nikolay).
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DIRECTIONS
House numbers are not always in step on opposite sides of the street. Russian addresses are written back-to-front, with Russia at the top of the address and the adressee at the bottom.
SIGNS
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ENTERTAINMENT
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EMERGENCIES
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HEALTH
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LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES
Do you speak English?
Вы говорите по-английски?
vi ga·va·ri·tye pa·an·gli·ski
Does anyone (here) speak English?
Кто-нибудь говорит по-английски?
kto·ni·bud’ ga·va·rit pa·an·gli·ski
I don’t speak Russian.
Я не говорю по-русски.
ya nye ga·va·ryu pa rus·ki
I understand.
Я понимаю.
ya pa·ni·ma·yu
I don’t understand.
Я не понимаю.
ya nye pa·ni·ma·yu
What does ‘пуп’ mean?
Что обозначает слово ‘пуп’?
shto a·baz·na·cha·it slo·va pup
How do you say … in Russian?
Как будет … по-русски?
kak bu·dit … pa·ru·ski
Could you write it down, please?
Запишите, пожалуйста?
za·pi·shih·tye pa·zhal·sta
Can you show me (on the map)?
Покажите мне, пожалуйста (на карте).
pa·ka·zhih·tye mnye pa·zhal·sta (na kar·tye)
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NUMBERS
How much/many?
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PAPERWORK
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QUESTION WORDS
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SHOPPING & SERVICES
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TIME & DATES
Dates are given day-month-year, with the month usually in Roman numerals. Days of the week are often represented by numbers in timetables (Monday is 1).
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TRANSPORT
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Public Transport
When does it leave?
Когда отправляется?
kag·da at·prav·lya·it·sa
How long does it take to get to (Volgograd)?
Сколько времени нужно ехать до (Волгограда)?
skol’·ka vrye·mi·ni nuzh·na ye·khat’ da (vol·ga·gra·da)
How long will it be delayed?
На сколько он опаздывает?
na skol’·ka on a·paz·dih·va·yet
Private Transport
Is this the road to (Kursk)?
Эта дорога ведёт в (Курск)?
e·ta da·ro·ga vid·yot f (kursk)
Where’s a petrol station?
Где заправка?
gdye za·praf·ka
Please fill it up.
Заполните бак, пожалуйста.
za·pol·ni·tye bak pa·zhal·sta
I’d like (15) litres.
(Пятнадцать) литров, пожалуйста.
(pit·na·tsit’) li·traf pa·zhal·sta
(How long) Can I park here?
(Сколько) Здесь можно стоять?
(skol’·ka) zdyes’ mozh·na sta·yat’
Also available from Lonely Planet: Russian Phrasebook
ROAD SIGNS
Do I have to pay?
Нужно платить?
nuzh·na pla·tit’
I need a mechanic.
Мне нужен автомеханик.
mnye nu·zhihn af·ta·mi·kha·nik
The car/motorcycle has broken down (at Kursk).
Машина сломалась/Мотоцикл сломался в (Курске).
ma·shih·na sla·ma·las’/ma·ta·tsikl sla·mal·sa f (kur·skye)
I have a flat tyre.
У меня лопнула шина.
u min·ya lop·nu·la shih·na
I’ve run out of petrol.
У меня кончился бензин.
u min·ya kon·chil·sa bin·zin
TRAVEL WITH CHILDREN
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Glossary
You may encounter some of the following terms and abbreviations during your travels in Russia. See also the Language chapter (Click here).
aeroport – airport
aerovokzal – airline terminal
ail – hexagonal or tepee-shaped yurt
apteka – pharmacy
arzhaan – Tuvan sacred spring
ataman – Cossack leader
aviakassa – air-ticket office
avtobus – bus
avtomat – automatic ticket machine
avtostantsiya – bus stop
avtovokzal – bus terminal
babushka – literally, ‘grandmother’, but used generally in Russian society for all old women
BAM (Baikalo-Amurskaya Magistral) – Baikal-Amur Mainline, a trans-Siberian rail route
bankomat – automated teller machine (ATM)
banya – bathhouse
bashnya – tower
baza otdykha – literally, ‘relaxation base’; often used to describe lodges and sanatoriums
biblioteka – library
bilet – ticket
biznesmen,biznesmenka – literally, ‘businessman’, ‘businesswoman’; often used to mean a small-time operator on the fringe of the law
bolnitsa – hospital
boyar – high-ranking noble
bufet – snack bar selling cheap cold meats, boiled eggs, salads, bread, pastries etc
bulochnaya – bakery
bulvar – boulevard
buterbrod – open sandwich
byliny – epic songs
chum – tepee-shaped tent made of birch bark
CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) – an alliance (proclaimed in 1991) of independent states comprising the former USSR republics (less the three Baltic States); Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv (SNG)
dacha – country cottage, summer house
datsan – Buddhist monastery
deklaratsia – customs declaration
detsky – child’s, children’s
DetskyMir – Children’s World, name for many toy shops
devushki – young women
dezhurnaya – woman looking after a particular floor of a hotel
dolina – valley
dom – house
duma – parliament
dvorets – palace
dvoretskultury – literally, ‘culture palace’; a meeting, social, entertainment, education centre, usually for a group such as railway workers, children etc
elektrichka – suburban train
elitny – elite, typically used an adjective to describe an exclusive place
etazh – floor (storey)
finift – luminous enamelled metal miniatures
firmeny poezda – trains with names (eg Rossiya); these are generally nicer trains
FSB (Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti) – the Federal Security Service, the successor to the KGB
GAI (Gosudarstvennaya Avtomobilnaya Inspektsia) – the State Automobile Inspectorate, aka the traffic police
gallereya – gallery
gastronom – speciality food shop
gavan – harbour
gazeta – newspaper
glasnost – literally, ‘openness’; the free-expression aspect of the Gorbachev reforms
glavpochtamt – main post office
gora – mountain
gorod – city, town
gostinitsa – hotel
gostiny dvor – trading arcade
Gulag (Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerey) – Main Administration for Camps; the Soviet network of concentration camps
GUM (Gosudarstvenny Univermag) – State Department Store
imeni – ‘named after’ (often used in names of theatres and libraries, eg Moscow’s Konsertny zal imeni Chaykovskogo is the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall)
inostranets – foreigner
Intourist – old Soviet State Committee for Tourism, now privatised, split up and in competition with hundreds of other travel agencies
istochnik – mineral spring
izba – traditional, single-storey wooden cottage
kafe – café
kamenybaba – standing stone idol
kamerakhranenia – left-luggage office
kanal – canal
karta – map
kassa – ticket office, cashier’s desk
kater – small ferry
Kazak – Cossack
kemping – camp site; often has small cabins as well as tent sites
KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) – Committee of State Security
khleb – bread
khokhloma – red, black and gold lacquered pine bowls
khöömei – Tuvan throat-singing
khram – church
khuresh – Tuvan-style of wrestling
kino – cinema
kleshchi – ticks
kniga – book
kokoshniki – colourful gables and tiles laid in patterns
kolkhoz – collective farm
komnatyotdykha – resting rooms found at all major train stations and several smaller ones
Komsomol – Communist Youth League
kopek – kopeck; the smallest, worthless unit of Russian currency
kordony – forest lodges, often found in national parks
korpus – building (ie one of several in a complex)
kreml – kremlin, a town’s fortified stronghold
kulak – a peasant wealthy enough to own a farm, hire labour and engage in money-lending
kupeyny, kupe – 2nd-class compartment on a train
kurgan – burial mound
kvartira – flat, apartment
lavra – senior monastery
les – forest
lyux – a kind of hotel suite, with a sitting room in addition to bedroom and bathroom; a polu-lyux suite is the less spacious version
Mafia – anyone who has anything to do with crime, from genuine gangsters to victims of their protection rackets
magazin – shop
manezh – riding school
marka – postage stamp or brand, trademark
marshrutka,marshrutnoetaxi – minibus that runs along a fixed route
mashina – car
matryoshka – set of painted wooden dolls within dolls
medovukha – honey ale
mestnoevremya – local time
mesto – place, seat
mezhdunarodny – international
militsia – police
mineralnayavoda – mineral water
monastyr – monastery
more – sea
morskoyvokzal – sea terminal
Moskovskoevremya – Moscow time
most – bridge
muzey – museum; also some palaces, art galleries and nonworking churches
muzhskoy – men’s (toilet)
naberezhnaya – embankment
nomenklatura – literally, ‘list of nominees’; the old government and Communist Party elite
novy – new
novy russky – New Russian
obed – lunch
oblast – region
obmennypunkt – exchange point (bureau, counter)
obshchiy – 4th-class place on a train
okrug – district
ostrog – fortress
ostrov – island
OVIR (Otdel Viz I Registratsii) – Department of Visas and Registration; now known under the acronym PVU, although outside Moscow OVIR is still likely to be in use
ozero – lake
palekh – enamelled wood boxes
Paskha – Easter
passazhirskypoezd – intercity stopping train
perekhod – underground walkway
pereryv – break (when shops, ticket offices, restaurants etc close for an hour or two during the day; this always happens just as you arrive)
perestroika – literally, ‘restructuring’; Mikhail Gorbachev’s efforts to revive the Soviet economy
pereulok – lane
peshchera – cave
pivo – beer
platskartny, platskart – 3rd-class place on a train
ploshchad – square
plotinka – little dam
pochta,pochtamt – post office
poezd – train
poliklinika – medical centre
polu-lyux – less spacious version of a lyux, a hotel suite with a sitting room in addition to the bedroom and bathroom
polyana – glade, clearing
posolstvo – embassy
prichal – landing, pier
prigorodny poezd – suburban train
prigorodny zal – ticket hall
produkty – food store
proezd – passage
prokat – rental
propusk – permit, pass
prospekt – avenue
provodnik(m), provodnitsa (f) – carriage attendant on a train
PVU (Passportno-Vizovoye Upravleniye) – passport and visa department, formerly OVIR (an acronym which is still likely to be in use outside Moscow)
rayon – district
rechnoy vokzal – river station
remont, na remont – closed for repairs (a sign you see all too often)
restoran – restaurant
Rozhdestvo – Russian Orthodox Christmas
rubl – rouble
rynok – market
sad – garden
samovar – an urn used to heat water for tea
sanitarnyden – literally, ‘sanitary day’; the monthly day when shops, museums, restaurants, hotel dining rooms etc shut down for cleaning
schyot – bill
schyotchik – taxi meter
selo – village
sever – north
shlagbaum – checkpoint, barrier
shosse – highway
shtuka – piece (many produce items are sold by the piece)
skorypoezd – literally, ‘fast train’; a long-distance train
SNG (Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv) – Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
sobor – cathedral
soviet – council
sovok – a contraction of sovokopniy, meaning communal person and referring to those who were born and lived during the Soviet period
spalny vagon – 1st-class place on a train
spravka – certificate
spusk – descent, slope
Sputnik – former youth-travel arm of Komsomol; now just one of the bigger tourism agencies
stanitsa – Cossack village
stary – old
stolovaya – canteen, cafeteria
taiga – northern pine, fir, spruce and larch forest
taksofon – pay telephone
talon – bus ticket, coupon
teatr – theatre
teatralnayakassa – theatre ticket office
thangka – Buddhist religious paintings
traktir – tavern
tramvay – tram
tserkov – church
TsUM (Tsentralny Univermag) – name of department store
tualet – toilet
tudai obratno – literally, ‘there and back’; return ticket
turbaza – tourist camp
ulitsa – street
univermag, universalny magazin – department store
ushchelie – gorge or valley
uzhin – supper
val – rampart
vareniki – dumplings with a variety of possible fillings
venik – birch branch
vkhod – way in, entrance
voda – water
vodnyvokzal – ferry terminal
vokzal – station
vostok – east
vykhodnoyden – day off (Saturday, Sunday and holidays)
yantar – amber
yezhednevno – every day
yug – south
yurt – nomad’s portable, round tent-house made of felt or skins stretched over a collapsible frame of wood slats
zakaz – reservation
zakaznaya – registered post
zakuski – appetisers
zal – hall, room
zaliv – gulf, bay
zamok – castle, fortress
zapad – west
zapovednik – (nature) reserve
zavtrak – breakfast
zheleznodorozhnyvokzal – train station
zhensky – women’s (toilet)
zheton – token (for metro etc)
THE AUTHORS
Simon Richmond Coordinating Author,
St Petersburg, Kaliningrad Region
After studying Russian history and politics at university, Simon’s first visit to the country was in 1994, when he wandered goggle-eyed around gorgeous St Petersburg and peeked at Lenin’s mummified corpse in Red Square. He’s since travelled the breadth of the nation, from Kamchatka in the far east to Kaliningrad in the far west, stopping off at many points in between. An award-winning writer and photographer, Simon has written about Russia for several publications, including the Russian edition of Newsweek. He’s the coauthor of the first and subsequent editions of Lonely Planet’s Trans-Siberian Railway as well as previous editions of Russia & Belarus in 2002 and 2005. Catch him online at www.simonrichmond.com.
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MARC BENNETTS Western Siberia
Initially enticed to St Petersburg by the works of Gogol and Dostoevsky, Marc later moved to Moscow, where he has lived since 1998. During that time he has followed the fortunes of Russian football, and in 2008 his book Football Dynamo: Modern Russia and the People’s Game was published. He has also written about Russia for a number of guides and magazines. Marc currently works for a Russian news agency and is researching his second book – either a vampire novel set in Siberia or a look at Russia’s changing attitudes to the West.
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GREG BLOOM Russian Caucasus
Greg cut his teeth in the former Soviet Union working as a journalist and later editor-in-chief of the Kyiv Post. He left Ukraine in 2003, but returns frequently to the region for writing assignments. Over the years he has been detained by authorities in Uzbekistan, taken a shlagbaum to the head in Kyiv, jumped out of helicopters atop volcanoes in Kamchatka and hit 100km/h in a Latvian bobsled – mostly in the service of Lonely Planet. These days Greg lives with his wife and daughter in Phnom Penh. His blogs about this and other research trips are at www.mytripjournal.com/bloomblogs.
LONELY PLANET AUTHORS
Why is our travel information the best in the world? It’s simple: our authors are independent, dedicated travellers. They don’t research using just the internet or phone, and they don’t take freebies, so you can rely on their advice being well researched and impartial. They travel widely, to all the popular spots and off the beaten track. They personally visit thousands of hotels, restaurants, cafés, bars, galleries, palaces, museums and more – and they take pride in getting all the details right, and telling it how it is. Think you can do it? Find out how at lonelyplanet.com.
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MARC DI DUCA Eastern Siberia
In 1998, after a decade of mountain biking and ale consumption in rural Bohemia, Marc decided to go large and discover what all the fuss was about beyond the Carpathians. Almost 20 extended trips to assorted corners of the former USSR later, he has learnt to converse in Ukrainian-accented Russian, acquired an insatiable thirst for kvas, downed shots with Buryatiya’s agriculture minister and frozen his gulags in Lake Baikal. Marc has updated and authored several Ukraine and Russia-related titles, most recently the Eastern Siberia chapter of this guide. When not competing for oxygen with fellow platskart passengers or counting Scythian standing stones in rural Tuva, Marc can usually be found in Sandwich, Kent, where he lives with his Kievite wife, Tanya.
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MARK ELLIOTT Northern European Russia
Mark first fell in love with Eastern Europe nearly 35 years ago when dragged most willingly to Romania by parental caravan. Since joining Prague’s 1989 Velvet Revolution he has been venturing ever further east, quickly discovering that far from being morose, enemy Soviet clones (as was their image of the day), most Russians are in fact warm, deeply hospitable, free-thinking individuals. Having crossed Siberia twice for previous editions of this book, this time Mark updated and expanded the Northern European Russia chapter, seeking out Sami reindeer herders, drinking with Norwegian businessmen and having his aura analysed by Russian mystics.
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MICHAEL KOHN Western European Russia
All those semesters of studying literature at UC Santa Barbara finally came in handy on this research trip as Michael was able to visit the homes of some of his favourite authors: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Turgenev. He now vows to start reading more Pushkin. Michael first visited Russia in 1995 and has since travelled widely in the former Soviet world. On various assignments with Lonely Planet he has stood on the shores of the shrinking Aral Sea, felt the heat of burning gas craters in Turkmenistan and infiltrated the forbidden ghost city of Agdam on the front line between Armenia and Azerbaijan. When not travelling he splits his time between Mongolia and California. He is online at www.michaelkohn.us.
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LEONID RAGOZIN Volga Region, The Urals
Leonid Ragozin devoted himself to beach dynamics when he studied geology at the Moscow State University. But for want of really nice beaches in Russia, he helped Australian gold prospectors in Siberia and sold InterRail tickets and Lonely Planet books to Russian backpackers before embarking on a career as a journalist. After eight years with the BBC, he was poached by the Russian version of Newsweek and became their foreign correspondent. In this capacity, he has coerced his superiors into sending him as far as Bhutan, Ecuador and dozens of similarly unlikely destinations, and gotten away with it. If you see a Russian boarding Bolivian Air Force One, searching for Circassians in Kosovo or celebrating St Patrick’s Day in Belfast with ex-militants, that’s probably Leonid.
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ROBERT REID Russian Far East
A Cold War child – tender and impressionable – Robert studied journalism and Russian at the University of Oklahoma and spent the ‘first summer of Russia’ (1993) studying Russian in St Petersburg and Moscow, talking about the rock bands on Echo Moscow radio, and throwing a few (now-regretted) vegetables at trams. After several years of various jobs and globetrots, he joined Lonely Planet, where he oversaw the Shoestring series from the London office. Now he writes full-time from home in Brooklyn, New York, where he keeps up his website (www.reidontravel.com), and has updated many Lonely Planet guidebooks, including Romania & Moldova, Eastern Europe and the Trans-Siberian Railway. Occasionally he makes moustache-ratio graphs with crayons.
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MARA VORHEES Moscow, Golden Ring
Mara has been travelling to Russia since the days of the Cold War and communism. She spent the first half of the 1990s learning Russian and the second half working on a foreign-aid project in the Urals. As a travel writer, she has ridden the Trans-Siberian Railway, cruised the Volga River, circled the Golden Ring and mastered the Moscow metro. Her stories about Moscow have appeared in various publications, including National Geographic Traveler. She is the author of the Moscow City Guide and the St Petersburg City Guide. When not roaming around Russia, she lives in a pink house in Somerville, Massachusetts, with her husband and her cat. Follow her adventures at www.maravorhees.com.
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BEHIND THE SCENES
THIS BOOK
This 5th edition of Russia was coordinated by Simon Richmond who led the indefatigable author team of Marc Bennetts, Greg Bloom, Marc Di Duca, Mark Elliott, Michael Kohn, Leonid Ragozin, Robert Reid and Mara Vorhees. This guidebook was commissioned in Lonely Planet’s London office, and produced by the following:
Commissioning Editors Amanda Canning, Will Gourlay, Korina Miller
Coordinating Editor Erin Richards
Coordinating Cartographer Valentina Kremenchutskaya
Coordinating Layout Designer Cara Smith
Managing Editor Geoff Howard
Managing Cartographer Mark Griffiths
Managing Layout Designer Laura Jane
Assisting Editors Elizabeth Anglin, Janice Bird, David Carroll, Cathryn Game, Ali Lemer, John Mapps, Helen Yeates
Assisting Cartographers Alissa Baker, Marion Byass, Tony Fankhauser, Simon Goslin, Sam Sayer, Bonnie Wintle
Cover Designer Pepi Bluck
Colour Designer Cara Smith
Project Manager Eoin Dunlevy
Language Content Coordinator Quentin Frayne
Thanks to Sally Darmody, Bruce Evans, Chris Girdler, Martin Heng, Lisa Knights, Trent Paton, Fabrice Rocher, Celia Wood
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THANKS
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SIMON RICHMOND
Amanda Canning put in the yards as this book’s initial commissioning editor and was a pleasure to work with, as were the dream team of authors – bolshoi spasibo all round but especially to Leonid Ragozin, who worked overtime (literally!) to make sure we captured Russia in all its messy, fascinating glory. It’s always a pleasure to return to St Petersburg and catch up with old friends such as Peter, Sasha and Andrey, who greeted me with delicious ginger-infused vodka and melt-in-the-mouth pirogi and, as always, provided many fun-filled nights and insights into their beloved city. Cheers to my drinking buddy, Matt Brown, for being on the ball about all things Piter. Thanks also to Herve Le Bail, Jennifer Fell, Ilya Gurevich, Dr Dimitri Ozerkov, Andrei Dmitriev, Vyacheslav Bochkov, Valery Katsuba, Sergei Politovsky, marathon train traveller Ed Greig, Chris Hamilton, and Paul and Veronica at Express to Russia for assistance with my visa. It was a treat being able to spend a few days on the Golden Eagle, in particular in the company of fellow passengers Charles Cuddington, Richard Lewis and Richard and Carol Gray. I’m also grateful to Yulia Fadeeva on the return journey to St Petersburg on the Demidovsky Express. In Kaliningrad, Elmira Khaimourzina and Marina Drutman both presented the friendly face of Russian tourism, while Harry Potter fans Ksenia Prasolava and Irina Yegorava were great company and provided a local perspective on their precious piece of Russia. For his support while I’m on the road and at home, thanks to the adorable Twanda.
THE LONELY PLANET STORY
Fresh from an epic journey across Europe, Asia and Australia in 1972, Tony and Maureen Wheeler sat at their kitchen table stapling together notes. The first Lonely Planet guidebook, Across Asia on the Cheap, was born.
Travellers snapped up the guides. Inspired by their success, the Wheelers began publishing books to Southeast Asia, India and beyond. Demand was prodigious, and the Wheelers expanded the business rapidly to keep up. Over the years, Lonely Planet extended its coverage to every country and into the virtual world via lonelyplanet.com and the Thorn Tree message board.
As Lonely Planet became a globally loved brand, Tony and Maureen received several offers for the company. But it wasn’t until 2007 that they found a partner whom they trusted to remain true to the company’s principles of travelling widely, treading lightly and giving sustainably. In October of that year, BBC Worldwide acquired a 75% share in the company, pledging to uphold Lonely Planet’s commitment to independent travel, trustworthy advice and editorial independence.
Today, Lonely Planet has offices in Melbourne, London and Oakland, with over 500 staff members and 300 authors. Tony and Maureen are still actively involved with Lonely Planet. They’re travelling more often than ever, and they’re devoting their spare time to charitable projects. And the company is still driven by the philosophy of Across Asia on the Cheap: ‘All you’ve got to do is decide to go and the hardest part is over. So go!’
MARC BENNETTS
Thanks to Minsalim, Margarita, Golnur and Rafik in Tobolsk; Ludmila Ivanovo and Albina in Novokuznetsk; Larisa and Yelena in Kemerovo; and Sayat and Kayrat in Kosh Agash. And thank you to all my fellow authors for their useful comments.
GREG BLOOM
As usual I owe a huge thank you to my loving wife, Karin, who continues to put up with my long absences, late deadline nights and other idiosyncrasies. Without her support this assignment wouldn’t have happened. My daughter, Anna, carefree obliterator of stress, also deserves acknowledgment. In the field, thanks to Liza in Elbrus and Vlad in St Pete. And props to Duffy for manning up and getting his butt down to Elbrus. Lastly, thanks to my fellow authors for the advice and online camaraderie. A special nod to Leonid Ragozin for his myriad tips on the Caucasus.
MARC DI DUCA
Many thanks to Amanda Canning for entrusting me with Eastern Siberia, and to Simon Richmond for his expert guidance and support as coordinating author. I am also indebted to my fellow authors for their advice and wisdom in all matters Russian. Many, many thanks go to Jack and the gang in Irkutsk, Svetlana and Tatiana in Ulan-Ude, Leonid and family in Moscow, Sean and Aylana in Kyzyl, Anatoly in Krasnoyarsk, Boyir and family in Chita, Alex in Ust-Barguzin, Alyona in Severobaikalsk and Klára in Prague. Finally a huge spasibo to my wife, Tanya, for all the days we spend apart.
MARK ELLIOTT
As ever my work is dedicated to my beloved wife (and fellow author) Danielle Systermans, and to my unbeatable parents. Many thanks also to the much-missed Amanda Canning and the whole LP team. In Russia I owe special gratitude to Elena Strelnikova for her remarkable hospitality in Ferapontovo, to Ulrich Kreuzenbeck for sparing his time and wisdom in Murmansk, to Valeriy Sochevanov and his dowsing students for my aura readings in Totma, Carla Picco and friends in Solovetsky, Ilya Padchin and Anton Alfirov on Kizhi Island, and Ded Moroz for not (quite) breaking my hand in Veliky Ustyug. Three cheers for John Arne Hurum Hanssen and Morten Furholmen for starting off my trip with a magnificent rib-testing Oslo preamble.
MICHAEL KOHN
Special thanks to Amanda Canning for sending me off to Russia to explore the Wild West. And thank you to coordinating author Simon Richmond for bringing it all together. In Novgorod, I must give a shout out to my friends Anton and Lena who filled my nights with fun and laughter in their cosy wooden home. Also in Novgorod, a big thank you to everyone at the tourist office, including Katrina, Polina and Olga, for getting me on track. In Smolensk, thank you to Alexander at Mir Puteshestvii for providing so much local knowledge. Back home, my very best to family, friends, and especially my wife, Baigal.
LEONID RAGOZIN
I’d like to thank Simon Richmond for all his patience, help and advice throughout the project, and Masha Makeeva for enduring my long absences and the maps flying around our bedroom. I am also grateful to Yaroslav Blanter, whose online guide to Russia inspired me to visit Bolgar and Sviyazhsk; Dorji Shinkeyev of Elista for several great tips and a Kalmyk-style lunch; Elena Shechnikova and her father in Astrakhan for showing me the bright side of the Russian tourist industry; Valentina Titkova in Volgograd for the tip on Sarepta; Darya Morozova and Irina Soluyanova for being such great drinking buddies; Irina Drabkina and Oleg Manaenkov for great advice on the Samara region; Yelena Kharchenko of the Malinovka base for hospitality and help; Alik and Elvira for a ride around Beloretsk; Denis and Svetlana Kamenshchikov for taking care of me in Yekaterinburg; Konstantin and Olga Brylyakov for a ride to Nevyansk (and many years of help to LP authors); and Dmitry Mouzychenko and his friend Juliana for the unexpected party in Nizhny and a tip on Gorodets. Finally, special thanks to fellow passengers on trains and buses, especially to Lyokha the oilman, Anatoly the Afghan war-veteran impersonator, and to Mikhail the arms dealer and Africa expert whom I met on his way out of the Chelyabinsk prison.
ROBERT REID
Getting information in Russia is tricky on a good day, and I have many thanks to so many people I met along the way, including Sasha Lysova of Vladivostok, Olga and Igor of Magadan, moustached Sergei of Khabarovsk, the woman who stole my ‘I Love Mexico’ T-shirt, moustached Mikhail of Komsomolsk, Sasha of the Ukraine for making me swim in Kamchatka, and many more. LP-wise, Simon Richmond and the author team for keeping up such an engaging author chat group, and Will Gourlay and Amanda Canning for leadership and confidence-building from within.
MARA VORHEES
No place to stay in Moscow is so comfy-cosy as flat 24 on the Sadovaya-Triumfalnaya. Grazie, Mirjana, for feeding me fruit and always offering opinions! Tim, I owe you so many beers by now, not to mention all your people, especially Max and Yulia – спасибо! Lyonya, thank you for making me raki, among other things (many other things). I am grateful to my coauthors, especially our fearless leader Simon and Muscovites Marc B and Leo R (who suggested the sights for the Moscow walking tour). And Jerz – thank you for the garden, the wine rack, the bike rides, the coffee, the music, the love.
OUR READERS
Many thanks to the travellers who used the last edition and wrote to us with helpful hints, useful advice and interesting anecdotes:
Marc Allgöwer, Ville Antikainen, Alexander Bartholdt, Colin Beet, Nicoletta Berardi, Matthew Bogunovich, Geoff Brown, Angela Byrne, Marge Cheek, Bjorn Clasen, Lacy Clayton, Christian Doht, Ida Doksaeter, Catherine Eagles, John Eder, Susan Erskine, Elena Evdzhevich, Tim Eyre, Alasdair Firth, Will Fowler, J Franicevich, Ronnie Fraser, Marine Gicqueau, Mary D Goldsmith, Mulle Harbort, Randi Harzer, Marc Heerbrant, Caroline Hodges, Adam Hughes, Mark Hunter, S J Hunter, Ruth Imershein, Denis Kabanov, Matthieu Kamerman, Frederick Kuchlin, Jorg Lauberbach, Tim Lewis, Tad Maciag, Kate Maltby, Kaitlin Manning, Steven Mathew, Bucher Michel, Gordon Milligan, Don Mirra, Ilka Morse, Quinn Okamoto, Petr Procházka, Eric Reuland, Lars Ritterhoff, Brid Samoylova, Umar Sayyed, Yifat Shalev, Keith Siddel, Alexander Staudacher, Percy Toop, Hans van Bemmelen, E van Howards, Sonja van Reede, Ana Garcia Varas, Lynne Viola, Nadine Wakim, Gregory Weaver, Ralph Weinmann, Paul Whitaker, Peter Williams, Richard Williamson.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to the following for the use of their content:
Globe on title page ©Mountain High Maps 1993 Digital Wisdom, Inc.
Internal photographs p274, p275 (#2) Mark Bennetts; p275 (#3) Marc Di Duca; p271 (#3) Michael Kohn; p270 (#2), p271 (#4) Simon Richmond. All other photographs by Lonely Planet Images, and by Jonathon Chester p272; Richard I’Anson p275 (#4); Martin Moos p270 (#1), p273; Mark Newman p276; Simon Richmond p269.
All images are the copyright of the photographers unless otherwise indicated. Many of the images in this guide are available for licensing from Lonely Planet Images: www.lonelyplanetimages.com.
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MAP LEGEND
Lonely Planet Offices
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Cover photograph: Intercession Church, 1714 AD, Kizhi island, Russia, Gräfenhain Günter/SIME. Many of the images in this guide are available for licensing from Lonely Planet Images: www.lonelyplanetimages.com.
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Join the thunderous applause for the sublime ballet dancers in the Bolshoi Theatre
Perfect your banya etiquette before joining in this steamy Russian ritual
Surround yourself with majestic rugged scenery as you drive across the world’s deepest lake
Feel St Petersburg’s contemporary pulse by clubbing in converted stables and Soviet factories
In This Guide:
Nine authors, more than seven months of research, countless shots of vodka
All new Activities chapter and tips on how to cut through red tape to secure your visa
Content updated daily – visit lonelyplanet.com for up-to-the-minute reviews, updates and traveler insights