Our mind Blowing Trans-Siberian Rail Journey Autumn 2019 - Route 3 ( Lake Baikal, Listvyanka & Irkutsk)

 

Emily taking a shot at Lake Baikal

We arrived at Irkutsk Train Station at about 7.00am, woh! the station were very crowded, we quickly came out of the train station and start asking around which direction was the Central Market. Luckily, an English speaking tourist answered me, saying he was also going to that direction. We crossed the road and wait for our electrical tram #1, from here we need to go to the Central Market stop@ 15 RUB then cross the Timiryaseva street to autoparking with siagbaun and look for 15 to 20 sitters mini buses going to Listvyanka. There are quite a few mini buses there waiting for Listvyanka, the system works like; once the mini bus is full the driver will take off. We choose one that are almost full and quickly sat ourselves inside. Within 20 minutes our minibus took off, the fare was 200 RUB ( SGD$3.70) each. The ride was about 1hr 45 minutes, we arrived at Listvyanka at about 9.45am

 

Ok, a little of information on Lake Baikal, this is an ancient, massive and considered the deepest lake in the world, it’s circled by a network of hiking paths called the Great Baikal Trail. The village of Listvyanka, which we are here right now, sits on the western shoreline of Lake Baikal. 

 At the village square, we found a small provision stall, we bought 1 big loaves of bread and some smoked ham to bring back to our hostel which will be our home for the next 2 days

 Our B&B 20 mins walk from the Village square

After checking-in, had our breakfast of bread with smoked ham & milo ( Singapore version of hot chocolate drink) and took a nab. We planned to explore the village square later in the afternoon. Btw, our B&B was just in-front of the great lake!! 

Walking down from our B&B to the village square

Smoked Omul, local pastry & beer for dinner

Mid afternoon we are out of our B&B, making our way to the village square, we wanted to inquire about going to Olkhon Island and getting dinner later on. No luck on Olkhon Island cause it takes more than 5 hours bus & ferry rides to reach Olkhon and the bus had already left for the day. The Day Tour starts from 8.15 am and ends at 10.00 pm, which was too time consuming to us. We decided to forget it and spend the day and tomorrow exploring Listvyanka. To day was very cloudy and windy, by nightfall we went back to our B&B to rest.

  

The next morning was very sunny! a very good day to walk around and continued to out exploration of the village and the beach of Lake Baikal

   

                                                                                       At Baikal Limnological museum
 

We visited the Limnological museum;  this is the only museum which entirely devoted to the history of Lake Baikal exploration, its flora and fauna. In 2004 living exhibition started at the museum in 11 aquariums where visitors may see 20 types of fish, 9 of them are gobies, 5 types of crustaceans, 3 types of sponges and 2 types of mollusks. The exhibition shows in details the life of all fish that live in the lake, as well as Baikal seal. The aquariums have a unique system of water supply and water cycle, which takes water from a depth of 500 meters. The conditions of living are arranged so as to be similar to the natural lake biocoenosis. There is an arboretum next to the museum where trees, lianas and some plans are being cultivated in open air soil. "Kamenushka" arboretum occupies a territory of 4 hectares together with a spring, forest and picturesque slope of Baikal shore. The Park's flora consists of 284 types of tracheal plants from 212 kinds, which represent 63 families. 29 types of these plants are protected on the local and state level. 259 types are medicinal herbs. Among them are gold rhododendron - representative of highland; ephedra - steppe inhabitant, and silver fur - resident of humid dark coniferous forest. 

 

            lookout at the arboretum next to the Baikal Museum

view taken from the lookout

  

The above photos are taken from the jetty at the river mouth where we can take a ferry to Port Baikal and Baikal Railway where the Circum Baikal train runs to Slyudyanka and back, 74km one way about 3.5 hours each way.

We strolled from the jetty toward the village square, occasionally stopping taking photos or wander about at buildings and stores along road by the lake. We found a bazaar after passing the village square mostly selling the famous smoked Omul fish, semi precious stones and local souvenirs.

  

Jewelries made from local semi-precious stones

              The famous Russian Dolls

Marina near the Village square

A patch of beach front

  

We spend the whole day walking around the village ate our lunch and dinner where ever end ended-up on local foods ie. the meat pastry (like a very big puff), meat dumplings and local beers. We even met some Malaysian tourists at the bazaar drinking freshly brewed beer, we sat and socialist with them for a while, drinking too. By nightfall we are back at our B&B, as tonight was our last night here and we were leaving early tomorrow morning for Irkutsk by Mini Bus back to the Central Market.

Irkutsk - An overnight stopover for us

   Prince Vladimir Monastery

Irkutsk is often called the "Paris of Siberia" as the culture and refinement at this one-time outpost not far from the frontiers of China and Mongolia came from the Decembrists, a group of Russian revolutionaries who tried to topple the Russian Empire in 1825. Many of the rebellion leaders were executed in St. Petersburg, yet the involved nobility was exiled to Irkutsk. For centuries Russian emperors and communists exiled political prisoners to Irkutsk. Thus many brainy Russians spent years in the city, influencing the average IQ level of inhabitants.

   Babr - Siberian Tiger: Symbol of Irkutsk

  

Kazan Cathedral was built in 1894 in the Russian-Byzantine style. It is an impressive building, accommodating up to 5,000 parishioners at a time. The cathedral stands 60 meters tall, and it is considered one of the most beautiful churches in Russia. 

 

Once we checked into our hotel room, we were out to explore Irkutsk because we will be here only till tomorrow afternoon. As both of us had a very heavy breakfast at our Lake Baikal B&B, our next meal was hi-tea at Trendy Quarter Mall at130 Kvartal, its a shopping area housing many small stalls along the street leading to the mall. The mall; had quite an impressive international brands like Calvin Klein, Geox, Wrangler, Reebok, Adidas, Mothercare, Hello Kitty and many more. Fast food: Burger King, Subway, Baskin Robin & KFC too. We got our food from the Supermarket, we missed green veggies, hardly see any green leafy vegetables around this area. 

After foods and getting enough provisions for this 3 days 2 nights train journey, we went back to our hotel room to unload our provisions and set-out to explore another part of the city by following the GREEN line on the City's side walk. The Green line leads us to the Central Park, We were there, siting on a bench till night fall.... just people watching.

Irkutsk Central Park & Building behind: House of Trapeznikovy

The next morning, had a heavy breakfast, we set out to continue our exploration of the city. Back to the Central Park and the GREEN LINE.

Follow the GREEN line!

 House Feinberg                                                             The one of the many statues found in Irkutsk 

Church of the Assumption of our Lady

                                                                                  

  

Triumphal Arch Moscow Gates

We came back to our hotel to check-out at about 11 am, bath..... packed our bags and called for a taxi to take us to the train station for our 3.22 pm train for Yekaterinburg.

On our left: the provision we bought for our long train journey ahead.

  

My train ticket for Yekaterinburg

Lookout for our next adventure Route 4 - Yekaterinburg and our 50+ hrs journey!!