cj7

After a break,determined to complete the Russia blogs before the anniversary of the trip. We arrived in NN and the driver who met us took off at a fast pace to his car which was parked some distance from the station.It was grey,cold and raining,a real shock after the warmth of Yekaterinburg.We checked into our huge hotel situated next to the Lenin statue and near the bridge over the Oka river to the old town and the famous Kremlin.Maxim Gorky, the famous Russian playwright, was born here and it is still listed as Gorky on railway timetables. We caught a bus into town as it was so wet and headed to the Kremlin.It dates back to the 15th century,has 12metre high walls,13 towers and overlooks the point where the Oka and Volga rivers meet.It is largely ... read more

We got a marshrutka* from Lake Baikal to Irkutsk which dropped us near the bus station.*this is a common form of transport in Russia,they are minibuses that use fixed routes and are relatively cheap.We knew our hotel wasn't far but, not sure of the actual location and with two heavy rucksacks, we negotiated a price with a taxi driver who drove us the short 5 minutes to the hotel Viktoria.We were checked in by a lovely English speaking receptionist and chilled out in our large room.It had an en-suite complete with bath which is unusual in Russia.We had some laundry to catch up on and attempted to log in on the pc but there was a network problem so we headed out to eat.The hotel was just off Karl Marx Street,one of the main streets.This street ... read more

Apologies for the delay, but normal blog service is being resumed, slowly... Katya met us at the Irkutsk railway platform and whisked us to Listvyanka on the shores of Lake Baikal about 60km away.The drive took us swiftly onto the main road linking the two towns cutting a swathe through the forest.The town of Listvyanka consists of one road that stretches 4.5km along the lake shore with 3 valleys that run inland.It has a couple of restaurants,the Lake Baikal museum, a few hotels,some bed and breakfasts,a market,tourist offices,the Nerpinarium-more of this later,a post office,a few small shops and a cake shop.We stayed in a two storey wooden bed and breakfast 5 minutes from the Lake shore.There is no public transport so walking was required to get anywhere.We had a nice meal on our first evening next ... read more

These photos should have accompanied the Trans Siberian blog but there are a few technical issues - with the pc I hasten to add and not the writers !!... read more