Blogs from Urals, Russia, Europe - page 6

Part 1: The train This was our first taste of overnight Russian train travel. We travelled "Kupe" i.e. 2nd class and again were pleasantly surprised to have services included, despite having a bag full of instant noodles, bread & tea at hand to see us through! This time for "services" we were called into the restaurant car and asked what we'd like to eat. This greatly confused us but the patient lady waitress knew a couple of words of English and so we ordered "pork". It actually turned out to be a 2 course fayre of salad followed by pork stew with potato. Very nice indeed! When we first got onto the train I was very upset to find a rather smelly lady in my bunk (no. 9). I told her in my best Russian that ... read more

Ekaterinburg - Capital Of The Urals …And doesn’t the name say it all. In fact, how the hell do you say the name!!! This city surprised me because it’s foundation is in industry such as forestry and mining, and militia, so to see a city (that is basically famous for the assassination of the last Tsar) have fantastic theatres and cathedrals was fantastic. The first morning spent in Ekaterinburg was spent in a walking tour of the city, seeing the main sights and filling us with information such as it being the city with the shortest subway route in Russia. The entire metro system only has five stops and no-one uses it because the trolley buses, buses and trams do a better job of covering the city. Passing monuments to World War II heroes and the ... read more

In retrospect, I kinda forget what attracted me to Ekat, A city famous for the brutal murder of the Romanov family, the last Tsar and co, and a gang war in the early 1990's. And rocks if you're into that sort of thing. On arrival at the Meeting Point (or place, I forget) Hostel, an excellent little place run my Katya, possible the nicest and most helpful hostel owner of all time I was amazed to find real Tea - none of this Russian Churney Chai much, proper British tasting tea, with Milk and everything! Milk tasted a little funky, but I guess some things will never be the same as at home! Initially I hit the town for a find my bearings acclimatisation walk, which included my first and only attempt at Museum going in ... read more

Waiting at Yaroslavski station I inadvertently discovered the best tactic for avoiding hawkers and beggars all after your cash - Be French. Someone came up to me trying to sell me some tat, and when I didn’t respond asked me “speak English” “No. err…Little.” “What Language?” Didn’t really think this one through did I… for want of anything better to say, “ Je parle Francais” “Oh! Francsikiii!? Ah…” And promptly walked off leaving me in peace. Jackpot! Confusingly Ekaterinburg is still called Sverdlosk on the rail network, the towns old Soviet name. After 20 years you’d have thought they get round to changing the timetable but anyway… Anyway, I managed to board the right train, starting my first real train trip, 53 hours to Ekat. My first sighting of the train showed this really was a ... read more

Tras pasar la noche en el tren, achicharrados de calor por la obsesion rusa de poner la calefaccion a tope, llegamos a Kazan, la capital de tatarstan. En Kazan vamos a dormir a casa de Marat, que hemos conocido a traves de Couchsurfing, una especie de comunidad virtual donde gente de diferentes paises ofrece alojamiento en su casa, o informacion sobre su ciudad. Marat vive en una habitacion de un apartamento donde cada una de sus habitaciones se ha convertido en un microapartamento, y en el que los 3 propietarios comparten tanto cocina como baño.....como el dice, parece que viven en la epoca sovietica donde las "Komunalkas" eran el pan de cada dia. Asi que durante dos noches compartimos habitacion con el. En Kazan conocemos tambien a traves de Marat a un catalan afincado en Londres, ... read more