After our adventure in die Siberian wilderness along the Baikal Lake we had a couple of relaxing days in Listvyanka, a small and – at least at this time of the year – bit sleepy village on the shore of the lake. Great for fresh fish and strolling along the shore. It’s nice, but one day is absolutely enough to explore it. A few pics: So we decided to go back to Irkutsk the next day. When we arrived in Irkutsk…
We had been warned before we got of the train. The Russian lady, a lawyer from Tomsk who was going back home from a court case in Tyumen, and accompanied us on the last half of the only 22 hours long ride from Yekaterinburg to Novosibirsk had told us so when we mentioned what our next stopp would be. “Novosibirsk is ugly” she said, and “it”s a typical old soviet city, no nice architecture, just big blocks of grey, ugly buildings”. She…
We came with no expectations to Yekaterinburg, well, except for a bloody history (murder of the last Tsar, mafia gang fights in the 90ties) and the rise of Boris Yeltsin we didn’t know anything about the city. We have to say, we were pleasantly surprised by it’s charm. Starting with the hotel, which was certainly the best we’ve stayed in for a long while. A four-star establishment, all brand new and plushy, plus they offered a great breakfast accompanied by French…