On Sunday 29th, we took the CircumBaikal railway. We packed up and took a taxi from Rita's the short distance to the ferry terminal at Lystvanka, where we met Katya.
The half-hour ferry takes you across the Angara River entrance to Port Baikal, where you catch the CircumBaikal railway. This is now a tourist or recreational train, but the route was previously that of the Trans-Sib. The route was completed in 1905 and was the last part of the Trans-Sib to open. Built at great cost, the railway hugs the steep southern shore of Lake Baikal, passing through 39 tunnels as it winds its way around the lake.
The train is now a four or five car modern diesel rail-motor, which is a popular outing for locals. The train travels slowly. It stops at a number fo scenic locations. On the train and at each stop, a Russian guide keeps up an unceasing commentary, while the traveller eat and drink their way through the provisions that they have brought. Inevitability, some of the travellers are we lubricated after a few hours.
The views were execllent, particlarly in the warm sun. The whole is rather like a railway version of the Great Ocean Roan.
The whole exercise is very long. It's about seven hours to travel the CircumBaikal and then another three or so to travel back to Irkutsk from the place where the CircumBaikal hits the main Trans-Sib line.
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| The train winds around the lakeside edge |
The train is now a four or five car modern diesel rail-motor, which is a popular outing for locals. The train travels slowly. It stops at a number fo scenic locations. On the train and at each stop, a Russian guide keeps up an unceasing commentary, while the traveller eat and drink their way through the provisions that they have brought. Inevitability, some of the travellers are we lubricated after a few hours.
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| An abandoned bridge at our lunch stop |
The whole exercise is very long. It's about seven hours to travel the CircumBaikal and then another three or so to travel back to Irkutsk from the place where the CircumBaikal hits the main Trans-Sib line.
Our lunch was at one of the stops, at a small village in a stream valley by the lake. Lunch was provided by a babuska, It was all home made food, consisting of borscht, pelmeni, pastry and a vodka infused with cedar.
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| Lunch at a babuska's |
After a long time we got to the main Trans-Sib line at Sludyanka and then about 3 or four hours later, we were back in Irkutsk - by now it was 10:3 pm, so it was a long day.
Our Irkutsk hotel is good - it is a large ex-Soviet hotel that has been renovated. Fortunately, it had a bar where we coud get a meal at 11pm. We had a good steak. Again, the menu offered no Russian wines, so we settled for a Wallaby Creek red, followed by a Russian vodka.
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