Arriving at dawn to cold drizzle, I didn't hold much hope this sprawling working class city had much in the way of tourist highlights in store for us.
We hoofed it across the river and through town at peak commuter rush hour, the walk feeling great after so long lounging about the train. Since I'm obviously not made of sugar, the rain was no factor.
Our hotel (Soviet Hotel) was a pleasant surprise and check-in was accommodated at 8:30 am instead of the published 1 pm. They even made us breakfast!
Cleanliness: 9.5/10
Friendliness: 9/10
Location: 9/10
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!!
Day 1 was low key. A chance to meander, visit the local natural history museum and for me to take photos of the wooden buildings that this city is famous for. IMHO the dilapidated, rotting, faded and burned out ones were the most interesting.
Day 2 was more adventurous. We decided to A) find the bus station and B) attempt to buy tickets on local public transit in order to get to Lake Baikal, 70km away.
As with all plans, there was ample room to deviate, so we did. One never wakes up in the morning and imagines that one's mouth will be full of caviar or smoked fish by 9:30 am but mine was! Mark and I came upon the "Central Market". A place teeming with fresh flowers, produce, meat, fish, chatchki's, souvenirs, camel socks, yak sweaters, ladies under-things and so many other 'unidentifiables' for sale.
We perused 3 fish counters, each time the sales person said "no English" and made no further attempt to part us from our money. Little did they know that caviar was on my bucket list and I wanted to part with money! Eventually we met a delightful lady who couldn't have been happier to talk fish with us and give us, apparently mandatory, taste tests. I popped red caviar in my mouth... literally popped/exploded it. We busted out Google Translator and proceeded to get an education, before buying the black variety of caviar. 30 minutes later and that smoked white fish I tried hard (and failed) to chew, was still swimming around in my belly making itself known!
The bus station presented its own set of language related challenges but by lunch time we were in Listvyanka... where the Angara River spills forth into the Lake Baikal. It was a harrowing ride actually. Scheduled to take 1:15, our mad man of a driver maintained a solid 120 km/hr in an older model minivan and we arrived in 50 minutes. To freakin' fast to take good pictures out the window!
Listvyanka is way more spread along the coastline than I thought possible. It is mostly quiet for the off-season now but I could imagine what summer might look like here; the guidebook mentions tourist cruises, fishing, hiking, and buying local souvenirs. It perhaps skips over hoards of smoked fish markets and semi-precious stones sold individually or wrapped into jewelry. It definitely fails to mention the seal show! While you'd never come here just for this show, I have to say I'm happy we checked it out. Two rotund (understatement) fresh water seals spent 30 minutes entertaining us in a way that made me feel like a 5 year old again. For tiny snips of salmon, they danced, painted a canvas, blew horns, jumped in and out of the water, fetched, kissed and clapped! Seriously, I don't know many humans who work so hard for a living and know none who do it with the exuberance of a performing seal. Bravo!
The lake. What we really came to see. Grey and choppy with a chilling wind. Vast in its appearance, deep right to the shore, filled with life, picturesque and magnificent. Lake Baikal holds 20% of the world fresh water and is 1600m deep in places, yet is well oxygenated. Looking across, it appears that mountains line the distant shores.
Day 3.
A relaxed day spent shopping like locals! We bought little bits and pieces from the markets: salami, crackers, fruit, noodles and such for tomorrow's train ride to Mongolia.
We also bought a new Samsung USB charger, since flaky doesn't even begin to describe the charging issues we've been having in Irkutsk. That deserves a post all of its own... and will get one when I'm not guarding/ hoarding every percentage of charge in my phone like it's an ounce of gold.
We ate stroganoff and layered honey cake, sipped coffee and strolled around the city and along the river bank. There was a freezing little wind biting noses and fingertips, but I wouldn't have changed a thing... Until we got back to hotel to find worsening charging issues and that darn new USB charger didn't work one little bit!
Our front desk clerk was kind enough to lend us his charger for our phones but we sure as heck will need to figure this out in Ulan Bataar. <sigh>
I rounded out day 3 in Irkutsk and our last night in Russia with a generous shot of vodka. What?! Call it therapy... tradition... a bucket list item, if it makes you feel better.
I don't feel compelled to excuse myself and so far, I have no regrets.
It was smooth and warm with notes of lighter fuel on the palette. Having spent the day in Smartwool, fleece, down AND Goretex layers simultaneously - and still fighting the chill - I believe I just discovered the secret to surviving Siberian winters.
Anti-freeze. I mean, vodka.
We hoofed it across the river and through town at peak commuter rush hour, the walk feeling great after so long lounging about the train. Since I'm obviously not made of sugar, the rain was no factor.
Cleanliness: 9.5/10
Friendliness: 9/10
Location: 9/10
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!!
Day 1 was low key. A chance to meander, visit the local natural history museum and for me to take photos of the wooden buildings that this city is famous for. IMHO the dilapidated, rotting, faded and burned out ones were the most interesting.
Day 2 was more adventurous. We decided to A) find the bus station and B) attempt to buy tickets on local public transit in order to get to Lake Baikal, 70km away.
As with all plans, there was ample room to deviate, so we did. One never wakes up in the morning and imagines that one's mouth will be full of caviar or smoked fish by 9:30 am but mine was! Mark and I came upon the "Central Market". A place teeming with fresh flowers, produce, meat, fish, chatchki's, souvenirs, camel socks, yak sweaters, ladies under-things and so many other 'unidentifiables' for sale.
We perused 3 fish counters, each time the sales person said "no English" and made no further attempt to part us from our money. Little did they know that caviar was on my bucket list and I wanted to part with money! Eventually we met a delightful lady who couldn't have been happier to talk fish with us and give us, apparently mandatory, taste tests. I popped red caviar in my mouth... literally popped/exploded it. We busted out Google Translator and proceeded to get an education, before buying the black variety of caviar. 30 minutes later and that smoked white fish I tried hard (and failed) to chew, was still swimming around in my belly making itself known!
The bus station presented its own set of language related challenges but by lunch time we were in Listvyanka... where the Angara River spills forth into the Lake Baikal. It was a harrowing ride actually. Scheduled to take 1:15, our mad man of a driver maintained a solid 120 km/hr in an older model minivan and we arrived in 50 minutes. To freakin' fast to take good pictures out the window!
Listvyanka is way more spread along the coastline than I thought possible. It is mostly quiet for the off-season now but I could imagine what summer might look like here; the guidebook mentions tourist cruises, fishing, hiking, and buying local souvenirs. It perhaps skips over hoards of smoked fish markets and semi-precious stones sold individually or wrapped into jewelry. It definitely fails to mention the seal show! While you'd never come here just for this show, I have to say I'm happy we checked it out. Two rotund (understatement) fresh water seals spent 30 minutes entertaining us in a way that made me feel like a 5 year old again. For tiny snips of salmon, they danced, painted a canvas, blew horns, jumped in and out of the water, fetched, kissed and clapped! Seriously, I don't know many humans who work so hard for a living and know none who do it with the exuberance of a performing seal. Bravo!
Day 3.
A relaxed day spent shopping like locals! We bought little bits and pieces from the markets: salami, crackers, fruit, noodles and such for tomorrow's train ride to Mongolia.
We also bought a new Samsung USB charger, since flaky doesn't even begin to describe the charging issues we've been having in Irkutsk. That deserves a post all of its own... and will get one when I'm not guarding/ hoarding every percentage of charge in my phone like it's an ounce of gold.
We ate stroganoff and layered honey cake, sipped coffee and strolled around the city and along the river bank. There was a freezing little wind biting noses and fingertips, but I wouldn't have changed a thing... Until we got back to hotel to find worsening charging issues and that darn new USB charger didn't work one little bit!
Our front desk clerk was kind enough to lend us his charger for our phones but we sure as heck will need to figure this out in Ulan Bataar. <sigh>
I rounded out day 3 in Irkutsk and our last night in Russia with a generous shot of vodka. What?! Call it therapy... tradition... a bucket list item, if it makes you feel better.
I don't feel compelled to excuse myself and so far, I have no regrets.
It was smooth and warm with notes of lighter fuel on the palette. Having spent the day in Smartwool, fleece, down AND Goretex layers simultaneously - and still fighting the chill - I believe I just discovered the secret to surviving Siberian winters.
Anti-freeze. I mean, vodka.
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