Summer Trip to Russia 2018 - Lake Baikal - Part 1

Our kids' visas to Russia expire this September because their passports expire in February.  We had thought about going to visit and when I learned that we will definitely be staying in Kazakhstan for another year, we decided we'd plan a trip in June after school was out and before we headed to Utah for our annual home trip.

One thing that Yulia and I had talked about for a number of years was the possibility of visiting Lake Baikal.  I had read an article about it about two months ago that got me thinking about it again.  The more we looked and thought about it, the better the idea seemed, so Yulia went into planning mode - which is unstoppable - and got us booked for the trip.

Our flight from Astana to Novosibirsk left at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday June 9.  We made it to the airport by bus, checked in, and got onto our plane and to Novosibirsk without any problem.  We made it through passport control at Tolmachevo Airport much faster than two years ago and got outside just in time to catch the bus from the airport to the train station.  We had lots of time until our train left (1:00 a.m.) for Irkutsk, so we checked our bags into the storage area and then went out on the town.  Our first stop was at KFC to eat lunch. After that we walked to the movie theater to see what was playing.  The weather was gray and it was drizzly, so rather than walking a lot, we decided to check on movies first.  Jurassic World was playing in twenty minutes so we bought tickets and watched.  It was a pretty good movie and it is always fun to watch movies in Russian.  The translation was good (something that has improved vastly in the past 15 years) and that was nice.

After the movie, we went outside.  It wasn't drizzling anymore so we walked around a bit - and right into a small protest.  A group was out protesting the proposal to raise the pension age (a proposal that was passed while we were still in Russia), so that was interesting.  It was about time for dinner, so we looked around until we found a little Mongolian place where we tried some new food that was similar to what we have in Kazakhstan, but different and still good.

Novosibirsk. Trying to decide which street to take. 

Came upon this nice fountain...

... and the protesters.

Explorers

We bought some train supplies (cup of noodles, instant mashed potatoes, crackers, water, etc.) and then headed to the station where we got our bags and waited in the waiting room for about 4 hours until the train arrived from Moscow (on its way to Chita), and we boarded.  We were on the train from Sunday morning at 12:30 until Monday morning at 8:30 a.m.  We had a fifty minute stop in Krasnoyarsk in the afternoon on Sunday and so Ludmila (Babushka) came and saw us and bought the kids ice cream, so that was nice.

Riding the trains is one of our kids favorite part every time we are in Russia!

Nika and Lina are playing a game on the top bunk.

Got caught!

Babushka surprised us by showing up at the train station when we stopped for 45 minutes in Krasnoyarsk. Her supplying our kids with ice cream was not such a surprise!

In Irkutsk we caught the bus and then had to walk for about half a mile to the bus station.  Lina was a bit sick so we had to stop and let her rest and drink and use the bathroom.  In the end she felt better and we made it to the bus station and got tickets to Listvyanka (the town right on the coast of Lake Baikal).  While we were sitting we met a woman and her 15 year old daughter who were also going there.  The daughter does home school so the mom and Yulia hit it off and started talking.  In the end numbers were exchanged (they were on the bus that left an hour before ours) and they ended up being our buddies while we were there.

The ride to Listvyanka was interesting.  It was through the mountains and forest.  We came down out of the canyon and drove along the coast of the lake.  Our hotel was only 200 or 300 meters from the bus stop, so we made it there and checked in without any problems.  We went out and looked at the lake up close - it was beautiful and clear and the kids started immediately throwing rocks at it (which is how you know it is good).  Yulia had read about a restaurant that served the best Omul (the local fish for which Lake Baikal is famous) so we went there.  The Shaman cafe was about a mile away and we walked it, so we had plenty of appetite.  The atmosphere was nice - we were on the top floor of the cafe - and the food was really delicious.  All of us ordered the fish.  I ordered mine with mushrooms, Yulia and two girls had theirs with pine-nuts, and two girls had theirs with cheese sauce.

Skipping rocks is the first thing the girls do when they see a big body of water!

One of the many tourist boats.

Lina

Sophie

Lexa

Nika

Everyone was happy with their order.  We also had some great side dishes and salads and so no one left hungry or unsatisfied.  The bill was pretty steep (American prices) but we had good food and a nice start to our trip.

Spencer's dish: omul with mushrooms.

The Dream of Baikal hotel was made out of wood (most buildings are) and felt like a cabin or camping lodge.  The kids' beds were more comfortable than ours, but we had a nice room and views out at the Lake from our windows.  We bought some groceries for breakfast in the morning and settled in.

On our way back to the hotel.

A cloud forming over the lake.

Our hotel "Dream of Baikal".

Inside and out was everything out of wood.

Our room, small but beautiful.

Tuesday morning we slept in until we were all rested, and then we ate breakfast and headed out.  We were soon enticed into taking a ride on a boat (our two youngest were free).  We climbed onto a boat and it took us out around the coast past where the road ended to a secluded rocky beach where some other boats were also going.  The water as we went out was still crystal clear, and it was amazing to see how deep the water became very quickly.  The ride lasted about twenty minutes, and we spent about twenty minutes on shore, and then went back.  While we were ashore, the kids had fun climbing and finding rocks.

A view from our room in the morning.

Ready to embark on an adventure.

Nika

A view of a part of the port. The oval submarine looking building is Nerpinarium. The one with the tallest roof is our hotel.

Love that water!

Our hotel.

And into the lake! The mountains far away are the East Sayan Mountains.

The solar telescope up on the mountain. Baikal has a huge amount of sunny days per year making it a good spot to observe the sun's activity.

The water is so clear, you can see 40 meters deep!

We got out here to walk around a bit and to take some pictures.

These kids would never miss an opportunity to climb!

There were a lot of these butterflies on the bank.

Lexa and Lina found a little cave.

Nika

When we got back, Yulia texted Irina, the woman we'd met the day before, and we found out they were taking a boat tour to the circum Baikal railroad.  We went and booked that trip for a bit later in the afternoon and then ate a snack.  We met up with Irina and her daughter Lera, who really hit it off with our girls - especially Nika.  It turned out that we booked the tours with different companies, so we didn't see each other on the actual tour.

The tour was interesting, but not quite what we thought.  We went further across the lake and stopped at a shoreline where we could climb up to the tracks.  The railroad itself does not work completely anymore since they built a hydroelectric dam in the 1950s and it flooded part of the route.  We went and walked along the tracks and through one of the dozens of tunnels that had been built as part of the original railroad in the late 19th and early 20th century.  It was neat.  On our way back to Listvyanka, the captain stopped the boat, lowered a bucket into the lake and drew it up.  We all drank water right from the lake and it was really good.

We had a couple of American guys on our tour with us.  They had flown to Russia to watch the World Cup and were doing a bit of a tour of Russia while they were there.  We had a good time talking to them.

That still water is almost like a perfect mirror.

Going on another adventure.

The old railroad.

These are called "zharki" in Russian which can be translated as "fire flowers".

The tunnel.

And of course our kids climbed right on top of the tunnel.

There is the light at the end of the tunnel!

Our awesome crew!

Gentle touch of the nature!

Wading in the lake. The temperatures are very cold!

A sun dog on our way back to Listvyanka was a beautiful sight.

We spotted a few nerpas, Baikal freshwater seals.

Drinking Baikal water!

It was unbelievably clear and tasted very good!

After the tour ended we met up with Irina and her daughter and we ate dinner at a little cafe.  The day had been sunny and beautiful and we had really seen the Lake and shore from many different perspectives.  We really enjoyed it.

Dinner with new friends!

Playing on the pier.

It was a great day, full of adventures and memories!

To be continued...