Day
1 Thursday, July 24
Depart
USA today on international
flights.
Day
2 Friday, July 25
Arrive Moscow [D]
Arrive in Moscow this evening and check into the hotel.
Gather for a Welcome Dinner.
Hotel: Hotel Petr I or similar
Day
3 Saturday, July 26
Moscow • Overnight flight to Irkutsk [B/L/D]
After breakfast at the hotel, set out on an exploration of Moscow.
Founded in 1147 by Yuri Dolgoruky (literally "Yuri of the Long
Arms"), Moscow rose to prominence during Mongol domination and
eventually became the Russian capital. Eclipsed for 200 years
by St. Petersburg, Moscow was restored as the Russian political
center after the October Revolution in 1917, and celebrated
its 850th anniversary in 1997.
Begin
with a drive by some of Moscow's best-known sites - the Duma
building where Russia's governing body meets; the Bolshoi
Theater; the forbidding Lubyanka prison where the KGB was
headquartered; Moscow State University on the Sparrow
Hills for a panoramic city view; the moving World War II
Memorial and Victory Park on Farewell Hill; and a
drive along the Sofiyskaya Embankment, past the 16th
century Novodevichy Convent and by the Moscow "White
House."
After
lunch, visit the Kremlin and the Armory Museum.
The Moscow Kremlin reminds modern-day Russia of its medieval
past. Built on the site of Prince Yuri's hunting lodge, the
Kremlin overlooks the Moskva and Neglina rivers. Today, the
Kremlin remains the center of Moscow and Russian politics. Inside
the fortress walls are palaces, cathedrals, government buildings
and the Armory Museum. Built in the 16th century as a warehouse
for the Kremlin's weaponry, the Armory was transformed into
an exhibition hall and museum in 1814. It now houses Russia's
national treasures, such as religious icons, Faberge eggs and
Catherine the Great's ball gowns and shoes.
After
dinner in the city, transfer to the airport for the overnight
flight to Irkutsk.
Day
4 Sunday, July 27
Irkutsk [B/L/D]
Arrive in Irkutsk today and check into the hotel. After some
free time to get situated, depart on a tour of the city. Irkutsk
began as a wooden fortress founded by Cossacks in 1661. Fortified
and armed to a greater degree than other Siberian settlements,
Irkutsk became a staging area for trade convoys and exploring
expeditions, and by the early 18th century, settlers had already
built 13 churches.
The
Irkutsk area has been a place of exile since Genghis Khan offered
it to captives as an alternative to death. Czarist and Bolshevik
political exiles from the 18th through the 20th centuries ended
up bringing culture and education to Irkutsk after their terms
of slave labor ended. Under the Soviets, many thousands more
were sentenced to gulags and ended their days in Irkutsk. Many
of them worked to build the Trans-Siberian Railway, which passes
through Irkutsk and has helped the city remain a commercial
force.
This
afternoon and tomorrow we tour the main sights of interest in
Irkutsk. A central feature of the city is the only river flowing
out of Lake Baikal, the Angara. Our tours will include
a visit to the Gagarin Embankment, named after Yuri,
the Cathedral of the Epiphany, built in 1724, the Church
of Our Savior, and the Trubetskoi House and Maria
Volkonsky's House, two mansions occupied by exiled Decembrists.
Five of the Decembrist revolutionaries were hanged and over
one hundred sentenced to penal servitude followed by exile in
Siberia. We will tour the area of old wooden houses,
many with the intricate fretwork surrounding brightly painted
window frames typical of local Siberian architecture. We may
board the icebreaker Angara, housing the Museum of Baikal
Navigation. This ship was built in England and shipped in
pieces to Irkutsk by train. It was used to ferry passengers
across the lake until completion of the Circumbaikal line in
1904.
In
the evening enjoy a special concert at the Decembrists House
Museum. The Decembrists were a group of young officers who
had served abroad during the War of 1812 and become advocates
of democratic reform. In December 1825, they tried to force
the Senate to sign a manifesto abolishing serfdom and instituting
these reforms. Their rebellion was quickly put down, and five
of the leaders hanged. The rest were sentenced to forced labor
in Siberia.
Many
of them, with their wives, settled in Irkutsk after their terms
were over, and brought with them education and culture. The
House Museum of the Decembrists is in the home of Sergei Volkonsky
and his wife, Maria.
Hotel: Zvezda Lodge or similar
Day
5 Monday, July 28
Irkutsk • Drive to Listvyanka [B/L]
After breakfast at the hotel, continue touring, including a
visit to the Museum of Wooden Architecture on the road
to Listvyanka. This outdoor museum is a 166-acre collection
of authentic Russian and native Buryat, Evenki and Tafalar houses
and community buildings from the 17th to the early 20th century.
The wooden structures were moved here from various Siberian
locations and reassembled into little hamlets and nomadic camps
that demonstrate how people actually lived.
After
lunch in a traditional Siberian guesthouse, continue to Listvyanka
and check in to the hotel. Afternoon and evening are free to
relax in this charming lakeside village.
Hotel: Baikalskie Terema or similar
Day
6 Tuesday, July 29
Listvyanka [B/L/D]
Today set out to explore Listvyanka Village on the shore of
Lake Baikal, including the St. Nicholas church with its 16th
century icon, the Chersky Mount and the Limnological Museum.
Saint Nicholas church is situated 500 meters from the
lake. It was built in the 19th century by a Russian merchant,
Ksenofont Serebryakov. According to legend, he was saved by
St. Nicholas while crossing the lake in a terrible storm and
promised to build a church here. Hike or take the ski lift to
the observation platform on top of Chersky Mount, the
highest hill in the area. On the way is a barisaa, or prayer
tree, where people tie a ribbon or prayer flag to represent
a wish or a prayer. The tradition stems from an ancient shamanist
belief that specially blessed trees are a contact point between
the spirit world and the physical world.
Visit
the Baikal Limnological Museum. (Limnology is the study
of the life and other phenomena in fresh water, particularly
lakes and ponds.) Learn about the origin of the lake, its characteristics
as the oldest and deepest lake in the world, and its species,
including some that are found nowhere else, like the golomyanka,
a transparent fish, the omul, a tasty salmon-like fish, and
the freshwater seal, the nerpa. A new aquarium near the museum
is home to a pair of these seals.
Day
7 Wednesday, July 30
Listvyanka • Fly to Barnaul via Krasnoyarsk
[B/D]
Rise early this morning for the flight to Barnaul. The administrative
center of Altai Krai, Barnaul is located south of Novosibirsk
about halfway to the UNESCO-listed Altai Mountains. A comparatively
old Siberian city, it was founded in 1730 by the Demidov family,
whose fortune was made under Peter the Great through their skillful
ironwork. The place was chosen for its proximity to the Altai's
silver ore and to the major waterway of the Ob River. Ninety
percent of Russia's silver was being mined here by the 19th
century. Barnaul today is a thriving university town of about
750,000 people, with Internet cafés, shops and restaurants lining
its main street, Prospekt Lenina. During the sunny summers,
vacationing students sit at sidewalk cafés watching the world
go by.
Hotel:
Hotel Sibir or similar
Day
8 Thursday, July 31
Barnaul [B/L/D]
After breakfast at the hotel, we set out to explore the city,
visiting two of the city's best museums. Founded in 1823, The
Altai Regional Studies Museum is now located in a chemical lab
built in the mid-19th century. The collection includes stone
tools from ancient miners who extracted Altai ores around 2500
BC. The Museum of History, Culture, Literature and Art of Altai
exhibits art and artifacts from the Altai cultures, including
felt rugs created by ethnic Kazakh people, displays relating
to the Mennonite German population invited to Russia by Catherine
the Great, and archeological findings from the "Pazyryk" culture.
Three different tattooed mummies have been found in kurgans
(graves) on the plateau leading to the Altai Mountains. Scholars
now identify them as having distinctive Scythian characteristics.
Stroll
Prospekt Lenina and shop the outdoor stalls of the Russian bazaars
on the side streets.
Day
9 Friday, August 1
Barnaul •
ECLIPSE DAY
[B]
Today is the day of the total solar eclipse. Barnaul lies directly
on the projected path of 2008 Solar Eclipse. We will be transferred
to a pre-arranged viewing spot and prepare for the event.
WEATHER
PROSPECTS: Barnaul is directly in the projected path of
the eclipse track and is one of the most favorable places to
view the eclipse outside of China. According to Jay Anderson,
Eclipse Meterorologist, "Novosibirsk (and therefore nearby Barnaul)
lies within a small region of south central Siberia that has
a notable sunny microclimate. Lying in the midst of the world's
largest landmass, the city is well-removed from oceanic moisture
sources. The immense Altai Mountains and the Gobi Desert to
the south block monsoon flows that invade Asia at this time
of year.
Southern
Siberia experiences the same types of weather systems typical
of the northern Great Plains, with periodic low-pressure disturbances
and generous thunderstorms. Temperatures are pleasantly warm
and typically low humidity. Cooling associated with the eclipse
will tend to dissipate smaller cloud elements and the higher
angle of the Sun when compared to Chinese locations will make
viewing more certain in a partly-cloudy sky."
Click
here to view a weather chart.
Click
here to visit NASA's eclipse specialist
Fred Esperak's website for more information
on the 2008 eclipse.
