Trans-Siberian Railway trip

11 days / 10 nights

Tour highlights

Yekaterinburg

• City tour
A bus excursion through Ekaterinburg historic sights: the Historical Square, where in 1723 the main Ural plant was built along the oldest hydraulic engineering work, the first plant dam, granitical levee of picturesque town pond. The tourists will see the main city square, where Lenin Monument is erected, and also visit the places that are connected with the name of the First Russian President Boris Eltsin. The modern megapolis will show not just merchant’s mansions of gold-fever time, but also modern shopping centrers, theatrical quarter and universities.
• The borderline between Europe and Asia
The borderline between Europe and Asia runs through the Great Siberian (Moscow) highway to a column-obelisk “Europe and Asia boundary” established on the crossroads of these two parts of the world. The borderline is layed out from Ural stones and is so thin that tourists will be able to take photos of each other standing with one foot in Asia and with the other in Europe!
• Cathedral in the Name of all Saints / Ipatiev's house
In Ekaterinburg there’s Cathedral on the Blood (Cathedral in the Name of all Saints) that is located on the place of ruefully known Ipatiev's house. It was the place of the execution of the Last Russian Tsar. "Ganina Yama" is a sacred place in the forest 20 km north of Ekaterinburg, where the remains of the Romanov family were found in 1992. Now there is a monastery of Saint Martyrs on that place with 200 monks and 7 wooden churches (one for each member of the royal family). Russian Orthodox church believes all the territory around the place to be sacred.
• Berezovsky
A tour to Berezovsky – a town of Russian Gold. In spring 1745 an inhabitant of the village Shartash, a peasant Erophey Markov discovered the first russian gold. Nowadays in the town there are many working gold mines. On the way you will visit the learning mine pit for miners-savers, to learn about the past of the mines and to buy unusual souvenirs.

Novosibirsk

• City tour
A city tour of Novosibirsk, covering all the main attractions of the city: Novosibirsk Railway Station – the biggest station of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, Ascension Cathedral, Krasny Prospect street, Lenin Square – city center with the world’s biggest Opera House, old wooden houses on Gorkogo street – the oldest part of the city, St. Nicolas Chapel – the geographic center of Russia, river Ob’ embankment and colorful Siberian farm-market. Visit of 1 Museum of your choice: (Transsib / Historical / USSR / Birch bark / Opera House from inside for groups / Samovar tea drinking ceremony in the authentic log house for groups / Northern Siberia & Taiga food degustation).
• Matrioshka painting
A matrioshka nested dolls painting master-class held in the traditional log house.
• Akademgorodok
A tour to the scientific town Akademgorodok (30 km outside the city) – the only scientific town in the world, where all the branches of science are presented, sometimes called by Western Media “Scientific Vatican”. Enter Akademgorodok by Lavrentiev Prospect, marked by the Guinness Book of Records as the “world's most scientific street”. Visit of 1 museum of your choice: (Archeological Museum at the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography / Open-Air Train Museum (a collection of the old Trans-Siberian trains)), and see the river Ob reservoir – an artificial Ob sea.
• Pelmeni cooking
A master-class of pelmeni cooking. The guests visit a culinary studio, where following the instructions of a local chef, they cook the most famous and the most popular local Siberian dish called "pelmeni". The guests are guaranteed a lot of fun and tasty lunch/dinner with local home-made delicacies!

Irkutsk

• City tour
A sightseeing tour of Irkutsk with a visit to the Dekabrists' museum. You will get acquainted with historical and cultural monuments of the city: place of burg establishment, Spasskaya church, Bogoyavleniya cathedral, Polish church, the platform near the bank of Angara river, Znamenskii convent, where the Dekabrists are buried, Shelehov and Kolchak monuments. After that transfer to the riverbank of Angara. Observation of architectural buildings and Aleksandr 3 monument. Visiting the 130th quarter.
• Listvyanka
A sightseeing tour of Listvyanka, where the Baikal lake is located. On the way to Listvyanka you will visit the Ethnographic museum “Taltsi”, where you will see the unique collections of wooden architecture. Then you will visit the Limnologicheskii museum with aquariums of fish such as nerpa. After that we will go to the Cherskii stone. You will enjoy the picturesque view of Angara rise and Baikal lake. Lunch at a restaurant with Siberian food (the hot dish of it will be Baikal's omul fish). Then we'll visit the fish market, where you can buy souvenirs.