Visiting Irkutsk offers an opportunity to see a game of Bandy - a sport which combines soccer and hockey on ice - as well as the regular visitor experiences of seeing churches, museums and art galleries.
Stop living in the past: Irkutsk now (Part 2) I wanted to get a feel for Irkutsk at street level. Not the brochure, tourist or blog versions… It’s tricky. Nothing beats “going there” of course… wherever “there” may be (… I’ll...
After a brief excursion into the past of Irkutsk as a centre of the anti-Bolshevik cause, we turn to look at Irkutsk now - focusing on public transport.
The folk legends behind the celebration of Christmas (Svyatki) in Russia, which is actually celebrated on 7 January, as the Orthodox Church uses the old Julian calendar.
A look at the Tuva republic in Siberia, what visitors can expect to see in the landscape and ancient monuments, and its unique cultural mix of Shamanism, Buddhism and Russian Orthodoxy.