Page 32 - Luxury Trains

Trans-Siberian Vladivostok-Moscow
14 days
Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Ulan-Ude, Lake Baikal, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Moscow
RUSSIA Downtown Providing Fascinating Travel Experiences
of Russia - the province that has always had its own rules. Nature scrolls past your window, you can enjoy the land- scapes while sipping the tea prepared by your "provodnitsa". You live to the rhythm of this legendary train dreamed by Tsar Alexander III to link his empire from West to East. [B/L/D]
Day 5: Day on board
Day and night on the train to Lake Baikal. In the evening, our chefs offer their specialty "The Tsar's table". You will taste two essentials of Russian gastronomy. [B/L/D]
Day 6: Ulan-Ude
Arrival at Ulan-Ude, an important crossroads of exchanges between Russia, Mongolia and China. A city tour allows you to discover the capital of Buryatia, whose population presents a great ethnic and cultural diversity. Visit to religious centers: the Ivolginsky dastan, the Hodigitria cathedral and the Church of the Holy Trinity. You are then welcomed into a Buryat family. A small folk show is presented to you. Your hosts will explain how they prepare their traditional "Pozy" dish, how they lead their herds, set up or take down their yurts or portable round tents, wear their traditional clothes. Departure by train to Lake
Baikal in the late evening. Overnight on the train. [B/L/D]
Day 7: Lake Baikal
Arrival at Port Baikal. You travel by boat to the small village of Listvyanka on the shores of Lake Baikal, the largest reservoir of fresh water in the world. If the weather permits, take advantage of this stage for a meal in the form of a rustic picnic in the Taiga on the shore. You will then appreciate the beauty of the site f rom the Tcherski Rock, observation terrace offering the most beautiful view of the southern part of the lake and the source of the Angara
river, and discover the Lake Baikal museum, which presents the fauna and the flora of the region. After a short city tour of Listvyanka, visit the Irkutsk fish and craft market. Overnight on the train. [B/L/D]
Day 8: Irkutsk
Arrival in Irkutsk in the morning. During a city tour with your local guide to admire, among other things, the Decembrist Museum, the house of Europe also called "the lace house", representative of the houses deco- rated with wooden sculptures which make Irkutsk famous, as well as the most beautiful streets of the old districts like the Bolchaya
Prospektnaya, today called Karl Marx street. After lunch in a restaurant in the city, you set off for a visit to the "Taltsy" ethnographic museum, on the picturesque banks of the Angara river (about 22 miles). Back in Irkutsk, you will have free time in Quartier 130 - "Irkutskaya Sloboda". This area is a replica of houses dating from the 19th and early 20th century. Dinner in town, then departure from Irkutsk. [B/L/D]
Day 9: Day on board
Relaxing day on the train. You enjoy the magnificent landscapes: birch forests, typical villages and organized activities on board. [B/L/D]
Day 10: Novosibirsk
Arrival in the morning in Novosibirsk, the heart of Siberia. During the city tour, you will discover this typically Soviet city bordered by the Ob, and in particular its railway museum, its Opera and its old districts. Departure in the early afternoon. [B/L/D]
Day 11: Yekaterinburg
Your train arrives in Yekaterinburg at the end of the morning. The City Tour is dedicated to the "Last Days of the Last of the Russian Tsars" since it was in Yekaterinburg that Nicholas II and his family were murdered in 1918. Visit
30 For prices and other details visit www.holidayswithdowntown.com