June 9-10 Vladivostok

I could never do justice to our journey across Russia's vast plains, taiga, marshes and mountains, not to mention its monumental cities and intriguing and for us, largely not understood history. I'd be attempting something in the proportions of 'War and Peace'! Suffice it to say it was exciting, engaging, challenging, intriguing and memorable. From misty Vladivostok to grand, bold Moscow. But a banquet starts with the first mouthful so I will try to take it a bite at a time.  Firstly, Vladivostok, the capital of Far East Russia where we spent 2 fascinating days getting a real taste of Russia, albeit its most easterly and remote city.

It is a port, a grand port, and Russia's eastern defence line

One thing that someone forgot to tell us is that when in Russia you have to account for every night you spend there!  There had been a couple of slips of paper in the drawers under our beds on board ship, but we had no idea what they were, so left them there. Wrong! The receptionist at our hotel in Vladivostok demanded proof of where we had been since touching down in Russia.  After some time and a manager being called in, it got sorted out to their satisfaction - an important lesson learnt!  

Our first day we explored - after Lindsay bought a new camera (his had been damaged in the wet during the expedition). How we found this place I can't tell you, but where there's a will .... we ended up in a camera shop 'talking' to the salesman via Google Translate - a rare experience. Thank goodness for Google! Lindsay got his camera. And then we went exploring. We checked out the grand central station and wandered along a beach area. That was a surprise discovery for us but shouldn't have been as Vladivostok is situated on the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan so as well as shipping and docklands, there is a lovely beach and recreation area.  And we discovered interesting contrasts in architecture. For us, the city was a little reminiscent of San Francisco with its steep streets and stairs, colourful buildings, busy harbour front, and Golden Gate/Horn Bridge, all shrouded in fog.

Lenin towers over all and sundry everywhere in Russia

The beach cafe

There's an interesting array of architectural styles from the large pre-Soviet pastel 'emporia' to neo-Soviet towers 

Beautiful wee golden-crowned cupula. backed by a mist-shrouded bridge.

Much revered Pushkin, considered Russia's greatest poet and founder of modern Russian literature

Next morning our delightful guide, Anna, met us and she walked and talked us through much of the city's history over the last century - its involvement in numerous wars, its naval history and the post-Soviet period when Vladivostok opened its doors to visitors. We skinnied through old submarines, mounted the decks of a ship that was built for the Russian-Japanese war, lit candles in a church rebuilt after the Soviet period, strolled through a Friday farmers' market in the centre of town which sold just about everything you could imagine (and some things we simply couldn't identify) - fresh and dried fish and meats, gruesome cuts of 'meat', cheese both local and imported, fruit and vegetables both local and imported, honey from many different trees and flowers, flowers, plants and herbs. There we bought fresh food for lunch as Anna had invited us to her home for some Russian home cooking. 

There is a strong naval history on display in Vladivostok

A whopping submarine which of course we had to climb into!

Inside the sub was very cramped

Fresh food markets are the same world over - except for the bits that are different!

We were very fortunate to have had the opportunity to peek into the life of Vladivostok proper, away from the tourist trail - off-Broadway so to speak.  It's a wonderful city with a fascinating history. Two days packed with sightseeing and tomorrow we are off to catch a train which will take us west to eventually reach Moscow 9288 kilometres away and 9 days later.

After the Soviet period ended, much effort and money was spent restoring the beautiful churches - and people's faith.