Here are a few more pictures from our trip on the Trans Siberian Railway in 1990. Again I do apologise for the quality of some of these photos.

After travelling through northern China and Mongolia on the Trans Mongolian Express we arrived in Irkutsk, Siberia where we had an overnight stop. Irkutsk is set on the Angara River which was partially frozen.

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Although it was very cold the weather was clear and sunny and we were able to explore the area near our hotel on foot. I liked the architecture even though I don’t suppose the old wooden buildings were very comfortable in a Siberian winter. I also really liked the light there so I took as many photos as I could.

As it was winter and there were very few opportunities to tour but there was another Australian couple who were also changing trains in Irkutsk and as they were well travelled and knew a few things they were able to arrange a group tour of Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. Apart from us there were the two girls sharing our compartment, one Canadian and one Japanese and a couple of guys who I think were from Denmark or Germany. I can’t remember now.

Lake Baikal was interesting although David and I found it hard to keep our footing in the ice and snow. It was strange to be walking down a road that was actually a river which had frozen solid.

This place near Lake Baikal was where it was customary for newlyweds to come and tie a ribbon to one of the trees for luck.

There are many beautiful churches in Irkutsk. I especially liked the Russian Orthodox ones. We were able to look inside one or two but I didn’t take photographs.

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We also visited some of the buildings associated with the Decemberists. These were people who had been exiled to Siberia in 1826 after a failed uprising amongst the military. There is an interesting article about them that you can read here.

Further Reading:

https://www.thewanderingjuan.net/2019/09/travel-guide-budget-and-itinerary-for_22.html