Cities and Towns in Europe
Over 8,500 kilometres from Moscow and just 30 from China, the Far East's second largest city feels surprisingly cosmopolitan. Though cold in winter, in summer an explosion of greenery fills the city's streets and parks, street cafes open up and locals hang out on the beach or stroll along the banks of the Amur. Forts were first built here in the 1650s by Cossacks intent on exacting fur tribute from the natives. They were destroyed fairly quickly though by the local Nanai people, the Koreans and the Chinese, the area becoming a part of China for well over a century and a half. Only in the second half of the nineteenth century did the area fall back into Russian hands and Khabarovsk was gradually built up. Beautiful old buildings remain from the early days but the more recent architects and planners at work in Khabarovsk have also done well at keeping the centre looking fairly classical. Nearby villages of the indigenous Nanai people can be visited, including Sikhachi-Alyan which has ancient petroglyphs, but they are now fairly "Russified" compared to some other Siberian peoples.
The BAM's biggest and prettiest town, Komsomolsk-Na-Amure is only eleven hours from the railway's terminus on the Pacific coast (and the ferry to Sakhalin island) or six from Khabarovsk on the Trans-Siberian Railway. It was named after volunteers from the Komsomol youth organization but was actually mostly built by Gulag concentration camp victims. Women from all over the Soviet Union were then sent out to populate the previously all-male city. Unusually for a Stalin-built town, particularly for a BAM town, its centre has pretty, modestly colourful buildings built in the Tsarist style, some wide avenues, strollable river banks, outdoor cafes and even a beach. Not far out of town there are impressive mountains with trekking, rafting and skiing possibilities. There are also some villages of the indigenous Nanai people in the area, although most of what remains of their pre-Russian culture is limited to museum displays.
A working class city if there ever was one. Murmansk is rough around the edges, with a no-nonsense character and a population toughened by the arctic Russian winters, the heavy industries and the gritty port. It is not pretty, but it's fascinating to spend a few days soaking up the city's atmosphere. One of the best ways to do so is by joining the Walruses, Murmansk's ice swimmers, on one of their daily plunges into Semenovskoye Lake. More traditional sights include the museum-cum-relic Lenin, the Soviet Union's first nuclear-powered icebreaker, and the Alesha, a 30 metre statue commemorate the Soviet defence of the Arctic during World War II; and the Museum of the Northern Fleet. Nightlife and be found in the new House of Culture, while most other places are limited to heavy drinking of vodka. If the harshness of the city get to you, Murmansk is also the obvious base for visiting the Kola Peninsula.
Traveling for hours or even days along Eastern Siberia's BAM railway through endless taiga forests, towering snow-streaked mountains, following the white waters of rivers crashing over lethal looking rapids with chunks of ice the size of houses still melting near their banks, it can be quite a shock when all of a sudden the pristine, primordial, middle-of-nowhere nature disappears to be replaced by somewhere like Novy Urgal. Founded in 1974 mostly by people from Ukraine and the Baltics and with a population of around 6,000, its peeling paint, crumbling walls and lack of any new buildings give the impression that the town has gone into decay somewhat. And, given the fact that it’s the biggest settlement for 14 hours in one direction and 24 in the other, there's not really anyone around to do anything about it. Novy Urgal is probably not the sort of place your average tourist will be keen to visit, but for those fascinated by the BAM, the Soviet Union or the Russian Far East in general it makes for an interesting stop.
If visiting Pereslavl-Zalessky try to set aside a couple of days for on foot exploration of this quietly beautiful 12th-century gem of a provincial town which, perhaps as a result of being bypassed by the train line, has been spared heavy development and has preserved a charming rural atmosphere that makes for a pleasant escape from Moscow. At the same time an impressive number of monasteries, churches and cathedrals ranging from the quaintly pretty to the simply jaw-dropping, the oldest of which was built in 1152, hint at Pereslavl’s former glory as a major centre of culture. As well as these main sites, hidden gems constantly pop up to surprise the visitor who takes the time to explore Perevslavl’s network of dirt lanes lined by log cabins with traditional carved window frames. In summer, camping on the shores of pretty Lake Pleshcheevo is popular.
This rough-around-the-edges Soviet town on the beautiful, little visited northern shore of Lake Baikal was built from scratch in the 1970s during the construction of the BAM railway. At first BAM workers who arrived from all over the Soviet Union lived in tents in the forest, then small cabins, then, after many years, apartments. Now the grey concrete of the centre contrasts the wooden bungalows of the outskirts, the BAM worker monuments pay homage to the Soviets while the holy spots like the one in the photo above remind one of the area's indigenous Buryat people, and the grimness of the town itself is starkly juxtaposed against the jaw-dropping natural beauty that surrounds it. There is a hostel in town with English speaking staff and it’s possible to organize driving or skiing on the frozen lake in winter, and trekking, boat trips, wind surfing and water skiing in summer. Alternatively you can explore the surrounding area on your own. Locals are very surprised to see foreigners, very hospitable and very proud of local history and their work on the BAM.
Ever since it was first mentioned in the year 863, Smolensk, sitting on key East-West and North-South trade routes, has been fought over time and time again. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that much of what remains, though extremely impressive, is in fact reconstruction. Nevertheless, the red towers of the old city walls and the simply jaw-dropping Assumption Cathedral would make it a mistake not to stop here if entering Russia from Belarus or vice versa. Heading uphill towards the town centre from the grim train station area will take you into pleasanter parts of town and past a lovely view of the city walls across the River Dnepr. Continuing further up the hill brings you to the town centre and peaceful Glinka Garden. Smolensk was the birthplace of Russian concert music in the 19th Century and opposite the Glinka Garden stands the appealing old Concert Hall. Plenty of concerts are played here to this day, often using balalaikas instead of violins, and an annual music festival is held.
Russia's second largest city and former capital was founded in 1703 in the middle of a swamp, tens of thousands of conscripted serfs dying during its construction. In the calm and relatively traffic-free centre, built around an intricate web of canals, much of the old, beautiful Tsarist architecture has been preserved although often in a slightly dilapidated state. A number of enormous cathedrals and churches built in a dazzlingly varied array of styles simply take your breath away. Major attractions include the Hermitage, the world's largest art museum and several palaces and castles outside the city. In remoter parts of Leningradskaya Oblast, the province in which St Petersburg is found, the grandeur of the city is almost unimaginable. Here people live in tiny villages of log cabins only accessible by hours of driving down dirt tracks and waiting for ferries to cross bridgeless rivers. Villages like Gimreka and Shchelyeyki have incredibly beautiful, centuries-old log churches while the one in Rodionovo, built in 1493, is one of the oldest wooden buildings in Russia.
As old as Moscow itself and once the seat of an independent princedom on the northern reaches of the River Volga, Uglich went into decline in the 17th Century to become what it is today: a small, tranquil provincial backwater of 34,000. Nevertheless, it remains dotted with beautiful historical architecture, in particular churches and monasteries whose magnificence contrasts starkly with the dinginess of some of the town’s backstreets which are often unpaved and lined with crumbling concrete apartment blocks or wooden cottages. The modest but beautiful kremlin is on the waterfront and a lovely view of it from the water can be had by taking an inexpensive boat trip or hiring your own rowing boat from Victory Park.
Either the end, or even better, the start of the Trans-Siberian railway, 9288 km from Moscow. This harbour town is beautifully set along a peninsula separating Golden Horn Bay from the Amursky Golf. It is the base for Russia's Pacific fleet which gives the town a real navy feel, with a fort and a submarine museum inside a docked submarine. There is even a city beach, which must be quite a sight on one of the few hot summer days. If you are planning on going east, it's possible to take the ferry to both Japan and South Korea.