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One-day tour to Baikal
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After arrival – meeting at the airport by our English-speaking guide, breakfast and the city tour through historical part of Irkutsk.
Irkutsk is included into the number of historical cities preserving their old planning and buildings. There are about 685 history and culture monuments in Irkutsk, 108 of them are monuments of national importance.
The city of Irkutsk was founded by Russians in 1661 - at the beginning of the colonization of Siberia and became a political, economic and cultural center of Siberia.
Nowadays there are more than 600 monuments of history and culture in Irkutsk, and you will see the most interesting of them, such as: Spasskaya Church, the Epiphany Cathedral, the Roman Catholic Church, the monument to Alexander III, the monument to Kolchak, Znamenskiy (the Omen) Convent, the Monument to G.I.Shelikhov and etc.
Transfer to Listvyanka
Most travelers start the acquaintance with Baikal in Listvyanka village. This is the most popular holiday place at Baikal, it is 70 km from Irkutsk, it is 1 hour’s car ride.
On our way to Listvyanka we will visit the museum of wooden architecture Taltsy. It contains 40 history and architecture monuments and 8000 exhibits of great historic importance. The first wooden buildings of the museum were removed from the floodable zone of Ust-Ilimsk reservoir. The museum was founded in 1966. On 20th February 1995 the Russian Federation President issued a decree about making Museum Taltsy an object of national history and culture heritage. During the tour to Taltsy museum you`ll see 13 architecture complexes with 36 wooden buildings on the territory of the museum. They get the visitors acquainted with material and spiritual culture of Near-Baikal nationalities – Russians, Buryats, Evenks. The museum expositions tell about everyday life, customs and traditions of Near-Baikal nationalities in late 19th / early 20th century. Original and magnificent Siberian folk architecture attracts a special attention of tourists.
Stop at the observation area opposite the famous Shaman Stone. The Angara is 1779 km long and is the only river flowing out of Lake Baikal. Its source is the widest in the world, it does not freeze during the most severe Siberian winters (width - 863 m , maximum depth - 4.8 m, speed - 5.1 km/h). In the middle of the river, at its head, rises a rock cliff 1.5 m high protected by the state as a natural relic mentioned in the legends of old times.
A beautiful legend, well-known in Siberia, has it that Baikal the Old wanted to marry his beauty of a daughter to a young warrior named Irkut (one of the Angara tributaries). But Angara fell in love with another knight, Yenisey, and ran away to join him. The furious father cast the huge Shaman Cliff after her. East Siberia’s largest hibernation place of water fowl is to be found at the source of the Angara River. And of course there live beautiful and loud white sea gulls without which it is hard to imagine Lake Baikal and its shores.
Visit to the Baikal Museum. The museum was established in 1928 when the Baikal Limnological Station opened in the village of Listvyanka (since 1961 - the Limnological Institute). Every year the Baikal Museum has more than 30,000 visitors. The unique exhibits tell about the origin and the history of the lake, its flora and fauna, geological structure, climate and tectonics of Prebaikalye.
You will see: stuffed birds and animals; collection of minerals; exhibits found in scientific expeditions models of the lake bed showing its history, the peculiarities of its shoreline and bottom. And also Baikal fish (omul, golomyanka, kharius, sturgeon, taimen, pike); Microorganisms inhabiting Baikal waters and destroying everything that might pollute the lake.
Walking tour of Krestovka village with a visit to St. Nicholas' Church. Legend has it that Russian merchant Serebriakov was caught in a storm out on the lake and prayed to St. Nicholas (Protector of Navigators) for help. His prayers were answered and on his safe return he began to build a church to thank the saint (in 1846). Unfinished when he died, the church was completed by the merchant's wife. Located in Listvyanka village, the residents attend service held in the church. In the 1950-s the building was restored and many icons from other churches of Irkutsk were brought there among which are some rare items dating back to the 18th century.
Visit to the local fish & souvenir market. At the local market you can also buy souvenirs made by local Siberian masters, and also taste smoked fish from Baikal: omul, whitefish.
Transfer to Irkutsk, accommodation at the hotel.
