City Rumble – Berlin versus Moscow

Okay. So here I’ve set myself up haven’t I? This is a really tricky face off between two BIG cities. One I’ve already had in a rumble before – that’s Moscow, when it faced off against compatriot Saint Petersburg. It didn’t quite win the race there. Will it fair any better against Germany’s capital? Read …

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Irkutsk – An introduction to Siberia and Eastern Russia

Last year I fulfilled one of the items on my bucket list, that was to take the trans-Mongolian through China, Mongolia and Russia to Moscow. On the way, I stopped off in a few cities/towns, and my first stop in Russia was the Siberian city of Irkutsk. It was a place I hadn’t heard, read …

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In Search of Stalin’s Seven Sisters

Ever since I visited Russia earlier this year, and to be more precise Moscow, I wanted to do a post on ‘Stalin’s Seven Sisters’. It’s the sort of thing that appeals to me I guess – something to see, to hunt out in a city and say you saw them all. What are Stalin’s Seven …

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Sunday Spotlight – Irkutsk

Today’s Sunday Spotlight is shone at the adorable city of Irkutsk, in Siberia, Russia, not too far from the beautiful Lake Baikal – the world’s biggest inland lake. On the train heading to Irkutsk from Ulaan Baatar I was chatting with several people, including one guy who reckoned that Irkutsk was one of the least …

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Travel Itinerary – Trans-Mongolian Railway

Howdy all. I’ve been meaning to outline the places and route I took earlier this year when on the 3rd of May I left Beijing for to take the train across three countries – China, Mongolia and Russia – to far flung Moscow. Wait – is it Beijing that is far flung? I flew into …

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