Day 10 - Sunday, Sept 22 - Ulan-Ude to Lake Baikal


We woke to a view of Lake Baikal outside our window as we rounded the southwest corner of the lake. Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world with a depth of over one mile. It was said to have been formed 15 million years ago by the Siberian Rift, with the southern plate moving under the northern plate and creating a very deep trench. We are on one of the early sections of the Siberian Railroad which has 30 tunnels leading up to Port Baikal at the mouth of the Angara River which drains Lake Baikal to the Arctic Ocean. The train would be disassembled onto a ferry to cross the Angara River and then reassemble on the other side to continue its journey. A route along the southern border was created later and this section was largely abandoned except for tourism use.

Our trip included a scenic boat ride crossing the river and along the shore to the village of Listvyanka. The hillsides are turning a beautiful golden yellow from the Aspen trees – it is difficult to capture with photos. We went to the Open Air Museum of Traditional Wooden Houses that have been moved here to represent the cultures of different ethnic groups. I was surprised to learn that they would traditionally be constructed of Larch logs which are highly weather and rot resistant. Some of the buildings were 300 years old. Andrei, our tour guide, told us the one-room school house was very similar to the one that he went to in north of Irkutsk. The school room doesn’t look much different from the one at the Adirondack Museum except that it had an abacus to learn arithmetic.
Cossack fort from 1660s 

School room - late 1800s

We came back to the fish market in Listvyanka where Andrei purchased a freshly smoked fish which he deftly filleted and gave us to sample – it was delicious. I’m surprised that we aren’t having more fish to eat from this area. There were many vendors selling what looked like the same kinds of dried, smoked and fresh fish – it is hard to know what differentiates them. The market also has many stands selling jewelry which is obviously for the tourists who visit here.
Andrei filleting fish

Village from the boat

The village also has an Orthodox church dedicated to St. Nicholas in the 1840s after a merchant prayed to be saved from a storm while crossing the lake. During the communist era the church was used as a fish warehouse but has recently been renovated and is beautiful.
St. Nicholas Church

We then took the boat back to Port Baikal and took the train for a beautiful ride along the shore to a place that was setup for us to swim and have a barbecue. I regretted not bringing my bathing suit for the experience of swimming here. People who went in received a certificate attesting to their fortitude in swimming in the cold water – I didn’t think it felt much colder than Indian Lake. The barbecue had quite an assortment of foods and complimentary wine and vodka. The vodka helped to take off the chill. Next to where our train stopped there was an old but freshly painted steam engine on a single piece of track, not going anywhere soon. There was no indication of why the steam engine was there.
Barbecue - Julia on the right


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