Impressions of Irkutsk

Irkutsk, which lies six hours by plane or three days by rail east of Moscow, is the capital of Eastern Siberia. A city of some 600,000, it seemed bustling with new wealth and new development, in addition to significant pockets of poverty. In my first three days in Irkutsk I saw three traffic accidents, compared with none on the rest of a three week trip. Irkutsk drivers may be reckless, but most of the cars I saw were shiny and new.
Once known as the Paris of Siberia, it was the place of exile for most of the noble revolutionaries known as the Dekabrists, who were sent here following their failed revolt in December of 1825. I stayed in a large comfortable house in a suburb of the city(gated, naturally) that is named for the Dekabrists. It was strange but pleasant after an uneventful flight that landed at about 5:30 a.m. Irkutsk time to be greeted by a smiling, fashionably attired host who led us to her sparkling clean European SUV. then took us to her home not far from the airport, fed us breakfast and let us rest for a few hours to beat the effects of jet lag.
She later drove us downtown and showed us the sights, including a large park overlooking the wide Angara River. It was the last day of school for Irkutsk students, and the park was full of soon -to- be high school graduates celebrating what they call Last Bell. The girls were dressed in black with lacy white aprons and small headdresses, which reminded me of native Breton costume. They had small silver bells pinned to their dresses, and everyone was in a cheerful mood.
On a later sightseeing tour we visited the square of three churches, two Russian orthodox dating from the early 18th century and a Roman Catholic cathedral built by Polish exiles in the late 19th century. It is the largest Roman Catholic church I have seen in Russia, and still holds services.
The main streets of Irkutsk are still named after Communist heroes, Karl Marx and Lenin, and it is really possible to say, "Meet you at the corner of Marx and Lenin." Some of my Marxist professors would be delighted.

The Cathedral of the Epiphany, built in 1718, is on the square of three churches and is often used as a symbol of the city. It is in a style known today as Siberian baroque, and is pictured below. A nearby church, the Church of the Saviour, is built on the spot where Cossacks founded Irkutsk more than 300 years ago.

Not your mother's Aeroflot

I recently flew on Aeroflot Russian airlines (http://www.aeroflot.com) from Moscow to Irkutsk and back, and was pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness and newness of the plane, as well as the service. Best of all, all announcements were bilingual in Russian and English.
I did suffer a little nostalgia for the good/bad old days of Aeroflot when a surly unilingual air hostess pushed my travel companion down in her seat when she tried to go to the washroom while the seat belt sign was illuminated. In Soviet times Aeroflot was an accurate introduction to the difficulties foreign visitors were likely to experience on the ground. Today, though, the airline is thoroughly modern. My only complaint was that I could not figure out how to order an alcoholic beverage in economy class. I think the drill is you have to order and pay for it in advance of the meal, but I'm not sure. Another change is that Aeroflot no longer serves Canada, so there is no non-stop flight from Montreal to Moscow as there used to be.
I flew in a comfortable Airbus, and on its Website the airline boasts that its fleet which consists of both Airbus and Boeing aircraft, is among the newest in Europe. No more lurching Turpolevs, and at least on the Irkutsk route, no more scrambling for seats because seats were often unassigned and overbooked.
The flight to Irkutsk is long, six hours, but proved to be smooth and I felt a sense of security knowing that if any problem did arise, we were over land and for most of the trip there was little on the ground to hit except for trees.
Aeroflot is advertising special fares on some routes within Russia, including a return fare as low as 2,000 rubles (about $75) to Mineralnye Vody in southern Russia, a spa town and gateway to the fractious Caucuses region.

Amazing Siberia

I just returned from three weeks in Russia, including my first visit to Siberia, storied land of suffering and exile. I can report that there is a lot more to the place than those old tales, however true and valuable they may be.
Irkutsk, capital of eastern Siberia, is a booming cityof about 600,000 inhabitants with lots of traffic and new building. Made famous by the Dekabrist revolutionaries of 1825, it has long been considered the pearl of this vast, underpopulated region. The noble revolutionaries of the 19th century and their wives who voluntarily joined them in exile brought cultrue to this remote, forbidding area. Some of the mansions they built here still survive, along with numerous old churches and even a large Roman Catholic church built by Polish exiles.
Today Irkutsk is home to a large academic community and appears to be benefitting from some of the wealth generated by Russia's oil, gas and mineral development. There is still poverty, but the general mood seems upbeat.
I travelled to Irkutsk as part of a tour organized by Friendship Force, (http://www.friendshipforce.org) an international organization that brings together diverse groups of people who visit one another's homes. My host in Siberia was very generous and welcoming and did a lot to make my stay very pleasant. The same applied to a different host in St. Petersburg. I'll tell you more about the trip with pix in the coming weeks.