Listvyanka, by the
shores of Lake Baikal
(Move your cursor over
the thumbnails to read descriptions, and click on them to see
larger images) |
| The most
convenient way to get to Lake Baikal is to go to the village Listvyanka from Irkutsk, along the river Angara
(more than one hour with the bus, shorter with
a marshrutka).
Through Jack Sheremetoff (at Baikaler.com)
I had arranged a very nice accommodation for us in the house of Valentina and Vladimir + their big, furry dog and cat.
After our three nights in Listvyanka, we really wished that we
could have stayed much, much longer.
Valentina made us sturdy, home-cooked breakfasts, and we also got
to enjoy their traditional Russian banya one evening. (Though I shouldn't have
let the boys go there first, as they thought it was 'too hot' and
kept the *windows open*, letting all the heat out!! By the time
that it was my turn, it was cold. And there I had been
looking forward to it so much ...!)
Listvyanka is, due to its
convenient location, a relatively 'exploited' part of the Baikal
shore. There are quite many hotels, and many holiday houses of
rich people are being guarded not only by the ubiquitous traditional fluffy
yard dogs, but also armed human guards and high brick walls.
However, this 'exploitation' still seems to be quite small, at least in the
winter, and if you just go far enough away from the village, you
can find beautiful, untouched nature. With its depth of
1637 m, the Baikal is the deepest lake in the world. It is also
the greatest reservoir of sweet water, with a volume of 23 000
cubic meters - 22% of the earth's surface sweet water. The lake's
water is remarkably clear. In the little booklet "60
minutes on the Baikal", V. I. Galkina writes: "a white
disc
with a diameter of 30 cm is visible in the Baikal up to a depth of
40 m."
Of the about 2000 known animal species and about 1000 plant species in
the Baikal, approximately 84% can only be found here. Among them
are many molluscs, various worms, fish like the omul, and,
last but not least, the nerpa
seal. Around
New Year, when we were there, the lake was not yet frozen. This
usually doesn't happen until the second half of January, after
which the ice
lasts until April/May. It gets well over one meter thick, and roads are
made across the lake. During the Russian-Japanese war, a railway
was even laid out on the Baikal's ice. |
 |
During one of our
walks in Listvyanka, we took a path into the forest. After
ardently discussing for half an hour whether the municipality of
Bucharest was completely useless because they hadn't been able to
get away all the snow immediately after a slight blizzard in
December like they had claimed in their snowplough propaganda,
Mihai and Gusti suddenly said, 'hey, let's climb up that hill.'
'Okay', I said.
The hill turned out to be very steep, and covered in deep snow.
Since I'm no experienced alpinist, and since my physical condition
has not exactly become better after the last three years of
student's life, it turned out to be pretty tough for me ... Of
course, I didn't say anything for a long time, because I didn't
want to let on what a wimp I was. But then came the phase when I
really had to suggest that we make a little break, because
I couldn't get my legs to move anymore ... And my mountaineer
friends got to have a good laugh at me.
My shoes and muscles were not quite good enough for the last, hard
part to the top of the hill, but my comrades assured me that the
view was really breathtaking. Well, it was very nice from where I
was, too.
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During
another walk, we followed the shore of the Baikal to the
north. Listvyanka is located on the inside of the mouth of
the river Angara, so the portion of the lake that you see
from there is quite small.
Of course, the lake looks big from Listvyanka ...
until you get out of the bay. Once we got around the
hills, the vast northern part of the Baikal spread out
before us. |
Early in the morning of New
Year's eve, we got up to watch the sunrise. However, it turned out
to be foggy and lead-coloured, and not the bright pink and blue
that we had been hoping for, as we had caught a glimpse of such a
morning the day when we arrived. But it was still quite nice.
We celebrated the New Year
watching fireworks, eating champagne dinner with our host
Valentina, and watching Gusti wade in the below zero temperatured
water of the Baikal. (A few minutes after the feat Gusti started
to feel his toes again.)
And by then it was pretty much
time to leave again ... and set out on our
~5 000 km long train
ride across Russia.
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No index frame on
the left? |
