BDI4. Baikal Cruise by m/s Alexander Vampilov

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Highlights:

• Peschanaya Bay- one of the most famous and scenic places of the lake. The Bay was given the name of Siberian Riviera, moreover, it is declared to be under protection as a part of natural treasury. Coming here you feel as if the Creator while working on lake Baikal felt special inspiration exactly here and put all his love into the made by him cliffs, smooth slopes of the hills and perfectly shaped semi-oval of bay beach.
• Olkhon Island - the geographical, historical and sacred center of the Baikal Lake. It is the treasury of ancient legends and historical traditions. With its position in the central part of Baikal, near the maximum depth point (1637m), Olkhon has got the whole variety of natural Baikal landscapes. Olkhon has steppe landscapes with long and well warmed-up bays, rare for these areas sandy patches with dunes and hills, mixed deciduous forest with relic fir-groves, amazing marble cliffs covered with red lichen. For those who love wild nature and photographers it’s a real fount of immensely various landscapes and majestic sceneries.
• Shaman Rock – one of the nine Asian places of worship, located not far from Khuzhir settlement, has become a kind of visiting card of the lake, one the most famous key images of Baikal: there is no film or photo album about the lake, which can do without the picture of this place. The cave in the cliff of this cape is called Shamanka and it’s one of the most worshipped sacred places, where they made sacrifices and swore oaths since the time immemorial. Sacred Shaman Rock with the cave going through it and with access to it only for a shaman has been prohibited area for a long time, so nobody could go through the cave and even approach it.
• Sennaya Bay – a place where a forest guard permanently lives. You will experience real magic power of Russian banya (bath house). A walk in picturesque surroundings will make this stop in Sennaya Bay unforgettable.
• Circum Baikal railway - the unique monument of engineering architecture of the beginning of the 20th century.It’s at the same time the shortest and the most complicated (in terms of construction) part of Trans-Siberian railway. Relatively short piece of railways (84 km) from Port Baikal to Kultuk has 39 tunnels, lots of viaducts, bridges and stone galleries. This short piece of railways was called a “golden buckle on the steel belt of Russia”. A “buckle” – because Circum Baikal Railways joined broken by the lake Trans-Siberian railway, and “golden” – because the construction of it took up much more money than any other railway in Russian Empire in those days.