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Siberia

If I ever got tired of hustle and bustle of a big city and everyday routine, I would surely escape to a place with untouched genuine beauty of nature, vast landscape, smoking volcanoes, green succulent forests, pure mountain lakes and ridges covered with snow. One of such hidden virgin treasure troves is Siberia, a land which was explored and conquered by Kazak warrior Ermak and which still manages to preserve its genuine purity of nature and diversity of cultural heritage of numerous ethnic groups. This is a real off the beaten track destination for those who want to experience the harmony with nature. And new hotels and transport links will make your visit most comfortable to one of the world's last great wildernesses.

The area of Siberia is about 4 million square miles, it is nearly as big as Canada. It stretches from the Ural Mountains to the Lena River. It is unbearably cold in winter and boiling in summer, so the best time to visit Siberia is in March when the temperature varies from -5 to -25 C.

The real gem, the Blue Eye of Siberia, is the Lake Baikal which is one of the most famous Russian destinations. It is the deepest lake in the world which contains 1/5 of all the world's fresh water. It was slashed out of rock millions of years ago by a shift of the Earth's crust. The lake is nearly as clear as the Sargasso Sea, and in spite of some recent environmental concerns, its water is pure enough to drink. The lake's size is unbelievably impressive: its length is 636 kilometers and its coastline stretches on 2000 kilometers. The waters of Baikal have experienced a long isolation from the rest of the world, due to this it has become a habitat to over 2500 species of plants and animals, most of which can be found nowhere else in the world.

Another Siberian gem is the Sayan Mountain Ring. There you will not only experience different ethnic cultures, but also merge into the genuine beauty of nature: pure lakes and roaring mountain rivers, abundant forests and endless steppes. All these will create a unique atmosphere and you may feel that the time has gone backwards when you get to know people who have preserved the legends, believes and way of life of their ancestors for centuries. You may be pretty amazed to see one of the Sayan famous nature wonders - The Sleeping Sayan. This is a mountain ridge which looks like a man lying on his back with his hands on his chest. According to the legend he had been guarding the reaches of the Siberian land and after his death the gods turned him into the stone so that he could continue his deed.

Among the city highlights are Tyumen, which was the first Russian fort in Siberia; Tobolsk, which was once the capital of Siberia and which is still one of its most impressive cities; Novosibirsk with all the variety of activities it has to offer and many others. And apart from all that, you will have a chance to get to know better the rich Siberian history and its role in the life and history of the Russian state like Ermak's conquest, the Decembrists (the noble rebels who were sent to Siberia after a failed attempt to cast down the Tsarist regime in 1825 and their loyal wives who followed their husbands to Siberia and endured the hard lot and severe conditions), the building of Trans-Siberian Railway, etc.

06.06.2008

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