Day 29 (22nd June) Irkutsk-Listvyanka-Irkutsk

Our trip to Lake Baikal involved getting to Listvyanka, where the Angara River flows out of the lake on its way north to the Arctic Ocean via the River Yenisey. A taxi would cost £34 and the bus £3 each so we got the bus. First we needed to go to the bus station which, according to the conductress on a tram we hopped on to, was at the railway station. On reaching said station, we were told that the long-distance station is actually at the Central Market, a long way away. We were surrounded by a friendly group of young people who got taxi for us with an Uzbek driver who seemed very pleased to hear that we had been to Uzbekistan. On reaching the Central Market, we found a row of mashrutkas (mini-buses) and got the last two seats (next to the driver) for the 43-mile journey to Listvyanka. The mashrutka stopped by a cabin proclaiming itself to be a “Tourist Information Centre” where we were able to book a 3-hour excursion. Listvyanka isn’t a proper town: it is a one-street locality with nothing but hotels, restaurants, greasy-spoon caffs and stalls selling “souvenirs” (tourist tat). The boat ride was good. We stopped to look at the famous “Shaman Stone” and then went ashore to see a tunnel on the old “Circular Baikal Line” built in 1904, only a small part of which remains from Listnyavka to Sludyanka. It was superseded by the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1916 although trains still ran until 1960. We got a mashrutka back to Irkutsk and a taxi to the hotel