Russia Featured

Vladivostok — Russia’s Pacific Gateway Vladivostok — Russia’s Pacific Gateway Vladivostok is the end of the line — literally. The final stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway, this port city sits on the Pacific coast, closer to Tokyo and Seoul than to Moscow. It’s a city of hills and bridges, of […]

Vladivostok — Russia’s Pacific Gateway

The Trans-Siberian Railway — The World’s Greatest Train Journey The Trans-Siberian Railway — The World’s Greatest Train Journey Nine thousand kilometres, seven time zones, and a week of your life spent rattling across the spine of the world. The Trans-Siberian Railway is not just a train ride — it’s a […]

The Trans-Siberian Railway — The World’s Greatest Train Journey

St Petersburg: Canals, Czars and the White Nights St Petersburg: Canals, Czars and the White Nights I arrived in St Petersburg by overnight train from Moscow, bleary-eyed and coffee-deprived. The Nevsky Prospekt at 7 AM in mid-June was already bathed in a strange, milky light — the famous White Nights […]

St Petersburg: Canals, Czars and the White Nights

Sochi Russia Travel Guide — Black Sea Paradise on a Budget Sochi — Russia’s Black Sea Paradise I arrived in Sochi on a sweaty overnight train from Moscow, and the first breath of subtropical air hit me like a tropical wall. Palm trees lined the boulevards. The Black Sea stretched […]

Sochi Russia Travel Guide — Black Sea Paradise on a ...

Moscow: Red Square, Soviet Ghosts and the Metro Underground Moscow: Red Square, Soviet Ghosts and the Metro Underground I remember stepping out of Okhotny Ryad metro station and catching my first glimpse of St Basil’s Cathedral. It was late October, the air crisp with the first bite of winter, and […]

Moscow: Red Square, Soviet Ghosts and the Metro Underground

Lake Baikal Travel Guide — Siberia’s Sacred Sea Lake Baikal — Siberia’s Sacred Sea The train slowed as we rounded a bend, and then I saw it — a sheet of turquoise ice stretching to the horizon, surrounded by snow-capped mountains that looked like they’d been painted by a god […]

Lake Baikal Travel Guide — Siberia’s Sacred Lake

Kazan Russia Travel Guide — Where Europe Meets Asia Kazan — Where Europe Meets Asia I stepped off the train in Kazan and felt it immediately — that electric tension between two worlds. The skyline was a conversation between worlds: onion domes glinting gold beside the soaring minarets of the […]

Kazan Russia Travel Guide — Where Europe Meets Asia

Kamchatka — Russia’s Land of Fire and Ice Kamchatka — Russia’s Land of Fire and Ice Imagine a place where 29 active volcanoes steam against snow-capped peaks, where brown bears outnumber humans, and where the earth literally hisses and bubbles beneath your feet. Kamchatka is not a convenient destination — […]

Kamchatka — Russia’s Land of Fire and Ice

Russia’s Golden Ring: Timber Churches, Onion Domes and Ancient Towns Russia’s Golden Ring: Timber Churches, Onion Domes and Ancient Towns The Golden Ring is not one place — it’s a necklace of ancient towns and cities east of Moscow, each one a chapter in Russia’s medieval story. I spent ten […]

Russia’s Golden Ring: Timber Churches, Onion Domes and Ancient Towns