We can all see why the Russians would want to come to Malta; the desire to escape a Moscow winter where temperatures routinely drop as low as -10°C and the sun puts in an appearance only three days a month is not hard to understand.
But what does Russia have to offer the intrepid Maltese backpacker in return? Well, if you’re looking for superlatives, there’s the largest Lenin head ever, the deepest lake on the planet and the longest train ride in the world.
Add to that vast swathes of wilderness and copious amounts of vodka and you’d be mad to resist. So grab a backpack and book one of Air Malta’s flights (prices start at around €140 one way) to lose yourself in the complex history and spectacular scenery of the former Soviet Union.
Week One
Fly into Moscow and take the Aeroexpress train to the city centre (it operates from both airports). After checking into the Nomad Hostel (€10pp www.hostelbookers.com), hit the metro to get to St Basil’s Cathedral. The name might not ring a bell, but you’ll know it when you see the candy stripe domes ballooning over delicate red brick turrets in the heart of Red Square.
It’s up there with the Sydney Opera House and Big Ben in terms of statement architecture. While you’re in the neighbourhood, take in the Kremlin, then Lenin’s Mausoleum to see the embalmed former premier up close and in person (mornings only).
The Church of Christ the Saviour looms very large on the horizon nearby; it was knocked down by Stalin, who wanted to build the world’s largest swimming pool, then resurrected again at vast expense. Bunker 42 is also worth a look, if only to see the cold war story from the other side (you’ll get to wear a gas mask and grasp a replica gun).
Your evenings will be busy; ballet is perennially popular and for around €25 you can watch the best of the Bolshoi pirouette across the stage at the theatre of the same name (students pay just €0.40 for any remaining tickets on the day).
If you are still nursing an impression of Russians standing in queues in the cold to buy hard, dry bread, then a visit to www.balticbread.ru will set you right. There are 50 breads and 150 different cakes and pies to try, making lunch a cinch. For dinner, try Kvatira 44 (Ulitsa Bolshaia Nikitskaya 22/2), which serves Russian food in a genuine Moscovite atmosphere; the mushroom soup served in a bowl of brown bread comes recommended.
Peter the Great built St Petersburg as a window onto Europe
Other sights worth visiting include a Soviet Dacha (a plot of land with an old wooden Soviet house on it, www.visitrussdacha.com) and the Moscow museum (http://www.museum.ru/moscow/).
Week Two
After a week of acclimatising in Moscow, it’s time to get your first taste of train travel in Russia on your way to historic St Petersburg. You could take a fast train (four hours, €80), but a better deal is the overnight train, where third class one way can be as little as €30. The direct trains depart from Moscow’s Leningradsky Station and arrive at St Petersburg’s Moscovsky Station. There’s lots of information on the different trains and a booking portal at www.waytorussia.net.
Peter the Great built St Petersburg as a window onto Europe and employed a host of foreign experts to fulfil his Europhile vision. Their legacy includes a strong, Italianate influence in the canals and baroque buildings of the historic centre and a German settlement on Vasilevsky Island, but everything from the cuisine to ballet felt the touch of Western Europe upon it.
The sophisticated St Petersburgers also birthed the Russian revolution, which heralded 70 years of communism. The city remains edgy and cool – the perfect place to experience the white nights of summer when the sun just dips below the horizon only to rise again almost immediately.
Hostel rooms are available from around €10 (www.hostelworld.com) and for location it’s hard to beat the Friends Hostel Griboedova. Make the State Hermitage Museum your first stop after checking in. It might have an unprepossessing name, but this former Tsar’s palace is crammed with artistic treasures.
Once you’ve conquered the main sights of the city, strike out for Imperial Estate at Peterhof. The grounds alone are a marvel of gilt statues and a broad avenue of water, reminiscent of the finest French chateaux. You can take an additional day trip to the Tsars’ summer palaces of Pushkin (Tsarskoye Selo) and Catherine Palace; www.viator.com offer day trips to both for about €60. The palaces scream of long, muslin frocks and anguish over the samovar, but it’s the Amber Room that steals the show, panelled in six tones of the coveted opaque resin, gold leaf and mirrors.
After all that sightseeing, indulge yourself in a bath heated by wood oven at the Mitninskaya Bani (ul Mytninskaya 17-19, Friday to Tuesday, entrance 8am to 8.30pm), followed by a stroll through the peaceful park of Yelagin Island, a no-car zone with a palace built for Empress Maria.
After the international feel of St Petersburg, an epic voyage into the heart of Russia awaits; all aboard for the TransSiberian Express.
Week Three
The Trans-Siberian is the world’s longest train route. It starts in Moscow, rattles across Western Europe and crosses the Ural Mountains in Asia to reveal the vast, untouched landscapes of Siberia and the pleasures of Lake Baikal – the largest freshwater lake in the world. The main route ends in Vladivostok on the Pacific coast (this train leaves every other day).
If you don’t get off, the trip would take six days through seven time zones, but part of the pleasure is exploring the towns along the way, so budget a fortnight, then sit back to enjoy the world’s most elongated vodka party with your fellow travellers. One-way, non-stop, summer tickets will set you back around €400 in a second-class, four-berth compartment.
To ensure that you can get on and off, you’ll either need to book each section of the journey in advance, or buy a hop on-hop off ticket through an agency (this still requires reservations). The website www.realrussia.co.uk takes the pain out of booking this way.
Skip the train restaurant in favour of buying homemade food from hawkers at each station; the cuisine will change as Europe transitions into Asia; try the Pirozhkis (not dissimilar to pastizzi), smoked fish from Lake Baikal, potatoes and chicken. Prices are usually just a couple of euros. Your fellow travellers may also share their gherkins, boiled eggs, Suckaris cakes and sausage with you.
After a couple of days, just as cabin fever starts to set in, the train will rumble into Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia. At first glance, it might seem a little grey, but if you want to explore the real Russia, this is a good place to start. Sights include Akademgorodok, the open-air West Siberian Rail Museum. If you have time, book a trekking trip in the Altai Mountains. For a tailor-made, guided hike, visit www.adventurtravel.ru.
One train vodka session later and you’ll arrive at Lake Baikal (the station is Irkutsk). Relatively few western tourists make it to the shores of this beautiful and ancient lake, which is 1,637 metres at its deepest point and has several kilometres of sediment below that. It supports weird and wonderful aquatic creatures (some of which would explode if brought to the surface, so adapted are they to the intense pressures of the lake), but in the winter it is covered by a layer of ice so thick that during the 1904 war with Japan, the Russians laid a railway over it to transport supplies. Spend a few days relaxing, swimming and breathing in the wild splendour of the rocky crags reflected in the clear water.
Week Four
The feel of the country you are passing now will become distinctly more Asian. Get off the train at Ulan-Ude. Breathe in the air of calm about the town and visit a Buddhist Datsan (a kind of university/monastery). There’s also an ethnographic museum with recreation yurts and wooden homesteads. And no-one would want to miss the world’s largest Lenin head, balanced on top of a tiled plinth, brooding over the main square of the town.
Your final destination is Vladivostok, a small town, but one of the most politically important in Russia. The station is a lovely relic in itself and even has an old steam train parked on one of the platforms.
There’s a beach at Sportivnaya Harbour, which will be a welcome escape after days of rocking trains (check out the semi-submerged mermaid there), a fortress and a very large number of Russian Destroyers from the Pacific Fleet. Get inside a C-56 Submarine at Korabelnaya nab.
If you don’t get off, the trip would take six days through seven time zones
Accommodation at the budget end can be a bit sketchy, so book a room through a local at www.airbnb.com; €30 will get you an apartment and the owner, Andrew, will even pick you up from the station. Then just kick back for a couple of days, enjoying some international cuisine after a diet of boiled eggs and potatoes.
From here, your options are to take a flight home via London (book well in advance as they can be pricey) or use Vladivostok as a jumping-off point to explore Japan and South Korea (you can take a ferry there, weekly, for €170 one way) or even western US. Otherwise, charge up your Kindle and head straight back to the station for the return journey…