Granted, it’s not the usual exotic destination with endless sandy beaches and sun-scorching tropical weather every day of the year, yet we are still taking you to the far east; to a hub of history, Russian culture and Soviet nostalgia. The charm of this 150-year-old city makes it a memorable place to visit.
The surrounding forests are still home to small populations of tigers and bears
When I tell people I have been toVladivostok, very few can actually place it on a map and most are surprised to find out it is a nine-hour direct flight from Moscow.
When one looks at a world map, it is on the right-hand side next to the Chinese border with North Korea.
Vladivostok is home to the Russian Pacific fleet and is the largest Russian port in the Pacific.
Besides being the birthplace of Yul Brynner, it is famous in the Western world for the Trans-Siberian railway, which connects Moscow to the city and is the longest railway in the world. Each year, thousands take the painstaking eight-day journey for over 9,000 kilometres through this vast country to end in Vladivostok, the last Russian station on its tracks.
When visiting the city, it soon becomes apparent that roads and buildings are being reconstructed and modernised. Two huge cable-stayed bridges connecting the mainland to a smaller island called Russky are in process of being built; once completed they will be the largest and second largest bridges of their kind in the world.
The main port is called Zoltoy Rog (Golden Horn), named by the city’s founder count Muravyov-Amursky after a similar port in Constantinople (now Istanbul).
During the Cold War, Vladivostok was officially closed to foreigners due to the presence of the Pacific fleet in its port. The Soviets could not risk any leakage of sensitive information through foreigners.
In spite of this, Vladivostok is one of the most diverse cities in Russia since it was populated by ethnic Russians and Ukrainians during the Soviet era, while Chinese, Koreans and central Asians began to migrate there in the 1990s.
Located between China, Korea and Japan, one can feel the Asian influence on the city, from the consumer goods on the market to the restaurants, tourists and the vast array of second-hand Japanese cars.
For fans of Russian culture and cuisine, visiting this port city gives you an idea of the vast wealth of seafood dishes available, including the world famous Russian caviar.
In fact, there are many different types of caviar and each type takes some getting used to, but once you do, its love.
A typical dish of the region is morsky salianka, which is essentially seaweed and seafood. Being a melting pot of regional countries, this city offers a unique mix of Russian and Asian cuisine like no other can. Soups are an important element in Russian dishes and are present in every dinner.
One of the most important tourist attractions is a Soviet-era submarine birthed in the main park. It is truly a chilling experience to be inside a submarine where a crew had lived for weeks in close quarters, destined for a watery grave if something went wrong.
Besides the necessary Stalin portrait, there were pictures of submariners on the walls along with handwritten notes in Cyrillic. One can drift off imagining the feelings of these men in these iron cells hundreds of kilometres from land.
I feel truly lucky to have visited such a place, which had been closed off to the public for many years.
The most poetic scene to me is a city square where an Orthodox church faces a Soviet statue in the distance. Religion conflicts with communism and was banned throughout the Soviet Unionfor almost 60 years; churches weredismantled and crucifixes became the ‘hammer and sickle’.
Vladivostok boasts a number of new churches which have sprouted like mushrooms all over the city and its surroundings since the break-up of the Soviet Union.
There is a particular beauty in Orthodox churches, with their brightly coloured cupolas, shining exteriors and solemn interiors which immerse you in traditional Russian culture; after all, religion played an important role in imperial Russia.
The church of Our Lady’s Protection is a definite must-see, whether you’re religious or not.
Vladivostok is much greener than other cities of its size in Europe. If you drive for just over an hour or so out of the city, you find yourself in dense forests with small rivers flowing through. This means you can enjoy a fishing and hunting weekend with your mates like the Russians do, complete with fish hooks, fur-lined boots and barrels of vodka.
The forests are still home to small populations of tigers and bears. Didn’t you always want a holiday with a hint of adventure? Coming face to face with a hungry tiger might do the trick.
I almost forgot to tell you that Vladivostok is made from two Russian words: Vlad meaning ‘ruler’ and vostok meaning ‘east’. So literally Vladivostok means ‘ruler of the east’... a title it fully deserves.