Curiosity Cat

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Weird and Wonderful Russia

Let’s take a break from all that history and explore some of the weird, the whacky and the wonderful aspects of Russia, from psychedelic salt mines, a real life Jurassic Park and the largest bore hole on earth to pyramids with healing powers, a city without a name and the world’s weirdest swimming contest. Then, sit back and relax with your favourite vodka as we watch the sunset over the world’s largest freshwater lake from the comfort of a spectacular ice cave…

Pscychedelic salt mines

Although a small part of these salt mines is still in use, there are miles of abandoned tunnels, which are only accessible with a special government permit. Luckily, we don’t need permits for this tour as we travel 650 feet below the city of Yekaterinburg to marvel at what looks like super funky cave art but is actually, and more bizarrely, a totally natural phenomenon. The psychedelic patterns are created by layers of the mineral carnallite, which date back nearly 280 million years, when the Perm Sea dried up completely to leave its salty mineral deposits on the cave walls. They were forgotten altogether until Russians began mining the salt. The bright and colourful striations in the rock are a truly surreal wonder of the world…

Journey to the centre of the earth

We travel next to the Kola Peninsula, northwest of Murmansk, not far from the Norwegian border, where scientists eager to explore the earth’s crust started drilling back in 1970. Whilst engaging in the space race on the one hand, Russia was also competing with the US to be the first country to make Jules Verne’s fiction a reality and actually journey to the centre of the earth.

It took 20 years but they finally managed to drill through numerous layers of rock to a phenomenal depth of 7.5 miles (about a third of the way through the Baltic crust!) discovering microscopic life forms 4 miles down, in the process. Drilling finally stopped in the 1990s to avoid melting, as apparently the earth’s core was radiating temperatures of more than 180 degrees Celsius! This was much more than scientists anticipated and weirdly the rock behaved more like plastic at that depth. They’re still analysing the data from the mammoth dig today but don’t worry about falling in – the hole has now been welded shut!

Could screaming from the bore hole mean Russian scientists reached the gates of hell?

A secret city with no name

During the cold war, work on the Russian space program was so top secret, it had to be carried out in a city without a name.

Uncovering a secret city outside Moscow

Now, though, the place with no name is referred to as Star City and far from being secret you can even take a tour. Come with me as we join our guide, Peter Scott, for the behind-the-scenes tour of Yuri Gagarin’s cosmonaut training centre and even meet a couple of the cosmonauts themselves.

Healing Pyramids

In the course of your Russian travels, you might find it odd to come across a pyramid or two. These structures are not, as you might imagine, the work of aliens or ancient civilisations but the product of a New Age belief in the power of pyramids to emit healing energies! Russian scientist turned alternative healer, Alexander Golod, has constructed several of them out of fibreglass, the largest of which is 15 stories tall, and placed them all over the country, inviting the sick and the weary to come inside and experience their energising properties. Evidence for the efficacy of their powers is debatable but there is apparently ongoing research into pyramid power being undertaken by the Russian National Academy of Sciences which includes:  the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences,  Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics,  Graphite Scientific Research Institute, and the Institute of Physics in Ukraine.

A temple to all religions

Temple of all Religions, Image by Christopher Winkler from Pixabay

Not far from the River Volga in the city of Kazan, we can find a wonderful architectural and cultural oddity. This temple is a tribute to all the religions of the world, with influences from at least 16 separate faiths incorporated into its colourful design. The project was the brainchild of the late philanthropist, Ildar Khanov, who as a child claimed Jesus spoke to him during a near-death experience. Khanov had abilities as a healer but devoted most of his energies to the visual arts and spent nearly 20 years on constructing the inter-faith site known as the Temple of all Religions with a view to promoting tolerance and harmony. It’s not actually a temple in the traditional sense but was intended rather as a symbol of religious unity or as Khanov put it a “temple of culture and truth”. It feels like the real unifying object of devotion here is beauty, as inside it looks more like an eclectic art gallery than a place of worship. Take a wander along the street and you’ll see that rather than being a single building, it’s really a complex of structures. Still incomplete at the time of Ildar’s death, work continues to be carried out on the site, overseen by Ilgiv Khanov in his brother’s memory.

A real life Jurassic Park?

For as long as I can remember I have yearned for the day when I could be the proud owner of my very own pet mammoth. Now, I know what you’re thinking but having kept the faith for decades it’s starting to look like my impossible childhood dream might just become a reality – with the creation of Pleistocene Park in Siberia! Russian scientists, together with experts from around the world, are working to resurrect my favourite woolly beast…

Woolly mammoth I have named Wilbur

…as part of an effort to combat the catastrophic results of climate change. Pleistocene Park is a 50-square-mile nature reserve of grassy plains populated by bison, musk oxen, wild horses, and hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, woolly mammoths. The plan is to construct an Ice Age biome complete with the pleistocene-era creatures, which will have to be engineered in a lab by splicing DNA obtained from intact specimens discovered in the permafrost with that of their living relatives, elephants. I only hope it can be done in my lifetime even if I have to settle for adoption and only see him at weekends!

World’s weirdest swimming contest

Known as the Bubble Baba Challenge, this bizarre event has been going on for well over a decade on the raging rapids of the Vuoski River. A swimming competition with a difference, contestants are required to run into the river, with their unorthodox floats – life-size blow up dolls – as they fight to be the fastest swimmer to reach the other side! (Participants must be 16 years or over!) Watch the video to see who will win victory with their Vinyl Viktorya! Unless you’re easily offended, in which case, skip to a relaxing trip to Lake Baikal (below).

World’s largest freshwater lake

A far cry from the hustle and bustle of the city or the frenzied rapids of the Vuoski are the placid, sapphire waters of Lake Baikal. Surrounded by mountains and dense forests of conifer and pine, Baikal is nestled in the remote wilderness of Siberia, one of the coldest places on earth. With its 2000km long shoreline, it’s the world’s largest freshwater lake but because of the climate it gets so cold in winter you can skate across it, walk across it or even drive a truck across it! If you’re brave enough, you can actually swim in it along with the ‘walruses’ (Russian winter swimmers) but be warned – the water is only 4 degrees Celsius! Crikey!

If you’re like me, though, you’d probably prefer a more relaxing (and warmer) approach with this helicopter flight to see the lake in winter or this gentle summer tour. Or perhaps you’d prefer to feel the bracing, chill wind on your face as you bounce across the water in this hovercraft tour of Baikal…

360 degree hovercraft tour of Lake Baikal

Didn’t it feel good to be able to walk on the ice like that at the end?! And what a view! The best way to finish this whistle-stop tour of the weird and the wonderful in Russia is, I think, to watch the sunset from an ice cave overlooking the lake. Breathtaking!

Watch the sunset from Baikal Ice Cave.

Until next time, my fellow travellers when we’ll be heading to St Petersburg, where we’ll be tasting more of the Russian cuisine, exploring the gorgeous Winter Palace, cracking open the world’s most expensive eggs, taking a relaxing river cruise and maybe even enjoying a ballet or two…

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