Hop on Russia's Trans Siberian Express

摘要

The upside to Russia's teetering economy? Visiting is pretty affordable. There's no more authentic way to do it than on the Trans Siberian Express, the longest railway route in the world, crossing some 5,700 miles across two continents. The entire trip takes six days in one shot, but you can-and should-break it up by buying point-to-point tickets. (Prices start at $464 for the whole route at russianrail.com.) If you want to get a sense of the country's dramatic history, fly to central Yekaterinburg to start your ride. While in town, visit the Church on the Blood, where Czar Nicholas Ⅱ and his family were executed in 1918, along with the 1912 red-brick Opera and Ballet Theatre and the 109-acre "mafia cemetery"-where some infamous 1990s criminals were laid to rest. Then head west to the Golden Ring towns of Yaroslavl and Vladimir, both storybook Russia, with onion domes, gingerbread cottages, and cherry orchards aplenty. The route ends in Moscow, where you should see the Kremlin and Red Square and take in an evening ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre. Finish off with a day or two in St. Petersburg during its "white nights," endless summer evenings where the sun barely dips below the horizon.