Irkutsk Oblast: Irkutsk

Let’s reset the post count since I am in a different continent now. Siberia! Irkutsk lies smack near the lake Baikal and on the Transsiberian Railroad. Angara River (the only river flowing out of Baikal while 136 flow in) runs through the city and many spots have beautiful embankment views. The city is very nice and atmospheric, with many old buildings from the Tsarist times as well as a lot of Stalinist architecture. Several spectacular golden dome churches and cathedral and abundance of monuments – Tzar Alexander III stands just a block from Vladimir Lenin. Irkutsk was founded in 1652 as a Russian trading post and is now a 600k population major city.