Irkutsk and the legend of Baikal

Going to Irkutsk and visit Katya's family was also the occasion to visit the city and the surroundings in more depth than I did 2 years ago. The center of Irkutsk is rather pretty in fact, with nice avenues and buildings with nice shops.

We strolled along the avenues past the local statue of Lenin all the way to the embankment of the Angara past the statue of the tsar Nikolai 2.

We walked along the river, which have buildings of unique architecture, that can’t be seen anywhere else.

One example of unique architecture from Irkutsk

We also spent some time at the open air museum of architecture and ethnography at the settlement of Tal-tsy which is half way between Irkutsk and the Lake Baikal. The museum is primarily made of houses from villages that were submerged with the building of the dam on the Angara in Irkutsk. We had a very quiet and relaxing day with tasty snacks.

Then we drove all the way to Listvyanka, the city where the Baikal flows in the Angara. We had dinner at the “Legend of Baikal”, a restaurant with patio that faces an infamous landmark related in many legends of Baikal: The shaman rock right at the river inlet. To understand the essence of the legend, you have to know a couple of things about the Lake, which I am cultured enough -and kind enough- to tell you: the lake has 336 rivers that flow to it, and only one that flows out of it… the Angara, which flows to the Yenisei river. So here is the legend. Spoiler alert: I’ll skip many of the epics and suspense of the legend and I go straight to the point. Mister Old Baikal had 337 daughters until one of them, Ms Angara, decided to leave to because she fell in love with Mr Yenisey. Mister Baikal was not happy and threw a giant granite stone at Angara, but it was too late… Angara had already made her way between the hills and was already happily flowing to Mr Yenisey.

Now you know the legend… you can see the rock!

See the legendary rock in the center of the picture.

Of course, since the dam has been built in Irkutsk, the level of the Angara has gone up and the rock is largely submerged. It is about 2 ft higher than the level of the water, so it is not so impressive. You need a much bigger lense than mine to make a decent picture of it. Are you happy now, grumpy mister Baikal?

See below more pictures from Irkutsk and its surroundings.