Since the very beginning Lake Baikal has been a must for my trip. Initially I wanted to spend several days there, but after reviewing all the plans I realized it's rather impossible. Again - 30 days for whole Russia is nothing.
Irkutsk is thenearest major city to Baikal. Listvianka, a popular, very touristic village by the lake is located around 70km from the city center. It's not the best place to experience Baikal - actually I've heard it's one of the worst. It's a small, very touristic village, super crowded in summer. There are nicer places, like Olhon island or wilder north, but because of time restrictions I had pretty much no choice.
I decided to get to Listvianka by bus. Since it's not going forward(towards home) I believe I didn't really break the 'no money for transportation' rule ;) The bus was around 2USD one way and the ticket looked very interesting. It was a piece of paper, on which the lady at the counter wrote the destination, time and seat number. I have never seen a ticket like that before. Also what's funny - the lady at the counter spoke Polish - there is a fairly big Polish community in Irkutsk and around, there is even a Polish village called, Wierszyna not far from the city.
I planned to go to Listvianka early in the morning, but it's always like that with planning - I ended up leaving at 16.00... The bus ride took a little over an hour and during that time, I've met Lena, a Russia girl that was going to see the lake for the first time, while passing by Irkutsk.
When we arrived, we walked around the village, and stopped by some street vendors' corner to try Baikal's famous hot smoked Omul. It's a fish which lives only in that lake - I haven't checked it but that's what everyone kept telling me, so I suppose it may be true. I really wanted to try this fish because literally everyone I talked to, mentioned that I should definitely try it if visiting Baikal. And it was actually really good. I mean, I can't compare because I don't often eat other hot smoked fish, but it was genuinely good.
After we ate, we parted our ways, Lena went back to get a marshrutka back to town and I went towards the trail to Bolshiye Koty to taste a little bit of Baikal wilderness. I've read, that it's a fairly nice trail that goes along the lake most of the time. I didn't plan to go all the way to that village, because it would take around 5 hours one way, but I decided to walk for maybe 1 or 2 hours and then pitch my tent in a nice place somewhere on the way, preferably overlooking the lake, and a beach would be perfect.
First part of the trail was fairly flat, but it was gradually getting steeper and steeper. It was going uphill for the next hour and a half or so. Then it began to decline, and after another 30 or 40 minutes I finally reached the shore of the lake and I was totally amazed with what I saw - a super nice rocky beach and a perfect place to pitch my tent. And I was completely alone there. On the trail, during 2 hours of walking I passed maybe 2 or 3 guys. I honestly expected this place to be way more crowded, but it seems that I luckily arrived right before the summer peak season began.
After short rest I pitched my tent and then sat on the beach to eat some sandwiches and admire this majestic lake. I also had an idea of taking a dive, but when I checked the temperature of the water I was thrilled. It was extremely cold. Definitely one of the coldest water I have ever felt, and I have 'swam' in some rivers far behind the polar circle or in Barents sea on the east coast of Norway, but Baikal is honestly really cold! So, knowing that it wouldn't be pleasant at all I decided to postpone swimming till the morning. I knew I couldn't do it twice... I spent few more minutes on the beach just relaxing and admiring the scenery. Beside being super cold, Baikal water is also unbelievably clear, you can see everything under the water. People say, it's also drinkable. but I didn't get a chance to try, I refilled my bottles in one of the rivers on the trail. After some time on the beach I decided to call it a day and go to sleep.
I had the a plan to wake up for the sunrise. Since I was facing east I thought it might be really spectacular. But when I woke up at around 5 it turned out that the sun rised just behind the corner so I didn't get the clear view at the sun rising and I went back to sleep.
I woke up again around 8. I got a small breakfast on the beach and decided to take the bath in the lake. I was struggling for a looong time to get into that water but finally I made it. In total, I didn't spend there more than 1 minute but at least I can cross it off my little Russian bucket list.
Around 9 or 10 I had to head back towards listvianka, because I planned to get back on the road that day.
I arrived in town after around 1.5 hour walk and purchased the ticket back to Irkutsk, from where I planned to hitchhike to Krasnoyarsk.
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