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Many thanks to the travellers who used the last edition and wrote to us with helpful hints, useful advice and interesting anecdotes: Aleksandra Markovic, Alexander Shchepetkov, Álvaro Gómez-Meana & Jose-Carlos Elvira, Anders Blixt, Ariela Perelman, Benoit De Witte, Brian Burgoyne, Denis Umutvaev, Diego Tan, Grethe Mortensen, Helmut Lueders, Henning Rädlein, Julia Bruch, Julie Woods, Laura Fortey, Patrick Wierda, Sabine Walther, Sophie Hunter, Soren Poulsen, Steve Simpson
Many thanks to my fellow author Regis and to Peter Kozyrev, Andrey and Sasha, Yegor Churakov, Vladimir Stolyarov, Dima Alimov, Konstantin Yurganov and Darina Gribova.
I would like to thank all the friendly people who helped me along way down the Volga and around Kaliningrad. Special thanks to friends Alsu Kurmash, Andrey Grigoriev and his wife Alina, Julia Ziyatdinova and Ildar Gabidullin. Lubomir Hyska in Prague was especially helpful in sorting out my visas.
Thanks to everyone who helped me out on my travels. Thanks also to Tanya and Masha for guarding my ever-expanding record collection while I was away. And thanks to Brana for steering me through the system – again.
First and foremost – thank you to my ever-patient wife, Heather, and children, Jake and Grace, for putting up with everything while I worked on this project. Thank you also to Olga and Alexander of Altair Tur for visa papers and helping with the fab trek in Chuya Mountains. Also, thank you to (a different) Alexander for the driving and company along the Chuysky Trakt. Finally, thanks to Simon and Brana for encouragement.
Huge thank you to DE Brana firstly for giving us the opportunity to travel back to Russia and research Western European Russia for Lonely Planet, and secondly for all of your assistance throughout the project. Big thank you goes to all of the amazing staff at the excellent Veliky Novgorod tourist information, as well as the tourist information office staff in Smolensk and Pskov for all of your assistance. We’d also like to thank our co-authors, in particular Leonid, for helpful tips and suggestions. And finally to all of the fantastic local people we met on our travels who made it such an enjoyable and fascinating trip.
Thanks to Jon Earle; Tara Kennaway; Dmitry Doronin, Ilaria Doronina & Babuskha Tamara; Gennady Gavrikov & Ilya Zlotnikov; Nikita and everyone in Pereslavl-Zalessky’s English Club; and to fellow authors Leonid Ragozin, Regis St Louis, Trent Holden, Kate Morgan, Simon Richmond, Mara Voorhees & Kira Tverskaya. Big thanks also to Brana Vladisavljevic, Tasmin Waby and Jane Atkin, and especially to all of the Lonely Planet eds and cartos who worked on this book.
A huge thanks to all those who helped me in the Far East, but particularly to Anna Konevskaya at Kamchatintour, Martha Madson at Explore Kamchatka, Alexei Podprugin at Nata Tour, Aleksei Shein in Vladivostok, Masha Gessen, Sarah Weinknecht, Sergei Kromykh in Khabarovsk, Tolya Buzinsky, Bolot Bochkarev, Bogdan Chernov & Simon Patterson, as ever.
I would like to thank Anatoly Bryukhanov and Aleksey Makeyev for their invaluable help in Krasnoyarsk; Jack Sheremetoff and Denis Sobnakov for explaining Baikal and fun conversations; Igor Ozerov in Ulan-Ude for all his stories and a wonderful trip to the eastern coast; the charming Ilona Baikara for driving me around Tuva and as to the Saryglar family for making it happen; Igor Shalyginin Taishet for a superb and much-needed banya; Aleksandr Maryasov for helping out in Severobaikalsk. Finally, many huge thanks to my wife Maria Makeeva for helping out with the research, keeping me company on Olkhon and enduring my absence for the rest of the trip.
Many thanks to Tatiana and Vlad for the warm welcome in Petersburg; Peter Kozyrev for Chkalovsky knowledge and the late-night strolling seminar; Darina Gribova for the street art tour; Vladimir, Yegor and Natasha of Wild Russia for many local recommendations; and friend and fellow author Simon Richmond for his many helpful tips. Warm thanks to Cassandra and daughters Magdalena and Genevieve for all their support.
Many thanks to my coauthors and resident Moscow experts Marc Bennetts and Leonid Ragozin. Always a pleasure to work with colleagues so insightful and well-informed. I also received useful information from Andrei Musiano and Sasha Serbina at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and Dmitry Elovsky at Zaryadye Project, as well as Andrey Muchnik and Marina Dedozhdy. Unlimited thanks and love to мои самые любимые – Van, Shay and Jerry - for coming along for the adventure.
Climate map data adapted from Peel MC, Finlayson BL & McMahon TA (2007) ‘Updated World Map of the Köppen-Geiger Climate Classification’, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 11, 163344.
Moscow and St Petersburg Metro maps © Design by Art. Lebedev Studio
Illustrations by Javier Zarracina
Cover photograph: Veliky Novgorod, Syntheticmessiah/Getty ©
This 8th edition of Lonely Planet’s Russia guidebook was researched and written by Simon Richmond, Mark Baker, Marc Bennetts, Stuart Butler, Trent Holden, Ali Lemer, Tatyana Leonov, Tom Masters, Kate Morgan, Leonid Ragozin, Regis St Louis and Mara Vorhees. This guidebook was produced by the following:
Destination Editor Brana Vladisavljevic
Product Editors Heather Champion, Rachel Rawling
Senior Cartographers Valentina Kremenchutskaya, David Kemp
Book Designer Gwen Cotter
Assisting Editors Janet Austin, James Bainbridge, Judith Bamber, Michelle Bennett, Nigel Chin, Andrea Dobbin, Samantha Forge, Emma Gibbs, Victoria Harrison, Jennifer Hattam, Gabby Innes, Alex Knights, Anne Mason, Christopher Pitts, Sarah Reid, Fionnuala Twomey, Sam Wheeler
Assisting Cartographer Hunor Csutoros
Cover Researcher Naomi Parker
Thanks to Imogen Bannister, Joel Cotterell, Jane Grisman, James Hardy, Liz Heynes, Sandie Kestell, Genna Patterson, Wibowo Rusli, Jessica Ryan, Dianne Schallmeiner, Victoria Smith, Ross Taylor, Angela Tinson, Kira Tverskaya
Ebook thanks to Ruth Cosgrove, Julie Dodkins, Blazej Hadzik, Craig Kilburn, Wayne Murphy, John Taufa, Yanxiang Wang, Juan Winata.