My Trans Siberian Railway Trip #2: Yekaterinburg

Russia is full of surprises. Sometimes they can be good, and sometimes they can be bad. During our trip to Yekaterinburg (aka Ekaterinburg) we almost got robbed (lucky us), but we also meet an awesome people who let us stay in their house for free. Let's start the second article about our Siberian adventure. Remember, that you also can read the first part of our trans-Siberian railway trip article.

Getting robbed? Not today!

After about 26 hours on a train, we gladly welcomed our second stop - the city of Yekaterinburg. We were supposed to meet with Urben Explorers I met on the internet, but we still had more than 1,5 hours to wait. We decided to use the train station cafe.

After 10 minutes of sitting outside, a few strange mans started to look at us. They had a knifes and they were for sure waiting when we will leave the cafe. I get my own knife and tried to make a badass face, but really I was a bit afraid (there was 5 or 6 of them), and there was just me and my friend (a girl).

We have come up with a way of getting out: a huge amount of some kind of scouts or probably army recruits (18 - 22 years) were leaving the train and when they were coming near the cafe doors, we went between them and we were going with them as long as we missed those people with knives.

I must say that this was a harsh start of our trip but after some time we laugh about it and think it was a nice adventure. Also, our friend, when we met her, told us that they were probably from Pakistanis gangs. But we quickly forgot about that accident, because... Russian people ARE CRAZY.

Russian people are crazy (in a good way... I guess)

We all heard stories about Russians doing crazy things. If you weren't, just write in YouTube something like "Crazy Russians" etc. But in their craziness is something awesome. And we really meet an awesome people in Yekaterinburg.

An abandoned sawmill

We met our Russian friend and during our way to her car, I saw a beautiful old sawmill building. I love visiting abandoned places, so I said to here "What an amazing place". Then She asked me "Do you want to see how this sawmill looks from the inside?" I said, "Yes, of course, I want!". So she replied, "Okay, follow me". And then she started to climb up on the wall to the window... There was no other way than to follow her, and that's what I did.

The old sawmill building was awesome, there were still some old machines, a lot of dust and a great Russian architecture. It was really a good idea to climb on the wall to that window we got inside, really :-)

Maybe we should visit the city? My second tattoo

But this, of course, wasn't even half of our Yekaterinburg adventures. Next half a day we wanted to spend visiting the city center and the old town, but after some thoughts, we decided to spend it in a different way. We drove to the local tattoo artist, who made me my second tattoo. In his house. We first painted it on his computer, and then with his dog's company, he did it to my arm. I love it till today.

Yekaterinburg panorama

I got my tattoo. What people usually do when they to a tattoo? Going home to rest a bit? We went on the roof of about 20 floors building and during that time my tattoo hand was still bleeding. But I really enjoyed the huge panorama of Yekaterinburg, it was beautiful, especially when the sun came down and the city turned on its lightings. And, of course, we started to drink here some beers, like real Russians do.

Drinking beers on the roof of working steel factory

Did I mention that that first day in Yekaterinburg was one of the craziest days in my whole life? After spending a few hours on the roof, we decided to do another crazy thing. Well, our Russian host decided, because we only heard another "follow me".

We jumped over the fence with the barbed wire. This was the first signal that we are now doing probably something illegal (but who knows what's illegal in Russia?). We evade some guards. We got underground to some kind of tunnels who were leading to the inside of Steel Factory and then we got on the roof, when we, well... started to dring another beers.

We spend there a half night and during our way back home I cut a bit my hands on the barbed wire, but who cares. The only thing that counts was that I spend an amazing and full of adventures day (and some of the night). And I spend it in Yekaterinburg, an awesome city of Russia. 

Ok, so it's now probably a time to write something about the city itself, some tourist attractions etc. Let's go.

Yekaterinburg

I already wrote some information about unusual tourist attractions that can be found in Yekaterinburg if you know the right people or meet some Pakistan guys with knives. Now it's time to write about regular places to visit, or at least I think they are regular because a local friends showed me them.

Ganina Yama Monastery

I asked in passing, "Oh yes and where is the tsar?". "It’s all over," he answered. "He has been shot.". "And where is his family?". "And the family with him." - Leon Trotsky, on finding out about the death of the tsar Romanov family.

17th of July 1918, early morning during Russian Civil War. Someone woke up imperial royal family. "Get dressed!", someone shout. Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their five children were taken into the basement. A few minutes later Bolshevik firing squad entered the basement and started to shoot.

In 2000 Russian government agreed to begin the construction of a memorial chapel in the place where Tsar family were murdered. It "is known as "Khram na Krovi" (Church on the Blood), which is a small church and a museum dedicated to the Tsar Romanov Family.

In 2001 the Russian Orthodox Church has constructed seven chapels (one for every Romanov family members) with Monastery of the Holy Tsarist Passion in the place where the tsar family bodies were found. In 2010 one of the chapels were burned, but there are plans to rebuild it.

There were rumors that not all the tsar family members were killed, but this was not true because all the family member bodies were found and correctly identified.

QWERTY Keyboard Monument

This is a funny and unusual attraction, that's why I decided to describe it. I also used to work as a programmist, that's why I really enjoyed seeing the QWERTY keyboard monument.

The keyboard was designed and built by Anatoly Vyatkin on 5th October 2005 near the Iset River in the city center. The QWERTY monument depicts IBM PC computer Cyrillic keyboard in 30:1 scale.

The fun fact is that keys Y, F1, F2, and F3 were stolen and rebuilt in 2011. There is also a legend says that you must "type" your wish on the keyboard buttons and then jump on "enter" if you want your wish to come true and if you want to reboot your life, jump to Ctrl, Alt and Delete.

The Border Between Europe and Asia

Not many people know that near Yekaterinburg you can find the border between Europe and Asia. An interesting place to visit is the monument to honor that border, which can be found just 17 kilometers from the city. To get there you will need to get a car or taxi, as there are no buses stops there.

But for me, it wasn't the biggest attraction there. Near the Border Between Europe and Asia monument, you can find trees with a lot of ribbons on it. There's a tradition that people who got married are coming here to leave a ribbon or a lock for good luck in the future.

Church of All Saints

Its full name is the Church on Blood in Honour of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land. The Church of All Saints is a Russian Orthodox church that was built in 2000 - 2003 on the site of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, which was demolished in 1977. It was this house where the tsar family were murdered.

The Church of All Saints is one of the most beautiful Orthodox churches I've ever seen. And I saw only one bigger - the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.

Conclusion

Yekaterinburg is a very interesting city with a lot of tourist attractions. For me visiting the city was awesome and I've spent here one of the craziest days in my life. If you enjoyed my article or have any questions related to Yekaterinburg or Trans-Siberian railway, do not hesitate to leave me a message in the comment box below.

Hey there! My name is Wojtek and I am very happy that you came to my travel blog. I've been traveling the world for a few good years now and I still want more.

On my website I describe the adventures that have happened to me, you will also find here a collection of valuable tips for tourists and travelers. If you liked this article, be sure to leave a comment and read some more!