I saw many interesting places when I was in Southern Siberia in Russia this summer, and one of…
Times visited: 2 (1 day in 2018, 5 weeks in 2019)
Cities visited: Moscow, Chelyabinsk and Plast
Villages visited: Stepnoye, Chernorech’ye and Sanarka
UNESCO sites visited: Moscow Kremlin and Red Square, Church of the Ascension, Kolomenskoye and Ensemble of the Novodevichy Convent
Russia is a country that I’d always dreamt of visiting before I finally saw my chance to go there when booking a trip to Azerbaijan in early 2018. There was an option to take a long stopover in Moscow of 21 hours. It’s not enough to explore a big city like Moscow in depth, but it was a golden chance that I just had to take, despite the expensive transit visa. And it was absolutely worth it. I fell in love with Moscow after spending the day exploring the city center and taking the metro out to three beautiful UNESCO sights.
I couldn’t wait to return to Russia to explore the country further, so I was overly thrilled when I was given the opportunity to join a five-week excavation of a Bronze Age midden on the Eurasian forest steppe in the summer of 2019. I was excited to experience a part of Russia that is far away from the beaten path, and to be working with a wonderful team of Russian, American and Danish archaeologists!
The site is located on the eastern foothills of the Ural Mountains, on the banks of the Uy River. During my free time, I hiked in the hills, cooled down in the river and watched many gorgeous sunsets over the tiny village of Stepnoye where we stayed.
During those five weeks, I had some incredible life-enriching experiences, made wonderful friends and was the lucky finder of a horse skull and a bone arrowhead!