| Itinerary |
| Day 1: MOSCOW |
| Afternoon flight arrivals, transfer to hotel. for one night. Welcome dinner. |
| Day 2: MOSCOW |
| Full day touring Russia’s vibrant Capital City, including Red Square and the Kremlin. Early evening transfer to Leningradski station to join our private sleeping car train that will be our home for the next thirteen days. The train will be hauled from Moscow by Europe’s largest operating steam locomotive, GWT’s P36.0032 Russia’s most modern express steam locomotive design (a 4-8-4 design of 1954). Welcome reception and introduction to the train staff in the bar car, followed by dinner, as we depart north towards Saint Petersburg and the Arctic Circle; be warned, there will not be many hours of darkness in the next two weeks as this is the time of year the Russians call ‘White Nights’ |
| Day 3: PUSHKIN & ST PETERSBURG |
| After breakfast we alight in Pavlovsk and visit Catherine’s Summer Palace in Pushkin, including a visit to the Amber Room. Lunch at the Podvorye Restaurant after which we continue to St Petersburg hauled by Russia’s oldest working steam locomotive Ov. 324 running built in 1905. Afternoon tour of the city before rejoining the main train for dinner as we head southwest out of the city. |
| Day 4: PSKOV |
| In the morning we tour Pskov with it’s ancient and well restored centre on the Latvian border and in whose station Tsar Nicholas II abdicated on 15th March 1915, before continuing to Novgorod, one of the oldest towns in Russia with it’s five-doomed Cathedral. Dinner as we head back north and head for the Arctic Circle. |
| Day 5: PETROZAVODSK |
| This morning we are in Petrozavodsk where we board a hydrofoil to Kizhi Island on Lake Onega to view the world famous 22-domed wooden cathedral. On our return to Petrozavodsk we will tour this pleasant lakeside resort before rejoining our train for lunch and continue our journey north. |
| Day 6: KOLA PENINSULA MURMANSK |
| Overnight we have arrived at the end of the Sofporog branch line and spend a pleasant morning steaming back to the mail line at Louki, where our P36 will be waiting to take us to the Arctic Circle, where we will arrive after lunch. During the afternoon we will enter the Kola peninsula and around midnight arrive in Murmansk. |
| Day 7: NIKEL |
| Early morning we will arrive at Nikel, on the border with Norway. The station is close to the Nikel smelting plant which in part has caused the devastation to the surrounding countryside that will have been evident for the 20 miles before our arrival. An eerie place but one of the highlights of our previous tours. We retrace our steps to Luostari where we may take the branch north to Pechenga, the world’s most northerly passenger railway station, if the line is still open to passenger traffic. On previous trips we have not been allowed to Pechenga as it pases through a highly sensitive military area. We will tour Murmansk later in the afternoon if we are unable to go to Pechenga. |
| Day 8: SOLOVETSKY ISLAND |
| After breakfast in Kem we transfer to a small boat bound for Solovetsky Monastery on Solovetsky Island in the White Sea. The Island is also famous for its ‘Special Purpose Camp’ set up by Stalin and is the location used as the basis for Solzhenitzyn’s Gulag Archipelago. |
| Day 9: ARCHANGEL & KAPAGORY |
| We spend the morning touring Archangel, a pleasant town on the White Sea and in the afternoon continue along the branch line to Kapagory, arriving late evening on the longest day of the year. There is an extra-cost option to spend the whole day in Archangel, staying in a hotel overnight and rejoining the train in the morning. |
| Day 10: ON BOARD |
| Mid-morning we pass through Archangel and spend a relaxing day on the train heading south. |
| Day 11: VOLOGDA |
| After breakfast we arrive in Vologda, a pleasant city on the Vologda river. We will visit the beautifully restored Kremlin and the adjacent Saint Sophia’s Cathedral and Belltower. During the afternoon we continue heading south. |
| Day 12: UGLICH |
| After lunch we arrive in Uglich on the Volga River and spend the afternoon in this pleasant town viewing the buildings same dating back to the 14th century. Uglich is also home of the Library of Russian Vodka. This is an interactive library and visitor participation is encouraged. A farewell train dinner will be served to those still standing upon departure. |
| Day 13: MOSCOW |
| Our final morning on the train sees us speeding down the St Petersburg - Moscow main line with a light lunch being served before we arrive at Moscow Leningradski station. Free time in the afternoon before the tour farewell dinner is served in the hotel. |
| Day 14: MOSCOW |
| Breakfast in the hotel brings the tour to a close and airport transfers are provided for departing flights. |
| GUEST SPEAKER - PAUL THEROUX |
| Best selling author and travel writer Paul Theroux will be on board our 2009 Arctic Circle by Steam tour. His highly acclaimed travel books include Riding the Iron Rooster, The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express and Fresh Air Fiend. The Mosquito Coast and Dr. Slaughter have both been made into successful films. He was the guest editor of The Best American Travel Writing. Theroux is also a frequent contributor to magazines including Talk and Men's Journal. |
