Departing Ekaterinburg
We were woken by our alarm at 0645. Today we take the final leg of our train journey from Ekaterinburg to Kazan. It’s a relatively short ride today, in fact, just a day-trip. But it is a significant day as we cross from Asia to Europe today.
We fuelled up on a breakfast of two eggs sunnyside-up with luncheon on the side somewhat joined. The husband’s breakfast had his bread built-in into the fry-up.
We paid our hosts and Jun gave them a New Zealand Silver Fern cap as a little souvenir of our stay. They seemed pleased. Hubby dropped us off at the station in his Honda Civic Shuttle.
At the station, we waited until about half an hour before departure when the train platform was put up. The American girl who transferred with us upon arrival turned out to be in the next cabin.
Onboard
We shared the cabin with a Russian man and his son (or grandson). They were bound for Moscow.
Our catering for lunch was pretty good: ham and cheese with carrot and bean salad, formed into a sandwich, plus ramen as well!
The scenery was pretty with green birch and conifers at the Urals. The Urals, for many people, mark the transition from Asia to Europe.
Since Irkutsk, I found that the earth was black and rich-looking in parts. Boggy unless drained. Perhaps it is like peat-swamp.
Our cabin got hotter and hotter. We finally opened the window to find that it was warm and humid outside. Fortunately it wasn’t a long ride today.
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Arriving in Kazan
We arrived at Kazan station with no-one there to meet us. Then I saw a woman with a folder running, but in the opposite direction. Yep, it turned up to be our arrival transfer person, Elena.
On the way to the Volga Hotel, she detoured us around town to orientate us. It was a nice little room but very warm. It was unbelievably noisy when the triple-glazed windows were open as there was traffic and trains outside.
Kim went downstairs to find Elena still there, saying that we would stay one night and then change rooms (or hotel). Trouble was that quieter rooms in the rear have no bathroom, only toilet. Anyway, they brought us a fan. We slept well regardless.
Why Kazan?
I’ve explained why we did the Trans-Mongolian Railway rather than the Trans-Siberian. But on any variant of the Asia to Europe rail journey, it is normal to have one end at either St Petersburg or Moscow. But we have Kazan instead. Why?
Because we have already been to both St Petersburg and Moscow. I looked at the possibility of finishing at other cities that would be new to us. Kazan or Samara were on my shortlist as they were both served by Lufthansa German Airlines which enabled us to use a reward booking to take us back to Western Europe for our flight back to New Zealand.
Working with my travel agent, the special quote for finishing in Kazan was quite reasonable. It was en route to Moscow whereas Samara was out on a limb.