Dr Zhivago - Relive the story on the Trans Siberian Rail!
Moscow to Beijing
Thirteen days/12 nights Trans Siberian Rail from £899 per person
2007 was the 50th Anniversary of the legendary novel Dr Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak. Banned from any publication in the USSR, the book was smuggled to Italy for publication in 1957, and was soon translated and published all over the world. Although awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the USSR refused to allow Pasternak to attend the Award Ceremony, and he died soon after.
Zhivago is the story of the Russian Revolution, told through the (fictional) life of one man, Dr Yuri Zhivago. Many of the names in the story have resonances which can’t be translated. Yuri’s name is Zhivago, in which the word “zhiv” (alive, living) is clear. His rival for Lara’s love is Komarovsky - from the Russian word for a mosquito. Yet Lara’s own husband has forgotten her, and changed his name to become the deadly agent of Soviet power, Strelnikov (”the shooter”). The idea for Dr Zhivago began in Perm, the town to which Pasternak had been evacuated in WW2 the town appears in the book under the fictional name of Yuriatin, and it’s the setting for Yuri’s meetings with Lara.
Obviously, Yuri Zhivago was a fictional character, and didn’t have an address we can show you today. But the story is based on real places (which could never have been included in the famous film, shot at the height of the Cold War), and we show them to you on this special itinerary, along with other hidden sights from the same era which establish the historical background to the book.
Day 01 Arrive Moscow and transfer to hotel.
Day 02 Breakfast, walking tour of Moscow (including places connected with the story in Dr Zhivago and its author and times). Free afternoon and evening.
Day 03 Daytime free to explore more of Moscow, early-evening departure by train to Perm.
Day 04 By train across the Urals to Perm’ early evening arrival, transfer to hotel, overnight.
Day 05 Special Walking Tour of Yuri Zhivago’s “Yuryatin” (Perm).
We start at the Pushkin Library, which was the Public Reading Room where Yuri and Lara first meet in the book. In the novel we hear that it was behind the “Giant” cinema; it’s actually behind the “Triumph” cinema. Across the street is the city’s leafy Central Square, where you can easily imagine Yuri and Lara must have gone after they first met, and sat on a park bench opposite the Opera House.
Nearby the nightmare realities of Zhivago’s time interrupt our dreams - the small former hotel where Tsar Nicholas II’s brother was staying on his way to Ekaterinburg, where the Royal Family were imprisoned in 1918. In fact Grand Prince Mikhail was the last Tsar of all but he never knew. Our tour reveals the bizarre secret, and its British connection. Nearby is a small wooden two-storey house which is “Lara’s house”. In fact it is just another private house (i.e. you can’t visit) in the city, but carefully reading of the book identifies the exact location, opposite the imposing C19th palace across the road.
A few blocks from the mansion is the hospital where Lara works in the novel. There’s a chance to see some imposing houses built by wealthy C19th merchants you can imagine Komarovsky must have had friends to stay with here? There’s also a monument to Boris Pasternak.
Not far away is the River Pier district before the Trans-Siberian Railway was built, travellers to Siberia would come by boat from Moscow this far and disembark, and the Great Siberian Tract (the old Post Road) began from this point. Chain-ganged convicts would be brought here at night, for fear of frightening local people with their terrible fate and force marched to Siberia on foot.
The Old Razvilje Railway Station was then built here it was from here that the Trans-Siberian Railway originally departed (it was only later linked back as far as Moscow), and this is where Komarovsky’s private Government train waited for him. The Siberian convicts had to march for months to their destination - you, however, only have another ten minutes walk to get to the new Dr Zhivago Restaurant for lunch.
Afternoon free to explore Perm’s shops and extensive museums and galleries (Perm is a major location for fossil-hunters, the Permian period takes its name from the city, and there’s lots in the museums). Evening free - there might even be a performance of the opera Dr Zhivago (yes, there really is one..) at the Opera Theatre? Remainder of day free to explore more of Perm.
Day 06 Full day Excursion to the Gulag Museum, housed in the only surviving* soviet-era Gulag now visitable in Russia. En-route we pass small villages which must have been the inspiration for the one where Yuri & Larissa hid out from the Secret Police. Evening return to Perm.
Day 07 Free day in Perm to explore the rest of this pleasant Urals city - then evening transfer to the station for departure eastwards
* there is one other, but it’s on the Russian Arctic Pacific coast, 900 miles from any rail stop, and only accessible by chartered helicopter.
Days 08-12 On board the Trans-Siberia eastwards via the Chinese Manchurian frontier with Russia. (This is the route by which Komarovsky kidnaps Lara in the book, in a private train)
Day 13 Arrival in Beijing very early morning.
TRIP PRICE
01 person
- FULL ON £1095 per person
- Upgrading to 2-berth rail £60
02 people
- FULL ON £999 per person
- Upgrading to 2-berth rail £60
03-09 people
- FULL ON £899 per person
- Upgrading to 2-berth rail £60
These are the 2008 dates when this itinerary works
- Jan 06, 13, 20, 27
- Feb 03, 10, 17, 24
- Mar 02, 09, 16, 23, 30
- Apr 06, 13, 20, 27
- May 04, 11, 18, 25
- Jun 01, 08, 15, 22, 29
- July 06, 13, 20, 27
- Aug 03, 10, 17, 24, 31
- Sep 07, 14, 21, 28
- Oct 05, 12, 19, 26
- Nov 02, 09, 16, 23, 30
- Dec 07, 14, 21, 28
Note Visas are required for Russia & China
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