Category: Travel
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Russia-Azerbaijan Border
The Russian-Azerbaijan border used to be closed to foreigners. But a couple of recent postings over on the Lonely Planet forums had indicated that the Russian regulations have changed to allow non-CIS citizens to cross. I was in the Caucasus, so I thought I would give it a try, starting from Derbent in Dagestan and…
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Australia: Magnetic Termites
The Magnetic Termites of North Australia are extremely cool. Their mounds look rather like tombstones. They are some 5-8 ft tall, very thin East-West (about 4 inches) and long North-South (2-3 feet). They are aligned like this to reduce the impact of the sun on the nests. The termites are known as magnetic termites or…
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Soviet Moscow
There’s much, much more to see of Soviet Moscow than just Red Square, the Lenin Mausoleum and the Kremlin. Here are my own personal favorites. The Central Museum of the Armed Forces, especially the Hall of Victory. This celebrates the glory days of the USSR and gives a fascinating perspective on how the Soviet Union…
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Samara: Stalin Bunker
I am in Samara, where I have successfully infiltrated the Stalin Bunker. The bunker was build in great secrecy and in great haste in 1941, when Moscow was in danger and Kuibyshev (aka Samara) was the fallback Soviet capital. But Moscow survived and Stalin chose to stay in the city even during its most dangerous…
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Magnitogorsk: Steeltown USSR
I’m in fabled Magnitogorsk, Stalin’s Steeltown USSR. The steelplant is truly vast, running for miles along the Asian bank of the Ural River. Some parts are old and decrepit looking, others appear sparkling and ultra-modern. Today the plant is covered with a pall of smoke and steam, as hot smokestack gases hit the icy air.
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Moscow: Bunker 42
Bunker 42 is an authentic Soviet era nuclear bunker in Moscow, now open as a museum. It is extremely cool. The main tunnels provided 7000 sq meters of space, 65 meters under Moscow’s Taganskaya Hill. You enter through a fake building on the surface, which provides four meters of protective concrete around the bunker entrance.…