The Wandering Scot
An occasional travel journal
Novorossiysk
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Malaya Zemlya landing memorial
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Malaya Zemlya landing memorial
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Malaya Zemlya: Landing party
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| Malaya Zemlya: Inside the memorial
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| Lenin at Novorossiysk
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| Leonid Brezhnev
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| Leonid Brezhnev
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Soviet Cruiser
Now a museum.
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14 miles NE of Novorossiysk
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33 miles NW of Beslan
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Vladikavkaz
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Gimpses of the far Caucasuses
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Charming City Mosque
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| Lenin in Vladikavkaz
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| New Church
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Stalin Billboard
"He was a Communist! Come join us!"
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Vladikavkaz WWII "Memorial to Glory"
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Catherine II grants a charter.
To some rather suspicious looking Caucasians
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Mosaic: Off to War
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| Stalin bust
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Triumphal Column
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| Eternal Flame
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Beslan Memorial
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| Beslan Memorial: closeup
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Tskhinvali
A short diversion South, through the Roki Tunnel, to Tskhinval (aka Tskhinvali) in the "Republic of South Ossetia".
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| 13 miles South of Roki Tunnel
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Tskhinvali Cathedral
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| Monument to the War Victims
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Liakhvi River
In Tskhinval
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| War damaged buildings
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| Parliament (?)
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| Rebuilding
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| Rather dilapidated Hotel Alan
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| Central Tskhinvali
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| Tskhinvali Bus Station
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| Tskhinvali-Vladikavkaz bus
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North Tskhinvali
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| 10 miles NW of Tskhinvali
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A passing Lenin head
12 miles North of Tskhinvali
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Into the Roki Tunnel
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| View from Frontier Post
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Glimpses of the high peaks
6 miles NW of Roki Tunnel
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Grozny
Forget those old images from 2000: Grozny is now strikingly recovered from the destruction of the Second Chechnen War.
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Central Grozny
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| ... and new apartment blocks too
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| Presidential Palace (?)
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| New Mosque
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New Mosque
After Friday prayers
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Central Market
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| Ramzan Kadyrov
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| Early morning check-out
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Gudermes
22 miles East of Grozny
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Distant Caucasus Range
20 miles East of Grozny
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24 miles East of Grozny
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Many miles of flat scrubland
96 miles NE of Grozny
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94 miles SW of Astrakhan
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Astrakhan
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A cheerful silvery Lenin
Greeting arrivals at the railway station.
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| Kremlin: Bell Tower + Prechistinsky Gate
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| Kremlin: Assumption Cathedral
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| Assumption Cathedral interior
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Kremlin: Trinity Cathedral
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Kremlin Wall
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| Corner Tower
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| Main Astrakhan Lenin
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Heydar Aliyev
What's he doing in Astrakhan!?
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The White Mosque
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The Red Mosque
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The Mighty Volga
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Grazing Camels
102 miles NW of Astrakhan
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69 miles East of Volgograd
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Volgograd
The Hero City of Stalingrad.
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Grand Soviet Train Station
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Giant Lenin in Volgograd
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| Hero City
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A preserved WWII ruin.
The bread factory.
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Across the mighty Volga
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Stalingrad Museum: Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
An unusual historical acknowledgement.
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| Stalingrad Museum: Stalin
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Obelisk + Eternal Flame
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Entry steps to Mamaev Kurgan complex
"For our Soviet Motherland! USSR!"
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Memorial + Eternal Flame
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Today's industrial Volgograd
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54 miles NW of Volgograd
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Moscow
A lazy day in Moscow, before my flight.
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TASS Headquarters.
A blast from the Soviet past!
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St Basil's
Gorgeous as always.
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Crimea