We entered Russia from Mongolia at Khyagr and our first major stop was Irkutsk and the beautiful Lake Baikal. From there we continued west through Siberia on a series of long train journeys.

We arrived in Krasnoyarsk in the morning and took a bus to our apartment using Google Maps, Translate, and the excellent offline app Maps.me. The bus system in Russia worked surprisingly well.

Our first impression of the area was a sea of Soviet-era apartment blocks, but we soon realised we had approached from the back. The apartment itself turned out to be a renovated 1970s two-bedroom unit — clean and comfortable, and perfectly located near the centre. We loved having our own kitchen and washing machine after a month on the road.

Krasnoyarsk is a very pretty town set on the mighty Yenisei River. Its main street is lined with elegant pastel-coloured Victorian-style buildings and beautiful parks. The city is a gateway to the famous Stolby Nature Reserve, but we avoided the wooded areas after countless warnings about encephalitis-carrying ticks.

We spent our days visiting the regional museum, exploring a quirky shopping centre, and enjoying the fantastic fresh food market where we bought delicious smoked fish. We also discovered a bottle shop that filled plastic bottles straight from beer taps. Tourists were rare here — we stood out as Australians and were frequently stopped in the street by curious locals.

We continued westward and arrived in Novosibirsk, the capital of Siberia. Navigating the bus system here was more challenging — the city is much larger and buses, trams, and trolleybuses share the same numbers. After some confusion and a couple of buses, we finally reached our apartment in a classic Soviet housing estate.

The towering apartment blocks surrounded central courtyards with trees, benches, and playgrounds. Small neighbourhood shops were dotted throughout the estate. We even got haircuts in the tiny basement salon of our building, much to the amusement of the locals.

Like Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk felt wonderfully untouched by mass tourism. We visited the main town square with its giant Lenin statue, enjoyed excellent Kazakh food, and used our two days to rest and do laundry before catching the next train.

We arrived in Yekaterinburg around 9am and walked to our apartment (supposedly 20 minutes away) in yet another Soviet housing complex. Finding the exact building proved tricky, and when we finally arrived we discovered the previous guests had locked the keys inside. While locksmiths worked on the complicated lock, we dropped our bags at a nearby hostel and went for lunch in the city centre.

By the time we returned the apartment was ready. It was large and modern — a definite upgrade — and for the first time we had proper full-size towels and cutlery. We still had to make our own beds and the sheets were once again too small, but overall it was comfortable.

Unfortunately I had picked up a cold and completely lost my voice, so our time in Yekaterinburg was quiet and relaxed. We visited the impressive Church on the Blood, built on the site where the Romanov family was executed in 1918, and the small wooden Chapel of Grand Princess Yelizaveta Fyodorovna next door. We also enjoyed long walks around the city and along the river.

Yekaterinburg is a stunning city filled with ornate, grand pastel-coloured buildings. It’s easy to navigate and felt like a pleasant place to pause on our long journey across Russia.