Trips featuring 'Russia'

Naadam is the one and only Big Event in Mongolia – a lively national festival, held every year from July 11th - 13th. Naadam means “three manly games”. Known as the world’s second-oldest Olympics, it celebrates what defined civilisation in the Steppes eight centuries ago; archery, wrestling and horse riding. The competitors in the riding events are all children aged between five and twelve, many of whom have been in the saddle since the age of one. As they race along the plains for 20 kilometers, thousands of spectators line the remote track to watch up to 650 children sitting confidently astride their small but sturdy Mongolian steed. It is claimed that such equestrian skills won Genghis Khan an empire that stretched from the Sea of Japan all the way to Europe.

In recent times, women have been allowed to enter and they now compete in two of the three events, horse racing and archery. Once a religious ceremony, the festival now formally commemorates the 1921 revolution when Mongolia declared itself a free country.

This is a unique opportunity to be among the few non-Mongolians to experience this spectacular but little known festival and soak up the exciting atmosphere of this national holiday. Our tour combines the Naadam Festival with an amazing overland journey to Moscow on board our Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express private train.

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Retracing one of the most important trading routes of ancient civilisation, this remarkable tour follows in the footsteps of such legendary figures as Alexander the Great and Marco Polo.

Crossing both Russia and China as well as some of the remotest former Soviet republics – Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – our journey will take in some of the most magnificent yet little-visited sights from the ancient world. Eastbound trips start in Russia’s capital Moscow (westbound trips end here), where we have plenty of time to explore. We travel on to Volgograd - better known as Stalingrad – where the Soviets turned the course of the Second World War, before heading to far remoter places that owe their importance to a time much further back in history.

The Kara Kum desert is followed by the amazing 2,500 year-old cities of Khiva and Bukhara – considered so important by UNESCO that it supported their restoration – as well as Samarkand, the ‘Rome of the East’. Much admired by Alexander the Great, Samarkand is home to Registan Square, a spectacular open space surrounded by beautiful Islamic buildings and considered one of the most inspirational sights in central Asia. In between Khiva and Bukhara we take a two-day excursion into Turkmenistan and visit the capital city of Ashgabat, a huge modern folly in the desert and a monument to the recently deceased President Sapamurat Turkmenbashi. We also visit the ancient city of Merv before returning to Uzbekistan.

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