“Why are you going there?”
Every Russian I spoke to had the same reaction to my plan to spend a night in Omsk. They dismissed it as an ugly industrial city that was gray and boring. But boy were they wrong!
Okay, maybe they weren’t completely wrong. Omsk certainly wasn’t the prettiest city I visited in Siberia, but sometimes it’s fun to visit boring cities too. Well, maybe not quite fun. But I enjoyed wandering through Omsk, and even saw a few pretty sights.
It was Defender of the Fatherland Day (everyone simply called it “Men’s Day”) so the parks were full of people celebrating the day off work, and men of course.
And then we were off to Yekaterinburg, which lies on the border between Asian Russia and European Russia – it sort of blew my mind to think how far we had already traveled across Russia!
Yekaterinburg really does feel more like Europe, with a pretty downtown complete with cobblestone streets and lots of street art.
All you Russian lit and history buffs out there (you are out there, aren’t you?) will probably know Yekaterinburg as the city where Russia’s last imperial family, the Romanovs (Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, and their five children – including excluding including Anastasia!) were murdered in the basement of a mansion they had been hiding in.
The mansion was demolished in 1977, and now in its place stands the Church of All Saints, also known as the Church on the Blood. Morbid?
And now for the best part about Yekaterinburg: the cemetery!
No, seriously.
First of all, why don’t we put faces on gravestones in America? It makes walking through the cemetery feel much more personal.
Second of all, The Mafia.
In the past Yekaterinburg was a center for organized crime in Russia, with two prominent gangs battling for control of the city: the Uralmesh and the Centralniy. From what I understand, mafia presence hasn’t exactly disappeared in Yekaterinburg, but the height of the conflicts was in the 1990s. This was confirmed during our walk through the cemetery, where an alarming number of gravestones were for men who died in the 90s, usually in their mid-twenties.
You see, we were in Shirokorechenskoe Cemetery, which is where prominent members of the Centralniy gang have been buried. The cemetery is HUGE. We spent an hour wandering through just a small corner of it.
Former mob leaders were easy to spot from their expensive suits and embellished gravestones – one was even depicted holding the keys to his beloved Mercedes. Often nicknames and special skills were added to the stones as well (think “judo expert” and “knife-thrower”). And to make things even clearer for us, the bosses are always wearing suits, while the “muscle” wears t-shirts and leather jackets.
Conclusion: I’m glad I wasn’t passing through Yekaterinburg in the 90s.
Where to Stay in Omsk
We stayed at OK Hostel, which was very cheap but also incredibly clean, plus they had all female and male dormitories, which I’m always a big fan of! Check current rates and availability here
If you’re looking to stay in a hotel instead of a hostel in Omsk, my friends stayed at the Guest House A-suite and loved it – they said the staff was incredibly helpful and it’s surprisingly budget-friendly. Check current rates and availability here
Where to Stay in Yekaterinburg
We stayed at Hostel Atasikun, which was one of the nicest hostels I stayed at in Russia! I loved that the beds had curtains, offering some nice privacy in a dorm room. They also have private rooms. Check current rates and availability here
If you want to stay at a nicer hotel, then definitely book Hotel Renomme. It’s right by the city center and is a beautiful hotel – plus the breakfast is supposed to be really good. Check current rates and availability here
What’s the strangest place you’ve visited on your travels?
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Irene says
Lovely article. I am planning to (hopefully) travel to Russia next year and I’m still undecided which destinations to include. I’ve lived in Saint Petersburg and I’ve also been in Moscow and Sochi. The Trans-Siberian is like a dream, but not sure I want to make it or just plan a trip by train myself. Will keep an eye on your adventures to get inspired!
Cheers,
Irene
Silvia says
There really is so much to see in Russia that it’s really hard to plan a trip there! I decided to just plan the trip myself and take cheap local trains to see a lot of cities, though taking the Trans-Siberian would be a whole different experience in itself! It would be a shame to miss out on seeing more of Siberia though – that’s why Russia really needs multiple trips!
Leah says
Oh my! How fascinating!! You’re not kidding, that might be one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen. I can’t decide if the pictures on the gravestones are cool or disturbing. More personal for sure, you’re right about that. Strangest place I’ve been is a tough question…I’ll have a think on that and get back to you! 🙂
Silvia says
Haha yeah those graves were definitely walking the line between cool and disturbing – some of the scarier looking guys definitely were on the disturbing side!
Jo-Anne says
That cemetery in Yekaterinburg is bloody amazing, I like all the photos on the graves when I see photos on graves here they are only small photos like the one on my pop’s grave. I have never thought about visiting Russia but it does look like a nice place
Silvia says
Russia really does have so much to offer tourists – and I was surprised how friendly everyone is there!
Erin says
Russia was never really on my radar to visit before reading about your trip, but I found myself flipping through a Russa travel guide the other day. Your trip and photos have really captured my interest.
The strangest place I have ever been…. Maybe not the strangest, but the most surreal would have to be Auschwitz in Poland. That is a pretty unforgettable experience.
Silvia says
I’m heading to Auschwitz next week – it seems like a duty to see it, though I can’t say I’m looking that much forward to it…
Christine | The Traveloguer says
Yekaterinburg looks soooo interesting! I love the street art. And how cool is it that that’s where Anastasia and her family were killed?! I want to go there! 🙂
Silvia says
I did geek out a little over seeing where Anastasia was killed. Ahh the history!
Rachel says
I liked Yekaterinburg, it certainly made an interesting stop on the train. I didn’t get out to that cemetery though, how crazy is that! Those gang tombstones are a little creepy, those guys look mean!
Strangest place I’ve been? Hmmm, The Hutt River Province in Australia was weird, in effect just a farm with its own passport stamp and royalty!
Silvia says
The Hutt River Province really does sound crazy – that’s so cool that you went!
Justine says
I’m now obsessed with this graveyard. And I’m going to make a point of learning how to throw knives because I HAVE to have “knife thrower” engraved on my tombstone. It’s decided!
Silvia says
Haha I thought that toooo! And I want a full body portrait on my gravestone for sure, ha.
Serendipity Tess says
Wow wow wow! I love the look of this!
Silvia says
It was definitely bizarre!
Victoria@ The British Berliner says
Wow! Love the photos and the mafia guys in the graveyard is really uncanny but uderstandable, as a warning to others, that they’re still around perhaps!
One of my Russian students is from Omsk and I kept thinking that the name sounds familar until he said Siberia then it all sort of clicked.
Lovely post by the way. 🙂
Silvia says
Oh cool! And yeah, the mafia gravestones were bizarre, but definitely a good warning!
vasiliy says
Thank you from Omsk for your notes and welcome back. 🙂
Well, if smbd interested in Russia, look for my instagram account ( gkam_evil ) to see some shots from Siberia and others places.
Silvia says
Thanks for the tip, I really loved Russia!
vasiliy says
You’re welcome 😉
Jane M says
I love love love going to cemetaries in every country I visit. It teaches you so much about the culture and the history of a place to see how their dead are observed. Some of my favourites over the years are the one in central Edinburgh, which has huge mausoleums, small Chinese cemetaries where each grave is marked by a large mound on the ground (the larger the mound, the more ostentatious the deceased), and the Mount Pleasant Cemetary in Vancouver where the graves bring wars through history into focus for us.
Thanks for this post and thanks for featuring completely non-touristy parts of the country!
Jane
Madeleine says
Thanks for sharing your travel experience. It’s really useful for me as I’m struggling to find detailed and useful information about these places.
Deepankar says
I realised the beauty of trans siberian route while browsing through lonely planet for my upcoming trip to Russia. This article made me even more interested. Russia is a big place to cover, and if not this time, definitely I am taking the trans siberian train route sometime again.