Irkutsk was a Siberian trading post that became a city of merchants, exiles and gold, and it has an air of faded elegance that surprises people who expect only snow and railways. It stands on the Angara river, the only outlet of Lake Baikal, about seventy kilometres downstream from the lake, and it was founded in 1661 as a fort. Fur traders, tea merchants and gold dealers made fortunes here, and the grand wooden houses with carved window frames, known as wooden lace, still line some of the old streets, leaning a little as the ground shifts.
Irkutsk was also a place of exile, and the Decembrists, aristocratic officers who had rebelled against the tsar in 1825, were sent here, bringing with them books, music and manners. Their houses, now museums, are among the city's best-known sights, and the city was long known as the Paris of Siberia, an exaggeration but a charming one. The Trans-Siberian railway arrived in 1898, and the big station is still a landmark. Soviet housing, wide avenues and modern shopping centres fill the newer districts, with a long riverside promenade along the Angara.
For riders, Irkutsk is the starting point for Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake in the world, holding about a fifth of the planet's unfrozen fresh water. The road to Listvyanka, a lakeside village, winds through hills and forest for around seventy kilometres, with a good surface and fair traffic, though weekends are busy. Farther south, the old Circum-Baikal route and the coast road toward Slyudyanka and Baikalsk pass between steep wooded slopes and the clear blue water, with mountains rising on the far shore. The water is cold enough to take your breath away, even in August.
The weather is continental, with hot summers, cold winters of minus twenty or lower, and sudden storms. Wind on the lake can be strong, and fog and rain are common in late summer. The best season is June to September, with a short, golden autumn.
Irkutsk has all the services of a big city, with fuel at many stations, repairs, supermarkets and hotels. Beyond the city, villages have small stations, but they are spaced apart, so fill the tank before leaving. Try omul, a smoked or salted fish from Baikal, sold at stalls in Listvyanka, and drink hot tea afterward. Mosquitoes can be fierce in the forests in early summer.