On the bank of the Angara, a little under halfway along the road from Irkutsk to Lake Baikal, stands a wooden tower that has travelled a long way. It was once part of the fort of Ilimsk, a seventeenth century Cossack outpost far to the north, and when the waters of a new reservoir threatened to drown the old fort in the Soviet era, the tower was dismantled, log by log, and rebuilt here. It is the centrepiece of Taltsy, an open-air museum of wooden architecture that brings together houses, barns, churches, mills and other buildings from villages across the Irkutsk region.
Wandering through the museum is like stepping back into Siberian village life of the nineteenth century. There are peasant houses with carved window frames, a small wooden church, a school, a blacksmith's forge and water mills, along with Buryat and Evenk dwellings that show how the native peoples of the region lived. Craftspeople sometimes demonstrate traditional skills, and there are festivals in summer and at Maslenitsa, the end-of-winter carnival. The setting, among birch and pine on a slope above the wide, clear Angara, is lovely in any season.
The road from Irkutsk to Listvyanka, sometimes called the Baikal Tract, is a pleasant ride, following the Angara through rolling forest with gentle bends and occasional views of the river. The surface is good, but the road is busy, especially on summer weekends when half of Irkutsk heads for the lake. Watch for speed traps and impatient drivers overtaking on blind bends. The best times are early morning or late afternoon, when the light on the river is soft and the traffic lighter.
The museum has a cafe and souvenir stalls, and entry costs a modest fee. Fuel and other services are available in Irkutsk and Listvyanka, about twenty-five kilometres further on. If you have time, try some of the local food, such as pozy, the steamed meat dumplings of the Buryats, or smoked omul, the famous fish of Baikal, which is sold in markets and stalls along the road. Allow an hour or two for the museum, then continue on toward the lake.