Insight Guides Russia

Insight Guides

• Publisher: Insight
• Print ISBN: 9781780057163
• eBook ISBN: 9781780059419
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Travel

Insight Guides: Inspiring your next adventure

Russia remains an enigma to many, and most visitors will only go to the stunning St Petersburg or the capital Moscow, but those who venture further into this vast country will be rewarded by beautiful scenery of mountainous landscape and wild steppes as well as a variety of peoples and cultures unrivaled anywhere else. Be inspired to visit by the new, thoroughly revised edition of Insight Guide Russia, a comprehensive full-colour guide to this multifaceted country.

Inside Insight Guide Russia:

A fully-overhauled edition.
Stunning, specially-commissioned photography that brings this multifaceted country and its people to life.
Highlights of the country's top attractions, including Moscow's Red Square and St Basil Church, The Hermitage Museum and sublime Winter Palace in St Petersburg as well as the remote wilderness of Lake Bakal in our Best of Russia.
Descriptive region-by-region accounts cover the whole country from cosmopolitan St Petersburg to untamed Siberia.
Detailed, high-quality maps throughout will help you get around and travel tips give you all the essential information for planning a memorable trip, including our independent selection of the best restaurants.
Free app for every customer.

About Insight Guides: Insight Guides has over 40 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce around 400 full-color print guide books and maps as well as picture-packed eBooks to meet different travelers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture together create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

'Insight Guides has spawned many imitators but is still the best of its type.' - Wanderlust Magazine

Understanding the Language

Linguistic History

Russian belongs to the Slavonic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. English, German, French, Spanish and Hindi are its relatives.

It is important when speaking Russian that you reproduce the accent (marked here before each stressed vowel with the sign’) correctly to be understood well.

Historically Russian can be called a comparatively young language. The evolution of the language to its present form on the basis of the spoken language of Eastern Slavs and the Church-Slavonic written language is thought to have occurred between the 11th and 14th centuries.

Modern Russian has absorbed a considerable number of foreign words. Very few tourists will be puzzled by Russian words such as telefon, televizor, teatr, otel, restoran, kafe, taxi, metro, aeroport.

What intimidates people making their first acquaintance with Russian is the Cyrillic alphabet. In fact the alphabet can be remembered easily after a few repetitions and the difference with the Latin alphabet is only minimal. An understanding of the Russian alphabet permits one to make out the names of the streets and the shop signs.

The Russian (or Cyrillic) alphabet was created by two brothers, philosophers and public figures Constantine (St Cyril) and Methodius, both born in Solun (now Thessaloniki in Greece). Their purpose was to facilitate the spread of Greek liturgical books to Slavonic speaking countries. Today the Cyrillic alphabet with different modifications is used in the Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian and Serbian languages, among others.

Language Centres

A relatively inexpensive way to visit Russia is through institutes that run Russian language courses. Among these are the Lomonosov and Lumumba universities and the Pushkin Institute of Russian Language in Moscow, the University of St Petersburg, the Shevchenko University in Kiev and other universities a...

Table of contents

• How To Use This E-Book
• Russia’s Top 10 Attractions
• Editor’s Choice
• Introduction: The Riddle Of Russia
• A Boundless Land
• Decisive Dates
• Beginnings
• The Mongol Yoke
• The First of the Tsars
• Windows on the West
• Five Emperors
• The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire
• Life Today
• The Women of Russia
• Russia’s Ethnic Diversity
• A Taste of Russia
• Religion in Russia
• Art and Inspiration
• Literature
• The Music Makers
• Russian Cinema
• Insight: The Trans-Siberian Railway
• Introduction: Places
• Moscow
• Insight: The Moscow Metro
• The Golden Ring
• St Petersburg
• Insight: The Hermitage
• The European North
• Southwest of Moscow
• Along the Volga
• The Urals
• The European South
• Siberia
• Insight: Siberia’s Adventure Playground
• Insight: Lake Baikal
• Russian Far East
• Transport
• Eating Out
• Activities
• A-Z: A Handy Summary of Practical Information
• Understanding the Language
• Further Reading