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Join international Russian literary scholar Rosamund Bartlett for an ‘off-the-beaten track’ journey from Moscow to the Black Sea with a special focus on the literature of Russia.

Beginning in the dynamic capital, Moscow, you will then explore the cultural heartland of Russia to the south of Moscow, visiting the estates and country houses of the great Russian writers of the 19th century – Chekhov, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Leskov and Bunin - plus the ancient monastery of Optina Pustyn and the country house of the artist Vasily Polenov.

Enjoy a full week around the Black Sea, exploring the exotic cities of Yalta and Odessa, each with its own rich literary and cultural heritage.

AT A GLANCE:

• Comprehensive stays in Moscow, Yalta and Odessa
• Visits to the homes, country estates and sites associated with the great Russian writers
• Russian countryside in the spring
• Visits to the Old Tretyakov, Pushkin and Odessa fine arts museums
• Opera, ballet and / or concerts in Moscow and Odessa

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Fri 10 May 2013 / Depart Australia
Depart Australia on Singapore Airlines via Singapore. Overnight in flight.

Sat 11 May / Arrive Moscow
Mid-afternoon arrival and transfer to your hotel.

This evening, join Rosamund Bartlett and fellow travellers for a welcome briefing and dinner. (D)

Sun 12 May / Moscow
Enjoy a morning tour of Moscow which will introduce you to the vibrant capital of Russia. See Red Square and St Basil’s Cathedral, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the Russian ‘White House’, the former KGB headquarters and stop at Sparrow Hills near Moscow University for a panoramic view over the city dominated by the famous Stalinist ‘skyscrapers’.

During the day you will visit the tranquil enclosure of the beautiful Novodevichy Convent where many famous Russian political and cultural figures are buried, and the Tolstoy Estate-Museum, the writer’s winter home during the 1880s and 1890s. (BL)

Mon 13 May / Moscow
Morning tour of the Kremlin, the historic heart of Moscow. Its many treasures include the sumptuous interior of the Cathedral of the Assumption, the more intimate Cathedral of the Annunciation, the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great and the Armoury Museum, with its famous collection of Fabergé eggs, just one aspect of an astonishing array of glittering jewels, robes, thrones and carriages, a telling reminder of the one time opulence of the Romanov Dynasty.

Afternoon at leisure to explore nearby Red Square, GUM Department store and the Kitay Gorod area. This evening, enjoy a ballet or opera performance at the Bolshoi Theatre, which has just re-opened after a decade-long reconstruction (subject to performance schedules announced 3-4 months prior). (B)

Tue 14 May / Moscow
Today will be spent in Moscow’s two main art galleries. Begin with the Old Tretyakov Gallery, devoted to the history of Russian Art, ranging from precious medieval icons to the Russian School of the late 19th century. After lunch, continue to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, with an impressive collection of Western Art, particularly its substantial holdings of luminous Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. (BL)

Wed 15 May / Moscow
Enjoy a morning tour of places of literary significance. During the day, See or visit the Moscow homes of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Gorky, now preserved as house-museums. Finish at the Patriarch’s Pond, indelibly associated with Bulgakov’s satirical fantasy The Master and Margarita.

Afternoon at leisure to further Moscow on your own. This evening, attend a concert at one of Moscow’s several renowned performing venues (subject to performance schedules announced 3–4 months prior. (BL)

Thu 16 May / Moscow - Tula
This morning you depart Moscow for a fascinating four-day journey by coach through the bucolic countryside to the south of Moscow, much favoured by the aristocracy and literary elite who built their country estates here in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This area is rarely visited by foreign travellers and you will be able to observe Russian agriculture and country life away from the big cities.

Today will be spent on a leisurely full day’s drive (180 km) to Tula. En route, stop in the village of Melikhovo to visit the estate where Anton Chekhov lived from 1892 - 1899 and where he created more than 40 literary works, including The Sea Gull and Uncle Vanya. Continue via the country estate of Russian painter Vasily Polenov (1844-1927) to Tula, arriving late afternoon. (BLD)

Fri 17 May / Tula - Oryol
Morning visit to Yasnaya Polyana, the family country estate of Leo Tolstoy. Born here is 1828, Tolstoy settled here after his marriage in 1862 until his death in 1910. Many of his most famous novels were written here, including War and Peace and Anna Karenina.

After lunch, drive to Oryol (187 km, approx 3-4 hrs). Founded in 1566 as a fortress against the Tatars, Oryol (meaning ‘eagle’) is located on the Oka River and reached its peak during the 19th century, when a large number of the gentry lived here. Literary associations abound: Ivan Turgenev and Leonid Andreev were born here, Nikolai Leskov spent his early childhood here and Ivan Bunin, who came to the town in 1889 to work at a local newspaper as a copy editor, later provided a precise description of Oryol in one of his novels. (BD)

Sat 18 May / Oryol
Begin with a visit to Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, the country estate of Turgenev (1818-1883). It was here that Turgenev wrote most of his works, in which descriptions of the Spasskoye house and park take up many pages, albeit in disguise. Life in the neighbouring estates is also mirrored in his writing. After years of neglect under Soviet rule, the estate was reopened as a museum in the 1970s. The house is surrounded by a park of 40 hectares with a pond, ancient trees and avenues.

Continue to the house-museum of Leskov (1831–1895), the novelist, short story writer, and journalist. His major works include The Enchanted Wanderer and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (later made into an opera by Shostakovtich)

Finish with a visit to the house-museum of Bunin (1870–1953), the first Russian writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature and best known for, his autobiographical novel The Life of Arseniev. (BL)

Sun 19 May / Oryol – Kaluga
Morning drive from Oryol to Kozelsk (240km, approx 3–4 hrs).

In the afternoon, visit the nearby Russian Orthodoxy Monastery at Optina Pustyn. In the 19th century, the Optina was the most important spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church and served as the model for. It was particularly renowned for its tradition of ‘Elders’, whose words of wisdom were particular sought by Russia’s writers, including Gogol and Tolstoy.  Zosima in Dostoevsky’s last novel The Brothers Karamazov  is modelled on an Optina Pustyn Elder.

After the Russian Revolution the monastery was declared a gulag. With the beginning of Perestroika, Optina Pustyn was one of the first monasteries to be returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Continue to Kaluga (60km, 1 hr) for overnight. (BLD)

Mon 20 May / Kaluga – Moscow – Yalta
Morning drive from Kaluga to Moscow Domodedovo Airport (170 km, approx 3-4 hrs) for an afternoon flight (2 hrs) to Simferopol, the airport for the Crimean Peninsula (NB. 20 kg luggage allowance). On arrival, transfer to Yalta (70 km, 1 hr).

Superbly situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black Sea and surrounded by wooded mountains, Yalta enjoys a warm Mediterranean climate. In the 19th century, the town became a fashionable resort for the Russian aristocracy and gentry. Tolstoy spent summers there and Chekhov in 1898 bought a house where he lived till 1902. In 1889 Tsar Alexander III finished construction of Massandra Palace a short distance to the north of Yalta and Nicholas II built the Livadia Palace south-west of the town in 1911. A favoured resort of the Soviet elite during the 20th century, the town came to worldwide attention in 1945 when the Yalta Conference between the ‘Big Three’ powers (Soviet Union, United States and Great Britain) was held at the Livadia Palace. (BD)

Tue 21 May / Yalta
During a full-day tour of Yalta, see the Embankment, Vorontsovsky Palace, Swallow’s Nest, the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the Mooresque palace of the Bukhara Emir and the Livadia Palace. You will also see the bench immortalised in Chekhov’s Lady with a Little Dog at Oreanda. (BL)

Wed 22 May / Yalta
Following a morning talk on the history of the Crimea, discover the deep connection between Chekhov and Yalta with a visit to the Chekhov House-Museum in the Yalta suburb of Autka. Known as the White Dacha, Chekhov's house in Yalta became a magnet for other Russian writers of his day such as Bunin, Gorky and Kuprin, and for musicians such as Rachmaninov and the great singer Chaliapin. Chekhov wrote The Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard here, escaping when necessary to peace and quiet at his smaller dacha perched on the bay at Gursuf, a few km down the coast.

In the afternoon visit the Nikitsky Botanical Garden. Founded by Christian Steven in 1812, the garden is believed to be the oldest botanical garden in the world and covers an area of 1100 hectares. (BL)

Thu 23 May / Yalta – Kherson
Morning departure from Yalta for a full day’s drive to Kherson (440 km, 9-10 hrs), stopping on the way to visit the Khan’s Palace at Bakhchysarai.

The Khan's Palace, or Hansaray, was built in the 16th century and became home to a succession of Crimean Khans. The walled enclosure contains a mosque, a harem, a cemetery, living quarters and gardens. First mentioned 1502, Bakhchysarai, was established as the new khan's residence by the Crimean Khan Sahib I Giray in 1532 and was the capital of the Crimean Khanate and the centre of political and cultural life of the Crimean Tatar people until the Sürgün (deportation on 18 May 1944).

Continue to Kherson, arriving in the late afternoon. (BL)

Fri 24 May / Kherson – Odessa
During a morning tour of Kherson drive along Ushakova Avenue, visit the Assumption and St Catherine Cathedrals and see Aleksanderschanz Fortress, the Arsenal, the Episcopal House and monuments to the first ships, Prince Potemkin and John Howard (1726 – 1790) English lawyer, philanthropist and the first England prison reformer, researcher of mass infectious diseases in Europe.

In the afternoon, drive to Odessa (215km, 3–4 hrs).

Often referred to as the ‘Pearl of the Black Sea’, Odessa was founded by a decree of Catherine the Great in 1794 as part of her ambitious plans to extend Russia’s horizons. From 1819 to 1858 Odessa was a free port. In the 19th century it was the fourth largest city of Imperial Russia, after Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Warsaw. An energetic, cosmopolitan, Mediterranean-style city, its architecture has been heavily influenced by French and Italian styles, with a mixture of Art Nouveau, Renaissance and Classical styles. Visitors are invariably impressed by Odessa’s scenic boulevards, rich art and culture and famous Opera House. (BD)

Sat 25 May / Odessa
Begin your exploration of Odessa at the Potemkin Stairs, the formal entrance into the city from the sea. Continue along Primorsky Boulevard past the City Hall to Vorontsov's Palace and its Colonnade. In the city, see the Opera House, the monuments to Pushkin and Richelieu, the Tolstoy Palace and Gogol’s house.

In the afternoon, visit the Museum of Western and Oriental Arts, which houses a fine collection of European art including works by Franz Hals, Caravaggio, Strozzi, Magnasco, Michelangelo and Rubens, along with sculptures and ceramics from Iran, Tibet, China and Japan.

This evening, attend an opera or ballet performance at the grand Odessa Opera House (subject to performance schedules announced 1-2 months prior). (BL)

Sun 26 May / Odessa
Following a talk on the history and literature of Odessa, continue your exploration of Odessa with a morning visit to the Catacombs, originally created during the quarrying of limestone for the building of Odessa, but later variously used by criminals and WWII partisans.

Later, visit the Literary and Jewish Museums which, respectively, celebrate Odessa’s rich literary and Jewish associations. During the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, Odessa had the third largest Jewish population in the world (after New York and Warsaw) and was home to numerous Jewish writers and poets including the acclaimed Isaac Babel.

This evening, celebrate the conclusion of the tour with a special farewell dinner. (BD)

Mon 27 May / Depart Odessa

Transfer to the airport for morning departue on Turkish Airlines to Istanbul (1 hr 30 min) connecting with Singapore Airlines flights via Singapore. (B)

Tue 28 May / Arrive Australia
Evening arrival in Australia.