Gostevoy Dom Vorobyyovy Gory

A very decent place. After jolting on bumpy dirt roads this guest house appears in front of your eyes like a long-awaited mirage. Their "lunar houses" offer a civilized toilet, a shower with hot and cold water, excellent thermal insulation, a modern potbelly wood-burning stove and - surprise, surprise! - satellite TV with 99 channels including CNN, Euronews, France 24 and Deutsche Welle. Internet connection though leaves much to be desired but it looks inessential against such "luxury". Our breakfast was not included but both it and the dinner were like home-made - yummi and lavish. Our separate gratitude to Katya Alimova - their charming and professional receptionist/manager/hostess, mâitre d', etc., etc. Well done! Surroundings are beautiful, Baikal is about 600 meters away. The view from those lunar houses might be called excellent if not for numerous rather ugly shabby shacks for cheap tourism - relics of the Soviet past. Katya told us that they were going to demolish them - great idea! We took a swim in Baikal (a must!) and spent a gorgeous evening on an open terrace of one of our houses (they serve all types of alcohol - another advantage!). The night was calm, cloudless and moonlit. Unfortunately, we had no time to enjoy a buggy ride as well as other entertainments they offer. Too bad! I rate them "very good" and not "excellent" because of our futile fight with their boiler. Neither we nor our friends could manage to find a right water mix. It run either burning-hot or ice-cold and bluntly refused to obey. This tarnished their image. Still the place is undoubtedly recommended. Especially if they get rid of those horrible ticky-tackies.