Russia: Tips, Tricks, and Travel

Kolomna is a great little town that everyone should visit while they are in Moscow on vacation or on business. It is so close, just a two hour train ride from the Kazansky Train Station downtown. Kolomna is quaint and clean with a few things to do that make taking a holiday day trip there a pleasure. Furthermore, lots of trains go there and tickets are very darn cheap when measured in dollars.

Dagestan is one of the best places to visit in Russia. It has massive mountain ranges and vistas that reach out to infinity on the horizon. We hope you enjoy our 4k drone footage of this mountainous local. Travel in this region is a real adventure and any tour of Dagestan is sure to delight whether you are by the sea or deep into the mountains. Enjoy the video, subscribe and let us know what you think in the comments.

Get ready to loosen your belts because in this episode of Must Eat I am in Dagestan and the portion sizes are well… massive. But let’s see if any of this exotic fair is any good. Let the Dagestan travel begin! I started my culinary adventure at Makhachkala’s “Second Market” where I grabbed some fresh pomegranate juice and tried some sun-dried and salted sheep, as well as Ubrech which is basically Soviet nut butter with all sorts of flavors and variations. They also had all sorts of spices and meat to buy, but I was on vacation, and I wanted to be fed amazing Muslim food not make it myself. So from there, I went to Restaurant-Museum on Lermontov Street to treat myself to some awesome cuisine made by local chefs with only local ingredients. I had Khinkal and Chudu which, if you don’t know what those are, stop reading and watch the video. A picture is worth a thousand words my friends. Anyways, after my fine dining was done my food and travel adventure continued as I went to the Eent road shite cafe. When you are doing a travel food blog you need to keep things spontaneous and I honestly had no plans to film at this place, I was just hungry. But I was so impressed that I turned on the cameras. I had a bowl of fantastic bean soup and an ultra cheesy Botishal. So yeah I had a great time, gained weight and learned about some new food that I had never heard of before. A big win all around!

Normally when I visit a region of Russia I do one “Must Eat” video about the local cuisine, but Dagestan was so rich with food and drink that I decided to divide my experience into liquids and solids, so here is how to drink Dagestani… Must Drink! First off I gleefully tested some pomegranate juice at Makhachkala’s Second Market with was the perfect sweet way to start off today’s tasting. Next, I was all the way down in Derbent at a local tea house. The tea houses are a big part of the culture where men go to talk to their buddies and sip tea with sweets all day long. The local tea is always drunk from an “Armudu” glass to guarantee a proper temperature and experience. Next, it was time to try alcohol at Derbent’s legendary Cognac Plant. Wood barrel-aged cognac from a region famous for it is something utterly amazing. This is not fire water, it was an alco-experience! I also tried some of their other products like calvados, grappa, and a supposedly female-friendly madeira wine. So whether you are going hard or soft all the drinks in Dagestan were great, it must be the mountain water or something right?

Let my Dagestani adventure begin! In this video travel guide, I will show you all the places to visit in Dagestan that you must see. In Russia, this Republic is famous for its mountain views, diverse inhabitants and massive portion sizes. I started by Dagestan travel in the capital city of Makhachkala from whence I drove to the unique and mysterious Sarykum Dune. After climbing all the way to the top and catching my breath I made my way over very bumpy roads to the Sulaksky Canyon which they say reaches a greater depth than the Grand Canyon! After that “deeply” cool destination, I checked out the Khunzakhsky Waterfalls that drain out from under a very old village by their 19th-century Russian fort. Speaking of heavily defended locals, I went deep down into “The Great Stone Bowl” for an otherworldly experience. So far we have been looking at amazing views and landscapes but we can’t forget about the diverse Dagestani people. In the city of Kubachi metalworking masters have been creating wonders for centuries. I stopped by Alibeg’s home/workshop in Kubachi to try my hand at it. If you want to order one of Alibeg’s creations check out his Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kubachi_serebro_kurta/. I sadly said good-bye to Kubachi, but getting up to Beacon Mountain was one heck of a pai in the butt… literally! But once you get there you realize that the next big Lord of the Rings movie needs to be filmed in Dagestan, the vistas are unbelievable! From there I dropped down to the abandoned village of Gamsutl’ to see if there was any life there. And from a vacant city, I went to a very active town called Derbent and naturally took some time to see the famous Derbent Fortress! Dagestan offers unusual travel experiences (in a good way) and is a very unique vacation for anyone who is curious about Russia.

The big Chuisky Tract highway and small roads of Altai allow visitors to see nature completely untouched. This region remains pure locked in cold Siberian mountain valleys, with tons of things to see on your trip. The views here are one of the reasons so many tourists have started to travel to this region. So please enjoy our bird’s eye views of this spiritual land in a sharp 4k video.

The Altai mountains are beyond ancient and many different cultures have come through these valleys creating some delicious and not so delicious cuisine. In this video, Tim continues his food travel around the Altai Mountains but this time they are of the culinary variety. Every region on Earth has some great food to offer but will it work for an American stomach? Well, you are going to have to watch and see. Food tourism is by far the best kind so we hope you enjoy learning some local traditions that you may want to repeat at home in your own kitchen. Get ready for this taste test!

We are back to finally show you the second half of our trip down the Chuya (Chuisky) Highway, which many consider the most beautiful road in Russia. We are driving down through the Altai Mountains till we hit the Mongolian border. We are going to see lots of wild life, stay at mountain lodge designed for hardcore mountain climbers (which Tim sure isn't), and make our way to the surface of "Mars" or at least that is what the locals call it. Well the continuation of our Siberian adventure continues. And special thanks to Altai Mountain Guide for giving us some amazing multilingual podcasts to help us get to know the region better http://altaimountains.com/

Friends our travels are Russia continues to get bigger. This time our brilliant director Misha planned out a journey through the Altai Mountains along the Chuisky Tract highway. This road is considered the most beautiful in Russia. The Altai region is full of untouched natural beauty with lakes and rivers everywhere and plenty of friendly locals who are willing to help you out. Enjoy the ride with us on our holiday road trip. We're exploring Siberia in the Altai Mountains! ♥ And special thanks to Altai Mountain Guide for giving us some amazing multilingual podcasts to help us get to know the region better http://altaimountains.com/