Top 10 must-know words and phrases when traveling in Russia

If you suddenly appeared in Russia, this few useful words and must-know phrases will be extremely helpful for you to get rid of any situation during your travel. So, let’s go or ‘Поехали!’

  • Привет – [Privet] – Hi

  • The basic and useful greetings, but never use it for greeting custom officers and police!

  • Как дела? – [Kak dela] – How are you?

  • If you read this – than you already met someone. Just ask how they’re doing!

  • Хорошо – [Khorosho] – Good, Very well

  • Probably, they told you [Khorosho] that means good! And if they offered you vodka you will guess it easilly. But what if not??

  • Пиво – [Pivo] – Beer

  • That’s right! If not vodka it will be beer for shure. But never mix it. Otherwise see the last phrase.

  • Давай – [Davai] – Let’s go! or Give me the thing

  • That’s you have to answer if you willing to show your respect and drink some beer with that person! Also instead of toast you could say every time Davai aka Cheers! Likewise useful to say bye-bye.

  • Спасибо – [Spasibo] – Thank you

  • Be polite – give a thanks for the beer!

  • Пожалуйста – [Pazhaluysta] – Please or You’re welcome

  • They probably said this word that means You are very welcomed!

  • Где туалет? – [Gde tualet?] – Where is the toilet?

  • Useful in 30 minutes since you’ve join their company.

  • До свидания – [Do svidaniya] – Goodbye

  • Just a great word when you decide to escape the company. Do not use it if they don’t want to let you go. In this case use the previous one.

  • Я заблудился – [Ya zabludilsya] – I got lost

  • In case you were not strong enough and mixed vodka with beer. Than you’ve got lost. Use this phrase until you figure out of the situation.

All the best on the hard way across. Don’t drink too much and avoid of drinking with tattoed russians. Давай!

Russian pancakes

Traditional weekends’ morning in russian families often starts from tempting aroma of frying thick pancakes. That makes sleepy children coming out from their beds directly to the kitchen. The same happens with the tourists, who join Samovartours team for hiking. They are coming out from their tents to a campfire to have fresh morning coffee with delicous russian desert.

cooking time – 20 mins. breakfast. 3 portions.

Ingredients

  • 1 egg
  • 200 gr. of flour
  • 1/2 tsp of salt
  • 2 tsp of sugar
  • 200 gr of yoghhurt or any thik soured milk product
  • 1/2 tsp of baking powder
  • handful of reisins
  • some vanilla
  • sunflower oil

Instructions

  1. Crack an egg to the bowl
  2. Add salt and sugar in it and mix it
  3. Pour youghurt into the bowl and mix again
  4. Slowly mix in the flour to get the thikness of porridge
  5. With the last spoon of flour add baking powder and vanilla.
  6. If you’d like reisin – put it to a hot water for 3 minutes, than let them dry before mixing it to the dough.
  7. Fry 5-6 pancakes on the pan at a time on middle fire with adding some oil each time.

Do not forget to share it! And if you end up with the last pancake on the plate and everybody is hesitating to have the last one – just turn of the light!

Baikal Expedition

Russian winter. Wooden house
Go into the wild
Winter Forest

18 memorable days, 5000 kilometers of russian roads, 7 passengers in the legendary russian van, gently called “Bukhanka”, we go from Moscow thought the cold Russia to the magic gem of it – Baikal lake, to enjoy seeing it’s surreal deep blue ice, swim into the ice pool, make a selfies with Baikal cuties – nerpas, fishing for omul fish and have real russian bath on the way.

Russian Borshch recipe

Borshch [Борщ] is a soup that open your soul to the love of Russia. Red as USSR flag it’s made of beetroots, beef, cabbage and potatoes. Slow-cooking the Borsch is part of the secret. All those flavours need time to properly settle in. This recipe for a 2 liters pot.

Ingredients

  • 300-400 gr of beef piece with bone
  • 1 big beetroot (or 2 small ones)
  • 2 medium potatoes
  • 3-4 Tbsp of sunflower oil
  • 1 onion
  • 1 medium carrot
  • 100 gr of cabbage
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 Tbsp of tomato paste
  • 1 Tbsp of 6% vinegar
  • 1-2 garlic cloves
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • Dill and green onion

Instructions

  1. Instructions
  2. Make a beef broth. Just put meat in the pot with water. Add bay leafs and keep it on a slow fire about 2 hours. When the bone is easy to separate from meat – it’s ready. You need to remove meat from the pot and clean up the broth from the pieces of bones.
  3. Meanwhile the broth preparing you peal all of the vegetables and cut it.
  4. When you broth is done – add in the potatoes. Let them boil in there for another 10 minutes.
  5. Add in the cabbage, keep boiling.
  6. While everything is boiling, fry onion, then add the carrot, sliced beets in a pan on medium heat for 5 minutes, add in the tomato paste and 2-3 spoons of water or broth if needed. Aggregate 2 tablespoons of vinegar and heat for 7 minutes to mix in all the flavours.
  7. Add the beets and tomato paste to the broth. Stir with a wooden spoon and turn of the fire
  8. Add salt and pepper to taste likewise dill and green onion

Let it stay and reash in flavor for 15 minutes before you will serve it. Than enjoy!

Russian white water spot – the Roarer

There’s a nice white water spot pretty close to Ekaterinburg to have some extreme rafting after few days of the train on your transsiberain way. It’s located on the one of the most picturesque river of Urals – the river Iset.

By the way – if you are brave enough – you can pedal around 90km along the river and you will reach Ekaterinburg by your kayak! Just look at some pictures wrom that amazing spot of rocks to climb, white water, russian birch forest and even deep cave with bats to explore. Everything at one day and even more in our The Roarer tour

Europe and Asia border

Some pictures of Europe and Asia borded that is pretty close to Ekaterinburg. That was a motorbike ride to this places on an autumn sunset.

Many visitors from all over the world visiting this places. In fact the new metalic monument is a fake one. This monument have nothing in common with these two geo tectonic plates which is merge at this plates, and it’s because it hard to recognise the real mountains in this particular spot. Two of the real monuments are in 40 km from the city of Ekaterinburg and there you can observe the hill – the line of continent division.

But the fake one is also very important place because of it was a grave of many political victims of USSR-era and their leaders. During the reconstruction of the new highway from Ekaterinburg to Moscow they found tons of human bones. And when it becames well-known, many people who lost their relatives in the prisoner’s camp which was situated here, came into this place and put the candles and pictures to the trees. Later govenrment had forced to stop the road reconstruction and in few years here was founded a monument of the political victims.

And not hesitate to join this tour with us!