The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire


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(5 stars; 5 reviews)

An engaging travelogue first published in 1886, written conversationally among two youths and their guide and mentor. Subtitle: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey in European and Asiatic Russia, with Accounts of a Tour across Siberia, Voyages on the Amoor, Volga, and Other Rivers, a Visit to Central Asia, Travels Among the Exiles, and a Historical Sketch of the Empire from its Foundation to the Present Time. This book is part of The Boy Travellers series by Thomas W. Knox. - Summary by S Caulkins (14 hr 12 min)

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Vienna to Cracow; Wieliczka; Churches and Palaces Underground; Subterranean Lake. 40:56 Read by Lynette Caulkins
Chapter 2 - Russian Frontier; Police and the Custom-house; Censorship; a Smuggler; Warsaw; to St. Petersburg. 31:06 Read by jenno
Chapter 3 - St. Petersburg; Isvoshchiks and Droskies; Passports; Nevski Prospect; Church of Kazan; Great Inundation of 1824; Peter the Great; Admiralty Square. 36:34 Read by Rita Boutros
Chapter 4 - A Russian Restaurant; Russian Tea-drinkers; Alexander's Column; Fortress of Sts. Peter and Paul; Assassinations; Russian Police and their Ways. 28:23 Read by BettyB
Chapter 5 - The People; Pan-Slavic Union; St. Isaac's Church; the Winter Palace and the Hermitage; the Crown Jewels; the Emperor Nicholas; Peter the Great; from Palace to Prison; a Monument. 27:37 Read by Elsie Selwyn
Chapter 6 - The Gostinna Dvor; Russian Shopping; Curious Customs; St. Alexander Nevski; A Persian Train; The Summer Garden; Kriloff and his Fables; a Russian Theatre. 38:04 Read by Rita Boutros
Chapter 7 - Newspapers; The Censorship; Peterhof, Oranienbaum, and Cronstadt; the Summer Palace; Cronstadt and the Naval Station; The Russian Army; The Cossacks. 41:43 Read by Rita Boutros
Chapter 8 - Education in Russia; Universities in the Empire; Religious Liberty; Treatment of the Jews; The Islands of the Neva; In a "Traktir;" Bribery among Russian Officials. 39:14 Read by Rita Boutros
Chapter 9 - Mujiks; "The Imperial Nosegay;” Russian Serfdom; Present Condition of the Peasant Class; Seeing the Emperor; Public and Secret Police; Russian Courts of Law. 29:58 Read by Elsie Selwyn
Chapter 10 - Winter in Russia; Official Opening of the Neva; "Butter-week;" Kissing at Easter; Russian Stoves and Baths; Effects of Severe Cold. 31:38 Read by Nidhi Prakash
Chapter 11 - Novgorod the Great; Rurik and his Successors; John the Terrible; Early History of Russia; An Imperial Bear-hunt; the House of Romanoff; Railways in Russia. 38:36 Read by Rita Boutros
Chapter 12 - Moscow; Napoleon's Campaign in Russia; Burning of Moscow; The Kremlin; Anecdotes of Russian Life; The Church of St. Basil. 56:10 Read by Andrew Ryals
Chapter 13 - Great Theatre of Moscow; Gorod and Dvor; Romanoffs; the Rulers of Russia; Church of the Saviour; Mosques and Pagodas; The Museum; Riding-school; Suhareff Tower; Traktirs; Old Believers; The Sparrow Hills and the Simonoff Monastery. 42:12 Read by Rita Boutros
Chapter 14 - Troitska Monastery; European Fairs; Minin's Tomb and Tower; Down the Volga by Steamboat; Kazan; The Route to Siberia. 32:57 Read by Owlivia
Chapter 15 - Avatcha Bay; Attack upon Petropavlovsk; Dogs and Dog-driving; Kamtchatka; Reindeer; The Amoor River; Native; Tigers; Overland Travelling in Siberia; From Stratensk to Nertchinsk; Gold-mining in Siberia. 34:58 Read by mpinedag
Chapter 16 - Exiles of Siberia; Perpetual Colonists; Lodging-houses and Prisons; Convoys; an Escape from Siberia; Secret Roads; How Peasants Treat the Exiles; Prisoners in Chains. 36:00 Read by jenno
Chapter 17 - Siberian Population; Absence of Serfdom; A Russian Fête; Courtship and Marriage; Chetah and the Bouriats; Verckne Udinsk; Siberian Robbers; Tea-trains and Tea-trade; Kiachta; Trade between Russia and China. 35:24 Read by jenno
Chapter 18 - Mai-Mai-Chin; Chinese Governor; Theatrical Performance; Lake Baikal; Irkutsk; a Long Sleigh-ride; Food on the Road; Siberian Mails; Advantages of Winter Travelling; Krasnoyarsk. 35:56 Read by BettyB
Chapter 19 - Krasnoyarsk; Russian Pronunciation; The "Oukhaba”; Road-fever; Wolves; Tomsk; Steam Navigation in Siberia; Barnaool; Tigers; the "Bouran"; Baraba Steppe; Tumen and Ekaterineburg; Perm, Kazan, and Nijni Novgorod. 40:40 Read by Mairi MacLean
Chapter 20 - Russian Reception Ceremony; Simbirsk, Samara, and Saratov; German Settlers on the Volga; Don Cossacks; Astrachan; the Caspian Sea; Baku Oil-fields; Balakhani; Temples of the Fire-worshippers; Marco Polo and other Authorities. 37:44 Read by Elsie Selwyn
Chapter 21 - Russian Conquest in Turkestan; Kirghese Tribes; Russian Taxes; Turcoman and Kirghese Raids; Prisoners sold into Slavery; Commerce in Turkestan; Vámbéry's Narrow Escape; Marriage Customs among the Turcomans; Population of Central Asia. 35:05 Read by Owlivia
Chapter 22 - Turcoman Country; Trans-Caspian Railway; Skobeleff's Campaign; Rivers of Central Asia; Agriculture; Turcoman Devastation; The Afghan Boundary Question; O'Donovan and MacGahan; Return to Baku. 41:43 Read by BettyB
Chapter 23 - Tiflis; Batoum and its Importance; Trebizond and Erzeroom; Short History of the Crimean War; Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78; Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava; Present Condition of Sebastopol; Odessa; Constantinople. 40:08 Read by KevinS

Reviews

Another wonderful title in the series, beautifully read


(5 stars)

All of these books are such a delight. It is a pleasure to hear more from the author, and the readers are fabulous. Extremely informative and highly recommended. If you enjoy this one, be sure to seek out the others in the same series

Interesting road story.


(5 stars)

Sort of a lost and found travelogue—meaning that the story of the “boys” and their adult companion comes and goes. So the charm varies. Interesting info nonetheless.