There is a legend, which tourists enjoy, that a boater lost his watch to lake which can still be seen on bottom.

There are thousands of lakes on this planet but we are speaking of no ordinary lake, but rather about one of nature's miracles. One of few unique places left of unspoiled beauty.

Here are some interesting facts about this lake:

1. Baikal’s basin is made up of three underwater depressions, which together holds more water than all five of Great Lakes of North America. It holds one fifth of earth's supply of fresh water.

2. This Siberian miracle of nature is deepest lake (1,700 m ) in world.

3. The lake is so large that all of rivers on Earth combined would take an entire year to fill it.

4. At 25-30 million years old, it is oldest lake in world.

Vladivostok, meaning “Lord of East” in Russian, is located just across Sea of Japan but a very distant 6,200 miles east of Moscow.

Interestingly, this beautiful sea port city was so far from center of communist rule, when Russia was better known as Soviet Union, that it was not until 1954 that a leader of USSR visited this city.

I am talking about Nikita Khrushchev, a man who became famous, worldwide, for his eccentric statements and actions. He was first one to call Vladivostok “Russian San-Francisco” which in many ways is a fairly accurate comparison.

Like San Francisco, city of Vladivostok is located on a hilly region surrounded by a bay, in this case Gold Horn Bay Visitors who arrive to this city enjoy spectacular view, which is surprisingly similar to San Francisco.

Vladivostok is also home port of Russian Navy’s pacific fleet, and there are hundreds of military ships and submarines located in Gold Horn Bay. As a result of this, city of Vladivostok was a closed region for more than 70 years.

Vladivostok was city for a military installation, and even Russian citizens wanting to visit relatives, were forbidden to travel to this city without special permits and passes. It was not until year of 1992 that Vladivostok was officially opened for foreign visitors as well as rest of Russian population.