Irkutsk, Siberia, is a city that all travelers on the Trans-Siberian or Trans-Mongolian routes will pass through. Many will even get off the train at Irkutsk, but then be quickly whisked away to towns along the shores of Lake Baikal like Listvyanka. But all of that's a pity, because I was able to stay a couple of days in Irkutsk and discovered it had much more than my expectations of it as a cold, industrial Siberian city.

It's not for no reason that Irkutsk is sometimes called "the Paris of Siberia", even though I can't begin to agree with this tendency to find Paris all over the world! But Irkutsk is a majestic city with some amazing architecture. After leaving my homestay host not far from the city center, I was able to stroll around the streets full of old wooden houses. These traditional buildings, created long before the monstrous Soviet apartment blocks, feature ornate window treatments, pretty colors (often green!) and lace-like decorative wood hanging under the roof line. All of these decorations are hand crafted and hand carved from wood, in traditions dating back centuries.

Near the river and parks of Irkutsk, you'll walk past several churches, most of which have been recently renovated after falling into some disrepair during the Communist era. The Gothic-style Polish Cathedral, the Cathedral of Apparition of our Lord and the Church of Our Saviour are particular highlights to check your map for. If you continue walking nearer to the Angara River, you will find a striking red and orange building which houses the Regional Museum.

Stroll along the river, and seasonally you'll find stalls there for snacks and drinks, as the area is used by locals as something of a promenade during the warmer months. Out in the river you can also see a kind of half-island with an unusually designed building - the locals like to call it the Opera House, after it's slightly similar cousin in Sydney. Every time I spoke to a local from Irkutsk and they discovered I was from Australia, they couldn't wait to tell me about "their" Sydney Opera House!

Irkutsk is also a surprisingly interesting place to browse through shops, snack at the food markets and (my personal favorite) stock up on Russian candies. They're cheap and delicious, and wrapped in brightly colored papers. If you're taking the trouble to journey all the way across Russia on the Trans-Siberian, or if your interest is more in Lake Baikal, it's worth taking the time out to visit Irkutsk too. Whether it's really the Paris of Siberia is perhaps another question, though ...