The city of Ekaterinburg, which in Soviet times was known as Sverdlovsk, played a key role in the history of Russia in the twentieth century. The Revolution and Civil War started here with the bloody murder of last Russian Tsar Nickolay Romanov and his family in 1918. Stalin's struggle against the "class enemies" in the 1930's turned the city into the largest transshipment point for prisoners of the GULAG (system of exploitation of the workforce) who were sent to work on the development of the vast lands of Siberia. In the tragic years of World War II, it was here, in the hundreds of factories which had been relocated from all over Russia, that the famous Russian military weaponry was being produced. It is also in Ekaterinburg between the 1940's and 50's, that the greatest Russian military leader of World War II, Marshal GeorgyZhoukov, spent the years of his "exile". On 1st of May 1960 the city attracted the attention of the world again, Garry Powers, the pilot of an American spy plane, U-2 was shot down a few km. from the city.

Finally, at the beginning of the 1990's Ekaterinburg's most famous politician, Boris Yeltsin, became the first president, he played a key role in dismantling the Party structure and opening up the Soviet myth. The city had been closed to foreign visitors, due to military secrecy, until 1991.

During this 3 hours walking tour you will visit former “spy sites and objects” of the city. Built as a quest game, this tour is great way to explore the Soviet period of Russian history. You have to go across the city via special check-in points, to guess few riddles, to find former secret objects, take pictures of them to your “spy camera”! Award for successful mission is waiting for you – great lunch at the soviet style “Fabric Kitchen restaurant”, where you can taste some favorite dishes of Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev.