( CNN ) -- In a special report for CNN 's Eye on Russia week , Moscow Correspondent Matthew Chance travels across the vast country from the northern port of Murmansk in the Arctic to the southern city of Sochi on the Black Sea . Here Chance recalls some highlights from his epic journey . Matthew Chance undergoes cosmonaut training at Star City . Arctic Ambitions . MURMANSK -- What an incredible , surprising place to begin a journey . At latitudes where most other Arctic states maintain little more than a few isolated scientific outposts , Russia has an entire city of 300,000 . In fact , Murmansk is one of the friendlier , more pleasant cities I have ever visited in this country . The northern air is rich to breathe ; the strange Arctic light lends a magical glow to the landscape . And there 's a cafe culture ! We sipped cappuccinos in the Arctic Circle and made friends with locals who seemed genuinely pleased to be living in their frigid metropolis . You might think Murmansk is just a freezing monument to the Soviet Union 's grim determination to settle citizens across its sprawling territory at any cost . But today it 's as much a symbol of modern Russia 's Arctic ambitions : a strong foothold in a region believed to possess vast natural resources . In the global race for control of the Arctic , Murmansk is giving Russia a crucial head start . Beast from the East . ST. PETERSBURG -- For a day and a half , we trundled through the tundra on board the Arctic Express to St. Petersburg -- - plenty of time to watch the white blankets of snow that covered the land gradually disappear . But we had come to Russia 's city of beauty to meet its beast . Nikolai Valuev stands an incredible 7 feet tall , is a heavyweight boxing champion of the world and a Russian sporting hero . He used to be known to U.S. boxing promoters as `` The Beast From The East '' -- but he did n't care much for the name . Now he prefers `` The Russian Giant '' which was absolutely fine with me . In fact , Valuev is disarmingly pleasant and soft-spoken . He told me he had to work hard on being extra nice simply to stop people from being frightened when meeting him . Now he concentrates on encouraging Russia 's youth to take up boxing . The country , he says , is a potential hotbed of future champions . Valuev has found fame outside the ring too , starring in several Russian movies and writing a book . He also writes poetry . Star City . MOSCOW -- If you 've got $ 30 million to spend , you might want to consider training to be a space tourist in Russia 's Star City . This is the country 's biggest cosmonaut training center and the next stop on our journey . Between 2010 and 2015 -- - when NASA 's space shuttle ends its missions , and until the new generation of U.S. craft come online -- Russia will be the only country to have manned missions into space , including to the International Space Station . NASA is now sending all its astronauts here to train in the Soyuz capsule , the vehicle on which they will depend to carry them through their missions . And the training is vigorous . I know because someone , somehow , convinced me to sample it ! Ever been strapped in a centrifuge and subjected to the same G-force as a cosmonaut taking off in a Soyuz ? I have , and I did n't like it .
Moscow Correspondent : Chance travels across Russia by train . Chance 's journey begins in Siberia in Arctic , ends in Odessa on Black Sea . Chance meets Russian boxer Nikolai Valuev , samples his training .