There was a slight last minute rescheduling for the next couple of days due to a broken hydrofoil which meant we still managed to do all we wanted, but had to catch the ridiculously early 7am bus next day, well before most sensible people were up! There had been thunder and lightening in the night, which I’d slept through and lots of rain and the morning was grey and damp.
Four hours later, we rolled into Petrozavodsk, the capital of Karelia and checked in to the rather splendid looking Hotel Severnaya …
… then down to the jetty to catch the hydrofoil to the island of Kizhi which is in the middle of the vast Lake Onega.
The journey was a little bumpy so I couldn’t read, so instead I listened to the Karelia Suite by Sibelius which our friend Simon told us about before we came away. The Intermezzo is particularly stirring and quite captured the feel of rushing through the water with tall pine forests beside us. If you are curious, you can listen too!
Kizhi has dozens of C18-19th wooden buildings brought from all over Karelia during Soviet times.
The main attraction is the Transfiguration Church which is undergoing major restoration and so unfortunately not looking at its best.
Beside it is the bell tower and the Church of the Intercession which we went into and saw the glittering iconostasis inside. The cupolas on the buildings are covered with wooden scales, a bell tower and there are clever external decorations to keep the water off the walls.
There was a trail connecting other buildings including houses, barns, windmills and churches but first we stopped, in the rain, to tuck into our picnic of hard boiled eggs, cucumber, bread and apples!
The Oshevnec House was furnished, with living quarters on the ground floor and workshops above.
The Chapel of the Archangel Michael had bells which were played several times with a very tinkly musical sound. The clangers were connected with string and were played by pressing down on the strings.
The Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus is claimed to be the oldest wooden building in Russia.
The Sergiev House was also furnished and had a ramp from the loft for access and a vegetable plot.
It was a long day, and we napped on the hydrofoil which got back to Petrozavodsk at 7.30. Lured by the promise of the first Karelian restaurant complete with costumed waitresses we went for dinner at Karelskaya Gornitsa. On the plus side, it was only across the road, it looked quite cute and there were vegetarian options for Chris. On the downside, it was the most expensive by far and definitely the least tasty, but we did end with some interesting tinctures – Forest Charms which was a bit medicinal but packed a punch and cloudberry liqueur made from a fruit like an orange raspberry which was a bit sweet.
We awoke to brilliant sunshine and while we cant complain as yesterday was the first grey day in a week here, it was a real shame that we hadn’t had a blue sky to set off those fabulous wooden buildings. The breakfast buffet was also interesting – I went for the oatmeal with dried fruit and some watermelon while Chris went for some eggy squares with beetroot and olives. We also finally came across the famous Karelian pastries, made with rye flour and with a small amount of egg and rice filling which may have been delicious if straight from the oven, but this one was not.
We had a slow day with a wander round town in the sunshine …
down to the lakeside promenade with a collection of contemporary sculpture …
… and back past the Museum of Fine Arts which was closed, the theatre with some metal sculptures on its facade and several fancy looking cafes.
The circular Ploshchad Lenina, which incongruously in English but not in Russian, used to be called the Round Square is the heart of neo-classical Petrozavodsk with a statue of Lenin in the centre.
We had a late lunch and picked up snacks before going to the station for the train back to St Petersburg which got in at 11pm so it was straight to bed.
We are now heading north to the Republic of Karelia, a land of lots of trees and over 60,000 lakes. Karelians are Finnic people with their lands stretching into Finland and their own culture and cuisine including Karelian pasties.
The Romanovs had ruled for over 200 years and increased the Russian Empire but they still relied on autocracy and when serfdom was finally abolished in 1862, the serfs ended up worse off than before and moved to the cities to work in factories where conditions were terrible. Disillusionment brought revolt, starting with the People’s Will who assassinated Alexander II with a grenade in the street in St Petersburg in 1881.
Must also mention with everything else there was to see, the fabulous array of parquet flooring in every room, with every pattern imaginable …
Another beautiful day and we spent it at the huge imperial estate called Tsarskoye Tselo or the Tsars Village. We look the metro then the bus for 30 minutes out of the city, passed huge numbers of apartment blocks surrounded by countryside.
We slept well and awoke to sunshine and blue skies and a breakfast of oats, toast and excellent coffee served in our room.
