We will experience the Russian winter at its beauty. We will make our way by the ice hovercraft across the snow-covered bays of the endless Onego lake, past its picturesque islands towards the old Karelian villages with their modest but beautiful wooden chapels carefully hidden by winter in the snow. We will see the gem of Karelian wooden architecture – Kizhi island with its amazing multi-domed church and traditional houses, we will learn how to heat Russian banya, bake traditional kalitki and even sleep on the Russian stove…
Day 1
Arrive in Petrozavodsk at 06.50 am from St Petersburg or at 08.58 from Moscow, meet your Karelian guide. Transfer downtown to a café. After breakfast, our discovery of the rural Karelia starts with a visit to a very special place in Petrozavodsk – a private gallery by the local artist Tatiana Kalinina. Here we will find out a lot of surprising facts about the traditional pagan beliefs of Karels and their legends while looking at the amazing hand-made dolls personifying different spirits of the forest and house.
From Petrozavodsk, we are heading by a comfortable car/mini-bus for Kinerma, a 440-years old village of Karels-liviks (110 km, appr 1.5 hr). The feeling of harmony embraces every person who comes to this tiny village, where only very few villagers stay over winter.
Our local hostess Nadezhda will welcome us to the traditional old wooden house. She will tell us about the village and will walk us around, take us to the chapel and to a small exhibition on the history of the village. Lunch of traditional Karelian cuisine will be waiting for us afterwards.
Today, we will get introduced to the rural lifestyle. First, get ready to learn the receipt and help the hostess in baking the traditional karelian salty pastry – kalitki – in the big Russian oven. Self-made kalitki, with tea from the samovar taste especially delicious. We will also do what the locals used to do their children – we will make with our own hands a traditional ritual Karelian doll, which will become the amulet and best souvenir for your most close people, who could not join this trip and stayed back home.
In the evening, we will enjoy the heat and whisking in the excellent black banya (Russian steam sauna); to heat it up correctly is an art that almost disappeared in Russia. But the master of the house will reveal his secrets, and we will learn how heat the banya - as it should be done traditionally - ourselves.
Dinner and night in the wooden house, in rooms for 2-3 persons (WC facilities outside, banya instead of a shower). Those who wish can stay overnight above the Russian stove, as used to sleep children and women in the Russian villages.
Day 2
After a hearty breakfast, we are leaving for the discovery of another part of Karelia. We return to Petrozavodsk, where an amphibious air-cushioned vehicle (ACV of Hivus-type, gliding over ice and water) is already waiting for us to take us to the Big Klimenetski island out in the Onego lake. By this curious ice hovercraft, we will cross Onego, the 2nd largest in surface fresh-water lake in Europe to get to the unique Kizhi island.
Today we will have a guided walking tour of Kizhi - a wonderful open air museum, a UNESCO Heritage site, with an amazing creation of the XVII-XIX centuries’ masters of the Russian North – an ensemble of traditional wooden structures – majestic multi-domed wooden church, chapel, mills, barns, and peasant houses (izbas) brought here once upon a time from all over Karelia. The white silence of the snow-dusted island and the quiet beauty of the ancient wooden silhouettes create a special atmosphere of peace, harmony and the Time standing still.
But, finally we will have to leave this enchanted place to find the warmth and coziness of a guesthouse before the dark embraces Onego. After a short ride by ACV, we are in the guesthouse in the village on Bolshoy Klimenetski island. We check in comfortably in our rooms and enjoy a cup of hot tea. Time for walking on your own, to feel the beauty of the moment and take in the energy of the Onego lake.
Banya, so vital across whole Karelia, is waiting for us in the evening.
Dinner and night in the guesthouse (double-basis).
Day 3
After breakfast, we go out on the ice of the lake. The snow is sparkling in the sunshine, the air is fresh and the mood at its highest.
We are going ice-angling. We drill ice holes, get the fishing rods in the water… wait… and here it is – the first fish catch on the snow! Optional (for extra-charge on the spot): ski rental available in the guesthouse
In early afternoon, we are leaving by ACV for further exploration of the area – now it is time to discover other gems of the so-called Kizhi Necklace, old wooden churches and chapels located on the small islands around Kizhi, which, like a precious necklace, surround and frame the main gem of Karelia. We will make stops in these picturesque villages to see closer the nicest samples of the living wooden architecture in Karelia. We will then head to the scenic rocky Chardon islands, where we will make a stop, and further to Petrozavodsk. Lunch as a light snack on the way.
We return to Petrozavodsk city before it gets completely dark. The little free time before dinner can be taken by visiting a couple of shops where you could get a souvenir from Karelia – a local herb or berry liquor or wood craft objects.
This day will be completed with a dinner of the national cuisine in the best restaurant of Petrozavodsk – Karelskaya Gornitsa. Transfer to the railway station and departure by a comfortable night train to Moscow or St Petersburg (at 19.00 to Moscow or at 23.00 to St Petersburg).
The Tour Operator has the right to introduce changes in the itinerary due to the weather conditions.
