4WD Car Tour from St.Petersburg to Murmansk in Northwest Russia
15 days
4WD
Car tour from Saint
Petersburg
to Murmansk
in northwest Russia.
A unique opportunity to
visit the Northwest part of Russia consists of Saint-Petersburg, Karelia and the region behind the Polar Circle
on the Kola Peninsula by own 4WD cars. The tour is a mix of different roads,
from asphalt to old forests roads and even on sandy beaches and dune areas. You
will visit the most famous places of the Northern capital of Russia, meet unique
objects of note of Karelia and reach places on the Kola Peninsula which are
inaccessible for other types of vehicles, like old Pomor villages on the White
Sea Tersky Coast, Stalin’s labour camps of the years 1930th and 1940th in the
tundra and you will have beautiful views from a point on 1100 meters high in the
Lovozero mountains. Your experienced guide will drive 4WD drive army bus with
winch. The bus is well equipped and with place for 6 passengers. The bus serves
as service car for the 4WD car participants of the tour and helps them in
difficult situations. It is equipped with a generator, refrigerators and a
kitchen. The accommodation will be in hotels and tents. Experience delicious
traditional meals cooked on campfire, the midnight sun and the culture
on our beautiful Kola Peninsula.
Day to day
program:
Day 1: You will be met by a guide after you cross the
Estonian-Russian border named Narva or Ivangorod. The guide will wait for you on
a bridge dividing these two states. In three hours you will come to
St.Petersburg and check-in at a hotel.
In evening you can
have a walk along the embankment of the Neva river. The Neva river is the cradle, pulse and main artery of
the navy capital of Russia. The buildings of the historical
center of the city rise on its granite shores: the Peter and Paul Fortress,
Emperor’s Winter Palace, grand-ducal residences.
Spires and domes are flashing above the
Neva river’s water. After the walk you go back to
the hotel.
Dinner and
overnight in the hotel.
Day 2: After breakfast we will have a city tour by a
minibus which takes 3 hours and includes a drive along Nevsky Prospect. You will
meet the unique look of the Northern Capital with its temples, palaces,
monuments, old gardens, squares, avenues. Our minibus will stop close to
Vasilevsky Island, a very interesting place built by
Russian emperor Great Peter as image of Amsterdam. Great Peter ordered to make
streets ideal strait and he intended to built canals along the streets to
convert the island into dear for his heart Amsterdam. We will walk to Vasilevsky Island and visit the Peter and Paul Fortress –
the core of St.
Petersburg. From this place the triumphal procession
of the young Russian capital started to the new history. The fortress is an
architecture memorial under open sky and it defines the rhythm of time of the
City on Neva River by strike of a clock in the tower
of the oldest Cathedral Temple. We will visit the
Temple which keeps burial-vault of Russian
tsars. After that we will continue our bus excursion watching the building of
University, the Dvortsovaya (Palace)
Embankment and come
to the Palace
Square. We will stop close to the multi-domed church
of the Resurrection of Christ (also known as the Church on the Spilled Blood),
then we cross the Neva river to see the Aurora cruiser – the famous battle ship
which came to Russian history also as a ship of revolution of 1917. After that
we drive along the Neva river to Smolny Cathedral and the Smolny
Institute and then we will go back to the Admiralty region to look at St.
Isaac's Cathedral and stop by the Bronze Horseman – symbol of St.Petersburg.
We will have
Lunch in a restaurant located in an old
place - on the corner of Palace square and Moika embankment.
After lunch we have
an excursion to Hermitage - one of the world's greatest art
museum. Hermitage is located in the grandiose building of Emperor’s
Winter Palace. Beginning of the famous historical
art collection of Hermitage was done by Russian Emperor Ekatherine-II with
brought her diplomatic presents. The State Hermitage 0ccupies six magnificent
buildings situated along the embankment of the
Neva River. The leading role in this unique
architectural ensemble is played by the residence of Russian tsars that was
built to the design of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli in 1754-62. The Hermitage
collection of works of art (over 3.000.000 items) present the development of the
world culture and art from the stone age to the 20th century. We will
have a dinner in restaurant “Count Souvorov” located at the corner of Gostiniy and
Apraksin yards in the
tower of Vorontsovskiy palace. Overnight in the
hotel.
Day 3: After breakfast we check-out of the hotel and
continue our way to a capital of Karelia –Petrozavodsk. We have to drive around 600 km.
This distance you drive without a guide but it’s not difficult because you stay
on the main road and follow pointers. This day you have to take care of lunch by
yourself. You can have food in any small café beside the
road.
When you arrive to
Petrozavodsk you will check-in at the hotel.
This evening your guide will find you in the hotel and you will have dinner
together in a restaurant.
Overnight in the
hotel.
Day 4: After breakfast we will have a city tour.
Petrozavodsk was founded to assist Peter I in
his military aims. The city was 300 years old in 2003.
Petrozavodsk is a grid-town. Built according to
Peter the Great’s plan, it fully realized the sovereign’s scheme in
architecture. The design of the historic center is checked with avenues and
shady parks, emphasizing the uniquely northern fascination of the capital of
Karelia. We will see a round square with a memorial to
founder of Petrozavodsk – Great Peter, first in
Russia driving gear, ancient cannons made
in 18th century, Cathedral of Alexander Nevskiy, embankment of the
Onehzskoe Lake with its collection of sculptures
under open sky. After lunch in a restaurant we will leave the city for visiting
a very interesting place – a resort named Marcialnye Wody – Mars’s Water. This
place was the first in Russia resort founded by an order of Great
Peter in 1719. The unusual water of local glandular springs recovered health of
the tsar many times. Nowadays the springs of Mars’s Water are healing thousands
people. We will see the church of Apostle
Peter built by a drawing of Great Peter and know why
local people gave it name “stranger”. After that
we
will visit a
waterfall named Kivach. One old Russian poet in his writing started to tell
about the waterfall this way: “Diamond mountain is spilling…” after fascinating
view of the waterfall we will drive to have a look at the ancient crater of
volcano Girvas, the age of which is determined by geologists as 2,5 – 3 mlrd
years. On our way we will come to old Russian village named Kosalma located
between two picturesque lakes. For overnight we will stay in a hotel. Dinner in
a hotel.
Day 5: After breakfast we continue our way to Kem
direction following old gravel roads through pictorial small villages. We will
have lunch on our way. When we come to a village named Vygostrov we will leave
our cars and have a small hike to one very special place, where the
archeological complex “Belomorskie Petroglify” is located. “Petroglify” means
Fellsbilder or rock carvings. We will walk along a forest path to a
valley of Vyg river, its old channel, dam and
reservoir of a hydroelectricity station. We will listen to a story about
discovering the Fellsbilder by archeologists. We will observe “Devil’s steps”
and the group of Fellsbilders named Erpin Pudas. Then we will walk through stony
ex-river-bed and watch Fellsbilder in Old and New Zalavruga - the biggest and
the most interesting accumulation of petroglyphs. They are related to number of
the most famous ancient arts in the world. We will see the ancient way for
getting fire by friction. Then we will go back to our cars and continue our way
to reach a hotel on a shore of the White Sea in Kem. We check-in at the hotel and have
dinner in a restaurant. Overnight.
Day 6: After breakfast at 07:30
o’clock the
ship departs to Solovetsky Islands.
Solovetsky Islands – the unique archipelago in the
White
Sea
combining picturesque landscapes with the cascade of magnificent architectural
monuments and legendary history. They are justly considered to be a gem of the
White
Sea. When we arrive to Solovetsky we will
visit a territory of Monastery with all complex of its
buildings. We will listen to a
story about history and architecture of the Monastery. We will have a hiking
excursion to “Talkative Stone” – memorial, stone slab with an inscription
located on the place where archimandrite Alexander had truce talks with truce
envoys from English and French squadron besieging the monastery in 1855. We will
have a lunch in a restaurant.
Late afternoon we
get into a ship to go back to the hotel. Dinner and overnight in the
hotel.
Day 7: After breakfast we continue our way to the
adventures on the Kola Peninsula behind the Polar Circle. We have to
drive 325 km following the main road and we will have lunch in a small café
beside the road. When we arrive in Kandalaksha you will check-in at the hotel.
This evening you will have dinner without the guide in a restaurant close to the
hotel. Overnight in the hotel.
Day 8: At 8 o’clock the guide will pick you up for
breakfast. After an introduction about the next part of the tour we will drive
to the old part of Kandalaksha where traditional Coast dwellers' Houses are
located. The beautiful view to the mouth of
Niva River,
old
Kandalaksha and
Kandalaksha bay with a great number of islands opens up from the platform of the
high shore of the White Sea. It is possible to watch seals and sometimes
white whales (beluga's) in the sea. After that we drive to the direction of Umba
village. On our way we will have an excursion to Labyrinth Babylon by a short
walk. The Labyrinth Babylon is a stone structure found on the place where
ancient people had their camp. There are a lot of versions what such kind of
labyrinths were created for. Most scientists believe that the labyrinths served
for cult purposes of ancient people.
After a forest
lunch we will continue our way to Umba; a very old and small village on the
coast of the White Sea. Umba village keeps many very old houses which
are interesting to watch and make pictures. There is a nice
museum of History and Life of Tersky Coast-dwellers
(Pomor) which we are going to visit. Old Umba was founded in a middle of the XV
century. We can walk on the wooden sidewalks along the old streets, watch beauty
of the mighty Umba River. We will watch the famous ensemble
of folk singing and dancing. We will try to work with coloured stones in the
Stone workshop and to create nice traditional articles in the Centre of
traditional Pomor handicrafts which we will visit for excursions. Then we will
have dinner in a restaurant. After dinner we continue our way. This day any
asphalt roads will be ended and we shall drive along old, picturesque, but not
very good roads. In the
end of the day we will come to Tetrina Tonya and stay overnight there in
wooden houses in more persons rooms. A real Pomorskii fish dinner and sauna will
be offered to us.
Day 9:
After breakfast we
will have an excursion in this small
village named Tetrina Tonya. In XIII century, when first settlers came to the
severe northern land, they started to build small settlements on the
White
Sea shore named Tonya.
Pomory (name of the shore dwellers) lived there with families separated by
hundreds and tousands kilometeres from the “big world” and had to produce all
necessary things by themselves. They had own “refrigerators” where they could
keep fish fresh during summer, saunas, storages keeping food inaccessible for
wild animals, own sources of water, chapels, cunning contrivances to lift heavy
boats to a shore, and own traditional way of life. Tetrina Tonya will demonstrate us the real old
style of life of Pomor people how it was centuries ago. This is not only a
memorial of ancient times accumulating a lot of real old items but it is working
place, owner of which lives there and keeps stile of life how it was centuries
ago. We will see how ancient Pomory lived, worked, kept their stores and
provisions. After the excursion we will continue our way along the sea shore.
If the weather allows
us we can swim in the sea not far from Tetrina Tonya because there is a nice
sand beach there. We will have field lunch on the sea
shore.
Then we continue
our way and come to Kashkarantsy village. Kashkarantsy is one of Pomor villages
which keep old houses how they were one hundred years ago. People who lives
there trade in fishing. Then, five kilometers further after Kashkarantsy, we
will take an ex-field road which had been used by people before the main road
was built. The field road is leading along the sea shore and is amazing
beautiful. On the shore there is the Chapel of one “Unknown Monk”. The story of
the Chapel comes from the XIII century when no villages existed at the
White
Sea
coast and fishermen
lived close to the sea in separated houses named “Tonya”. One fisherman had a
dream about a monk who told him to go to a definite place to find there the dead
body of the monk brought by the waves of the sea. The monk wanted to be buried
on the same place. The fisherman fulfilled the monk’s will and together with
another fisherman they installed a Chapel above his grave. Since time everybody
who was fishing in front of the Chapel always was very lucky with catching fish.
We stay overnight in tents on the sea shore in the wild nature.
Day 10: Next morning we will find ourselves still
surrounded by plentiful nature of the White Sea.
Our next destination is a ship standing
500 meters inside of the sea. We can walk or drive to this ship during ebb-tide.
Later on we will drive again on the “bottom of the White Sea” and we have to reach the mouth of
Varzuga River during ebb-tide. This is the most
faraway east point where you can drive by car on the
Kola
Peninsula.
From that place we will drive on sandy roads to the very old village Kuzomen
dated of 17th century and located in sandy dunes on the mouth of the
Varzuga River. Via sandy dunes and forest roads
we continue our way to Varzuga village - the earliest settlement on the
Tersky Coast of the White Sea with the famous and still
functioning Orthodox Church Uspenskaya, constructed in a 1674 and without any
iron nail. We will be brought by boats to the other side of the
Varzuga River and we will have a walk on wooden
pavements among small and cozy houses. We will hike to a very special place
situated in the forest behind Varzuga village. A small path will bring us to a
miraculous place where springs are welling out of the sand. The place is
esteemed by the local people as a saint place. They believe that the water of
the spring can heal. For staying overnight we will drive out of Varzuga village
and make our camp on an Amethyst rock on the
Cape Ship – a long cape coming deeply to the
sea. It consists of Amethyst rock and we can easily find there, as they say,
“Amethyst brushes” – crystals of Amethyst growing on the rock. We stay overnight
in tents on the sea shore in the wild nature.
Day 11: After breakfast we continue our way following
first the shore road with 20 km of asphalt in the end, and then on a difficult
forest road. We will
have to cross several rivers driving through water because all bridges and dikes
don’t exist anymore. Fifty years ago this area was peopled. The people lived in
small villages and were busy with cutting wood and floating it in rivers and
lakes. Rivers there are not full-flowing and to force them to carry wood the
people built many dikes. The dikes accumulated water in lakes in springs, and
when it was necessary workers opened gates of dikes and full water was carrying
a lot of cut wood to places of destination. Because of keeping high water level
in spring there were a lot of fish including salmon in rivers of that area. So,
people also were busy with fishing. Nowadays nobody is busy with floating wood
and keeping water level high. Old dikes have been destroyed and sometimes they
are serious obstacle for vehicles to drive because to make those dikes the
shores were raised artificially and sometimes there is no possibility to come
down to water. We will
have lunch in a beautiful forest place. The point of our destination is one left
village in the middle of the wild area. There we will have dinner and also have
a sauna. We stay
overnight in tents close to the village in the wild nature.
Day 12: After early breakfast we drive the difficult
forest road which, nevertheless, will bring us back to civilization. After
visiting places of Stalin’s camps we will
come to the town of
Kirovsk. Kirovsk is located in a valley of
the Vudjavr Lake and surrounded by the
Khibiny Mountains. The town is a mining city and a
major mountain–skiing centre in the Northwest of Russia. We will check-in at the
hotel. Dinner at a restaurant.
Day 13: After breakfast we will drive to a picturesque
mountain valley in the centre of the Khibiny mountains. We will have a small
hiking excursion to the mountain lake and beautiful waterfall. After field lunch we will continue our way
and drive via the
asphalt road to Monchegorsk, and check-in at a hotel. Monchegorsk is the
third largest city in Murmansk region on Kola
Peninsula
with a population of 63 thousand inhabitants. Close to
Monchegorsk City is one of the largest world’s
manufacturers of non-ferrous metals located; the “Severonickel” industrial
complex. Approaching the city from the South part one pays attention to the
perished part of tundra. It is influenced by smoke from the factory.
Fortunately, Wind-rose is situated in that way that the smoke doesn’t touch the
city. Monchegorsk City is called “a pearl in palms of
Laplandia”. The word “Monche” means “beautiful” in Lappish language. The
Moncha-tundra Mountains adjoin the west side of the
city. Behind
them a magnificent view to the Khibiny tundra’s tops opens up. Three blue lakes
almost divide the city in islands. You can see
Monchegorsk City from the
high point located on a mountain top which is
possible to reach by a car. Then we will visit the famous Monchegorsk’s
museum of Colored
Stones. It consists of outstanding collection of
minerals and items from the whole Russia. The Cathedral located in the city
is the biggest and most beautiful Orthodox Cathedral of Murmansk region. The
construction of cathedral has become such evidence on Kola
Peninsula.
Its name is Temple of God
Ascension. It was consecrated by the AII Russia’s
Patriarch Alexij in 1997 and really became a pearl of our land. Its walls were
painted by famous icon-painters from Moscow with a very special style. If we
are lucky and visit the Cathedral during a holiday services we have a
possibility to listen to a beautiful church choir. In the evening we will have a
Russian shashlik party (picnic) and sauna. Overnight in a
hotel.
Day 14: After breakfast we drive to Revda area and
visit the miner’s settlement located at the foot of Lovozero Mountain-mass. Then
we will make a special tour to one of the summits of the Lovozero mountain-mass
(1106 m), precipices of rocks down to 200 m, watershed of the
Kola
Peninsula.
From that place we will get a perfect view on the
Khibiny Mountains,
Seidozero Lake (a sacred place of the Sámi). When
the weather is sunny there is a very picturesque view of tundra and lakes. It is
possible to play snowballs in mid-summer. Field lunch. After that we will visit
Lappish village named Lovozero. The village of Lovozero is administrative and cultural
centre of the Kola Sámi. In Lovozero village we watch the Historical museum
telling about ancient culture and traditions of Lappish people. Then we will
continue our way to Murmansk and check-in at a hotel. Dinner in
a restaurant.
Day 15: After breakfast we can have some excursions in
Murmansk or it can be day of
departing.
Tour
details:
- Accommodation:
3 nights in
double rooms incl. douche and toilet in business class hotels
6 nights in
double rooms incl. douche and toilet in standard class hotel
1 night in a
luxurious bungalow incl. sauna
1 night in a simple wooden house incl.
sauna
3 nights in tents in wild
nature.
- Level: Experiences in 4WD-car driving is a
pre.
- Group size: 8-20
persons.
- Duration: 15
days.
- Dates: From 15-06-2005 to 15-09-2005
Prices are per
person depending on group size.
16- 20 pax in group - 1357
Eur
12- 15 pax in group - 1511
Eur
08- 11 pax in group
- 1747 Eur
SIngle suppl. 36
Eur
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