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Karelia. Petrozavodsk 4 days from 285 €
Karelia, the land of thousands of lakes and forests, is situated in the north-western part of Russia.  Petrozavodsk, with its population of 280 000 people, the capital of the republic, was founded in 1703 according to the order of Peter the Great.
The city stretches along the shore of the Onega lake, the second largest lake in Europe, area 10 000 km2. Its most famous island is Kizhi, an open-air museum, the gem of Russian wooden architecture. Churches, chapels, peasant's houses and mills are brought there from many places of Karelia.
The biggest lake of Europe — Ladoga is also situated in Karelia
Karelia is justly called a "national park" in Russia. It was this land that preserved the runes of the Karelian and Finnish epic "Kalevala", as well as numerous ancient Russian epics (“bylinas”). It was this land that preserved the great monuments of wooden architecture, attracting millions of tourists from all over the world.
Present day Karelia is rich in forest, stone, ecologically clean water, flora and fauna, as well as in people living in harmony with the beauty of surrounding nature.
Petrozavodsk 4 days
 1st day
- Departure from Helsinki Rail Way Station
Helsinki-Kouvola-Lappeenranta-Parikkala-Kitee-Tohmajärvi-Niirala
- Crossing the Finnish-Russian boarder
- Arrival to Petrozavodsk and check-in to the hotel
2nd day
- Breakfast in the hotel
- Bus excursion "From the history of Petrozavodsk" acquaints with the historic centre of the city, its churches and the unique open-air museum on the embankment of lake Onego.
- Guided trip to Kizhi-island by "kometa"-shuttle and a tour in the monastery. The wooden church of Kizhi-island is one of UNESCO´s protected resorts.
- Back to Petrozavodsk. Free time
 3d day
- Breakfast
- Then guided bus tour to the "Martial spa". It's the oldest health resort in Karelia and Russia founded by the first Emperor of Russia Peter the Great. There the group can try the curative water from the springs and vi sit the Church of the Apostle Peter (1721).
- Trip to one of the biggest plain waterfalls in Europe - Kivatch with visiting of the arboretum of Karelian Birch,
- On the way back a guided city tour of "Kondopoga". Getting familiar with the sights and architecturally unique wooden "Uspenski"-church and its "Kareljony" church bells, that are playing a different melody in every thirty minutes.
- Back to Petrozavodsk. Durance of entire excursion 7 hours
4th day
- Breakfast
- Check-out
- Departure to Finland.
- Stop in Sortavala
- Arrival to Tampere on Thursday night
Attention! This itinerary is subject to changes. A final itinerary will be handed out in the beginning of the trip.
Price from 285 € + visa
Price includes: Medical Travel insurance, visa support, registration fees in Russia, round trip by bus, accomodation in double rooms with breakfast (3 nights), a guided city tour by bus, services of Finnish-English-Russian speaking group leader, excursions mentioned in the program, guide services during guided programs
Additional program in Karelia: sayling, rafting, The Island of Kizhi, Valaam monastery.
Minimum size of the group 25 persons
 Petrozavodsk - is capital of republic of Kareliya. It is an administrative, industrial and cultural center of republic. Petrozavodsk was based in 1703 by Peter the Great. The title of Petrozavodsk has appeared not at once but some years later. It is connected to firms arranged on terrain of city, they are wood-working and metal-working plants. The city is located on a coast of the Onega lake and in an ostium of the river Lososinka. The Onega lake is second-largest in Europe. Petrozavodsk is often named the port of 5 seas.
One of the most beautiful places is a quay. Many monuments here are arranged. Quay is a beloved place of rest and walking for the youth . In Petrozavodsk there are two universities, 5 theatres and there are a lot of museums. In our city you can find buildings constructed in 18 century, at the same time there are also modern districts, which were constructed 10 - 5 years ago.
City of Petrozavodsk is very beautiful, especially in summer. There are lots of parks and fountains. For this reason our city is very picturesque.
The streets of our city are more often small, are called in honour of the famous people. For example, street of a name Pushkin, Nekrasov, Gagarin.
If you have ever been in Petrozavodsk, we hope,you want to be back one day.
The Island of Kizhi, which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The island was once an old pagan  ritual site and is now an Open Air Museum of Architecture, with different examples of ancient wooden buildings brought here from all over Russia. There is the oldest wooden church dating back to the 14th century, The Church of Lazarus, which pagans repeatedly tore down and the builder kept rebuilding, and the extraordinary twenty-two domed Church of the Transfiguration, made entirely of wood and held together without nails!
A picturesque lake-shore landscape with signs of centuries-long land use is situated on about 10,000 ha of the territory.
Martial /Chalybeate/Waters
 In winter of 1714 a worker from Konchozero Ivan Reboev, who suffered from a heart disease, discovered in the Rav-swamps a spring that didn’t freeze even in hard frosts.As the legend runs, for three days he drank the spring water and recuperated. This is how the history of the first Russian spa began. Judging by medicos opinion, the mineral spring water had a great effect on curing anaemia, rheumatism, scurvy and other illnesses.
Peter I ordered to build several wooden buildings on the spot.
The tsar himself paid four visits to the “iron waters”, which in honour of the God of War and Iron were called “Martial /chalybeate/ Waters”.
With the death of Peter I the spa in the far-off province, which didn’t enjoy popularity among the nobility, was soon almost completely forgotten.
It was returned to life only in the years of Soviet power. The Mineral spring was scrupulously studied and in 1964 the spa of far-and-wide renown “Martial Waters” was opened
Kivatch waterfalls – the biggest waterfalls in Europe situated in the plain country. It is situated to the North of Petrozavodsk (the capital of Karelia ) on the river Suna. It is a very popular tourist attraction. On the territory of the Kivatch reserve there is a dendropark where You may see how the famous Karelian birches grow.
Kondopoga
The city was founded in 1938. Now the population is 37 000 people. Now there is the biggest Paper and Pulp Factory in the republic. On the means of the factory during the last years a big Cultural Center and the Ice Palace were built in the city. There is a lot of beautiful places near Kondopoga, such as the waterfall Kivach, the first Russian resort Marchial Waters. One of the most beautiful monuments of the Russian wooden architecture is situated in Kondopoga: the Dormition Church. It was built in 1774 and was repared in 1927 and 1950th. The central column of this church is crowned by a hipped roof (42m in total height), the column is based on a central rectangular framework, with adjacent frameworks of a refectory and an altar. The altar framework is covered by a traditional wooden roof, called barrel roof.
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