Day 5: Karelia

Packed our cases in the trailer and we were off.

The scenery was forests and lakes with Lupins growing wild by the side of the road. They were mainly purple but other colours as well.

Our destination for the day was Petrozavodsk but we were making a couple of stops on the way. The first one was at Ruskeala marble quarry. The marble was used for buildings in St Petersburg such as St Isaac's cathedral and St Michael's Castle. the quarry is now flooded.

We had a guided tour and then had time to explore on our own.

In another part of the quarry we were shown the most recently hewn rocks.














I was surprised how warm the marble felt.

Back down at water level Sara invited me to join herself, John and Peggy in a rowing boat to look at the quarry from the water. As John was happy to do the rowing I was delighted to join them.

It was a delightful way to see the rocks.

Above our heads was a zip line. I didn't bother to have a go as it was a very short ride. I preferred the peace of being in a boat with the sound of the water lapping against its sides.

Sara couldn't resist having a go with the oars but soon gave up as we neared other boats.

Time to return to the bus and be on our way to our next destination, a typical Karelian village.




The republic of Karelia is a region in northwest Russia bordering Finland. In 1917 Finland declared independence and in the peace settlement Finland ended up ceding a large part of Karelia to the Soviet Union.

This is a map of the tour.

The village of Kinerma is a living example of a typical settlement in Karelia. Once a thriving village where the residents worked on a large cooperative farm during the Soviet era. After the break up of the Russian federation in the early 90s, the cooperatives closed and with the loss of work people moved away from the village. Only two of the wooden houses are occupied throughout the year with others being used in the Summer only. We visited the one family still there trying to keep their heritage alive by actively farming, preserving and maintaining the traditional rural way of life.

They welcome visitors and have extended their house to incorporate a dining room.

We were served a  traditional meal  of Borsch, soup made from beetroot and other vegetables. Then a salad made from salad vegetables and barley. Both were delicious.

The meal ended with a cup of tea and cake.

After  lunch we were given a tour of the village by the son of the family. Our guide translated for us.



The pride of the village is the 250 yr old chapel, Our Lady of Smolensk.

They have recently built a Museum with help from the Finns which will house a number of artefacts from the village.

Now it was time for a cookery lesson. We were going to learn how to make traditional Karelian pies.

The flour was made from barley as wheat doesn't grow in this climate.

We were given very small pieces of the pastry to roll out as thinly as possible.

We then had to shape the pastry ready for a filling of.....?


Porridge!!!

They were then baked in the oven. We finished off our afternoon there with a cup of tea and a Karelian pie which strangely enough was quite tasty but one was enough!

We then had a two hour drive to Petrozavodsk. The hotel was modern and overlooked a huge expanse of water, Lake Onega.