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Borders are gradually opening, flights are getting better, but I no longer want to fly somewhere. And why, if you can arrange an unusual eco-trip for yourself without leaving the country? The company “Igora Tour” has created author’s programs for the Northern Ladoga region, which open up new routes for traveling around the homeland, help you reboot and spend your vacation brightly.
It doesn’t matter how many days of vacation you have left – two or a week – it is important to spend it exactly the way you want. This condition will make any adventure unforgettable! If unity with nature makes you happy, there will definitely be a trip to your liking in the collection of the tour operator. Didn’t find it? Form yourself like a constructor: choose a theme, direction and duration.
How to choose?
Tired of work tasks, dreaming that your laptop will finally sit down, and want to rush off in an unknown direction? You can, like the heroine of Julia Roberts in the famous film, pack up and go … along the route “Eat. Get inspired. Love.” The three-day trip starts in Petrozavodsk, goes along the northern and western shores of Lake Ladoga and ends in St. Petersburg. You can go at any time of the year, the views will fascinate in any season – we guarantee.
What’s waiting?
A balance has been found here between activity and relaxation: no getting up at 5 in the morning, exhausting hiking and hiking conditions. Experienced guides will introduce you to natural monuments and key points of the region, accommodate you in modern and comfortable hotels and arrange a gastronomic tour. The best part is that you do not need to make any extra moves and plan something – everything is thought out and works like clockwork.
Where will you stay?
For three days you will have a rest in the hotels “Point on the map” and “Vinter’s Dacha”. All of them are located on the shores of the largest lake in Europe – Ladoga.
“Point on the Map” is a chain of hotels built using eco-friendly technology to reduce the negative impact on the environment and preserve the landscape – dedicated to all eco-lovers. The hotels fit perfectly into the Karelian landscape thanks to natural materials and a calm color palette. That is, nothing will distract from the bewitching nature, but only emphasize it – for example, a sauna with a panoramic view of the forest in “Point on the map. Sortavala. And if you want to change your static rest, you can go for a walk along eco-paths with recreation areas.
The second hotel, Winter’s Dacha, is located right on the picturesque coast of Ladoga, surrounded by coniferous forests. It got its name in honor of the dacha of the outstanding surgeon and public figure Dr. Gustav Winter, built here at the beginning of the XNUMXth century. By the way, it is still preserved. Today, the historic estate houses a museum with interesting exhibits. You can go on a tour there, and in clear weather you can even see the domes of the Valaam Monastery from the window of Dr. Winter’s former office.
In addition, at Winter’s Dacha you can enjoy an authentic steam room on a raft, raise your adrenaline in the Tarulinna Rope Park or double it on a quad bike tour.
Complete relaxation awaits in the bath complex, where there are three types of saunas: Finnish, hammam and alpine on fresh meadow herbs, the aroma of which gently fills the room and relaxes you along with enveloping warmth.
A natural cocktail of juniper, mint, sweet clover, flowers and eucalyptus is the best recipe for detoxing both mental and physical. You can consolidate this effect in a massage session and in a warm jacuzzi on the terrace.
Our advice: come here in the evening. Contemplating the lake and the stars in the outdoor jacuzzi is what you wanted but didn’t know you needed.
“Eat. Get inspired. Love”
The main “trick” of this route, as the name implies, is food. In the restaurants and cafes that you visit, the emphasis is on local specialties, so in any case you will not only see the Northern Priladozhye, but also taste it.
To the start at “Point on the map. Priozersk, we recommend smorrebrods with Baltic herring and homemade milk mushrooms in sour cream with balsamic caviar.
A win-win option for exploring the region is Karelian fish soup with cream and wild mushroom stew. The names of the dishes alone sound like beautiful music, and their taste pleases with novelty and brightness.
Pay attention to potato pancakes with salmon tartare. It’s not at all what you might think. Delicate, melt-in-your-mouth pancakes (not to be confused with pancakes!) accompanied by a fresh combination of salmon and cucumber are a dish that is relevant at any time of the year.
Be sure to take a closer look at pheasant cutlets with soaked lingonberries and Ladoga fish dumplings with spruce oil – these dishes are unique in other conditions, you need to try them here.
Evening rest at the hotel “Point on the map. Priozersk, we advise you to continue in the Wine Room. It is conveniently located on the banks of the Lake Ladoga and gathered for guests a collection of the best representatives of Russian wine houses Divnomorskoye Estate, Novy Svet, Massandra and Inkerman.
Catching a sunset in a glass, relaxing and contemplating the local sea through glass walls is a delight for aesthetes and enotourism fans. In summer, you can safely add walking along the sandy beach with a glass in hand to this list.
The culmination of the gastronomic line of the trip will be an acquaintance with the Gustav Winter restaurant. It is inscribed in the rocky landscape of the cape on the territory of the Winter Dacha Hotel and continues the secular traditions laid down by the owner, the famous surgeon Gustav Winter. Under him, the culture of country rest, musical evenings, dinner parties and promenades along the Ladoga coast flourished.
The menu organically reflects the nature of Karelia with dishes from forest mushrooms and northern berries, game meat. The national flavor is neatly emphasized by the Lohikeitto fish soup with cream and red caviar, and the property of Lake Ladoga and Onega – local fish – is presented in Karelian trout tartare, Onega burbot skeblyanka, pike perch and trout sugudai with potatoes in herbs and lightly salted cucumbers.
Our advice for connoisseurs of a spectacular presentation: chicken liver pate with sea buckthorn and burbot liver with celery root and onion marmalade. Instagram is booming.
Taste impressions complement aesthetic ones. From the restaurant you will have a panoramic view of Lake Ladoga and the main elements of the north: rocks, forest and water.
The final stop in the gastronomic part of the route is the Favorit restaurant (located at the Igora Drive Autodrom), 50 km from St. Petersburg. The menu has a balance between Nordic, Karelian and Scandinavian cuisine. A tempting choice awaits you between pastrami with truffle sauce and Karelian trout tartare, fish soup with trout and shrimps, and borscht with beef and milk mushrooms. But it’s better to come back to finally try everything.
Here, already familiar tastes are combined with authentic cuisine, and all this is in the author’s interpretation of the St. Petersburg chef. So, the rum woman made friends with sea buckthorn jelly, and the usual honey cake paired with sour cream ice cream. Thus, from the Karelian fairy tale, you smoothly return to already familiar tastes, but try them in the author’s interpretation of the St. Petersburg chef.
Where will you go?
You will not be bored during the trip! On the first day, you will have a complete local immersion and acquaintance with blue-eyed huskies, a walk around the Kinerma ethnovillage and an authentic lunch at Baba Nadia, as well as a photogenic walk along the Uksa esker ridge with a clear lake and a scattering of glacial boulders.
On the second day, you will take an architectural walk around the city of Sortavala, then go on a trip to the Ruskeala mountain park on an old steam-powered train from the beginning of the XNUMXth century and see the Akhvenkoski waterfalls. At the end of the vacation, a boat trip along the Ladoga skerries, an excursion to the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called, standing on a rock, a visit to the Lutheran church and the Igora Drive auto museum with a unique collection of retro cars await.
For an unforgettable experience, do not forget to bring warm clothes, a camera for a collection of photo memories, a good mood and a willingness to completely reset. Eat, be inspired, love. Take a trip.