ADVENTURE / KARELIA Zaonejie in Wintertime

6.50 – arrival in Petrozavodsk, the capital of Karelia, from St. Petersburg or at 9 am from Moscow (by overnight train), meeting at the railway station by a local French-speaking guide. Breakfast in a local café.

Transfer to the starting point of our cross-country itinerary – Kosmozero located on the shore of the picturesque Kosmozero lake, with a stop on the way at Kivach waterfall (300 km, 5-6 hrs).

Safety briefing, instructions and ski selection. Introductory radial skiing trip either through the forest to the spring Three Ivana, once upon a time considered sacred by Russian pilgrims, or to Uzkie village to see the small chapel of Kozma and Damian (XVIII) that is now being restored (depending on the weather conditions). Lunch as a snack on the way.

Dinner, banya and overnight in a comfortable atmospheric guesthouse in Kosmozero (in triples).

Day skiing distance: 10-15 km. Auto: 300 km

Breakfast. Set off for skiing to Velikaya Guba settlement with a stop at the Kosmozero village to see its wooden Assumption church founded in 1720. Lunch as a snack on the way.

Dinner, banya and overnight in a simple guesthouse in Velikaya Guba (rooms for 4-5 persons).

Day skiing distance: 25 km

Breakfast. Full-day skiing across the fields and numerous lakes Velikaya Guba to Tambitsy. Stop on the way in Yandomozero, an old Karelian village located on the shore of the Yandomozero lake, to see the beautiful church of St Varvara (1650). Near Tambitsy, visit the chapel of St Nicholas Miracle-maker (XVIII) with scarce interior touchingly arranged by the locals. Lunch as a snack on the way.

Dinner, banya and overnight in an atmospheric guesthouse Tambitsy (double-basis)

Day skiing distance: 32 km

Breakfast. Leave Tambitsy and set off by ski across the Onego lake, the 2^nd largest lake in Europe, towards the Volkostrov island. Stop on the way at Vorony Ostrov village to visit St Ioann’s chapel (XIX) and in Volkostrov to see St Peter and Paul chapel (XVII) on the Volkostrov. Lunch as a snack on the way

Dinner, banya and overnight in a simple guesthouse in Volkostrov (in rooms for 2-3-4 persons).

Day skiing distance: 26 km

Breakfast. A day skiing tour to the villages of the Kizhi Necklace - islands with old wooden chapels, monuments of the northern wooden architecture, surrounding the main gem of Karelia - Kizhi island with its multi-domed church. Ski across the lake to Pod’elniki village with its Paraskeva Pyatnitsa and Varlaam Hutynsky church (XVIII), then to Eglovo where every house faces the chapel of Joy of All Those Grieving (XIX), and further to Ust-Yandoma village with St George church with its belfry once upon a time serving a milestone for the local fishermen. Lunch as a snack on the way

Return via Shunevsky island to Volkostrov, dinner, banya and overnight in the same guesthouse in Volkostrov (in rooms for 2-3-4 persons).

Day skiing distance: 25 km

Breakfast. Head for the exploration of the Kizhi island next to Volkostrov, an open air wooden architecture museum, a UNESCO World Heritage site, with an amazing creation of the XVII-XIX centuries’ masters of the Russian North – an ensemble of traditional wooden structures – church, chapel, mills, barns, and peasant houses (izbas). Guided tour of Kizhi. Lunch as a snack on the way

Continue skiing towards Pervye Garnitsy village on the Big Klimenetsky island.

Russian banya, dinner and overnight in a simple guesthouse (in rooms for 3 and 4 persons).

Day skiing distance: 21 km

Breakfast. Leave Garnitsy and ski towards Yuzhny dvor village (XV). Visit the Nikolsky church whose belfry towering over the village and the lake is seen from far away. Lunch as a snack on the way.

Dinner, overnight in very basic conditions in sleeping bags in a local house in Yuzhny Dvor.

Day skiing distance: 36 km

Breakfast. The last day of our skiing tour in Karelia. Ski across the Onego lake to Gorka village. Lunch as a snack on the way.

16.00 - Transfer from Gorka to Petrozavodsk (80 km, 2 hrs), with a stop on the way in Kondopoga town at the Assumption church (1774).

Arrival in Petrozavodsk.

For those who leaves for Moscow - transfer to the railway station for departure at 19.00 for Moscow.

For those who leaves for St Petersburg - brief visit to sauna to wash off the tiredness of the trip, upon request from the tour participants - a short walk in Petrozavodsk, dinner in a café downtown, transfer to the railway station, departure at 23.00 by an overnight train for St Petersburg

Day skiing distance: 17 km. Auto: 80 km