The Land of White Nights

 

ST.PETERSBURG / KIZHI / SOLOVKI ARCHIPELAGO

 

The program of the tour:

 

Day 1

Arrival in St.Petersburg. Transfer to the hotel Dinner at the hotel.

Day 2

Breakfast. Sightseeing tour of the city, including the Peter & Paul Fortress. Lunch at a city restaurant. Tour of the Hermitage Museum.

Day 3

Breakfast. Trip to Pushkin for the tour of the Catherine’s Palace. Lunch. Proceed to Pavlovsk for the tour of the Emperor Paul’ Palace. Return to St.Petersburg. Dinner at a city restaurant. Transfer to the train station. Overnight train to Petrozavodsk.

Day 4

Arrival to Petrozavodsk. Transfer to the hotel. Check-in. Breakfast. Transfer to the river-boat station. Trip to the Kizhi Island by hydrofoil across the Ladoga Lake (lasts for 1,5 hours). Tour of the island, known as museum-preserve of the wooden architecture. Among the island’s highlights is world famous The Church of Transfiguration of the Savior crowned with 22 cupolas and built without a single nail. Return to Petrozavodsk by hydrofoil. Lunch aboard the ship (lunch boxes packed at the hotel). Sightseeing tour of the city (upon arrival), including the Museum of Dolls (Dolls’ House). Lunch. Dinner.

Day 5

Breakfast. Check-out. Departure by bus to Kem’ (440 km away from Petrozavodsk). Lunch (on the way). Arrival to Kem’. Transfer to the river-boat station for a 3-hour trip to the Solovetsky Archipelago (consists of6 big and a number of small islands) with its famous monastery which in the Tzar’s and Soviet time also served as a place of the political exile. Transfer to the Solovki hotel **. Check-in. Dinner at the hotel.

Day 6

Breakfast. The trip by rowing boats (6-8 persons in each)along the Smaller Circle of the canals showing the hydrotechical structure of the monastery: the canals, locks, piers and dykes. Picnic on the shore. Visiting the Sekirnaya Hill, the place where the exiles were executed (the name of the hill comes from “Sekira”, which is Russian for “pole axe”). The tour of the unique Botanical Garden (located less than 100 miles South from the Polar Circle!). Dinner at the hotel.

Day 7

Breakfast. Walking tour of the Solovetsky Monastery, one of Russia’s oldest and most famous, including the Ascension Cathedral, the country house of the Archimandrite and the necropolis. After the schism of the Russian Orthodox Church (17th century) the monastery became the stronghold for Old Believers (the religious schism persecuted by the Tsars and the Church). After the revolution of 1917 the monastery was closed and turned by Bolsheviks into political prison, the remains of which (very few) can be seen during the tour. Lunch at the hotel. Departure to Kem’ by boat. Dinner. (upon arrival) at the river-boat station. Transfer to the train station. Overnight train to St.Petersburg.

Day 8

Arrival in St.Petersburg. Breakfast in a city restaurant. Transfer to the airport. Departure.

 

**) Hotel “Solovki” is situated within a short walk from the Monastery. All rooms are equipped with showers. The hotel has a restaurant (Russian and European cuisine) for 90-100 guests, and a bar.