Republic of Kareliya (Республика Карелия)
The republic of Kareliya is located in the northern part of Russia, whose capital is the city of Petrozavodsk. Originally, from 1920 to 1939 it belonged to Finland until the Russian invasion; nowadays, most of the habitants are Russians but about a 10% of the population can speak Finnish.
The capital was named this way due to its foundation by Peter I in 1703 and hosted a railway fabric; the city’s main attractions are the Cathedral of Aleksandr Nevsky, the pier, the Etnography museum and the Kizhi museum (Кижи музей), this last one is an open air museum characterized and protected by the UNESCO, for its cultural heritage.
Besides the museums and monuments, this place has other attractions like Swamps, plantations, mountains, woods, rivers and lakes that make from Karelia a great landscape variety that enriches tourist’s knowledge and to have a different point of view about the country. I also want to remark that this is a favorable environment for gathering mushrooms and berries like the Russians.
If you are the type of person who enjoys the open air activities and being in contact with nature, then I can recommend you to visit these places:
- Ruskeala park and the Marble canyon (Рускeала парк и Мраморный каньон), both places are in the north part of Russia, here you will have the opportunity to go underground an old Finnish marble mine, ride on kayak, walking through the caves and to take a ride on the cable car, waterfalls. You can relax, sit on the mountain and observe the immensity of this nature’s wonder.
- Kivach park (Кивач парк), also located near Petrozavodsk, this national forest reserve has to offer are over 600 types of plants and a extend variety of fauna that belong to a controlled ecosystem in the preserve close to the Suna river where you can admire the beautiful waterfall of Kivach among others.
