Brrr! It is 23 degrees outside. You can put a bottle of coke or water on our window sill and it gets cold. Once again, we woke up to snow covered mountains on one side of the ship, and snow covered volcanoes on the other.
In a valley between the volcanoes is the town of Petropavlovsk.
The authorities here were very strict, but allowed people without a Russian visa to get off if they stayed only in the town. But it took many hours on the front end and back end to clear immigration procedures. In fact, it took so long the crew were not able to get off after 2:30 p.m. – and we were scheduled to leave at 5:30.
Russia is the largest country and extends from Europe to the Pacific Ocean. It includes 11 time zones.
The part of Russia we were in is Siberia – the northeast part of the country. There are 5 million square miles in Siberia – mostly tundra. It can get to minus 90 degrees in the winter. It has a sparse population due to the extreme weather climate. It does have many natural mineral resources, but it is very costly to get to them.
In Siberia, the part we visited was the Kamchatka peninsula. Up until 1990, it was cut off to the public because it was a government navy base. Now it is open to the public and is trying to attract tourists. It is known for its natural beauty, so visitors would come to enjoy this naural beauty, not because of the town. Lots of visitors also come to hunt animals for their fur, especially the brown bear, which is larger than the kind in America. There are about 10,000 brown bears here. There are many reindeer here as well because the tundra supports them year round. The predominant tree is the stone birch, found only in Kamchatka.
This peninsula is volcanic with many geyers and natural springs. It is only 135,000 square miles. It is known as the “land of fire and ice” because of its unique nature – cold but with active volcanoes. It is the volcanic eruptions that have helped create much of its beauty here.
We tendered into the small town Petropavlovsk with a population of only 250,000. Almost every family living here has at least one fisherman in the family since that is their main industry. Earthquakes are common here and because of that there are no buildings over 16 stories high.
The town is not developed and is very plain and not very attractive. The streets are bad and most of the buildings are gray concrete block construction. However, on this peninsula, it is the center of industry, scientific study and culture. It also has the highest concentration of active volcanoes in all of Eurasia.
Also, the roads in Petropavlovsk only lead to nature. It is said this is the peninsula where all roads lead to nowhere. The only way into this part of Russia is by air or by sea. And air tickets are so expensive that most of the people here can’t afford to leave. [Could be that is why the Russian authorities weren’t so concerned about people being able to get off the ship – they couldn’t get anywhere!]
This is also a city of monuments. The largest is one of Lenin. He used to be loved by the people here, but when they learned how he killed so many innocent people, many tore down their statues to him. This one still exists, but no one honors it with flowers anymore. There are also monuments to Vitus Bering (who founded the town) and Charles Clark (who took over after Captain Cook was killed on the Hawaiian islands.)
Doug and I took different shore excursion trips here. Doug stayed in the town and went to a local restaurant, the Pintusov, for what was supposed to be a traditional Russian style lunch along with local entertainment (Native group dance.) On the way, they were shown some of the highlights of the town – the central square with the largest monument to Lenin in the Russian Far East. The square faces Avacha Bay, which is where we were anchored, and is one of the safest (calm) and beautiful bays in the world (according to the locals.)
Lunch was less than good – and many people on the tour said this, not just Doug. Smoked salmon was an appetizer (that was good if you liked salmon) and lunch was a plate with a piece of overcooked salmon and a mound of rice – no veggies, salad or dessert. Fortunately, the teenage Native dancers were good. They were Koryak dancers and known for their beauty and gracefulness. In all of the native dances on all of the excursions, the drums are made of reindeer skin pulled tight across what looks like a large tambourine. The mallet they beat with is partly made of animal fur.
With the large drums held above their heads, they dance and sing in one of their traditional outfits.
The excursion was only a two hour outing, so back at the pier, Doug had time to buy a few souvenirs from the locals.
My excursion was much better and lasted half a day. Our group took a bus drive an hour plus out of town to learn about the indigenous Itelmen people and their traditions. On the drive, we saw the countryside with snow on the ground and lots and lots of their native birch trees. It was so pretty.
At first we thought it was a cloud passing over, but it wasn’t!
We also saw this volcano with a little white smoke coming out. It’s a bit hard to see in this picture because it either looks like a cloud or part of the snow.
The roads were snowy and had some ice on them. As we made the turn to the little “village,” our bus got stuck in the snow. After many tries to get out, we ended up having to walk about 1/4 mile to our destination – all on snow and ice! No one fell – which was amazing!
We were warmly greeted by these natives and sat on skins that had been put on benches in front of a tent to watch them perform some of their native dances. They wore reindeer skin costumes with lots of beadwork designs. This “village” is for tourists to see how the people once lived. The Itelmen people now live in larger Russian towns and cities.
There were two young girls, one young man, and the mother of one of the girls. They also used the drums described above. We then went inside their teepee around a fire surrounded by stones. The smoke went through the hole in the top. They made bread for us – we watched as they took the flour mixture and formed it with their hands into circles that were then put in a cast iron skillet and set on rocks on the fire to cook.
They were done when they puffed up and were crispy brown on the outside. Smelled so good!
They also made tea in big black stone tea pots that was very good. More songs and dance as they cooked – it was very festive and fun. The bread was so good, I had two pieces!
After that we went back outside. It was a perfect sunny day – cold, but not too cold without the wind. We then had the fish soup they had made for us. It was a clear fish stock broth with cooked potatoes and some celery and then big chunks of salmon served in it. It was OK – kinda hard to eat with all the salmon bones.
Walked back to the bus after they bid us farewell with another song and made our way back to the pier. We drove around the city a little on the way back and also saw the Lenin statue. At the pier, I too bought a few souvenirs and then took the tender back to the ship.
Back on board, there was a Russian Bazaar. It was the very first time we had filled out a raffle slip – and wouldn’t you know – we were the ship winners of $150 credit for any of the Russian items for sale. I think this was the first raffle we have ever won. It was easy to spend!
That night was a Russian dinner which was really quite good. Doug and I had Chicken Kiev. Then we went to the Moscow Magic show which featured a magician and his assistant (his wife) who were really quite good – the best magician on this cruise. Very enjoyable. A great way to end a day in Russia.
This was our last port, and now we are heading out into the Pacific along the Aleutian Islands, a chain of more than 300 small volcanic islands.
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