The City of Kandalaksha, Murmansk oblast, and its vicinity. Getting there, where to stay, what to do. The ultimate source of Kandalaksha and area info in English.
This is one of the easiest yet most interesting routes around the Kola Peninsula. You can do that alone or by hiring Uncle Pasha as your driver, guide, and translator.
Below are travel notes from the first two days on the road. These are useful (facts) and useless (beautiful sights). more >>
Nicodemus Lighthouse(Nikodimsky Mayak). One of the most remote and gloomiest places of the Kola Peninsula. Some people seek to get there nonetheless. Perhaps they are looking for exotic or rare shots or want to understand the “mysterious Russian soul”. Ilya Zheltyakov, traveler and filmmaker making a documentary about Nikodimsky lighthouse
It is in near plans, with “access for organized group tourists only”. Private travellers watch out as you may be kept out.. Lots of complaints floating around to the effect that the borders of the proposed reserve have been drawn in a manner that does not protect anything of value. In short, if planning a trip there don’t assume anything other than that a little local scandal is brewing.
About 500 photos from 30 Murmansk region photographers. Photos from hard-to-access places on the shores of White and Barents sea, along the Ponoy River, on the Rybachy Peninsula etc. Photos of unique natural phenomena (aurora borealis and others), rare plants and animals, mineralogical monuments, culturalnd historic sites (labyrinths, Saami seids, stone carvings of Kanozero and paintings of the Rybachy Peninsula), and also photos of the Kola Peninsula from space.
The text was written by the members of the Kola Center of Nature Preservation. Well-known scientists and regional history experts acted as consultants in the course of developing the text.
Extensive illustrated material does not simply describe natural objects but helps in understanding northern ecosystems. The book shows just how succeptible to human influence northern nature is, calling to reader’s attention to the significance of many phenomena often left unnoticed.
Village of Kuzomen, Tercoast of the WhiteSea, about 300km east from Kandalaksha. This polardesertis a favorite placeof UnclePasha on the Ter edge of the Kola Peninsula.
“Internal escape”, suppose, is as typically Russian as “internal exile”. Let me add the New Way Collective Farm, a tiny anarchist community near Boksitogorsk, ~200 miles east from St. Petersburg, to my collection. Established in the late 80s or very early 90s, at the hight of the “back to earth” sentiment.
Somewhere near Bryansk, close to the Belarus border, lives and has apparently found herself an perfectly sane American woman. She could make a case study – a reare one with a positive outcome – of interest to someone contemplating a move here.