If you ever happen to find yourself in Murmansk in a cold day (and if you ever happen to find yourself in Murmansk, chances are it will be a cold day, with a mean daily temperature of 0,5 C - 33 F - year around and -10 C, 13.8 F, in January) a warm place... Continue Reading →
On the other side of the Kola Fjord from Murmansk lays the small village of Abram-Mys (technically still part of the city of Murmansk). Here you can find not one, but two interesting places. The first is not clearly marked in any way, but if you decide to walk up a little set of stairs... Continue Reading →
We recently spent about a week in and around the Russian city of Murmansk, the largest city on Earth North of the Artic Circle, discovering new places preparing a new photo itinerary. I will post more pictures and infos on this trip in the coming days and weeks, but, first thing first, let's start with what... Continue Reading →
The Nizhny Novgorod Cableway is a 3660 metres long gondola lift cable car link across the Volga River in Russia connecting the city of Nizhny Novgorod with the town of Bor, inaugurated in February 2012. It is part of the city's public transport system, so you can ride it for a very low price (around 1.5 Euros or USD for a round-trip). Compare that, for... Continue Reading →
So many things happened in Russia on October 4th in the course of the centuries! I chose to dedicate yesterday's post to the anniversary of Sputnik, Earth's first artificial satellite, but yesterday also marked the 101st birthday of the city of Murmansk. Murmansk was the very last city founded in the Russian Empire. In 1915, World War I needs... Continue Reading →
Coming from the warmer climate of Italy, my native country, I am still very much fascinated by the frozen rivers of Russia. Especially the large and very large ones, like the Volga, which turn completely white in winter once they are covered in snow.
If you've been reading this blog, you also know I am deeply intrigued by the possibility of visiting Russian cities and regions that were once completely off-limits to foreigners (and to most Russians, as well) under Soviet Union law. The picture above combines both of this element and maybe that is why it means a lot to me.
Originally the staircase, which is has over 1.500 steps, was simply "Volga Staircase" but it was soon renamed Chkalov Staircase, after the world-famous test pilot and hero of the Soviet Union Valery Chkalov, the first man to fly from Moscow, to Vancouver, Washington, in the United States via the North Pole on an Tupolev ANT-25 plane, a non-stop distance of 8,811 kilometres (5,475 mi).
Today I want to present you the Artika train (Artic train), that takes you from Moscow to Murmansk, above the Artic Circle, and/or back. Murmansk is by far the largest city north of the Arctic Circle (with a population of around 300.000 people) and is a major port on the Arctic Ocean. It is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, an inlet of the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, close to Russia's borders with Norway.
Murmansk, Russia (above the Arctic Circle). There is a lot to see, but for a technology and history geek like me, one attraction is clearly the most special of all. I am talking about the 1957 icebreaker Lenin. Now a museum, it was both the world's first nuclear-powered surface ship and the first nuclear-powered civilian vessel, when it entered operation in 1959. Visiting the Lenin is a truly unique occasion to see what a state-of-the-art operational Soviet nuclear icebreaker looked like in 1989.
Russia Through The Lens 