White Sea, White Nights, Tides and Ebbs, Fish and Village - Tersky Coast of Kola Peninsula


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May 31st 2014
Published: June 22nd 2014
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Foreword

To fully understand this story, we have to come back to the second half of January, to the Kola Peninsula, with its immense amounts of snow and a skiing tour in Hibiny. The full story is available in my blog. After I have returned from Hibiny, I surfed the web for almost five whole days in search of guided tours and interesting places in Russia, reading simply anything worth that came before my eyes. During my stay in Hibiny, the guide offered us a range of regional study books, one of which told about Tersky Pomors. It is that book that decided my going to the villages of Kola Peninsula. I have read a couple of passages about the old fishermen villages, and then checked out the options of public transportation. It turned out that the transport was relatively simple. Then I was so lucky as to find the guided tour to Tersky Coast with the Klub Priklucheniy Company (price about 300 USD), and immediately decided to book it.

The trip would include mostly staying in tents in the villages and on the seashore, two nights in the Tonya in timber houses, transportation by public buses and a hired car (only once), and walking of about 15 kilometers or so. Before the trip, I visited Petrozavodsk (see the corresponding entry).

Part 1 Kandalaksha and the Labyrinth

Day 1

My train arrived in Kandalaksha at 5 o’clock in the morning and the group meeting was scheduled at 7-30. At the appointed time came our guide, Olga, and told us about our plans for this morning. She is a very professional woman and knows a lot about the region. All of us left the luggage in the luggage room and we went for an excursion to the Labyrinth along the bay coast via a strenuous trail across the forest, granite rocks, and finally the coast itself. The trail was prepared by volunteer teenagers providing some drawings of animals stating the rules of behaviour in forest (Do not throw litter, do not smoke, do not make noise) and information about plants. Sometimes we heard faraway cries of sea animals and birds. The trail would abruptly end in places in a crevice or a steep and slippery rock so we had to find bypass paths. Some places look quite like Monrepo in Vyborg and Ladoga Lake coast with far-reaching panoramas.

While walking on stones along the coast, we saw and smelt algae and saw numerous tiny white shells on stones, crushing under our feet. Soon we reached he stone labyrinth called “Babylon” dated back to the second millennium B.C., but the guide supposed it was more likely to be constructed in the Middle Ages. It is supposed to be a place of, perhaps, supernatural force. We had a bite and started going back. At first, we went along the coast but then had to ascend back in the forest because the rocks reached out to the sea blocking the way. Larisa, one of the girls, walked on rocks like an able-bodied chamois and even disengaged from the group, so we had to stop, shout and wait for her. The excursion finished, we returned to Kandalaksha in a minivan.

We visited the Bagryanitsa embroidery studio where we learned about the saving and development of traditional Slavonic kinds of handicraft and the Pomor costume. The studio is engaged in tailoring of church attire, reconstruction of Pomor costumes, sewing with pearls and gold, hand and machine embroidery, patchwork embroidery, folk dolls and souvenir etc. The studio owner related to us in great detail the secrets of embroidery and showed (touching allowed!) several fine pieces of their art. The girls tried on a traditional head-wear (it is called either povoynik or kokoshnik, not sure), supposed to make every girl charming. It does, actually.

As it started raining and we saw a shoe outlet, I and two other persons bought leather boots to keep our feet dry in case of wet weather. In fact, I used the boots only twice because there was no rain for the remaining days. After the dinner, we boarded the bus to Umba. The road was rather picturesque, winding along the coast, rising and descending. In Umba, we walked a couple of kilometers to the camp site located at an excellent secluded spot on the river bank, nearby granite rocks, with perfect scenery all around: the village with old dilapidated crooked houses on the opposite bank, a church, forest on the left side, waves and impressive and frightening rapids, and the White Sea on the horizon. It could not be better than that.

Our evening activities comprised putting up tents, wood cutting, cooking supper, and enjoyment. We got acquainted a little bit closer. I had my first experience of tides and ebbs, seeing the water at one mark in the evening, and three or so meters away in the morning! One of us suggested buying some wine or other spirits just for a mouthful, but, given certain government prohibitions (restricted time for selling), spirits were procured only on the last but one day of our trip. The prohibition is good and seems to work well. My sleeping bag was not worth anything, it did not prevent me from chilling, and eventually catching a cold and even a sore throat. I felt cold every night.

Part 2 Umba

Day 2

In the morning we got up, had breakfast and started off to the museum of Kanozero petroglyphs (rock carvings). It was a several kilometers’ walk, we passed a wooden church and soon reached the museum building, where our guide was the boss. It is extremely interesting to study ancient rock carvings, left to us by our ancestors, and try to figure out what they meant and why they made them.

The Kanozero rock carvings were found in 1997 on three isles of Kanozero Lake, south-west of the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The carvings are dated back to the 3-2 millennia B.C. About a thousand drawings have been discovered, some of them spoilt by tourists, overwriting them with their shitty inscriptions. As of now, the carvings are protected. I’m not sure whether there are short excursions to Kanozero isles, but you can easily see the carvings if you are on a multi-day rafting tour (dozens of organized tours are offered).

The rock carvings portray, in simplest form, various themes of the ancient lifestyle, such as hunting, boats, animals, and use various techniques which need not be dwelt on in detail. Men were drawn with huge penises, while pregnant women were depicted with a small circle inside their bellies. The artists, making a new masterpiece, tried to keep any previous carvings unharmed. It is said that ancient families did not live on the isles, but used them as something sacred, perhaps. I will be planning to visit petroglyphs sites in the nearest future and present a more detailed account.

The museum also featured some efforts of the so-called experimental archaeology – modern people try to reproduce and use in real life tools and various things existing in the antiquity. For instance, they try to make a fire without matches, cut a tree using a reconstructed axe (not taken from a museum, but made by their own hands in the way the ancients are supposed to make them!). We also watched videos relating about the rock carvings and experimental archeology.

On this day we also visited a small museum of amethyst. Amethyst is a blue, bluish-pink or red-violet variety of quartz, very beautiful in appearance. In the same building, we attended the kozulya-making master class.

Kozulya is a small figure made of dough, decorated and baked, eaten or used as a toy. The name comes from a Pomor word denoting a ‘curl’, ‘serpent’. At first, it was the national delicacy of Pomors living in Arkhangelsk Region but now they are made in the Murmansk Region and the Urals as well. Traditionally, kozulyas are made during the feasts of Kolyada and Christmas, or to celebrate house-warming, wedding, and the birth of a child. The dough figures guard the house against evil spirits, that’s why they are not eaten at once or thrown away. Each figure bears its own sense, but I already forgot what was what.

It was quite easy for us to make kozulyas. The instructor gave us prepared dough pieces, and showed everything step by step. We made a deer, a ram, and a bird with a fledgling (I do remember that the bird denotes family, and the fledgling – a child). The deer is the most popular one, it symbolizes the Sun. Actually, we might compare the deer’s horns (in kozulya shape) with sunrays. We left our kozulyas to dry in the workshop and took them back after the trip.

Then we returned to the museum to have a bite and were also allowed to charge our portable devices there. I see that I’m changing the order of events, but let it pass.

We had free time until supper, so I went to the camp site alone and reached the bridge across Umba River and saw the rushing rapids – they impressed me so much that I firmly decided to try rafting some day in Karelia or on the Kola Peninsula. It must produce lots of adrenaline. I simply could not understand how one can avoid those stones at a high speed! The view from the bridge, first, and then from the river bank on the left side looked fairly scary and dangerous to me. There were signs of civilized animals in the forest – empty beer bottles.

After supper the guide took us for an excursion to Umba, telling about its history, development, population. Oh, the white nights! We all know the white nights to be the ‘property’ of St. Petersburg, but white nights on the Kola Peninsula are really white! It is as bright as during the day almost. At first, I did not believe this, but then stayed till 1 o’clock and – take my word for it.

The Pomor village of Umba is first mentioned in 1466 and its history is related to the history of Solovki Monastery. The village is very small and actually seems uninhabited and many houses seem absolutely unfit for living. Old boats are not used as firewood but left to die their own death. One of our group (a yachtsman) wanted to hire a motor boat (with a driver) and go out to the sea – two women joined him while the others, including me, walked the trail after the excursion. We went as far as the sea, where the river disembogues itself into it. Having returned to the camp, we had tea and ascended the nearby rock to glimpse at the wonderful panorama of the whole surroundings. Was it magic?

Part 3 Tonya Tetrina

Days 3 and 4

In the morning, our group had to collect all belongings energetically in order to catch the bus (20 kilometers) to the starting point for a seven-kilometer walk to Tonya Tetrina with rucksacks. I don’t know how to describe a tonya better – I think the name refers to a fisherman’s house, but let us simply say that it’s all about fishing, sea, and fishermen. Remember Hemingway’s ‘Old Man and Sea’? The relationship is not straightforward, but it is always good to recommend a good book.

We left the bus and soon reached the sea shore. It was ebb time, so we were able to walk on the sand shore which was very hard and its corrugations looked like minute desert sand-drifts. I was as happy as a lark in the sky. After our short break, I went far away, leaving the group behind (I realized that the faster I walked the less time I spent under the heavy weight), because I could not keep up a slower pace.

A visit to a tonya will definitely show you Russia from a completely different viewpoint. It is a place of relaxation (though we always had to do something; moreover, I undertook the commitment of being one of the ‘duty attendants’ – washing the dishes, arranging meals etc). Everything about fishing here is genuine. You are quite alone with the sea here. It is quite far from any populated locality and can be reached only by car or on foot (from the highway).

In the XII century, Russian trailblazers started exploring the Kola North, fishing and hunting taking them farther and farther to the northern shores of the White Sea, where they put up houses and set up household. A peculiar, Pomor culture was born. Pomors had to rely on their own forces only, given the harsh lifestyle and remoteness from populated localities. They built sturdy izbas of lumber, bath-houses, storages on high piles for protection against savage beasts, ice-cellars, storage barns for nets and boats.

Tonya Tetrina, the historic and ethnographic complex, lovingly and professionally restored and kept by Alexander Komarov, is a unique place one can never forget. It greeted us by two sign-poles bearing wooden boards with names of different cities. The tonya itself already existed in the XV century. There are hundreds of old items, fishing gear, photos, pictures, documents – all inseparably linked with fishing. One of the fishermen’s traditions was to set up a timber cross or build a small chapel if they returned alive after a storm, or to commemorate some other notable occurrence.

The owner showed us our rooms – the women accommodated in heated rooms in the izbas, while I and Denis (the yachtsman) had a small wooden house built as a copy of net-storage barn for accommodation purposes – unheated, but with a small ‘balcony’. The house stands above the ground on four tapered logs so that rodents cannot climb it. In winter, when the owner is away (he lives in Umba), he puts up traps because wild animals come to the tonya in search of food and try to penetrate the buildings.

After the lunch, the owner showed us the grounds and narrated much about the complex and the life of ancient fishermen. We visited several buildings and saw various old fishing and boat-making gear, as well as household items. Then, for about two hours, I sat on a wooden chair on a deer skin (the wind literally blew through me) and watched the tide while waiting for the bathhouse (our women spent there more than an hour). I noticed how slowly the sea would advance, first covering a first row of stones, then another, and more, and when I finally opened my eyes after slumber, the tide was at its fullest. The bathhouse was not very hot, but all of us washed there with pleasure.

On our second day at the tonya, we walked to the “Ship” (another fishing site) where an old man, acting as deputy proprietor, heartily welcomed us and showed all the interesting things (the rooms for tourists, a wind-driven electricity generator devised by himself, which powered a miniature TV set and lamps), the “Ship” – a renovated small old ship used for accommodation purposes. We reached the the boundaries of Turiy Mys (Cape) nature reserve and rested there without stepping on its territory.

In the evening, we enjoyed the second part of the excursion – visiting a chapel (I did not enter it, and accordingly didn’t hear the account about it) and the war museum featuring items found in the region after the Second World War. The owner, Alexander Komarov, is also a war historian (something like that). It is always gloomy in a war museum. In case you did not know, it was the Soviet soldiers that won over Nazis. I cannot quite understand why in some countries certain people honour the SS members… The Nuremberg trials have condemned all official SS members as criminals. But I am deviating.

Part 4 Kuzreka

Day 5

The majority voted that we let our rucksacks be carried in the owner’s car to Kuzreka for a small payment, moreover, two girls voted to be also taken there in the car. I might have looked stupid in the others’ eyes, but I said I’d carry my rucksack with me. The distance was about 10 kilometers or more, and I simply thought it would be good practice before my mountain trekking (not disclosing any plans yet). The rucksack turned out to be heavy.

So, we walked to the holiday village of Kuzreka for several hours, first along the seashore, then on the motor road. The walking did not include any sights, but upon approaching the holiday village, we visited a holy spring and in the village centre was a memorial to its inhabitants perished during the Great Patriotic War. The guide told us that all villages had such memorials, listing the surnames of whole families who went to war and never returned.

Our camp was located on the seashore in a picturesque place. The fresh water source was a well in the village centre, quite a long distance from the camp. It was not a good day for me, because I felt sleepy, heated by the sun, and I must have worsened my cold when I unexpectedly fell asleep in the tent. It was overall sunny and warm, with amazing blues skies and white spindrift clouds.

We saw two seagulls defending their egg from us and and a crow – one of us found the nest while going to the sea to wash dishes. Now, a word concerning the possibilities of bathing. Some of us bathed in the sea during the bathhouse time, but I could not swim there because it was shallow and slippery stones all over, and the water was very cold. As I walked along the coast near our Kuzreka camp, I noticed that the bottom here was better and deeper, so I plunged in the chilly water twice. I did it rather to boast to my friends than for the sake of swimming itself.

Part 5 On the way to Varzuga

Days 6 and 7

From Kuzreka, two hired cars took us to Varzuga, and we made a lot of stops on our way to see several interesting places. I do not remember exactly where, but the asphalt road soon ended and we drove on a very dusty unpaved road, dust penetrating everywhere and the cars’ wheels rising up huge clouds of dust. Nevertheless, an asphalt road is being constructed to Varzuga little by little.

Our firrt stop was in Olenitsa. This village has 27 inhabitants and a fishery kolkhoz, as well as a nearby deposit of diamonds and glendonite. Wiki quote: ‘Druses of glendonite crystals are pseudomorphs of ikaite crystals by solid aggregates of calcite’ (look rather remarkable on photos).

We also visited a holy spring and the grave of unnamed monk with a small chapel (a legend was told to us about that monk, but he did not belong to any of the neighbouring chapels and cathedrals and was thus buried in a separately built chapel on the place where his body was found, whereupon marvels came about, and so the chapel was named the chapel of the Unnamed Monk). The spring is said to come out right after the construction of the chapel.

The third place was Kashkarantsy village, located in the heart of all winds on seashore, as distinct from other villages which are located in the vicinity of forests. There we saw a lighthouse and a wooden church, as well as visited a shop to buy some sweets, drinking water, and snacks.

Finally, we saw a ‘river’ composed of variously sized stones and rocks and visited the Korabl Cape – a geological/mineralogical monument famous for amethysts, first mentioned in the XVI century. The cape has aesthetic, educational, and historic-cultural significance. All of us tried to search for those beautiful stones, some, like me, with less enthusiasm, while some would search through whole heaps. I found this activity boring and unnecessary, because all the good stones must have been removed many years ago. There was also a rock small rock in the sea at a short distance from the shore, populated by seagulls – convenient and safe from enemies.

Part 6

Varzuga

I dozed off and woke up already in Varzuga. We gathered our things and descended into the ravine to set up camp.

Varzuga was first mentioned in 1466. In the early period of its history its life was closely connected with the Solovki Monastery, but after the fall of Novgorod (1478), the Tersky Coast was controlled by Moscow. The contemporary village life depends on the fishery kolkhoz, still bearing the name of ‘Seedlings of Communism’. In the 1990-ies, the kolkhoz started developing fishery tourism on rivers Varzuga, Umba and others, building several sporting and tourist camps and providing a helicopter for transportation. As the guide told us, tourists obtain licenses for fishery, and quite often the licensing principle is “you caught a fish, you let it back to the water”. It is good and kind, isn’t it?

The camp site was located near a creek disemboguing itself into Varzuga River. I went searching for wood, but the forest turned out perfectly healthy, with not a single dry tree, and no decomposing logs anywhere. We had to get along with dry branches and some wood left from previous campers. I felt joyful about the trip – it was approaching its end, and everything went all right, and everyone liked everything; people finally had the opportunity of buying wine for making Gluhwein. I wanted that as well, but had no money. However, I was treated with two glasses of the substance in the evening as we sat round the fire and talked about the trip. The village is situated on two river banks, connected by motor boats only. I think any sort of bridge would spoil the romanticism of the place. To note, people in our group wanted the development of infrastructure to the village. I just think it better not become a too popular tourist center, because it might lose its charm. The dusty unpaved road is, actually, part of that charm.

When we had set up the camp, our guide invited us for an excursion. We ascended the viewing platform, and saw the whole village, the river, and the woods from there. We were in the Russian North and felt it with every breath of air. It was far, it was old, it was Russian, it was stunning.

Varzuga’s sights on the right bank are: Uspenskaya Church (1674) is a wooden tabernacular church built, as it is said, with no nails whatsoever. It is considered a monument of Russian timber architecture of the XVII century. Afanasyevskaya Church was founded by Solovki monks in the end of the XV century, but the modern building dates back to 1854. The bell tower was destroyed in 1939, but reconstructed in 2001 according to the old documents.

I had the courage of bathing (2-3 seconds) in the river’s icy waters, and gradually the day came to an end, everyone turned to their own business, while I sat for a while alone by the fire and maintained it. I forgot to mention that the river bank was heavily polluted with signs of civilization, mainly broken glass and bottles. Damned bastards come BY CAR and never take their shit away with them.

On the next day, we went to the left bank where we saw the Church of Nicholas the Miracle-Worker, a memorial to the village natives, and hiked to the Golden Cross of Varzuga, located on a hill, and about 3 kilometers to the holy spring of Prince Vladimir in the forest. As walked past the village houses, the guide drew our attention to the three stars on the walls. Did they denote a hotel? No, they meant three persons who died in the War. Thankfully, the Russians have a very good memory about who won which war and remember their valiants.

The trip was vehemently approaching its end. We returned to the other bank and lunched at a house where the guide’s friends lived. At 3 o’clock, the bus took us to Umba, where we changed to another bus to Kandalaksha. We were all dusty upon arrival to Umba.



Epilogue

Kandalaksha greeted us by a heavy though short rain. I fell into reveries and listened to my music player and tried to read the book, ‘Oliver Twist’. We were all stunned by the notification that our train was late… It happened for the second time in my life. We had to wait for two hours and forty minutes, and departed at about 4 o’clock in the morning. You will never believe it, but the train, without noticeable speed acceleration (as I felt it), arrived in Saint Petersburg exactly as scheduled. My respect for the Russian Railways.


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