Bolshoi Solovetsky, Russia

A Celebration of the Russian Autumn of Life


Babylon by Solovetsky
Stone spiral that emulates the many, from Neolithic times, that survive on the neighboring island of Bolshoi Zayatski.
Solovki Chapels
Two small chapels precede Solovki's huge temple.
soviet houses
Colorful houses scattered around the Orthodox monastery of Solovki.
In Memory of Solovki's Victims
Orthodox cross erected on top of Sekirnaya hill.
Multipurpose clothesline
An unusual corner of the open home of Solovetsky Island.
Outhouses
Cats are waiting for an opportunity to return to the comfort of home.
Poises Outside II
Long message illustrates the events that took place in Bolshoi Solovetsky, during the Soviet era and Gulag.
A Historic Slab
Long message illustrates the events that took place in Bolshoi Solovetsky, during the Soviet era and Gulag.
Autumn of Taiga
Shades of fire color the boreal forest of Solovetsky Island.
Autumn Shades
Autumn leaves begin to fill Solovetsky's boreal soil.
Dinner with Andrey and Alexeys
Andrey Ignatiev, Alexey Sidnev and Alexey Kravchenko during a dinner hosted by the first two.
White sea in dark tone
Winter sky darkens the vast White Sea
Dima's recital
Dima plays sarangi under the eyes of his friend Yaroslav.
Autumnal Solovki
Pre-winter tones adorn Solovki monastery.
farewell to the sun
Visitors to Solovetsky praise an unexpected appearance of the sun.
House to double
Solovetsky's grand mansion reflected in the smoothness of the White Sea.
UAZ on the Autumn Route
Solovki's reflex
Solovki Orthodox monastery reflected in an arm of the White Sea.
little vodka
A reinforcement at Dima's table, among condensed milk, butter, bread, vegetables and other snacks
Church of the Ascension
The Orthodox temple erected on a height where prisoners from the first Gulag camp were once murdered.
At the edge of the Arctic Ocean, in mid-September, the boreal foliage glows golden. Welcomed by generous cicerones, we praise the new human times of Bolshoi Solovetsky, famous for having hosted the first of the Soviet Gulag prison camps.

In the morning, we had spent most of it on the neighboring island of Bolshoi Zayatski, among “babylons”, mystical spirals believed to have been bequeathed by Neolithic inhabitants.

Returned to Bolshoi Solovetsky, we found them again.

We were walking towards the White Sea when we crossed as a young Dima, coming from somewhere else, pedaling on his bicycle.

Dima and our Russian guide, Alexey Kravchenko, exchange a few words. Dima dismounts from the tricycle. The walk passes to four.

A few minutes later, we come to the west of the sea, smooth as a lake, darkened and pressed by a vast, dense roof of clouds. A new and unexpected “babylon” preceded it, emulated from those of the central nucleus of Zayatski.

Solovetsky Islands, Archipelago, Russia, Babylon

The “Babylons” and Solovetsky's Phenomenal Sunset

The four of us examined her. We take the trouble to traverse it, from the edge to the core, in that case, like a mound. The moment we touch it, like a cosmic miracle, a golden light sprouts from just above the horizon.

Before long, the sun occupies an entire grazing strip that the clouds had forgotten to cover.

Its reflection forms an oblique marine ray, a kind of natural indicator that, for some intriguing reason, points us and the “babylon”.

Solovetsky, Islands, Archipelago, Russia, Autumn, farewell to the Sun

We admire the phenomenon in a communion of amazement and friendship, intensified by the presence of Dima, owner of an aura and an intimacy of treatment, rare among Russians.

The sun disappears. First behind the cloud threshold. Then down to the White Sea and the horizon.

It showed its last hints when a neighbor in a camouflage jacket appears out of nowhere and starts a conversation with Alexey and Dima, after all, an intense and drawn-out monologue that the duo listens patiently and that Alexey translates to us in a whisper: “he's saying that the whole people who come here end up designing their own labyrinth. By the way of speaking, I think he has a delay”.

If so, at the same time, there was a lot of philosophy in the words of the interlocutor who insists on illustrating them.

He kneels on a grassy area on the bank, next to a pile of lost babylon stones. Inspired by the attention we were paying him, the boy got to work.

Solovetsky Islands, Archipelago, Russia, Babylon

Instead of a “babylon”, he draws what looks like a smiling cat, but which could be a mere person's face, as crude as the raw material allowed.

Even in boreal slow motion mode, it gets dark. As it darkens, it cools.

Drinking tea at Dima de Solovetsky's house

Dima invites us to tea. We gladly accept, knowing that when a Russian invites someone to tea, it is hardly just tea.

We followed him to the house where he was staying, he explains to us, by a friend's parents. A messy and run-down home that hadn't seen cleanliness for a long time, none of the disturbing facts, or even harmful, to the coexistence we expected from it.

Dima heats water and, in fact, pours us tea. In the process of doing so, with the help of Alexey and Yaroslav – another friend from the island who, in the meantime, he had invited – they set up a traditional (or not so) Russian table, enriched with bread, cheese and butter, cans of condensed milk, pickles , chives and, of course, vodka.

A bottle and a half, in case one doesn't arrive.

In a mere two or three glasses, the chatter and the party liven up.

Dima will get an old man sarangi who had ordered it on the Net, for 600 dollars. It adorns the night with chords that make it an oriental soundtrack.

Solovetsky, Islands, Archipelago, Russia, Autumn, Host Dima

Probably thanks to the hyperlipidic strategy that Russians resort to when they drink vodka, despite drinking and toasting often counts, we never reach the always dreaded state of coffin to grave.

Pleased to see us happy, Dima insists on confirming it. "We have a nice table here, don't we?" Alexey, confirm it immediately, with the challenge of another toast.

It explains to us the meaning that the Russians give to the expression. When it does, it generates in us effusive approvals and, to the harm of our sins, a new commemorative toast.

Yaroslav, in turn, speaks little or nothing of English. He just commented, in Russian, here and there, enervated by the alcoholic rampage of the binge.

Dima and Yaroslav: Unexpected Russian Autumn Get-togethers

Dima was born in the northern outskirts of Archangelsk. At the time, lived in St. Petersburg by Fyodor Dostoyevsky e alexander pushkin. He returned to his region whenever he could.

Dima was at odds with the prejudices we are used to seeing Russians. I paid for it. Conscientious Objector russian military service, was prohibited from using a passport and, as such, cannot leave the country.

In spite of his meager English, we also unravel a little from Yaroslav.

Named after the Grand Prince of Kiev, between the ages of 40 and 50, Dima's friend had lived in Solovetsky for almost four years. Part of that time, he dedicated it to building a wooden boat that we had already repaired in the village's port.

Yaroslav completed his military service. “The first year, I hated it. The second was quite different. I traveled all over Russia and always with the government to pay. I couldn't complain.”

Solovetsky, Islands, Archipelago, Russia, Autumn, vodka

Yaroslav dedicated one of the inaugural toasts “to Iberia and Siberia”.

We've been wandering over to the second for a long time. Welcomed and entertained by souls like these, we remembered little or nothing from home.

Alexey Kravcheko, for his part. He forgot the one we had rented in the village and the neighbors Andrey Ignatiev and Alexey Sidnev who had invited us to dinner.

Even still stunned from lunch, we couldn't refuse.

From Snack to Dinner. All Watered with Vodka

Half an hour later, we find ourselves once more at the table of the duo of geologists, delighted with the snacks that Andrey had prepared. Delivered to more vodka goodies.

Solovetsky, Islands, Archipelago, Russia, Autumn, at the table

At that time, we were completely fascinated by Solovetsky, shared, incidentally, by Alexey Kravchenko, who had long been fascinated by the archipelago and who had taken us there.

So much so that the guide agreed to try to change the boat tickets to Kem for a few days later.

The plan proved impossible. Moved by our disappointment, Alexey and Andrey offer to lead us through the best of the island. The only downside: first thing in the morning. By that time, we doubted we would survive that overwhelming passion for northern Russia.

We slept more there than here. We woke up at 8:10 am with Alexey Sidnev knocking on the door, already fresh as lettuce. How did you get it after so much vodka?

How did most of the Russians do? It surpassed us. In any case, the urgency was to drag ourselves out of bed, and to secure the same prodigy as Alexey Kravchenko.

With much suffering, about nine, we were ready to leave.

Lush Autumn around Solovetsky

We followed the duo of geologists to the UAZ van – Ulyanovskyi Avtomobilnyi Zavod – troop-green in which they moved. Andrey gets us installed on the side seats with a dramatic warning:

“Hold on tight with your hands on the ceiling. This carripan has one of the toughest suspensions you will ever experience. The Russians call it a goat, because of the kick it gives. Believe it or not, we've had passengers injured."

Solovetsky, Islands, Archipelago, Russia, Autumn, UAZ, Autumn road

Andrey and Alexey make sure we're protecting ourselves. Then, depart in the direction of Sekirnaya.

The 11km course, surrounded by lakes, flanked by multicolored vegetation, leaves us entranced.

Countless jolts later, we reached the top of the elevation and, in the immediate vicinity, a panoramic platform that revealed the endless taiga, with its green already converted to the most distinct tones of autumnal fire.

Monumental, the vegetal scene condemns us to a photographic frenzy.

Solovetsky, Islands, Archipelago, Russia, Autumn in TaigaWe thank Andrey and Alexey as much as we can. “Leave it there. They answer us.

Seriously, it's a great pleasure to have you here. Let's go but take some pictures, otherwise we only have them indoors.”

Sekirnaya Hill and Solovetsky's Atrocious Past

We do so, blessed by the Church of the Ascension, built in one of the darkest places in Solovetsky.

Solovetsky, Islands, Archipelago, Russia, Church of the Ascension

During times of Soviet Gulag oppression, in and around the temple occupied area, countless tortures and executions were carried out.

And funerals, done in haste.

In common graves, never identified but where the Orthodox authorities have placed small crosses that indicate the number of bodies in each one.

Solovetsky, Islands, Archipelago, Russia, cross in memory of victims of Solovki Prison Camp

At the base of the stairs that lead to the church, there is another cross, this one huge.

The monks also built it in 1992, shortly after the collapse of the URSS, in memory of all the victims of the Gulag prison camp in Solovki.

Andrey and Alexey had to return to the monastery where they would begin their surveying tasks for the day. We planned to accompany a procession that the religious carried out on Sundays around the complex. In vain.

At the end of the summer pinnacle, with many monks absent, the ceremony had already been suspended.

Solovetsky, Islands, Archipelago, Russia, Autumn, Solovki Monastery

In mid-autumn, Alexey Kravchenko feared that bad weather would likely suspend the boat connections to Kem and we would find ourselves stranded on the island much longer than we wanted to.

That same evening, we said goodbye to Andrey and Alexey.

Already boarded, with the small ferry advancing back to the mainland of Kem and the Mother Russia, we whispered a convinced “see you” in Solovetsky's direction.

Solovetsky Islands, Russia

The Mother Island of the Gulag Archipelago

It hosted one of Russia's most powerful Orthodox religious domains, but Lenin and Stalin turned it into a gulag. With the fall of the USSR, Solovestky regains his peace and spirituality.
Bolshoi Zayatsky, Russia

Mysterious Russian Babylons

A set of prehistoric spiral labyrinths made of stones decorate Bolshoi Zayatsky Island, part of the Solovetsky archipelago. Devoid of explanations as to when they were erected or what it meant, the inhabitants of these northern reaches of Europe call them vavilons.
Saint Petersburg, Russia

On the track of "Crime and Punishment"

In St. Petersburg, we cannot resist investigating the inspiration for the base characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's most famous novel: his own pities and the miseries of certain fellow citizens.
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Suzdal, Russia

The Suzdal Cucumber Celebrations

With summer and warm weather, the Russian city of Suzdal relaxes from its ancient religious orthodoxy. The old town is also famous for having the best cucumbers in the nation. When July arrives, it turns the newly harvested into a real festival.
Suzdal, Russia

Thousand Years of Old Fashioned Russia

It was a lavish capital when Moscow was just a rural hamlet. Along the way, it lost political relevance but accumulated the largest concentration of churches, monasteries and convents in the country of the tsars. Today, beneath its countless domes, Suzdal is as orthodox as it is monumental.
Saint Petersburg, Russia

When the Russian Navy Stations in Saint Petersburg

Russia dedicates the last Sunday of July to its naval forces. On that day, a crowd visits large boats moored on the Neva River as alcohol-drenched sailors seize the city.
Suzdal, Russia

Centuries of Devotion to a Devoted Monk

Euthymius was a fourteenth-century Russian ascetic who gave himself body and soul to God. His faith inspired Suzdal's religiosity. The city's believers worship him as the saint he has become.
Saint Petersburg e Mikhaylovkoe, Russia

The Writer Who Succumbed to His Own Plot

Alexander Pushkin is hailed by many as the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. But Pushkin also dictated an almost tragicomic epilogue to his prolific life.
Novgorod, Russia

Mother Russia's Viking Grandmother

For most of the past century, the USSR authorities have omitted part of the origins of the Russian people. But history leaves no room for doubt. Long before the rise and supremacy of the tsars and the soviets, the first Scandinavian settlers founded their mighty nation in Novgorod.
Rostov Veliky, Russia

Under the Domes of the Russian Soul

It is one of the oldest and most important medieval cities, founded during the still pagan origins of the nation of the tsars. At the end of the XNUMXth century, incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Moscow, it became an imposing center of orthodox religiosity. Today, only the splendor of kremlin Muscovite trumps the citadel of tranquil and picturesque Rostov Veliky.
Rhinoceros, PN Kaziranga, Assam, India
Safari
PN Kaziranga, India

The Indian Monoceros Stronghold

Situated in the state of Assam, south of the great Brahmaputra river, PN Kaziranga occupies a vast area of ​​alluvial swamp. Two-thirds of the rhinocerus unicornis around the world, there are around 100 tigers, 1200 elephants and many other animals. Pressured by human proximity and the inevitable poaching, this precious park has not been able to protect itself from the hyperbolic floods of the monsoons and from some controversies.
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 5th - Ngawal a BragaNepal

Towards the Nepalese Braga

We spent another morning of glorious weather discovering Ngawal. There is a short journey towards Manang, the main town on the way to the zenith of the Annapurna circuit. We stayed for Braga (Braka). The hamlet would soon prove to be one of its most unforgettable places.
hacienda mucuyche, Yucatan, Mexico, canal
Architecture & Design
Yucatan, Mexico

Among Haciendas and Cenotes, through the History of Yucatan

Around the capital Merida, for every old hacienda henequenera there's at least one cenote. As happened with the semi-recovered Hacienda Mucuyché, together, they form some of the most sublime places in southeastern Mexico.

Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Adventure
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
Conflicted Way
Ceremonies and Festivities
Jerusalem, Israel

Through the Belicious Streets of Via Dolorosa

In Jerusalem, while traveling the Via Dolorosa, the most sensitive believers realize how difficult the peace of the Lord is to achieve in the most disputed streets on the face of the earth.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Cities
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Singapore Asian Capital Food, Basmati Bismi
Meal
Singapore

The Asian Food Capital

There were 4 ethnic groups in Singapore, each with its own culinary tradition. Added to this was the influence of thousands of immigrants and expatriates on an island with half the area of ​​London. It was the nation with the greatest gastronomic diversity in the Orient.
Native Americans Parade, Pow Pow, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Culture
Albuquerque, USA

When the Drums Sound, the Indians Resist

With more than 500 tribes present, the pow wow "Gathering of the Nations" celebrates the sacred remnants of Native American cultures. But it also reveals the damage inflicted by colonizing civilization.
Reindeer Racing, Kings Cup, Inari, Finland
Sport
Inari, Finland

The Wackiest Race on the Top of the World

Finland's Lapps have been competing in the tow of their reindeer for centuries. In the final of the Kings Cup - Porokuninkuusajot - , they face each other at great speed, well above the Arctic Circle and well below zero.
Young people walk the main street in Chame, Nepal
Traveling
Annapurna Circuit: 1th - Pokhara a ChameNepal

Finally, on the way

After several days of preparation in Pokhara, we left towards the Himalayas. The walking route only starts in Chame, at 2670 meters of altitude, with the snowy peaks of the Annapurna mountain range already in sight. Until then, we complete a painful but necessary road preamble to its subtropical base.
Vegetables, Little India, Sari Singapore, Singapore
Ethnic
Little India, Singapore

The Sari Singapore of Little India

There are thousands of inhabitants instead of the 1.3 billion of the mother country, but Little India, a neighborhood in tiny Singapore, does not lack soul. No soul, no smell of Bollywood curry and music.
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

life outside

Armenian Church, Sevanavank Peninsula, Lake Sevan, Armenia
History
lake sevan, Armenia

The Bittersweet Caucasus Lake

Enclosed between mountains at 1900 meters high, considered a natural and historical treasure of Armenia, Lake Sevan has never been treated as such. The level and quality of its water has deteriorated for decades and a recent invasion of algae drains the life that subsists in it.
tarsio, bohol, philippines, out of this world
Islands
Bohol, Philippines

Other-wordly Philippines

The Philippine archipelago spans 300.000 km² of the Pacific Ocean. Part of the Visayas sub-archipelago, Bohol is home to small alien-looking primates and the extraterrestrial hills of the Chocolate Hills.
St. Trinity Church, Kazbegi, Georgia, Caucasus
Winter White
Kazbegi, Georgia

God in the Caucasus Heights

In the 4000th century, Orthodox religious took their inspiration from a hermitage that a monk had erected at an altitude of 5047 m and perched a church between the summit of Mount Kazbek (XNUMXm) and the village at the foot. More and more visitors flock to these mystical stops on the edge of Russia. Like them, to get there, we submit to the whims of the reckless Georgia Military Road.
Visitors to Ernest Hemingway's Home, Key West, Florida, United States
Literature
Key West, United States

Hemingway's Caribbean Playground

Effusive as ever, Ernest Hemingway called Key West "the best place I've ever been...". In the tropical depths of the contiguous US, he found evasion and crazy, drunken fun. And the inspiration to write with intensity to match.
Santiago, island, Cape Verde, São Jorge dos Órgãos
Nature
Santiago, Cape Verde

Santiago from bottom to top

Landed in the Cape Verdean capital of Praia, we explore its pioneer predecessor city. From Cidade Velha, we follow the stunning mountainous ridge of Santiago to the unobstructed top of Tarrafal.
Incandescent Mouth, Big Island Hawaii, Volcanoes National Park, Lava Rivers
Natural Parks
Big Island, Hawaii

Searching for Rivers of Lava

There are five volcanoes that make the big island of Hawaii grow day by day. Kilauea, the most active on Earth, is constantly releasing lava. Despite this, we live a kind of epic to envision it.
Ruins, Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia
UNESCO World Heritage
Discovering Tassie, Part 2 - Hobart to Port Arthur, Australia

An Island Doomed to Crime

The prison complex at Port Arthur has always frightened the British outcasts. 90 years after its closure, a heinous crime committed there forced Tasmania to return to its darkest times.
now from above ladder, sorcerer of new zealand, Christchurch, new zealand
Characters
Christchurch, New Zealand

New Zealand's Cursed Wizard

Despite his notoriety in the antipodes, Ian Channell, the New Zealand sorcerer, failed to predict or prevent several earthquakes that struck Christchurch. At the age of 88, after 23 years of contract with the city, he made very controversial statements and ended up fired.
Baie d'Oro, Île des Pins, New Caledonia
Beaches
Île-des-Pins, New Caledonia

The Island that Leaned against Paradise

In 1964, Katsura Morimura delighted the Japan with a turquoise novel set in Ouvéa. But the neighboring Île-des-Pins has taken over the title "The Nearest Island to Paradise" and thrills its visitors.
Motorcyclist in Sela Gorge, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Religion
Guwahati a Saddle Pass, India

A Worldly Journey to the Sacred Canyon of Sela

For 25 hours, we traveled the NH13, one of the highest and most dangerous roads in India. We traveled from the Brahmaputra river basin to the disputed Himalayas of the province of Arunachal Pradesh. In this article, we describe the stretch up to 4170 m of altitude of the Sela Pass that pointed us to the Tibetan Buddhist city of Tawang.
Train Fianarantsoa to Manakara, Malagasy TGV, locomotive
On Rails
Fianarantsoa-Manakara, Madagascar

On board the Malagasy TGV

We depart Fianarantsoa at 7a.m. It wasn't until 3am the following morning that we completed the 170km to Manakara. The natives call this almost secular train Train Great Vibrations. During the long journey, we felt, very strongly, those of the heart of Madagascar.
Saphire Cabin, Purikura, Tokyo, Japan
Society
Tokyo, Japan

Japanese Style Passaport-Type Photography

In the late 80s, two Japanese multinationals already saw conventional photo booths as museum pieces. They turned them into revolutionary machines and Japan surrendered to the Purikura phenomenon.
Daily life
Arduous Professions

the bread the devil kneaded

Work is essential to most lives. But, certain jobs impose a degree of effort, monotony or danger that only a few chosen ones can measure up to.
Jabula Beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
Wildlife
Saint Lucia, South Africa

An Africa as Wild as Zulu

On the eminence of the coast of Mozambique, the province of KwaZulu-Natal is home to an unexpected South Africa. Deserted beaches full of dunes, vast estuarine swamps and hills covered with fog fill this wild land also bathed by the Indian Ocean. It is shared by the subjects of the always proud Zulu nation and one of the most prolific and diverse fauna on the African continent.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
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