Blog about Urals

For a long time we’ve been planning to go to the Tyumen region, remarkable for the deposits of oil, and also for our local “Urals Sea”- the hot springs of Tyumen. The road from Yekaterinburg to Tyumen takes a 5 hours fast car drive, so we decided to leave early in the Saturday morning. Spring came to our lands so we departed in a good mood.

So, what exactly is the hot springs, and how were they formed in Tyumen? As I’ve already mentioned, the Tyumen region is rich in oil. In the 70s of last century, geologists began to explore regions where oil could be extracted. They began to drill wells into the ground. But it turned out that out of some wells made by geologists very hot water run. The fact is that these wells were drilled in the regions, called geothermal areas where magma is located close enough to the surface and heats the overlying rocks. The ground waters circulate in pores and crevices of rocks and are heated. Going out to the surface ground waters form lakes of hot water with high content of mineral salts. Such steamy lakes could be often found in the Tyumen woods in the winters. The view is impressive.
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Recently documentary series “the Ridge of Russia” appeared on russian TV. They tell russian history related to the Urals region and show its wonderful places. One of them is the mountain Kolpaki – natural reserve and the favourite point for people looking for wild nature of Urals.

After we saw this mountain on TV, we decided to go there and without “putting it in the cooler” for the time, on early Saturday morning we set out.

The mountain Kolpaki is situated not far from the border between the Sverlovskaya area and the Perm region. Additionally an idea arose to add one more point to our travel route – the ancient rural town Verkhoturye, founded in the end of 16th century, an orthodox center of Urals.

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We all know that the history is cyclic and is used to repeat. People should know where some events will lead us to, based on a huge experience of mankind.

One of the most terrible pages of newest history of Russia is the repression period, the time of GULAG. We decided that for better understanding of this period we have to merge into the atmosphere of that time. That’s why we went to the unique GULAG museum, which was founded by people who were convicted in political crime and exonerated after the USSR destruction.

The museum was founded on remains of the prison camp Perm-36 for political prisoners. This prison camp was founded in 1940 during the GULAG period and was closed in 1988, when “perestroika” started in USSR. The camp was designed to hold 1000 prisoners and contained few barracks, auto repair shops, depots and administrative buildings. Prisoners worked on logging and small technical works which didn’t require professional skills.
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We’d like to tell you about the most famous and historically significant place in Yekaterinburg – the Church on the Blood. This place is a shrine where the pilgrims from all over Russia gather.

The Church was built on the site of the house of engineer Ipatieff, where the royal family Nikolai II, his wife, sun and four daughters were assassinated and the 300 year old monarchy of the Romanov dynasty came to an end.

In April 1918 because of the onset of white army the Ural Regional Council (Urals Bolsheviks – Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party) decided to confiscate the house to carry out a hasty assassination over the royal family in it.

Yakov Yurowski was appointed a commandant of the house. He offered to invite the royal family into the basement in pretence of giving them a shelter, then he told them that «their friends» (the white army) were coming up and therefore they are sentenced to death, the shootings followed.
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Today, in one of sunny spring days we want to tell you how russian people greet spring.
Since earliest times the Shrovetide is celebrated in Russia in honour of spring coming – a holiday week with pancakes baking and street festivities.

The tradition to bake pancakes came to us from slavs. They took spring as a source of new life and hallowed the sun which gives light and warm for everything alive on the earth. First they baked unleavened cakes in honor of the sun, and when they learnt how to make a batter they baked pancakes. Pancakes were considered as a symbol of the sun, because they are also yellow, round and hot. Slavs believed they ate a piece of the sun, its heat and power.

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On the 30th of January we went to Nevyansk – the oldest city-plant in the Urals. The weather forecast was good enough for that day, so early in the morning we began the journey. Our goal was to see how the Demidov’s empire began, and to hear one of the most interesting pages in the history of the Urals.
Nevyansk was founded by a decree of Peter I in 1701 in connection with the foundation of ironworks. This was the first city-plant in the world. One year later Peter I granted the plant to Nikita Demidovich Antufiev together with new surname “Demidov”. That’s how the Demidov’s dynasty appeared.
Nevyansk is located in 80km from Yekaterinburg and it took us about an hour to get there. The road to Nevyansk comes through the foothills of the Middle Urals and is like russian roller coaster.
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If you decided to go to Yekaterinburg, information about annual events of the city can help you to choose when to go or what to do. Here are the events i remember.

December – January: Ice Town opens
when: 29th of December or earlier, where: the square of 1905 year (Ploshchad 1905 goda)

January: Epiphany with swimming in ice hole – extremely popular activity for brave people
when: 19th of January, where: city lake Shartash

February: Shrovetide with street festivities
when: 13th and 14th of February, where: Central park of culture and rest (CPKIO Park)

May: the Military Parade of World War II
when: 9th of May, where: the square of 1905 year (Ploshchad 1905 goda)

May: Museums’ night – all main museums open at night and several city shows are available
when: 16th of May (but date may vary each year), where: in the city centre (the square of 1905 year), in most of museums

May: “May walking” – all fans of cycling and walking moves over several routes (26km, 46km)
when: day may vary, where: starting point may vary
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If you arrived in Yekaterinburg the best thing to start with is an acquaintance with the city. Currently I’m preparing this excursion and would like to share this info.

The historical centre of the city is the dam situated on Lenina avenue. The route I suggest starts near it – from central subway station called the square of 1905 (Ploshchad 1905 goda), on the picture attached it is the point number one. The route finishes in the point number 18 – here is the house of officers and a restaurant with traditional russian cooking, named USSR (CCCP).
So let me describe other points and directions briefly.
1 – you are standing near central subway station and the street you are at is called “8 marta”. In google maps it’s “ulitsa 8 marta” cause ulitsa means a street. Let’s go to the parallel street called “Vaynera”.
2 – you are on Vaynera street, it’s the favourite place of walk for many citizens. This street is an analog of Moscow’s arbad. Let’s cross Lenina avenue (“prospekt Lenina”) and go to the embankment of the city pond.
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The first part of our New Year holidays was described here, so as the amount of photos is quite big, I decided to make a separate review of St. Petersburg.
3rd of January, Sunday
Upon the arrival we left a luggage in a cloak chamber and hurried to the Hermitage. This was the only possibility to visit it (the next day was a day off). On the way we took photos with Peter the Great and Ekaterina, saw The Kazansky Cathedral and walked over Nevskiy avenue. To get into the Hermitage was a bit difficult. After we arrived there we saw long queue of visitors. But undoubtedly it was worth staying in the queue for an hour and a half. The Hermitage has the right to be a world’s cultural heritage. Walking through luxurious halls you suddenly find yourself in the past and see the culture of different countries.
After the second floor and a half of the 3rd floor we left the museum and met with our friends from St. Petersburg. They showed us the evening city with its main sights changing fast behind the window.
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New Year for Russians is one of the most favourite and long-expected holidays. In contrast to Europe, in Russia New Year is celebrated wider than Christmas. All begins from New Year shopping, searching for gifts and foodstuffs for the celebration. Then, on the 31st of December families decorate a fir – New Year tree and prepare a holiday table. At midnight, when Moscow chiming clock notifies everyone that New Year has came Russians drink champagne, make wishes and congratulate each other.
This New Year we wanted to see the chiming clock live and decided to spend it in Moscow, on the Red Square. And as New Year holidays are 10 days, another good idea was to visit St. Petersburg after Moscow.
31st of December, Thursday
The flight was fine, except a small delay with a drop-off. We left the airport and went to our accommodation place. Prices for transport were surprisingly high. As we found out, services cost more than in our region, but foodstuffs – about the same.
After a small rest we went to the city center. We were notified in advance that the Red Square would be surrounded by a police. And this was true, we were checked for alcohol and weapon and passed. The square amazes her beauty and greatness and has the right to be regarded as a heart of Russia.
At midnight we heard chiming clock and saw a wonderful salute. People were happy and congratulated each other, fired bengal lights and even sang! We were taken by a common merriment. This way the year of tiger came to Russia.
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