Solovki. My own view of history and legends

Breakfast at the hotel.

Meeting with the tour guide at the hotel reception.

Pedestrian crossing to the tour desk.

Sightseeing tour of the Solovetsky Kremlin (walking tour duration is 2 hours and 45 minutes).

The tour introduces visitors to the history of the Solovetsky Monastery. 

Tourists visit the territory of the central complex of the monastery, active temples, monuments included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, objects of economic activity of the monastery.

Free time. 

Visit souvenir shops, a store of seaweed products from the White Sea.

Optional excursions are offered for an additional fee. 

Additional excursions are booked and paid for upon purchase of the tour, the number of seats is limited. 

As part of the tour, you can book no more than three additional excursions out of the 6 available:

1. "Top Island" (duration — 2.5 hours). The cost is 3,500 rubles/person.

Lovers of serenity, tranquility and silence, as well as photographers — this sea trip is for you! 

In half an hour, a high-speed boat will take you to the tiny island of Bolshoy Top in the middle of the vast sea, where there is a lighthouse marking the dangers for large vessels. 

On the neighboring Small Top, far from the standard tourist routes, skuas and terns nest, and seals, ringed seals and sea hares rest in good weather. 

The islands are covered with a tundra carpet, the "northern ginseng" grows here and the largest quartzite slab on the White Sea is located — sparkling milky crystals covered an area of about 30 square meters. 

And don't forget: the main principle of communication with untouched wildlife is "Don't touch anything!".

In the absence of waves at sea, disembarkation takes place on an unequipped shore! When planning to take part in this excursion, please calculate your strength in order to be able to jump off the bow of the boat onto dry land.

2. "Cape Beluzhy boat trip" (duration — 2 hours). The cost is 3,500 rubles/person.

Belugas — white northern whales, peaceful inhabitants of the Arctic Ocean — come to the White Sea in the summer. A sea trip to Beluga Cape will be remembered by every minute: The cape water area is one of the few places on the planet where you can observe whales in the wild. Since mid-June, during low tide at sea, whale mating games, birth and upbringing of cubs have been taking place here. 

There is also a station of oceanographers who have the opportunity to observe these beautiful creatures every day. Don't miss your only opportunity to look into the whales' eyes, feel the power and beauty of these amazing marine mammals.

Note: delivery to the shore of Cape Beluzhy is carried out by a sea boat.

Beluga whale watching depends on the time of low tide, as low water is a favorable time for observation.

3. "The archipelago of the Body — the world of ancient man" (duration — 5 hours). The cost of the tour is 4,500 rubles / person.

Breakfast at the hotel.

Meeting with the tour guide at the hotel reception.

Pedestrian crossing to the tour desk.

Optional excursions are offered for an additional fee. 

Additional excursions are booked and paid for upon purchase of the tour, the number of seats is limited. 

As part of the tour, you can book no more than three additional excursions out of the 6 available:

1. "Solovetskaya dam" (duration — 2-2.5 hours). The cost is 3,000 rubles/person.

The most grandiose construction of Solovki after the Solovetsky Kremlin is the famous man—made causeway, a boulder road laid across the sea to facilitate transportation between Bolshaya Muksalma Island and the monastery. 

From the very beginning of construction in the middle of the 19th century, the dam aroused great interest among visitors to Solovki. The new route allows you to approach the dam from the south side of the archipelago, revealing views of the famous monument that are completely unknown to tourists. Look into the arch of the dam and pay attention to the transparency of the water and the amount of algae!

2. "Malaya Muksalma" (duration — 3-3.5 hours). The cost is 4,500 rubles/person.

Malaya Muksalma Island, a separate world behind the tourist facade of Solovki, has always been closed to the mass tourist. But we have opened this route!

We will take a speedboat along the coast of Bolshoy Solovetsky Island to the southern part of the Solovetsky Archipelago.

Maneuvering through the rocky shoals, we will pass the huge Muksalom reef, which covers the approaches to Malaya Muksalma. 

This reef is one of the reasons the island is inaccessible. Even among the local White Sea captains, only the most experienced and reliable know this route. 

Finally, we will disembark at the pier of the algae harvesting village — this is the purpose of our excursion — a unique place not only on the scale of the White Sea, but also, perhaps, the whole of Russia.

Here, from June to October, algae is extracted manually, as it was 100 years ago, on traditional White Sea carbine boats. 

We will see how kelp is harvested and dried before being shipped to Arkhangelsk, from where the algae will return to Solovki in the form of cosmetics and dietary supplements. 

And of course, we will learn a lot of details about the life and work of local fishermen, and about what and how they make algae.

The fishing village is a "non—tourist" place. No sleek "Potemkin" huts and animators imitating traditional crafts. Tourists are not expected here — there is a lot of work.

We will also have the opportunity to observe the harsh life of the White Sea fishermen and feel the peculiar brutal spirit of this place.

3. Excursion "Long Lip" (duration – 4/5 hours). The cost is 3,500 rubles / person.

An exciting ecological boat trip along the Long Bay, the "inner sea" of Solovki, where even in stormy weather there are rarely waves. 

Driven by a fresh salty wind, a carbine boat with a motor will run past sandy beaches, countless islands and rocky ridges crashing into the water. One of them has a bird family, and the other one seems to have a seal basking in the sun. 

Shallow depths allow you to see the underwater world: starfish are buried in the sandy bottom, translucent ultramarine jellyfish hover in the water, algae sway and stretch somewhere along with the sea currents. 

The price of the tour includes a bus transfer to Long Bay and back, as well as a tasting of White Sea mussels – perhaps you are lucky enough to find a real White Sea pearl in one of them.

Breakfast. 

Room release. 

Things are checked into the storage room.

Meeting with the tour guide at the hotel reception.

Pedestrian crossing to the tour desk.

Excursion "Solovetsky hermitages. History and Legends" (duration — 4 hours).

Minibus tour of the northern part of Bolshoy Solovetsky Island with a tour of widely known places and iconic but rarely visited monuments of Solovki. 

The first stop is the Holy Ascension Skete with its controversial history and Sekirnaya Gora, the "fortress of light and darkness", where the lighthouse church stands, which became a penal isolation unit during the time of the ELEPHANT. 

From Sekirka, the forest road leads to the Savvatievsky monastery, the first settlement of the Solovetsky monks, which in the early 20th century became an ELEPHANT business trip and the site of the first execution of political prisoners in Solovki. 

Further along the route, Jung Alley is the remains of the dugouts of the Solovetsky Jung School. During the war years, 14—year—olds were educated here by the elite of the USSR Navy. 

From there, the route leads to the Red Lake, where the famous Solovki lake and canal systems originate and there are material traces of the Solovetsky history. 

The dam of the 16th century, the realized idea of "turning back the rivers", still performs a whole range of functions centuries later that changed the practice of economic activity of the monastery and the Solovetsky landscapes. 

Worthy objects of display are worship and commemorative crosses, examples of cross—cutting craftsmanship. 

A meaningful trip will also allow you to enjoy the scenery and experience the beauty of the northern nature.

Pedestrian crossing to the pier.

Baggage pickup at the pier.

Departure to the mainland.

Arrival in Rabochiostrovsk.

Transfer to the railway station. Departure home after 19:30

For tourists leaving home the next day, it is possible to book a hotel in Kem (for an additional fee).