Gastronomic tour to Sakhalin and Iturup

In the morning we have breakfast at the hotel and get ready for a busy day!

Today we will go on a trip to the Aniwa Lighthouse, which was built by Japan in 1939.

The lighthouse is located in an inaccessible place on a rock that rises above the water, because of this it is considered one of the most complex technical structures.

A nine-storey round tower with a bay window is inscribed in an oval base, which seems to grow out of coastal stones. It is impossible to reach the lighthouse by land, so we will travel part of the way by speedboats.

We will take our minibus to the small village of Novikovo (named after the legendary cruiser Novik, which gave battle to the Japanese cruiser Tsushima in the Russian-Japanese war).

Here we will go through the briefing and transfer to the boats that will take us to the lighthouse itself.

By sea, we will walk along the Aniva Bay past the abandoned Yuzhnaya outpost, capes Marble and Mica, where we will enjoy the beauty of magnificent mountains, sea air and waterfalls falling down.

We moor and land on a rock with a lighthouse. We are located on the very edge of our country, just a little over a hundred kilometers from us is Japan!

On the way back, we will make a stop at the Marble Cape and walk along the shore. Here stands a rock formed of marble interspersed with various semi-precious stones.

Seals come out of the water every now and then!

We return to Novikovo and go to an exquisite island cuisine restaurant overlooking the Aniva Bay.

For an appetizer, we will try carpaccio of local octopus with olive oil and citrus dressing.

Then we will be served wild fish soup with a piece of charcoal, which will be very useful after a busy trip to the Aniva lighthouse.

And for the hot meal – a Far Eastern trumpeter with porcini mushrooms, onion caramel and smoked sour cream mousse.

Lunch is accompanied by a glass of semi-dry white wine from the grapes of the autochthonous varieties of Sicily.

On the way back, we will stop in the historic city of Korsakov.

Now it is one of the largest port cities in the Far East, the construction of which began back in the days when the city belonged to Japan and was called Oodomari.

We will go up to the observation deck and look at the city and the bay from a height.

We return to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and go to a pan-Asian restaurant for dinner. Today we are getting acquainted with Korean cuisine!

For an aperitif, we will be served Korean fern - one of the most valuable and delicious types of wild plants. Its shoots are pickled, fried, boiled and stewed with fried onions, soy sauce and hot pepper.

The main dish of the evening is bibimbap, one of the most popular and traditional dishes of Korean cuisine.

This is a dish of boiled rice with beef, vegetables and fried egg with a liquid yolk. The whole composition is mixed with pepper paste before use.

The final chord will be a delicate dessert with blackberries. 

After dinner, we return to the hotel.

Tomorrow we will have a flight to Iturup!

In the morning we have breakfast and go to the airport, today we are flying to the Kuril island of Iturup!

The flight from Sakhalin to Iturup takes one hour. The flights are operated by Aurora Airlines on small and modern aircraft of the Canadian company Bombardier.

We will cover about 450 kilometers over the Sea of Okhotsk.

Iturup Island will welcome us with a panorama of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, one of the highest Kuril volcanoes.

We're going to check into the hotel! We will spend 2 nights here.

Our hotel is the best on the island. It is located in a picturesque place: at the foot of a volcano on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. You really feel like you're on the edge of the Earth here!

We go for lunch to one of the most amazing places on the island – the fumarole fields. On the way, we will make a stop at the observation deck of the Baransky volcano, from where the panorama of the island opens.

Here you can clearly see the city, the airport and the endless waters of the Sea of Okhotsk from a height.

While we are walking, our assistants will cook fish, potatoes and vegetables on coals, and serve toasts with red caviar, smoked fish and Korean salads with seafood.

We will cook more "volcanic" eggs for lunch! Boil the chicken eggs in a saucepan right in the thermal well.

A good addition to our lunch will be beer from the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Kolos brewery, which is the oldest in the region.

We will have a solid supply of foam for lunch, so that everyone can try several varieties of Far Eastern beer. We have lunch, enjoy the beautiful views around and the unspoilt wildlife of the island.

Next we go to the Boiling River thermal complex, which is located on the Boiling River. In its upper reaches, the water temperature is really close to the boiling point.

It is incredibly beautiful here, it is one of the most "instagrammed" places on the island.

The river valley is almost hidden in clouds of white steam, and on the slopes there are many fumaroles and cauldrons with bubbling mud. Our path will pass by the source of the river Boiling along the deck, where we will see turquoise lakes of fantastic beauty!

After the walk, we will swim and relax in the specially equipped thermal pools.

Then we return to our hotel, where preparations for dinner are already underway.

We will be expected at a local restaurant for dinner. We will be served a Japanese salad with wakame and seafood (octopus, scallop, crab) and halibut baked with bisque sauce.

Let's go back to our hotel and relax!

Today we are going on a journey to see one of the most amazing places in nature – the White Cliffs.

Our first stop is at the Wall of Waterfalls, or as they are also called, Crying Rocks.

The rocks are covered with bright green moss, they are decorated not only with bright greenery, but also with many small waterfalls that flow and drain into a stream nearby.

A very picturesque place!

We get into our SUVs and drive on. We drive ashore to the White Cliffs. The incredibly beautiful giants are standing right by the water! Snow-white, green-covered, undulating rocks, they are incredibly beautiful.

These are unique volcanic formations that arose from very light and soft pumice, stretched for 28 kilometers and go far beyond the horizon.

The beach here is surprisingly deserted, which gives this place a certain cosmic atmosphere.

At this time, our assistants will prepare everything for lunch and serve delicious fish soup from freshly caught fish with snacks and fish cuts.

We have lunch, chat and tell each other about the adventures of our travels.

An unforgettable lunch in the company of gourmet travelers in the most beautiful place on the edge of the Earth!

After lunch, we drive on to the Black Rocks, these are the outlets of dark basalt volcanic extrusions. We can say that this is the "tail" of the lava tongue, a kind of "mini-copy" of Cape Columnar on Kunashir.

At the end of the day, we will go to the thermal complex: there are wooden fonts with hot mineral water, and almost untouched natural landscapes around and blue sky and silence overhead.

We are having dinner today at a restaurant near our hotel, meat is waiting for us!

The main dish of the evening is stewed beef cheeks with potatoes with a glass of full–bodied red wine.

In the evening we return to our hotel, relax after a busy day.

Today, after breakfast, we are going to the Yankito lava plateau.

In this place, you can observe how time stopped — when the red-hot lava met the sea.

Unimaginable brown-red volcanic rocks on the seashore, which appeared as a result of the eruption of the volcano Bogdan Khmelnitsky.
After the tour, we will be expected for lunch.

We will be served fragrant tom yam and sockeye salmon fillet with ber noisette sauce with wild rice.

After lunch, we leave for the airport and return to Sakhalin, where the transfer will take us to the hotel.

We rest a little after the flight and go to a Japanese cuisine dinner at a restaurant where a chef from Japan, Kudo Motoki, works.

Let's start our dinner with a tasting of 6 types of sashimi, which is traditionally served in a sushi boat - a wooden mock–up of a boat.

Then we will be served gyoza with fish, a traditional Japanese dish that resembles dumplings in cooking technology.

And for the hot meal, we will try unanju – a solid portion of eel on a rice pad with unagi sauce.

French rose wine Arrogant Frog Tutti Frutti is perfectly combined with fish dishes, let's taste it!

This is a project of the Paul Mas company, they grow grapes on the southern coast of France, in the famous Languedoc-Roussillon wine region, and their wines reflect the experience and humor of winemaking in southern France. In Russian, the wine is called “arrogant frog".

And we will finish our dinner with an amazing Japanese dessert – mochi. Enjoy it!

Tomorrow we will have a gastronomic trip to the famous oyster lake Busse!

After dinner, we return to our hotel.

We have breakfast at the hotel and go to one of the most delicious places on Sakhalin Island – Lake Busse!

A huge number of shellfish live here – giant oysters, scallops, sea urchins, trepangs, crabs, trumpeters and many others.

During spawning, a huge number of Pacific salmon — sima, pink salmon, chum salmon - migrate through the lake to freshwater reservoirs.

Before the start of our oyster harvest, we will raise a glass of sparkling wine to a successful and delicious catch!

We go to the oyster jar (the habitat of bivalves). 

First, we will walk directly through the water (boots will be provided on site), and then by boat with oars, because the use of any motor vehicles is prohibited in the lagoon.

On oyster island, oysters are right under our feet, just reach out and get them out of the water!

We will open fresh clams right in the middle of the lake, sprinkle with lemon and try oysters with a glass of sparkling wine!

An oyster extracted on its own is a hundred times tastier than in any, even the most famous restaurant.

The rest of the seafood found on the island is collected in nets and taken with us.

Let's go back to the shore, a hot lunch will be served for us here! We will be served hemultan, a traditional Korean seafood soup and Far Eastern salads according to Korean recipes.

There will also be sandwiches with red caviar and, of course, oysters: fresh and baked with garlic and grilled cheese. Enjoy it!

During lunch, we will have a culinary master class on opening and
the use of oysters, and we will taste all the seafood collected.

Then we will take a short walk and go to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to rest. 

After 18:00 you will have free time, the only free evening on the tour.

In the morning we have breakfast at the hotel and get ready for a busy day!

Today we will go to the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk to one of the most beautiful bays of the island – Tikhaya.

On the way, we will make a stop in the village of Starodubskoye on the amber coast. We will try ourselves as amber seekers. Yes, here, too, as in the Kaliningrad region, there is its own amber!

They say Sakhalinsky has a special power. There is even a legend that if you hold the stone tightly in your hand, you will feel warmth, because it stores the energy of the sun. Shall we check it out?

After collecting the amber, we drive on. The road goes along the coast, and the views are simply incredible!

Our next stop is the Torii Gate, which remains of an old Japanese temple.

Then we stop in the fishing village of Vzmorye, there is a crab market here, where we will buy the best crabs for lunch! Some travelers come to Sakhalin specifically just for the unique taste of freshly caught and boiled crab in seawater.

After the fishing village we go to one of the most beautiful and highest waterfalls of Sakhalin – Klokovsky. Here we will open a bottle of sparkling wine and raise our glasses to our journey through the most amazing corners of our country!

In Tikhaya Bay, our assistants will set the table right in the fresh air in the midst of the incredible beauty of wild nature. We will be served grilled fish, oriental salads, sliced fish and of course crabs!

After lunch, we will take a walk around the bay and the surrounding area. According to the website version Russia.Travel (which, by the way, we published on) Tikhaya Bay is one of the five legendary beaches in Russia.

There are wonderful views of the Bold Peak and the Zhdanko Ridge, which is a picturesque monument of Sakhalin nature.

After a walk along the beach, we return to the city.

Today we will have dinner in the chamber restaurant of chef Vyacheslav Novitsky, who has worked with the most famous chefs in Europe for many years.

He combined 20 years of work and study in the best gastronomic capitals of Europe and developed a menu based on the freshest, high-quality products. 

The restaurant has an open fire, vegetables from the monastery garden, the freshest seafood, fish, meat and crispy bread baked especially for guests.

To begin with, we will be served scallop ceviche with red onion, berry ponzu and blueberries. The accompaniment to the dish will be South African Chenin Blanc.

For the hot meal, we will have halibut fried in butter and baked over an open fire with added sugar. It is served with cauliflower puree and eel cream.

And for dessert, we will be served a brownie made of bitter chocolate with bourbon, it is served in combination with a delicate mango mousse and kiwi granite.

We are enjoying and sharing our impressions of our trip to the edge of the earth!

Today, after breakfast, we will have time to go to the fish market so that you can buy local delicacies and souvenirs for the road.

Then we will escort you to the airport.

Happy and full of new experiences! See you soon!