Volga and around

Thank you for bearing with late update about the trip I took to the historical town of Bolgar. It took me time to come back and give you update. 

Anyway, I stayed in the small town for 10 days and in these 10 days... I have totally been regenerated! The nature is amazing, soooo vast & beautiful. I have enjoyed watching the view of the Volga river at sunrise and sundown.

It's a pity that I don't have a panoramic shot of it but you can imagine how long it expands from the Valdei hills, northwest of Moscow to the southeast of the Caspian sea.

Volga

Steppes, small ravines, hills and low valleys, wide riverbanks and forest are all around. Though I didn't get too far around, I still got some of the best views I could.

Herd of cows, and flock of crows are often seen behind the fence of the Archaeological reserve. There were horses too, hawks and chicken at the barracks of the archaeologists where I stayed.

Next post, I'll show you the sunsets I've collected during my stay.

Linking with:

Our World Tuesday & WATW

Sailing on Volga River 2

The boat ride was 2 hours so here I have more pictures to show you.

Do you know that if on land there are bus stops, on the river there was a"boat stop".

At first I thought we were already docking but I was looking and I couldn't see the land. We stopped and some passengers got off the boat and few got in. So it is a stop where you can wait for another boat/hydrofoil which goes to a different destination. It was very interesting for me because I haven't witnessed such thing before. Say it was like "a connecting flight".

Here is another. It's a boat transfer. I don't know how exactly things work, whether it is regular or not, if captains communicate or what but anyway, here's  what I saw at least. Two or three of our passengers transferred to another boat going to a different direction. This is another, after the boat stop. Boat transfer-funny eh?

Meanwhile inside our boat. Some people were judt chatting, others sleeping. I think it was only me who kept on making pictures, which obviously underlined that I was the only foreigner/tourist in the group.

 At this point, I was already standing trying to stretch my legs out. Our captain seem to be doing ok, he's awake and alert.

The beautiful nature on the shore continues.

The farther we drifted, the more there was a feeling of being on a vast river. It felt huge somewhere in the middle. I couldn't see the shore. The sizes of barges and boats were bigger ships were seen from afar.

There were some more interesting "road signs". I don't know how they should be called, "river signs"?

Later there were no more dachas (summer resthouses) but villages or small town.

This one's a small town, I'm sorry that it's  quite far but if you try to click the picture, you may see it a bit closer. I don't know if you can see the green dome - that's a church. I can't  really identify what the other buildings are. 

And here are Orthodox church and mosque.

A bigger town.

We weren't  heading there.

We were heading to a much smaller town - a very interesting...historical town. That will be in my next post.

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Scenic Weekends

Sailing on Volga River

I'm going to take you to the countrysides but before that, you're  going to hace a ride with me at the Volga river.

This is a hydrofoil and below is the one I took.

It's nice to see the land from afar and get a picture of how it looks like.

Here, is a small barge and behind it are dachas, not very far from the city area. It's more like suburban dachas.

Somewhere farther is a small port and behind are dachas...

more dachas here.

"Dachnikii" -they are reffered to people who stay in dachas every summer. Like I mentioned in my previous post, swimming is one if the favorite pastimes in dacha.

Beautiful river cliffs...

where fishermen below found themselves a hideout.

Somebody's huge poperty.

I don't want to overload you with pictures so I am going to continue next post.

Linking with:

Our World Tuesday

Friendly guests at dacha

There aren't only pests at dacha but also cute & harmless visitors.

I don't know how to call this little stripey bug but sure it is some beautiful one.

How can you not resist feeding this adorable kitten when it comes meowing at your door? It's somebody's but in dacha they are freed outdoors to ramble in the grass and wander around other dachas or perhaps learn a bit about being wild.

It's got a brother. And he eats more. He's also very playful. He was playing with apples like balls on the ground.

Another visitor. Well, she doesn't really ask for food. She'd just pass by as she crosses from ine street to another.

And from the river you can find water snake. I don't really like snakes but this one they said is harmless and was more afraid of people.

So going to dacha and enjoying wonders that it offers is still way worthy than just staying home to avoid pests like ticks.

Klesh

"WARNING!"

"KLESHI"

Klesh is the Russian term for tick, forest tick. "Kleshi" is it's plural form. Ticks are small, blood-sucking antropods related to spiders. There are many different types but the most dangerous is the "tick-borne encephalitis (swelling of the brain).

There has been a warning this year that "klesh" might be around dachas and woods. This year's summer is cool and humid which is a perfect habitat for ticks.

Ticks are most likely to find human's hair, groin or armpits. It likes to stay at hidden parts.

Though they're small, they are very dangerous. They burry their heads on the skin and suck your blood out. The danger is that if you don't notice you've been bitten, it can be life threatening. One can either get encephalitis or have limbs amputated like this woman recently in Oklahoma:

 Tick-bite led to partial arm and leg Amputation

Once a tick is discovered, it shouldn't be taken with fingers or tweezers. Doing so can make it worse as it will just cut off the part of its head burried on the skin. It is advised to run to the hospital for a surgeon to perfotm the removal and check for infections.

It is of course impossible to just stay home to avoid ticks especially in Russia when summer greens are only felt and seen 3 months in a year.

There are some spray available in the shops. They are much stronger than just mosquito sprays so they are used on clothes and shoes, not on skin.

If you want to know more about "klesh", here are some sites with useful information:

About ticks & lyme disease

Tick-borne encephalitis

So, folks be careful out in the woods.

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Signs

note: pictures were from the internet

Summer abundance

So what else can be found in dacha? Many others.

Grapes, for example. Of course they don't  just grow wild. 

Plums. They grow wild and sometimes can be pretty generous with fruits.

Cherries. Next to apples, they are the most industrious and generous. My first harvest was 7 kilos. 

Black currant. Wild as well. They regularly give ample amount every year. I love it on tea. The leaves themselves smell so good.

Rowanberry. They grow wild and left wild but the give a lot of fruit? berry all the time. Bears eat them! It's not people's  favorite cause it's sour and bitter. But I've heard health benefits of it. It can be made wine which is beneficial for liver and lungs. I haven't dobe anything from it honestly except trying how it tastes.

Shadberry. They're  small but very sweet and soft. It ha to be gathered fast as it can dry up in the sun or birds will eat them all - they love them!

Red bird cherry (prunus padus). Wild. They're  very pretty red and transparent. It's  not sweet nor sour. Not my favorite but birds love them too.

Sea buckthorn. Planted, later can beleft wild. The color maybe is like rowanberry but they aren't the same. I also don't know why the name is "sea buckthorn" as they don't grow near the sea. But it naturally growns on a sandy soil in the mountains of the northern hemisphere. 

What's  interesting about this plant is that, it bears fruit only if you plant the male & female shrub side by side. Funny eh? I never thought plants have genders too. :)

Now, here's more of what I've  collected. From the left: cherries, shadberry, black currant and a litthe of raspberries - there's not much of it.

Unfortunately these apples will be left and burried under the ground which served as natural fertilizer. They were already in the ground and the best ones have already been taken home.

How wealthy our earth is! It's in fact overwhelming. I hope this does not only remind me to be thankful and to care about nature but all those who receive the same abundance.

I love summers in Russia. You get all the vitamins you'll need to consume in the coming long and cold winter. 

Summer is to recharge and get vitaminized :)

Linking with: Our World Tuesday

The apple story

Apples are just one of the most common harvest in dacha. Most of these apples are as old as 40 years when dachas were just built.

They grow in every yard. Some people have time to cultivate & take care of them, others just left them growing wild. Either way, apples bear an abundant fruit every summer.

     

There are different sorts and sizes too. They are all good for jam, pies, compote and "kompot" - it's a Russian word and I'm  not sure what exactly it is called in English. It's a warm kinda juice from boiled apples (or fruit berry mix).

 

Like I said there's too much. Most of them are left on the ground or burried under. People try to share but neighbors have the same. If one tries to share at work, one might receive too as colleagues have dachas too.

What I like most about these apples is that they grow in absolutely natural conditions. Nothing can be in it except the minerals from the soil where it is growing.

Activities in dacha

When people say, I'm going dacha and spend the whole summer there, it means they're  going to soend summer in the "relatively wild" place, indulge in gardening, fishing, swimming, tanning, boating, biking for kids, etc.

Some dachas are right by the beach. These are the new ones, bought mostly. 

Many people bring their rubber boats, others have much simplier boats enough to float around the river nearby.

Others even manage to swim...

or water skii.

Whatever activity can be done in the dacha areas, people would do. I've seen some playing beach volleyball too. 

In the musician street, people gather and play music or sing songs in the evening. It's almost like an orchestra or concert. It's great to live next to their street, you get a free great entertainment :)

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Scenic Weekends