Day 8 – Friday: Mandrogi Craft Village

We stopped at a village made of traditionally constructed buildings, financed initially at least by a wealthy Russian businessman, that houses a colony of crafts people. We had a delicious ‘Shashlyk’ barbecue and browsed a large range of both kitschy and artistic items, again taking some time to wander through the birch glades, admiring the decorated buildings, including a ferry terminal complete with row of statues and a mermaid. The ferry was a manually winched one. We saw a very poorly decorated Matrioshka doll by Putin in one window. We traverse the largest lake in Europe, Ladoga, tonight. Tomorrow: St Petersburg.

Distaffs