Arkhangelsk
This
winter, we travel to Arkhangelsk,
a city in Russia’s Far North. We
asked a resident, Irina
Kovalenko, to give us some
tips. Her response is as much a
warning as a welcome.
(Photos by Sergei Maximishin (www.maximishin.com)
Let’s be honest. In the winter,
Archangelsk, is fucking
freezing.
By October you need to get your
triple-layer parka out of the
closet (they don’t sell those at
the Gap), put on
varezhki (mittens, because
gloves won’t do it) and learn
how to cross-country ski. I know
I’m supposed to be convincing
you to go to this place, but
take a second and look at where
Arkhangelsk is on the map. Do
you really want to spend your
vacation in a place so cold and
snowbound that skiing is a
required skill for those who
want to take a look at the
downtown? With temperatures
falling to -22º F, you can
easily freeze your enthusiasm
off while trying to hail a cab.
One thing an Arkhangelsk winter
does is provide conclusive
evidence that Ivan the Terrible
truly deserved his moniker. For
it was the tsar (his name can
also be translated as “Ivan the
Awesome”) who in 1584 demanded a
seaport be built on the North
Dvina River next to the
Archangel Monastery.Though the
port certainly came in handy—it
was Russia’s only access to the
sea until St. Petersburg was
founded in 1703—operating it
required that people actually go
to live in Arkhangelsk, which
was a pretty cruel thing to
require before the advent of
fossil fuel.
For a long time,
the only kind of tourism that
existed in the region was the
forced kind:
celebrities like
Count Menshikov, Peter the
Great’s ousted No. 2, and Nobel
Prize winner Josef Brodsky,
spent some time in exile there.
The infamous Gulag at Solovki
Islands is also a part of the
Archangelsk region.
Geographically, Archangelsk is
an extremely large city for its
400,000 people. It runs along
about 25 miles of the Dvina’s
banks. The first attractions a
traveler is likely to embrace
are restaurants, which offer
outstanding fish dishes. But I
urge you not to go to
Solovetskoye Podvorie, an “Old
Russia”-style establishment with
wooden benches and a stuffed
bear holding a balalaika. As a
rule of thumb, when you see a
restaurant with carved wooden
benches, nesting dolls in the
windows and waitresses wearing
peasant outfits, know that you
are basically at the Russian
version of TGI Fridays. Instead,
just ask the hotel doorman which
downtown restaurant the average
Russian or “the people” favor.
Most likely that will be the
best place with the most
reasonable prices. One such
eatery is Pomorsky, where fish
is the name of the game. They
have fish soup, freshly caught
grilled fish and other sorts of
fish, all delicious.
Complimentary vobla, the
dry, salted classic, comes with
every meal.
Once you are full of fish, you
can do some sightseeing.
It shouldn’t take long.Start with
the statue of Lenin, referred to
by natives as “King Kong” (is it
because of the way he’s mounting
that pedestal?). Archangelsk’s
Lenin, like those in most other
Russian cities, does more than
show us the path to socialist
paradise. He is a beacon showing
where all the best cafes,
museums and shops are
concentrated. First, check out
the Museum of Fine Arts, where
weird 16th- and 17th-century
wooden sculptures are on
display. Then you will still
have time to visit the history
museum, which has an exceptional
collection of ancient Russian
treasures.
Speaking of treasures, there are
still many yet to be discovered,
says Vagland, a local history
buff. “In the 16th century,
Archangelsk was a merchant town.
There was only one bank here,
and merchants used to hide their
fortunes in their homes. St.
Petersburg and Moscow were far
away, so most of the gold and
silver remained here, hidden in
the attics or in the fireplaces.
There are lots of deserted
houses in the old business
district, and I often find
amazing stuff there.
Also, in 1919 and in 1941,
Archangelsk served as a naval
base for British and American
troops, and you can find
astonishing objects in their old
quarters: photos, bags, medals,
guns, you name it.”
There are at least two
Archangelsk residents who are
famous all over the country: the
first is Mikhail Lomonosov, a
fisherman’s son who left
Archangelsk as a young man and
walked over 400 miles to St.
Petersburg. There, he talked his
way into a university and soon
became one of Russia’s most
brilliant scholars. A chemist,
physicist and poet, Lomonosov
went on to establish the Russian
Academy of Sciences and Moscow
State University, which still
bears his name.
The second most
famous Arkhangelsker is
Alexander Donskoi, a slightly
tragicomic figure. Donskoi is
the current mayor of Arkhangelsk.
He is also in prison.
The
official charges are that he
faked his university diploma
while running for mayor. But it
seems more than coincidental
that he was arrested two days
after announcing he was
considering a presidential run
in 2008. Since Russian law
stipulates that he cannot be
fired until proven guilty, Donskoi is still the mayor. And
he’s accomplished a lot while
behind bars. For one thing, he’s
switched teams: now he’s a
member of A Just Russia, the
country’s second-largest
political party. It’s also pro-Putin,
so apparently there are no hard
feelings.
If you make up it to Arkhangelsk
any time during its nine-month
winter, you’re already a hero,
so I say you might as well keep
going. A 150-mile sojourn north
of the city will expose you to
some of Russia’s most stunning
natural beauty. The Pinezhsky
forest reserve boasts frozen
waterfalls, caves, and
200-year-old elm trees. There’s
also a picturesque tourist
village with two-story cottages,
a restaurant and a sauna. If
weather permits, try to book a
snowmobile tour. They probably
won’t let you drive the
snowmobile, (definitely not if
you’re a woman) but then, it’s
nice to have your hands free to
snap pictures of the striking
Russian winter.
All in all, Arkangelsk is a bit
colder than an inhabited place
on earth should reasonably be.
But it’s the harsh climate that
has made the culture and the
landscape of this area so
fascinating. In the end, it’s
worth the price of the parka—all
three layers of it.
