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11:30
Vitaly Dobryansky – Russia's Kite-Surfing Pioneer
Stanitsa Blagoveshchenskaya in southern Russia used to be a typical destination for tourists just looking for a beach vacation. The appearance of kitesurfing – one of the youngest forms of sailing – changed the community’s atmosphere completely, making it almost unrecognizable. Every year, from May through October, a huge camp sets up on Bugasky spit. Hundreds of people go there just to go kitesurfing. This all began in 1998 when the first person to open a kitesurfing school, Vitaly Dobryansky, came to the spit. Nowadays the Russian kitesurfing championship is held in Stanitsa Blagoveshchenskaya every year.
Kineshma deep-fried pie
Kineshma is one of Russia’s oldest cities and is located where the Volga meets the Kineshemka and Kazokha Rivers. Translated from Finno-Urgic, the city’s name means “quiet harbour,” a perfect characterisation of the settlement’s role on the Volga. At first Kineshma was a small fishing village and a convenient stop for merchant ships to unload their cargo. A thousand years later the settlement has transformed into the second-largest city in Ivanov Oblast. Nowadays Kineshma is a stop for many cruise ships which depart from various Russian cities as it is home to numerous fascinating sights and a variety of recreational areas where tourists and locals alike enjoy spending their free time. Here there are several establishments which, over the years, have managed to preserve their own, unique culinary traditions. It was at one of these places — the museum and teahouse Russkaya Izba (Russian H...
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11:45
Kineshma deep-fried pie
The View from Up On High. River Caravans. The Volkhov River
For eight thousand years the Volkhov River has carried its waters from south to north – from Lake Ilmen to Lake Ladoga. The Volkhov was part of the most critical international trade routes for many centuries, and was also the main transportation artery for the swathes of land on either side. Over that span of time, hundreds of thousands of ships of all kinds – dignified merchant vessels, rickety fishing boats, fancy white steamships, working motorboats – sailed along its waters. It has also been the scene of battles for territory and the souls of believers, but at the same time provided an opportunity to maintain commercial ties. The people the river connected learned to solve their problems amicably and be good neighbors. And it was here, on the banks of the Volkhov River, that the Russian state was born.
Now on air
11:30