Russian Federation travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises spa and resorts

The Cathedral of Basil the Blessed, is a Russian Orthodox cathedral erected on the Red Square in Moscow in 1555–1561. The Monument to Minin and Pozharsky is made of bronze. Not particularly large, it consists of nine chapels, built on a single foundation. According to legend, however, it was built by an Italian architect who was blinded so that he could never create anything that was similar or equal. The St. Basil’s Cathedral, along with the Red Square were inscribed by Unesco as World Heritage Sites in 1990!
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The great watery abyss of Lake Baikal is a huge rift valley in the heart of Siberia formed some 25 million years ago. It is both the oldest and the deepest lake in the world, containing around 20 per cent of the planet’s fresh surface water. Olkhon, one of the largest lake islands in the world, is the geographical, historical and spiritual heart of Baikal, divided by a treacherous narrow strait, near the lake’s deepest point of 1, 637m. Photo by: Gunnar Geir Pétursson
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The island of Stolnby is one of some 160 islands on Lake Seliger in western Russia, about 360 km from Moscow. The lake is a complex system of 212 sq km of interconnected lakes, channels and islands, a protected nature reserve surrounded by spectacular wild countryside of hills, fens, pine forest inhabited by moose, brown bears, lynxes and wolves. Photo by: Dmitry Chastikov
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The Kazan Kremlin is only surviving Tatar complex that remains a unique architectural and historical monuments, consists of several unique, distinctive and inimitable features. The general space of the Kremlin makes 150 thousand sq. m. External perimeter of walls is about 1800 meters. In XVI-XVII centuries there were 13 towers but today only eight are preserved. On November 30, 2000 the historical-architectural complex of the Kazan Kremlin was enrolled into the UNESCO World Heritage list.
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Kurl Islands is a chain of 56 volcanic islands stretches for 1,300 km like stepping-stones all the way from the Kamatchka Peninsula to Hokkaido, Japan. They form the boundary between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean and the summits of undersea stratvolcanoes, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Offshore is the Kuril trench, one of the deepest ocean regions in the world, 10,5 km deep. 
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A wonderfully compelling world of icebergs, glaciers and the midnight sun, Franz Josef Land is one of the few remaining truly wild places on the planet. It is an archipelago of 191 volcanic islands, intended with dramatic bays and fjords, covering an area of 16,130 sq km in the Barents Sea, almost entirely within the Arctic Circle. There is located the most northerly point of Europe, only 911 km from the North Pole, at Cape Fligely on Rudolph Island. Photo by: photofthewilds
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Kizhi Island is one of over 1650 islands of Lake Onega, in the Karelia Republic in Russia. Located approximately 300 km from St. Petersburg, Onega Lake is the second largest lake in Europe after Lake Ladoga. Kizhi is one of the largest open air museums in Russia, features a beautiful ensemble of 83 wooden structures, most of which date back to the 16th.
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