Feel the hot Siberian winter in theSandunovsky bathhouse 9 days / 8 nights
Altai. Winter and Fire
9 days / 8 nights
Accommodation in Zoloto Altaya Lodge Visiting Siberian Sandynovskaya Banya
Active Programs
Snowmobile driving in Siberian taiga Flight on the motor paraglider / or dog sledding Russian sleigh riding Excursion to Lebedinoye Lake (lit. Swan Lake)
Immersing in Russian Culture
Den Theatre Christmas divination and caroling Ancient wedding rite Dumpling cooking class Visit to cheese making farm Excursion to a Siberian peasant manor house Lunch in an ancient pharmacy and excursion to pharmacy museum
Tourist ComplexZoloto Altaya (SandunySiberia)
We will live in the surprisingly cozy and hospitable manor, which locates at the foot of the Cherginskiy mountain range near the resort Belokurikha. The latter is widely known for thermal radon springs and healing mountain air. Here you can get acquainted with the real Russia. Accommodation at houses of Siberian pine tree timber, which are artfully decorated in the Russian style. Each room is unique, because all elements of the decor are made by hands of craftsmen with great love. Ceremonial dolls, paintings on the ceiling and furniture, panel paintings with a cockerels and cats, openwork pillows and handmade napkins. We guarantee that you will not find two identical decorations. Here everything is saturated with warmth and kindness. By the way, important detail: Even in the Siberian winter in the houses very warm, because they are heated by own boiler, which uses natural gas.
SandunovskyBathhouse
The pride of the tourist complex is the famousSandunovskybathhouse (these are the oldest and most famous bathhouses in Moscow, are founded in 1808). A few years ago, the masters of the bathing business from Sanduny decided to open their bathhouses in Altai. And they made, perhaps, the best of the now existing bathhouse in Siberia, it is light, are built with aspen logs; with a furnace, which is made of cast iron and semiprecious stones (jade), giving light steam, youth and health. Bathhouses are heated with birch wood, and oak besoms are specially brought from the Krasnodar Territory. The visiting of bathhouse in our tour is a special ritual, during which in a hot steam room you can plunge into an ice font or an ice-hole, and then rejuvenate in a warm vat with a decoction of oregano, eucalyptus and chamomile.
Russian Cuisine
You will not remain indifferent to Russian cuisine. The visiting of refectory will be your most favorite daily practice on our traveling. The chef will not cease to amaze you with his skill, offers wholegrain flour dumplings with pine nuts, soups with olive decor, steamed salmon chops, pies with milk mushroom, berry fruit-drinks, fir lemonade and many other cooking masterpieces. And be sure to ask to remove away the basket of hot freshly baked bread. Otherwise, these insanely tasty and fragrant pieces will somehow disappear without a trace in your mouth. One important fact: all products, which are used in the restaurant, have the status of "ecologicaly clean." For example, flour is only grown on the own fields, where chemical fertilizers have never been used. And fresh meat and fish are purchased at farms in the foothills of the Altai.
Tour program
Day 1 Acquaintance with Altai
Distance - 230 km,the form of transport- acar (3.5 hours)
After the meeting at the airport of Barnaul, we go to the old mansion of the gold miner Epiktet Olarovsky, in which now the State Museum of the History of Literature, Art and Culture of Altai is located. The building is a sample of the urban noble estate of the 19th century and it is remarkable, because Nicholas Roerich stayed here during the Central Asian Expedition in 1926.
In the Russian hut in the museum you take breakfast, after which we visit the presentation of the Christmas den. This is an old kind of street theater art, especially popular in Slavic countries. With the help of puppet dolls in the den Christmas scenes are played.
At the end of the presentation we go to the foothills of the Altai to the tourist complex "Zoloto Altaya". Upon arrival - accommodation and lunch. Time for a little rest. In the evening - bath procedures in the black-style bathhouse, a large aspen bathhouse and a rejuvenating vat.
Day 2 Russian Funs
Today we travel back to Russia 200 years ago. In the morning, we are dressed in the old noble costumes, we ride through the snow-white fields by a sleigh pulled by trotters. Sparkling snow under the hooves, the sound of bells, the steppe wind - what kind of Russian does not like to drive fast?
After you have a master class on cooking the most famous Siberian dish - dumplings, or "bread ears" (the Russian word "pelmeni" or dumplings so is translated from the Finno-Ugric languages). This integral attribute of all Russian restaurants, it was cooked mainly in the winter before big holidays. All family take part in the molding of dumplings in the long winter evenings, gathering at the warm hearth. We cook dumplings with different fillings, and, of course, happy: such is the ancient Russian omen - to wrap something unusual in a piece of dough. If you get a happy dumpling on a plate, do not doubt - luck will be with you all next year!
In the evening with the onset of darkness, we do divination. In Russia, the period between Christmas and Epiphany was considered unusual, since it was at this very dark time of the year the evil forces weaken and can tell us about the future. We dress up costumes, arrange funny games and round dances, learn dittys and Christmas carols, throw shoes behind the outskirts, learn the name of the narrowed with the help of mirror, candles and ashes. And be sure to try to remember the dreams that you dream this night. Some of them may be prophetic...
Day 3 Fairy Taiga
Snowmobile ride to the Chergnskiy mountain range Distance - 20 km,the form of transport - asnowmobiles
Day of active rest. By snowmobiles, are accompanied by instructors, we make a trip to the Siberian taiga to the natural park "Predgorye Altaya". Climbing the mountains, we see a reserved forest: pines, fir trees and birches, covered with a thick snow blanket until spring. Sparkling hoarfrost, bitter cold, hot tea with pies - these pictures accompany you throughout the trip. And who knows, maybe we will be lucky and we will be able to see the inhabitants of the forest - roe deer, marals, or mountain goats or foxes.
On returning to the tourist complex, we take hot Russian bathhouse!
Day 4 We Take off!
Distance - 90 km,the form of transport - acar
After breakfast, we make a visit to the only certified camping of paragliders "Bobrovaya Zaimka" beyond the Urals. Here, accompanied by an instructor, you be able to fly on a powered paraglider. Alternative program - dog sledding (Siberian Husky).
After we make a visit to the cheese kingdom "Tri-A". Here goats are bred and stunning cheeses are made from goat and cow's milk. By the way, the mistress went to France for dairy bacteria and the recipe of some cheeses. You visit a cheese factory and taste delicious soft cheeses are made from goat milk with various additives, as well as white mold cheese, cheese with fruit tree ash, smoked snail cheese and homemade milk candies.
Return to the tourist complex and take a bathhouse.
Day 5 Ancient Wedding Rite
And today we have a wedding! Quickly determine the role: to be bride, groom, friends / girlfriends or noble parents. The ceremony will be performed according to the old rules of the Polish Old Believers who settled in Altai a couple of hundred years ago. The traditions of making costumes and the rules for conducting the ceremony were carefully preserved by the descendants of the immigrants. After you are waiting for a noisy party and a festive dinner are cooked according to old recipes handed down from generation to generation.
Day 6 Swan Fairy Tale
Distance - 200 km
Do you know that Altai is the only place in Siberia where swans winter? We see graceful birds slowly emerging from a frosty haze. To do this, we go to the non-freezing lakes in the floodplain of the Katun River. Every year in November several hundred swans come here to spend the cold season.
After we make a visit to the Altai herbalists. They tell us about the secrets of using medicinal herbs for health promotion. Together with them we will cook balsams, teas and strong drinks from burdock root, fir, sea buckthorn, chokeberry and other plants. And you can taste green dumplings with nettle and mushroom gravy, fern salad, dessert "Snezhnaya Chaga" and other unusual dishes made from Siberian plants.
Day 7 Andreevskaya Sloboda
Distance - 30 km, the form of transport - a car
Today we make a trip to Belokurikha-2. Along a dizzying serpentine we lift on the mountains by car, where the manor-museum Andreevskaya Sloboda is located. This is a sample of the 19th century peasant courtyard. All the exhibits of the museum complex - from the mansion to household items - were saved during ethnographic expeditions. You visit the acting forge and be able to see how forged products were made in the old days. In the house of bread, we learn how the grain was stored. Let's look into the house of healer. In the chocolate museum, we get acquainted with the "sweet" history of Russia, are represented from chocolate figures of fairy-tale characters, historical figures, plot of books.
For dinner, you be invited to the tavern Gogol, a restaurant is decorated in the style of a noble estate, where scenes from the works of N.V. Gogol are featured. By the way, the recipes of the dishes, which are served here are also collected from the works of the Russian writer, who, as known, was a good cook.
On returning to the tourist complex, take a farewell bathhouse and dinner
Day 8 Silver city Barnaul
Accommodation – Barnaul Hotel Distance – 230 km (3.5 hours)
After breakfast we departure from the hotel and go to Barnaul. Upon the arriving to the city we check in the hotel and then go to the most ancient stone building of Barnaul. It was the oldest pharmacy of Siberia. Nowdays it is the only one museum of pharmacy in Russia – Gornaya Apteka (lit. Mountain Pharmacy). We will have a lunch in this old mansion and enjoy violin concert. Returning to Barnaul Hotel. Dinner.
Day 9 Farewell to Altai
Distance - 20 km, the form of transport - a car
Early breakfast (or packed lunch) and transfer to the airport. Departure to Moscow (flight "Aeroflot" SU 1431 at 7:05 a.m.).
Notes It is possible to arrive in Novosibirsk and transfer from / to the airport Tolmachevo in Novosibirsk. As an option in this option, we offer a visit to the Sanduny Siberia bathhouse in Novosibirsk on the day of arrival.
Depending on the weather conditions, the days of the program may be interchanged
Photo credits: Pavel Filatov
Все фото и видеоматериалы принадлежат их владельцам и используются для демонстрации.
