Cruising Through the Russia of Peter the Great

Three centuries before Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev fought to open his nation to certain Western political ideas, Czar Peter the Great changed the course of Russian history by reaching beyond the borders of that huge landmass to assimilate Western economics, technology and culture.

So a trip through the Russia of Peter the Great can be a helpful experience in understanding the dynamics of what is happening to the Soviets today.

And thanks to glasnost , the Russia of Peter the Great has recently opened to Western tourists for the first time in decades.

Although the 17th-Century capital of Russia was Moscow, Peter spent most of his adult life out of the city, much of it in the Autonomous Republic of Karelia--68,000 square miles of forests, lakes and rivers commonly called “Petite Siberia.” There, north of Leningrad, he spearheaded construction of Russia’s first navy, built a major munitions plant and expanded Russia’s borders toward Western Europe.

Originally settled by warlike migrating tribes that survived until Sweden invaded the territory in the 12th Century, Karelia reaches north far beyond the Arctic Circle to the Barents Sea. When Peter recaptured it from Sweden in 1721, Karelia became part of Finland under Russian domination, giving rise to its curious polyglot Russo-Finnish culture.

Local customs and even regional languages have always been permitted in the Soviet political structure when an area is designated as an “autonomous republic.” And so Karelia has been granted a great deal of cultural and even political autonomy. This mix of culture can be found throughout the republic, even though more than 400,000 Finns who were living there prior to World War II refused to remain under Soviet domination after the war, and were repatriated to their native country.

Traveling by car through Karelia is almost impossible, for the thick taiga forests and ubiquitous bogs and marshes preclude construction of many good roadways. It is only in winter, when the bogs are frozen solid, that movement on land becomes feasible. Although some people use the limited number of trains that leave both Moscow and Leningrad for Karelia, most Soviet citizens prefer to travel via cruise ship on the many rivers and lakes to the key Karelian attractions.

Petrozavodsk is the base destination for most of these natives spending a weekend in the north. They often use the hydrofoil service from Leningrad to Petrozavodsk, which is on the northwest corner of mammoth Lake Onega. Covering 3,800 square miles, Onega is the second largest inland body of water in Europe, behind only Lake Ladoga, another Karelian tourist magnet 90 miles west.

But there is a far more pleasant and relaxed way to tour this remarkable region. Steamships leave Leningrad regularly to cruise the Neva and Svir rivers overnight on their way to Lake Onega.

One of the choice cruisers on which to spend the 30 hours it takes to reach Petrozavodsk is the SS Sergei Kirov, berthed on the banks of the Neva in Leningrad. The ship was built only four years ago in East Germany, and offers almost every amenity one would expect on a luxury cruise ship, except for a swimming pool. Although by Soviet standards the food is considered good, it falls far short of the cruise ship cuisine that most Westerners have come to expect.

The summer of 1988 was the first time the Kirov--or any of the Neva cruise ships--carried American passengers. That July, under the joint sponsorship of Intourist and Alumni Holidays of the United States, several hundred intrepid American travelers pioneered the five-day cruise.

And pioneered is exactly the word. Not only was it the first time that many Karelians had ever seen an American, but members of the group were the first Americans to set foot on the Karelian island of Valaam. A New Jersey psychologist, Rosalind Feinberg, leapt out of the Kirov’s landing skiff onto Valaam, launching a new chapter in Russo-American relations. Since then, Valaam has become a regular stop on Karelian cruises offered to Americans.

Summer passengers on the Kirov experience a special treat on the first night of their cruise, as the ship plies the waters of the Neva. Here, on the same latitude as Greenland and Labrador, the sun slips behind the horizon for only three hours. This is the “Land of the White Nights,” where it is daylight almost around the clock. One can sit late into the night on the upper deck listening to delightful balalaika music and watching the sun paint silver streaks across the river.

Come morning, as the ship enters the Svir River, the waters turn reddish brown, tinted by extensive mineral and ore deposits. Magnificent Karelian birch forests line the river bank as far as the eye can see.

Thousands of felled logs are chained to the shore, awaiting one of the many river tugs to shepherd them to mills further downstream. Karelia is the Soviet Union’s principal source of newsprint, and supplies much of its lumber. Occasionally, the Kirov passes a small logging settlement with simple wooden shacks and the omnipresent boathouses and saunas. But the land is mostly uninhabited.

Only the riverside community of Lodeinoe Pole (field of boats) stands out from the rest as one travels up the river. Settled in the 12th Century, Lodeinoe Pole later became the site of the first shipyard of Czar Peter in his effort to create a Russian navy.

Surrounded by forests for lumber and ore for iron, this isolated community was an ideal site for Peter’s secret preparations. The shipyard closed in 1830, and the area has since been forced to depend upon its lumber mill for survival.

As one travels north through gigantic Lake Onega, it is usually impossible to see the shoreline. The trip feels like an ocean voyage until the smokestacks and bustling piers of Petrozavodsk come into view. A large industrial harbor serves the mills, refineries and metallurgical factories that abound in this busy capital city. Adjacent is a tourist pier where several cruise ships and numerous hydrofoils dock. The pier comes alive at 6 a.m. as the first hydrofoils leave, packed with tourists on one-day excursions from the city.

Petrozavodsk, which has about 260,000 residents, was originally the site of a munitions factory, selected by Peter the Great for its abundant water power and ore reserves. Leaving the wharf for the city, one sees a life-sized statue of Peter with his arm pointing to the location of that first foundry.

Staying in Petrozavodsk is not recommended . . . except on a cruise ship. The main hotel, Severnaya, boasts of 30 “first-class” rooms, but its attractive neoclassical marble architecture is the only first-rate feature. The rooms are Spartan, dingy and reek of coarse disinfectants.

Otherwise, Petrozavodsk is surprisingly cosmopolitan and cultural, with several colleges and universities. A look across Kirov Square reveals the cultural diversity of the city. On one side of the square stands the Russian Dance and Music Theatre with its imposing classical facade of lofty Grecian columns fashioned of native granite and marble. Diagonally across the square is the contemporary Finnish Drama Theatre, which has vivid figures from the national epic “Kalevala” sculpted on its stark, contemporary concrete facade.

The art museum is a block and a half away. Philharmonic Hall is on Gogol Street, and the popular puppet theater can be found on nearby Marx Boulevard. The national song-and-dance ensemble Kantele, which is based in Petrozavodsk, performs in many countries and is almost always on tour during the summer. But delightful performances of local ethnic groups--Russian, Finnish and Karelian hybrids--are offered throughout the tourist season.

Several side trips from Petrozavodsk are well worth the effort. The longest--not the highest--waterfall in Europe is on the Souna River in the Kivach Nature Preserve. It is one of the Continent’s most beautiful attractions and should not be missed, although it’s a healthy 56-mile drive from the capital. Over the centuries the watery wonder carved its way through many layers of rock.

About halfway along the route to Kivach is the Museum of the Martial Waters. On the site of the Soviet Union’s oldest health resort, founded as a result of Peter’s panoramic view of his nation’s needs, the spa still serves a limited number of Russians, but is primarily a tourist museum. Guests are welcome to taste the harsh mineral waters. But don’t expect anything comparable to Perrier or San Pellegrino. This stuff is just plain bad .

The most popular day-trip from Petrozavodsk is by hydrofoil to the island of Kizhi, about 42 miles northeast. For passengers of the Kirov, it is a pleasant overnight cruise.

Kizhi is the main tourist attraction in southern Karelia, and Soviets throng to view its remarkable outdoor museum, devoted to preserving traditional Karelian wooden architecture. A stroll along the island’s pathways offers glimpses of how hard life was for early settlers. Houses and other buildings have been preserved.

Built in the 17th and 18th Centuries without nails and fashioned only by ax, these structures, including windmills, are a marvel. Karelians of that period believed that a saw destroyed wood’s natural cell structure and permitted moisture to penetrate. Conversely, an ax was believed to seal the cut and help the wood last longer in the damp and cold. Much aspen was used, for it was plentiful and tended not to warp.

The typical Karelian home of that period was designed for an extended family of 50 or more. The family lived on the upper floors and animals below, in an area sufficiently open to the upper level to allow feeding--but which also allowed the animal stench to permeate the living quarters.

The family slept on wooden shelves along the walls, warmed by a large central stove that was usually ceramic for added heat retention. In most houses there were no chimneys, for Karelians believed smoke was antiseptic. The ceilings are still black with soot.

As recently as the turn of the century, life expectancy on this rugged island was 32 years. Today its has risen to 55.

Kizhi’s 700-year-old Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus is the oldest wooden church in the Soviet Union. The rough-hewn interlocking boards that form its walls may remind Americans of log cabin construction. The structure remains amazingly sound after all these centuries.

Nearby stands the magnificent Church of the Transfiguration, which dates to 1714. Fashioned completely of wood, this stunning edifice is capped by 22 cupolas. There is no roof area, and the cupolas rest on prows designed so that snow and rain cannot be trapped and damage the wood. From Kizhi, the Kirov heads south to the Svir River again and on to Lake Ladoga. It’s a 28-hour sail to the Valaam Archipelago, site of several historic monasteries that are no longer in active use. Paths crisscross the area, affording visitors a pleasant day of touring through beautiful woods, along cliffs overlooking the spectacular archipelago and through the grounds of the various monasteries, well-maintained by the 450 people who inhabit the island.

Valaam has traditionally been considered an area of such great natural beauty that students from the Russian Academy of Fine Arts were required to spend time on the archipelago before they could graduate. This program, too, was initiated by Czar Peter.

The full cruise usually takes four days and five nights, returning to Leningrad in the early morning. That allows visitors time to savor the sights of this magnificent city, originally known as St. Petersburg, since it was founded by Peter as the capital of his newly liberated nation.

It is a city of austere beauty, replete with palaces, ornate bridges and glorious parks. And, of course, Leningrad is the home of the Hermitage, Russia’s magnificent art museum. It is said that it would take a visitor 9 1/2 years to examine the entire collection were he or she to stop at each exhibit for 30 seconds. Of course, not everything is on exhibit.

No Peter the Great tour of the Soviet Union could be complete without a visit to Petrodvorets, the magnificent summer complex built by the Czar as his crowning glory. It was here, some 20 miles distant from Leningrad, that he tried to surpass even the beauty of Versailles.

The Grand Palace, home to generations of Czars each summer, was almost totally destroyed by the Nazis during World War II. Although they were never able to penetrate Leningrad completely, their continuous bombardment destroyed many of the region’s great buildings. It is a remarkable tribute to the Soviets that the palace has been almost completely rebuilt in great part by volunteer workers from Leningrad, to whom this monument to the past was so vital a part of their heritage despite the austerity of the Communist state and its disavowal of the Czarist epoch.

The Monplaisir Palace, a few hundred feet away on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, also was severely damaged. This was the special favorite of Peter as he summered away from the Leningrad heat. The restoration has been completed, and the inside is exactly as it was in Peter’s day. An excellent collection of 18th-Century art is also on display.

The gardens of this complex defy comparison with gardens anywhere else in the world. With 140 fountains, a grand marble stairway, ubiquitous sculpture and exactingly maintained landscapes, the exterior rivals--and even surpasses for many--the ornate interiors of the palaces.

There are no mechanical devices feeding the fountains of Petrodvorets. They are all gravity-fed from a holding pond some 12 miles away. The water is delivered to the palace grounds through pipes installed in the 18th Century.

Nowhere in all of the Soviet Union is the influence of the Europe that Peter tried so hard to emulate as evident as it is in this sumptuous complex. Petrodvorets is a fitting climax to a journey back through the early 18th Century.

GUIDEBOOK: A Visit to Karelia

Getting there: Aeroflot flies direct from New York to Moscow four times a week, and to Leningrad weekly on Thursday. There are no flights from Los Angeles. Call Aeroflot at (212) 332-1050. Pan Am offers twice-weekly direct flights to Moscow from New York. Call Pan Am at (800) 221-1111. Pan Am’s round-trip air fare for the summer, with 21-day advance purchase, is $1,107. If you plan your Karelia cruise through Des Plaines, Ill.-based Alumni Holidays, all transatlantic transportation is included.

Getting around: Passage on the SS Sergei Kirov can be booked upon arrival in Leningrad. Intourist, which maintains its only U.S. office in New York, cannot complete arrangements before you leave the United States. Contact the North West Shipping Co. when you arrive in Leningrad.

Alumni Holidays and Intourist are jointly sponsoring six trips to the Soviet Union this summer. Departure dates are June 22, July 2, July 12, July 22, Aug. 1 and Aug. 11. Cost of the complete package starts at $3,395 from Los Angeles. Alumni Holidays: (800) 323-7373.

For more information: Call Intourist at (212) 757-3884.