Cherepovets is called the hot heart of the Russian north. A trip here and to the nearby ancient cities of Ustyuzhna and Belozersk will really please everyone. The local flavor will hardly leave anyone indifferent.
The journey begins
A rich history and picturesque nature, masterpieces of Russian architecture and many educational tourist programs, modern infrastructure and good roads - a trip to the Vologda region will be interesting and rich in impressions, no matter what route and what time of year you choose to explore this remarkable northern region. But if you have only one long weekend at your disposal, it makes sense to go to Cherepovets. And from Cherepovets just a couple of hours drive to the wonderful old cities - Belozersk, Ustyuzhna, Vologda. And in Cherepovets itself there is something to see and do.
Traveling in the Vologda region is convenient and pleasant also because the tourist infrastructure is well developed here. Contrary to expectations, the industrial center of the Vologda Oblast does not look like an industrial zone under the gloomy shadow of factory chimneys. This is a nice clean city with wide streets, a well-groomed center full of well-preserved merchant mansions, green parks and pretty embankments.
The main place for walking is Cathedral Hill, a hill at the confluence of the Sheksna and Yagorba rivers, where the oldest building in the city - the Resurrection Cathedral - stands among the centuries-old birches. Here you definitely need to take a walk, go down to the water along the old cobblestones near the house-museum of the mayor Ivan Milyutin and admire the first cable-stayed October bridge in the USSR. Sovetsky prospect is also a must for a walk, each building of which has its own interesting history.
You cannot miss the house-museum of the Vereshchagin brothers: the great artist Vasily and Nikolai, who invented the famous Vologda oil. Admirers of Russian rock should visit the Bashlachev Museum. And lovers of the Silver Age poetry - go to the literary museum of Igor Severyanin in the Lotarevs' estate (40 km from the city).
How to spend leisure time with children?
1. Museum of the metallurgical industry
A modern iterative center where you can not only learn the history of mining and production of metals, but also work with a hammer, change into a steelworker's work suit in an interactive fitting room. Solve riddles and puzzles and try to "weld" virtual steel. For children there are workshops on weaving from wire, creating paintings from nails and steampunk crafts from bolts and nuts, as well as scientific experiments and excursions-quests.
2. The Galsky Manor
The old estate "Gorki" of the hereditary noblemen of Cherepovets Galsky is located on the left bank of the Sheksna. This is the only landowner estate in the Vologda region, where not only the noble mansion, but also all the outbuildings, has completely survived. In the human hut there is now a museum of peasant life, an equestrian section operates in the stable, and the manor house itself, after 20 years of restoration, looks as if the owners left just a minute ago. The museum conducts thematic programs, master classes, photo sessions and holidays.
Sizma village, Vologda region
In an ancient Russian village 74 km from Cherepovets, they still speak the same dialect as in the 17th century - you cannot understand it without translation. This is not an ethnographic museum, but a real village, nevertheless, there are excursions for tourists that allow you to move back in time 150 years ago. The program includes a meeting with bread and salt, visits to museums of Russian life (there are five of them in Sizma), master classes in folk crafts. Game programs with ditties and epics and, of course, food from the oven and tasting of the local intoxicating drink "yeast".
You will definitely not be bored during a trip to the Vologda Oblast. Stock up on a good mood and hit the road as soon as possible!
