The Valaamo monastery was completely self-sufficient, boasting factories and farms that produced an abundance of products. Although the monastery was shut down during the days of the Soviet Union, it is now once again functioning. Valaamo is blessed with a micro-climate, making it warmer than neighboring regions where monks cultivated melons growing up to three kilograms and watermelons up to eight. Valaamo is an island of pristine beauty, and is crisscrossed by trails that lead hikers through fields of flowers, forests, and farms once tended to by monks. The remarkable churches, buildings, and chapels of Kizhi, centuries old, are renown for being built entirely of wood, but fitted together without the need of any nails.
Tourists visit old dwellings of Russian pheasants where guides explain how they lived.
Although your cruise ship will not be in the class of Western luxury liners, it must be said that the ship's standards are quite reasonable considering the price charged for tours. All cabins include sinks, toilets, closet space, and separate beds for passengers. Communal showers rooms are available in every level of the ship. Most of the passengers aboard the ship will probably be Russians, and limited knowledge of English is known by the ship's crew members. Many Russian passengers, however, will be eager to practice their English learned in school to foreigners on board.