Around Staraya Ladoga

Staraya Ladoga is surrounded by other places of interest. Twelve kilometers to the north is the town of Novaya Ladoga. If you follow the town’s main street — prospect Karl Marx, which runs along the river Volkhov — you will come to the Nikolo-Medvedsky Monastery. There you will find an early 20th century cemetery with merchants’ graves and two 15th century churches which were rebuilt in the 19th century. As you walk back along the main street, take note of the two 18th century churches. Klimentovskaya Church has an interesting hexahedral belfry with a helmet-like dome. In the streets connecting to Karl Marx prospect, you will find many pre-revolutionary buildings, mostly single-story merchant’s homes and two-story office buildings.

There are other gems along the Volkhov river. Just over one kilometer north of Novaya Ladoga is the village of Krenitsy, which has an 18th century church. On the other side of the Volkhov is the ancient old believers’ village of Nemyatovo and the village of Issad, with ruins of Troitsky Monastery.

Not far from Staraya Ladoga’s fortress, before the village of Plekhanovo and on both sides of the river Volkhov, there are light grey limestone cliffs. In Staraya Ladoga, there are two caves which formed on the site of old quarries. The first, under the Church of John the Baptist, is 340 meters long. The second, called Tanichkina, is three kilometers down the Volkhov river. Tanichkina is a labyrinth, which in the winter houses a large colony of bats. Needless to say, it is unsafe to visit the cave without a guide or prior training.

To the east of Volkhov, there is also a lot to see. Some 30 kilometers before the town of Lodeinoye pole, in the estuary of the river Pasha, is the village of Sviritsa. This interesting village is situated on islands surrounded by the rivers Svir, Pasha, Kotikha, Dolgaya, Sviritsa, Babya, and Novoladozhsky. A bit like Venice, there are no streets here, and boats are the main means of transportation. Near the village of Svirskoye, on the shores of Lake Roshchinskoye (18 kilometers north of Lodeinoye pole) is Alexandro-Svirsky Troitsky monastery, founded at the end of the 15th century. Also in the area around Lodeinoye pole, on the shores of the river Oyat, is the working Convent of Vvedeno-Oyatsky, founded in the 15th century. Venturing further east one can explore still more villages, churches and monasteries that speak of ancient history and legends.