Itinerary:

Day 1: Moscow – Tver – Torzhok Total distance: 250 km Just as eight centuries ago, the first major stop en-route from Moscow to Novgorod (and later to St. Petersburg) is the city of Tver. Situated in a strategically important location at the confluence of Tvertsa and Volga rivers, this almost 900 years old town (the capital of a large principality) used to be the main rival of Moscow in becoming the political center of North-Eastern Rus’. We will make a short walking tour around the historical center of Tver and stop for lunch on the Volga embankment. In the ancient times we would continue our way to Torzhok directly by Tvertsa - either by boats, in the summer, or by sledge in the winter. The first thing that we would see from aboard of our vessel is the pier of Mednoye village. Mednoye is known since the XIV century, but became notorious only in the XX century after thousands of Polish officers who had been cynically executed by the Stalin’s regime were buried in its vicinities in 1940. We will visit a memorial cemetery of this «Tver Katyn» and will then deviate a little from the Tvertsa's course in order to see a remarkable example of an XVIII century Russian noble estate – Znamenskoye-Rayok. An introduction to this masterpiece of architecture and a walk along the picturesque English garden will give you a good insight of how the Russian nobles lived in their Golden age, during the times of Catherine the Great. Returning to the quiet waters of Tvertsa, we will get our first chance to taste some real Russian off- road. For more than 200 years Tvertsa was a part of the water transport system connecting Volga with Neva and the Baltic Sea. At the end of the XVIII century about 4000 boats, carrying grain, flour and other goods to St. Petersburg, passed annually by this river. Upstream they were dragged by men and horses for which a special towpath was built along the riverbank. Using that very road – now abandoned and unused – we’ll try to break through to our final destination of the day. Authentic old bridges built from boulders some 200 years ago will help us pass over numerous streams. We should arrive at our cozy hotel in Torzhok just in time to celebrate the successful ending of our first travel day with a fine dinner.

Day 2: Torzhok – V. Volochek – Valday Total distance: 210 km Torzhok - once the southern outpost of the Novgorod Republic, and then the inevitable stop on the road between the two capitals - will charm you with the spirit of an old provincial town, which has miraculously preserved the ancient Boris and Gleb Monastery, numerous churches, medieval ramparts, road palace of Catherine II and a number of urban mansions that adorn both banks of Tvertsa with their facades. The pride of Torzhok is architect Nikolay Lvov, who decorated the town itself and its vicinities with real masterpieces of mansion and church architecture. He is the author of the unique "Devil’s Bridge" which we will see and even walk over in the open-air museum "Vasilyovo", the place where the best samples of wooden architecture from all over the Tver region are gathered. Following Tvertsa further upstream we’ll soon reach its source, located in the town of Vyshny Volochok (literally “the upper portage”), which stands on the divide of the Baltic and Caspian drainage basins. In this place, where the rivers of the two seas most closely approach each other, people have since ancient times dragged their boats across the dry land in order to deliver cargo from Northern Europe to the Russian principalities, the Golden Horde, Persia, etc. It is here that Peter the Great built a large reservoir and a channel, which later became part of Vyshnevolotskaya water system. We will visit this impressive hydraulic structure, find out how it used to function, what difficulties travelers had to face here and what was the role of the pilots who conducted the boats through the dangerous rapids. After a hearty lunch, we continue our way and make our final stop for the day in the amazing Zaklyuchie estate, which before 1917 belonged to a well-known St.Petersburg architect Alexander Khrenov, who built a real fairytale castle here and began breeding horses in this beautiful solitary place. In the evening we arrive to the town of Valday, where we stay overnight and spend the whole next day.

Day 3: Valday Total distance: 100 km

Valday is not only a city of bells (which we’ll get a chance to listen to at the Russian bell museum) and barankis (Russian bagels) (which we’ll certainly taste during lunch), but also the capital of the country of lakes, with the status of a National Park. The city gave its name to an entire upland region, where the headwaters of such Great Russian Rivers as Volga, Dnieper and Western Dvina are located. One of the most well known attractions of Valday is the famous Iversky monastery, founded in the XVII century by Patriarch Nikon and situated in the middle of the Valday Lake on Selvitsky Island. We will change our mode of transportation for a while and take a boat to reach the island. After communicating with God, and a smart lunch we will get back into our cars and pay a visit to the abode of… Satan! Lost in the Valdai woods we will find an abandoned military base of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles, a true witness of the cold war era. “Satan” was the name given by NATO to one of the modifications of this terrible weapon. In the evening back at the hotel there will be some free time to relax or to enjoy the Russian banya (sauna) as an option.

Day 4: Valday – Staraya Russa – Novgorod Total distance: 300 km We should get a good sleep the night before, because today, we will have to negotiate some pretty rugged field tracks in order to reach our first point of interest - the Ignach-cross. This monument stands on the bank of Polomet river and marks the spot where the Tatar-Mongol troops stopped in 1238 on their way to Novgorod and turned back, never capturing the city. Thus it is the northernmost point of Eurasia that the Genghis Empire hordes ever reached. War passed through these lands not once. 500 years after Tatars the Soviet troops fought fierce battles with the Nazis here. We will pass through the city of Demyansk, after which two large operations of the Great Patriotic War were named, and we’ll also visit a German cemetery in Korpovo and salute those ordinary guys from Germany, who, at their mad Fuhrer’s whim, found their death in the marshes of Novgorod. Many people discovered Russia for themselves and fell in love with it thanks to Feodor Dostoevsky's works. The famous Russian writer spent his last eight years, the happiest and most fruitful, with his family in his own house in the city of Staraya Russa. We will visit this very house, which has become a Dostoevsky museum, and will walk on the streets on which the Karamazov Brothers, Grushenka, Smerdyakov and other heroes of the world famous novel set foot on. After lunch, we’ll only have to drive around Lake Ilmen from the west to reach Novgorod. At the southern approaches of the city we will visit the ancient Yuriev (St. George’s) Monastery, founded by Yaroslav the Wise in the XI century.

Day 5: Novgorod

Total distance: 50 km Velikiy (Great) Novgorod is Russia’s oldest city, one of the two (the second is Kiev) economic and cultural centers of ancient Rus’, the capital of one of the first European republics of Common era. The St. Sophia Cathedral approaching its millennial anniversary, the medieval Detinets (citadel), the merchants’ Yaroslav's Court with its numerous birch-bark letters, the "Millennium of Russia" monument with 126 statues of historical personalities of Russia – all that is what we’ll see during our walk through the city center. Novgorod is also rich with old churches, which have kept their distinctive exteriors and stunning frescoes. We will visit the Church of the Savior on Nereditsa, Savior on Ilyin and St. Simeon’s church, the walls of which remember Alexander Nevsky and Маrfa Posadnitsa, Ivan the Terrible and Jacob De la Gardie. At dinner you will have the opportunity to taste fresh fish from Lake Ilmen, pelmeni (dumplings) with game and medovukha (mead).

Day 6: Novgorod – Luga - Kingisepp

Total distance: 320 km Saying goodbye to Novgorod, we can’t miss the beautiful Vyazhischsky monastery decorated with fancy tiles. To get over to the Leningrad region we will once again need to apply our off-road skills. As we move on, you will be astounded, to find yourself under the red vaults of Borschovsky caves on the bank of the river Oredezh. Their layered walls are made of nothing else but sand, and stand under their own weight, which truly looks and feels amazing. Around lunchtime we should arrive to the city of Luga, which lies halfway between St. Petersburg and Pskov. The history of the city is associated with the Great Patriotic War. After lunch, we will continue to advance to the west, exploring along the way the landscapes of Shelonskaya pyatina of the former Novgorod Republic stopping on our way at the Assumption Dolozhskaya cave church. The ancient Russian city of Yamburg, nowadays bearing the name of the Estonian revolutionary Victor Kingisepp will welcome us for the night.

Day 7: Kingisepp – Ivangorod – Koporye – St. Petersburg

Total distance: 210 km During the final day of our voyage, we will work our way to St. Petersburg along the western border of Russia. No wonder that almost all the attractions of the day are associated with defense. In the morning we will drive right to the bank of Narva River, which nowadays serves as the border between Russia and Estonia. For many centuries two fortresses have stared at each other from different banks of the river: the Estonian Hermann Castle and the Russian Ivangorod. We will spend some time here studying the towers and walls of the well-preserved medieval citadel of Ivangorod. Much older, and maybe even more interesting is the Koporskaya fortress, awaiting us about 80 km to the northeast. After Koporye we are finally going to see the waters of Baltic Sea as we make a lunch stop in the town of Sosnovy Bor (literally - Pine Forest). In the afternoon we will reach some defensive structures of a completely different era - the period of the heroic defense of the Oranienbaum bridgehead in 1941-1944. First we’ll go down into the catacombs of "Grey Horse" battery, and then walk around the "Red Hill" fort, where we’ll try to imagine the power of a 305-mm cannon, striking already by its appearance. As our journey ends, we will drive through the towns of Lomonosov and Peterhof, and finally drop our anchors at the parking lot of our excellent hotel. A well-deserved gala dinner awaits us here and it’s time to raise our glasses and celebrate the successful completion of our expedition.

Tour highlights:

 Tver and Torzhok towns  Vyshy Volochek water system  Iversky monastery and Valday national park  Velikiy Novgorod  Ivangorod & Koporye medieval fortresses  Oranienbaum bridgehead - "Grey Horse" battery and "Red Hill" fort