russia: arkhangelsk

Arkhangelsk is listed in my guidebook, and I found out the mom of one of my previous students is from there, so it seemed like a good place to go for a weekend. The city is nowhere close to Moscow, getting there requires flying to go for just a weekend. You can drive, but you'll be on the road for a while, as you'll have to cover 1250 kilometers. You can take the train, but it takes almost a full day. (I have taken longer trains, but obviously I'm not going to do that for a weekend trip.)

The earliest history of Arkhangelsk comes from the recorded history of Vikings. Wikipedia tells me they were in the area as early as the year 890. Vikings definitely raided the area in 1027, led by Thorir Hund.

During the 12th-15^th centuries the two empires fighting back and forth for control over the area were Russia (the Novgorodian part of what is now Russia,) and Norway. Trade with the English started in the mid 16^th century, followed quickly by trade with the Dutch.

Arkhangelsk has been a port since the beginning, because of its location on the Dvina River, where it empties out into the White sea. This is one of the reasons the city used to be so important to Russia. The port was the biggest in the country until 1703, when the port of St Petersburg was founded and became more important. One of the reasons St Petersburg was founded was because the White Sea is frozen for several months every year, therefore stopping the transport of goods, while the Baltic Sea does not freeze.

There are two huge fires in the history of the city, both during the 17^th century. The result of the fires was the destruction of the entire city.

Near the end of the 17^th century Peter the Great created an official state shipyard, three great ships were built in the first year. Even though the winters are harsh in Arkhangelsk, the entire region has remained important to the Russian military, in particular the navy. Some military industry is still in the area, though I don't know the specifics. 

Not long after the port of St Petersburg opened, Peter the Great decided Arkhangelsk shouldn't be a shipping center at all. A decree was sent out to this effect, resulting in the economic downfall of the city and region. It wasn't until the end of the 19^th century, when a railroad was built to Moscow, when trade revived, and the timber of the region was exported.

According to Wikipedia, during both World Wars Arkhangelsk was a major port of entry for aid coming from the Allies.

Arkhangelsk is still an important seaport, with much of the business coming from the fishing and timber industries. The port is able to stay open year round because of ice breaker ships. (I'd love to spend a month on an ice breaker at some point, just to experience the life.)

My flight from Moscow arrived just after 2 in the morning, I was not thrilled to see how small the airport was. There was wifi, but no plugs. Because of my arrival time I wanted to stay in the airport for the next 5-6 hours, then take a public bus into the city center. 

Apparently this is not a common thing to do in this airport, as there were very few chairs where I could sit for those hours. The lights were even turned off for a couple hours!!

The bus into the city was cheap, only 28 rubles. That's the current equivalent of about $.33USD, which is a fantastic price! It was really easy to get from the bus stop to my hostel, and I was able to check in straightaway. The receptionist was quite surprised that a foreigner was traveling to Arkhangelsk, she said I was brave. I don't consider myself brave, and Arkhangelsk definitely isn't a scary place to go.

Before getting on the airplane I'd looked for Lenin statues, and ended up with a few of them marked on a map. My first sights were two of them, I was able to take city buses to both of them. The two I saw the first day were on opposite ends of town, so the bus rides weren't short, but they were easy. The first Lenin had plenty of pigeons hanging around, argh.

Between the two statues I waslked around the area near the first one, partly because I saw a couple wooden houses that I thought were really photogenic. Photogenic in that they were abandoned/falling apart. 

The weather was absolutely fantastic, making for an interesting contrast of abandoned buildings in the sun.

The second Lenin was in the courtyard behind a building that looked like an abandoned Soviet government building. I have no idea if it actually was abandoned, but the courtyard certainly hadn't received any care in the past couple decades. There was a hammer and sickle carved into the building, but that doesn't mean anything, since many current government have that same carving. Anywho.

From the second Lenin statue (which was actually just a head on a pedestal,) I walked back to the city center. In my head I thought this would be a short walk, but it wasn't. That being said, it was a nice walk, including a short detour onto the beach just because I could.

Arkhangelsk is pretty far north, which means winter days are short, even when it is sunny. Official sunset was right at 1600 on Halloween, so photos started to look a little blue around 1530, darnit. I looked it up and found out Arkhangelsk gets only 4 hours of daylight on the shortest day of the year, while on the longest day of the year they get 21.5 hours of daylight. 

It changes by 5-6 minutes a day, so you notice the changes quickly.

There were two museums I wanted to visit during this trip, I was able to see both of them on the first day, yahoo! Both of them required me to wear a mask, and one of them required me to put on shoe covers though that had nothing to do with Covid. 

The first was the northern maritime museum. As is obvious from the name, the museum showcases everything maritime from this region of the world.

There were models of boats, photos, flags, etc... There was also a fair amount of information, though I only read about half of it.

When I came out of this museum it was already close to sunset. Since there weren't any clouds in the sky, it was a gradual rainbow of colour, as opposed to the strikingly coloured clouds that everyone loves to see. I strolled along the boardwalk for a bit, which the city has developed really well. It was a bit crowded though, it felt as if half the city was out walking with me.

Before long I got to the second museum I wanted to see, which was the regional history museum. The entry fee was higher than I expected, which was a bit disappointing at first. By the time I walked out of the museum, I felt completely different. The museum was huge, absolutely ginormous. The docents kept showing me more rooms to see, it felt never-ending at one point.

The history covered geologic history, various cultures, religion, etc... I was impressed by the wide range of exhibits, which included items, photos, and information. Whoeva curates the whole thing has done a good job.

When I walked out it was pitch black. My original plan had been to go to a specific cafe, but I was so museumed out that when I saw a fast food place not too far away, that seemed perfectly reasonable. On my way back to my hostel I walked by the tallest building in the city, which is lit up at night. It's just an office building, but you can't miss it. It's heaps taller than any of the nearby buildings.

The next morning I was awake and moving at the perfectly reasonable hour of 10, which is rather amazing for me. I'm normally awake long before then, but don't get moving until later. Anywho.

I started my day by hopping on a marshrutka to a nearby town, the ride was about an hour each way. I got off in the middle of the city, because it was closest to the Lenin statues, I never found out where the end stop was, but it didn't really matter.

There were two Lenin statues to see, they were rather close to each other. The first was in the middle of Lenin Square, in front of the large palace of culture. Normally the palace of culture is somewhat grand (and big,) but this time it was just big. Ugh. Neither statue was particularly interesting, but I took the photos anywho, because I always do.

There wasn't much else to see in this town. I found some old wooden buildings that were not level, I find those photogenic, wierd as that sounds. They were long-ish horizontally, and you could see where one part had sunk into the ground a bit. I'm surprised people lived in these buildings, but I'm pretty sure most of them were inhabited. Many of them had attempts at exterior decoration, with snowflakes or stars formed out of pieces of wood. Pretty yes, but also in serious need of being painted. I guess there is no point in doing a yearly paint job considering the winter weather, but still...

I found one war memorial, complete with eternal flame. I found a couple traffic circles with statues in the middle. It was such a gray and windy day that I didn't take as many photos as I normally do, oh well.

After wandering around for just 4 hours, I caught the next marshrutka back to Arkhangelsk. I wouldn't mind doing another day trip to this town, but preferably in better weather.

By the time I got back to Arkhangelsk it was already blue light for photos, so I only took a few.

One of a tank memorial, made with a captured British tank! Tank memorials are quite common all over Russia, but using a British tank is not nearly as common. The other photos were of another abandoned building, because it was circular, and a sailor's monument along the boardwalk.

Dinner that night was from a pizza place, mostly because it was on my way back to the hostel.

The last morning I woke up to another gorgeous day. Cold and crisp. I packed up and checked out, leaving my bag behind for the day. First up were two more Lenin statues, neither of them within the general city area.

To get to the first one I caught a bus across the river, then had to walk another 15 minutes. This one ended up being in the middle of nowhere, at the intersection of two dirt roads. The roads weren't in great shape, neither was Lenin. Peeling paint, chipped rock, fallen trees, massive holes and ruts. I know it sounds crazy, but I think this is the type of Lenin statue many people think of when they think of how long ago the Soviet Union was.

Getting from the first to second Lenin statue also involved a marshrutka and more walking. This one was in a residential area, in between several large apartment buildings. 

This statue was in better shape, as was the entire area around him, but he was still in need of some TLC.

These wooden buildings were in much better shape than what I'd seen the day before. They weren't sinkind in random places, and the exterior decor and paint were in better shape. That being said, I'd still be worried about living in one of these buildings.

The last place I wanted to see in Arkhangelsk is one of the highlights of the city, it's an open air wooden architecture museum. 

Getting there by public transport involves a bus that doesn't come very often, I was nearly an icicle by the time it rolled around. I had to pay the normal fee, as well as some extra because the museum is all the way at the end of the line. The ticket lady yelled at me for not paying the correct price when I boarded the bus, but I didn't see any sign telling me there was an extra fee. Thank goodness a nice guy translated for me. I was happy to pay the extra, but not happy to be yelled at for not knowing about it. Argh. Typical Russian customer service.

The open air museum was huge. There were several different areas, with lots of forested area in between. It was really really well done. I was there an hour and a half, and wanted to spend more time, but the bus back into the city center only came once an hour. Argh.

I got to see windmills and churches and homes and barns and crosses and more. There was a small sign outside most of the buildings, giving far more detail than I'd ever be interested in knowing, but I appreciated the effort. I assume school aged classes are brought here regularly for various history lessons.

When I got back into the city center I walked a tourist pedestrian street. Maybe it was because it was near the end of my trip, or near the end of daylight, or cold, or Monday, but I wasn't very impressed. I liked the city overall, but this tourist street wasn't as pretty as I'd hoped.

From there it was a quick stop at a supermarket for some dinner snacks, then back to the hostel. I warmed up and charged my phone, then got hot chocolate on my way to catch the bus back to the airport. Checkin didn't start until exactly two hours before takeoff, but it went quickly and smoothly, as did the flight.

I wouldn't mind going back to Arkhangelsk. Maybe late spring or early summer? I feel like it would be the total opposite of what I got to see during this trip.