Why visit Russia?
Geography
As many of you know, Russia is the largest country on our planet, and it occupies the sixth part of the land. The geographical features of Russia are really unique. And we point some of them:
- Аbout 2.8 million rivers flow on the territory of Russia;
- Russia is washed with 13 seas, and it is more than any other country in the world;
- The southernmost part of the country is in the subtropics; the popular to tourists’ city of Sochi is also in the subtropical climate belt;
- Russia has about 2 million lakes, and Russia is a home to the deepest and first largest lake in the world, Baikal;
- Geographically, the territory of Russia is divided into European and Asian parts;
- Still unknown, but according to various estimations, the permafrost occupies from 60 to 65% of the territory of the country;
- About 60% of its territories are occupied by forests;
- Russia is a home to one of the most active volcanoes — Klyuchevskaya Sopka, the height of which is 4850 meters, and which has been erupting for the last 7,000 years.
Weather and climate
The climate diversity is attributed to the enormous size that Russia occupies. It is the only country through which eight climatic zones pass. A diverse landscape can be found in Russia, such as deserts and Arctic zones, endless plains and high mountains, and much more.
Despite this diversity, it should be noted that the Russian climate is not particularly dangerous. There are no destructive deaths or tornadoes, global earthquakes in Russia.
Places with harsh climates do not scare local residents. For example, Murmansk is the largest city in the world behind the polar circle. The hottest region in Russia is Kalmykia, which recorded a temperature record of 45.6 degrees Celsius. The vaguest region is Mount Ai Petri in Crimea, where fog can be observed for 260 days per year. The climate on the Black Sea coast is comparable to Greek or Bulgarian.
The coldest point in the world inhabited by people is also in Russia! It is the village of Oymyakon, where one day the temperature dropped to -77.8 degrees Celsius (- 108 degrees Fahrenheit). Informally, this village is called the "Pole of Cold."
Russian peoples and people
In total, more than 190 different peoples live on the territory of Russia. Although the majority of residents are Russians (about 80%), Russia is a multinational state. Thus, for example, the number of representatives of the Tatars people is about 5 million people. But there are also few peoples on the territory of the country, such as Koryaks with about 6,000 people, Eskimos about 2000 people, Nganasans 900 people.
Many believe that Russian people are not friendly, smile little and are not ready to contact strangers. That’s not really true. The main reason is that children in schools are taught not to smile without a reason, it is believed that it is allegedly a sign of light thought. In fact, Russian people are friendly and always ready to help a foreigner even without a visible smile on his face.
Architecture and the most important structures
- The metro of St. Petersburg is the deepest in the world, the average depth of the stations is 100 meters;
- The number of bridges in St. Petersburg exceeds the number of bridges in Venice by 3 times;
- The longest railway in the world is Trans-Siberian highway, its length from Moscow to Vladivostok is 9298 kilometers. It crosses 8 time zones. Keep this in mind when planning a trip by plane or rail;
- The Kremlin in Moscow is the largest medieval fortress;
- There are 176 active fountains in Peterhof near St. Petersburg;
- The length of the Moscow Metro is 310 kilometers, it has 182 stations, between which there are 10,000 trains;
- The town of Suzdal is a small town with 10,000 inhabitants in an area of 15 square kilometers. At the same time, there are 53 temples in Suzdal.
History
The history of the Russian state is more than 1150 years old. During its existence, Russia was involved in more than 100 wars, led by more than 120 leaders, and became the largest country in the world.
Culture
- Only in St. Petersburg there are 2000 libraries, 221 museums, more than 80 theatres, about 50 art galleries;
- The most famous theatres where you can enjoy the Russian Ballet, and which gained popularity around the world are the Bolshoi Theatre and the Mariinsky Theatre. Both of them are located in Russia;
- The State Hermitage Museum is one of the largest and oldest world museums. It has three million works of art from the Stone Age to modern times. If you give each of these works one minute, it will take more than 25 years to go to the Hermitage as a job and examine the exhibits for 8 hours a day to see them all.
Kitchen
The countdown of the history of Russian cuisine begins with 882, when Kiev Rus was formed. Russian cuisine is diverse, and we give just several exiting facts about it:
- Until the 15 century the main alcohol on Rus had been honey drink beer. The technology of distillation came only in the 16th century. The production of a strong alcoholic drink from rye then started in Russia, which later was called vodka;
- One of the most famous national dishes is borsch. In fact, borsch should not necessarily be red at all. It can be of different colors depending on the main ingredient that gives color to this soup;
- Russians very much love fermented or pickled vegetables. This love is due to historical fact. Salt was an expensive pleasure in Russia, so it was not used during fermentation, but was added to the finished product as a taste additive.
