My last big Saint Petersburg adventure actually took place a good four-hour drive north of Saint Petersburg. We braved the weekend city exodus traffic jams in order to dress up like vikings and paddle around, invading various islands on Lake Ladoga. It was a weekend on a viking longship, where every new adventure is met with an enthusiastic “SKREUL!”
The north shores of Lake Ladoga, where we were, are located in the Republic of Karelia, a region which has spent history bouncing back and forth between Russian and Scandinavian rule, and this is reflected in local traditions, music, and architecture. For our host, Sasha, the influence of history isn’t enough. His ultimate goal is to build up his boating tourism business, complete with authentically-made costumes and a viking lodge for the really big parties.
We were late, of course. By the time we got to the boat launch, the rest of the group had already been taken over to the lodge. The lodge was still under construction so we pitched our tents under its temporary combination slat-board and tarp roof.
The priority for the first night was getting dressed in costume and then eating grilled fish that had been caught on the lake earlier that day. The fish was fantastic and the costumes were really cool. And so if, of the three of us girls, I looked like the matron, I was fine with that. I had the best costume. It was hand made from linen and hand-embroidered, and I felt slightly uncomfortable after putting it on, as I promptly went to work gutting a fish.
The next day, we met the boat.
The longship makes use both of oars and sails. For more on the longship, here’s a wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drekar . I think our boat had holes in the hull for ten oars, five on each side. It was painted a rightfully intimidating black and decorated with a ram’s head on the bow. We loaded gear for the day and climbed aboard to bail out the rain water that had collected.
A note about Ladoga. It is wet. If you go, and you should go, be prepared for some form of precipitation. We’d brought along extra sweaters, rain jackets, rubber boots, and left in the car a change of clothes and shoes. We may have overdone it but I really do recommend the change of clothes in the car.
We spent Saturday on the water. At about mid-day we were able to hoist sails and coast for a bit, but mostly we rowed. We were too far away from the main lake to get out and see Ladoga in all its glory but the area around the lodge was still gorgeous, and it was so nice to be out of the city.
About the time we decided to head back, the wind kicked up, which meant the sail had to come down and the oars had to go into the water fast.
This trip was my introduction to rowing. I personally really enjoyed the rhythm and the physical movement of it. I got the hang of angling the oar, keeping it at a shallow depth, and really using my legs and abs for strength. I was even occasionally rewarded with the sound of the oars dipping and sloshing through the water in perfect concert.
That said, it was still pretty tough work, which meant that my meditation was frequently broken by the men of the crew, who’d started singing to boost morale. Singing and shouting and waving at other tourists in their boring, non-viking boats, we “skreuled” it back to the lodge.
According to Sasha, and I have no other source to go on because I couldn’t find this word in any online dictionaries so I’m just guessing at how it’s spelled (and hoping I haven’t embarrassed myself), “skreul” is a word that translates to Russian more or less as “давай.” For us this meant that although it started as a word spoken as a toast, it wound up being used as a noun, a verb, and in general the slogan for the weekend, especially when rowing into the wind.
And our reward for the day’s work was a banya on the beach!
First, the boys built a fire in this rock oven. They let it burn until the rocks were hot enough, and then put out the fire and removed the wood. Then we used a tent and four oars from the boat to construct the banya. To keep the heat in, we weighted the bottom of the ten with rocks.
Our neighbors down the way were jealous.
Making our way back to the lodge after the banya, we were greeted by a rainbow. I couldn’t believe our luck that day. Fantastic weather, a day on the water, banya on the beach, brilliant rainbow, and a sunset right out of the African Savannah.
Of course, it poured buckets the next day. Exhausted, sore in parts we’d forgotten we had, we sat around under the tarp telling stories, looking at photos (yes, there is reception out there), and finishing off the rest of the food. Well, that’s Ladoga. You will get wet.
But what an adventure!!
Here is Alexander’s (Sasha’s) page on Vkontakte. You can find his contact information, check for new tour dates, or call for more information.
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ReplyDeleteWow! Great post! I couldn't tell the story with better words than you )))
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