Cruising Lake Ladoga and Mother Volga with Vodka and zakuski

Setting sail late evening and meeting the crew of Viking Truvor was fun. Goodbye St Petersburg, you are beautiful and I bow before you for your indomitable spirit and pride.

At midnight standing under the stars and watching the ship gently sail into Lake Ladoga it felt like being part of another universe. So surreal was the feeling.

Mandrogi, a small Russian village has bright wooden houses, windmills, hand crafted souvenirs and much more. We wandered around for a bit but enjoyed the vodka museum. They had 3500 types of vodka and it was fun trying out different ones before buying a couple of bottles.

It took nine hours to cross Lake Ladoga which is about 18000 sq mts. The most interesting part of the crossing were the various locks we had to pass.

There are 17 locks on the way to Moscow and sometimes it took as much as 30 minutes to cross one if it was a bottle neck. To explain it simply, series of locks enable river vessels to step up or down a river or canal from one water level to another. It was amazing to watch the whole process.

Food in Russia is very different. Russians eat a lot of meat mainly to keep themselves warm. There aren’t too many choices in vegetables other than cabbage and beetroot.

Zavtrack: It’s their breakfast and it consists of Kefir, a kind of buttermilk. Incidentally it is now popular as a probiotic. Sausage and Kasha are equally important for breakfast. Kasha is the special porridge the Russians make with anything and everything. Apparently, in the olden days a bride was chosen only after the groom approved of her Kasha making skills. Rye bread always accompanies Kasha.

The Russians are huge tea drinkers, a habit they developed from the 17th century. And of course the Russians never serve a tea naked. Which means they always served it with cake and biscuits.

The locals enjoy several kinds of pies , both sweet ( filled with jam) and savouries ( mostly meat).

If you spend a long time eating, you will have a long life….. thus goes a Russian saying.

Zakuski ( appetiser) consists of black bread with a topping of herring and caviar. Russia is the second largest country to produce caviar and they source it mainly from the Caspian Sea. They are no longer allowed to fish for caviar and instead get it from farming.

One of the very popular Zakuski is Herring under a coat. Herring is topped with boiled potato, carrot and beetroot.

Lunch is known as Obed. And the Russians are obsessed with soup. Most popular is of course the Beet soup known as Boscht. Ghoulash is another one with meat and equally delicious. The Russians love their beef stroganoff but chicken Kiev, meat dumplings and fish and potatoes are always served for lunch. Honey cake, ice cream and pancakes are served as desserts.

Dinner is usually fish if they have meat in the afternoon.

It was quite surprising to know that the Russians drank vodka only on special occasions. They usually had only wine with their food. The best vodka of course is the Beluga. The national drink of the Russians is Kvas made from fermented rye.

Mother Volga stood majestically as Viking Truvor passed her by. One hand outstretched and in the other holding the plan of the lock with a flying bird at her feet an incredible 236 feet tall statue was erected in honour of those who built the reservoir, one of the greatest bodies of artificial water in the world.

Finally we were reaching Moscow.

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