Katu-Yaryk Pass, one of the most difficult and dangerous passes in the Altai Mountains, is located on the territory of the Ulagan district of the Altai Republic.

Until 1989, there was no road descending from the Ulagan Plateau into the valley of the Chulyshman River. Residents of the surrounding villages used a steep horse trail or a waterway through Lake Teletskoye. Katu-Yaryk Pass on Google Maps. Photos by: Alexandr Lipilin.

very picturesque pass

Tags: Altay Republic

Volodarsk is a small town with a population of about 10 thousand people located in Nizhegorodskaya Oblast, about 60 km west of Nizhny Novgorod. In most cases, the main tourist attraction of small Russian towns is the local museum of local lore and Volodarsk is no exception.

However, the museum in Volodarsk occupies a unique wooden building known as “Nikolai Bugrov’s Summer Dacha” – one of the few surviving houses of similar architecture in the European part of Russia. Photos by: Anna Sukhareva and Yaroslav Gunin.

amazing wooden house

Tags: Nizhegorodskaya oblast · Nizhny Novgorod city · Russian Empire

Maykop (“the valley of apple trees” from the Adyghe language) is a city with a population of about 139 thousand people located in the south of European Russia, the capital of the Republic of Adygea.

The main urban development of Maykop was carried out in Soviet times and it was done quite systematically. The streets of the city for the most part are strictly perpendicular to each other, its entire center consists of identical city blocks. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

fly over Maykop

Tags: Adygeya Republic · Maykop city

Lake Teletskoye is a picturesque natural body of water located in the north-east of the Altai Mountains on the territory of the Altai Republic, about 120 km in a straight line from the regional capital Gorno-Altaysk.

One of the most popular natural attractions of Altai, it is included in the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage List as part of the complex “The Golden Mountains of Altai”. Lake Teletskoye on Google Maps. Photos by: Alexandr Lipilin.

beautiful lake

Tags: Altay Republic · Gorno-Altaisk city

Gamsutl is an abandoned village located at an altitude of about 1.5 thousand meters above sea level in the southern mountainous part of the Republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus.

Translated from the Avar language, the word “gamsutl” means “at the foot of the khan’s fortress.” It is likely that the khan, the founder of Gamsutl, lived on the top of the mountain, and his troops were stationed on its slopes. The approximate age of the village is 2 thousand years.

very picturesque abandoned village

Tags: Abandoned · Dagestan Republic

Saint Sophia Cathedral is the oldest preserved stone structure on the territory of Vologda, a Russian city known for its particularly valuable historical heritage. It is one of the largest buildings of the era of Ivan the Terrible, constructed in 1568-1570s.

The Assumption Cathedral in Moscow was chosen as an architectural model. In the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Vologda, you can see preserved frescoes of the 17th century and the iconostasis of the first half of the 18th century. Photos by: Alexandr Lipilin.

beautiful old cathedral

Tags: Vologda city

Pevek is an Arctic port town with a population of about 4.5 thousand people located on the shores of the Arctic Ocean in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. It is the northernmost town in Russia.

The name of the town comes from the Chukchi word “peekinei”, which means “thick, swollen mountain” – the name of the hill (sopka) at the foot of which Pevek stands. Pevek on Google Maps. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

fly over Pevek

Tags: Chukotka okrug

In the USSR, a personal car was a luxury, and for only a few, it was a common means of transportation. Even if you had enough money, you still could not freely buy it at a car dealership like today.

To do this, you had to wait your turn for several years, since the number of cars produced at the factories was significantly lower than the potential demand. Until the early 1970s, the main priority was given to trucks, in particular, army multi-axle tractors and four-wheel drive dual-use trucks.

1961. ZAZ-965 “Zaporozhets”.

Soviet advertising in all its glory

Tags: Soviet past · Tolyatti city

Suzdal is a town-reserve with a population of about 9,600 people located in Vladimir Oblast, about 37 km north of Vladimir.

By the abundance of monuments and the preservation of its original appearance, Suzdal is unique for Russia. You can see a large number of monuments of cult and civil architecture of the 13th – 19th centuries here. Photos by: Vladimir Lipetskikh.

Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1222-1225) and the Suzdal Kremlin.

amazing old Russian provincial town

Tags: Suzdal city · Vladimir oblast

Zelenogradsk (until 1946 – Cranz) is a resort town with a population of about 17 thousand people located in Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia.

The town stands on the coast of the Baltic Sea, about 25 kilometers north of Kaliningrad. Zelenogradsk on Google Maps. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

picturesque resort town

Tags: Kaliningrad oblast