My visit to Pskov and Velikyii Novgorod

On the 9th of May, me and my colleagues, we left for Pskov, one of the RIAT branch.

After travelling for 13 hours we arrived in Pskov where we met Olga Kozyreva, the director of the Pskov branch (RIAT).

Following the schedule organized for the 1st day of our excursion we were involved in the next activities:
1.Meeting with the Chairman of the State Committee of Pskov Region for Tourism, investments and space planning N.A. Trunova.
2.Sightseeing in Pskov : the Kremlin, the Trinity Cathedral
3.Pskov State Museum: Pskov Icons, art gallery
4.Pechory monastery, Izborsk

In the first part of the day we participated to the meeting with the Chairman of the State Committee of Pskov Region. During our meeting we obtained interesting information on Pskov Region, important statistic dates on the flow of tourists, the main activities and events that attracts the tourists in the whole region.

I took advantage of this occasion and I had an interview with the Spokesperson of the Tourism in Pskov Region and as a result I came across the problems that the development of the tourism faces in the mentioned region.

During the second part of the day we visited the Kremlin and the Trinity Cathedral dating back from the 10-12th century. The place is called the Birthplace of Russia because testimonies the unification of all the people living on the territory of Russia as a unique population under the same name, Russia. This region was very important for its position, for its strategies of defending the new country against the enemies.

The Pskov State Museum is an important art gallery dating back from the 12-14th century built by a merchant who had trade relations with the Hanseatic states of the period. Being a rich man he had the opportunity to encounter important operas of the Russian and foreign artists.

Pechory monastery built in Izborsk represent the monarchs great testimony of their faith and religious connection with God. Constructed as a Fortress on the hills of Izborsk, the monastery faced with success all the attacks of the enemies.

The city visited represents a holy land not destroyed by the touch of the development and the transformations over the centuries.

In my dissertation thesis I focused on Pskov and Velikyii Novgorod as examples of small historical towns of Russia. The reason for my choice is the will of helping the resurrection of some of the oldest places from Russia. Those historical centres unrevealed to the international tourism market, especially to the Italian tourism market, are doing their best to expand the reach of their name and become World Class Destinations through values and cultural identity support, actions of developing new tourist products and more active promotion.

The authorities are involved in many projects at local, regional , national and also international level in order to help their cities to become more popular among foreign tourists and one of the main attractions among the residents of their country.

During the second day visit we had a beautiful excursion in Velikyii Novgorod where we could visit some of the extraordinary churches and monasteries, placed on the Lake Volhov, dating back from the 10th and 12th centuries.

Our attention was also captured by the Церковь Параскевы Пятницы Church whose legend says that unmarried women may run around the church for 3 times with the purpose of finding their husbands. And we did it!

Least but not last we visited the Kremlin and the 11th century St. Sofia’s church that stand as testimony for the eras of bravery and artistic skills of the Russian people.

Alina Melania Oita

PETROZAVODSK

Petrozavodsk is the capital of the Republic of Karelia. It is a beautiful city situated in the north of Russia and it stretches along the western shore of the Lake Onega. The city has a wonderful view in the lake, when you came from the city and take a street to it, you have a splendid panorama: the white of the lake is in contrast to the green and dark colours of the land.

During our trip the weather was great, all the days were sunny and not cold, and this element added up to my good impression of Petrozavodsk.

When we arrived at the railway station in Petrozavodsk, Natalia Petrova, a member of the RMAT’s staff, gave us a the welcome and brought us to the hotel for doing the check in.

The first day we spent our time doing a lot of things: in the morning we took a relaxing walk along the lake and we saw a lot of monuments situated on the promenade, which represent gifts for the city gave by friend Countries, like Finland. It was a resting time, during which Natalia gave us some information about the city, the development of the tourism sector in the Karelia Republic and the main interesting place which attract most of tourists.

After that, we went to visit the tourist information centre where the directress explained us what they do for helping and satisfying the needs and requests of tourists. They made, also, an interesting web-site www.ticrk.ru , where everything, concerning tourism, is showed and illustrated: accommodation, package tour, interesting place, other services.

Afterward we had our lunch in a small cafè in the main street of the city and did a walk. In the afternoon we went to visit a curious museum of dolls and fairy tale. It was very interesting, the museum was structured as a small town of dolls. There was a little theatre with all the details of a real theatre, the stage, the audience of dolls and other character, the red curtain, etc. We saw also an exposition of the toys evolution over the years in Russia, before the revolution, during it and after. It was very funny and interesting thanks, also, to the amusing and entertaining behavior of the owner, who accompanied us in the childhood ride.

At that museum we met some students of the academy, who took us to see a dog handling centre, not far from the city. We spent some time with a lots husky, which were really beautiful and mild, and then we had some rest, drinking a cup of tea and eating some cakes.

In the evening, we went to have dinner in a cafè near the city centre.

The day after, we started our day with a meeting with the minister of youth, sports and tourism. He was very friendly with us, he asked us what we studied, why we were in Petrozavodsk, etc. but, unfortunately, he had to go to an official meeting. Before leaving, he gave us some material about the Karelia Republic and the tourism in this Region. We remained with a his colleague, who responded all Susanna’s questions and also he made his self available for answering to other questions through mail post.

After our meeting in the Ministry, we went to the academy, where we met students and they showed us a presentation of the Karelia Region, and also a presentation about the academy’s organization and the activities made by students (training program).

After lunch we went to visit a wonderful place, Kivach park. It is a splendid natural protected area where you can see waterfall, feel a sense of freedom and breath pure air. Unfortunately not all the waterfall was visible because of the snow and ice, that still cover it; despite this inconvenience, it was really a pleasure to the sight. Finished our tour in the park, we visited a wooden church, which is a traditional building of north Russia. It was majestic, very big and interesting.

It was a pity that we couldn’t reach the island of kizhi, but the lake was totally icy so it was impossible to get to it by hydrofoil and also the helicopter service was not available. Natalia and the other persons we met during our trip, describe that island as a unique place, an open air museum where you can find a lot of wooden building, which are very typical of this Russian area.

Before our departure, the Rector of the academy received us in her office and we spoke about our stay, our impression and then she gave us a book guide of the Kizhi island in order to compensate for the missed chance to visit it.

We like this trip very much, we saw different things and tried new experience. Even if there are some problems with the infrastructure, the quality of the roads and the tourist services, Petrozavodsk represents, according to me, a nice place for tourism, rich in natural resources especially and I really hope to visit it again.

Murrone Debora
Schieppati Susanna