Mountain Shoria, Mountainous Shoria, or Gornaya Shoria is a mountain-taiga region lying on the south of Western Siberia between the mountain systems of Altai and Sayan. It is called after the Shors, the ingenious ancient people, very original but small one, still living there. The Mountain Shoria is a considerable mining area on the Russian national scale. The Kuznetsk Basin the coal resources of which are being tapped is situated next to here. But the tourists come here all the year not because of the natural resources, but for the wide possibilities for tourism. In winter the Mountain Shoria is a ski resort, in the summer the tour operators offer you different modifications of active rest backpacking to the rafting and cave tours.

Sviyazhsk is a settlement on the island in the Middle Volga, which has been turned into a huge water reservoir. Earlier it was not an island, but a town on the hill. If I ask you where such different odious characters as Ivan the Terrible, Leo Trotsky and Judas Iscariot could meet, the answer is Sviyazhsk.

Altay is one of the most enigmatic places in Russia and maybe in the world. It is a cradleland of ancient civilizations, which left their tumuli, stone statues with mysterious writings and signs. The nature is still wild and maiden there. The tourist possibilities of Altay are really huge. The tourists are offered multiple types of services summer and winter alike, including horse or camel riding, rafting, trekking, ski and helicopter tours. The fans of alpinism, paragliders and speleologists will be also satisfied. The ethnic history and present of Altai is also very rich: this is the place where three great religions of Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Moreover, there is national Altay epos Maaday Kara having nothing to do with these ones, and tales, and legends.

First of all, Khibiny Mountains is one of the two main mountain ranges of the Kola Peninsula (Murmansk Region). It is the highest mountain range in Russia, which is situated beyond the Polar circle. Moreover, Khibiny is the oldest mountain range in Russia, that’s why they are not very high. They are about one milliard years old. They exist like mountains all this time.

Vladivostok is a well-known Russian port on the Pacific Ocean, the destination point of the Trans-Siberian railroad. It was closed for all the foreigners from 1958 until 1991. The city is rather young (founded in 1860), but it disposes an architectural monument which is worth to be visited anyway if you are found of industrial and military tourism or not. It is defensive constructions, visible from the city, the theme for numerous legends and rumors. Everybody who has ever been in the city noticed the strange concrete constructions on the tops of the hills, on the feet of the rocks, along the roads and on the seashore. If you look attentively, you can recognize direct lines of breast works, made of concrete. You can walk around them all alone with your camera, or address to the local diggers’ club: they give you a real tour. It is rather interesting, even if you are not a fan of military tourism.

There are some caves is Chelyabinsk Region, but the most interesting, tourists friendly and storied in Ignatyevskaya limestone cave. It is situated on the bank of the Sim River (feeder of the Belaya River, or Agidel) in the Southern Urals (Chelyabinsk Region) in 7 kilometers from the settlement of Serpievka, Katav-Ivanovskiy District. The cave is a significant site of federal significance, because of its Paleolithic paintings.

The Places of interests in every country have different score of attraction. Some of them are worth to be seen, some of them should be seen, and others do not deserve much attention. Russia is so rich in tourist attractions, that it could be supported by the tourist industry only, but for narrow-minded businessmen, trading the natural resources in the straight sense of the word. Of course, not all of the tourist attractions are equally interesting. In order to define the main ones, a competition was carried out in 2008. As a result, following seven wonders of Russia were chosen by way of secret vote.

The Red Stones clove in vicinity of Norilsk (Krasnoyarsk Territory)is rather difficult to access but extremely beautiful place with red rocks, waterfall cascading from them to a lake at its bottom. This place was detected by the geologists in 60-s, whose settlement, Talnakh, is situated in 6 kilometers from the Red Stones. They were searching the ore. The rocks wouldn’t disappoint the alpinists, others can enjoy the sights: they are really unusual, not to say surrealistic. Everything looks strange in the crystal northern air. Especially the red rocks and waterfalls.

The archipelago of Kuzova, famous for the incredible beauty of its sights, is a group of islands in the White Sea on the route from the town of Kem to Solovki Isles. The title of the archipelago means "The spruce isles". The archipelago includes uninhabited 16 domelike isles covered with spruce forests and spots of lichens, varied in color. The biggest isles are Russky Kuzov and Nemetsky Kuzov. Kuzova are well-known not only because of their nature, but also because of the ceremonial artifacts preserved there from the ancient times: labyrinths made of stones, sacred stones and early man sites.

The volcanoes valley, or Khi-Gol fold, is curious or even unique place, situated in the East Sayan Mountains (Republic of Buryatia). This fold is a water gap of the rivers Khi-Gol and Zhombolok, filled with lava from the volcanoes Kropotkin’s and Peretolchin’s, which were active just a few thousands years ago. Their volcanic necks look tiny by contrast to the mountains around, but their ringside view is showy. The thickness of the lava layer in the valley reaches 150 meters, and nothing grows on its grey surface, in spite of the volcanic necks.

The capital of Krasnoyarsk Region, Krasnoyarsk is famous for the unique nature monument of Krasnoyarskiye Stolby (Rock Pillars). These Stolby are numerous giant granite rocks formations up to 100 meters high, many of very extraordinary shapes. Almost each of them has the name.

The group of dolmens is a sightseeing attraction of the Krasnodar Region and Northern Caucasus. They are situated in the foothills (about 250-400 meters above the sea level) along the coast of the Black Sea. This chain is the biggest conglomeration of dolmens in Europe. Some of them are the popular tourist objects; others are hard-to-get.

The Kapova cave (or Shulgan-Tash), famous with its beautiful cave paintings of the Paleolithic age, is situated in the Bashkortostan Republic, on the Belaya River in the mountains of the South Ural on the territory the Shulgan-Tash nature reserve. The cave is interesting not only because of the paintings; its interior is notable too. It is well-known between the tourists and the scientists as well. The museum of The Kapova Cave is opened in it, and a spelaean laboratory will be opened soon.

The National park of Kenozerye is situated on the South-west of Arkhangelsk Region not far from the frontier with the Republic of Karelia. The name of the park is tied with the lake of Kenozero on its territory. This lake is a part of the system of lakes, forming the water route. This natural area of preferential protection is however notable not only for the variety of species on its territory, but also for the monuments of material and spiritual culture, the authentic culture of the Russian North

Yaroslavl is one of the Golden Ring cities, celebrating its millennium in 2010. It means that all the circumstances for a big flow of tourists are already created. Moreover, since 2005 Yaroslavl is the UNESCO World Heritage Site, because of its architectural monuments, churches and civil buildings of 16 – 18 centuries. So, it is worth to be visited even after the anniversary celebration. Museums acquaint the tourists with the exciting history and splendid art of the place. The hotels provide you rooms and apartments, from the luxurious to modest ones. Big variety of cafes and restaurants solves the food problem. Yaroslavl is a transportation hub, so it is not a problem to reach it by car, by train and by water.

Pereslavl Zalessky is one of the cities of the Golden Ring, which are visited by thousands foreign and Russian tourists every year. It offers medieval churches, museums and Russian souvenirs as all such cities. Except these traditional attractions, Pereslavl Zalessky is famous with such natural feature, as Pleshcheevo Lake, the centre of the Pleshcheevo Lake national reserve.

After you have read the previous article about the natural monuments of Kamchatka peninsula and maybe got interested in traveling there, it’s time for some information like how to get there, which cities exist there, what king of transport is being used there to get to the volcanoes and geysers from the cities and settlements ultimately where to sojourn at an inn and what to do there. Moreover, there are some tourist possibilities on the peninsula, except the simple sightseeing.

Kamchatka, one of the most outstanding volcanic regions in the world, is famous with its Volcanoes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 12% active volcanoes in the world are situated on the Kamchatka peninsula. The second thing, drawing the interest to this place, is the Valley of Geysers, equal in beauties to geysers of Island and ones of Yellowstone Park and New Zealand as well.

The small settlement of Staraya Ladoga (Leningrad Region) on the Volkhov River is perhaps the oldest Russian city and the first Russian capital. Ladoga (in Swedish Aldeigjuborg) was founded not later than 753. The historians suppose that the genesis of the Russian nationhood is closely tied with this place. The archaeological finds and evidences of the sources enlighten its history. The surviving buildings like the fortress, St. George’s church, tumuli on the Volkhov’s bank and the exhibition of the museum re-create the incidents of the long-ago.

The Armory Chamber is a part of the Grand Kremlin Palace’s complex. The museum holdings and exhibitions consist of the precious items preserved for centuries in the tsars’ treasury and the Patriarch’s vestry. Some of the artifacts were made in the Kremlin’s workshops; others were accepted as ambassadorial gifts.