The Great Sayan Ring
Description:
| Day 1: 09.06. 21. Krasnoyarsk – Krasnoyarsk Pillars (80 km) | Arrival in Krasnoyarsk, group transfer from the airport to the hotel (for arrivals from 05:00 to 07:30), also possible meeting at the railway station (06:00-08:00). Accommodation in a hotel in the city center (accommodation is possible from 00:00 to 10:00). Breakfast, short rest. Attention! Night flights from Moscow are usually tedious. We recommend you to arrive in Krasnoyarsk on the eve to have the opportunity to relax at the hotel and start the excursion program in the morning. For those arriving on the eve of the tour, we offer an additional block to the program (additional fee) - a 4-hour walking tour around the center of Krasnoyarsk with a visit to the estate of V.I. Surikov. At 10:30 a.m., meet with the guide and start the program. Acquaintance with Krasnoyarsk will begin with a visit to the main symbol of the city – the chapel of Paraskeva Friday. During the sightseeing tour you will visit the historical part of the city with its architectural monuments of the XVIII-XIX centuries, mansions of Siberian merchants and patrons, you will see a monument to the founder of the city Andrei Dubensky, Theater Square and much more. Then you will have the egotism of Krasnoyarskkskursiya in the Museum of Local Lore, rightfully considered one of the best museums of history and ethnography of Siberia. The museum will be a kind of prelude to the upcoming trip. Not tedious, but rich in information tour will give the first idea of what you will see on the Sayan Ring. After lunch, guests will get acquainted with the “Krasnoyarsk Pillars”. Krasnoyarsk Pillars National Park is the lungs and soul of the city. You are waiting for a walk along the taiga trails and a tea party in the hut of a real columnist. |
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| Day 2: 10.06. 21. Krasnoyarsk – Krasnoysk HPP – Abakan – Shushenskoye (620 km) | After an early breakfast, the group says goodbye to Krasnoyarsk and heads south through the city of Divnogorsk, on the way you will see one of the world’s greatest dams – the Krasnoyarsk HPP. Stop on the border of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Republic of Khakassia. Lunch will be held in the restaurant Abakan, and after you will have an excursion to the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP (external inspection) and a move to the village of Shushenskoye. Arrival in the village of Shushenskoye. This night you will spend in the architectural and ethnographic complex of the Shushenskoye Museum-Reserve, it has preserved the customs and traditions of the Siberian village of the late XIX century. The estates of the hotel complex are recreated with the preservation of the cultural styles of the Angara region and the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The realities of peasant life are successfully combined with modern comfort of living. Dinner with traditional dishes of Russian cuisine. In the evening, a visit to the bath is possible for an additional fee. |
| Day 3: 11.06. 21. Shushenskoye - Tuva (350 km) | After breakfast, you will have a tour of the state ethnographic museum-reserve “Shushenskoe”. The history of the museum is inextricably linked with the name of V.I. Lenin, who lived in Shushenskoye in exile in 1897-1900. You will visit a real Siberian village of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. This corner of antiquity is located on the bank of the Shusha River, not far from its confluence in the Yenisei. Numerous monuments of rural architecture are located on an area of 7 hectares: peasant houses, a trading shop, a prison, a tavern, a total of about 200 wooden buildings. This is an amazing place in the atmosphere, which is breathtaking even among hardened skeptics. You will visit the inn, visit a real merchant shop and get acquainted with the skill of artisans. After lunch, you will travel through the mountains of the Western Sayan, watching the fascinating scenery. You will meet the owner of these places – Sleeping Sayan. He, if you look closely, can be seen in the outlines of the mountains: he lies on his back, folded his hands on his chest. The road to Tuva runs along the famous natural park "Ergaki". In the evening, the group arrives in Tuva. Surprisingly, as soon as the bus crosses the border, even the landscape changes dramatically. You seem to be on another planet at another time. In most of the territory of Tuva there are almost no signs of modern civilization, steppes stretch for hundreds of kilometers, interrupted by the collapse of mountains with sharp crests. The group stops in a yurt complex near the city of Kyzyla. Accommodation in real felt yurts created by Tuvan masters especially for tourists. So that the life of our guests was bright as white milk, that the spirits of heaven and earth contribute to the successful resolution of affairs, that travel was unhindered, we invite you to the Tuvan tea ceremony. During the ceremony, you will hear a story about how to brew Tuvan tea with milk and salt, learn about the history of tea in Tuva, tea legends and parables. Together with tea, you will feel the taste of the rich culture of the Tuvan people, feel the amazing edge of the steppes and expanses of Tuva. |
| Day 4: 12.06. 21. Kyzyl - yurt complex (70 km) | Excursion to Kyzyl - the capital of Tuva. A visit to the geographical center of Asia, which is symbolically located near the confluence of two rivers - Bi-Hem (Big Yenisei) and Kaa-Hem (Little Yenisei). Then begins the famous, crossing Siberia from south to north Great Yenisei. Visit to a Buddhist monastery. Visit to the National Museum of Tuva (excursion to the exposition "Gold of the Scythians"). The tour is dedicated to the famous mound Arzhaan-2, which was excavated in 2000-2003 by specialists of the Hermitage in cooperation with the German Archaeological Institute. The treasures found in the mound (more than 20 kg of gold items in total) became a real sensation in the archaeological world. Visiting a shamanic society where you can ask questions, learn the secrets of shamanism. Visiting local artisans. Free time in the city, visiting souvenir shops, a mineral spring in the vicinity of Kyzyl. Back to the yurt complex. After a dinner with dishes of Tuvan national cuisine, the performance of performers of traditional Tuvan throat singing “Khoomei” was performed. Throat singing is a fantastic ability of the Tuvans (and some other peoples of Siberia) to simultaneously produce two or three musical sounds of different heights and at the same time pull them for 25-30 seconds without losing breath. If you listen with your eyes closed, you cannot believe that these sounds are made by a person and not by a musical instrument. In the evening in the camp (for an additional fee) you can order a fascinating spectacle of the shaman's kamlaniya. This is a ritual of communication of the shaman with spirits by the fire, accompanied by protracted sounds and blows into the tambourine. Those who wish can immediately get an appointment with a shaman to learn about their future, undergo a ritual of purification or cope with their health (for an additional fee). |
| Day 5: 13.06. 21. Ustuu-Huree Monastery – Sayan Pass – “Snow Leopard” tourist base (440 km) | On this day, the group crosses Tuva from east to west, passing the road of ancient nomads. Before lunch stop at the breathtaking mountain Khayirakan, one of the most revered places in Tuva. In 1992 it was chosen as an energetically strong place and consecrated by the Dalai Lama XIV. At least once a year, local shamans come here to recharge, strengthen and purify the spirit. Picnic lunch. Walk, rest. On the way you will see the center of Buddhist culture of Tuva - the restored monastery of Ustuu-Huree. The temple became the crown of Buddhist construction in Tuva. There was no such thing not only in Tuva, but also in the territory of the former Union. In 1930, after the adoption of a special decree, Ustuu-Huree was closed, and in 1937 it was destroyed. In 1999, the Russian government, recognizing the historical and architectural value of the unique temple of Ustuu-Huree, decided to restore it. In July 2012, during the celebration of the music festival of the same name, the monastery of Ustuu-Huree was officially opened. On the Sayan Pass, at an altitude of 2214 meters above sea level, Khakassia begins. The next two days you will spend at the tourist base "Snow Leopard" surrounded by mountains and fabulous cedar taiga. After dinner, you will get acquainted with the instructors of the Snow Leopard - amazing people who are in love with nature, the taiga, who know all the surrounding paths, understand the healing properties of herbs. For the rest of the evening, you will find songs and heartfelt conversations until late at night. Accommodation in wooden houses made of cedar with oven heating. |
| Day 6:14.06. 21. Walk through the taiga (4 km walk) | A day in the taiga will surprise you with the silence that you have long forgotten in the city. After breakfast, walk on the suspension bridge of love (2 km one way, 2.5 hours). The suspension bridge passes through the high mountain river Big On. The river rapidly, overcoming rapids and rolls, flows among the centuries-old cedar taiga. After lunch, you will be able to collect mushrooms, berries, pine cones and medicinal herbs. Taiga is so generous that you do not have to look for mushrooms and berries, everything grows literally under your feet. The Siberian cedar is a unique tree. Those cedars, surrounded by which you will find yourself, have survived more than one century, fed tens, if not hundreds of generations of taiga inhabitants. Taiga gives a different sense of time and a sense of unity with nature, which you will want to experience more than once. Clean taiga air heals, but the true panacea for all ailments is a Russian bath. In the evening you will find a steam room with brooms of coniferous branches and birches, an ice font in the taiga river and the taste of herbal tea. |
| Day 7:15.06. 21. Kazanovka (242 km) | After breakfast, you say goodbye to the Snow Leopard and go to the heart of Khakassia - the village of Kazanovka. The ancient land of Khakassia in terms of concentration of archaeological monuments is ahead of all of Siberia, if not the whole of Russia. Here, right by the road, you can see cave paintings depicting sacred rituals, burial mounds or stone statues, which are still worshiped by local residents. On the way, you will visit the Khurtuyah Tas stele – “stone mother”, as locals like to call it. By lunch, the arrival in the Kyug Valley, translated from Khakass, is a pleasure. In the silence of the Khakass valley, you can truly relax with your soul, and the smell of beautiful irises will give you new strength. The yurt complex, which will accommodate the group, is located on the banks of the small Askiz river between the Altai and Sayan mountain ranges. After lunch, a tour of the Khakass State Archaeological Museum-Reserve "Kazanovka". The reserve appeared 15 years ago on the initiative of a historian, archaeologist and simply a caring, sincerely loving Khakassia man Leonid Eremin. Kazanovka is an example of how to treat historical and cultural heritage, it is a brand in demand by scientists and tourists from all over the world. You will be shown cave paintings, which are 3-5 thousand years old, taught to copy them on paper, and these rare souvenirs you can take home. In addition, you will learn the purpose of mysterious vertical stones sticking out of the ground throughout the territory of Khakassia. Dinner with dishes of Khakassian national cuisine. After dinner, the performance of the Khakassian national folklore ensemble. |
| Day 8:16.06. 21. Kazanovka – Abakan (160 km) | In the morning you will continue to get acquainted with the archeology of Khakassia in the museum-reserve “Kazanovka”. After lunch departure to Abakan, the capital of Khakassia. Sightseeing tour of Abakan. In the Khakass National Museum of Local Lore you will see a unique collection of stone sculptures – echoes of ancient cults and beliefs. It is believed that many of these sculptures have not lost their power. Check-in at the Asia Hotel. |
| Day 9:17.06. 21. Valley of the Tsars - Krasnoyarsk (450 km) | On this day, the group goes to the Valley of the Kings, where there are about 30 burial mounds of the III-IV century BC. The culmination of the trip will be a visit to the Big Salbyk Kurgan, once built over the grave of the noble family of the Tagar tribe. The mound had a circumference of 0.5 km and a height of 11.5 m, and the weight of vertically standing stones reaches 60 tons. Lunch-picnic will be held in the steppe under the open sky. Arrive in Krasnoyarsk by evening. Don’t try to understand everything you saw during your trip. It'll come later. To begin with, the most important thing is the strongest emotional charge. And let it last until the next trip to Siberia. |
| Day 10: 18.06. 21. Krasnoyarsk | At 04:00 Group transfer to the airport / at 10:00 to the railway station. Conduct tourists to flights departing from 05:30 local time. If you depart before 05:30, you will not be able to arrive at the airport on time by group transfer. In this case, you can order an individual transfer. |
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