Travel Stories - Russia

At half past nine we are in a big bus that takes us from St. Petersburg in 40 minutes to the strange name "Shlisselburg" which originally comes from the German name "key city". After about three quarters of an hour we get off the bus at the final stop in what turns out to be the center of the city. The street and the square is full of holes and is now filled with puddles because of the rain. There are a number of buses waiting along the road and some kiosks. We walk over a small bridge and look at the old locks. In parallel, we look at the wide Neva river that we have just passed in the direction of the famous "Ladoga" lake. In a small park there is a whole collection of guns and other weaponry. We walk along a canal which is a tributary of the Neva along old wooden houses and dilapidated halls. We ask a man who’s fishing here how to get to the fort what we see further up. Of course it is exactly on the junction of the lake and the river. We have to walk back, he says and then take a boat. We walk back along the river and arrive at the pier where we buy a ticket for the boat return. At 11:00 there is another boat (every half hour). Fifteen minutes later the engine is started and we leave with another three people on board. The sky is gray and it starts to rain in a gentle way.

History of Fortress Oreshek 

The exteriors of the high outerwalls and the towers have been renovated; we see that from miles away. Within 10 minutes we stand on the quay on the islandfort and pay the woman in the cash register the 200R entrance fee. We are happy to put our big bags in a shelterhouse for the time we are here. In the courtyard we first see the bright blue Pepsi parasols and a house for souvenir items. What a shame. In the middle is a red brick ruin with a large black monument in it. This would be on top of a mass grave of 24 Russian soldiers. There are also some very large guns machine guns including information panels. Especially on the city (Shisselburg) side, the buildings have been completely destroyed. It is a miracle that the Russian defenders have sustained the battle here. We walk through a stone gate and have a view of the city on one side, while on the other side we can look up a large part of the gigantic Ladoga lake. The lake measures approximately 220 by 83 kilometers (width). The average depth is 51 meters and the deepest point - in the northwestern part - is 230 meters below the waterline. There are about 660 islands in the lake. Until WWII the border between Finland and Russia ran through Lake Ladoga and the road over the frozen Lake Ladoga was the only way for contact between the surrounded Leningrad and the outside world in the winters during WW2. Along the Way of Life, 1.3 million people were evacuated and the city was supplied. During the Second World War, the Finns lost the north bank with the city of Sortavala and the Valaam Monastery, which was formalized in 1947 by the Paris Peace. Today, the Finnish-Russian border is 25 kilometers north from the lake. 

We walk a bit along the outside of the wall, past one of the corner towers and are now at the back of the fort where there is a small beach. Here we see large freight ships pass with sand and other stuff. Pete is pampering in the water while I am going to look at the reinforced cornerspot where the canon foundations are still standing and bunker parts. We enter the fort again through a different gate and enter a cellar under the fort. There is a kind of museum with clothing, photos and old stuff from Tsarist times. Some tour groups have arrived and it has started to rain very hard. We quickly walk past some information panels and climb the high fort walls for a good panorama over the courtyard. It is time to go back to Shisselbur by ferry.