Rivers flowing from Lake Ladoga. Lake Ladoga, map

Lake Ladoga, the largest freshwater lake in Europe, is located in northwestern Russia, in a rugged region with majestic nature and rich history. It was here that Russian statehood was born and the first Russian cities appeared.

The history of the lake, unique and rich nature– all this makes Lake Ladoga a most valuable cultural object and a beautiful corner of Russia.

Origin of the lake

The lake was formed by the melting of a glacier, and this process lasted several thousand years. Several times the gigantic lake either merged with the waters of the ancient ocean, or again found itself surrounded by the firmament. Finally, about three thousand years ago, the pond, crowded by its banks, broke through to the Baltic Sea by the Neva River.

The gradual formation of the lake was reflected in the unique bottom topography: if in the northern part of the lake the depth reaches 230 m, then in the “shallow” southern part it is 20-70 m. The difference in landscape is also explained by the fact that the reservoir belongs to different natural areas. The Karelian (northern) coast lies on the Baltic crystalline shield, it is steep and rocky. The southern coast, located in the Leningrad region, consists of sedimentary rocks. The coast gently goes under water, forming sandbanks and beaches.

Lake Ladoga on the map looks like the footprint of some giant beast. The length of the reservoir from north to south is 219 km, and from west to east – 138 km. The huge area of ​​the lake is over 18,000 square meters. km – holds about 900 cubic meters. km of water. More than 40 rivers and streams fill it with their waters, and only one - the deep Neva - flows out. Some rivers connect Lake Ladoga with other lakes - Onega, Ilmen, Saimaa.

There are many islands on the lake - more than 660. In the north of the lake are the famous Ladoga skerries - a magnificent necklace of a series of rocky islands separated by narrow straits. The main diamond of this natural phenomenon, stunning with its unique beauty, is the holy island of Valaam with the famous Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery.

History of the lake

Lake Ladoga occupies a special place in the history of our country. The name of the reservoir comes from the name of the ancient Russian city of Ladoga, but there is another version: on the contrary, the city is named after the lake. Until the 13th century, the lake was called “Great Lake Nevo.” In Finnish, the word “nevo” means “swamp”, “quagmire”.

Fateful events reflected in culture and history are associated with Lake Ladoga:

• the famous route from the Varangians to the Greeks passed through Ladoga;
• in the 14th century, Oreshek, the oldest Russian fortress, was built at the sources of the Neva;
• at the end of the 14th century, the largest Orthodox monasteries were built on the islands - Valaam and Konevsky, famous for their missionary activities;
• Novgorodians kept a navy here;
• battles took place on the lake and its shores Northern War 1701-1721;
• The road of life during the Second World War.

Since 1721, the coast of Lake Ladoga became completely Russian. Even then, Peter I appreciated the harsh nature of the lake, its treachery: complete calm in a few tens of minutes can give way to a real storm, and the waves rise to a height of 4-5 meters. Such inconstancy of the lake forced the Russian emperor to say the famous words that only the one who walked on Ladoga can be considered a real sailor.

The road of life

The history of the lake has tragic pages that evoke tears of joy and grief at the same time - this is a heroic chronicle of the salvation of hundreds of thousands of human lives from besieged Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War.

The road of life across Lake Ladoga connected the dying city with the country and saved it from death. Between September 1941 and March 1944, 1,600 thousand tons of various cargo were transported across the water and ice of the lake and more than 1,300 thousand people were evacuated.

In winter, goods and people were transported on the famous “one and a half trucks” - GAZ-AA. With the melting of the ice, navigation by water began. In addition to 15 barges, metal ships took part in navigation, the construction of which was carried out in Leningrad.

The road of life passed near the front line and needed protection. It was defended by anti-aircraft artillery divisions and fighter regiments, but thin ice and bombing destroyed about a thousand trucks.

In memory of the feat of the Soviet people on the Road of Life, 7 monuments, 112 memorial pillars along the highway and railway. The most famous of the monuments is “The Broken Ring” by architect V. G. Filippov.

Why you need to visit Lake Ladoga

Ladoga is one of the many water bodies in our country, visiting which will bring great pleasure. From year to year, in any season, thousands of fishermen, pilgrims and simply vacationers flock to the shores of the lake. Each of them has their own interests, but no one is left indifferent by the stunning beauty of the water surface, quaint islands, majestic shores and, of course, the harsh character of the lake. You need to make friends with him, and then your relationship with the lake will last for many years, bringing a lot of impressions.

So why is it worth visiting the shores of a wonderful lake? Here are probably the main reasons:

1. . The lake is home to over 50 species of fish, the most famous of which are salmon, whitefish, Ladoga smelt, and pike perch. You can fish at any time of the year with consistently excellent results.
2. Rich flora and fauna. The nature of Lake Ladoga is unique and diverse: here you can find southern plant species and tundra flora; Hares, wolves, bears, moose and other species of animals live in the forests, and the Ladoga seal lives in the north of the lake.
3. Diving. Thanks to the fresh and clean water, its low temperature, the artifacts of bygone times lying on the bottom are perfectly preserved and are of scientific and research interest.
4. Curious natural phenomena: mirages, brontides (underground rumble).
5. Visiting holy places.
6. Developed tourist infrastructure.
7. Relax on sandy beaches.
8. Complete absence of mosquitoes.

Lake Ladoga - mysterious, majestic and beautiful, will always attract thousands of tourists eager to join its harsh beauty. The wealth of waters and shores, the bizarre landscape and history of the lake stuns the imagination and fills hearts with love for Russia, its nature and culture.

general characteristics

The bottom topography of Lake Ladoga is characterized by a gradual increase in depth from south to north. The bottom of the northern part is uneven, furrowed with depressions. Depths exceeding 100 meters prevail here. It is in the north, near the Kilpisaret islands, that the maximum depth of the lake is 230 meters. The depth of the depression opposite the Kurkijoki skerries reaches 220 meters. Not far from Priozersk, as well as near the Sortavala skerries, depths of up to 150 meters are known. The bottom topography of the southern part is calmer and more smooth. The depths in this part of the lake range from 20-50 meters and are close to the average depth of the entire reservoir - 51 meters.

The total area of ​​Lake Ladoga is 18,135 square kilometers, 457 of which are islands. There are over 650 islands alone with an area larger than 1 hectare, of which about 500 are located off the northwestern coast. The bizarre outlines of rocky islands, sometimes reaching a height of 60-70 meters, are combined with the rugged coast of the mainland, into which numerous bays cut deeply. The largest of them - Lekhmalahti, Naismeri, Kurkiyoksky, Yakimvarsky, Sortavala - are more than 10 kilometers long.

The steep banks offer a delightful panorama of islands rising above the silvery surface of the lake. The figures speak eloquently about the ruggedness of the shores of northern Ladoga: out of the total length coastline lakes of 1570 kilometers, the skerry region accounts for 790.

The high northern shore decreases to the south and gradually turns into calmer western and eastern shores. The eastern shore is not rugged; only two large bays protrude into it - Lunkulanlahti and Uksunlahti, covered from the side of the lake by one of the largest islands of Ladoga - Mantsinsari. The eastern coast (in the southern part) is surrounded by wide sandy beaches. The West Bank is even less rugged. It is overgrown with dense mixed forest and shrubs, approaching close to the water's edge, along which there are scatterings of boulders of various shapes and sizes. Ridges of stones often extend from capes far into the lake, forming dangerous underwater reefs.

The western bank turns into a low-lying and swampy southern bank, bordered like a border by thickets of aquatic plants. The coastal area here is replete with shallows, rocky reefs and banks. Therefore, the shallow southern part is fraught with many dangers for ship navigation.

Thirty-two rivers carry their waters to Ladoga. This is the full-flowing Svir, which contains a huge supply of energy, and small rivers of the northern shore, lost among the forests and meadows, and the straightforward Volkhov, and Vuoksa flowing through many lakes. There are short rivers, the sources of which lie 20-40 kilometers from Ladoga. Others stretch for hundreds of kilometers, and their waters travel a long way before flowing into the lake.

No matter how different the rivers of the Ladoga basin are from each other in size, together they serve as the main source of nutrition for the lake. Every year the rivers bring here about 68 cubic kilometers of water. In high-water years, this figure can increase to 100. The share of rain and snow involved in replenishing water reserves in the lake accounts for 15 percent, groundwater - only 2 percent of the total influx.

River waters flow into Ladoga quite evenly throughout the year. In that main role plays an artificial regulation of the flow of large rivers, which became possible after the construction of a number of structures and waterworks.

In the spring, the southern river, the Volkhov, opens up first. At this time of year it carries a huge mass of water. By winter, its importance in the total influx decreases. The flow of the Vuoksa (Burnaya) River is most evenly distributed over the seasons, followed by the Svir. This leads to the fact that in winter, when many rivers are depleted, the lake is filled by these two tributaries.

Only the full-flowing Neva flows out of Ladoga. Every second it takes in about 2,500 cubic meters of water, which manages to travel all the way from the source to the Gulf of Finland in less than 24 hours. The length of the Neva is 74 kilometers. Throughout its entire length, the river bottom lies below the surface of the Baltic Sea. If for some reason the water level in Ladoga fell 4.5-5 meters below average, then the Neva would flow backwards, and the waters of the Gulf of Finland would enter the lake.

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Flora and fauna

Lake Ladoga is full of life. However, harsh Ladoga does not pamper its inhabitants. Great depth, low water temperature, a small amount of dissolved nutrient salts, as well as coarse bottom sediments inhibit the development of flowering aquatic plants - macrophytes. But the real scourge for them is the dynamism of the water mass. Frequent and strong waves often do not allow macrophytes to colonize the shallow coastal zone.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the most diverse vegetation is found in the northern - skerry - region of Ladoga, where the intricately indented shores are protected from storms by a scattering of countless islands and reefs.

Menacing waves rush with furious force onto the rocky shores of these islands facing open Ladoga. Here macrophytes do not grow, and in the water only long green tufts of filamentous algae, ulothrix, attached to the rocks, sway, but deeper, in the skerries, where it weakens destructive force waves, the first flowering plants appear in the water.

The pioneers of overgrowth are reed, bogwort, and marsh horsetail. At some distance from the shore, single clumps of water buttercup and pierced-leaved pondweed can be seen. But plants rarely grow alone. To make it easier to bear favorable conditions, they form groups built according to certain laws, consisting of several species of macrophytes.

On the leeward side of the islands, among the chaotic piles of stones and fragments of rocks, small patches of aquatic plants loom with bright emerald reflections. And a little further a narrow, but denser strip of reeds ran into the depths of the bay. It’s as if a patterned border is framed by white flowers of water buttercup, sitting on thin branched stems, strewn with leaves cut into thin slices.

And in the reed thickets, oblong, slightly reddish leaves with an inflorescence of pink flowers float on the surface of the water. This is an amphibious buckwheat. Here, spikelets of various types of pondweeds peek out of the water, and the plants themselves are immersed in water.

But we find the real abundance and diversity of aquatic plants in the upper reaches of the bays of the skerry part of Ladoga, which protrude deeply into the mainland. Sloping shores, shallows, silty soils rich in mineral nutrition and, finally, protection from waves - what could be better for the growth of macrophytes! Here you can find sedge thickets, in which you can count several dozen species of moisture-loving plants, and communities of marsh horsetail, which enter the water to a depth of 2 meters.

And at greater depths, plants with leaves floating on the surface of the water dominate. The shiny brownish leaves of a regular oval shape leave a great impression. This is a floating pondweed. Leaves like arrowheads sway next to him. For this similarity, the plant itself received the name arrow leaf. A little further on the water stretched bright green cords of leaves of the hedgehog, so named because of the appearance of its fruits, reminiscent of a bristling hedgehog. There are also small islands of large leathery green leaves of the egg capsule, among which its flowers turn yellow.

Behind the strip of plants with floating leaves, which in most Ladoga bays is narrow and may be completely absent, submerged plants begin. Pierced-leaved and multi-leaved pondweeds are more common here. On silty soils, groups of uruti and hornwort - plants with heavily dissected leaves - develop well. At the bottom there are dense tufts of the well-known home aquarium Elodea canadensis, or water plague, comes from North America. It is believed that Elodea owes its appearance in Europe to aquarists. In 1836, it was brought to Ireland, from where its victorious march through the waters of Europe began.

This picture of coastal overgrowth can be observed while slowly sailing along the shore in a boat. But in order to imagine the degree of overgrowth of the reservoir as a whole, especially such a huge one as Lake Ladoga, aerial reconnaissance is carried out. Aerial surveillance above the aquatic vegetation on Ladoga showed that along the shores of numerous islands and the mainland stretches a narrow green border of reed thickets 5-10 meters wide.

Adjacent to it is an even narrower strip. Only at the tops of bays deeply cut into the land do diverse groups of macrophytes develop. The width of the overgrowth strip in these places reaches 70-100 meters. The total area of ​​aquatic vegetation in the northern part of Ladoga is about 1,500 hectares.

There is almost complete absence of aquatic vegetation along the eastern and western shores of the lake. From the plane you can see how the waves wash the sand of the huge beaches of the east coast and crash on the boulders of the west coast. And only behind the ridges of stones at the mouth of the Vuoksa (Burnaya) River, flowing in from the west, as well as in the strait between the island of Mantsinsari and the eastern shore of Ladoga and in the Uksunlahti Bay, dense islands of reed thickets became entrenched.

In the shallow southern bays, Ladoga receives two large tributaries - the Svir and the Volkhov. Rivers bring to the lake nutrients for living organisms. Here in the lips there are the largest communities of aquatic plants, occupying over 8,000 hectares. Branching, cord-like stems of lushly developed pierced-leaved pondweed are visible in the water. Closer to the shore, thickets of pondweed give way to a green carpet with patterns of various shades. The grayish tint belonging to the sedge prevails near the island of Ptinov. Along the entire southern coast there are dark green islands of reeds interspersed with fairly large tracts of light green reed thickets.

Reed is the most widespread plant in the world. It is very unpretentious and can grow in various environmental conditions - in standing and flowing reservoirs up to 2.5 meters deep, on land, in places with high groundwater levels, on various soils, however, preferring silty ones. Reed has a variety of uses on the farm. Its stems are used in the pulp and paper industry to make paper and cardboard. In the early stage of the growing season, reed serves as food for domestic animals. Chemical analyzes showed that young shoots contain 16 percent carbohydrates, and they contain even more vitamin C than lemons. However, the exploitation of reed reserves on Ladoga is unprofitable, since their total area is slightly more than 100 square kilometers, and they are too scattered along the entire coast.

But higher aquatic plants, of which there are a total of 120 species, do not exhaust the flora of Lake Ladoga. The water in it is saturated with tiny organisms, the so-called plankton. The diversity and abundance of single-celled diatoms enclosed in shells with an amazingly thin lace pattern amazes. Here a few Asterionella cells formed an asterisk.

Right next to it there is a patterned necklace - this is a colony of the diatom melosira, a little further away you can see circles of stephanodiscus dotted with specks. It is difficult to describe all the diversity of these smallest creations of nature. After all, in the plankton of Ladoga alone, 154 species of diatoms, 126 species of green and 76 species of blue-green are known, not to mention representatives of other, more rarely found types of algae.

The phytoplankton of Ladoga is dominated by cosmopolitan algae, widespread in lakes of all latitudes. They are joined by a significant number of boreal species - inhabitants of water bodies in the temperate zone of the Earth and northern alpine algae living in northern and high-mountain cold water bodies. The combination of these groups of algae allows us to characterize the algae flora of Lake Ladoga as cold-loving.

The last of the groups of plant organisms living in the lake are microbes, which are destroyers of organic matter created by planktonic algae and higher aquatic plants (with the exception of a small group of microbes capable of synthesizing organic matter chemically). The latest research has shown that the waters of Ladoga are poor in bacteria.

For comparison, let’s take the crystal clear water of artesian wells as a standard. Here, in one cubic centimeter you can count up to 15 thousand bacterial cells. The deep Ladoga waters contain only 60-70 thousand microorganisms, and in the surface layer - from 180 to 300 thousand. Only near river mouths and in places where industrial wastewater is discharged, the number of bacteria is increased.

What explains the low number of bacteria in Ladoga? Low water temperature prevents intensive growth of bacteria. The consequence of the small number of microorganisms, which are the main “cleaners,” is the weak ability of Ladoga waters to self-purify. This means that we must very carefully protect Ladoga from pollution by industrial and domestic wastewater.

As a result of many years of research, 378 species and varieties of planktonic animals were identified in Lake Ladoga. More than half of the species are represented by extremely peculiar and very small organisms - rotifers. Part four total number of species are protozoans, and 23 percent falls jointly on Cladocerans and Copepods.

Zooplankton, like all other living beings, is distributed unevenly across the waters of Lake Ladoga. For example, the highly rugged coastline in the skerry area of ​​Ladoga creates a system of bays and coves isolated from the main reach, in which forms of zooplankton characteristic of small bodies of water develop. These include the well-known species of Daphnia and Cyclops.

A large group of aquatic invertebrate animals lives at the bottom of the lake and is collectively called benthos. 385 species of them were found in Ladoga. Some of these organisms live in silt, cutting through it with channels of their passages, others attach themselves to stones and boulders, but the population of thickets of aquatic plants is most diverse.

Four-fifths of the total number of species of bottom organisms is confined to a narrow shallow-water zone, and in the vast deep-water and cold-water zone only 57 species of organisms live, but this number includes relict crustaceans - animals that inhabited the ancient lake that preceded Ladoga during the period of its connection with Baltic Sea. Now they have found favorable conditions for their existence here.

At the bottom of Lake Ladoga, elements of fauna are united, different in origin, species and geographical distribution. The first place in the benthofauna belongs to insect larvae, which account for more than half of all species of benthic animals - 202 species. Next come worms - 66 species, water mites, or hydrocarines, mollusks, crustaceans, etc.

Bottom animals play a very important role in the reservoir, being the main food for most fish. If you map the places of greatest development of benthos, and then mark accumulations of valuable species of commercial fish on the same map, it turns out that these areas coincide.

On Ladoga, together with its canals and lower reaches of flowing rivers, 58 species and varieties of fish are known, including 5 species introduced by humans. These include temporary newcomers, which include river lamprey, Baltic sturgeon, Baltic salmon and eel; overcoming the fast current of the Neva, they occasionally enter Lake Ladoga and its tributaries.

There is even information that the Baltic sturgeon, before the construction of the dams, passed through the entire Svir to the southern part of Onega. Sturgeon breed in the Ladoga rivers, then descend into the lake and can live here without going to sea. For these reasons, Baikal and Lena sturgeon were introduced into Ladoga to restore and replenish sturgeon stocks.

There are fish in Ladoga that are unique to it. These are the Ladoga lamprey, the Ladoga ripus, several breeds of whitefish, the Ladoga smelt, and the relict four-horned goby. But, of course, the bulk are made up of fish that live in many freshwater bodies. We will only talk about widespread, commercially important or otherwise remarkable fish.

Perhaps the most valuable fish of Ladoga are salmon, of which 7 species are known. In addition to sea salmon entering the lake, lake salmon and lake trout, or taimen, are common throughout Ladoga. These are beautiful strong fish very similar to each other, but they still have differences. Outwardly, they are expressed in the fact that numerous black spots are visible on the salmon’s body, which are especially numerous near the pectoral fins.

Unlike salmon, trout are lighter in color and have fewer dark spots on the head and body. Both trout and salmon can weigh up to 8 kilograms, but most fish weighing 2.5 kilograms are caught. These fish go to rivers to spawn. Not so long ago they could rise into almost all the rivers of the Ladoga region, but now dams have been built on most of them. In addition, some rivers are polluted by wastewater from pulp and paper mills and timber rafting, and salmon and taimen do not enter them. The largest number of lake salmon go to the Burnaya, Vidlitsa, and Svir rivers to spawn. Due to the sharp decline in stocks of this fish, salmon fishing has been prohibited since 1960.

Many tributaries of Lake Ladoga are inhabited by small-sized but beautifully colored brook trout.

In Lake Ladoga there are two more species of fish, whose general appearance resembles salmon. These are the common and yamnaya paliya, reaching a weight of 5-7 kilograms. The common palia is distinguished by its dark color and light spots on the sides. Pit palia is lighter in color and is therefore also called gray palia. Unlike the common one, the Yamnaya Palia prefers greater depths. Palia are lake fish and, as a rule, do not enter rivers.

In winter, they live in deep layers of water, and after the lake is opened, they go to the underwater shallows, where they hunt for smelt. As the water temperature rises, the fish go deeper again. Palia breeds only in the lake, and only in its northern part.

The next representatives of the salmon family that live in the waters of Ladoga are the common, or European, vendace - one of the most important commercial fish of the lake and the Ladoga ripus, or large vendace. These are very delicate fish. Their distinguishing feature is the color of their back. The vendace has a back with a greenish shiny tint or almost black. The back of the ripus has a purple or dark blue tint.

These fish differ in size and habitat. Vendace rarely reaches a length of 20 centimeters and a weight of 90 grams, while ripus is found up to 40 centimeters long and weighs up to 1 kilogram. Vendace is distributed in large quantities in the northern half of the lake, and ripus - in the southern half, where its breeding and feeding grounds are located.

There are 7 varieties of whitefish in Ladoga - Ludoga, Lake Ladoga, Black, Valaam, Volkhov, Vuoksa and Svir. The first four species are typically lacustrine, spending their entire lives in the lake, while the Vuoksa, Volkhov and Svir whitefish are lake-river whitefish: they breed in rivers and feed in the lake.

All whitefish reach a length of 50 centimeters or more and a weight of more than 2 kilograms. The commercial importance of different varieties of whitefish varies. Lake whitefish, with the exception of Valaam, are widely hunted in various parts of the lake, while lake-river whitefish are quite rare.

Whitefish got its name due to the fact that it stays mainly on underwater rocky places called luds. Ludoga lives in both the northern and southern parts of the lake. In summer it often gathers along the western, southern and eastern coasts, and in winter it migrates north. Ludoga spawns on the southern coast of Ladoga near Ptinov Island and in Volkhov Bay. This whitefish provides the bulk of the commercial catch here. Lake Ladoga whitefish lives mainly in Petrokrepost Bay.

Black whitefish inhabit the northern part of the lake and are the main species there. commercial species. It adheres to mainland and island coasts with shallow depths.

Finally, the deepest of the whitefish is the Valaam whitefish, which lives only in the northern part of the lake at depths of up to 150 meters or more. This fish got its name in ancient times. Russian fishermen went to the Valaam archipelago, where in the fall deep-sea whitefish concentrate around the islands and between them and the northern skerries.

They caught him there until January. The fishermen returned to the mainland already on the ice. This whitefish is also known as goiter, since when pulled from the depths to the surface, due to a sharp change in pressure, the fish’s front part of the abdomen swells (crop).

The lake-river Vuoksa whitefish is distributed mainly in the northern part of Ladoga, from where it goes to spawn in the rivers of the northern and western coasts. In the 18th - early 19th centuries, there was a large whitefish fishery on the Vuoksa River, but the construction of dams reduced the stocks of Vuoksa whitefish.

The same thing happened with the Volkhov and Svir whitefish; The Volkhov whitefish was especially hard hit, as the dam blocked its path to the Msta River, where it had previously spawned, putting it on the brink of extinction. Therefore, in order to restore the population of lake and river whitefish, work is being done to artificially reproduce these valuable fish, which have excellent taste, at fish hatcheries.

Considering geographical features Lake Ladoga and the valuable nutritional qualities of whitefish, the famous Baikal omul and peled were introduced into Ladoga.

Probably, many have heard about the cautious and swift fish with a large dorsal fin - grayling. Grayling lives both in the lake itself, preferring its northern part, and in the tributaries of Ladoga. In the lake, grayling sticks to the rocky shores of the mainland and islands, where it can be seen rising out of the water behind a flying insect. Grayling never gathers in schools, even during the spawning period, and therefore it is caught in Ladoga in small quantities. Catching grayling is always a dream for amateur fishermen.

Basic commercial fish in Lake Ladoga is smelt, which accounts for up to half of all fish caught in the reservoir. There is hardly any need to characterize smelt - it is well known to residents of the north-west of our country.

Pike are found in all coastal thickets, but their numbers are small for such a huge body of water as Lake Ladoga.

The greatest variety of species is represented by the family of carp fish, which includes roach, dace, chub, ide, rudd, minnow, asp, tench, gudgeon, bleak, silver bream, bream, white-eye, blue bream, raw fish, sabrefish, crucian carp and carp introduced into the lake. Most of these fish have no commercial value.
Bream lives mainly in the Volkhov and Svirskaya bays and Petrokrepost Bay, where it spends its entire life without making long migrations. In the north of the lake, in the bays near Priozersk, near the island of Mantsinsari and in some other shallow bays, there are schools of bream. Bream prefers well-warmed bays with silty-sandy soils, rich in benthos and with well-developed aquatic vegetation. Like bream, raw fish are found in the southern part of Ladoga; in the northern half of the lake it is almost never found.

A lucky fisherman occasionally catches the hook of the great traveler - the eel. It breeds off the coast of Central America - in the Sargasso Sea. Then its leaf-like larvae swim for three years with the waters of the warm Gulf Stream to the shores of Europe. Here the larvae develop into young eels, which usually enter rivers and lakes on spring nights. In freshwater continental reservoirs, fish live 9-12 years.

Then the eel begins to migrate to the ocean, and its appearance and blood composition. Having entered the Baltic Sea, the eel moves along the coast to the west, then disappears into the depths Atlantic Ocean so that in a few years his descendants would again make their way into European rivers and lakes on bright spring nights.

Burbot is widespread throughout Lake Ladoga, although here it does not reach large sizes. In autumn and winter, burbot comes out to shallow waters at the mouths of rivers and islands, and in summer they go to deep places. Burbot is a voracious predator. It feeds on fish and invertebrates and greedily devours eggs, even its own.

A valuable commercial fish of Lake Ladoga is pike perch. It accounts for up to 10 percent of the total catch. Pike perch is a predatory fish, it feeds mainly on smelt, which it pursues throughout the lake, and places where smelt accumulate can serve as a sign that pike perch are also there. It is quite large on Ladoga - its average length is 50-60 centimeters, weight 3-4 kilograms, and sometimes fish up to a meter long and 10 kilograms in weight are caught.

Lake Ladoga abounds in perch. Smaller individuals stay near the shores, and larger ones live in the open areas on the luds. It can reach 40 centimeters in length and 2 kilograms in weight. In catches, perch accounts for over one tenth of the annual production of Ladoga fish.

The ruffe are found on sandy and shallow rocky shallows throughout the lake. It usually gathers in flocks. Previously, there was a ruff fishery here, especially in Petrokrepost Bay and on the shallows of northern Ladoga. Live ruff was delivered to St. Petersburg and was in great demand. Currently, ruffe mining is abandoned.

Travelers on excursions around Lake Ladoga often see seals (nerpas) peeking out of the water not far from the sides of the ship.

The seal is the only representative of mammals permanently living in Ladoga waters. More than 10 thousand years ago, its ancestors penetrated from the White Sea depression into the Karelian glacial sea, which later gave rise to Lake Ladoga. The animals have acclimatized to the new reservoir, and now there are quite a lot of them in Ladoga. On sunny days, the seal loves to bask in the hot rays, climbing onto coastal rocks or boulders. Rolling from side to side, it comically scratches itself with its flippers. You can often see it on a log floating on the waves.

The seal is a predator that eats fish. Often he uses the “services” of fishermen, eating valuable fish from networks. During these raids, the animals often destroy fishing gear, causing harm to fishermen. In this regard, even notices appeared in the periodical press with a menacing headline: “The seal must be destroyed!”

Let's try to answer the question - is the seal really so dangerous that it needs to be fought? Unfortunately, to date, the lifestyle of this interesting animal has not been studied at all: its wintering places and breeding time, the nature and areas of distribution of the seal in the lake are unknown.

Meanwhile, if we turn to the research of the staff of the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, who are studying the life of the closest relative of our “Ladoga resident” - the Baikal seal, it turns out that the seal is a good orderly. Animals cannot keep up with healthy fish. Sick fish swim more slowly and become prey for seals, who thus protect the fish from the epidemic.

If we knew biology Ladoga seal, we could conduct its fishing correctly and rationally, especially since the skins of one-year-old seals are very highly valued in the fur market, and the meat of hunted animals could be used by the Ladoga fur farms to fatten valuable fur-bearing animals.

The last animal worth mentioning is the dolphin, which occasionally visits from the Baltic to the Neva and Lake Ladoga.

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“We live in the most beautiful country in the world, and all other countries envy us!” - I am ready to subscribe to every word. And the point is not even that “we shoed a flea and pierced a caterpillar,” but that Mother Russia contains so many natural and man-made wonders that you constantly feel a sense of pride in your Motherland, and this makes your soul feel so good !

We have the very best: the best deep lake in the world (Baikal), the most extensive forests (Siberian taiga), the coldest populated area on Earth (Oymyakon), the largest Orthodox church is located in Moscow (Cathedral of Christ the Savior) ... We have a lot of things, the list goes on and on.

Now I want to talk about another “most”, about the largest lake in Europe – Ladoga. It is more than two hundred kilometers long and 125 kilometers wide! When you stand on its shore, it seems that this is not a lake, this is the SEA! Ladoga, of course, is a national treasure not only for its impressive size, but also thanks to its clean water, unique flora and fauna, rich history... Well, I will try to embrace the immensity and tell in brief all the most interesting and useful things I know about this miracle nature.

How to get there

Lake Ladoga occupies a huge area and is located in two constituent entities of the Russian Federation - the Leningrad region (western, southern shores) and the Republic of Karelia (northern, eastern shores).

The choice of your preferred mode of transport directly depends on which shore of Lake Ladoga you are trying to get to. In principle, it can be reached by plane, train, bus, ferry, and, of course, by private car.

By plane

To St. Petersburg

The closest airport to Lake Ladoga is Pulkovo Airport, located in St. Petersburg. The distance from it to the southwestern shore of Ladoga is the most in the best possible way(by car) is 55 kilometers. Pulkovo is the largest air transport hub in the North-West region, receiving daily flights from many localities in Russia and from abroad. I think it won’t be difficult to find the best route from your city. The official website of St. Petersburg airport and other Internet resources can help you. For example, you can monitor ticket prices.

You can rent a car right in the arrival hall (Avis, Europcar, Sixt). The price for renting an economy class car (eg Hyundai Solaris) for one day is about 2000 rubles; The longer the rental period, the more acceptable the final cost. Compare prices from different rental companies.

If you plan to continue your trip by public transport, then now is the time to decide how you intend to get to your final destination on Lake Ladoga - by rail or by bus. In the first case, you need to get, no, not to Ladozhsky, but to the Finlyandsky station (popularly “Finban”), in the second - to the Obvodny Canal bus station or to the Northern bus station.

How to get there from the airport

So, how can a tourist leave the airport? There are two acceptable options:

• by taxi. Just don’t even think about hiring a driver from among those who offer their services at the exit of the terminal! They usually charge prices three times higher than the citywide prices. Just call a taxi service (for example, “Vezet”, “Taksovichkoff”, “068”). The machine delivery time is no more than 15 minutes; transfer cost to Finban ~ 850 rubles, to the bus station on the Obvodny Canal ~ 600 rubles, to the Northern bus station ~ 1100 rubles;
• bus + metro. Buses (No. 39, No. 39A) and minibuses (No. 39K) regularly run from the airport building to the Moskovskaya metro station. Travel time is 15 – 30 minutes depending on the traffic situation, the fare is 40 rubles. In order to get to the railway station you need to get to the metro station "Ploshchad Lenina" (change at the station " Institute of Technology"), the bus station is located within a 5-minute walk from the Obvodny Kanal metro station (change at the station " Sennaya Square"), Northern bus station - near the Devyatkino metro station (transfer to the Tekhnologichesky Institute station). For your convenience, I am including a map of the St. Petersburg metro. There is a mark on it where the route begins - station. metro station Moskovskaya (red star), final stop marks: Finlyandsky Station - yellow rectangle, bus station - light green, Northern Bus Station - purple.

To Petrozavodsk

Alternative airports “in the vicinity” of Lake Ladoga:

• airport "Besovets" in. The distance to the eastern shore of Ladoga (Pitkyaranta) is approximately 190 km. Keep in mind that it has air connections only with Moscow. Flights are operated by RusLine five days a week. The travel time is about 2 hours; for a round-trip ticket you will need to pay approximately 8,000 rubles. Read about how to get from the airport to the city center. It is better to get to the coast of Lake Ladoga (the cities of Lakhdenpokhya, Sortavala, Pitkyaranta, Syasstroy) by bus from the local bus station. For example, the travel time to Sortavala will be about 4 hours, the ticket price is 550 – 600 rubles; It takes longer to get to Syasstroy - about 5 hours, the ticket price starts from 650 rubles.

By train

From Saint-Petersburg

From Finlyandsky Station(metro station "Ploshchad Lenina") commuter trains regularly run to Priozersk (northern direction) and to Shlisselburg (south-eastern, east directions). There are more flights in summer, fewer in winter. You can view the current schedule on the Russian Railways website. For clarity, I am posting a print screen of the map. It shows the nearest railway stations to the coast of Lake Ladoga with colored markers.

• Raspberry color Priozersk is indicated (fare ~350 rubles), located on the Vuoksa River. The shore of the lake is located no more than 5 kilometers from the city center. From the Priozersk bus station (Vyborgskaya str., 31) you can go to smaller settlements on Ladoga.
• Orange marker– railway station Ladoga Lake (fare ~130 rubles). From the station to the beach, walk no more than one kilometer.
• Purple marker– Petrokrepost railway station (~120 rubles), located in the village named after. Morozova. The distance to the Ladoga coast is 500 meters.

From Ladozhsky station(Ladozhskaya metro station) train No. 350A runs twice a week (Wednesday, Friday), following the route - Kostomuksha. He makes stops in Priozersk and Sortavala. The train arrives in Priozersk 2 hours after departure from St. Petersburg, and in Sortavala - 5.5 hours later. Please note that the cost of tickets to Priozersk will be higher than for a commuter train - about 450 rubles one way; a ticket to Sortavala will not cost much more than to Priozersk, about 550 rubles.

From Moscow, from other cities

I advise you not to invent a bicycle, but to get from Moscow (by train, plane, bus) to St. Petersburg, and from here start to your final destination. You will not find convenient direct trains or electric trains going straight to Lake Ladoga from Moscow or any other large Russian cities.

By bus

From Saint-Petersburg

Bus station on Obvodny Canal(Obvodny Kanal metro station) offers tourists daily flights to Novaya Ladoga (No. 847), Syasstroy (No. 862) and Pitkyaranta (No. 963). All these settlements are located in close proximity to the shore of Lake Ladoga. A bus ticket to Novaya Ladoga will cost about 300 rubles, travel time is 3.5 hours; to Syasstroy - from 350 rubles, travel time - 2.5 hours; to Pitkäranta - about 900 rubles, travel time - at least 7.5 hours. The bus to Pitkäranta also makes stops in other settlements with access to Lake Ladoga. You can easily buy a ticket to the villages of Vidlitsa or Salmi. If you kill two birds with one stone, you will save a little and end up in a sparsely populated area (relevant for those who are planning to go on holiday as a “savage”).

North Bus Station(metro station "Devyatkino") Tickets to Syasstroy (350 rubles) and Priozersk (250 rubles) are sold here. Tickets can be purchased either at the ticket office of bus stations or on the Internet.

From Petrozavodsk

Petrozavodsk bus station(Chapaeva St., 3) offers a large number of inter-republican routes to Sortavala, Lahdenpokhya, Pitkyaranta. A more interesting direction is the northern one (to Sortavala). The cost of a ticket Sortavala – Petrozavodsk (4 hours travel time) is ~600 rubles. It is possible to get off this flight earlier, in such picturesque places as Rautalahti or Karjavalahti (the village is not marked on the map, but there is a bus stop!). From Petrozavodsk to the Pitkäranta bus station (Privokzalnaya St., 30) the fare costs about 450 rubles (in journey 3.5 hours). The current schedule can be found on the website of the Petrozavodsk bus station.

From Moscow, from other cities

As in the case of rail transport, I strongly advise you to first get to St. Petersburg or Petrozavodsk by any convenient means, and from there take a bus following the routes I suggested above.

By car

The most, most, most convenient way to get from St. Petersburg and Moscow to Lake Ladoga! By personal car you can get to almost any place on the coastline, without thinking about tickets, their cost and availability, time for transfers... You can take a bunch of things with you; This is especially true for campers and amateurs active rest.

From Saint-Petersburg there are two main highways encircling Ladoga - one runs along its western, northern coast (A-121 Sortavala), the other along the southern coast and then turns to Petrozavodsk (R-21 Kola). These routes meet each other in the area of ​​the Karelian village of Pryazha, located near Petrozavodsk. You can get to the east coast (road 86K-8) from the P-21 highway after the city of Olonets, and from the A-121 road, turning south from it in the area of ​​​​the village of Leppäsilta. Which route you prefer depends on the final point of your trip. Theoretically, to get to the southern and eastern coasts, it is better to use the Kola highway, and to the northern and western coasts, it is better to use the Sortavala highway. Or maybe you just want to take a ride around Ladoga? Then the “problem of choice” disappears by itself.

From Moscow, of course, the ride is longer, at least 700 kilometers longer. If you want to get to the western or northern shores of Ladoga, feel free to follow the familiar M-10 highway to St. Petersburg, and along the St. Petersburg Ring Road take the Sortavala highway. If you planned to find yourself on the southern or eastern banks, then from the M-10 highway after the village of Chudovo you need to turn right onto Volkhov. In the end, this road will lead you to the Kola highway and further to Lake Ladoga. Another alternative route from Moscow to the eastern coast of Lake Ladoga is the A-114 road, passing through Kalyazin, Pikalevo,. But, I warn you, the quality of the road surface and roadside infrastructure of the A-114 road are inferior to the same indicators of the M-10 federal highway. In the “worst” case, you will have to spend about 13 hours on the road, for example, if you are traveling from Moscow to Sortavala or Pitkäranta ( ~1000 km). However, I do not recommend stopping overnight on the road. This distance can easily be covered in one day, and even with small children, it has been tested for yourself.

It wouldn’t hurt to immediately draw up a travel estimate (for a car enthusiast traveler from Moscow):

• payment for gasoline (based on 2000 km in both directions) - about 8000 rubles;
• travel on the M11 toll road - from 1000 to 1500 rubles depending on the time of day (round trip);
• snacks in roadside cafes - at least 300 rubles per person;
• hotel room - at least 1,500 rubles for double occupancy (if you decide to stay overnight along the way).

The total is approximately 15,000 rubles. Of course, we can optimize expenses by removing all items from the list except the purchase of fuel - then our estimate will be cut exactly in half!

By ferry

From Saint-Petersburg

Since the beginning of May, numerous travel companies offer a huge number of water cruises on Lake Ladoga. You can easily choose a route to your liking, for example, “St. Petersburg - Valaam - St. Petersburg” (for 3 days, price from 8,000 rubles), “St. Petersburg - Valaam - Konevets - St. Petersburg” (for 4 days, prices from 11 thousand rubles), extended “St. Petersburg - Valaam - Sortavala - Pellotsari - Konevets - St. Petersburg” (for 5 days, prices from 19 thousand rubles). And so on and so forth. There are countless of these cruises, they are all different in price, content, and duration.

Motor ships start from the St. Petersburg River Station (Obukhovskaya Oborony Ave., 195) and arrive there. Unfortunately, the public budget river transport to the islands on this moment does not exist. If you want to sail to any island in Lake Ladoga from the Northern capital, you will have to buy a ticket on a river cruise, but this, as you have probably noticed, is not a cheap pleasure.

From Moscow

It is also easy to sail to the islands of Lake Ladoga, just like from St. Petersburg - you just need to buy a ticket for the ship. All river boats to Ladoga depart from the Northern River Station (Rechnoy Vokzal metro station). Interesting cruises, in my opinion, are “Moscow - - - Peplotsari - Sortavala - Valaam - St. Petersburg” (duration – 9 days, cost – 42,000 rubles) or “Moscow - - Peplotsari - Sortavala - Moscow” (for 12 days , cost from 64,000 rubles)... In general, the offer of cruises is truly impressive, apparently, and the demand for them is quite high, despite their fabulous cost.

Clue:

Lake Ladoga - the time is now

Hour difference:

Moscow 0

Kazan 0

Samara 1

Ekaterinburg 2

Novosibirsk 4

Vladivostok 7

When is the season? When is the best time to go

You most likely have already guessed that the peak season on Lake Ladoga is, of course, summer. The climate here is not very pleasant - humid, cloudy, windy - and even in summer there will probably not be a single sunny day during your holiday on the coast. But this is the saddest option. Statistics say that on average there are about 60 sunny days a year on Ladoga, of course, the lion's share of them occur in the summer, when the southern anticyclone enters the lake area, and in the winter - during the dominance of the Arctic anticyclone. Spring and fall are usually very rainy and windy, especially in the fall when storm season begins.

The northern and eastern coasts of Ladoga (Lakhdenpokhsky, Pitkyaranta, Olonetsky districts and the city of Sortavala of the Republic of Karelia) are equated to the regions of the Far North. I can’t say that the climate here is very harsh compared to, for example, St. Petersburg, but the average annual temperature is clearly a couple of degrees lower.

Lake Ladoga in summer

As I said, summer - best choice to visit Lake Ladoga. At least the air temperature here is guaranteed to be positive. It is in the summer that residents of St. Petersburg and other large cities of our Motherland go to the coast of Lake Ladoga in order to take a break from the city noise and bustle, to breathe fresh air, get healthier. In June it is still quite cool, for a trip it is better to choose July-August, when average monthly temperature air will still exceed 20 degrees Celsius. True, it is not a fact that you will be able to swim, because the water in Ladoga only in rare years warms up to more than 21 degrees, and even then, this temperature is relevant only for the southern shallow areas; on the northern coast, where the depths are much greater, only "walruses".

Lake Ladoga in autumn

Navigation on Lake Ladoga closes in October, and this is no coincidence. It is at the beginning of October that the strongest storms rage on Ladoga. The weather is disgusting - cold, damp, cloudy, plus fog and gusty wind. If you are going to Lake Ladoga in the fall, then only in September, preferably at the beginning of the month. There are lovely quiet days here early autumn, when in the calm, avid lovers can enjoy good fishing, when tourists can still sail to the islands and Konevets, and when “middle managers” can spend their last weekend in nature, barbecuing and contemplating the local beauty.

Lake Ladoga in spring

March and April are not at all the best time to plan a trip to the shores of Lake Ladoga. But this is purely my personal opinion. I start from the fact that in March and even in April there can be negative temperatures here, and if not, then there is a high probability of precipitation, fog and gusty winds. The first tourists usually appear in these parts at the beginning of May, and there is a good reason for this - the May long weekend. In May, navigation just opens - welcome to Konevets, Peplotsari and other islands. But don’t flatter yourself too much – the average monthly temperature in May for the region is 10 degrees Celsius, so you can safely leave your sunscreen at home!

Lake Ladoga in winter

In winter, numerous fans come out onto the ice of Ladoga to hunt for fish :). Winter fishing on Ladoga is very, very popular. Unfortunately, due to the unstable temperature (either wild cold or thaw), sad incidents often happen on the ice of Lake Ladoga. People, be attentive and extremely careful, there’s no need to get caught human life! In addition to fishing, in winter people engage in various “activities”, for example, skiing, ice skating, snow kiting... The average temperature throughout the country is -8.8 degrees Celsius.

Conditional areas. Descriptions and features

The nature of Lake Ladoga is beautiful, amazing and, by the way, quite diverse.

• North Shore Ladoga from Priozersk to Pitkäranta is a rocky skerry area with fjords and numerous small islands. It is very beautiful and romantic here. Natural landscapes immediately reminiscent of Finland, Norway, and Sweden combined. It's impossible not to fall in love with this rugged northern beauty; and anyone who has visited Northern Ladoga at least once will definitely want to come back here again. And again. And again. There are plenty of housing offers here. These are mainly guest houses and cottages. Where there is demand, there is supply. IN Lately, especially “thanks” to the economic crisis, more and more Russians are choosing to vacation in their homeland. Northern Ladoga is an ideal option in this regard - service and views are like abroad, but you still pay for your vacation with our “wooden” ones. The flow of tourists to this area is now consistently high, so you need to try to find decent living conditions, but affordable housing. Some people make it simpler - they come here in the summer with tents. If you have your own boat, you can sail to any micro island, set up your own camp and feel like a real oligarch, at least for the weekend!

• South coast, unlike the Northern one, is low, swampy, slightly indented. Among the interesting places I can name are the Oreshek fortress at the mouth of the Neva River, the cities of Novaya and Staraya Ladoga. Actually, all hotels and inns are concentrated near these attractions. The reason for the poorly developed infrastructure, in my opinion, is the fact that the entire southern shore of Ladoga is surrounded by the Staraya Ladoga and Novoladoga canals. They have a high daily traffic load and, probably, partly hinder the development of the tourism business due to the fact that they separate the lake shore from the “mainland”. However, there are also a couple of decent guest houses here. They say that the bite is better on the southern coast, that this is a “paradise for a fisherman.” And the water temperature here is higher, so you can even swim in the summer!

• West Bank it is also slightly indented and densely overgrown with bushes and forests, approaching right to the water's edge. It is difficult to find a decent place for a secluded parking lot here. The beaches in the village of Kokkorevo and the village of Lake Ladoga are very popular, as they are located near St. Petersburg. There are a couple of spa hotels and guest houses nearby that look quite decent. But further to the north there is a “bare” all the way to Priozersk.

• Eastern Bank, is probably the least popular among tourists, no, not because it is “worse” there, but because it is further away. Few St. Petersburg residents want to spend five hours on the road one way to barbecue, and then drive five hours home again the next day so as not to be late for work on Monday. But everything changes dramatically if you are not planning a weekend getaway, but a full-fledged vacation. Then welcome to the east coast with its wide sandy beaches, clean water and the complete absence of people. After the Nizhne-Svirsky and Olonetsky reserves, that part of the eastern coast begins that the traveler needs to get to. You can choose to stay in a guest house or hotel, or rent a house from a private owner (this is relevant not only for the east coast).

Below I place a map of hotels/hotels/guest houses of Ladoga. Pink rectangle - northern coast; purple non-rectangle - south coast with poor choice; red - the western coast with an even less rich choice of housing; yellow - eastern. Prices for accommodation and entertainment will be discussed in the next section.

What are the prices for holidays?

Accommodation prices vary from 1,500 rubles per night to infinity (well, say, 20,000 rubles in a club spa hotel). This applies to a double room. If you come with a large group and rent a house, then most likely it will be quite affordable - the same 1000 - 1500 rubles per person, but the living conditions will be much more comfortable. The house, as a rule, has its own kitchen (so you can cook yourself and not spend money on a restaurant), grill or barbecue outside. Double rooms barely have a cooking area, at most a refrigerator and a kettle.

You can save money by carefully monitoring coupon sites. Discounts on accommodation in some hotels sometimes reach 50%! If you are planning a long vacation on the shores of Lake Ladoga, then you can think about renting a country house - a dacha. Good options will cost from 30,000 rubles per month of stay, bargaining is appropriate.

In hotel restaurants, prices can vary, defying any laws of logic. It can be cheap and tasty, or maybe vice versa. But on average, you can expect the following prices: breakfast 150/300 rubles, lunch 250/500 rubles, dinner 250/600 rubles.

Another expense item is the rental of sports equipment. The cost of renting a rowing boat is approx. 1500 rub./day, boats with a motor – approx. 2500 rub./day, bicycle – from 200 rub./day, ATV – from 2000 rub./hour, snowmobile – from 1500 rub./hour; negotiable price for hunting, fishing, excursions to the islands.

Main attractions. What to see

The main attraction of Ladoga is, undoubtedly, its stunning nature! No matter how many times you come to Ladoga, it doesn’t matter, you will never be able to look at its harsh northern landscapes indifferently. This incredible symbiosis - pines, rocks, mosses, coastal waves, the distant horizon... They act magically - they calm the mind, help to tune in to a philosophical mood, throw away everything empty and even make an important decision. Yes, yes, it is! That is why, my number one in the TOP 5 list.

Top 5

Beaches. Which ones are better

Of course, you can’t count all the beaches of Lake Ladoga! There are a huge, huge number of them. I’ll start my brief review, perhaps, with those that are located near St. Petersburg:

• beach in the village “Kokkorevo” (on map No. 1). A very popular and crowded place to relax. On a fine day, the owners of nearby summer cottages and residents of the eastern regions of St. Petersburg (and residents of the western regions go on vacation to the Gulf of Finland). The beach is sandy, without any infrastructure, but surprisingly quite clean; apparently, the proximity of the Cultural Capital plays an important role. This beach is a gathering place for kitesurfers and windsurfers;

• beach in the village of “Lake Ladoga” (on map No. 2). There are a terrible number of people here on a summer day off, but you can always lay down your own towel. The beach is sandy and clean with the necessary infrastructure (changing rooms, toilets, cafes). There is a volleyball net and sports equipment rental. The Museum of the Siege of Leningrad is located 20 meters from the beach; The Osinovetsky lighthouse (one of the highest on Ladoga) dominates the area. The only negative is that the water temperature is not always pleasing, but this does not stop desperate St. Petersburg residents. Arrived - swim!
• There is an excellent beach near the village of Vladimirovka (on map No. 3). It is located exactly opposite Konevets Island, and summer yoga festivals are held here. The beach is a long strip of sand with a gentle entry into the water. At the bottom there are quite large boulders and pebbles. But you will probably notice them, because the water is very clean and transparent! The beach is NOT equipped with changing rooms, there is no cafe here, but there are pine trees, sand and sun (sometimes);
• There is a wonderful long sandy beach near the village of Motornoye (on map No. 4). Almost the twin brother of beach number 3. Sand and pine trees are the main advantages of this place. The water is probably cold. Fans of tent camping often stop here; it is a fairly safe place. For reference, the beach is located 150 km from St. Petersburg;
• Further after Priozersk, the area of ​​skerries begins, which rarely pampers tourists with warm sand. Among the rocky northern shores of Ladoga, there are sandy bays, but you have to look for them yourself. I will give the highest rating to the beaches of Koyonsaari Island (on map No. 5), they are magnificent. Minimum people and no service, but maximum nature and silence;

• On the eastern shore after Pitkäranta, in the area of ​​​​the village of Karku, an almost continuous strip of sand begins, a kind of eastern “monobeach”. I would especially like to note the area of ​​the village of Vidlitsa (on map No. 6), it’s beautiful and pleasant to relax here, and it’s not that far to go to a grocery store. Of course, don’t expect any service here – only privacy, only hardcore!

After the city of Olonets, swampy areas begin, occupying almost the entire southern coast of Ladoga up to Shlisselburg. To make it easier for you to find your way around, I’m including a map. I want to emphasize that this is my personal set of acceptable beach holiday destinations; I think you understand that you can swim, if you wish, on any stretch of the Ladoga coast.

Churches and temples. Which ones are worth visiting?

Almost every settlement of Lake Ladoga, be it a city, village or hamlet, has its own church, and some even have more than one. There is no point in giving out a list of hundreds of titles here, I will limit myself to a few:

Museums. Which ones are worth visiting?

To the above museum sites (Valaam, Konevets, Oreshek fortress, Korela fortress) I will add a few more cultural attractions that are interesting for an inquisitive mind:

• Museum “Road of Life” (village “Lake Ladoga”). A large and entertaining museum complex consisting of an outdoor exhibition and several thematic pavilions. Here you can see with your own eyes and even touch a genuine military equipment those years, examine in detail the personal belongings of the Red Army soldiers, see unique photos, listen to a “touching heart” excursion. The museum is a must visit! Opening hours: Wednesday-Sunday from 11-00 to 18-00. The cost of visiting is 200 rubles. for adults, excursion service – 150 rubles, audio guide – 300 rubles.

• Museum of the History of the City of Shlisselburg (Shlisselburg, Factory Island, 2A). The museum is located in a relatively small room, so the exhibitions are constantly changing. I found the museum interesting because for a small fee (200 rubles for a group of 5 people) you can book a tour not only in the permanent museum building, but throughout Shlisselburg. A senior museum researcher will take you to key sites and tell you all about the city's founding and history. Opening hours: Monday-Friday from 09-00 to 18-00, Saturday from 10-00 to 17-00, Sunday – closed. The cost of an adult ticket is 30 (!) rubles.

• Regional Museum of the Northern Ladoga Region (Sortavala, Ladoga Flotilla Embankment, 5). Sortavala is a city with a Finnish rather than a Russian face. You can feel the Scandinavian spirit of this Karelian city in the halls of the museum of the northern Ladoga region. See the main local history exhibitions, visit the halls of temporary exhibitions, and take field trips around the city and the nearest islands. Behind detailed information please visit the website.

Parks

In the southeastern part of Lake Ladoga there are two particularly important natural sites - the Nizhne-Svirsky State nature reserve and Olonetsky State nature reserve(located in the first one). They were created in the 80s to preserve and protect the flora and fauna of the region. First of all, this concerns waterfowl and migratory birds, which have stopovers in these places for rest and feeding.

The Nizhne-Svirsky and Olonetsky nature reserves will be of interest to ornithologists and fans of pristine nature. But getting to the territory of the reserves is not so easy! It is necessary to first send an application addressed to the director indicating the purpose of the visit, length of stay, and the number of people in the group. When management makes a positive decision on admission, payment is made (nowhere is it indicated how much, apparently this is a big secret), and the group is included in the visit schedule.

What to see in 1 day

Going to Ladoga for one day from afar is somehow ridiculous. We will start from the fact that you are a St. Petersburg resident or a guest of the Northern capital who, tired of the bustle of the city, decided to get out into nature for a “weekend.” Let's say you have a personal car, and the weather outside is +25 degrees Celsius. So be it! Then my suggestion:

1. At 10-00 we leave the house/hotel/hostel in the direction of Shlisselburg. In principle, from any area of ​​the city to the mouth of the Neva (where Shlisselburg is located) it takes no more than an hour (without traffic jams).
2. Our path lies to the Oreshek fortress. Enter into your navigator the address of the pier from which boats depart for Orekhovy Island - the village named after. Morozova, st. Skvortsova, 76.
3. Let's assume that at 11-00 you are already there! We take a boat to the island. We walk, wander, admire, take pictures. You can even take a short break at the fortress wall. Admire the views of Ladoga, Neva and Shlisselburg. Drink coffee from a thermos, eat a sandwich (which you, of course, took with you from home).
4. At one o'clock in the afternoon or so, I suggest heading towards the beach in the village of Lake Ladoga.
5. On the way, we will stop by to see the “Broken Ring” monument, which is located in the village of Kokkorevo.
6. Around two we are on the beach. Hooray! The main landmark of the beach is the huge Osinovetsky lighthouse; if you are near it, then you are on the most popular beach of Ladoga.
7. We relax - swim and sunbathe, sunbathe and swim.
8. For those who are hungry, there are a couple of cafes on the beach. Of course, the prices here are a little steep, but hunger is not a problem!
9. Those who are not delighted with meaningless lying on the beach, or do not like to play, say, beach volleyball (by the way, there are nets) can also get cultured by going to the nearby “Road of Life” museum.
10. I think that by six or seven o’clock in the evening you will already have time to feel all the charm of beach life on Lake Ladoga - it’s time to go home.
11. On the way back, buy dried or smoked fish. Yum-yum, very tasty. And such delicacies are sold almost everywhere - in stalls on the highway and in rural stores.
12. At eight o'clock in the evening you are satisfied and happy - already at home.

Neighboring regions

Ruskeala Mountain Park (34 km from Sortavala) is a former marble quarry, now a uniquely beautiful natural site. The main attractions of the park are the “Main” quarry, together with the Italian quarry and the Ruskeala failure. Read more about the place, or on the official website.

Nearby Islands

Lake Ladoga delights tourists with islands - there are about 660 of them (!), and about 500 of them are concentrated in the northern part of Ladoga, the so-called “skerry area”. The two most famous islands are Konevets (I wrote about them above). The largest islands of Ladoga are Riekkalansaari (near Sortavala), Mantsinsaari (south of Pitkäranta), Kilpola (near the village of Kuznechnoye). But some micro islands do not have names at all; travelers themselves give them names! The island of Pellotsaari is interesting, having the shape of a heart, “the heart of Ladoga”. There is a walking ecological trail “One day in the life of a taiga island” on it.

Each, even the smallest island, is a unique and unrepeatable little world. If you sail a boat through the skerries, you may find the perfect island to suit your taste!

Food. What to try

One of the main riches of Ladoga is FISH! In the waters of the lake there are more than 50 varieties of fish, including salmon, trout, lamprey, whitefish, pike perch, smelt... Since the waters of the lake are considered quite clean, you can safely eat the Ladoga catch without fear of being poisoned by heavy metals or toxic chemicals. In almost every locality on Lake Ladoga there are shops or stalls where they sell fresh, smoked or dried fish. I advise you not to neglect the alluring aromas, but rather buy, for example, smoked bream, and take home fresh, tender trout!

They say that on the Murmansk highway, 75 km from St. Petersburg in the village of Yushkovo, there is a wonderful fish market that amazes the city dweller with its assortment and price. There’s everything here - fresh, and smoked, and salted, and dried, and dried fish and, of course, caviar. The initial cost can be high, so bargain. Approximate prices for fish (for 1 piece): trout, whitefish, salmon, hot smoked bream - approx. 300 rubles; the same items, but cold smoked ones are more expensive - prices start from 350 rubles per unit; Dried bream and pike - approx. 200 rubles; dried vendace - from 200 rubles 0.5 kg.

All more or less decent places are located either in cities (Priozersk, Shlisselburg, etc.) or at hotels. In both the first and second cases, you can choose a restaurant to suit your taste and budget. It is clear that in large populated areas there are European, Japanese, and Russian taverns, and you can have a snack on shawarma or a hamburger, but let the seeker find! What I mean is that instead of McDonald's or Sveta's cafe, you can find establishments where they prepare freshly caught Ladoga fish, national Karelian dishes(kalaruoka, wickets). I believe that without tasting local “delicacies” the trip would be incomplete!

Very decent places where you can try something from Karelian cuisine:

• restaurants "Dacha Wintera" (in the city),
• Piipun Piha (in),
• “Ladoga Estate” (in the village of Niemelyanhovi).

The cost of dinner with drinks per person starts from 1000 rubles.

Holidays

In my opinion, the two most significant events on Lake Ladoga are of a sporting nature:

Safety. What to watch out for

In Russia you should, of course, beware of roads and fools. The road around Lake Ladoga is mostly passable, but there are some sections of primer where you can kill your car's suspension or get chipped body paint (as happened with us!). You should drive in such areas slowly, carefully, gently; True, the faster guys are trying to overtake you and throw a wave of roadside dust over you. You also need to be careful when approaching the edge of the lake - it is quite possible to get stuck in liquid soil, or skid in the sand, or God knows what else! It’s worth carrying a winch and a couple of strong men with you at all times. As for fools... My friends and I really like to relax outdoors in tents, but it’s not always safe, unfortunately. Bad people can take you by surprise - rob you, or even worse... Therefore, if you go into nature as a “savage”, then only in large groups, and if together, then it is better to stay at recreation centers or in tent camps. Another misfortune for a tourist - weather. If you are boating in “open” water, beware of sudden changes in weather. This phenomenon is not uncommon in Ladoga. The lake often experiences strong storms and dangerous waves that can capsize any boat even with an experienced captain.

Things to do

In the summer, of course, sunbathe and swim, if the weather permits. Sailing on a boat (you can rent a boat at almost any hotel on Lake Ladoga), pack up and go on a hike from point A to point B (first work out your travel route in detail!), in summer and autumn, pick mushrooms and berries that grow here in abundance, You can fish in all seasons. This is a standard set of Ladoga entertainment, but if you want something hotter, try something more extreme (see below).

Extreme Sports

Souvenirs. What to bring as a gift

It doesn’t occur to me that I would advise you to bring something amazing and unique from Lake Ladoga. Most likely, it depends on the place where you will be vacationing.

For example, from the islands of Valaam and Konevets they mainly bring ritual items - icons, crosses, candles, Christian literature. Prices in the church shop are affordable, starting from 50 rubles per item (candles are cheaper). From the northern region of Ladoga, tourists take away products made from shungite (a black rock mined exclusively in Karelia). The cost of small figurines starts from 300 rubles. In many cities of the Ladoga region they offer products made from natural materials - leather (bags from 2000 rubles), birch bark (box from 500 rubles), wood (jewelry from 300 rubles), textiles (rugs from 1500 rubles) . Of course, you shouldn’t forget about natural gifts - mushrooms, berries (which you can pick yourself), fresh and thermally processed fish. But, of course, the best thing you can bring from Lake Ladoga is a lasting northern tan and a charge of positive mood!

How to get around the region

Lake Ladoga - holidays with children

I am a proponent of traveling everywhere with children. Therefore, of course, I advocate that on a trip to Lake Ladoga you need to take children with you, and more of them! For them - fun, knowledge of the world around them, communication with nature, healing, hardening (all advantages). It’s a real hassle for you to keep track of them; but raising children is not easy at all! Before traveling to “any country,” I advise you to vaccinate yourself and your children against ticks. In recent years, cases of infection with tick-borne encephalitis in the Leningrad region have become more frequent. Be careful!

Anything to add?

LADOGA LAKE

Lake Ladoga, ancient Russian name - Nevo, (Ladoga - Karelian Luadogu, Finnish Laatokka) is a lake in Karelia (N and E shores) and the Leningrad region (W, S and SE shores), the largest freshwater lake in Europe. Belongs to the Baltic Sea basin. The area of ​​the lake without islands ranges from 17.6 thousand km² (with islands 18.1 thousand km²); volume of water mass - 908 km³; length from south to north is 219 km, greatest width is 138 km. The depth is uneven in the northern part, it ranges from 70 to 230 m, in the southern part - from 20 to 70 m. On the shores of Lake Ladoga there are the cities of Priozersk, Novaya Ladoga, Shlisselburg in the Leningrad region, Sortavala, Pitkyaranta, Lakhdenpokhya in Karelia. More than 30 rivers flow into Lake Ladoga, but only one originates - the Neva. In the southern part of the lake there are three large bays: Svirskaya, Volkhovskaya and Shlisselburgskaya Bay.

The name Ladoga is a river, a lake and a city. However, until recently it was not entirely clear which of the names was primary. The name of the city was derived from the name of Lake Ladoga (from the Finnish *aaldokas, aallokas “worried” - from aalto “wave”), or from the name of the Ladoga River (now Ladozhka, from the Finnish *Alode-joki, where alode, aloe - “low” terrain" and jok(k)i - "river").

In PVL 12th century. referred to as "Lake Great Nevo". Perhaps from the name of the Neva River. Vasmer's etymological Russian-language dictionary:NEVA is a river connecting Lake Ladoga and Fin. Bay, for the first time, ancient Russian. Neva, Zhit. Alexandra Nevsk. (XIII century), p. 2; previously also Nevo - “Lake Ladoga” (in most years and also in the Book of Great Devils). From Finnish Nevajoki, Nevajarvi from neva “swamp”, from which Swiss, Middle-German-German. Nu "Neva", perceived by folk. etymology as "New (river)".Krylov's etymological dictionary:NEVA - The name of the river on which Tsar Peter built the new capital of Russia goes back to the Finnish name Nevajoki - "swampy river", derived from the word neva - "swamp".

In the sagas, and later in treaties with Hanseatic cities, the lake is called Aldoga (cf. Finnish aalto - wave). From the beginning of the 13th century, the name came into use - Lake Ladoga, derived from the name of the city of Ladoga, which in turn received its name from the tributary of the same name of the Volkhov River in its lower reaches (Finnish: alodejoki - river in a low area). Other options for the origin of the name of the lake: from the Karelian word aalto (Karelian aalto - wave; hence Karelian aaltokas - wavy). Some researchers consider the primary hydronym Ladoga, from ancient Finnish. *Alode-jogi (joki) “lower river”.

There is also a hypothesis about the origin of the word “Ladoga” - from the dialectal Russian word -hello- meaning open lake, vast field of water (Mamontova N. Toponymy of Ladoga region). Vasmer's etymological Russian-language dictionary: ALOD - f. “clearing, vast and flat area”, archang., mes., (Dal), also “open lake, vast field of water”, zaon. (Sandpiper). According to Mikkola (JSFOu 23, 11), from Fin. *alode, let's modernize. Finnish aloo, alue "that which is below". Borrowing from Finnish is doubtful. aavo, aavu "steppe, open lake";Explanatory Dictionary by V. Dahl: ALOD - f. arch-mes. clearing, vast and flat area. The alode area is flat and open.

rice. 1 Islands of Lake Ladoga.

rice. 2 Lake Ladoga in the Sortavala region.

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rice. 3 Ladozhskoe-ozero

The basin of Lake Ladoga is of glacial-tectonic origin. In the Paleozoic 300 - 400 million years ago, the entire territory of the modern Lake Ladoga basin was covered by the sea. The sedimentary deposits of that time are sandstones, sands, clays, limestones - they cover a thick thickness (over 200 m) of a crystalline foundation consisting of granites, gneisses and diabases.

The modern relief was formed as a result of the activity of the ice sheet (the last Valdai glaciation ended about 12 thousand years ago). The main factors were: changes in the level of the world's oceans, the water of the glacier and its weight - the rise of the land began (and continues). After the glacier retreated approximately 12,600 years ago, the fresh Baltic Glacial Lake was formed with a level of 25 meters above the ocean. About 10-9.6 thousand years ago, the waters of the lake broke through in the area of ​​​​central Sweden and the Yoldian Sea was formed, the level of which was 7 - 9 m higher than the modern level of the Baltic Sea.

Approximately 9,500 years ago, rising land blocked the strait in central Sweden and Lake Ancylus was formed. In the north of the Karelian Isthmus, it was connected by a wide strait to Lake Ladoga. The Mga River at that time flowed east and flowed into the lake near the modern source of the Neva.

Approximately 8,500 years ago, tectonic processes open the Danish Straits and the Littorina Sea is formed. The water level, although significantly higher than the current one, was less than in Lake Anzilov. This led to the formation of the Karelian Isthmus and the formation of Lake Ladoga.

How long the lake was completely isolated is unknown - the water level in the lake rises faster than the rise of the land, and when the level of Ladoga exceeded the watershed level, the lake waters, flooding the valley of the Mgi River, broke into the valley of the Tosna River.

Thus, approximately 4 thousand years ago, a new strait arose between Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland, which became the valley of the Neva River. The old strait in the north of the Karelian Isthmus by this time was already above the lake level. Over the past 2.5 thousand years, the relief has not changed significantly.

The northern part of Lake Ladoga lies on the Baltic crystalline shield, the southern part on the East European Platform. In the areas closest to Ladoga, the southern border of the shield runs approximately along the line Vyborg - Priozersk - the mouth of the Vidlitsa River - the source of the Svir River.

The crystalline foundation of the Northern Ladoga region belongs to the ancient primary foundation of Fennoscandia and was formed about 2000 million years ago. These are the oldest geological formations on Earth. Over millions of years, the ancient Svekokarelid Mountains have been flattened into picturesque hills, cliffs and cliffs. The depression of Lake Ladoga was formed in the Tertiary period as a result of a powerful geological fault. At the same time, as a result of faults, the formation of the archipelago and the coastal part of the northwestern shore of Lake Ladoga occurred. 12 thousand years ago, after the departure of the glacier, almost the entire surface of the Ladoga region was under the water of the ancient Baltic glacial lake. The climate, water level and salinity of the lake gradually changed. About 4000 - 3000 years ago, the Neva was formed and the level of Lake Ladoga dropped by 10 meters.

At the end of the 9th century AD. a change in the hydrography of the region (a decrease in the level of the Baltic and, accordingly, Lake Ladoga) led to a simultaneous process of shallowing of the rivers of the Ladoga basin, including the Volkhov and its tributaries.

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rice. 4 Ancylus Lake includes Ladoga 9500 years ago. The lake's flow into the ocean is indicated.

32 rivers flow directly into Lake Ladoga - more than 10 km long, the most large rivers flowing into Lake Ladoga include: r. Svir flowing from Lake Onega, river. Vuoksa, originating in Finland, r. Volkhov, flowing from Lake Ilmen, river. Syasya and others.

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rice. 5 Svir River - Podporozhsky district in the northeastern part of the Leningrad region.

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rice. 6 Svir River, rapids.

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rice. 7 Sandy banks of the Svir River.

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rice. 8 Vuoksa River.

The Vuoksa River is mentioned in the Novgorod Chronicles. People have lived in the vicinity of the river since prehistoric times - sites from the Stone Age period have been discovered here; Vuoksa is mentioned in the ancient epic “Kalevala”. In the distant era of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the Vuoksa River is mentioned as a place of congress to resolve state issues.

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Fig. 9 Vuoksa near Melnikovo.

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rice. 10 A dam on the Vuoksa River in Imatra.

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rice. 11 Priozersk Vuoksa River.

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rice. 12 Upper reaches of the Volkhov River.

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rice. 13 Volkhov River in the area of ​​St. Ladoga and Lyubsha (Chernavino-5), mounds in the “sopka tract”.

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rice. 14 Volkhov River - not far from the mouth.

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rice. 14 river Syas.

Lake Ladoga - Nevo.

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rice. 16 ladozhskoe ozero.

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rice. 17 Landscapes of Lake Ladoga.

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rice. 18 Lake Ladoga - shores.

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rice. 19 Lake Ladoga - breakers.

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rice. 20 Lake Ladoga - forest.

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rice. 21 Lake Ladoga - silence.

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rice. 22 Lake Ladoga - autumn.

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rice. 23 Rocky shores of Lake Ladoga.

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rice. 24 Lynx Rock, village. Vyartsilya, Northern Ladoga region.

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rice. 25 Ruskeala, former marble quarry. Rock height: 30 - 40 m, Northern Ladoga region.

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rice. 26 Lake Ladoga - stones.

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rice. 27 Boulder near Vidlitsa - a river in Karelia, Ladoga region.

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rice. 28 On the islands of Lake Ladoga.

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rice. 29 Cape Rahaniemi. Radiance August 18, 2003.

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rice. 30 Gorskii Staraya Ladoga Canal photo 1909

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Fig. 31 Korela Fortress in Priozersk.

Korela (Swedish Kexholm, Finnish Käkisalmi "Cuckoo Strait") is a stone fortress in the city of Priozersk, on an island in the Vuoksa River. Medieval Korela was the most northwestern city of Rus'. The fortress was founded at the turn of the XIII and XIV centuries. Novgorodians on the island of the Uzerve River(Vuokse)to protect the northwestern borders of the republic from the Swedes.

Priozersk - [Karelian. Kägöisalmi, Finnish Käkisalmi - “Cuckoo Strait”, Swedish. Kexholm - “cuckoo island”] is the administrative center of the Priozersky district of the Leningrad region. The city is located on the Karelian Isthmus, along the banks of the northern branch of the Vuoksa River, between Lake Ladoga and Lake Vuoksa. Until the beginning of the 17th century, it was the center of the Korelsky land, the Korelsky district of the Vodskaya Pyatina. From the 14th century to 1611 the city was known as Korela. From 1580 to 1595 and from 1611 to 1918 the city was called Kexholm. Since 1918, the city, as part of the newly independent Finland, began to be called Käkisalmi. In 1940, after the Soviet-Finnish war, the city became part of the Soviet Union, and the name Kexholm was returned. In 1941-1944, during the Soviet-Finnish War, the city was occupied by Finnish troops and was called Käkisalmi. In 1944, after the Moscow Armistice, the city became part of the Soviet Union for the second time. In 1948 it was renamed Priozersk.)

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rice. 32 Fortress Oreshek - Orekhovy Island, (Finnish: Pähkinäsaari) - a small island at the source of the Neva. The main attraction is the ancient Novgorod fortress of the 14th century Oreshek.

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Fig. 33 Map of the Brockhaus and Efron encyclopedia. Ladoga lake. (clickable)

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