MOSCOW/CHARONDA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th August, 2020) OSCOW/CHARONDA, Russia, August 19 (Sputnik), Denis Chernyshenko/Tim Korso - Sputnik visited Russia's northern Vologda Region to find an abandoned ancient town of Charonda.
Charonda was founded in the 13th century on the coast of Lake Vozhe on a major trade route. The settlement had been actively developed until the beginning of the 18th century when it became a town and turned into a district center.
However, the conquest of the territories around the Baltic Sea during the 1700-1721 Great Northern War and the foundation of Russia's new capital of St. Petersburg in 1703 drastically changed the trading routed and Charonda started to decay. In 1775, it lost the status of a town and now the village is known to be uninhabited.
The journey started from the Sputnik news agency in the center of Moscow and we had to cover some 700 kilometers (over 430 miles) through the Moscow, Tver and Vologda regions.
The first interesting stop was made in the village of Gorodnya, which was formerly a town of Vertyazin and where the unique Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, founded in the 14th century, is located.
We also visited the picturesque ruins of the Antoniyev Krasnokholmsky Monastery in the town of Krasny Kholm and the famous winery in the town of Vesyegonsk. The ancients town of Bezhetsk and Kirillov as well as the industrial center of northern Russia - Cherepovets - were also on our way.
The first part of the route ended in the village of Ferapontovo, where we enjoyed the unique masterpiece of Russian medieval arts - frescoes by painter Dionisius in the Ferapontov Monastery that is listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site.
To reach Vozhe Lake from Ferapontovo we had to cover 90 kilometers with no access both to mobile communication and the internet. Fortunately, the roads in Vologda Region are good and it was not a problem for us to arrive at the coast of the lake.
Vozhe Lake (also known as Lake Charondskoye) is one of the biggest lakes in the Vologda region with the surface area of 416 square kilometers (161 square miles) and the maximum depth of about 5 meters. A shallow depth does not make the lake safer for tourists as waves get mixed with sand, becoming more powerful and more dangerous for boats.
We had a small rubber boat, on board of which we had to cover more than 13 kilometers along the coast of the lake. We expected that it would take some three hours to reach Charonda but in reality, we had to row more than seven hours.
During the voyage, we saw the Spassky Island with the ruins of a monastery and the picturesque estuary of the Yeloma River. Some 3.5 hours after the beginning of the voyage we believed we were very close to the ghost town.
In fact, only a cape separated us from Charonda and we even saw the top of the St. John Chrysostom Church, the main sight of the ghost town.
However, the unexpected problem of reeds between our boat and the cape emerged. After some doubts, we decided to row through the grass that grew thicker. At some moment, one of us had to leave the boat and push it being knee-deep in water.
The idea was to reach the cape and to reach Charonda on foot but when we reached the coast it turned out to be flooded, with trees growing from the water. In fact, the swamp on the coast was a continuation of the lake and it was unclear where the border between them lies.
We faced the threat of spending a cold night on the boat in reeds and rowed faster, and suddenly the reeds ended and we saw the St. John Chrysostom Church in front of us!
We disembarked in Charonda at twilight and had to set up a tent, which was a difficult task because of the heavy wind.
The following exploration of the ghost town revealed a surprising fact: at least one of the houses is inhabited. We decided not to disturb the residents of this house and returned to our camp to have supper.
At some moment, we heard sounds of motorboats and some 15 minutes later several people disembarked near us. They turned out to be tourists who got lost on the lake at night and saw the lights of our camp. We were glad to help them spend a night on the coast and have friendly neighbors for the evening.
Next morning, we explored the St. John Chrysostom Church, which was built in the first half of the 19th century. Inside the deserted church, we lit three candles as a symbol of life that is still flickering in this ghost town.
After taking photos and having some rest, we left Charonda and had to row 6.5 hours through the lake despite the heavy wind and high waves. We also had to cover about 800 kilometers to return to Moscow. However, despite being extremely tired as well as suffering from pain in arms and back after some 14 hours of rowing, we felt excited as had just experienced one of the greatest adventures in our lives.
