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Not every tourist wants to visit Russia, and that’s a mistake! It is a unique country of astonishing nature and views, deep historical and cultural background. Various artists, writers and composers dedicated their works to the beauty of Russia. For many years, Russia was under the iron curtain of the Soviet regime; so many people keep thinking that it is very hard to go there. Nevertheless, we want to show that it is different and totally worth it.
Nowadays people, who have already been in Russia, come back having plenty of memorable and valuable experiences – from visiting mysterious Saint Petersburg, wandering around old palaces, or just enjoying the tremendous variety of landscapes. We will provide the most significant reasons why you can’t miss the opportunity to explore the world’s biggest country.
Facts about Russian geography
The huge territory of Russia expands on one-seventh of the world’s surface and lies in eight time zones. If you are still not impressed, bear in mind that Pluto has a smaller surface than Russia! Such a great size gives Russia an opportunity to be neighbors with 14 countries, to touch 22 water bodies and to be a home for 12 seas. This interesting combination of landscapes allows tourists to experience various ecosystems ranging from valleys to high mountains, from deep lakes to fast rivers and national parks and biosphere preserves.
Facts about Russian culture
The atmosphere in Russian cities is as fast and colorful as life in some of the largest and busiest cities in the world like London, Paris and New York. Speaking about art, Russia is very well known for its artists and their masterpieces. Among some world famous art institutions are the Bolshoi Theater and Pushkin Art Gallery in Moscow, the Mariinsky Theater and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Each city hosts a large variety of cultural events, especially St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan, etc. Just in St. Petersburg there are over 500 hundred art institutions and more than 100 different events conducted yearly.
Facts about Russian history
The beginning of Russian history dates back to the early IXth century, when the Vikings invaded the territory in order to develop the trading routes from Northern to Eastern Europe.
When talking about numbers, Russia took part in over one hundred of armed conflicts and battles, had witnessed about 120 country leaders, established the largest railroad in the whole world; and Russian astronauts were the first to explore the space.
Facts about Russian language
As you may have figured out, the official language in Russia is Russian. As other Slavic languages, it is based on the Cyrillic alphabet and is the world’s 5th most spoken language. For people, whose language uses Latin alphabet, it is hard to understand Russian, as many letters may confuse the reader. For example, the letter “y” means “u” in Latin alphabet, and “p” actually equals to Latin “r”.
Facts about Russian people
Most of the Russian population, which is 145.5 million people, live in the western part of Russia, and mainly in cities. Just in Moscow, there are about 12 million dwellers, which makes it the biggest city of Europe. St. Petersburg has almost half of Moscow population with over 5 million citizens. 25% of the whole population is retired, the average person is about 30 years old, but this number is increasing from year to year. It is common for Russian families to have 2-3 kids and two parents.
Facts about Russian weather
Due to its huge territory, Russia can offer tourists a wide range of weather conditions. Mainly the country lies in the area of continental climate with a clearly separated warm and cold seasons. The western part (the area of St. Petersburg and Moscow) has a mild climate with the highest average temperature of 32°C and the lowest of -25°C every year. But moving further to the Eastern part, the weather gets colder and colder. The lowest temperature in the world occurred in Russian village Omyakon (-71.2°C). In the southern part the tourists are welcomed by a nice subtropical climate.