Day 6 Sunday

We stopped at a village/settlement of Mandrogy. The actual village was destroyed in WW2 but an entrepreneur recreated it. In addition to the numerous souvenir shops there were many artisan craft making places – jewelry, embroidery, painting, woodworking, blacksmith, etc. We were not the only ship that stopped there. There were about 3-4 others, most of them Russian river cruises. We asked our crew about the companies that cover this route, and we were told that Viking is the only foreign company that does it, but there are several Russian companies that do it as well. There used to be some international companies before, but they were driven out of the competition by Viking. Russian tourists seem to enjoy this “fake” village more than foreigners, it seemed. They were riding in horse-driven carriages, buying lots of souvenirs, including pirozki stuffed with different local fruits, or cheeses or meats. We tried a blueberry one and it was delicious. We walked around the village, stopping at various artisan places as well as the stables. The architecture there is somewhat bizarre – a combination of traditional Russian wooden architecture and strange bright colors and decorations. The only purchase we made was in the museum of vodka – we bought two exhibits… Later on the ship, we participated in regular activities, mostly involving drinking and eating – the cast off party, the meet your neighbors party, etc…

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