From the island to the shore: where to have a fun and interesting vacation in the Tver Region

In the heart of the Russian Plain lies the Tver Region, a land of dense forests and protected bogs. There are dozens of amazing places in the region, which are suitable both for a quiet family vacation and for an intense extreme weekend. Here you can learn the art of cupping, learn the secrets of cheese production with centuries-old history and get acquainted with the process of making Russian faience. Jeep tours on extreme off-road, thrilling quad biking rides and races on powerful go-karts are waiting for thrill seekers. Izvestia, together with the Media Exploration project of the Tutu.ru service and with the support of the Go Travel tour operator, found out which places should be included in the itinerary when visiting the Tver region.

How to get there

From Moscow you can get to Tver on the highway M-11 or M-10. Travel time will be about 2-3 hours, depending on traffic congestion. Also to the region there are regular high-speed trains "Lastochka". By this transportation the road will take about 1.5 hours. Since the area of the Tver region is about 84.2 thousand square kilometers, it can take several hours to get from one cultural site to another. Therefore, it is most comfortable to travel around the region by car.

Visiting reindeer

In 25 km from Tver there is an ecopark "Pushkino", where live tame rabbits, goats, ponies, Scottish cows, deer and even llamas. The animals are not afraid of people at all and come to contact to get a carrot or an apple. Also on its territory there are stylized photo zones, slides for children and a cafe where you can taste fragrant herbal tea with homemade pastries, including the legendary among Muscovites nuts with boiled condensed milk.

Photo: Andrei Belavin

Another suitable place for a family weekend is the active recreation park "Grishkino", located only 6 kilometers from Tver in the middle of a picturesque forest. Since 1984, skiers' competitions have been held there, and the sports base of the "Dynamo" society worked there. Today "Grishkino" has turned into a country complex with a cozy hotel, a cafe with a panoramic view of the forest, several professional ski tracks, slides for tubing and a sauna complex.

In pursuit of adrenaline

Outdoor enthusiasts can head to Rumos Racing, a professional indoor karting center. Since 2019, the karting center has been home to the RUMOS RACING sports team, which competes in the Russian Championship and Cup in circuit racing, as well as in European and Middle Eastern competitions.

Photo: Andrei Belavin

Even those who can't drive a car, including children from seven years old, will feel themselves real racers here. You can legally "race" on the winding 500-meter long track alone or as part of a team. For the first time it will be optimal to allocate 10 to 30 minutes for riding.

Extreme off-roading in the midst of local beauties

The Russian World of Adventures team organizes a variety of off-road tours through the main natural attractions of the region. Depending on the chosen route, the participants of the jeep tour will have to show their Niva driving skills while overcoming extreme off-road terrain. On the way there are sand quarries, abandoned tracts, steep descents and ascents through picturesque terrain. The scenery changes from green fields to golden groves and snow-covered forests to sand dunes. Tour participants can also visit a military training ground and a deer farm.

Siesta on the banks of the Volga

A rich weekend in nature can be spent in the event-hotel "Konakovo River Club", which is located on the banks of the Volga. Visitors to the hotel complex can stay in a cozy glamping. If you book a house in advance, you can grab a comfortable "Arthouse" or "Barn" with a huge panoramic window, which offers a gorgeous view of the river and coniferous forest.

Photo: Andrei Belavin

On the territory of more than 200 hectares you can go fishing or go for a ride on the Hivus - an amphibious hovercraft. The vessel is able to move both on water, ice and snow. You can visit natural sights and art objects on a hivus, as well as sail to the nearest islands, where you can take a walk and, if you are lucky, meet forest dwellers - muskrat, red deer or wild boar. You can also ride quad bikes here. The route runs along the picturesque bank of the Volga River and extreme forest off-road.

Every month "Konakovo River Club" organizes entertainment events and sports competitions. At the end of February the complex will host a festival of snowmen, and in March - Shrovetide festivities.

Traditions of Russian cheese making

For gastronomic impressions in the Tver region it is worth going on an excursion to the cheese factory "Vereshchagin", founded in the town of Konakovo in 1936. The history of Russian cheese-making is closely connected with the name of the public figure Nikolai Vereshchagin - brother of the famous painter Vasily Vereshchagin. In 1866 he created in Korchevsky uyezd of Tver province (now Konakovo district of Tver region) the first Russian butter and cheese artel, and in 1871 in the village of Yedimonovo of the same uyezd Vereshchagin opened the first school of dairy farming.

Photo: Andrei Belavin

He managed to find out the secrets of cheese making in Switzerland and successfully realized them in Russia. These technologies are still used to make cheese at the factory "Vereshchagin". Within the framework of the sightseeing tour guests will be guided through the shops of the cheese factory, familiarized with all stages of production of semi-hard Vereshchagin cheese, as well as show the process of its natural ripening.

Besides, on the territory of the factory there is a small cozy museum, where rare butter churns and separators, which were used for cheese and butter making in the XX century, are collected. At the end of the tour, the guests of the factory will enjoy the most delicious part of the tour - tasting of 11 kinds of cheese produced at the factory. According to the plant managers, the most sold positions are semi-hard "Konakovsky" cheese with fenugreek, which has bright nutty notes, hard "Belper Knolle" - with bright buttery flavor and spicy spices, as well as cottage cheese "Shanklish" with various additives that shade its delicate milk flavor.

The city of glorious earthenware

In addition to the cheese factory in Konakovo, the faience factory deserves attention. Its founder is considered to be a native of Bohemia pharmacist Friedrich Brynner, who in 1809 decided to establish faience production in Russia. He succeeded, but financial difficulties forced Brynner to sell it to the industrialist Andrei Auerbach. Under his leadership, production reached its heyday. In 1829 at the first public exhibition of Russian manufactures the factory was awarded a silver medal, and three years later - a gold medal.

Photo: Andrei Belavin

At the end of the XIX century, the growth of production slowed down, and the company was in crisis. Auerbach in 1870 sold the factory to the merchant Matvey Kuznetsov, who at that time owned the main porcelain and faience firms in the state. Under him, the factory began to produce new types of products and significantly expanded production. After the revolution, the factory was nationalized, but the traditions were not interrupted. In 1937 Konakovo faience receives world recognition at the World Exhibition in Paris.

Today, on the basis of the art laboratory of the now closed factory, the Konakovo faience company operates, where talented artists continue to create faience masterpieces by hand. Visitors can watch this process and examine the finished products of Russian masters, each of which has its own history.

Among the dishes and fanciful figurines one can notice a charming figure of a giraffe. A local legend says that a Soviet diplomat once gave the same earthenware giraffe to the Queen of England. As they assure in Konakovo, Elizabeth II confessed that among all the gifts ever brought to her from Russia, this giraffe was the most memorable and heartwarming.