NILA
Season:
All year round
Duration:
48 hours
Difficulty level:
Medium
Transport:
Bus
Escort:
Guide
What to take with you:
Comfortable clothes and boots for hiking, windproof suit, camera

Make a trip to a town of a former Sakhalin penalty colony - Alexandrovsk-Sakhalinskiy.

You will have a unique opportunity to see one of the landmarks of Sakhalin – Tri Brata rocks (“Three brothers” in Russian). This is the key sight of the town and its unchangeable symbol. Three cliffs of similar shape, that only differ in sizes, are like three soulmates.

This local wonder is especially beautiful against the setting sun. There are many legends about Tri Brata – the cliffs, that are often depicted on souvenirs. The guides will let tourists know about the best of them, including those that are created by nivhs.

This is hard to capture the local color and atmosphere of the town in photograph. Thus, we offer you to see everything for yourself. 

Background, interesting facts, legends

Every town in Sakhalin Region has its cultural authenticity and interesting historical background. On that score Alexandrovsk-Sakhalinskiy is especially unique. Known as a town of convicts, among who there were a lot of famous people.

A subtile rogue Sofia Blyuvshtein, better known as Sonia the Golden hand, served her sentence here since 1888. She managed three escape attempts and after spent the rest of her sentence in cuffs. A.P. Chekhov, who had been writing his book “Sakhalin Island” at that time, visited Sofia in 1890 and told his readers about this meeting in details. Valentin Pikul, in his novel “Katorga” (“Penal colony” in Russian), described harsh Sakhalin conditions of those who lived there and served their sentence.

You will have a chance to learn legends about life and death of Sofia Blyuvshtein, who has 2 graves: one – in Alexandrovsk-Sakhalinskiy and another – in Moscow.

On the way to the town, you will cross 50th parallel north. This place is widely known for intense clashes during World War II and this is where Sakhalin was divided between Russia and Japan before the end of War.

At museum complex, devoted to Chekhov and his visit to Sakhalin, tourists can watch historical exhibition and find out amazing things about the writer and his acquaintance to Sakhalin.

There is an interesting story about the tunnel, that was built through cliff by convicts in 1880s. They started the construction from opposite sides of the cliff, but failed to meet at the middle due to miscalculations. While exploring Jonkier Cape and the lighthouse, tourists can listen to a story about a convict named Lansberg K.H. who managed to fix this problem.

IMPORTANT!

Please, clarify the price with company’s representative before booking.