Volga

The Volga is Europe’s largest river – a waterway known to Russians as ‘Mother Volga’. It’s an El Dorado for fishermen, who come here in search of sturgeon and bream. You can taste the sweet watermelon, admire the beauty of the lotus blossoms, or relax on one of the many river cruises covering thousands of routes, from the Valdai Hills to the Caspian Sea. Water from the Lower Volga is so pure you can drink it unfiltered, while the Volga Delta, where the river meets the Caspian, is a nature reserve of unique charm. There are four cities with more than a million residents along the river, nine reservoirs, thirteen hydro-electric stations, a huge number of architectural monuments, and tiny villages which somehow manage to avoid being swept off the face of the earth by the mighty river.