On the 9th of December there was the final event in the framework of “Learning Lab for Accessibility” project at the school № 2 named by S. Pushkin in Kostomuksha. A pilot environment for accessibility is under reconstruction on the base of the school and there shall be two classrooms for children with disabilities and  an accessible sanitary room.

 N. Oskin, the director general of the Karelian Resource Centre of NGOs, L. Molchanova, Director of the school, N. Matkovskaya, Deputy head of the Administration of Kostomuksha on social issues, B. Kashevarov, the head of the Municipal institution “Center of social service of the population”, K. Chumak, project coordinator in the Republic of Karelia, T. Klementijev, a specialist in the promotion of the project in Kostomuksha took part in the event.

 Participants shared their impressions and expressed satisfaction with the results of the work. They hope to continue their cooperation. L. Molchanova said that the experience of the project participation was very important and would help to continue the work on implementation of  accessible environment for children with disabilities in school in the future. The participants of the event were able to see results of the work in the school.

5-12 декабря  2014 года состоялась ознакомительная поездка представителей российских СМИ в пос. Калевала, деревню Вокнаволок, город Костомукша (Республика Карелия) и в Кухмо, Каяни, Вуокатти (Финляндия) в рамках проекта KA325 «Белая Дорога – Развитие трансграничного туризма в Северной Финляндии и Республике Карелия».

В проездке приняли участие съемочная группа Филиала ФГУП ВГТРК ГТРК «Карелия»,  ГТРК «Поморье», Телекомпания «Ника+»,  АУ РК «Республиканская телерадиовещательная компания «Сампо».

В первый день участникам поездки представилась возможность посетить  «Музей Рунопевцев» в Калевале и прослушать обзорную экскурсию «Калевала – родина эпоса», после чего группа разместилась в удивительно красивом месте на самой окраине посёлка Калевала – в туристическом комплексе «ВелТ». Коттеджи предназначены для тихого, спокойного отдыха в комфортабельных условиях. Вечерняя  фольклорная программа и трапеза с карельскими блюдами  завершили и без того насыщенный день.

После сытного завтрака журналисты сразу отправились в увлекательное путешествие по заснеженному лесу Карелии на собачьих упряжках (породы сибирских Хаски), после чего каждому участнику заезда торжественно вручили дипломы каюров. Игра в «Карельские городки или «Кюккя» увлекла всю группу. Краткий инструктаж и тренировочная игра прошли на специально оборудованной для этого открытой площадке. В Этнокультурном центре «KALEVALOTALO» каждый смог  попробовать себя в качестве мастера народного промысла и изготовил рождественскую козюлю. Богатый на события день был завершен финальным праздничным ужином на удивительной земле Калевала.

На следующий день по пути в город Костомукша журналисты смогли оценить весь туристический потенциал поистине карельской деревни – Вокнаволок¸ которая известна как одна из рунопевческих деревень связанных с именем Элиаса Леннрота.

Во второй половине дня группа добралась до удивительного по красоте места «Хутор Кормило» (в 49 км от Костомукши), где участников поездки встретили гостеприимные хозяева Ольга и Виктор Воробьевы, разместили в уютных коттеджах, предложили вкусный ужин, карельскую баню и программу «Припечные гадания». Особенно запомнился музей самоваров, в котором  собрано более 300 экземпляров самоваров в течение 15 лет.

После сытного завтрака, приготовленного самой хозяйкой хутора, журналисты осмотрели весь хутор, прокатились на лошадях в санях. На хуторе есть не только известные всем животные: лошади, овцы, собаки, кролики и многие другие, но и необычные  для карельских мест – альпаки.

В Костомукше, в гостевом доме «Котиранта», гостям был предложен мастер-класс по приготовлению новогоднего слабоалкогольного напитка «Glogi».

Вечером группа прибыла в город Кухмо (Финляндия) и разместилась в отеле Кайну (Hotel Kainuu). На следующее утро журналисты посетили концертный зал «Kuhmo-talo», сплавились по порогам (rapid swimming), сыграли в командные зимние игры, смогли сравнить катание на Хасках в Финляндии и Карелии, встретились с Санта-Клаусом   и отпраздновали приезд в Финляндию праздничным ужином.

На следующий день группа рано утром прибыла на финальный семинар по проекту КА325 «Белая дорога - Развитие трансграничного туризма в Северной Финляндии и Республике Карелия», где все участники смогли ознакомиться с основными результатами проекта и оценить его эффективность.

После насыщенных двух дней семинара  участники поездки отбыли в Вуокатти, совершили прогулку к лыжной трассе, которая находится недалеко от отеля, где было предложено размещение (SOKOS Hotel Vuokatti).

Утром следующего дня группа отбыла в Карелию. Журналисты получили возможность эффективно поработать и достойно представить туристический потенциал Северной Карелии и  Финляндии.

Ссылки на видео, подготовленное съемочной группой телекомпании «Сампо»:

http://sampo.tv/video.php?id=9226

Ссылки на видео, подготовленное съемочной группой ГТРК «Карелия»:

http://petrozavodsk.rfn.ru/rnews.html?id=1561193

Ссылки на видео, подготовленное съемочной группой ГТРК «Поморье»:

http://www.pomorie.ru/news/v-finlyandii-poyavilsya-noviy-vid-ekstremalnogo-sp

http://www.pomorie.ru/news/lyubiteli-gadaniya-gdut-glavnuyu-noch-goda

http://www.pomorie.ru/news/s-rostom-kursa-valyut-otdih-v-rossii-nabiraet-popu

Ссылки на видео, подготовленное съемочной группой телекомпании «Ника плюс»:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNOcNAlPPY0

Show-trip for Russian journalists in Kuusamo (Finland) and Segezhsky region (the Republic of Karelia) took place on the 13-18th of November, 2014 as a part of the project KA325 "White Road - Cross-boarder tourism development in Northern Finland and the Republic of Karelia".

The crew of branch of the FSUE (Federal State Unitary Enterprise) VGTRK (All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company) STRBC (State TV and Radio Broadcasting Company) "Karelia" and a journalist of the news site Gazeta.ru and a journalist of the Internet portal European Network (Eunetwork.lv) participated in the trip.

Primarily, participants of the trip visited Kuusamo in Finland, Ruka village. All participants were accommodated in comfortable apartment hotel "Papin Talo" in Iisakki Village owned by tourist company "Ruka safaris". There are a sauna and an outdoor jacuzzi not far from "Papin Talo", also you can organize a party in the intimate restaurant "Iisakin Talo" which will please everybody thanks to home cooking including traditional Finnish delicacies.

The next day after the breakfast participants were instructed about safety rules and dressed special suits designed to winter activities. After that all participants went by a comfortable bus to a Husky farm owned by the company "Erä-Susi Huskies" where they were welcomed by the owner of this farm, Souci, who has a quaint character. He showed everyone his pets including horses, deer and, of course, dogs a number of which accounts for more than 200 subjects. Than the most interesting activity began. It was an exciting dog sledding at a distance of 2 kilometers.

Later participants went to the office of the company "Ruka safaris" to get additional equipment constituting special helmets and to be instructed about safety rules and about usage of quadricycles. After this necessary procedure participants got on quadricycles and started to drive along winding roads of Ruka, they also drove to one of ski slopes equipped with special elevators. Ruka ski slopes are one of the most professional in Finland. It is the place where international contests and trainings of athletes are held. Moreover, Ruka is the official training center for freestyle skiing in Finland.

The next place visited by the group of journalists was the recreation center "Windy belt" which is located on the lakeside of Khizhozero, 140 kilometers far from Segezha. An ice fishing on the shore of Kiozero and a folk music group "Kudrina" performance were organized for the group at the "Windy belt".

On the way to Segezha the group visited the White Sea - Baltic Sea Canal, waterfall "Voitsky Padun". In the town participants of the trip attended an exhibition in MBU "Segezha Museum Center" where the exposition "History of Vygozersky region from olden to present time" was presented.

 Links to the videos prepared by the team of STRBC "Karelia":

Tourism in Segezhsky region

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E5DSNDrIfI

"White Road" - Kuusamo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3GUaZiR-WA

«Valkea tie - Itärajan matkailun kehityskäytävä» Kuusamossa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ0CqSCK55I

Links to the articles of the journalist of the Internet portal European Network:

White Road for Karelian tourism!

http://www.newparlament.ru/tribune/view/4818

http://karelinform.ru/article/society/56400/beloy_dorogi_karelskomu_turizmu

"White Road" on the North of Karelia

http://inance.ru/2014/11/turizm/

Links to the articles of the journalist of the news site Gazeta.ru:

Six information centers for tourists were opened in Karelia as a part of the project "White Road"

http://www.gazeta.ru/lifestyle/news/2014/11/20/n_6669521.shtml

Educational module № 4 was conducted on October 29-30 in the framework of the KA475 “Learning Lab for Accessibility in Built Environment” project in Joensuu. Representatives of power structures, social centers, engineering companies, socially-oriented NGOs from the Republic of Karelia, the Republic of Komi and Finland took part in the event.

Educational modules include both theoretic part and visiting of organizations and enterprises, which are involved in planning and construction of accessible environments. 3 educational modules were conducted before in Kajaani, Oulu and St.Petersburg.

The theme of the module was “Multi-professional and user-centered planning of accessible environment". A special program including experts’ presentations and visiting of various social centers was elaborated for the participants. There were several presentations as follows: Multi-professional planning process, Guidance for customers in accessibility reconstructions, Service concept for launching elevators in existing buildings. Participants also could visit the Rehabilitation Center Helmi, Abloy Ltd, the Honkalampi Center, the nursing home, the Respecta shop, which offers products for people with disabilities and the Lehmo School.

At the end of the module there was the training. All participants were divided into several groups and received a task. They had pictures with places where an attempt to implement accessibility was imaged. They should have found mistakes and talked about them to another groups. Language barrier wasn’t a problem, mixed groups with Russian and Finnish participants successfully coupled with their tasks. Timo Ekroos, the manager of the project noted this training showed that the level of knowledge and skills of the project partners has increased significantly.

It the end there was a project group meeting where participants of the project discussed future events in the framework of the project.

On 29 October, 2014 the seminar  «Fishing tourism development: contemporary situation, problems and prospects» was held in Belomorsk in the framework of the project KA325 «WHITE ROAD – Cross-border Tourism Development in the Northern Finland and the Republic of Karelia»

Alexandr Konovalov, research and development expert of the “White Road” project, was the moderator of the seminar.

At the beginning of the seminar Larisa Salamahina, Deputy head of the  Administration of Byelomorsk municipal region, started with a welcome speech. She noted the importance of the international cooperation in tourism for the local community. The participants of the seminar had presentations on actual topics of fishing tourism development in the Republic of Karelia and Finland. At first there were reports on the legislation in the field of fishing which were prepared by Vesa Karttunen, Fisheries Specialist of the Federation of Finnish Fishing Associations and Anatoliy Stepanov, head of the Department for state control, supervision and fish protection in the Republic of Karelia.

Mikhail Kuznetsov, senior state inspector of Byelomorsk region in the Center of State Inspection for Small Vessels of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Karelia had a speech on “State monitoring and water safety maintenance: problems and prospects”. He noted that there are small vessels in tourism activity and they are used but the state registration and permission to use the transport are very difficult to obtain, so it complicates the development of water tourism in the Republic of Karelia.

Ilya Onishchenko, chief specialist of the fisheries department in Ministry of agriculture, fish and hunting industry of the Republic of Karelia, in his speech: ”Recreational and sport fishing in the Republic of Karelia” told about the situation in this sphere and provided some statistics.

Then there were reports by Raisa Nikula, representative of the Forest and Park service of Finland: “Recreational fishing determines the future of the brown trout populations that feed in Lake Pyaozero, spawn in Finland” and Anton Kuritsyn, Director of “Fishing recourses”, with his report: “Behavior and distribution of the lake fish in the area of trout farms in the Republic of Karelia”. Petri Muje, Project Manager of the “White Road” project, told about some development aspects of Fishering tourism. In addition, representatives of the tourists companies, such as Turo Murtovaara, representative of “Rukasafaris” from Finland and the head of “Pomorie tour” Leonid Tretyakov took part in the seminar.

The last presentation within seminar was devoted to the transformation of a hobby into a professional tourist activity which was presented by Alexander Fomin, Research and development expert of the «White Road» project.

The opening of the forum “Role of tourism in sustainable development of the Russian North” took place at the National Theatre of the Republic Karelia on the 21 of November.

Forum goes under the federal “Tourism Week”, which is held by The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Karelia, and it is the main event. The main theme of the forum was revealing the potential of tourism in the Northern territories of Russia, creation mechanisms of interaction between the state and business in order to develop the Russian North.

The seminar “Current mechanisms of interaction between the state and business in order to develop inbound and domestic tourism in the Russian North: Prospects for tourism development within the cross-border territories” was held in conference hall of the hotel “Onego Palace”. The moderator of this seminar was Alexander Konovalov, research and development expert of the project “White Road”. State Committee for Tourism, Karelian Resource Centre of NGOs, Karelia University of Applied Sciences, Kajaani University of Applied Sciences and others presented their reports during the seminar.

Timo Ekroos told about possibilities of creating accessible environment for people with disabilities in tourism and provided many vivid examples of finish experience. The presentation of Jan Mitts “Tourist behavior in the new digital world” was quite relevant. The speaker provided a lot of statistics on how tourists use the Internet and mobile technologies for organizing and spending their holidays.

Next day the forum continued with the conference «Rural, event and ethnographic tourism in preservation and development of rural tourism in the Russian North», which was held in Ethnic and cultural center «Elämä» in Pryazha region. After the conference participants visited Karjala Park where the workshops on creating karelian amulet was held, and of course everyone got an opportunity communicate with friendly husky dogs.

On November, 21 “Tourism Week” was finished with the conference “Event tourism as an instrument of the development of tourist destinations of the Russian North” in Olonets and “Olonets games of Grandfathers Frost”.

On the 30th of September a working meeting was conducted in the framework of “Learning Lab for Accessibility” project at the school № 2 in Kostomuksha. School № 2 is one of the project pilot environment where an accessible environment module will be realized. The purpose of the meeting was the discussion of accessibility implementation in the classrooms for children with disabilities. Timo Ekroos, project manager, Oskin N., the director general of the Karelian Resource Centre of NGOs, Lykov C., Director of the engineering center "Shtrih", Molchanova, L., Director of the school, Chumak K., coordinator of the project took part in discussion.

Project partners could examine what has already been done and how work on preparation of the room is going on. The Director of the school expresses her gratitude to project managers for useful help and experience of Finnish partners. It was decided that Molchanova L. will take part in the educational module, during which she can visit school in Lehmo, where classes for children with disabilities has been used  for several years.

Participants of the meeting expressed their satisfaction with the results of work. They could discuss all questions and find solutions, which will be useful for children with disabilities.

“Project fair” was held at the hall of The National Theatre of the Republic of Karelia on the 26 of September, 2014. It was realized in cooperation with the ross-border cooperation program Karelia ENPI, dedicated to the European cooperation day.

During the fair participants and visitors could learn about project activities in the sphere of culture, tourism, health and social services, information and communication technologies, sustainable use of natural resources and also to get memorable souvenirs with the logo of ENPI program and projects.

Coordinator of the project “WHITE ROAD – Cross-border Tourism Development in the Northern Finland and the Republic of Karelia”, where Karelian Resource Centre of NGO is the main partner in Karelia, presented the results of the project, including creation of tourists information centers in six northern regions of the Republic of Karelia; holding some educational seminars and trainings for the representatives of tourist companies, and also tests and shows trips for the representatives of tourist companies, the Mass Media and other.

Coordinator of the project “Learning Lab for Accessibility in Built Environment” summarised the results of the project. There were four educational modules in Oulu, Kajani, St. Petersburg and Joensuu. Also there were training seminars for the participants of the project in Petrozavodsk and Kostomuksha. Printed and electronic materials on accessible environment with information about the project and its result were published. For example, Small ABC of accessibility was elaborated by the project personnel so as to eliminate misunderstanding between Russian and finish participants while using main terms of accessibility. Also “Handy Home” was created at the “Elizabeth centre” in Petrozavodsk and there was the reconstruction at “Secondary school № 2 after Pushkin” for the realization of an accessible environment in Kostomuksha.

In the evening of the same day within the framework of the project “White Road” there was the reception, where Nikolay Oskin and Vladimir Gromov granted the letters of gratitude gratitude to the staff of the project, and also to those who actively took part in its activities.

In September 15-19, 2014 a show trip for representatives of Russian mass media was organized within frameworks of project 'White road, development of Cross-boarder tourism in northern Finland and the Republic of Karelia' . Participants of the show trip were shooting team 'Republican broadcasting company 'Sampo', correspondents of daily federal socio-political Internet-edition 'Free press' and weekly newspaper in finish language 'Karajan Sanomat', which is edited in Petrozavodsk . More than that author and editor of Moscow publishing house 'Ayaks-Press' also took part in the trip.

Media representatives visited several regions along the route of 'white road', which includes town Kuhmo, Kormilo framstead, Voknavolok village, Kostomuksha and Belomorsk region.

Petrozavodsk was the point of depature and after that participants went right to Finland, town Kuhmo through the International Automobile Border-crossing Point Värtsilä-Niirala. During their staying in Kuhmo participants visited Art Center, Information Center of epos Kalevala in Juminkeko, Ice Palace, Information Center for Predators and National Parks, Winter War museum. Besides that participants had an opportunity to play forest golf, freesby, to try themselves in command skiing on paths through the woods not that far from picturesque rapids Pajakkakoski.

The next destination was Kormilo farmstead, which is situated 60 km far from Kostomuksha. Participants were warmly welcomed by the hosts of the khutor Olga and Victor Volobyevs with tea and pie, stories about their life in khutor. After that they continued their evening with fascinating role play 'Tervetuloa' (Welcome) and dinner with the hosts. The next day Victor showed his impressive collection of samovars and beam-scales, so-called Samovars Museum. Several participants even managed to take a boat-trip to a chapel which is situated in the middle of a lake. Afterwards participants visited a rune-singing village Voknavolok, observed an ancient Karelian house, granaries and so on.

Then participants left for Belomorsk region, they went to tourist camp which is situated on the shore of the lake Shuezero. The next morning a fascinating trip on quad bikes 'Polar Day' to the lake Zimnee was organized. In the evening a masterclass of manufacturing small figures of animals made of dough, which are the symbols of forthcoming spring and summer, was held for the participants.

There is also one of the concourses of petroglyphs in Karelia on the cape Zavalurga. A cliff on the shore of the river Vig is full of images which are petroglyphs of people, animals, fish and carious symbols.

Some petroglyphs are painted with special substance which prevents stone from erosion and allows to distinguish the images better.

The last stay of the group was in local history museum of Belomorsk, where the exhibition 'See culture of Pomors at the end of the XIX and beginning of XX century' dedicated to the life of local Pomors of those times was opened.

Links to the video made by the shooting team 'Sampo':

Project 'White road'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zArwyjAssnk

Kormilo farmstead:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT_fVb_Le1U

Links to the articles of 'Karjalan Sanomat':

Links to the articles of the editor of the publishing-house 'Ayaks-Press':

http://russiangid.ru/new/191.html

http://russiangid.ru/new/192.html

Links to the articles of the correspondent of Internet-edition 'Free press':

Tourism beyond sanctions and boundaries

http://svpressa.ru/travel/article/99905/

Kormilo for Russia

http://svpressa.ru/travel/article/100554/

Northern Kamasutra

http://www.trud.ru/article/07-10-2014/1318247_severnaja_kamasutra.html

Article 3, Karjalan Sanomat - просмотр

The show trip to Kalevala settlement, Pyaozerskiy village, National Park “Paanajrvi” and village Loukhi was conducted on 29 of August – 2 of September within the framework of the project KA 325 “White Road –Cross-border Tourism Development in Northern Finland and the Republic of Karelia”. It is worth mentioning that the Administration of Loukhi and Kalevala regions are official partners of the project.

Project partners from Finland, Italy and Russia took part in the trip. The aim was to familiarize with the tourist products of Northern Karelia and promote tourist routes.

The participants of the trip had the opportunity to visit National Park “Paanajarvi”, located 60 kilometers from the village Pyaozerskiy, which considers to be a protected natural territory of the Russian Federation. The tourist route up the mountain Kivakka, the length of which is 5 km, was organized as well. From the top of the mountain spectacular view is opened on the lake Pyaozero, Kivakkakoski rapids and the top of the Nuorunen mountain, the highest mountain in Karelia (576,7m). Moreover, the participants had the opportunity to familiarize with the water-walking route round the Lake Paanajärvi. At the beginning of the route the participants could enjoy the view of the old Russian-Finnish border.  All along the lake the participants could observe the meadows which are the locations of the former Finnish settlements. There are still present the remains of houses and old furnaces on some of them.

One of the most interesting attractions of this route was 60 meters high Ruskeakallio cliff (Brown rocks). Special parking with a fir pit, summer house and a rest room were provided for the participants. Then the route along the picturesque path to the amazing waterfall Mäntykoski was organized as well. This is beautiful five-step waterfall which is about 9 meters high.

After visiting an extraordinary beautiful park all participants of the test trip visited township Kalevala which is located on the northern shore of the Kuito Lake. It is known that in the XIX century Finnish folklorist Elias Lönnrot wrote many runes which became the part of the world-famous Karelian-Finnish epos "Kalevala" in this settlement.

In the framework of the test trip sightseeing tour round the village was also organized which included familiarizing with the memorable places of epos "Kalevala": Memorial Museum of Kalevala’s rune singers (where the meeting with indigenous citizens, as well as listening to folk music were held), familiarity with the pine-monument under which, according to legend, Elias Lönnrot listened and wrote runes of rune singers. For animal lovers the trip to Huskies which take part on the international races in Kalevala village every winter was organized.

Next trip (for Russian travel agents) will be held on the 4-8th of September, 2014.

Timo Ekroos, the KA475 “Learning Lab for Accessibility in Built Environment” project manager, visit the capital of Karelia with working trip on the 18-20 of August. During this trip there were working meetings focused on the definition of future cooperation of the project partners.

Practical questions of the accessible environment plan at the school №2 in Kostomuksha were discussed with director of the engineering center “Shtrih” S. Lykov during the working meeting on 18th of August.. The decision of changing school reconstruction plan was accepted. It includes installing of automatic doors, which will help children with disabilities to enter the school.

The meeting with project partners was held at the administration. Malysheva Elena, the head of the Department of social protection, Rosenstand Elena, Director of the center “Istoki”, Panteleeva Valentina, Director of the Rehabilitation center for children and teenagers with disabilities "Rodnik", Klementeva Tatiana, an expert on the promotion of the project on the territory of Kostomuksha took part in the meeting.

On the 19th of August Timo Ekroos and Nikolai Oskin, the director general of the Karelian Resource Centre of NGOs, visited Kizhi Island in the framework of the working meeting with Elena Malishevskaja, leading specialist of Department of international relations of the Kizhi Museum. They discussed the idea of creating an accessible environment on the Kizhi island. For example, Timo Ekroos suggested placing some handrails along the wooden path. It was decided that the creation of an accessible environment on the island will be included in the operational model for long-term cooperation which will be realized after finishing of the project.

After returning from Kizhi participants had a working meeting with Deputy Minister of Education of the Republic of Karelia - Sorokin Aleksey. The main purpose of the meeting was the discussion of the agreement of mutual cooperation between the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Karelia, Karelian Resource Centre of NGOs and Karelian University of Applied Sciences in Joensuu. Also they have considered the possibility of publications which will describe the algorithm of the accessible environment implementation step-by-step, taking into account Russian and Finnish standards and legislation, with a description of their minimal and optimal space size stipulated by law for people with disabilities.

On 20th of August the project manager met with Smirnova Anna and Smirnov Vitaliy – director and commercial director of the “Elizabeth Center”. Presentation of the boarding house, which has recently begun working, was held during the meeting. Timo Ekroos commented and expressed suggestions on creating an accessible environment.

In general, the trip was efficient and useful. During working meeting the date and the content of the project events on last four months of the project were determined. Also partners discussed possible direction of the long-term cooperation.

Test trip for representatives of Russian tourist companies with the participation of the crew of the television broadcasting company "Nika plus" took place from 4th to 8th of September as a part of the project KA325 "White Road - Cross-boarder tourism development in Northern Finland and the Republic of Karelia" (Karelia ENPI CBC Programme).

Tourist companies from Petrozavodsk ("Intourist - Petrozavodsk", tourist bureau "Korela") and St.Petersburg ("Alean", "Aquarelle") participated in the trip.

During the trip representatives of tourist companies visited several regions along the rout of the White Road including an urban-type settlement Kalevala, towns Kuusamo and Vuokatti, farmstead Kormilo and Voknavolok village.

In an urban-type settlement Kalevala all participants were accommodated in a two-storey wooden chopped house which is located in a pine forest, 50 meters far from the lake Srednee Kuitto and belongs to a tourist complex "WelT". In this region participants had a look at exposition of the Karelian life in the Rune Singers Museum of local lore, visited a famous monument "Lönnrot's pine" which is a kind of landmark of the region because in the XIX century in the area of present-day settlement famous Finnish folklorist Elias Lönnrot had recorded many runes which were included in world-known Karelian-Finnish epic "Kalevala". After folklore program participants took a bath in a Russian bath-house with birch bath besoms and then walked along picturesque and quite shore of the lake.

In the region you can visit ethnocultural center "KALEVALATALO" ("Kalevala house") where the center staff organize traditional craft workshops and workshops on folk games, for example, kyukka, palika and others. Moreover, there is a Siberian Husky farm in Kalevala where participants of the trip not only became friends with sociable husky-dogs but also had an opportunity to ride several kilometers along forest trails accompanied with chosen husky (dog-tracking is a movement with a dog attached to a belt of a person with special shock absorber). They reached the halt point where after a small snack they changed belts with huskies to life-jackets and oars and boarded a raft for a leisurely boat trip down the river Uhtinka accompanied by an experienced instructor.

Further participants experienced long and wearisome transfer to Kuusamo through

International Automobile Border-crossing Point Suopera. Representatives of tourist compenies were accommodated in the hotel «Rantasipi Rukahovi», then they continued the evening with famous Finnish dance orchestra «Eini&Boogie». In the morning participants went for a small walking tour to the top of the mountain Ruka, offering an exciting view of the National Park "Paanajarvi" which is located in Louhsky region of Karelia. After that all participants went to see over comfortable chalets offered by the company «Rukan Salonki», as well as different types of saunas, which gave luster to Finland.

On the way to Vuokatti participants had a dinner at a place called Pohjanseita which is a picturesque and exotic forest camp with a shade of mysticism for those who are tired of urban life. It is owned by the company «RukaPalvelu». The participants were welcomed by the head of the company and a Russian-speaking guide who told about the services offered by the «RukaPalvelu»: accommodation, restaurants, snowmobile safaris, snowshoe excursions, ice fishing, reindeer safaris and many others. A good hostess also showed Seita Forest Spa where you can find different types of saunas including a traditional sauna, a smoke sauna, a herbal sauna and others. After the excursion the hostess invited all participants to a forest restaurant the entrance of which is guarded by a huge stuffed bear and where participants enjoyed traditional local delicacies in the light of a hearth and hundred of candles.

After this long way participants arrived at Vuokatti. All of them were accommodated in cottages "Vuokatinmaa" that is not far from the city center. The location is quite good because in winter people are attracted by nearby skiing runs and ski slopes and in summer people are attracted by the amusement park "Angry Birds", reservoirs and so on.

The next destination point of the group was farmstead Kormilo located an hour away Kostomuksha. The first thing that catches people's eye when they are approaching the farmstead is interesting alpacas and horses grazing freely in the territory. The group was welcomed by owners of the farmstead, Olga and Victor, and they told participants about the history of the region and the history of the farmstead itself. After an accommodation and a supper owner organized for the group an exciting entertainment show " Tervetulloa" which not only introduced the culture of Karelia but also exhilarated all participants. There is a lake near the farmstead where you can go boating and enjoy the chapel built by the owner of the farmstead in the middle of the lake. Also in Kormilo you can see a unique exposition of samovars and steelyards and get to know about the origin of the Museum of samovars.

In the same Kostomukshsky region you can visit Voknavolok village, see the old barns, samples of architecture of the late 18th - early 19th century, the Ontchi merchant house, a peasant house of Matero, a monument to the rune singer Miyhkele Pertunenu, the House of the village, the Orthodox Church etc., also you can taste Karelian cuisine.

Consequently, in a few days representatives of tourist companies got an insight into tourist opportunities in regions including transportation, accommodation, nutrition and program of activities.

Links to the videos prepared by the crew of the television broadcaster "Nika plus":

Project "White Road"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kETH9ZbdbR4&feature=youtu.be

Project "White Road" (with subtitles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32xJGpVjqyI