This past holiday season our family ventured on a 3 weeks’ trip to Russia which inspired me to create a couple of blog articles about travelling in my native country. I have already published Universal Guide to Travel in Russia last week. This week I would like to talk about a very specific and unique family road trip itinerary… a one day voyage around the World!
Do you think it is possible? It is, if you are visiting Etnomir ethnological and cultural park. Etnomir can be translated into English as “Ethnological world” and it is located about 75 miles South-West from Moscow, which will make a nice 1 day trip if you are visiting the capital. It is hard to describe in two words what Etnomir is because it is so unique. In some ways it is similar to Epcot Center in Disneyworld, Orlando, FL. However, while Epcot’s “world” is more focused on entertainment first and then education, Etnomir is focused on education and then entertainment.
The best description of Etnomir would be a living model of the World in miniature. It is an enormous beautiful park in the countryside the main feature of which is “national ethnic yards”. An ethnic yard is an open area authentically reproducing the culture of one or several countries represented by the corresponding architecture, exhibition halls, hotels, workshops and restaurants offering that nation’s cuisine. Currently, there are 6 main ethnic yards outside dedicated to Central Russia, Siberia and Northern Territories, Ukraine and Byelorussia, Southeast Asia. In addition to that there is a covered exhibition hall covering dozens more countries from all 6 continents.
The park was created as an interactive environment where everything can be tried and tested. Therefore visitors can not only admire the exhibits, but also fully immerse themselves in the cultural environment of other countries.
The park offers tours, workshops, museums, walking trails, animation/entertainment programs (singing dancing, games), animal encounters (cats, dogs and exotic animals) as well as a dinosaur park, a couple of labyrinths in different parts of the park and kids playground. The park is open year round and its tours and workshops change depending on the season. Local holidays traditions will be heavily reflected in all programs offered during the year. So you may come a different time during the year and have a totally different educational/entertainment program.
Our most favorite attractions and activities were:
Siberian husky ranch and sleigh rides;
Museum of Russian oven (a traditional installment in a Russian wooden house, “izba”, that was used for cooking and heating the house as well as washing – who new!);
EtnoCat – a house of cats where you can play with over a dozen of live cats;
Honey tasting (nearly a dozen of different types of honey are offered for tasting and then you can buy the ones that you enjoyed most as well as other products made from honey);
Various guided tours and workshops (called “master-classes”) – a dozen each offered throughout the day. You can learn to bake bread, work with clay, make soft traditional dolls (like we did – the result is in the image below) and many other things.
One can come to Etnomir park for a day trip or stay overnight. The park has several themed hotels, cafes and restaurants, a spa, a Russian sauna, a grocery store and many different gift stores where you can buy many handmade items and souvenirs from crafts to clothing to jewelry and much more.
The park is so huge that it is impossible to see and do everything in one day so we are definitely looking forward to come back.
If you found this family road trip itinerary useful, please do me a little favor and share this information with others, for there’s a good chance that it will help them with their travel plans. 🙂 If you want to be notified when new itineraries are published, please, subscribe to our blog or follow us on Facebook.
