As it was called earlier and where the river Volga originates

In Europe, the Volga is the largest river, but in Russia it is only on the fifth place in size. In the Tver region on the Valdai Upland there is a village Volgoverkhovye. Near it stands a chapel - this is the place where the Volga River originates.

Even before our era the Egyptians, Greeks and Slavs who lived at that time called it Ra, the embodiment of the sun god, and those places where it flows are the sacred country of Irius (Paradise).

In the Middle Ages it, since the place where the Volga River originates, is in Rus, received a Russian name, which means "wetland" or "current stream". But the Turks, living downstream, gave it the name "Itil", that is, "endless", "river of rivers".

In total, it overcomes the path in 3530 km. And if the beginning of the Volga River is a tiny swampy stream, and the first bridge through it is only 3 meters long, then after 10 km it flows into Lake Sterzh, once the first of the Upper Volga lakes, which have now become a single reservoir. After passing a chain of former lakes, the river becomes full and up to Tver flows in its primeval channel. A little lower another reservoir starts, it is often called the Moscow Sea. However, up to Volgograd, the river represents several man-made lakes, and only on the near-Caspian lowland the Volga acquires its natural channel with a length of 500 km. And before falling into the Caspian Sea, it forms a number of branches that make up a vast delta (somewhere 19,000 sq. Km).

Today the Volga is distinguished by a majestic, measured current, in other places it is even difficult to notice. Although earlier, when there were no dams and reservoirs on it, its temper was more steep, with rolls. Memory of this remained only in the names of coastal cities and towns and old legends. But in the lower reaches and in the places of reservoirs it can be dangerous, unlike the places where it originates.

The Volga River has more than two hundred tributaries, which are themselves deep-water and large rivers. For example, the influx of Kama is the largest, it is even full of water and more along the length of its "mother". And in total the Volga basin has more than 150 thousand more or less large rivers (in which the length is more than 10 km)

If you believe the guidebooks, then along the Volga you can get to almost any corner of the world. And being near the chapel, where the river Volga originates, this can not be said at all.

With one hundred percent accuracy, one can only say that it is realistic to go on a cruise from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod, St. Petersburg or Astrakhan. The capital can be reached via the Moscow Canal. In the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, you will get through the Volga-Don channel. And the Volga-Baltic way will take you to the Baltic Sea, while the White Sea-Baltic and North-Dvinsky routes will be delivered to the White Sea.

In addition to the fact that you can cruise on the river, the Volga is a source of great fish resources. There live about 70 species of fish, most of which are commercial. This herring, and stellate sturgeon, and roach, and sterlet with sturgeon, and bream with pike. Not without reason fishermen from all places of our vast country, and foreign countries, aspire there.

And if you decide to go on a trip, then start from the places where the Volga River originates, where it is only a small stream, which after a few hundred kilometers becomes a great Russian river, amazing with its beauty and majesty.