Europe

[Visited: September 2018]

It is a windy Sunday morning when I walk up some broken stairs from the small Kultuchnoye lake in downtown Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. I have arrived the day before, on this peninsula in the Far East of Russia, and as it was a bright day, already seen more than a dozen volcanoes from the sky. Kamchatka is famous for them: it has around 300, of which 30 are active. My plan is to explore some of them, and while I am still working to organise the visits, the best start seems to be to visit the Volcano Museum. When I arrive at the back of a building, I wonder if the map I am using is mistaken, but I then see the logo and push the door (which looks like any normal resident door) and indeed, walk into the lobby of the museum. A friendly lady sells me the ticket, and underlines that I am free not only to take pictures, but also to touch any of the items on display. I have been to stricter museums.
Room One is the biggest, and offers explanations about different types of volcanoes, as well as phenomena related to them, such as the flow of lava, the colour, calderas, the origin of the gases that find their way out of the hot interior of our planet through volcanoes, earthquakes, and the Pacific Ring of Fire which is where most active volcanoes of the world can be found. Apart from pictures and text, there are also plenty of items such as volcanic rocks and stones, video footage of eruptions, charts, models of volcanoes, sand, and much more. It is indeed fun to pick up a volcanic stone and compare its weight to other ones: some are incredibly light. A very informative exhibition, which really helps to understand volcanoes better. Seeing the photos of some of the famous volcanoes of Kamchatka, my desire to see them and hopefully climb them only gets stronger.
To leave the room, I walk through curtains, cross the corridor, and walk into the much smaller Room Two, which has more explanation boards about the regeneration of life after eruptions, and also footage of flowing lava, with some incredible images of the orange-red-black syrupy substance slowly flowing downhill. Room Three offers boards with gods and goddesses of volcanoes and fire, from around the world, including mythical Hephaestus from Ancient Greece. It also has a board with information about the Itelmen, Koryaks, Evens and Evenky, the aboriginals of Kamchatka, the people who lived in this land of volcanoes for many centuries, who have seen the devastating eruptions, and who now live in small sections of the peninsula. Another one has black and white pictures on display, giving an idea of what Kamchatka used to look like around a century ago. Then, there is a world map, full of pins: after putting a pin on my hometown far away from here, I have a chat with the enthusiastic staff before leaving this must-see museum.

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[Visited: September 2018]

Around the World in 80 Clicks

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