With Andi now on his way back to St. Petersburg, I checked out of the hotel. With the farewell, the receptionist suggested to have a look at a nice monastery a bit south of Olonets.

Here’s an overview so you guys know where we are in Russia:



Point A: Olonets with the hospital and hotel
Point B: The monastery
Point C: Kondopoga
Distance A through C – about 250 km or 155 miles

After a short ride I arrived at the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery which was founded in 1487.





There is something incredibly beautiful about the Eastern Orthodox architecture, I’m in love with the onion domes.



I hit the road again and tried to think what lay ahead of me and what I have to make different now that I am alone. The trip was always planned to happen with Andi and by this point I wasn’t yet sure if I could do everything I expected of the trip alone. Specifically long off-road sections through the wilderness are something entirely different if you're alone.

Long straight roads through impressive boreal forests gave me a good back drop to figure that out.



There was this huge truck at the side of the road – does anybody have an idea about its purpose?





Eventually, I reached Kondopoga, which was announced by this monument along the road.





500 years Kondopoga



I stopped at another church to have a break.



The view in the other direction.



After a while, some youngsters approached me and wanted to know everything about the bike and tried out how my gear fit them.



They all couldn’t wait to sit on the bike and push every button.



This fellow was pretty smart and wanted to know where I’m from, how fast my bike goes and was generally amused by my clunky Russian. When I said my good-bye he wanted to know how we said good-bye in Switzerland. He wasn’t satisfied with me telling him “Tschau/Ciao” and said no, that’s Italian!



When their parents walked by he announced excitedly that I was a foreigner visiting Russia, though they couldn’t have cared less.



Satisfied with my good deed of converting young boys to future motorcycle riders I went on my way out of town.