Sablino is a village not far from St. Petersburg (the railway station is also called Sablino)
Sablino is famous for being the only area in Leningrad region that has caves and 2 cascades
The village is situated 40 kilometers south-east from St. Petersburg. The easiest way to get there is by tour-bus from Gostinii dvor (and that's what I did)
If you look at this picture you'll see a hill with the "Levoberezhnaya" cave. A path guides you to the entrance.
Those caves (there are more than a dozen caves apart from "Levoberezhnaya" one) are not made by nature.
About one and a half centuries ago there were white quartz sand mines. White quartz sand is used for producing glass and crystal. Those entries have remained since then.
There's no light in the cave apart from a dim electric light and from a torch I brought with me. So all pictures were shot with a flash.
Bright red sand below seemed as grey as that on the walls.
These are copyies of French and Bashkir rock paintings. They are made for tourists...
The cave is rather spacious. As the guide told us, it's impossible to get lost here but you can ramble in it for an hour or so.
The total length of the cave is 5.5 kilometers.
Bats, butterflies, flies and mosquitoes winter here. Actually, bats are mosquitoes feeders, but somehow they get on together well here :)
This is also for tourists
One of two undergrounds lakes
the depth is 1-2 meters, the width is up to 60 meters.
I should warn you, that the temperature in the cave is always about +8 C (humidity - 90 %). So if you go there wearing shirt or T-shirt you may freez.
A tired-of-tourists dog
Apart from the cave we visited, there are others in Sablino, but it's the only one which was brought in order for tourists to visit. It's clean and has a door. Besides, it's the largest one.
Here you can see other caves.
For example, this one.
In Sablino they mine all kinds of minerals which can be found in Leningrad region
Now we'll go along the Tosna River...
This summer Tosna became rather shallow. Usually it's much deeper.
Both Tosna River and Sablinka River have its source from swamps. That's why their waters seem "muddy".
This is the Tosnenskii cascade (another name is Gertovskii)
Since the Leningrad region is mostly flat, cascades are rare phenomenon (the other one is situated on the Sablinka River)
The height of the cascade is about two meters. The Sablinskii one is a bit higher.
The ledges seemed to be hand made. But if you look on the previous picture, you'll see that it's not true.
Due to rock being washed out, the cascade moves 66 centimeters a year.
The cascade is 11 thousands years old and it has moved for 7.5 kilometers by now.
You can see a man's head down there.
He jumps from the cascade. Water have made a hollow at the bottom of cascade so the depth is 4-5 meters.
