According to BAGLIB, Usolye-Sibirskoye is located 77 km northwest of Irkutsk. The history of the city begins with the formation in 1669 of the small village of Usolye. Its name comes from the phrase “at the salt”, because there were many salt springs. It is believed that the village was founded on the spot where the Yenisei Cossacks, who stopped for the night, discovered one of these sources. Today, at this place in the center of the city there is a natural monument – a small fountain of salt water that beats out of the ground.
Fame for Usolye-Sibirsky was brought not only by the large-scale production of salt, but also by the local sanatorium Usolye. This is a resort of federal importance, it is located within the city. The Usolsky resort was founded in 1848 on the basis of sources of salt-sulfur waters and silt-peat mud of the Malta Lake, located 12 km from Usolye-Sibirsky. Treatment takes place with the help of brine baths, circular showers, inhalations, herbal teas and mineral waters, mud therapy, combined balneological mud therapy, mitigated mud therapy, intensive mud therapy, electric mud therapy, a combination of mud therapy with short or long-wave ultraviolet radiation, mechanotherapy, massage and physiotherapy exercises. The mineral water used in the sanatorium is sodium chloride with the presence of sulfates, calcium, magnesium, carbon dioxide, free and soluble nitrogen.
Therapeutic mud of the resort is silt mud and mineralized peat, which contains a large number of bacteria of various physiological groups. In the sanatorium Usolye, they prevent diseases of the organs of movement and support, the nervous system, gynecological diseases, and also remove postoperative adhesions and scars.
There is a rest house on the Maltinsky lake located not far from the resort. Here in the summer you can relax on the beach, go boating or visit local attractions.
Opportunities for summer holidays are also on several islands, which are located on the Angara River. The most popular of them is Krasny Ostrov, covered with a century-old pine forest.
Ust-Kut, Irkutsk region (Russia)
Ust-Kut is located 610 km northeast of Irkutsk at the confluence of the Kut River with the Lena River. Ust-Kutsk prison was founded in 1631 by Russian explorers. After the discovery of local salt sources in 1639, salt pans were established here. City status was obtained in 1954.
Ust-Kut has two sanatoriums – “Ust-Kut” and “Eiser”. Sanatorium “Ust-Kut” is located 3 km from the city in a valley surrounded by coniferous forests. It has its own mineral springs and healing mud extracted from Salt Lake. The therapeutic waters of the sanatorium are chloride-sodium, slightly radon, and the mud is highly mineralized, slightly sulfide, chloride-sodium. With their help, diseases of the nervous system, skin and subcutaneous tissue, musculoskeletal system, connective tissue and genitourinary system are treated here.
The sanatorium “Ust-Kut” offers hydrotherapy, mud therapy, physiotherapy, various types of massage, inhalation and physiotherapy exercises. The sanatorium “Eysera” in addition to hydrotherapy and mud therapy offers relaxation on therapeutic beaches, excursions to salt caves, walks in the park area, herbal treatment, honey, aromatherapy, oxygen cocktails, ozocerite-paraffin treatment, pine baths and baths with sea salt. These procedures help in the prevention of diseases of the nervous system, respiratory organs, skin and subcutaneous tissue, the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue, the genitourinary system and the circulatory system.
Uelen, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (Russia)
Uelen is the easternmost settlement in Russia. It is located near Cape Dezhnev in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Scientists have proven that people began to live in these places about 2000 years ago. Uelen is located at the junction of the Bering Strait and the Arctic Ocean on a pebble spit. Since the beginning of the 20th century, it has been the administrative, commercial and cultural center of the Chukotka Peninsula. Today, Uelen is part of the regional natural and ethnic park “Beringia”.
By visiting Uelen, you will get acquainted with the life of modern Chukchi and Eskimos and their traditional trade – sea hunting. It is fashionable to visit a bone carving workshop in the village, which houses a museum with a collection of real works of art made of walrus ivory, leather, fur and whalebone, souvenirs are also sold here. From Uelen they go to the deep-water lake Koolen, on the shore of which the ancient Koolen IV site, over 6000 years old, was found, where flint arrowheads and spears, knives and scrapers with double-sided upholstery and retouching have been preserved. Cape Dezhnev is located
10 km from Uelen. – the easternmost point of the Eurasian continent. The cape got its name in honor of the pioneer, Cossack Semyon Dezhnev, who was the first European to cross from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in 1648. At the Dezhnyovy Sopki you can see a walrus rookery, bird colonies, sometimes polar bears, and from the shore in the Bering Strait – gray whales, killer whales, walruses, seals (seal-akiba, spotted seal, bearded seal). The cape is known for its mineral thermal springs. On Cape Dezhnev there is a historical and cultural complex Naukan, which is the remains of a large whaling village of the 18th-20th centuries. Not far from here is the archaeological site of federal significance Ekven. This historical and cultural complex consists of a vast burial ground (more than 2,000 burials) and a settlement dating back to the 1st millennium BC. – 1 millennium AD
Northwest of Uelen along the coast is the village of Inchoun. There is also a large walrus rookery next to it. Sled dogs are found everywhere in the village, because here it is the most popular mode of transportation. 16 km from Inchoun, the remains of the ancient settlement Ueten are interesting, where the skeletons of ancient dwellings and a burial ground have been preserved. Rare white geese nest near Ueten on Lake Enmytagin.
The Chukotka Autonomous Okrug is part of the border zone. By a decree of the governor, citizens of the Russian Federation who are not residents of the border zone (who do not have registration at the place of residence), foreign citizens and stateless persons can visit the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug only with a pass, which is issued by the bodies and troops of the Federal Border Service of the Federal Security Service of Russia on the basis of personal statements citizens or petitions of enterprises. Tourists can obtain a pass from any authorized travel agency. For issuing a pass for citizens of Russia it is necessary to submit an application indicating the last name, first name and patronymic, citizenship, date of birth, passport data, registration at the place of residence, place of work, position held, dates and purpose of entry and place of stay. The entry permit is issued within 10 days.
