marina ii sailing yacht

Type: Sail boat

Model: sun odyssey 490, yacht rating, operator rating, book marina ii now, skippers available for this boat.

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• 220V/12V inverter
• Cockpit plotter
• Cockpit speaker
• Electric toilet
• Solar collector
• SOLAR PANELS
• ELECTRIC TOILETS
• ANCHOR WINDLASS & HANDLE
• COCKPIT SPEAKERS
• COCKPIT TABLE
• DECK SHOWER
• SWIMMING LADDER
• SWIMMING PLATFORM
• 220V SOCKETS
• BATTERY CHARGER
• OUTBOARD MOTOR
• ELECTRIC FRIDGE
• FULL GALLEY EQUIPMENT
• KITCHEN EQUIPMENT
• ECHO SOUNDER
• GPS PLOTTER IN COCKPIT
• GREEK WATERS PILOT
• WIND INSTRUMENTS
• DISTRESS FLARES BOX
• DISTRESS MIRROR
• EMERGENCY TILLER
• FIRE EXTINGUISHERS
• FIRST AID KIT
• FLOATING LIGHT
• FULL SAFETY EQUIPMENT
• HORSESHOE LIFEBUOY
• LIFE JACKETS
• MEDICAL GUIDE
• RADAR REFLECTOR
• SAFETY HARNESSES
• SET OF FLAGS N.C.O.
• SPARE BATT. OP. NAV. LIGHTS SET
• WIRE CUTTER
• BATTENED MAIN SAIL
• COCKPIT CUSHIONS
• FURLING GENOA
• RADIO/ CD PLAYER
• USB CHARGER
• BOWTHRUSTER
• FURLING MAIN SAIL
• SAFETY BELTS

OYSTER 885SII

The remarkable 90 foot sailboat, offering exquisite guest accommodation and dedicated crew quarters

The Oyster 885SII. Experiences you will love.

Combining luxury and entertaining space with exhilarating sailing, this remarkable 90 foot yacht is the platform to adventures anywhere in the world.

Exhilarating sailing

A choice of centreboard, T-keel or standard keel, each with an optimised and dramatic sail plan offers uncompromising performance and fast, effortless passage making.

Space to love

The large, protected cockpit, optional tender-well chillout zone, fore and aft deck and bathing platform all makes ideal spaces for entertaining family and friends on the Oyster 885.

Relax and enjoy

Dedicated quarters for four crew makes the Oyster 885 ideal for relaxing, entertaining or charter.

QUICK LINKS

More information

BUILDING MY OYSTER

Adrian Newey, the greatest Formula One race engineer, builds his Oyster 885

Featuring the latest iconic Oyster deck saloon styling, twin rudders and a choice of keels, this 90 foot sailing yacht offers an extensive range of customisable options.

Iconic Oyster flagship

The large, split cockpit is the heart of the oyster 885. offering panoramic views, it is the perfect place to relax and entertain on ocean passages..

Safe and protected under a large bimini and sprayhood, the expansive cockpit has a multi-functional table that seats eight with ease, with drinks on hand from the convenient integrated refrigerator. The deck offers a wide choice of other entertaining spaces. The sunken foredeck tender-well transforms into a chillout zone, with bimini and entertainment system. Her wide beam aft provides more space for sunbathing and the large hydraulic bathing platform is the perfect space from which to enjoy watersport toys. It also doubles as a unique spot for alfresco dining.

The sheer scale of the Oyster 885 sail plan delivers performance cruising with any of her keel variants.

Her well-balanced, high-performance hull with twin rudders delivers safe and exceptional sailing characteristics. Responsive and fast moving, she delivers consistently high speeds for excellent passage-making on extended ocean voyages. For a 90 foot yacht, she is beautifully balanced and light on the helm. The standard carbon rig with Park Avenue style boom is precision engineered for safety and durability. The single point mainsheet, with push button control through a captive reel winch, makes for easy trimming of the sails when sailing. The wider hydraulic systems for both sail-control and bow and stern thrusters make for both easy sail handling and effortless manoeuvring in tight spots. With a choice of fixed keel or centreboard option, you can explore the most inaccessible places in the world with confidence. And the 885GT variant, featuring lead T-keel and extensive rig specification upgrades, takes performance to another level.

At a glance, the Oyster 885 iconic styling is refined and elegant, highlighting Oyster’s trademark deck saloon.

Available in both raised split-level saloon and standard deck saloon versions, the Oyster 885 features instantly recognisable Oyster design cues. From her wraparound saloon and triple Seascape windows to the extended bowsprit and wide beam aft, she is every inch an Oyster. She combines the experience of Oyster’s in house design studio and skills of our master craftspeople, with the expertise and finesse of Humphreys’ naval architects. Clutter-free, flush teak decks and ergonomically designed cockpit and helm positions make her safe and easy to move around. Adaptable to any sea state, with uncompromising strength of construction, her hull and decks are certified by Lloyd’s Register, giving you the reassurance that she is robustly built and able to take you anywhere in the world.

OYSTER 885GT

GRAND TOURING

Enhanced performance in luxury, comfort and style.

Designed for entertaining, the Oyster 885 boasts luxurious indulgences, expansive comfortable living spaces and privacy you will love.

Magnificent detail

Practical, versatile and spacious, the oyster 885 is designed for onboard living and equipped with the comforts of home..

The luxurious, full width owner’s cabin sets the standard for the four ensuite double guest cabins. Light, airy and spacious, with excellent standing height, each ensuite features walk-in shower and electric flush toilet. There are quality, deep mattresses, mirrors, cedar lined wardrobes and ample stowage. Touchscreen controls operate Oyster’s proprietary mood lighting system, along with the audio and optional infotainment systems.

At just under the 24m Load Line Rule, this 90 foot sailboat for sale offers many advantages over larger yachts. She avoids the onerous red tape and costly requirements involved when chartering. She boasts dedicated crew quarters with mess for four crew, making her perfect for guest privacy and ideal for charter. The luxury of a full-time crew takes entertaining and enjoyment to another level, whether on extended ocean passages or entertaining family and friends in a secluded bay.

Handcrafted by our skilled master craftspeople, the Oyster 885 is built with meticulous attention to detail and a deep sense of pride and passion.

With over 50 years of designing and building exceptional bluewater cruisers, the insights of our owners, skippers and crew, sailors and our own team have informed every aspect of her design and build. Every detail has been considered to create a unique combination of design, technology and engineering, alongside exquisite handcrafted build quality. Beautiful hardwoods run through every inch of this 90 foot sailboat. This focus on detail reveals itself in the handcrafted cabinetry, as well as in the easily accessible, carefully labelled cables and pipework that run behind the scenes to make maintenance tasks simple.

As you would expect, the Oyster 885 is fitted with the latest convenient and connected technology for complete versatility, comfort and work-aboard potential.

The generous navigation station doubles as a technology hub, featuring a range of choices of PCs and plotters, VHF and SSB radios, power management, generator control, switchboard and plenty of power sockets. It doubles as the ideal work-aboard space and is home to the Oyster Command™ system – Oyster’s intuitive digital switching system which connects everything, including the entertainment, utilities, lighting and monitoring systems.

In addition, there is wireless sound, mood lighting, a range of optional infotainment systems, enhanced navigation systems and connectivity options to meet every requirement.

The joy of Oyster ownership

There is more than just pride on offer when it comes to owning an Oyster 885. Every new Oyster comes with a comprehensive warranty, personalised care, access to our global service network, unrivalled support, life-changing experiences and so much more.

On an Oyster the world is yours.

OYSTER OWNERSHIP

Ownership benefits rarely experienced in marine

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Specifications & features

Lloyd’s Register certified hull and deck moulding

This 90 foot yacht’s hull and deck mouldings meet EU RCDII standards, with strength, integrity and build quality, certified by Lloyd’s Register.

Custom hydraulic sail handling

Powerful, custom Lewmar hydraulic system for sail handling systems including the mainsheet captive reel winch, headsail furling, winches and windlass.

Hydraulic bathing platform and passerelle

Generous, teak-laid swim platform operated by onboard hydraulic systems. A powered letterbox passerelle extends for easy access while berthed stern to.

Retractable hydraulic bow & stern thrusters

Lewmar vertical Bow and Stern thrusters make it easy to manoeuvre in tight marina berths.

High output water maker

A 276l/hr desalination system provides a plentiful fresh water supply on the Oyster 885 Series II.

Forced air ventilation and 100,000 BTU A/C system

The forced air ventilation and reverse cycle air conditioning is fitted throughout for climate control. This unique system keeps the yacht ventilated and fresh below decks, whatever the climate.

Sprayhood and bimini

A sprayhood and bimini, in a choice of colours, provides protection from the elements at the cockpit and helm stations. An optional bimini is available for the tender well chillout zone.

Fully equipped galley amenities

Appliances include: induction hob, fan oven, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer.

Refrigeration

A large, 24v Frigomatic custom fridge-freezer with digital temperature gauges, heater door seals and internal fans and a cockpit fridge for easy access to refreshments.

Lowered saloon configuration

The format offers a spacious saloon that seamlessly connects the forward crew area and guest cabins to the main accommodation.

Raised deck saloon configuration

This format increases headroom in the saloon to create one level in the upper deck saloon.

Tender well entertainment package

This package converts the tender well into a chillout zone, with deck cushions, table, bimini, cinema and surround sound audio.

Enhanced external deck lighting

The additional deck lighting package provides an array of lighting solutions for every occasion, incorporating mast light, bulwark lights, hull lights, tender well lights and deck lights.

Custom hull colours

Create your unique look and feel with a wide choice of painted finishes.

Winter 2027

Plans and interior layouts.

Colour inspiration

CENTREBOARD

Experience the best of both worlds. Ultimate accessibility of a shallow-draft and unmatched performance with the centreboard down.

The Oyster 885

Step aboard

Join us at our boat shows and private views to see our stunning bluewater cruisers

OYSTER WORLD RALLY 2028-29

Entries are now open. Embark on the sailing adventure of a lifetime.

Personalised care, unforgettable experiences and lifelong yacht support

The Oyster Fleet

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© 2024 OYSTER YACHTS

OYSTER WORLD RALLY

Entries for the Oyster World Rally 2028-29 are now open. Embark on the sailing adventure of a lifetime

The new 565 Series II

The pursuit of perfection continues

Oyster Charter

Experience exhilarating sailing, luxury and style on an Oyster charter

New 565 Series II

LUXURY CHARTER

Experience exhilarating sailing, luxury and style on an oyster charter. personal, exclusive and uniquely oyster.

Oyster 825 iSNL

Discover this exceptional late model 825 with a unbeatable spec and a bespoke layout.

oyster ownership

Oyster world rally.

ENTRIES OPEN

Embark on the sailing adventure of a lifetime. entries are now open for the oyster world rally 2028-29.

Follow the Oyster World Rally 2024-25 fleet live

Winner of European Yacht of the Year 2023. She is a new breed of luxury 50 foot yacht, offering effortless shorthanded sailing capability.

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Oyster 885SII

The remarkable, iconic 90 foot sailboat, perfect for relaxed luxury voyages of discovery.

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Sun Odyssey 490 - 5 + 1 cab.

Rent a sailing yacht, marina ii (2021), greece.

• Free Outboard Engine
• Home base Skiathos / Sporades, Volos / Skiathos
• Service type: Bareboat
• Cabins: 6 (5+1)
• Berths: 11 (10+1)
• Length (m): 14.42

Your best price: 3,050.00 € 2,223.45 €

• Base Skiathos / Sporades, Volos / Skiathos

Specification

• Model: Sun Odyssey 490 - 5 + 1 cab.
• Year built: 2021
• Main sail: Furling/roll
• Genoa: Furling/roll
• Beam: 4.49 m
• Draught: 2.24 m
• Engine: 1 x 80 HP
• Water capacity: 640 l
• Fuel capacity: 240 l
• Check-in (from): 17:00
• Check-out (until): 09:00
• Deposit (€): 3000

Other equipment

• Electric fans in cabins
• Solar panels
• Cockpit cushions
• Electric toilet

Deck equipment

• Furling/roll
• Dinghy with outboard engine
• Bathing platform

Navigational equipment

• Bow thruster
• GPS chart plotter

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Compulsary extras

• Standard Charter Pack - Welcome kit, final cleaning, bed sheets & towels (one set per person), first fill for outboard engine, spare bottle of gas 300.00 €
• Deposit (€) 3,000.00 €

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Jeanneau 36I Sun odyssey 36i Just Listed

Used yachts for sale, sail monohulls 35ft > 40ft,        jeanneau boats for sale, jeanneau 36i boats for sale.

Ellis Island II

Boat Information

Boat details.

• No of berths: 6
• Wheel Steering
• Self-Tailing Winches
• Roller Furling Main
• External Speakers
• (with motor for extra charge),

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12 METRE RACING

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten

Length: 20.11 Metres (66 Feet)

Beam: 3.65 Metres (12 Feet)

Draft: 2.72 Metres (8.9 Feet)

Sail: 166 Sq. Metres (1786 Sq. Feet)

THE HISTORY

Canada II is generally regarded as being the fastest light air 12 Metre Class sailboat in the world.

Canada II was designed by Bruce Kirby and built by McConnel Marine in 1982, and competed in the 1983 Louis Vuitton Cup as Canada I. In between the ’83 and ’87 competitions she was radically redesigned, being extended both in her bow and stern, given the addition of a winged keel, and rechristened Canada II. She went on to serve as Western Canada’s challenge for the 1987 Louis Vuitton Cup under the flag of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. She is extremely fast, agile and tough to beat during every 12 Metre Regatta race!

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Ece Saray Marina

Sailing yacht.

• Max Sleeping guests: 8
• Max Cruising guests: 8
• Boat type: Sailing Yacht
• Length: 46 ft (14 m)
• Bathrooms: 3
• Kitchens: 1
• Contact Owner
• Manufacturer: Bavaria
• Model: Cruiser 46 Style
• Built in: 02 / 2016
• Engines: 1 x 75hp
• Fuel Type: Diesel
• Water capacity: 380 L
• Fuel capacity: 210 L

Beds: ( 4 )

Description:.

Bavaria Cruiser 46 Style is in a much better condition than it's siblings and being the style version of the cruiser series, has a lot of better amenities. You will surely enjoy your trip with her.

Crew: ( 1 )

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Main marina:

Cancellation policy:, regulations:.

• Smoking not allowed indoors
• Not suitable for pets ?
• Not suitable for infants ?
• Check-in time: from 16:00 until 17:00
• Check-out time: 08:00
• Day use check-out time: Flexible

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About your trip

• Smoking allowed on deck
• Not suitable for pets
• Events & Parties allowed
• Not suitable for infants
• Suitable for children

Security deposit: $ 2,225 ?

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Sail Away: The Oral History of ‘Yacht Rock’

This story was originally published on June 26, 2015

I n the late 1970s and early 1980s, musical artists like Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Steely Dan, Toto, Hall and Oates, and dozens of others regularly popped up on each other’s records, creating a golden era of smooth-music collaboration.

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And on June 26th, 2005, an internet phenomenon was born. In 12 short but memorable episodes — first via the the short-film series Channel 101 and then online — JD Ryznar, Hunter Stair, Dave Lyons, Lane Farnham and their friends redefined an era and coined a term for the sultry croonings of McDonald, Fagen, et al.: “yacht rock.”

As “Hollywood” Steve might say, these guys docked a fleet of remarkable hits. This is the story of Yacht Rock, told from stem to stern — a reimagining of a bygone soft-rock renaissance, courtesy of hipsters with fake mustaches, impeccable record collections and a love of smoothness. Long may it sail.

The Michigan Connection JD Ryznar (Director, “Michael McDonald”): I moved from Ann Arbor to L.A., and ended up making friends with all these other guys from Michigan, like “Hollywood” Steve Huey, Hunter Stair, and David Lyons. Pretty much every weekend I’d have “Chinese Thanksgiving” at my apartment — we’d eat BBQ chicken and burgers, drink beer and listen to records of what I called “yacht rock.” You know, like Michael McDonald is singing background vocals and like there’s guys on boats on the covers; it feels like you’re on a yacht listening to it. And the guys were like, oh, we know this music.

Dave Lyons (“Koko”): You know how, in the Seventies, these big bands started playing arena rock? We liked the idea of these smooth bands playing “Marina Rock.” I thought it was a better name.

“Hollywood” Steve Huey (“Hollywood Steve”): What I mostly remember is JD playing Journey records all the time. He was so into Journey that he had photocopied a photo of Steve Perry and pasted it onto his liquid soap dispenser. He wrote “Steve Perry Soap: Clean as all fuck” on it.

Lane Farnham (editor, “Jimmy Messina”): JD and I had talked about Journey for a year before we did Yacht Rock. In the third episode, that whole “you need to fly like a pilot” bit? Those are direct lines from Steve Perry in this crazy documentary we found. He’s coked to the gills, in the Eighties, just blabbering about who knows what. We got a kick out of that stuff.

Ryznar: My musical tastes are not that interesting, and they never were.

Huey: I turned 30 right before we started doing the series, and I thought, well, this is a nice round number. What do 30-year-olds do? I feel like it’s time I get into Steely Dan. I bought most of the catalogue and was like, This is my new identity. I’m gonna unwind, start listening to Steely Dan, and leave parties early.

Channel 101 Hunter Stair (“Kenny Loggins”):  At the time, JD had helped me get a job at a production company, and he asked if I wanted to shoot this thing they were doing for something called Channel 101. I didn’t know anything about it, but I saw that it was started by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab — who I knew because I had a copy of Heat Vision and Jack [the failed 1999 pilot they wrote that became a huge underground hit, directed by Ben Stiller and starring Jack Black ]. So I was super pumped.

Ryznar : It was a cool scene at the time: Justin Roiland had [Channel 101 series] House of Cosbys, Dan Harmon had Laser Fart. Our friends Drew Hancock and Wade Randolph, who would go on to play Hall and Oates, they had a show about a regular guy who got angry, and turned into a smaller, shirtless weaker guy who didn’t turn green or anything.

Drew Hancock (“Oates”): That was called “Man to Man: Metamorphosis Ultra.” It was the lowest stakes Incredible Hulk show you could possibly have.

Justin Roiland (co-creator of Rick & Morty and House of Cosbys, “Christopher Cross”): Every single month you’re making something, and then you’re testing it in front of a live audience. You see what works, what doesn’t work.

Ryznar : It was a January 2005 screening where we started the school of Channel 101, where you’re showing the stuff you made in front of 200, maybe 300 people. And then they put it on the “internet,” which was very hard to do back then. There was no “YouTube.” Listen to Old Man Ryznar here.

Farnham: JD and I would go down to the beach and play something called “smash ball” — there’s no rules to the game, so we’d just make them up. And he said, this is fucking hilarious, we should make a short film about this. So we got Hunter to direct SmashBoys — and it was funny.

Lyons: Two paddles and a ball that you hit back and forth on the beach. We turned it into a soap opera .

Stair : We started playing Kenny Loggins’ “Playing With the Boys” [from Top Gun ] on repeat as we drove a convertible around Playa del Rey. Just to get in the mood.

Ryznar : There were some Phil Collins music cues, I think. A lot of sports music from Eighties movies — “You’re the Best Around” and whatnot. We used a great Kenny Loggins song for the climax. It’s from Caddyshack II . . .

Stair : “Nobody’s Fool”! It ended up winning the Best Failed Pilot of that year; we lost by eight votes to the Lonely Island guys, who did “The ‘Bu.” They just stuck their middle fingers up at everybody and said, we didn’t make a show but we made a hilarious music video. That was the night I had the idea for Y acht Rock.

Christening the Ship Ryznar : Hunter and Dave Lyons came up with an idea for a show about a couple of jewel thieves who lived on a yacht and listened to that music.

Stair : That was actually called Steal Away.

Lyons: I believe Hunter and I were talking about a private eye detective team called Loggins & Loggins that lived on a houseboat and solved mysteries — like Simon & Simon.

Ryznar : I said: How about we play Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald as they co-write “What a Fool Believes” together? We had Stevie Nicks in there originally, for some reason. And then Drew Hancock and Wade Randolph said, we want to be Hall and Oates. I had gotten into the H&O song “Portable Radio” pretty hard. I needed to introduce it to the world. That was very important to me.

Stair : The seed of Koko the manager is . . . there’s a Doobie Brothers album that has a sweet looking manager dude on it. I remember sitting there with JD and being like, look how awesome this guy is.

Ryznar : Dave Lyons invented the Koko character while out drinking with Hunter one night. He just put on a bunch of garbage Seventies clothes he had around the house, and had a little stupid whistle around his neck. All these little touches — that’s what Dave is so great at.

Lyons: No, [Dan Harmon] wasn’t an immediate fan. That’s because he doesn’t get music. Just listen to the theme song for  Community — it’s terrible. Dan looks at things differently than most people, and I don’t think he loves music the way we do. But he came around. He came to really enjoy it. [Harmon would eventually play record producer Ted Templeman in two episodes.]

Ryznar : We thought maybe people would get it, maybe they won’t. But we submitted it. At the prime time panel, everybody but Dan Harmon like it. I think that because he’d never heard of the guys, he didn’t realize how much that music had meant to other people. People knew who everybody was. That’s why we put Hollywood Steve in there to say, hey, this is the deal. Hollywood Steve was a friend and an actual music critic. If you look up a lot of Nineties rap albums on All Music Guide, chances are Hollywood Steve wrote the review.

Huey: I was a published music writer, and that lent me a voice of authority that I might not have otherwise had amongst a hardcore group of music nerds. “Oh this guy’s viewpoint has to be legitimate! He’s published.”

Steve Agee (“Steve Porcaro”): Channel 101 at that point in time was really known for people making videos kind of purposely shitty. So we couldn’t tell if it was made to look bad on purpose.

Hancock: When Wade and I saw the first episode, we were like, eh, this isn’t very good. We didn’t like it. I didn’t understand it. So when it had this meteoric response, I was very surprised.

Ryznar : So Yacht Rock got screened, we were very nervous, and it went over like gangbusters. Just bona fide love from beginning to end from the audience. And we got voted number one on our first try, which hadn’t been done too often on Channel 101.

Stair : It got the biggest laugh of the night. As soon as it was over, we knew we were in. We weren’t totally sure it was going to be number one, but we knew we’d be up there.

Ryznar : A lot of people wanted parts. People had ideas. So we got to work with people we wanted to work with. Before we even knew we were picked up for a second episode, Hunter came up to me and said, “Uh, just talking to Doug Benson. I told him he could play Peter Cetera in the next episode.”

Lyons: The thing about the Channel 101 screenings, they’re always at a place that serves lots of alcohol. And after we saw how well it went over, we’re all drinking at the bar; Dan Harmon is doing a show with Sarah Silverman [ The Sarah Silverman Program ] at the time, and Doug was there with her. Yes, Hunter promised him the role of Peter Cetera. Which is great casting.

Episode Two: The Songwriting Contest In the second episode, Hall and Oates challenge Loggins and Messina to songwriting contest. It ends with the creation of some of the greatest smooth music ever.

Ryznar : I mean, imagine if you saw Hall and Oates where Oates, with all that hair and the mustache, was the top, and Hall was the bottom? They were sort of the opposite of the smooth California scene. So they sort of made the perfect antagonists.

Huey: The only reason they were picked as antagonists is because they’re from Philadelphia, which is a mean place.

Hancock: The wigs we got from our friend Willy, who just happened to have two of the most perfect wigs ever.

Wade Randolph (“Daryl Hall”): The Hall wig is named the De Carlo. I don’t know why.

Hancock: I remember for the mustache, I think I tried a regular handlebar mustache but it just wasn’t thick enough. So I just ended up taking a lock of the wig and fashioning a mustache out of that.

Stair : And Justin Roiland coming in, doing “Sailing.” The way the whole thing flowed, it’s so fast and perfect. I think that was Yacht Rock ‘s the finest hour.

Roiland: JD asked me, would you play Christopher Cross? I’d never heard “Sailing” before, believe it or not. I remember the first few listens going I don’t get the appeal of this fucking song. It’s an acquired taste.

Huey: We didn’t quite know what we had at that point, and so you kind of had to establish the value system. Smoothness is the main value in this world. The second episode, when that screened for the live audience, I’ve never seen a Channel 101 audience go that apeshit for anything. I remember walking out of the screening going, we’re rock stars! Granted, it’s only this one room, with like 300 people in it, but in that one room of 300 people, I think we might be rock stars.

Koko Makes His Final Voyage Lyons: As soon as we got in for the first one, JD called me and said here’s the idea for the second one: I’m gonna kill off Koko. Well, thanks a pantload, JD. He’s like, no it’ll be great. You’ll come back later as a ghost or something.

Stair : So JD wanted this guy Koko to have this totem at this fight; I suggested a trident, since it’s more nautical. But Anchorman had come out, and they had the fight scene with the trident. We still needed something, so we settled on a harpoon.

Lyons: In the second one, I’m supposed to get run through with my own harpoon. And Hunter showed up with a child’s little trident, taped to the handle of a barbecue fork. I was like Hunter, we can do better than this. So my roommates had a woodshop in the backyard; I went out there and drilled some holes, made some dowel rods, and wrapped the handle in rope. When I showed up with it, everyone said holy shit — you made a fucking harpoon, dude! It also split in the middle, so you could run it through someone. And that episode elevated Koko to this mythic level that nobody expected, least of all me.

Stair : You can’t kill Loggins. You can’t kill McDonald. These are real people. Koko had to die.

Lyons: My thought is that Koko fell on his own harpoon and martyred himself. I like to think that Koko was the Jesus Christ of Yacht Rock. [ Pause ] That’s going to sound arrogant. How about: Koko died to deliver smooth music to the rest of the musicians.

Huey: I don’t think it was ever decided who killed Koko until the very end. The important thing is, like Jesus, he died for a cause. Which, in this case, was smooth music. But you know what’s gonna happen if you’re in the middle of a melée with a bunch of guys from the mean streets of Philadelphia. You’re going to die of a harpoon injury. That’s why they call it the city of harpoon murders.

Randolph: I always assumed it was Oates.

Wyatt Cenac (“James Ingram”): Who killed Koko? You know, very good question. If I had to go with anybody… I’d say maybe Loggins and McDonald together. That’s the secret twist. I think they’d been slowly poisoning him for years, and the harpoon was just to throw people of their scent.

Ryznar : I don’t know. Is Tony Soprano dead? Hollywood Steve took the “Koko” answer to his grave.

Stair : I would never name names. Only Hollywood Steve knows for sure, and someone would have to give him big Hollywood dollars to spill.

Any Port in a Storm After 10 stellar installments, including a guest appearance by “Cleveland” Drew Carey ,  a case for Jethro Tull (the 18th century farmer, not the band) to be considered smooth and a primer on how Michael McDonald influenced Nineties G-Funk , Yacht Rock was canceled by Channel 101 after “FM” — about a gang war between the Eagles and Steely Dan. But help was on the horizon.

Ryznar : The record at the time was 12. We really wanted to beat it — but we didn’t. There might have been Yacht Rock fatigue in the audience.

Lyons: It’s not one of my favorites. I’m not a fan of the Eagles, and not a lot of people get Steely Dan.

Huey: Some people come back to Channel 101 month after month after month. But you always get some new people in there who don’t know what’s going on. You cross your fingers that general audience goodwill is enough to get you by this month. Unfortunately, in this case, it wasn’t.

Ryznar : It was heartbreaking, man. Because the great thing about Channel 101 is, you can feel when the audience isn’t into it. And the audience was not into this. I knew the 101 days were over as soon as the screening was done.

Stair : Nowadays, things have two- or three-year runs at Channel 101. Back then, 10 episodes was a lot.

Ryznar : Not even two weeks after we were canceled, I got an email from someone who booked a bar in Chicago — The Empty Bottle — and wanted to screen all the Yacht Rocks. I forget if they flew us out or if we just happened to be there, but we screened all the episodes back to back. There was a line down the block; the place was filled to capacity. People were quoting lines.

Huey: The show had started to go viral. Working lower level jobs in reality television, and then walking into a bar and being the most famous person in that room didn’t match up with my everyday experience at all.

Cast Off . . . Again After successfully touring the country, JD & co. starting making new episodes, beginning with Footloose. Featuring the likes of Jason Lee and Wyatt Cenac, it tells the story of how Loggins being kidnapped by Jimmy Buffett led to one of the Eighties’ most rockin’ soundtracks.

Huey: Yeah I was really excited to get back into it, because I didn’t really have too much else going on at that point. Let’s do that thing that made me semi-famous again!

Ryznar : We did the Footloose episode. And it turned out even better than I could have imagined. It was nice, since we weren’t limited to five minutes, even though we tried to keep it close: one of the keys to Yacht Rock is jamming everything into five minutes. I had done some work with Jason Lee, who would quote lines every time I saw him. So I asked if he’d play Kevin Bacon, and he was throwing chairs around.

Lyons: We kept talking about the stories that we never got to tell, one of them being Footloose. And I hate Jimmy Buffett ‘s music; I think it’s a soundtrack to date rape. I think it’s garbage music for people who have no interest in listening to anything good.

Ryznar : We portrayed parrotheads being brainwashed idiots. You kind of have to be if you’re into Jimmy Buffett. Or just want to be so tuned out of life, that like hey, whatever — kick back with flip flops, drink some margs, listen to some sweet Jimmy Buffett music and let him paint a rosy picture of a reality that does not exist.

Lyons: I always like that artists like Bertie Higgins, Rupert Holmes and Andy Kim have an authentic longing in their music. Buffett is a rich dude getting richer off of the lack of taste of the poor and stupid. He represents the lowest common denominator in music, even worse than country singers profiting off of 9/11. To summarize: I’m not really a fan.

Ryznar : You might be able to argue that Jimmy Buffett music is about escaping from a dark place, but there’s no soul in there. So we just wanted to make him an absolute idiot. Our good friend Vatche Panos, who is super funny, really hit a home run with that one.

Cenac: I remember when we were shooting that, I had no idea there was a song called “Cheeseburgers in Paradise.” Much less that people actually listened to it and liked it.

Ryznar : I hope he doesn’t mind me telling this story, but Wyatt Cenac had just auditioned for The Daily Show , and he was flat broke.

Cenac: Yeah, I was definitely very broke. That isn’t why I did it. I did enjoy it. But there was also a part of being broke where you’ll do anything.

Ryznar : And then a month later, he becomes Wyatt Cenac, the international sensation.

Cenac: Do I want to say that Yacht Rock was the thing that changed my life? Someone can say it. You can find someone to connect the dots and make that leap on the Internet.

Huey : We did one more, and I didn’t feel like the last episode came together as well as it could have for whatever reason. I think Footloose was a more cohesive episode. Also the original idea for the finale was Gene Balboa was going to kidnap all these people from the “We Are the World” session , take them to an island, and force them to write soundtrack hits for him. Anyone who tried to escape would get hunted down like in The Most Dangerous Game.

Ryznar : That was a hard one to write — the space battle, Hall and Oates shooting lasers, Loggins starting his soundtrack phase. I’m proud of killing off Hollywood Steve and making it a pain drug-induced hallucination. I think that let us go nuts with it. The “We Are the World” part was a fun shoot. You just look around and go, wow, I know so many talented people that are bringing so much to this thing.

Stair : The Hollywood Steve “character” was on morphine, not Huey. Well, he might have been on morphine, I don’t know. That’d be an awesome salacious story about Yacht Rock. Just write that, it’s even better.

Huey : When I was using, it did get increasingly harder to tell where the character stopped and I began. Once you’ve been on VH1’s “100 Greatest Songs of the Nineties,” the public expects you to maintain a certain image, and I guess I got caught up in a myth. [ Pause ] I’m kidding. But I did murder a homeless woman. Just to see what it felt like.

Farnham: One of my favorite moments of all of Yacht Rock is when Giorgio Moroder is whispering into Kenny Loggins’ ear about “the Danger Zone.” I love that. It’s such a good moment.

Ryznar : Loggins going soundtrack is kind of like the end of Yacht Rock. If “Sailing” is one of the greatest yacht-rock songs ever, and that’s in Episode Two, it’s all death from then on. “Danger Zone” — there’s just nothing smooth about that song at all. By 1985, Michael McDonald had released his last great album. The Doobie Brothers were done. Toto didn’t have any more good songs in them. Steely Dan was broken up. It was over.

How did the actual musical artists react to their portrayal in the show? John Oates (speaking to the Seattle Weekly in 2007): “I think Yacht Rock was the beginning of this whole Hall & Oates resurrection. They were the first ones to start to parody us and put us out there again, and a lot of things have happened because of Yacht Rock. “

Ryznar : People actually contacted me and wanted to see if I wanted tickets to [their] shows at the Hollywood Bowl. We went backstage and met Hall and Oates. There’s a picture out there somewhere of Drew Hancock and Wade Randolph with Hall and Oates — and it’s awesome.

Randolph: I don’t know who contacted who, but Oates had seen the show and was apparently a fan of it. Hall didn’t give a fuck about us at all. He was just like whatever.

Hancock: Oates actually understood what we were doing. First of all, he’s the shortest dude on the planet. I’m 5’8, and he looked at me and said, man you’re way too tall to play me. I think he’s 5’4 and had thick heels on too.

Cenac: Oates is the unsung hero in that group. The moment he decides to turn the jets on, watch out.

Lyons: The only negative thing I’ve ever heard from any of the actual people we’ve portrayed was that Kenny Loggins wasn’t a huge fan. My wife met him once, and said my husband played Koko in Yacht Rock. He just got all, huh. Not mean, not nasty. Just: Huh.

Stair : I’m not sure Loggins liked it, [but] I know his son did. A lot of the kids of the guys in the show like. You know, some serious artists. Michael McDonald, I’m pretty sure he liked it.

“I met Steve Porcaro at a book-release party, and he asked, ‘Do you guys hate us?’ We’re writing a love letter to this music and we meant no ill will toward anybody. Except for Jimmy Buffett.”

Michael McDonald (speaking to Time Out New York in 2008): “I thought Yacht Rock was hilarious. And uncannily, you know, those things always have a little bit of truth to them. It’s kind of like when you get a letter from a stalker who’s never met you. They somehow hit on something, and you have to admit they’re pretty intuitive.”

Lyons: Did JD tell you the story of when we went to see Steely Dan? We got contacted by somebody in their camp, I don’t remember who, but they gave us four or five tickets to see them in Irvine. We were in the third or fourth row, and Michael McDonald was the opening act. Those guys got recognized at the concert. Later, when Michael McDonald came out to perform with Steely Dan, they were all wearing captain’s hats. They were singing the song “Showbiz Kids”: “Showbiz kids, showbiz kids making movies themselves/Showbiz kids, don’t give a fuck about anybody else.” And during that line they threw their hats on the ground and stomped on them. We just looked at each other and went, oh my god, they know who we are.

Agee: About a year ago, I was at Largo, and one of the guys that works there is married to Steve Porcaro’s daughter. He was like, yeah, Steve is actually here tonight; he loves Yacht Rock, and said he wanted to meet me. I cut out early because I was honestly too nervous.

Stair : I met Steve Porcaro at a book-release party, and he kind of pulled me aside and asked, “Do you guys hate us?” And I was like, oh no, I hope that’s not the impression we gave anybody. We’re writing a love letter to this music and we meant no ill will toward anybody. Except for Jimmy Buffett.

Farnham: I actually worked with an editor who was good friends with the Toto folks, and they said it’s uncanny how close some of these stories are. Apparently there’s a lot more truth than we know.

Agee: So I can see how bands would be like, oh, they’re making fun of us. But I’ve known JD for awhile now, and I know for a fact that he loves that music. I don’t think someone who hated what’s now called yacht rock . . they wouldn’t spend so much time making videos about it.

Stair : The way I always looked at Yacht Rock was that we kind of did what the Blues Brothers did. We took the music that we really loved that we weren’t really part of, and reintroduced it to our own generation a little bit. The one thing that I hope we got across is that the music is really good, and that we were huge fans of it. The whole reason we did the show is because we loved it.

Lyons: I felt we always treated the music lovingly. It was always treated with respect; what we were trying to make fun of was all these guys hanging out and the ridiculous things they were into. I heard a story that Kenny Loggins got married in the nude. I don’t know if it’s true or not. But that’s the kind of late Seventies/early Eighties Southern California horse shit that is so delightful about Yacht Rock. Like wanting to find out what your root chakra is. That’s what’s funny about it. [ Pause ] I mean of course Kenny Loggins and Steve Perry are going to be into karate!

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On the trail of the Vikings in Veliky Novgorod

Veliky Novgorod (589 kilometers from Moscow and often referred to simply as “Novgorod”) was for many centuries the most important commercial hub in Eastern Europe, having developed relations with German and Scandinavian cities, the Black Sea region and with Muslim centers of the East. A unique political system emerged here that was republican at its core. Novgorod was fortunately spared a Mongol invasion and its development was not stunted by the catastrophic destruction that afflicted ancient Rus’, whose largest cities were turned to ashes.  

From the Varangians to Rus’

The Vikings sailed great distances for more than just plunder: in the ninth century Novgorod’s rivers were part of a major trading route “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” Byzantine merchants preferred traveling along this route and traded in the cities located along its river banks, as in the hinterland merchants could fall prey to murderous bandits and thieves. The demand for warriors that could guarantee the security of overseas guests and these thriving cities was enormous. The Vikings had no equals in the art of war and were welcomed. Therefore many offered their services to a Slavic ruler, settled down here and became citizens of Rus’.

The ancient capital

According to another version, outlined in the “Tale of Bygone Years” (the 12th century Russian chronicles and the oldest that have survived), it was Novgorod’s inhabitants themselves who asked Rurik to be their ruler and establish order during a difficult period of internecine fighting. As a result, in the ninth century Rurik reached the banks of the Volkhov River with a small group of warriors and founded a settlement there whose traces can still be seen 13 kilometers from Novgorod.

On the right bank of the Volkhov River there is a towering hill. This is all that’s left of Rurik’s ancient settlement, the residence of the first Russian ruling dynasty, the Rurikids. The city of Novgorod was later christened as the “New City” (Novy Gorod in Russian) to differentiate itself from this older outpost. This small hill today is covered by green grass. However, in the 10th century wooden streets could be found here, the first ones to appear in ancient Rus’.

In the 12th century it was on this hill that the Annunciation Cathedral was built, while on the opposite bank of the river a cathedral was built in honor of St. George, becoming the main church of the Yuriev Monastery. The sparkle of the two sanctuaries’ domes welcomed guests coming to Novgorod’s land from the northern direction of Lake Ilmen. Today all that’s left of the Annunciation Cathedral are some picturesque ruins. But if you come here by boat (the river is open to navigation from May to September), it’s not difficult to imagine the prince sailing on a light “ladya” boat towards his town and being welcomed by the ringing bells of the two cathedrals.

Messages from the past

It is worth going to the local museum-reserve to inspect the personal correspondence of Novgorod’s citizenry dating back to the 11th-12th centuries. Such sentences are common: “buy butter, buy clothes for your children and let your son learn to read and write;” “so let your heart and your soul burn of passion when you see me;” or “send me the money, even if you don’t send money to Svenya, send money to me.” These correspondences allow visitors to practically look through the keyhole of an ancient city.

If you want to do more than just read about the days of old, then go to the small town of Staraya Russa (about 100 kilometers from Novgorod), on Aug. 8 to attend the festival of early medieval culture “Knyazhia Bratchina.” For a couple of days you can pretend to be Rurik or a Viking guard before returning to reality with a Varangian sword as a souvenir. 

How to get there

By car: From Moscow – 640 kilometers (about 7 hours), from Saint-Petersburg – 195 kilometers (about 2 hours)

By train: From Moscow take train “Ilmen” from Leningradsky Station. The journey takes 8 hours and 30 minutes from St. Petersburg. Then take train "Lastochka" from Moskovsky Station. The journey takes about 3 hours.

Where to stay

Park Inn Veliky Novgorod   RestUp Hostel  

Where to eat

Restaurant Ilmen  (ancient Scandinavian cuisine) La Chatte Cafe

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She was designed by Perini Navi , who also completed the naval architecture and designed the interior. Perini Navi has designed 46 yachts, created the naval architecture for 41 yachts, and designed the interior of 49 yachts for yachts above 24 metres.

ALMYRA II is in the top 10% by LOA in the world. She is one of 86 sailing yachts in the 45-50m size range, and, compared to similarly sized sailing yachts, her cruising speed is 1.91 kn above the average, and her top speed 1.69 kn above the average.

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• Name: ALMYRA II
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World Heritage Site

For world heritage travellers.

The Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings are a veritable 'conservatory' of Russian architecture of the Middle Ages and later periods (11th-19th centuries).

(Veliky) Novgorod was an important center on the trade route between the Baltics and Central Asia and a former capital of the Novgorod Republic that covered northern Russia. It developed into one of the major centres of Russian culture, which exerted national influence on stone architecture and painting.

Community Perspective : Novgorod can be visited on a day trip from Sint Petersburg. Recommended is to walk around the Kremlin walls to be able to appreciate the different towers and to view the frescoes at the Church of Transfiguration.

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Michael Novins

United States - 03-Oct-18 -

In September 2018, I took an early morning train for the three-hour trip from Saint Petersburg to Veliky Novgorod, founded in 859 and traditionally considered the cradle of Russian statehood. Veliky Novgorod is now recognized for dozens of medieval monuments, including monasteries, churches and Kremlin, all added to the list of World Heritage Sites in 1992. But the memory of the bear sausage I ate at lunch at  Dom Berga  will linger longer than that of Russia’s foundational religious buildings.

Japan / USA / Europe - 02-Jan-18 -

After recently visiting Chernigov in Ukraine, I’ve had an urge to write about my admiration for this related city of Veliky Novgorod in Russia. I have visited this city twice, in summer 2005 and winter 2009. I like this city more than any cities in the Golden Ring of Moscow simply because it seems to be historically more important and there seem to be more variety of attractions here.

I can’t remember how I got there from St. Petersburg, except that one of the two times I got on a bus from the main bus station in St. Petersburg, which was somewhat far from any of the train stations in St. Petersburg.

Veliky Novgorod is the oldest city in Russia. The so-called first capital of Russia was created by the Vikings (as the theory goes) in 9th century before the creation of Kievan Rus. The Millennium of Russia monument was erected in 1862 to celebrate one millennium anniversary of the Russian statehood.

It seemed that Novgorod had the greatest density of churches of all the places I have ever visited.

The most important church of them all in Novgorod is the St. Sophia Cathedral in the Kremlin, the oldest church in Russia, with the mysterious icon called “Our Lady of the Sign” as the centerpiece, often considered to be the National Icon of Russia! (although one might counter this claim by bringing up the Trinity by Andrei Rublev, stored at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.)

Another church, which is noticeably singled out in the UNESCO’s reasoning for the inscription, is the Church of Transfiguration (Photo), with the frescos painted by Theophanes the Greek, whose relation (as the mentor) to Andrei Rublev was well-documented in the Russian cinematic giant Andrei Tarkovsky’s masterpiece “Andrei Rublev” (1966).

This church was actually one of the reasons I went back to Novgorod in 2009. In 2005 I was there on a Monday when the Church was closed.

Another reason I visited Novgorod again was because I was actually heading further south from Novgorod to Staraya Russa, a village most famous for the summer house (now a museum) of Fyodor Dostoyevsky and as the main setting for his Brothers Karamazov. To think about it, this village is a great choice for a missing nomination!

3.00 Malta - 14-Sep-17 -

I visited this WHS as a day trip from St Petersburg in September 2017. The old city of Veliky Novgorod lies some 200km away from St Petersburg and is quite easily reachable by train, bus or car.

Since I wanted to visit early before the very few Russian tourists and since I found a good chauffeur service offer, I opted for the latter and arrived at around 9am. The Kremlin opens at 6am but all the buildings are accessible as of 10am, apart from the main church where a lovely Sunday mass was being celebrated. There's just a small billboard stating Novgorod's inscription on the WH list but no plaque.

After a short stroll around the buildings within the Kremlin, I headed towards the bridge which crosses the Volkhov River and which leads to Yaroslav's court and marketplace. The panoramic view from the bridge is breathtaking on a sunny day with the red Kremlin wall and the church onion-domes (photo). There are a number of pretty old churches with different Russian architectural styles opposite the Kremlin and some have very old frescoes still visible. The cathedral of St Nicholas is worthy of mention for its colourful fragments of frescoes from the 12th century.

If you're not in a hurry I recommend walking around the Kremlin walls to be able to appreciate the different towers. In the afternoon, I also visited the Yuryev (St George) monastery and the colourful interior of the Cathedral of St George.

All in all I really enjoyed my visit here and I would rank it on the same level as Sergiev Posad as a WHS.

Frederik Dawson

3.00 Netherlands - 20-Feb-12 -

Novgorod or it full official name, Veliky Novgorod which means the Great Novgorod, is an oldest city in Russia and the ancient political center of early Russian state, is well located in the middle of popular tourist route of Moscow and St. Petersburg. To reach Novgorod, I took a night train from Moscow. The train was arrived in early morning; the whole town of Novgorod was still sleeping when I reached the city center. After few directions confusing, I finally saw the large red wall complex of the ancient Novgorod Kremlin. The towers along the wall were fascinating with fairytales-like turret and in a very good condition. Inside the wall, there was a large square with big monument named 'The Millennium of Russia' the monument was full of details of important historical event of this country.

Apart from the monument, there were church and palace complexes inside the Kremlin, but all of them were closed during my visit. Nothing to do I just walked around the complex, I found a group of bells in front of one church was quite astonishing with their large size, and wondered why they were here on the ground. Then I walked around the Kremlin wall, admittedly that I really enjoyed the wall more than the Kremlin inside, the color of the wall and its proportion was just right and really photogenic. Then I went to see the riverside, there was a large monastery on the other side of the river. Before I decided to cross the river, there was a sudden really heavy snow, so I had to walk back to Kremlin to find shelter. After seeing Kremlin covered in thick snow, my friend and I decided that we should went back to the train station as the weather was bad to linger on in Novgorod. A local recommended us to use the bus instead of the train, so we went to bus station and took a next bus to St. Petersburg. It was only 3 hours I spent in Novgorod; it was a very quick visit and full of obstacles, but quite enjoyable trip.

However Novgorod Kremlin cannot be compared with Moscow Kremlin in any sense, the complex exterior was quite simple and plain with no extravaganza decoration similar to Moscow. Also Novgorod Kremlin was lack of charm or atmosphere compared with other plain Kremlin in Rostov or Pskov. The historical value of Novgorod was the reason to visit the place, but if you are not a Russian history enthusiast or World Heritage Site seeker, there are other better places to see beautiful Russia than Novgorod.

Larry Perkins

USA - 04-Dec-09 -

My wife and I went on a day trip from St. Petersburg to Novgorod. Getting there was eventful because of the stern scrutiny we got from the immigration officials on leaving the cruise ship and a lack of public restroom facilities. Our tour guide finally begged the owner of a small restaurant to let us use their outhouse. Once in Novgorod we were able to walk around the old market area and churches where the old open air market stood. Much of the area was damaged in World War II and the churches are still ruins. We walked over the Volkhov River bridge to the walled fortress/kremlin which is wonderfully restored. Ancient St Sophia cathedral was a fascinating church, one of the oldest in Russia. There is a very somber commemorative section of the kremlin park for the millions who lost their lives in World War II. We enjoyed lunch at a restuarant in one of the old fortress towers and shopped in the street market just outside the main gate. Getting rubles was tricky, since there were no foreign tourist facilities we could see. People were friendly, and we enjoyed our day there. We also drove out to Yuriev Monastery and visited the cultural historic park nearby where we saw 15 or 20 wooden buildings which have been moved to the site. People dressed in traditional costumes demonstrated traditional crafts and visited with Russian tourists, though none of them spoke English, except to say hello. The wooden church tower bells rang out as we were leaving. This was our only chance to see Russia outside large cities. We would definitely recommend a visit to Veliky (Great) Novgorod.

Christer Sundberg

Sweden - 26-May-06 -

Buying a train ticket in Russia is an adventure in itself…. have I found the right counter? Will they understand English? Will they rip me off? Will the ticket be correct? But with some assistance from the locals and a smile - which must be something added after the Soviet Union collapsed - I eventually got my ticket to Novgorod the Great, 200 km south of St.Petersburg, and hoped on the fully booked train for some three-and-a-half hour travel through the marchlands on tracks that certainly seen their best days.

Tourists do end up in Novgorod, but usually just for a short visit on a day trip between Russia’s main attractions Moscow and St.Petersburg. But there is still much to see in this historic town and Russia’s first capital. Walking outside and inside the old Kremlin is certainly not the same experience as in Moscow but with combined visits to the impressing Yurev Monastery and the Museum of Wooden Houses outside the city, and maybe a slow stroll along the river Volkov, Novgorod the Great still has a charm of it’s own and one can just imagine how life would have been here over 1000 years ago when it was founded.

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Take a walk through the most ancient Kremlin in Russia

The Novgorod Kremlin, which is also called ‘Detinets’, is located on the left bank of the Volkhov River. The first fortified settlement was set here during the reign of prince Vladimir Yaroslavich, the son of Yaroslav the Wise. During these times, all the state, public and religious life of Novgorod was concentrated here. It was the place where people kept chronicles and copied the texts of books. The Novgorod Kremlin, the most ancient one in Russia, was founded here in the 15th century.

St. Sophia Cathedral (11th century), The Millennium Of Russia Monument, Episcopal Chamber (15th century) and the main exhibition of The State Novgorod Museum-reservation located in a public office building of the 18th century are all situated in the Novgorod Kremlin. The exhibition will tell you about the whole Novgorod history from ancient times to the present day. There are also restoration workshops, a children’s center, a library and a philharmonic inside the Kremlin walls.

Send a letter with the State Novgorod Museum-reservation stamp

While visiting the main building of the Novgorod Kremlin museum, you’ll see a small bureau near the souvenir area. Two more bureaus like that can be found in the Fine Arts Museum and the Museum information centre. This is the Museum Post, the joint project of the State Novgorod Museum-reservation and Russian Post.

The tradition to exchange letters (at that time written on birch bark sheets) dates back to the 11th century so it’s hardly surprising that such a project appeared here. The bureaus are desks and mailboxes at the same time, so you can send your friends a postcard with a view of Novgorod right from the museum.

Find the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin among the figures of The Millennium Of Russia Monument

In 1862, 1000 years after the Varangians were called to Russia, a monument dedicated to this event was launched in Novgorod. To tell the story of Russia’s one thousand years, the sculptor used 129 bronze figures: from state and military leaders to artists and poets.

One of figures portrays Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin, a politician and reformer who was responsible for Russia’s diplomatic relations in the middle of the 17th century. He is believed to be the father of international and regular mail in Russia. He was also the person who came up with the idea of the first Russian Post official emblem — a post horn and a double-headed eagle.

Cross the Msta River over the first arch bridge in Russia

The steel bridge in Borovichi town that connects two banks of the Msta river was built at the beginning of the 20th century. The project of the bridge was created by Nikolay Belelyubsky, engineer and professor of St. Petersburg State Transport University. This is the first arch bridge in Russia.

In 1995, it was included in the national cultural heritage register. More than 100 bridges across Russia were developed by Belelyubsky, but only this one is named after him.

Cast a virtual bell

When in the Novgorod region, you’ll definitely hear bells ring and learn about the Novgorod Veche Bell. During the siege of the city, tsar Ivan III ordered to remove this bell from the bell tower and send it to Moscow. Legend says that the bell didn’t accept his fate, fell to the ground near the border of the Novgorod region and broke to pieces against the stones.

In the biggest Museum Bell Centre in Russia located in the Valday town, you can see bells from across the world and learn why Novgorod bells are unique. The museum’s collection represents bells from different countries and ages, some of them dating back to the 3rd century BC. You’ll learn about the history of casting and modern bell-making technologies and also play games on a touch table. For example, harness virtual ‘troika’ (three) horses with bells or cast a virtual bell.

Spot the pigeon on the cross of St. Sophia Cathedral

St. Sophia Cathedral was built in Novrogod between 1045 and 1050 by Kievan and Byzantine masters. It was conceived as the main cathedral of the city, and during its first years it was the only stone building in Novgorod. So where does the pigeon on the cross of the cathedral’s biggest dome come from?

Legend says that while tsar Ivan the Terrible and his Oprichniki were cruelly killing peaceful city folk in 1570, a pigeon suddenly sat down to the cross of the city’s main cathedral. It looked down, saw the massacre, and was literally petrified with horror. Since then the pigeon has been considered the defender of the city. People believe that as soon as the pigeon flies away from the cross, Novgorod will come to an end.

Visit a monastery, that was founded by Patriarch Nikon

The Valday Iver Monastery is situated on the island in the middle of the Valday lake. It is considered to be one of the most important and picturesque orthodox shrines.

The monastery was founded in 1653 by the initiative of Nikon who had just been elected Patriarch. Nikon wanted the monastery to look like the Iviron Monastery on Mount Athos, including the architectural style and monk’s clothes. Legend says that Nikon saw the spot for the monastery in a dream.

Check out Fyodor Dostoevsky’s country house

Fyodor Dostoevsky, a famous Russian writer, first visited Staraya Russa town in 1872 during a summer trip with his family. They liked it so much that the next year they rented a house near the Pererytitsa River’s embankment and spent every summer here ever since.

Dostoevsky loved this house, called it ‘his nest’ and considered it the perfect place to work and to be alone. In Staraya Russa he wrote his novels ‘The Adolescent’, ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ and ‘Demons’. Today, this place is a museum where you can explore what Dostoevsky’s house looked like and see his family’s personal belongings, photos and letters.

Visit an authentic Russian ‘izba’ (wooden house)

If you want to really enjoy the atmosphere of the old Novgorod, you should come to the Vitoslavlitsy Museum of folk wooden architecture that is located on the Myachino lake not far away from Veliky Novgorod. In this open-air museum you’ll see the best examples of Russian wooden architecture, including authentic old ‘izbas’ (wooden houses), rural chapels and churches.

During the year, the museum hosts fairs of crafts and folklore, christmastides, and even an international bell ringing festival.

Learn what Brick Gothic looks like

The Episcopal Chamber of the Novgorod Kremlin is the only non-religious German Gothic building of the 15th century preserved in Russia. You can have a good look at the facets of the gothic cross-domed vaults inside the chamber. This is why this building is also called ‘Faceted Chamber’ or ‘Chamber of Facets’.

The chamber was part of Vladychny Dvor, the place where all important city events took place: court hearings, gatherings of the Council of Lords of the Novgorod Republic, ambassador’s receptions and feasts. The seals of the city’s lords were kept here. The decree of tsar Ivan III on merging the Novgorod Republic with the Moscow State was first announced in 1478 in Episcopal Chamber. This is when the name of the new state, Russia, was first pronounced.

See the murals by Theophanes the Greek

The Byzantine Empire had a huge impact on the development of the Russian culture. Many works of art and architecture in ancient Russia were created by Byzantine artists and masters. Theophanes the Greek was one of them. He was born in Byzantine and created icons and murals in Constantinople and Caffa (modern Feodosia). After that he moved to Novgorod where he was commissioned to paint the walls of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior on Ilyina Street. You can enjoy his unique and expressive style if you look at the murals inside the dome of the church and the Trinity side chapel.

The most recognizable and the only monumental work of Theophanes the Greek that is preserved today is the chest-high portrait of the Savior the Almighty in the dome of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior.

Take a photo with an ancient Novgorod citizen who is learning how to read and write

In 1951, a letter written on birch bark dating back to the 14–15th centuries was found in Veliky Novgorod. Many decades later, in 2019, a sculpture designed by Novgorod artist and sculptor Sergey Gaev appeared on this exact site.

The sculpture portrays an 8–year old boy sitting on a stool and holding a piece of birch bark. At this age children in Novgorod started to learn how to read and write. During archaeological excavations in Novgorod, scientists often found ancient handwriting practice books and children’s drawings on birch bark sheets.

Feel like an ancient viking or prince Rurik’s guest

Novgorod is one of the waypoints of the famous trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The route passed through the Volkhov river. In the 9–10th centuries there was a fortified settlement of the Viking Age here.

Some scientists believe that Novgorod is named after this area which was called ‘Stary Gorod’ (‘Old City’) at that time. Some historians and archeologists consider this place to be the residence of Prince Rurik who was asked to rule the city in 862. That’s why this ancient settlement is called ‘Rurikovo Gorodische’ (‘Ruruk’s Old City’).

Learn more about the Soviet modernist architecture

On the bank of the Volkhov river near the Novgorod Kremlin, there is an incredible building that looks like a spaceship and contrasts strongly with the ancient buildings of the city.

This is the Fyodor Dostoevsky Theater of Dramatic Art that was built in 1987. It is one of the most striking examples of the Soviet modernist architecture. The theater was built for 10 years according to the project of architect Vladimir Somov.

See what an everyday life of Old Believers looks like

The Krestsy town in the Novgorod region has always been considered to be the center of the Novgorod Old Belief community, and it still is. Before the Soviet revolution there were three Old Believers churches here.

The Lyakova village, which is located not far from the town, used to be inhabited completely by Old Believers. You can learn more about their lifestyle in the local interactive museum. You’ll be introduced to Old Believers’ traditional crafts and ceremonies, drink tea with healing herbs and learn how to chop wood and use an old spinning wheel.

Buy a traditional embroidered tablecloth

A unique embroidery style that is now famous all over the world was born in the Staroye Rakhino village in the Novgorod province. By the middle of the 19th century, it had become a folk craft. Since then, linen tablecloths, towels and clothing items decorated with unusual ornaments have been popular not only among the locals, but also travellers.

In 1929, the first cooperative partnership of embroidery masters was created in Kresttsy. Later it turned into a factory that still operates today. The factory has a museum where embroidery traditions are preserved and new ornaments and technologies are created.

Find yourself in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, Staraya Russa town could be called ‘the salt cellar of Russia’. That’s because salt making was the main trade here up to the 19th century. A few years ago, the old craft was brought back to life, and construction of salt works began. Later, an interactive museum was launched based on the results of archaeological findings.

This museum recreates a typical medieval manor of Staraya Russa of the 12th century with living rooms, a bathhouse, workshops, a livestock pen and traditional peasant household items. In this museum, you can also buy salt which is made in the same way as 1000 years ago.

See the place where Suvorov started his Italian campaign

Alexander Suvorov’s manor in the Konchanskoe village, which has now become the museum of the great commander, was originally the place of his exile. Suvovor openly disagreed with the reform of Russian’s army based on the Prussian model, and Emperor Paul the First didn’t appreciate such behaviour. He first fired Suvorov and then sent him away to his family estate.

However, the exile lasted for only two years. The great commander started the military campaign straight from his house in the Konchanskoe. During this legendary expedition, he crossed the Alps and defeated the French army.

Become a real hiker

If you dream of having a hike in the Novgorod region, but at the same time you are afraid that a tourist’s life may be too hard, you should try the Big Valday trail. This is a five-day 59-kilometer walking route. Its central part goes right through the Valday National Park’s territory.

You won’t have to cope with difficulties and inconveniences of camping life here. The route is marked with signs, and there are camping sites where you can find everything you need for an overnight stay from shelters and places for a fire to toilets. The trail finishes at the Dunayevshchina village where you can take a bus back to Valday. To take the trail, you have to fill out a special form and register on the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation website.

Russian Post has launched a limited series of products dedicated to the cultural heritage of the Novgorod region.

In autumn 2020, Russian Post announced an open contest to create the design for its limited series dedicated to Novgorod region. The project was supported by the Government of the Novgorod region, ‘Russ Novgorodskaya’ (Novgorod Russia) project, the State Novgorod Museum-reservation and Yandex.

Stamps and envelopes are traditionally used to spread information about historic dates and figures and famous landmarks. Now we can also use parcel boxes, packaging tape and postcards. The limited series products will travel around the world, introducing the most popular Russian attractions to six million Russian Post clients daily.

The participants were to create the design for the limited series featuring three iconic attractions of the Novgorod region, the Novgorod Kremlin, the Millennium Of Russia Monument and the Belelyubsky Bridge in Borovichi. Moscow designers and graduates of the Higher School of Economics’ Art and Design School Alena Akmatova and Svetlana Ilyushina won the contest. Their project was chosen via an open vote and by the expert jury.