Хороший курорт для всех Nice resort for everyone

Old Russa. A city in the Novgorod region, the very name of which says everything: both the fact that the city is Russian, and that it is old. In this city I happened to visit the famous resort of the same name "Staraya Russa". Apparently, it's time to recharge a bit with health, so the beach holiday was postponed for the next year, and this year we went to improve our health.
The resort is located in the city itself, on Mineralnaya Street, and has been operating for almost 200 years. Known far beyond the region due to the unique sulfide-silt mud, which received its own name in the world classification - Staraya Russian mud. Mineral water from own wells with high salinity - more than 20 g/liter. The Muravievsky Fountain is the most powerful self-spouting mineral fountain in Europe, throwing out 70 liters of water per second and ozonizing the air around it over a large area. On the territory of the resort there is a mineral lake, in which sulphide-silt mud is formed, a beach for vacationers is equipped by the lake, swimming in the water is pleasant and unusual. At first, floating glandular formations in clots are embarrassing, very reminiscent of feces both in shape and color, they have to be raked up with their hands and swim, many are smeared with these medicinal "poo" and lie under the sun.
Accommodation. The rooms in the buildings are different, both in terms of comfort and price. We had building number 3 with its own name - Dostoevsky. In general, everything in Staraya Russa is associated with the name of this great man. There is another nominal building - Rachmaninov.

In our building, the rooms are decent, after a good renovation. Surprised by the lack of air conditioning and telephone in the room. If air conditioning is not particularly needed, since the temperature in the Novgorod region is comfortable, then the absence of a telephone is really annoying. Moreover, there is no telephone not only in the room, but also on the floor, so with any problem, for example, with a request to replace an empty bottle in the corridor cooler, you have to stomp down to the duty room. The plumbing in the bathroom is good, the windows in the room are large, the beds are not squeaky, the TV is decent. A separate song - Wi-Fi, fast, reliable, in all rooms and next to the building on the street.
Nutrition. Three meals a day, buffet. A large selection of hot dishes, constantly beef, several types of fish, a lot of vegetables and fruits. Good coffee from the coffee machine, tea of ​ ​ different varieties. The usual picture at the meal, as elsewhere: at the entrance there is a strict warning that it is impossible to take out food from the buffet, and therefore entry with bags is prohibited. I don't care - they come with bags, packages and backpacks, where rolls, sausage-cheese and even chicken legs are dumped, I don't know why, because you don't have time to get hungry between meals. Then the same outcasts sit with these rolls near a lake with strict sanitary protection, where they extract therapeutic mud, and where it is strictly forbidden to feed the birds, and throw these rolls into the lake. In fairness, it should be said that there are few of them, for the most part the contingent is decent and pleasant, after a few days of stay, many are already familiar.
Treatment. There are many procedures, the impact is enormous. The therapeutic muds were especially impressive. I can only compare with Sestroretsk, gray, clay, and so, old Russian - black, resinous, smelling strongly. You lie down on the table, as in a drained nigrol from a KAMAZ gearbox. If you lie down on the table abruptly, you can slip and crash to the floor. The mud is hot, after the procedure it is washed off with mineral water without soap, and they do not wash until the end of the day. I was surprised by the complete lack of mechanization in the mud department: middle-aged women carry this mud in huge buckets, from the buckets they spread this hot mud with their hands on the table. In the same Sestroretsk, a cart rides on a cable, and from it the dirt is laid out on the tables, without being put into buckets. Mud and baths alternate daily. Baths are also effective - with highly concentrated mineral water, they relax and soothe. The massage department is well equipped, twenty booths, an electronic scoreboard for the queue, no fuss, order and cleanliness. In general, they describe the procedures for each day at the initial appointment in detail, indicating the building, office and time, they do not extort anything, which is supposed to be - get it in full. In addition, I took underwater traction of the spine, I liked it, it helps many with herniated discs and osteochondrosis, but it is not suitable for everyone, you need to approach with caution and listen to yourself after the first lesson.
infrastructure and leisure. The town is small, about 30 thousand people. This leaves its mark on the inhabitants, who are friendly and gentle, they even call themselves interestingly - Rushans. At my request to tell me how to get to Lake Ilmen, the parking lot guard not only drew the road, but also listed all the radar cameras on it. Their men look like men, I didn’t see anyone with piercings or earrings, and women look like women, the vast majority wear dresses and sundresses, there are very few women who smoke. The city has huge parks and low-rise houses, city streets are crossed by completely rural alleys with private houses and gardens with chickens and geese. We were in the house-museum of Dostoevsky, in the museum of local lore, in the museum of the North-Western Front, where there is an amazing guide, a woman who excavates and knows about the war, probably the most. We traveled around the neighborhood in our car, were on the Russian Sea - Lake Ilmen, next to which there is a German military cemetery. The Germans buried their own as people, each one's name was engraved on stone slabs, the list is impressive. This is the defeated SS division "Dead Head", which was mainly engaged in the protection of concentration camps. Standing at these plates, I experienced some strange sad feeling. Here, on the one hand, our enemies lie, they came to kill us, but they themselves lay down forever in the Novgorod land. But they, judging by the dates of birth and death, almost all of them are from 20 to 30 years old, they were young living guys, and they were not going to die at all... God rest their souls. The cemetery is clean, the locals do not litter, but, on the contrary, they clean it. One day, in a dense forest of stunning beauty, they found the monastery of St. Anthony of Leokhnovsky, with a source of delicious ice water, were both in the Yuryevsky monastery and in Veliky Novgorod. It is convenient, comfortable and profitable to come to the resort with your own car. Guarded parking of the resort nearby, behind a fence, 100 rubles per day.

There are many excursions offered - from visiting Veliky Novgorod to renting a cottage on Lake Ilmen and flying in a hot air balloon. In the evenings - as usual, dancing, live music, cinema, meetings with people of art. Own museum of the history of the resort, a good library with computers and the Internet. The beach on the mineral lake is open until 22:00, sunbeds, chairs - everything is free.
Transport. They come by train, buses to the bus station or by their own cars. Minibuses run from St. Petersburg from the Moskovskaya metro station without stops to the resort itself, to the main building. A free shuttle bus runs from the resort several times a day to and from the station.
Check-in to the rooms on the evening before the start of treatment, at 22:00, check-in earlier, without surcharge, check-out on the last day of treatment at 20:00, procedures are performed all the last day and three meals a day are provided. On weekends, all procedures are performed too, even on Sunday, which is unusual, since in many health resorts on Sunday there is only a massage or nothing at all.
Conclusion. A well-developed resort that successfully combines treatment and active recreation. The cost, of course, could be less. For reference: a ticket for two for 15 days cost us 96 thousand rubles, or a little more than 2 thousand euros.
Practical advice. It is better to take vouchers immediately after September 1, it is still warm, and prices are already lower. From the buildings it is better to choose from the 3rd to the 6th, since the Count Muraviev restaurant with loud music is located in the 10th, and the 11th is considered children's, which is also not liked by everyone, in the 2nd evenings there is dancing and vanity. In addition, buildings 10 and 11 are far away, behind the main territory, and from there it is a long walk to procedures and to the dining room. It is better to come for breakfast half an hour later, then there is no queue at the coffee machine. The voucher should be taken from 14 days, since the number of procedures is limited for a shorter period. You do not need to take a kettle, there are coolers with boiling water in the corridors. When ordering a tour, ask for a room with a balcony, the cost is the same.
Have a nice rest!