Saint Petersburg is a city situated on the Neva river, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The federal subject of Saint Petersburg has its name changed three times, from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, then Leningrad and back to Saint Petersburg.
Sablinskiy, as an area, is a natural monument that includes many rivers, valleys, waterfalls, curative clay deposits, ancient geological rocks and caves. One of the most popular world wide cave complexes is Tosna Sablinskiye Cave. The cave got its name from the Tosna River, one of the cave’s entrances as well as from the Sablinskiy area.
The cave is stretched at 10 km/6.4 mi long, full of labyrinths, lakes and vast halls. More than 150 years ago, there was a mined quartz sand that was used to manufacture crystal. Now bats of six species hibernate in the caves, very beautiful, harmless, useful animals that are listed in the Red Book.
While digging for the production of raw materials for the manufacture of glass, workers stumbled upon galleries that were brought to a depth of 220 m/722 ft. The caves have a great history and visitors admired their beauty for many years.
You can visit the caves, but bear in mind that if you don’t use a guide, you might get lost into the endless labyrinths. In the past years, many rescue missions have been put in place for people who got lost into the caves. If you decide to walk around not far from the caves, you will find many beautiful places of unspoiled nature, deep canyons of several meters, magnificent waterfalls and the spot where Tosna Sablinka empties in the river.
Sablinka, springing from the marshes at 18 – 20 km/11.3 – 12.8 mi to the southwest of Ulyanovka village, breaks through the thick limestone, while fractions of stones are falling down from a height of 4.5 m/15 ft. The historic caves are definitely worth a visit and don’t miss to walk around and admire the landscape of amazing beauty.
The caves are a mystery, as there are not so many pictures published and the only people who know exactly what is going on into the caves are the ones that visited them. Dare to be one of them!!!