Webcam Sortavala. Bondareva Street, Malaya Liteinaya Street (Karelia)
The Karelian city of Sortavala is located on the northwest shore of Lake Ladoga, on both sides of the Läppäjärvi Bay. Only 270 km separate Sortavala from the capital of the republic - Petrozavodsk, and 50 km - from the border with Finland. As of 2019, the city has a permanent population of just over 18,000 people.
Interestingly, there are several versions about the origin of the name of the city. For example, the famous Russian philologist Yakov Grot believed that the word "Sortavala" is based on the Finnish participle sorttawa ("dissecting"), referring to the Vakkolahti Bay that divides the city into two parts. There is also a "ecclesiastical" version, according to which the devil, driven away by monks from Valaam, went to Sortavala area. And the name "Sortavala" (Finnish sorta from Russian "devil", valta - power) means "the power of devil".
Not less interesting is the fact that in less than five hundred years Sortavala has been a part of three countries: Finland, Sweden and Russia. And the city changed hands several times.
Now Sortavala is the second after Petrozavodsk place visited by tourists traveling in Karelia. Of course, this popularity is largely due to its proximity to the Vaalam Island, but apart from it there is a lot to see here, not for nothing because since 1990 Sortavala has the status of a historical city.
