Oka - the river, which is the largest tributary of the Volga, it flows through the territory of 7 regions: Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, along its channel there are a significant number of fairly large cities. The names of some of them even come from the name p. The Oka, for example, Kashira and Kaluga, as well as presumably Kolomna, describe the features of the Oka riverbed in the area, respectively, “Oka Shiroka”, “Oka Meadow”, and “Oka Broken”.
The name itself has many versions of origin, one of them is extremely interesting: according to this hypothesis, the name of the river comes from Old Russian "water", and this term was later borrowed by various peoples, reflected in their language. Examples include Latin aqua, French eau, Spanish agua, etc. Historians and philologists even trace the relationship between the words "eye" and "ocean". Pretty curious, isn't it?
The Oka is a river that takes its source in the center of the Central Russian Upland, after the confluence of the Moscow River into it, it becomes extremely meandering and remains so until it flows into the Volga in Nizhny Novgorod, gradually expanding as it approaches it.
At the beginning of the last century, the Oka was a full-fledged navigable river, but now its flights are carried out mainly in the spring and at the beginning of summer, during the spill, in other seasons, not in all its sections, the depth is sufficient for large vessels to pass, therefore officially the river is navigable from Kaluga transit - from Kolomna, from the mouth of the Moscow River. In addition, it has many sites with rocky rifts and shallows, which greatly complicates navigation.
Vessels are mainly cruise ships, as the river flows in very picturesque places, attracting many tourists who want to see what it is - the main river of Ancient Russia, the Oka River. Photos of beautiful views along the coasts illustrate the impressions you get on cruises on it, so you should definitely take a camera with you to capture beautiful views.
Oka is a river that is also rich in fish, so it attracts fishermen with its waters. Experienced fishermen especially recommend places such as the area of Serpukhov, Kashira, Kolomna, the city of Lake, and also the place where Lopasni flows into it. After Kolomna, when the Moskva River flows into the Oka , its water becomes much more polluted, and the variety of fish decreases sharply.
Nevertheless, the Oka is a river with significant recreational potential, year after year its banks attract tourists from the European part of Russia, there are a large number of boarding houses and rest houses with beaches, despite the relatively fast flow, there are a lot of places on the Oka with sandy beaches and the shallows, where it is so nice to swim on a hot day. In addition, there are many large and not very cities with a rich history and interesting sights. Tour operators offer both long cruises and short trips that can be made over the weekend.
A certain tendency towards shallowing, as well as a decrease in the number of proposed vouchers sold out long before the start of navigation, suggests that it is better to hurry up and take a trip along the Oka, which will certainly not be forgotten soon.