Valaam Island is part of an archipelago in the northern part of Lake Ladoga, the largest lake in Europe. Like the beautiful Monastery of the Transfiguration, the main building here, this is a peaceful spot planted with conifers and lined with granite beaches. Founded in the 10C, it had a stormy destiny and only came back into the fold of the Orthodox Church in the early 1990s. The monks will show you around this little island full of rugged charm and dotted with churches and chapels.