Paratunka is a village in the Elizovsky district of the Kamchatka
Territory of Russia, the administrative center of the Paratunsky
rural settlement. A resort village famous for its medicinal thermal
waters. It is located in the upper reaches of the Paratunka River,
70 km southwest of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Population - 1657
people.
An Orthodox monastery of the All Saints Skete
operates 12 km from the village.
The village of Paratunka is located at the intersection of the highway leading towards Vilyuchinsk and the Paratunka River.
The climate is transitional from
maritime to continental. The summers are cool (the average
temperature in July and August is + 13-14 ° С), the winters are
somewhat colder than in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (the average
January temperature is –9 ° С). The average rainfall is up to 1120
mm per year. Due to the fact that the village and the resort area
are surrounded on all sides by hills, the average annual wind speed
here is much lower than in the regional capital.
Benefits
Among the main advantages of Paratunka is thermal hot water coming
from the bowels of the earth. Due to this, without a CHP and other
power plants, it is possible to supply hot water to houses without
additional heating, which significantly saves the regional
administration's funds. Also, an additional advantage associated
with the absence of a CHP is air purity.
In 1703,
a detachment of Cossacks under the command of Rodion Presnetsov went
to Avacha Bay and then to the Paratunka River.
Local tribes
considered hot springs to be abodes of evil spirits and did not
visit them. In 1805, the naturalist physician Langsdorf, a member of
the Krusenstern expedition, visited the sources and made a
description of them.
During the reign of the Governor of
Kamchatka, Rear Admiral V.S.Zavoiko, the Paratunsky Springs were at
the zenith of glory. They were used to create bathing pools with
changing rooms. A wooden church was built near the source. In 1879,
the exiled doctor B.I.Dybowski made a great contribution to the
study of sources from a medical point of view. They were studied and
described by expeditions led by F. P. Ryabushinsky (1908-1910), as
well as A. N. Zavaritsky with the participation of academician B. I.
Piip.
Near the village, in the battles for the establishment
of Soviet power in 1922, the commander of the partisan detachment G.
M. Yelizov died, after whom the city of Yelizovo and the district of
the same name were named.
The development of the springs is
associated with the name of the teacher P.T.
After the war,
in 1950, the Central Institute of Balneology of the USSR equipped a
complex expedition with the aim of using the spa sources.
In
1967, the world's first freon-powered small geothermal power plant
was launched in Paratunka; the remains of this station are still
preserved near the village of Termalny.
Paratunka
is a large balneological resort based on the Nizhne-Paratunsky
springs, which are typical low-mineralized nitrogen alkaline
siliceous springs. According to the ionic composition -
sulphate-chloride sodium-calcium with a temperature of 42.5 ° C,
alkaline (pH - 8.1). The main active ingredients are silicic acid
(up to 80 mg / l). Thermal (up to 61 ° C) nitrogen mineral water and
sulphide silt mud of Lake Utinoe. In connection with such an
abundance of therapeutic mud and thermal water, more than 30 hotels,
tourist recreation centers and sanatoriums have been built. The
sanatorium of the same name is located near the village. Due to the
unique properties of the water, the eponymous thermal spray water
“Paratunka” is produced.
From Paratunka you can make walking
and car one-day excursions to the Vilyuchinsky, Gorely, Mutnovsky
volcanoes. Snow cover lasts from November to June inclusive, and
therefore there are all conditions for skiing, heli-skiing,
snowmobiling.
There is a good but hazardous asphalt road to Paratunka. On the sides of the road there are many villages, several recreation areas, many sanatoriums, recreation centers. There is a regular bus service (minibuses). Helicopter service is also possible.