Alexandrovsk-Sakhalinsky

The sightseeing capital of the Far East this is not, but there are a few things even beyond the requisite Chekhov Museum. Look for the Three Brothers Три брата, a set of three monolithic rocks jutting out of the water about 3 km west of the town, as well as the port's lighthouse, just south of the rocks, overlooking the green cliffs.

Other sights include:

A small collection of materials relevant to Chekhov's time in Sakhalin, in the house where he lived while on the island collecting materials for Sakhalin Island.

Church of the Protection of the Mother of God

A large traditional Siberian wooden church with six small, deep blue onion domes, the largest of which contain the a bell taken from the city's lighthouse and contains the inscription, "Alexei Mikhailovich, Grand Prince of all Russia, gave this bell to the Sinozersky Monastery in the presence of Moses, monk of the black cloth in 1651." Государь и Великий князь Алексей Михайлович всея Руси дал сей колокол в пустынь Синозерскую при строителе черном попе Моисее в 1651г. How exactly it wound up on the opposite, far eastern edge of the empire from Vologda Oblast remains a mystery.