All roads may lead to Rome, but not all rivers lead to the ocean.
This is the longest river in Europe(Image: Getty)
You might have heard the phrase ‘all rivers flow to the sea’ – often used to mean that different paths will all lead to the same end at some point, While it’s a pleasing idiom, it’s not geographically true. In fact, one of the longest rivers in the world never reaches the sea at all.
The Volga is the longest river in Europe, flowing through central and southern Russia. Its basin sprawls across two-fifths of the European part of Russia.
The river begins in the Valdai Hills as a tiny trickling spring, before turning into the Volga.
It winds for a whopping 3,531 kilometres through forests and steppes before emptying into the Caspian Sea which, rather misleadingly, is not a Sea at all, but a colossal lake.
The river is connected to five different seas via an intricate network of manmade canals which were built over the centuries, although the Caspian is its main and natural mouth.
The canal system allows ships to travel from the Volga to the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, the Baltic Sea and the White Sea.
The sprawling Volga Delta, where the river splits into more than 500 channels, is also a world-famous wildlife sanctuary.,
It is a spawning ground for the Beluga sturgeon, which means that the lower stretches of the Volga are the epicentre of wild black caviar – one of the most sought after and expensive delicacies in the world.
The river was also a lifeline during World War II, providing a lifeline for Russian troops during the Battle of Stalingrad.
The Soviet Army was pinned against its west bank, so all supplies had to be ferried across the mile-wide stretch of water under constant barrage from the German artillery.
As winter set in and the river began to freeze, it became too icy for boats to cross but not yet thick enough for trucks to drive on.
Russian forces were nearly starved of ammunition until it froze solid.
However, as the German army focused all its energy on fighting across the riverbank, the Soviets snuck across the eastern side of the river to launch a surprise attack and completely surrounded the German forces.