Out in the fields west of the main village stands a cluster of large earthen mounds — the sopki — associated by local tradition with Oleg the Prophet, the Varangian ruler said to have made Ladoga his base in the late 9th century. Whether Oleg is actually buried here is a matter of legend rather than settled archaeology, but the mounds are genuinely ancient and their scale is impressive: some rise several metres above the surrounding fields. Walking out to them takes about twenty minutes from the fortress and the flat landscape and the mounds emerging from it is one of the more atmospheric things Staraya Ladoga has to offer.