russia: istra

Claire and decided we needed another day trip, so we went back to my Russia guidebook for ideas. We came up with Istra, a small town about 40 kilometers west of Moscow.

Claire and I met up at a metro station, then went to find the correct commuter train station to buy our tickets. We were again on an elektrichka (electric train,) which was a smooth ride. (Even if it did stop what seemed like every 30 seconds.) 90 minutes later we were in Istra.

The train station of Istra is basically a platform, with a small indoor area big enough for buying tickets and going through a turnstyle. After turning my phone around several times, we figured out our orientation and started walking.

Since we were traveling in the middle of February, the streets (and sidewalks,) were covered with ice and slush. It was not fun to walk through, we had to figure out every footstep, there was no direct, smooth way to walk. Oh well.

We walked straight up the main street, called Lenin Street. Not too far from the train station we passed a small park, which had a giant pinecone. Obviously it was a sculpture/art piece, not real. I took a cheesy photo trying to pull it with me.

More walking took us to another park, this one with the supremely original name of 'city park.' We found the exit and walked through, almost all the way through. Just before we were about to walk out, I turned to the left and saw two things that caught my eye.

The first was a WW2 memorial, which is pretty much standard for any Russian town. The second was another WW2 memorial, but a much more interesting one. It was a sculpture of a plane taking off. Due to the weather, part of the plane was covered in snow. Very original. There was also a map of some of the major battles of the war. 

We finally walked out of the park, turned the corner, and finally glimpsed the main sight of the town: the New Jerusalem Monastery (which used to be called the Resurrection Monastery.)

The monastery was founded in 1656, and I read somewhere that this sight was chosen because it resembled the Holy Land. The river flowing through town is supposed to represent the Jordan River, and the buildings in the monastery are supposed to represent holy places in Jerusalem. I didn't really 'see' all this, but I did love the monastery. I tend to love all religious places I get to see.

As happened to many other religious places in Russia, the monastery was closed down in 1918, and became a museum a couple years later. Unfortunately the German army was no kind to the monastery/museum during WW2. When they retreated from the area, they basically blew up the entire complex. So sad. As also happened to all those other religious places in Russia, it became religious again in the 1990s. A huge restoration was funded by the government starting in 2009, with a grand reopening in 2016. I'm glad we saw it when we did, not while it was under renovation. 

The entire monastery is surrounded by white walls, which were particularly gorgeous in the snow. We entered the grounds by walking through a gate in the bottom of a bell tower.

Walking in the very first thing you see is the main church, sitting right in the middle of the grounds: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The domes are beautiful, the exterior is beautiful, etc...

Even though the church is beautiful, we decided to walk along the walls first. The walkable area of the walls goes around at least half the complex, it is really nice. It was freezing though, we could feel the wind most of the time. Eeeek. 

Right at the very back of the complex I managed to drop one of my gloves. Since there is only one way up to the walkable section of the walls, I had to run all the way back to the front, go down the stairs, and run all the way back to the back to pick up the glove. Just call me butterfingers.

At that point Claire had walked back around the walls, and met me near the main church. We put on headscarves and walked in. The entry area was no great shakes, but the moment we walked into the 'sanctuary' area I knew I'd found my favourite ceiling ever. It was amazing, just amazing.

Right in the middle of the sanctuary area was a small chapel of sorts, with a queue of people waiting to go inside for a minute. Claire found out a couple weeks later that there was a rock (or something like that,) inside that came from Jerusalem, and it was treated as an icon. We didn't go in, because I was too busy staring up.

The iconostasis at the front was also beautiful, mostly gold with painted sections as well.

We also walked around a 'hallway' that went around the outside of the sanctuary area. I've never seen anything quite like it, there were smaller chapels off this hallway.

We also found a set of stairs going down under the church. We followed them down and found a crypt area. It was humid and warmer than anywhere else we'd been that day.

After feeling as though we'd seen everything in the complex, we exited the gate and walked back up the street. We found yet another war memorial, complete with fake flowers and wreaths. Unfortunately, it was mostly snow covered, so I don't know exactly what was being memorialized.

We walked back in the general direction of the train station, finding one last sight necessary to having seen a Russian town: a statue of Lenin. This one was quite small, but then again, so was he.

At that point we decided we were hungry, so we looked for a cafe of some sort. We were almost back at the train station when we found a cafe. Clearly Istra is not a town with cafe culture. Our food was okay, at least we weren't starving when we got on the train back to Moscow.

I love day trips.