russia: veliky novgorod again

My second year in Russia, when I did most of my traveling with Claire and Angela, one of the cities we visited was Veliky Novgorod. We had a good weekend, and I remembered thinking at the time that I wouldn't mind returning at some random point in the future. I knew there were a few more things I wanted to see, and there was a cafe I really liked. (We liked it so much that we ate three meals there during that visit. Why mess with something that isn't broken.)

That random point in the future ended up being this summer. When we visited before, we came from Moscow, taking a night train. This time around I came from Saint Petersburg, taking an elektrichka. As always in Russia, my train arrived exactly when it was supposed to arrive.

I booked a different place to stay this time around, but it was just as easy to walk there as it was to the first place, partly because I knew the first 20 minutes of walking were along the same streets. As with Vologda and Petrozavodsk, the difference in Veliky Novgorod in various seasons is quite stark.

After checking in, I rested up for a while, longer than I should have, which unfortunately is my pattern. This is even easier to let happen during summer, when the days are long, and in the back of my head I know I have plenty of daylight to play with. Whoops.

I started walking, heading down the street in a new direction. At one point I walked along what I thought must've been older city fortifications, which now just look like horizontal hills covered in grass. Since the sky was all gray, it made for a great contrast. I followed the 'hill' to a church we'd glimpsed during the previous visit, when renovation was happening. 

Despite this visit being 18 months later, it looked just the same. A fence around the whole church, scaffolding in a couple places, etc...

I got back to the road, and followed it until I passed a park which had a war memorial. I've lost count of how many of these I've seen, but I still take a look every time I pass one. Russia always remembers its soldiers from wars going back centuries.

Eventually I got to the first sight I'd intended to see that day, a huge city sign. This one was at the edge of the city, where cars officially enter the city. A giant city sign, written in Russian, woo hoo!!

Not too far past the city sign was a bridge, which wasn't interesting in the slightest. What was interesting was the old bridge, which was right next to the new bridge. The old bridge had holes in a few places, with rust on some of the metal on the side. I could see grass growing in cracks in the cement, which always strikes me as photogenic. I wonder how long the old bridge has been out of service. I saw a guy standing near the other end, I think he was fishing; I wanted to walk on the bridge, but since there were a few huge holes near my side, I didn't have the confidence to do so. I love old abandoned stuff, but I also have a healthy fear of something collapsing while I'm looking around.

As the walk out to this area had taken quite a while, walking back took just as long. Actually, it took even longer, because it started raining at some point, so I took shelter. I hate walking in rain, and this wasn't rain I could ignore, it was quite heavy for a good 30 minutes. Argh.

On the way back I walked a couple new streets, enjoying some really huge grafitti along the way. Even though it was still relatively early in the evening, I decided to go eat. I went back to the cafe I'd enjoyed so much during the first visit, and was just as happy this time around.

Walking from the cafe back to my hostel happened at the early stages of sunset, I was thrilled to see the sky changing colours. After the rain had stopped earlier in the afternoon, it seemed like most of the clouds had left the sky. Those that were left perfectly accented the colours of sunset.

The next morning I took my sweet time getting moving, oh well. My first objective for the day was to go to the bus station to buy a ticket for the following morning. I was pretty sure I didn't need to buy the ticket ahead of time, but I didn't know what time a bus would be going to my next destination, and buying a ticket answered that question.

After the bus ticket I took a photo next to a big statue of Rachmaninoff, a well known Russian composer in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. He was so musically talented that he was able to start playing piano at the age of 4, and graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1892, after composing several orchestral and piano pieces. After reading his Wikipedia entry, I also learned he was born near Veliky Novgorod in March of 1873.

His statue was 'leaning' against the back of a giant park bench. The ratio of the size of the statue to the park bench look normal, so you don't realize quite how big both of them are until you try to pose with them. 

I ended up climbing onto the front bench side, then sitting on top of the bench, next to the statue. I still looked quite small. Since the bench wasn't made of wood, it was quite slippery, and I had some fear of falling off before the shutter clicked.

After this I had one more major sight on my list for the day, an open air museum of wooden architecture. It was pretty close to the monastery I'd visited with the girls, and getting there required a fairly long walk. This time around, I walked a little faster, partly because I knew where I was going.

When I got to the museum I discovered around half of it was closed for renovations, darnit. I got to the ticket desk and discovered this was yet another attraction in Veliky Novgorod that charges a higher price for foreign visitors than it does for locals. I paid the local price. I don't know if she didn't question me because I paid with exact change, or because no one expects foreign visitors during a pandemic, but she didn't even question me. Or maybe it was because I was by myself? Who knows. 

I enjoyed the museum. You have to wear a mask each time you walk into one of the buildings, and they made sure there weren't too many people inside anywhere at any given time. The buildings were all quite small, so this basically translated to one family at a time, or just me. Each building had an information sign out front, giving a few details of what was inside, and there was English on these signs. Yippee!

I got to take a peek inside homes they way they were in more rural areas back in the day, and in a church from a while back. There was also an example of an old well, and a farmhouse. All in all, a good place to visit. 

I imagine schoolkids are dragged here on field trips quite regularly for history lessons.

It started raining at one point while I was walking around, I ended up taking 'shelter' by standing on the steps of a church that were covered by an overhang. Thank goodness the rain didn't last long, and the clouds blew out just as quickly as they blew in. I hate rain. 

I took the bus back to the city center, I just wasn't in the mood for the long walk back. As I got off the bus I noticed a large mural on one side of an apartment building, but I could only see the top. 

After weaving through a couple streets I got close enough to see the whole thing, it was impressive. From there I noticed another such mural a little over a block away, also impressive.

While looking for the first mural I noticed an old bell tower/monastery gate. I rarely walk away from those without taking at least a little peek, so I ended up getting to see the grounds of a monastery. From what I saw, it seemed to be quite old, as there were ruins in the middle of the grounds, and newer buildings on the edges. Really really pretty, at least in a photogenic sense.

At that point I felt as if I'd seen everything I wanted to see, so I went back to the cafe for another dinner, then back to the hostel for another night of sleep.

Now that I've seen Veliky Novgorod in two different seasons, and seen the sights of interest, I don't think I need to return. But I know I should never say never.

russia: suzdal

When cousin Tyra planned her Russian trip, she also planned around weekends, and the chance to see more than Moscow. She actually read her guidebook ahead of time (something I really ought to do more often,) and figured out an itinerary that was both relaxing and ambitious. (I hope that makes sense.) Claire and I convinced her that we could all travel together, and go to a town called Suzdal.

Around Moscow is a series of towns sometimes referred to as the Golden Circle. Most of them are cute, and at one point were geopolitically strong, or important in the history of Russia in some way. 

Most of them have at least a little of the architectural styles from when they came into existance, or from their heyday in importance.

Suzdal is one of these Golden Circle towns, and is probably one of the most visited of the entire circle. Quite often Suzdal is visited over the same weekend as nearby Vladimir, but we opted to make it a full weekend.

Suzdal is one of the oldest Russian towns, it's history dates back to at least 1024. Wikipedia tells me Suzdal functioned as a capital city when Moscow was 'a cluster of cowsheds.' As things go with history at that time, alliances changed, Mongols came through and overran everyone, Moscow grew in power, etc...

The reason Suzdal is so popular to visitors is because it is cute. It was a religious center at one point in history, so there were heaps of churches, many of which still stand. There is no direct connection by public transport from Moscow, so you have to make an effort to get there.

The lack of a direct connection has also 'saved' the city from modern urbanization. The current population is just 10,000 people, it looks and feels like a small town. 

I'd be willing to guess than many of the current citizens are involved in tourism in some way, as there doesn't seem to be much else going on there.

To get to Suzdal we had to get up early, and catch a train to Vladimir. Then we walked across the street, and caught a bus for another hour. The bus station in Suzdal is on the edge of town, so the bus that brings you there then asks for another 17 rubles to bring you to the city center. We paid because we didn't know any better, but if we'd known, we would've gotten out and walked. Oh well.

We hopped off the bus near the Lenin statue, thereby making us feel as if we'd already checked one sight off the list. While standing there I called the contact number of our accomodation to say we had arrived in town, and would soon be ready to check in.

I typed the address into Google maps, and we started walking. When we got to the address there was nothing there that looked remotely like accomodation. I called the lady again, she asked me to describe where we were. I tried, but all we could see were houses, there was absolutely nothing unique.

The lady on the phone sent a taxi to pick us up and bring us to the right place. It turned out Google maps doesn't recognize the address as the right place. Obviously this has happened before, so I'm not sure why the problem hasn't been fixed. She originally asked if we had the right address, of course I said yes because it was listed on the booking. She didn't ever send any other way for us to know the right place to go. Argh.

That being said, the flat itself was lovely, all three of us would've been happy to live in such a flat. As has become our habit, we relaxed for a bit too long, but oh well.

We left the flat and started walking. We could see the kremlin in the distance, across a field and river. Really photogenic, especially with the gray clouds rolling through. The first sight we entered was a convent, though in Russian the name is monastery for women. The walls around the property (white,) were impressive, but the interior of the main church was not.

Our next sight was also a monastery, one dedicated to St Euthymius. (This would not be a popular name, then or now.) The monastery was much more impressive than the name. 

To get there we crossed a wooden pedestrian bridge over a small river, then went up a small hill. The walls of this monastery were red brick, and had a few towers.

Entering the monastery was easy, though we had to pay an entrance fee. Argh. We were able to go up to the second level of the walls, which is something I always love to do. We chose not to get too close to the beehives in the middle of the area, hee hee.

We walked past a beautiful clock tower, taking a few moments to appreciate the shape of the tower. It wasn't just a 'single' tower, it was kindof long, if that makes sense. 

When we walked out of the church we were treated to a 'concert' of sorts by the bells. Awesome.

The interior of this church was nice, but a good portion of it was under renovation. I loved the frescoes on the walls and ceiling we could see. While in the church there was a mini concert by some of the monks, their voices were beautiful, and the harmonies were lovely.

At the back side of the monastery one of the buildings had been turned into a small museum. There were pictures of Stalin and Lenin in what used to be the hospital of the monastery! There were also other pictures of life back in the day.

After the museum we left the monastery, just in time for the rain to start. Rain is my least appreciated type of weather, it is sooo annoying. Even if you have a good umbrella, rain coat, and hat, you're going to get wet. Plus rain makes puddles on sidewalks, and creates mud.

We next went inside the walls of another monastery, though there wasn't much inside. We could've paid to go up the bell tower of this one, but we didn't think the skyline of Suzdal would be worth seeing from up high.

This monastery was really close to the statue of Lenin, so we went back there to take photos. 

There was also a supermarket nearby, which provided us with snacks we really wanted at that point.

More walking brought us all the way to the kremlin. This one was surrounded by white walls, and didn't seem very big. The entry fee into the kremlin was cheaper than that of the monastery we'd seen earlier.

Inside the kremlin we visited a church, and a museum. Some of the frescoes in the church had been redone recently, others looked centuries old. I think I preferred the older scenes. 

The museum had exhibits of the history of the area, and was the perfect size; not too big, not too small. There were also displays including religious artifacts like crosses and icons.

In the fields surrounding the kremlin was a small wooden church. It wasn't open, but was still really really photogenic. We weren't the only people wanting to take photos, and for once I was able to be patient. Not only was the church photogenic, the fields were filled with blooming flowers, which made it even better. While tromping around the field I stepped on stinging nettle, which was not fun. 

Claire found some leaves of a nearby plant that took away almost all of the sting. How have I never known about this plant before? Despite getting a lot of tourists throughout the year, Suzdal does not have a huge restaurant scene. The three of us found a place, but didn't love it.

The next morning we took our time getting moving, another bad habit we've developed. When we left the flat we went to the same viewpoint of the kremlin behind the fields. Even though the view was the same as the day before, it was still pretty.

We walked in a different direction, part of the route was through a residential section of town. The houses were old, and made of wood.

Our first sight of the day was a museum dedicated to wooden architecture, this was the cheapest entry fee of the entire visit, though I liked it better than the other places we visited. The museum was an open air reserve, so we were able to wander all over. We saw another wooden church, a couple windmills, a couple homes, and more. All of them very picturesque, and we learned a bit about life in previous centuries.

After leaving this museum, we started walking in the general direction of the bus station. This walk took us over a bridge, and through another residential section of town. All three of us loved the windows on the wooden houses, they were really pretty.

We caught the next bus back to Vladimir. Once we got there, we had a couple hours to kill before our train to Moscow was scheduled to leave, so we decided to explore just a little. We ended up walking up the hill and seeing a church inside white walls. Very pretty, and made us interested in spending a full weekend in Vladimir at some time in the future.

Our train back to Moscow departed on time, and arrived on time, yay. I might return to Suzdal another time, but if I do, it will be in another season, maybe in winter?