russia: smolensk

Smolensk was added to our travel list for a couple reasons: one, it was listed in my travel guide, and two, because all three of us knew the name from WW2 history. None of us knew specifics at all in terms of the history, but we did know the name. By the end of our weekend there we realized we knew the name because Smolensk has been a sight of fighting between empires throughout much of the city's history.

Smolensk is a Russian city about 260 kilometers west-ish of Moscow, with a population of around 325,000. 

Smolensk has been a part of different empires, including Lithuania, Belorussia, and Russia. It was also part of the land invaded by the Golden Horde in 1240. When you name a major military action in Europe, Smolensk was probably involved in some way or another.

Smolensk is one of the oldest cities of Russia, it marks its founding in 865, only two years after the founding of Kyivan-Rus. It is also the sight of the largest kremlin in Russia. (A reminder: the word kremlin is not specific to Moscow, which is what most people – Americans – think. The word kremlin simply means fortress.)

The three of us met early on a Saturday morning, our train departed at 0710. Since it was a morning train, not a night train, we were in seats, not bunks. This particular train was set up in sets of six, with three seats facing three seats. The lady sitting next to Claire was not happy that the three of us were there, she was downright rude in her behaviour. I think it started because we decided to sit in the seats we had reserved, which meant someone she knew had to move, as they had been sitting in one of our seats. Anywho.

Our train arrived on time, which is always expected in Russia. I was excited to see that the train station in Smolensk was what I think of as a proper train station. That is, there was a large waiting room with a high ceiling and columns. It felt much more grand than what I'd seen so far around the country.

It didn't take us long to walk to our accomodation, though explaining that we didn't want to be officially registered did take a while. Bureaucracy, sigh.

We walked back out of the hotel, heading in the general direction of the kremlin walls. As I said earlier, Smolensk has the biggest kremlin in the country, so saying you're going to the kremlin doesn't narrow it down very much. We followed the road across the river, and up the hill.

On top of the hill was the most recognized sight in the city, the Cathedral of the Assumption. It is a bright dark sea green outside, and almost gothic inside. Frescoe painting everywhere, a gold iconostasis, and large icons everywhere. There were a fair number of people around, both people praying, and priests.

After the church we kept following the road, which basically took us to the city center. We found another church along the way, it was completely empty, and not nearly as fancy.

After we'd been going for a while I noticed a sign that said homemade ice cream. We love taking ice cream selfies, so this seemed like a good idea. We ended up ordering way too much ice cream, but it was worth it ;) We also ended up wasting a fair amount of time sitting in the cafe, but again, oh well.

From the cafe we walked to the platz in the middle of everything. We saw Lenin in the middle, he was surrounded by young'uns practicing snowboarding. Definitely fun to watch people live their normal lives.

Moving on we went toward a huge city garden. The garden had a small river where you could rent row boats, walk across a cute bridge, a memorial dedicated to the war in 1812, and some cute benches. We found a couple spots with nice city views too.

In another section of the garden we found a big city sign, which was perfect for a team photo. This one was in Russian, thank goodness. (I'm surprised at how often they're in English.)

As we were walking around the gardens I managed to roll my ankle, while doing nothing special. I took a step and fell down, sigh. I've done this enough times that the pain doesn't last too long, and I'm usually able to stand up and hobble around after a few minutes. That being said, it isn't fun and I wish my ankle tendons weren't so weak.

At that point it was sunset, which meant it was getting colder. We realized we hadn't had a proper meal yet that day, so it seemed like a good idea to go back to the cafe we'd visited earlier. The food we ordered was good, though we ordered way too much. Oh well.

The next morning we ate breakfast in our hotel, as it was included in the room rate, woo hoo. The breakfast room had fancy chandeliers and proper cups for tea. (For me, that meant the cups were too small, but oh well.)

Checking out was easy, and we were able to leave our bags in storage. We walked up the hill again, in the same direction as the day before. This time we went straight to the platz in the middle, and took a team photo with Lenin. There were far fewer people around, and no skateboards to be seen.

We basically walked all over the area inside and near the walls, which brought us to more memorials for the various wars that have taken place here over the centuries. One of the memorials had a soldier reaching for an eagle on top of a tall obelisk, which was particularly photogenic with fall leaves on the trees in the area.

Another memorial was particularly alarming in it's appearance. It honoured children who have died, and part of the memorial showed scrawny starving bodies of children. Not too far from the walls was a three sided obelisk, with each side marking one of the more major wars taking place in the area. (WW2, 1812, and I can't remember.)

More sights near the kremlin walls include an outdoor take on traditional matrioshka dolls. We found one of the still standing towers that is now a museum, but didn't feel the need to go in.

The weather was good, and we weren't in the mood to look at military history or arms.

At that point I saw a city tram, and it seemed like a good idea to follow the tram tracks to see where they went. So that's what we did for the next couple hours. We just walked.

Along the walk we found an abandoned Catholic church, mostly covered in scaffolding. We found a cemetery beautifully covered in falling leaves. We found several buildings also falling into disrepair, looking more photogenic with old school Soviet cars sitting in front.

By that point we were hungry again for a proper meal. We went back to the same cafe as yesterday, but it was full, and they didn't seem positive about space opening up soon. We ended up eating at a diner a block away. It was adequate, but not nearly as good as the cafe. Oh well.

After eating we walked back out of the kremlin, back down the hill, back to our hotel. We picked up our bags, then walked back to the train station. As expected, our train left on time, and arrived on time in Moscow. Another excellent weekend of traveling.

I liked Smolensk, but don't feel the need to return.