russia: tayshet and bratsk

I'm going to put two cities in this post, for a couple reasons. One, because they are small cities and I didn't stay in either of of them for very long; and two, because I stopped in them more because I needed to than I wanted to.

From Krasnoyarsk I took a train to a town called Tayshet. Google maps tells me the distance by car is just under 400 kilometers, and driving it takes about 6 hours. The train was a little slower, taking nearly 7 hours. I was not thrilled to wait in the train station for hours until daylight, but I was able to sit near a plug, so it was something.

Tayshet looks small on a map, and Wikipedia tells me there are only 35,000 or so residents. It was founded right at the end of the 19^th century, as a supply point for the building of the Baikal on Amur branch of the Transsiberian Railway. Town status was granted 40 something years later, in 1938.

Wikipedia tells me a large portion of the 'workers' who built this first leg of the Baikal on Amur (often called BAM) railway were Japanese and German POWs, and that enough of them died to 'joke' about one of them under every train car. Eeek. We so often hear about the horrible conditions of the camps run by Nazi Germans during WW2, but a number of other countries are responsible for doing the same kinds of things.

After hanging out in the train station for a while, I put my bag into the storage room, then started walking. I was happy to find my first Lenin just off to the side of the train station. It was a head, painted in gold.

Not too far from the Lenin head was a steam train on display, I'm sure the sign had interesting information if only information about steam trains was of any interest to me.

Also not far away was an old water tower. I was able to take a decent photo, but I wasn't able to get very close, as it was in the middle of a fenced in area.

Even though this town doesn't have a whole lot of people, it felt as if there were just enough people out on the streets that someone was looking at me. I'm all for going behind fences, as long as no one is looking at me while I do so.

The next part of my walk was totally random. I knew I had quite a few hours to kill, and almost nothing to fill the time. I decided to walk the outer edges of town, or at least as close as I could while staying in the grid pattern on which most of the city is built. I was surprised at the number of roads that weren't completely sealed, they must turn into swamps when there is a lot of water or slush. 

It didn't take me all that long to get to Park Pobedy, which I think translates to Freedom Park. At the back of the park, (which wasn't big,) there was an obelisk, with a hammer and sickle on top. The Soviet Union has been over for quite a long time, I'm surprised this obelisk is still standing. I understand why this symbol hasn't been removed from government buildings and the like, but how hard can it be to take down an obelisk?

Near the obelisk was a city sign, one of those with a checkmark and a heart. I love Tayshet, according to the sign.

I doubt anyone feels that strongly about the town, I definitely don't, but who am I to assume how others feel?

After leaving the park I wandered a bit more, coming close to the grounds for where a church was being built. I also noticed several appartment buildings with propaganda on their sides: 60 years of Victory, 40 years of the CCCP, (the west would say USSR.) I'm guessing Tayshet was built in the height of the USSR, and hasn't really been touched since.

From there I walked back to the train station, and over a pedestrian bridge to the other side. My map was showing me that there was another Lenin somewhere over there, it didn't take long to find. This one was a full statue, on top of a pedestal, covered in silver paint.

I tried to find a supermarket after that, but it didn't happen. I guess Tayshet is too small for a proper supermarket. I ended up finding two small shops, thank goodness both of them had ice cream. I don't remember it being that hot, but at the same time I felt like I was boiling alive, if that makes sense. I wanted liquids, and I wanted cold.

My last sight in Tayshet was a museum, the one with local and regional history. For such a small town, I was surprised at the variety of exhibits. It wasn't big, but it did represent the area well, at least from my perspective. There were some religious items, items from the railway construction, 'famous' people, etc...

From there I went back to the train station and got my bag back out of storage. My train departed around 1600, and at 2100 or so I arrived just outside a town called Bratsk. The drive would be about 5 hours, and 300 kilometers. Bratsk is a city of nearly 230,000 people, though I haven't got a clue where all of them are.

I most certainly did not see all that many people during my visit. Certainly not enough to think the city was that big.

Bratsk was 'discovered' by European colonizers in the mid 17^th century, they wanted to collect taxes from the local Buryat population. A fort was also built during the 17^th century, this is what started permanent settlement in the area. In WW2 a Gulag camp was built nearby, a pretty big one. The Angara prison labor camp could hold up to 44,000 people! I don't know if this was a typical size for a camp, but it seems like a lot of people to me.

I don't know if there are any remains of the camp, and if so, if it is open to visitors in any way. 

Much of the growth of Bratsk came later, as industry grew. In the 1950s a huge damn and hydroelectric plant was built on a waterway that eventually feeds into Lake Baikal. The city is now shrinking, as it is basically in the middle of nowhere, and young folks aren't likely to stick around if they don't have to.

The train station has a completely different name, you pretty much have to take a taxi to get into town, and yandex taxi doesn't have a lot of cars available then and there.

That being said, I think all the local drivers know when the train comes in, so they are there at the station, waiting for random passengers like me.

It was nice to be dropped off right at my accomodation, which had the best music ever for a domophone. The domophone (house phone) is the little keypad on the front of apartment buildings that allows you to 'call' the apartment you are visiting, and for them to open the front door for you. After you dial the apartment number there is sometimes no sound, sometimes a ring, and sometimes a song. I loved this one so much I later made a video of it, hee hee.

After checking in I walked back out to get to the closest supermarket to pick up breakfast and snack for the next day, then went to sleep.

The next day I took my time as usual, as Bratsk is another one of those towns without a huge list of places to go and things to see. Not surprisingly, if you've read anything I've written previously, my first intended sight of the day was a statue of Lenin. He was bigger than normal, standing tall on a pedestal in front of what I would call city call. City Hall was a big, boring building, totally typical of government administration built in the Soviet period.

The second place I wanted to see in Bratsk was a giant war memorial. Giant war memorials are a dime a dozen in Russia, but I still love seeing them, and honouring those who fought for a few minutes. This one was indeed huge, and really photogenic. The place where it sat also offered a beautiful view of the water not too far away. The weather was not great for wandering through grass and mud, otherwise I would've gone right down to the water.

After the memorial I figured out how to get to the last sight I wanted to see: an outdoor, wooden architecture museum. I don't know if they are as common as some of the other types of museums, but it sure felt like it this summer.

Getting to the museum involved a walk, a bus, then another longer walk, totalling a bit over an hour. The sun kinda came out when I finally got there, which was nice, except that I was covered in sweat.

This museum had a rebuild of an old fort, as well as examples of totems of the Buryat people who have been in the area for eons. There were also homes to visit, showing different jobs that needed to be done for a community to survive and flourish. There was also a small church, which looked as if it could still hold services regularly. I'd love it if one of these museums showed a school, but I have yet to see that sort of building.

After leaving the museum I felt like I was off to the races. I sped walked back to the bus stop, then waited (not very patiently,) about 10 minutes for the next bus to come along. The bus took me back to the center of town, from which I sped walked some more back to the flat to collect my bag. The hostess had called a taxi for me, so it was waiting as I walked out.

The ride back to the train station was just as long as it had been the night before coming into town, but a whole lot more interesting now that I could see. That being said, I'm pretty sure I don't need to come back to Bratsk.

russia: a return to krasnoyarsk

The last time I was in Krasnoyarsk (early spring 2019 I think) it was not terribly pretty, and the weather wasn't great. I'd wanted to go back ever since, the chance to do so came up this summer.

I decided to start this two week trip by flying from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk, the flight is in the middle of the night. This kind of timing is what I like best, because it allows me to have more time in a place I'm visiting, but I've become far too good at wasting some of the time I give myself by arriving earlier in the morning. Sigh.

The flight to Krasnoyarsk was fine, but the bus ride into the city was not so great. I don't know if it was the driver, the bus itself, the traffic, me being dehydrated and tired, or any combination of all of those. Either way, by the time I got off the bus I was really really motion sick, and not feeling good at all. Unfortunately, I had to ride another bus to get a lot closer to my hostel. I could've walked the entire way, but it wasn't going to be an efficient use of time. (Not that hanging out in my hostel for hours was particularly efficient either, but that's beside the point, hee hee.)

After getting off the marshrutka I still had to walk another 10 minutes. The fresh air felt good, and helped me get over the motion sickness from the bus ride(s).

This trip started the last week of July, there was far less traveling taking place in Russia due to the pandemic. The flight was full, as was the bus, but there only seemed to be one other person in my hostel. The kitchen was huge, and the communal room had plenty of couches, so I knew I wouldn't have to 'share' anything with anyone for the most part.

After relaxing for far too long, I went out for a walk. While I was on the bus the weather was really overcast and cool, and not very motivating to me. After a few hours inside the hostel, the weather improved, which made me happy. My first intended sight was a victory arch at one end of a platz in the city center.

The last time I was in Krasnoyarsk I wanted to see this arch, but it was in the middle of the fan zone of the Universiad winter sports tournament the city was hosting, so I wasn't able to get close. This time it was an easy walk down the street, right up to the arch.

The arch didn't feel very big or magnificent, not nearly as much as some arches in Russia feel. This one felt more like the gate of a park, and not terribly grand. That being said, I still took my photo with the arch :) There was a 2019 sign still on display, I'm guessing it was a holdover from the sports tournament that was taking place during my last visit. I'm not sure why it is still on display, it was obviously WAY out of date. I imagine I'm not the only one who thinks 2020 has been the longest year ever.

After the arch I headed to my second intended sight for the day: a hike in the national park on one side of the city.

Getting there involved another bus ride, but at least this one didn't leave me feeling so woozy, thank goodness.

When I clicked on the national park to take a closer look at trails, I thought I had the whole thing sorted out in terms of where I needed to go to get to the trail head. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I walked through a neighbourhood to get to the trail head, that part of things was totally fine.

When I got to what I thought was the trail head, there was a small fence, with flattened down grass on one side of the fence.

I followed the flattened area, as it made me think I wasn't the first one to walk there, and eventually I would get to a proper trail.

I ended up at the top of the hill/mountain, but I'm still not sure whether I had followed a proper trail or not. I was never in doubt of where I needed to go, but I didn't see anyone else at all, and in a couple places the 'trail' was overgrown.

The national park in which I was hiking is called Stolby Nature Reserve. I think the word stolby translates to pillars, or something along those lines. This makes sense, because there are several areas in the park where stone/rock sticks up out of the surrounding area, like pillars of a sort.

There are a few trails marked on a map, but I had a sneaking suspicion that my walk had not been along any of those trails. Ooops.

The view from where I ended up was absolutely lovely. I could see a couple areas with stolbies (sp?) sticking up, and plenty of green. It was definitely a nice way to make me think "I need to come back here."

Getting back down did not go the way I originally thought it would. I had originally thought I would hike up, then take a cable car back down. When I got to the top of the cable car I discovered it wasn't running.

Argh. I knew I could get back down, I just wasn't sure where I would end up.

It started raining while I was on my way back down the mountain, I was not happy. It even hailed a bit, though the hail wasn't very big. If that had kept up for longer I would've been much happier than dealing with the rain. I was under the trees, so the rain wasn't landing on me exactly, but the trail was SUPER muddy, which was no fun at all.

What made all of this even better was my total lack of liquid or snacks during this entire hike. Whoops. I'd thought it would take about 90 minutes to hike up, but since I had to go round trip, it ended up being closer to 5 hours in total. Big whoops.

Once I got back down I didn't have to wait long for a bus to come along, I took it back into the city center, close to a supermarket. Water and yogurt never tasted so good :) Not surprisingly, I slept like a rock that night, but jet lag meant I woke up later than I normally do.

The next day I got out the door around mid morning. I was able to leave my bag behind at the hostel, after checking out, yay. My first intended sight of the day was a Lenin statue, nowhere near the city center. I took a local bus to get closer, which was easy enough.

City workers near the statue were mowing the grass, they were fascinated with someone taking a photo of Lenin, and another with Lenin. I get the impression most people don't do this, but I don't think I'll ever stop. This particular Lenin statue wasn't very exciting, but most of them aren't.

I took this same bus back toward the city center, getting off when it stopped close to the local/regional history museum.

These local/regional history museums can be hit or miss, so I don't always make an effort to see them.

I wanted to visit this one because of the architecture and exterior paint job, it looks a lot like an Egyptian temple. Unfortunately, it seemed to be closed, so I wasn't able to visit. Pandemic restrictions, I assume.

Across the street I was in a small park area, with giant cubes lined up along the sidewalk. Each cube had a graffiti type mural on each side, I loved the bright colours and designs. There were also nice views across the river from this area. The river freezes in winter I think, which probably makes for great views as well. 

I followed the sidewalk a kilometer or two, as it followed the path of the river. The embankment has been developed nicely, it's a great place for people to hang out, walk as a group, have a picnic, etc... There are a few playgrounds, places where people can get all the way down to the water, and more. All in all a lovely spot in the city.

From there I walked back to the hostel. I guess this second day doesn't sound like I didn't very much, and it's true I didn't, but my train was scheduled to depart before 1700, so I needed to start making my way to the train station.

I walked back and picked up my bag, then hailed a taxi to the train station. Traffic didn't seem any better than the previous morning, so maybe Krasnoyarsk has lousy traffic all the time? Who knows.

I would gladly come back to Krasnoyarsk, if only to go for another hike or two in the surrounding area :)

russia: staraya russa

Continuing with the summer of traveling around Russia because I had no other options, my next city was a small town called Staraya Russa. It is listed in my guidebook, and is a simple night train from Moscow, but for whateva reason, this was my first visit.

Staraya Russa is around 600 kilometers northwest of Moscow; around 300 kilometers south of Saint Petersburg. Wikipedia tells me the current population is a little over 30,000, the city is shrinking.

Staraya Russa is old, over 1000 years old. Waaaaay back in the day it was just called Russa, the Staraya was added in the 15^th century, to make it different from other nearby settlements called Russa. (How does more than one town/village use the same name, especially when they are close to each other?)

Staraya Russa was one of three main towns in what used to be Novgorod Republic, along with Pskov and Ladoga. Population has varied quite a bit during its history, going as low as just 38 people in the year 1613, and more than 40,000 in 1989.

The Wikipedia entry on Staraya Russa doesn't have a whole lot of history, so this introduction is pretty short. I took a bus from Veliky Novgorod, it was not a long ride, less than two hours I think.

The bus station in Staraya Russa is right next to the train station. Neither one of them is big, and neither one of them is in a convenient place. I much prefer it when the train station/bus station makes it easy to get to the center of town. The walk to my accommodation was easy, but it did involve going over a bridge, and I felt like not many people make that walk.

Between the bus station and my accommodation I passed several military monuments. I'm pretty sure one of them showed that Staraya Russa was designated a city of military glory, as it looked like most of the other such monuments I've seen. Another was in a park, with a line of busts of military folks. I'm guessing the name is probably something like hero's alley. Right next to that one was a war memorial with an eternal flame, and the dates of WW2.

I had booked a room in a guest house, but it wasn't ready when I got there. I was able to drop of my bag, which was nice.

I'd already looked at a map, and figured out a few places to visit during the day.

Staraya Russa is quite small. I was able to walk to my first sight in about 5 minutes. It was another museum with wooden architecture, this one focused on life in the Middle Ages. Even though this one was outdoors, it wasn't all that big. That being said, they still required all visitors and staff to wear masks. The ticket prices listed had a fee for foreigners that was higher than Russians pay, but I didn't pay the foreigner fee.

My favourite exhibit was a version of an air conditioner, made with a pump that circulated water through a bunch of small sticks arranged like a wall. It's hard to describe, but it was really impressive. I realized how well it worked by standing close and feeling cool air coming off the whole contraption.

After leaving the museum I walked down a street, ending up near a statue of Dostoyevsky. I often wonder how statues of famous people end up in random places, but this time I didn't have to wonder. Dostoyevsky had a summer house in Staraya Russa, it's now a museum.

Even though I'd just seen the statue of Dostoyevsky, the house museum was not where I went next. Instead, I followed the streets to a so-called monastery. I say so-called, because there were no walls around the property, and as far as I could tell the church was the only building. I loved it, particularly the outside.

The back side of the church sat close to the river, which though small, was still quite lovely. I'm a sucker for water, whether it is a pond, creek, river, lake, or ocean.

From there I could see where I wanted to go next: the main square of the city. There is a Lenin statue on one end and a water tower on the other end. The end with Lenin wasn't very pretty, as there was a construction fence behind the statue and off to one side. The end with the water tower was really photogenic, especially with clouds rolling in fast.

I don't think Staraya Russa gets a huge number of visitors to begin with, and with the pandemic being in full force, even fewer. I took advantage of not many people being out and about to take quite a few photos of this spot. I don't know exactly why, but it really caught my eye, and I kept thinking 'other people really should see this.'

Not long after I took photos, it started to rain quite hard. Thank goodness there were a few random stores nearby that I could step into to escape the water.

After waiting out the storm I walked over to the Dostoyevsky house museum, stopping in another church along the way. The outside of this one was quite boring, as it was plain white. The inside will be quite nice, as soon as they finish repainting everything. When I was there most of the sanctuary was blocked off so workers could do this.

Dostoyevsky's 'summer house' was a lot bigger than I imagined it would be. When I hear the term 'summer house' I tend to think cottage, or dacha, or something relatively small. This building was two full floors, with plenty of rooms. 

The museum exhibits were mostly on the 2^nd floor, just one room on the 1^st floor had anything on display. There were plenty of items and photos on display, but not much signage, not even in Russian. Items mostly included furniture and books, with a creepy display of two dolls sitting on a divan right near the exit stairs.

After leaving the museum I walked back to my accommodation and checked in, resting up a bit. A little before sunset I walked out again, and found a supermarket to get food for dinner. Staraya Russa is small enough that the selection of restaurants and cafes leaves quite a bit to be desired. 

Nothing I saw inspired me, so ramen noodles were perfectly adequate.

The next morning I followed my normal routine of taking entirely too long to do nothing in particular, and didn't leave my room until almost noon. That being said, I knew there wasn't much left that I wanted to see, and my train back to Moscow didn't leave until quite late in the evening.

As I walked I found another store named for me, I think it was a beauty salon. I've seen a few beauty salons named after me, I guess I inspire beauty ;)

My first stop was another Lenin, this one ended up being just a bust on top of a pedestal. Nothing exciting. I ended up walking from Lenin to a spot on the river, on the opposite from the pretty 'monastery' I'd seen the day before. A gorgeous reflection of the church and clouds on the water made me really happy.

After that I had a long(ish) walk. Listed online was a mineral spring, considered holy I think. The photos I saw made me think of it as a pilgrimage place of sorts. To get there I walked down several streets with old, once beautiful, wooden homes.

There was a lot of exterior decor with intricate wood carving, I loved it. If they'd all had a fresh coat of paint and new windows I would've been ready to buy one ;)

The spring ended up being a big pipe jutting out of the ground in the middle of a field. It didn't 'feel' religious, but I guess that sort of thing is all in the eye of the beholder. The field itself was felt peaceful, if that makes sense. I liked it, and sat on a bench near the spring for a while, just enjoying the quiet.

There was a small walkway of sorts out to the pipe (as the flowing water created a tiny pond of sorts,) but most of it was under water, so I'm not sure it served any purpose. I was wearing waterproof shoes, so I didn't care if they got wet, but anyone wearing 'normal' shoes wouldn't have been happy.

After the spring I walked all the way back to the square in the city center, just because I'd liked it so much the day before. I walked out the other side, and followed the river for a while until I got to a bridge. It was another long walk, but the weather was nice, and the town was pretty quiet, so I enjoyed myself.

I generally like bridges, for no reason in particular. There were a few men fishing nearby, but I didn't see any traffic on the bridge itself. I didn't get up to the level of the bridge (I stayed down by the river,) so I don't know whether it was built for vehicles, trains, or people, or any combination of the three.

After seeing the bridge I walked back to my accomodation to pick up my bag. The manager asked where I was going, and I said I'd walk to the train station and hang out until my train left. She knew that was at least 6 hours in the future, so she insisted I go back to the room I had and hang out there. It was a really nice thing to let me do, as the linens had already been changed on the bed.

I ended up walking back to the train station as dusk fell, but only had to wait about 15 minutes in the station. The train was only scheduled to stop for 5 minutes or so, I was worried I wouldn't have time enough to board the right car, but it ended up ok. 

Do I need to go back to Staraya Russa? No. Do I want to go back? Not particularly. But maybe I will, just to see what things look like in a different season.

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.