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.