Blogs from Suzdal, Centre, Russia, Europe - page 2

So today was another hot day, after a shared breakfast of bread and peanut butter from my two friends from Amsterdam and myself went to Suzdal's kremlin. Which was a mixture of museum type houses and modern art as well as churches from the 12th century so something for everyone. Then we went for a spot of lunch and had chicken salad and warm cherry dumplings ... very nice indeed. We decided against the honey wine as it was a very hot afternoon and the girls were leaving after lunch for a coach trip to moscow. However I did notice them stock up with it at the supermarket before they left !! I went for a read after lunch and a little snooze zzzzzzzzzzz and when I woke up there were 3 girls in my dorm, ... read more

The last time I wrote, I was just about to leave Vilnius, the current European capital of culture, in Lithuania. I had a slight feeling of anticipation about the next leg of my journey, as I’d read on numerous occasions that entering the Russian Federation can sometimes be a torturous, time-consuming affair. Luckily I was able to escape these feelings on the short walk to the train station. A couple of policemen flicked inattentively through a soft core porn magazine in their car. They gave me a look that wreaked of masculinity when they caught me peering through the car window as I walked past. Further on a group of tone deaf teenagers grunted to two friends who were walking in the wrong direction. Strangely enough they were oblivious to the calls and rapid hand movements. ... read more

Day 15 -16 (April 19-20) Vladimir is an old capital, but we move on from here by local bus to the nearby town of Suzdal (also an old capital). Because it is that bit further from the Trans-Siberian train line it hasn’t been developed as much and retains it’s old charm. Suzdal is a town of so many churches (over 50) for a population of only 12,000. Most of the churches are actually two buildings, a smaller one for winter to save on heating, and a larger one for summer (to impress). It is a Unesco World Heritage area and not surprising. It’s Kremlin is very impressive. There is a market in the square selling quilts, wooden crafts and pottery, as well as the local drink (honey mead). We go to a tasting area and try ... read more

An hour's drive from Vladimir is Suzdal an old town which is part of the golden ring. We are staying in a hostel dorm type accomodation.The babushka owner is very friendly unfortunately hardly speaks a thing of English, it is quite funny when she had us sign our registration forms, since everything is written in Cyrillic I haven't a clue which is mine, Bruce thought he found his then I looked and saw the birthdate, it was mine, so I signed it and everyone else I think recognized theirs with the birthdate, the only thing you could make out, yet still I heard some people just randomly signed not caring if it's theirs, honetly I did not think it matters. We had dinner at the restaurent around the corner, they served us delicious meal in this ... read more