Golden Ring 2

The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see. -
G. K. Chesterton

June 3, 2009, Wednesday, Yaroslavl, Russia. Today is a long walking day. We began from the camp and walked to the main part of Yaroslavl, one of the largest cities in the “Golden Ring”; and is located on the Volga River.
The strong baritone voices of Russian men singing greeted us, and the walls trembled in the ancient chapel of St. Elijah. This cathedral is filled with lovely frescoes.
After a boat tour on the Volga River, we walked back to the Kremlin. Inside this walled fortress is a 12th century Monastery of the Savior, now a museum. The Holy Gate near the entrance dates from 1516.
Time to return to the camp and get ready to go out to dinner.


June 4, 2009, Thursday, Yaroslavl to Rostov to Pereslavl to Sergei Posad, Russia, 180 km. The “covered wagons” gathered at 8:30, and headed out; the day is cloudy and cool low 50’s.
The Russian environment is…for lack of a better word… harsh. The soil is sandy a constant wind coats everything with a layer of soot. The roads and sidewalks awful, nothing is handicapped friendly. Poverty is everywhere, tiny falling down farm huts, and huge tenement houses, old, old buses and trams. Everything is in need of repair. Russia, a country with a long sorted past, filled with corruption and control and secrets. It is a “non-free” country.
Rostov-Veliky’s Kremlin was lovely, it is also one of the oldest town first chronicled in 862. With its five domes, the Assumption Cathedral dominates.
Each of the 15 bells in the belfry has its own name, given by the monks, the largest, weighing 32 tons, is called Sysoy.
The interior of the private chapel, the church of the Saviior, is covered in colorful frescoes and is quite impressive.
Pereslavl-Zalessky was a disappointment and we spent way too much time here. All the chatter was in Russian and French, ho-hum, yet another church, another monastery.
Now comes the WOW! The town of Sergiev Posad which tributes St. Sergiev as founder of the local Trinity Monastery and patron saint of all of Russia, among the most important and active in Russia---it exudes ORTHODOXY. It is so impressive! Bearded priests bustle about; babushka ladies fill bottles of holy water, crowds of believers light candles to St. Sergiev. This mystical place is a window into the age-old belief system, the Russian Orthodox Church.
It was evening when we arrived, but we managed to catch the final service of the day, complete with hymns and incense. Every step in this ancient walled town, screams “photo opt”.

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