Blogs from Centre, Russia, Europe - page 3

Kostroma It’s another weekend and it’s another train trip on an overnight train in the ‘depths’ of interminable Russia. In my head now are dozens of names of Russian cities, towns and places, which I’d like to visit, and each and every time I return from a town, I want to see more, and more, and more. I am also arranging three trips to Europe. I am losing roubles for each euro I pay for those hotels and tickets, and I blame this solely on the American and European governments. I chose Kostroma and Ivanovo, because they have a lot of sights and are located close to each other. Somehow Ivanovo is included in the Golden Circuit of Russia, but I would dispute this, because Ivanovo is too young as compared to the other towns, and ... read more

I got up early in the morning without much wish to go anywhere, but still decided to hurry up to the bus station. Today I visited Pereslavl-Zalessky, an ancient Russian town not very far from Moscow (140 kilometers). The bus departed from Schelkovsky bus station at ten o’clock. The web schedule also stated a bus at 9-30 but the tickets seemed to be sold out (recommended to buy one or two days in advance). Everything was all right except for a traffic jam which lasted for almost one and a half hour. The highway (‘so-called’) was for many kilometers under repairs and construction works, narrowing it down, so that the everlasting flow of vehicles, damn them, seemed to go on forever and the bus moved a meter at a time. I was so annoyed. The traffic ... read more

I made a failed attempt at visiting Rostov several weeks ago and this time got up quite early to be able to catch the train in good time. The only bad thing about this was impossibility to have breakfast at the hotel (I departed at 6.30, the meal began at 7 in the morning). Nevertheless, I felt quite good in the train and enjoyed its fast ride without any stops, the train did not even seem to decelerate anywhere. Its final destination was Yaroslavl, and the duration of stop at Rostov was one minute. The majority of people went to Yaroslavl. During the train journey, I read Gerald Durrell’s “The Whispering Land” – an inspiring story of author’s adventures in Argentina in quest of animals, containing colourful, witty descriptions of nature, animal behaviour, and the locals. ... read more

Sergiyev Posad north of Moscow to the Latvian border 26 August 2014 After leaving Suzdal and camping in a little village outside Suzdal , the next day we drove towards Moscow. Before our travels started this year, I had read about a town about 75 km north of Moscow that had a monastery. Poor Tom being subjected to my 100s of ideas!! I suggested that we drive past Moscow along one of the 3 ring routes around Moscow, to visit Sergiyev Posad. So off we went. Wow, we were both glad we did. The monastery in Sergiyev Posad was celebrating its 700th anniversary. With our new GPS on the Samsung, we found the town with ease. We also quickly found a secure park in the town near the monastery. We then walked towards the walled "Holy ... read more

If you haven’t been to Yelets, you haven’t seen one of Russia’s old treasures. There is a list of so-called historical towns and cities, comprising forty best (from historic viewpoint) Russian curiosities. Many of them are unknown even to the average Russian. My initial plan was to visit Kineshma and Ivanovo, but, due to an unexpected job, I decided to shorten the trip and go to Yelets instead. I spent three hours in Yelets, with about one and a half hours devoted to sightseeing. I took the train from Kursky Railway Station and arrived in Yelets at 8 in the morning. There were fellow passengers in the car, young men I guess from school, who disturbed my sleep a lot by their loud talking. I do hate such persons but I cannot point out to them ... read more