From the city to the countryside and our adventures on the Russian roads

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A change of pace from the big city hustle of Moscow to the country quiet of Suzdal. Referred to as an 'open air museum' (by which they mean nothing has changed here for hundreds of years) Suzdal is one of the 'Golden Ring' towns - former seats of power in centuries past. It's a sleepy town of churches (thirty-three of them in nine square kilometres we were informed by our guide) with autumn coloured trees, elderly Russian women in shawls selling a handful of onions, six tomatoes and a jar of pickled vegetables by the side of the road, chickens pecking in the dust and the odd cow tethered to a tree in someone's front yard.

Getting to this tranquil rural spot was an introduction to Russian raod travel. Informed by our travel guide that the trip from Moscow to Suzdal was 170 kms, we expected to while away a couple of hours on our tour bus and arrive in Suzdal in time for lunch. What we did not expect was a five-hour trip in a beaten up VW minivan with a cracked windscreen and held together with gaffer tape, traffic jams of an ordinance that put long weekend snarls on Sydney's F3 to shame, no food, no toilet stops and driving that could only be described as hair-raising.

You take to the roads in Russia at your peril. Adherence to any road rules (if there are any) is approximate at best. The goal of the average driver seems to be to drive as fast as he can until he gets within a metre of the clapped out old vehicle in front. He then lurches sideways into the lane beside without losing speed. If he's in a dual carriage way he stays there while the car screaming up behind pulls out, overtakes and pulls back in front, causing our driver to jam on the brakes. If he's in a single carriageway he pulls out suddenly, drives as fast as he can towards the oncoming traffic and only pulls back into his designated lane when a head on collision is inevitable if he lingers any longer. Our bus driver, Alexander, did not blink at this. We sat with muscles tensed, stealing sideways glances at each other and expecting each bone jarring manoeuvre to be our last.

Thankfully we survived this experience and the return trip to Moscow following our sojourn in Suzdal. Our next trip is another overnight train to Novgorod and then St Petersburg. Stay tuned!

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Photos

Traffic in Moscow
Imagine this stretching out on freeways surrounding Moscow for miles on end. Then double it. That's what it's like.

Suzdal
Autumn has come early to Russia, we're told. We're glad it has. This is the sleepy rural town of Suzdal.

More onion domes.
More onion domes. This time in Suzdal. Check out the beautiful blue, cloudless skies. Why did I pack all of those jumpers, coats and scarves?

Our convent in Suzdal
We stayed in a log cabin in the grounds of this convent in Suzdal. A once in a lifetime experience.