‘Gde, gde – v Vologde!’*

---

Vologda is first mentioned in the chronicles as early as 1147. It’s a very old city. I decided to visit it after having a look at the map, being bored, and studying the area close to St. Petersburg. I’m now staying in St. Petersburg, if you didn’t know.


To put it in a nutshell, Vologda is a city of churches and wooden buildings. Some of them are in excellent conditions and some require renovation. Vologda is all about churches and wooden buildings for me. I went there on a gloomy overcast day of September 30, taking a train from St. Petersburg, only a night’s trip of some 10-11 hours.


The idea has settled in my mind to visit as many Russian cities and towns as I can before another ‘great’ trip abroad takes place. I have to be economical because I have to collect funds for an apartment and put brackets on my teeth. I’ve recently learned at a seminar for translators that one could get a minimum of 200 euros per day. I’m rather far from that yet. By the way, there is no oven in the hostel so it involves some extra expenses on food. It’s cheaper to cook than to buy ready food.


The weather during the trip was cold, gloomy and damp. As ever, I bought a map at the railway station and headed to the centre.


What I particularly like about Vologda is the fact that it is very green, there are so many trees as I have seen nowhere else (perhaps only in a forest). Well, a sophisticated tourist has to be warned about absence of luxury or skyscrapers or other great things like the Chinese Wall in the city of Vologda. It’s not Moscow, it’s not St. Petersburg, and it’s just a city of over 200,000 inhabitants. So, one goes to Vologda if one wants to see a bit of ‘other’ Russia, with small wooden detached houses; and Vologda offers a particular treat if you are fond of churches, like I am. There are plenty of them.


The city is not big, so half a day might be enough to see the major sights. I first went to the Square of Revolution and had that peculiar feeling of the Soviet Union which does not exist now. But I like the monuments of those times.


I had my breakfast at the Vesyoly Blin (the Jolly Pancake) bistro in the Lenin Street. The food was good. From there, I went to the Freedom Square and the Prospect of Victory. My destination of interest was the Kremlin – it’s a small one, unlike the Moscow’s or Kazan’s. The Sofia Cathedral looks very much like cathedrals of that kind in other cities. The Kremlin is on a hill, and river Vologda runs across the city; you can observe several destroyed churches on the other bank. The river is not wide.


I was intended to find almost all churches on the map within the centre, and only several of them were left unseen. I made a small circle in the city centre, noticing some other interesting buildings like GUM and monuments.


Then I crossed the river on the bridge to see three more churches. Those were in good condition. During the walk, I would frequently check my mail from the telephone – I was anxious to get some jobs, because there was too much spare time doing nothing. I was glad to get two tasks.


It often happens so that I decide to spend my time in a cinema while visiting a city. So I went to the Lenin Street where previously I noticed the Salut Cinema, but a paper said they had sold all the tickets for the films I was interested in. But the map showed another cinema theatre, and there I went and bought a cinema ticket for an action comedy about a pizza man who was forced to rob a bank.


I had an hour and a half before the film, so I went to find more churches and also managed to see some examples of wooden architecture. The only tall building I remember was that of the government.


The film was enjoyable, 1.30 hours which I not at all regretted. I had a very restful time there. After the film, I went again to the Vesyoly Blin and had a wonderful meal. It’s cheap, if you happen to be in Vologda. Also, the cinema theatre was excellent – big room with good sound and nice seats. The name is Lenkom.


After the bistro, I went to the RW station, and read Wodehouse till departure time, and then slept heartily in the train.


* It’s a rhyming phrase in Russian, meaning ‘Where, where - in Vologda”, like in response to a question “Ti Gde?” meaning “Where are you”.

---

Photos

A Church
i write no titles of the churches

DSC09595
there are many destroyed churches needing renovation

DSC09617
the river is called Vologda

DSC09621
some churches are as destroyed as this one