Vladimir
Vladimir is one of the largest such cities, and serves as the base for many a tour group. We arrived in the morning, checked into our hotel, and walked around the town. It didn't take long, however, as Vladimir is small and the main street is right outside our hotel. Vladimir is set on top of a hill, so it made for some lovely views...including one of a factory, naturally.
Both of these would become normal sights over the next four days.
The main street was filled with cafes and shops, so we took it easy and enjoyed our walk around town. Apparently this is what the Golden Ring is for: relaxing, walking around, strolling down the main street, and taking your time. After a whirlwind trip through Mongolia and eastern Russia, it was nice to take things a little easier.
Suzdal
Suzdal is a little off the beaten path, and it isn't serviced by rail at all. The main buses really only run back and forth between Suzdal and Vladimir. It is worth the trip though. Suzdal is filled with churches. You can't walk more than few meters without seeing one. They are almost all extremely beautiful.
One of many churches.
Holy shopping Batman!
Our hotel had a map with a walking tour of Suzdal. We decided to split it over two days, because we were being extremely lazy. If we did the walking tour in one day, without stopping to go shopping, it would probably only take an hour and a half. However, Suzdal has a large number of outdoor souvenir stands and farmer's markets. They are mostly located in the square around the trading arcades, where they surround the square and run down a side street. There are also a few scattered around the churches. If you take time to browse a bit, it can take up a lot of time.
More churches.
Aside from its plethora of churches, Suzdal is known for mead. Mead is a honey-based alcohol. In all Suzdal meads you can taste the honey far more than the alcohol. The one night we spent in Suzdal, we decided to eat some heavy food and drink some mead. It made me wish we spent a couple extra days there.
Drinking mead.
Heavy food you should eat with your mead. Pike with fried potatoes and chicken in a cream sauce.
We saw these ducks before we moved on.
Because Suzdal is off the beaten path, Kostroma is extremely difficult to get to from there. Very few buses originate in Suzdal, and only three leave for Kostroma each day. They start in Vladimir though, so you won't know if seats are available until the bus pulls up. We got to the bus station, which is really just a shack that sells tickets, an hour before the bus was scheduled to show up. When the bus finally pulled up, it was very full. The ticket woman suggested that we get on a bus to Ivanovo and take a bus to Kostroma from there. We decided that sounded like a good idea, so we waited some more. The bus to Ivanovo pulled up, and there were only two seats available, but there were 6 people trying to get tickets. The woman gave us the tickets, which pissed off all the Russian women waiting too. We're guessing it was because we had been there for a long time, nearly two hours, and we were the least able to get out of Suzdal on our own. We took the bus to Ivanovo and then tried to figure out where we should buy tickets to Kostroma. There were four different ticket windows. Three of them were outside, and for Moscow only. The final one was inside. We got a ticket to Kostroma easy enough, and then waited only about ten minutes for the bus.
Kostroma
After the adventure of getting to Kostroma, it was a pretty disappointing city. When Lonely Planet lists the main government building as a sight, you know there isn't much there. The night we got there, we went to a nice cafe that had some great cocktails, but that was the best thing about the city.
That, and Lenin.
The next morning we walked to the city center and found out that we had seen everything that wasn't a house after about 20 minutes. There were some nice parks that overlook the Volga, so perhaps if the weather is nice you can spend some more time there. If you ever get to take a trip through the Golden Ring cities, here is my suggestion: go to Suzdal, leave early in the morning, stop in Kostroma for a couple hours, and move on by nightfall. It isn't worth spending the night unless you have no other choice.
In front of the Volga.
The city was so small even the market was completely shut down.
Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl is Suzdal's urban equivalent. It is dominated by churches, river views (the Volga and Kotorsl Rivers meet here), and beautiful, old merchant homes. The kreml here is very nice, but it is the first one we ran into that is not functional. It is strictly a museum, so you have to pay to enter.
Yes, that is another church.
There are three main squares in the city, and they are all connected by large, easily walkable roads. There is also a lovely river walk that is 1.5km long. The city center is quite nice and has a lot more to do and see than Kostroma. There is a small pedestrian street and a good selection of bars, cafes, and restaurants.
This is where the Volga and Kotorsl meet.
The monks put out some beautiful music on these bells.
Yaroslavl is a city that was founded by a man who killed a bear with an axe, thus the bear with the axe.
Yaroslavl is a nice city that we could have spent a couple days in. Unfortunately it rained while we were looking around the Kremlin and various churches. We decided to head to Rostov-Veliky instead of staying another night, because we read that Rostov-Veliky was one of the most beautiful cities in the Golden Ring.
This dish is named something Old Georgian. It was mutton, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and pickled cabbage.
And another church.
Rostov-Veliky
I'm sure that Rostov-Veliky is gorgeous in the spring and summer. Right now, however, it is late fall with winter coming on quickly. The city is overrun with construction. You would think they were re-building the entire city. Most things closed early, as in 5 PM early. The only two restaurants we could find were in the two main hotels, ours and another called the Lion. We decided to give the hotel restaurant at the Lion a shot. We should have just stayed at our own hotel, because their menu and staff ended up being infinitely better. We got dessert and a drink at our hotel restaurant after dinner.
Surprise kitty! We had just gotten into a cafe, Emily took off her coat, and this kitten jumped into her warm lap. Everyone say awwww...
For all of the construction going on, the kreml in Rostov-Veliky was still beautiful. For the first time, the onion shaped domes weren't gold, green, or blue; they were a very nice silvery gray that was highlighted by gold trim. If you have the time, it is worth making the trip just to see the kreml. It is unique, which is something I wouldn't say about most of the other Golden Ring cities and their kremls. Other than that, Rostov is situated on Lake Nero which apparently in the summer is a good place for boat rides. Around the Kremlin are various streets with shops and cafes. Unfortunately most of them were closed as it is not tourist season. If you come here, make sure it is in spring or summer!
Shots of the kreml. The third one is just a little bit of the construction we encountered.
Now, after 18 days, we're finally off to the main attraction of Russia: Moscow!
No comments:
Post a Comment