By Michelle Nelson
The Golden Ring is a group of about 12 cities which form a ring of about 250km outside of Moscow. We decided to leave Moscow to see the “real Russia” after spending time in St. Petersburg and Moscow. According to a Russian friend, to see the real Russia you must leave Moscow and go out into the small towns and the woods.
We picked up our rental car in Moscow and braved the crazy traffic. Here a small aside. Driving in Russia seems to be a form of war. I have never seen people drive more aggressively. They will pass you in the emergency lane and force you over to the side of the road while trying to pass with cars coming in the opposite lane. Driving like this would quickly have you walking in countries like the USA or Germany – you would lose your license! According to the Russians we talked to, corruption is big and if you are pulled over you just pay the policeman and off you go!
Suzdal is a small city which has many churches, cloisters and convents plus a fortress. The city is a UNESCO world heritage site and the important sites have been renovated and are very beautiful.
As I said, there are more churches than you can shake a stick at! There has been a pretty good increase in the Orthodox Catholic population and atheism has greatly decreased in Russia since the Soviet Union collapsed. Churches which were used as grain storages or museums are now being renovated and used as places of worship.
Unfortunately, the neglect of the Soviet Era is still very apparent in most towns. Old buildings were not maintained and bridges are falling apart.
Since we have been riding along the Danube River for years we decided we should check out the situation on the Volga. The Volga is the longest river in Europe and we were hopeful there would be a bike trail. It was cold and windy so I used my Russian scarf to warm my ears. Do I look Russian?
We had a very nice bike ride but neither the bikes nor the trail was very good. The trail is behind the bikes and is covered with roof paper.
We Americans are very friendly, we are like the Golden Retrievers of the world. This is why it felt very strange when the people did not greet you or smile at you. I am not sure if they are just not friendly or are not used to strangers. I do not think one person smiled at me the whole time I was in Russia. If anyone knows the reason for this please let me know.
The Golden Ring is a group of about 12 cities which form a ring of about 250km outside of Moscow. We decided to leave Moscow to see the “real Russia” after spending time in St. Petersburg and Moscow. According to a Russian friend, to see the real Russia you must leave Moscow and go out into the small towns and the woods.
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| Convent of the Intercession |
Suzdal
We picked up our rental car in Moscow and braved the crazy traffic. Here a small aside. Driving in Russia seems to be a form of war. I have never seen people drive more aggressively. They will pass you in the emergency lane and force you over to the side of the road while trying to pass with cars coming in the opposite lane. Driving like this would quickly have you walking in countries like the USA or Germany – you would lose your license! According to the Russians we talked to, corruption is big and if you are pulled over you just pay the policeman and off you go!
Suzdal is a small city which has many churches, cloisters and convents plus a fortress. The city is a UNESCO world heritage site and the important sites have been renovated and are very beautiful.
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| Cathedral of the Nativity |
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| You know you are far away from home when you see a sign like this |
As I said, there are more churches than you can shake a stick at! There has been a pretty good increase in the Orthodox Catholic population and atheism has greatly decreased in Russia since the Soviet Union collapsed. Churches which were used as grain storages or museums are now being renovated and used as places of worship.
Unfortunately, the neglect of the Soviet Era is still very apparent in most towns. Old buildings were not maintained and bridges are falling apart.
I was very nervous crossing this bridge with all the trucks and cars!
All over Russia, there were informal markets where people made a little extra money selling fruit and vegetables from their garden. They were very cheap. You could buy a whole bag of apples for 100 Rubles which is currently about one Euro. The Ruble has been devaluated to about half its value. We could have a 4 course meal and drinks for about 20 Euros.
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| Market in the center of Suzdal |
Kvas and Borscht
Outside of Moscow and Petersburg we quickly realized that we were going to have trouble with the language. Rarely did anyone speak English – not even in the hotels. The menus were mostly only in Russian. This meant we ate a lot of Borscht and drank a lot of Kvass because these were things we could recognize in Cyrillic. Kvass is a drink made of fermented rye bread. It is very good and tastes a bit like beer but has no alcohol. Many restaurants make their own Kvass. Borscht is a red beet soup that is served with sour cream (Smetana) and dill and is very, very tasty.
Birch Forests
Russia is covered in birch forests. I guess because the climate is cold and summers are short most other trees cannot compete. For a true “feel yourself Russian” experience we rented a Datscha (cabin) in the woods near an ecolodge called Ekootel' Romanov Les on the Volga River near the town of Kostorama.
The house was a log cabin with a fireplace and kitchen so we could cook our own meals. We ended up cooking ourselves some nasty noodles as we mistakenly bought ketchup instead of tomato sauce for the Spaghetti Bolognese.
Since we have been riding along the Danube River for years we decided we should check out the situation on the Volga. The Volga is the longest river in Europe and we were hopeful there would be a bike trail. It was cold and windy so I used my Russian scarf to warm my ears. Do I look Russian?
We had a very nice bike ride but neither the bikes nor the trail was very good. The trail is behind the bikes and is covered with roof paper.
Land of the forgotten smile
We Americans are very friendly, we are like the Golden Retrievers of the world. This is why it felt very strange when the people did not greet you or smile at you. I am not sure if they are just not friendly or are not used to strangers. I do not think one person smiled at me the whole time I was in Russia. If anyone knows the reason for this please let me know.
Plyos on the Volga River
One of the nicest towns we visited was Plyos. It is very picturesque and quaint with many houses from the early 1900s. There was even a beer house run by an Austrian which had a micro-brewery and Brezn.
Here are some photos from the other cities we visited:
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| Kostroma - statue with money collection for stray dogs |
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| Cathedral in Rostov |
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| Another soviet monument - Uli working on his moves |
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| Uli's new Rusky Hat - he is very proud of it |
After Kostroma we headed back towards the Moscow airport. Bringing back the car was quite an adventure. There were no signs at the airport for rental car returns at all. We had to call the sixt hotline, ask for an english speaking person and she gave us a number to call.
We called the number and a lady told us to meet her in the middle of a big parking garage. We handed the car over to the unknown lady and had to walk back to our hotel, which was luckily close to the airport. Nothing is easy in Russia.
Time to leave this exciting beautiful country of the lost smiles.
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