Golden Ring - Sergiev Posad, Pereslavl-Zalessky and Rostov Veliky

Last Saturday saw Peter and I up early to be at the back gate to the American Embassy for 7. Waiting for half an hour a group of 9 plus Lena the guide set off on our 500 mile round trip around part of the Golden Ring.

Before I set off on the tour a brief history lesson. The Golden Ring is a circle of cities founded about 1000 years ago, many by Ivan the Longarms. Moscow was also founded about this time, though it was only a settlement at this time. These cities became important religious sites over the centuries, hence the large number of cathedrals and monastaries in the cities. Sergiev Posad, Vladimir and Suzdal are all close to Moscow and can be visited in a long day from Moscow. We were heading out to the furthest parts of the ring.

If I remember correctly, Ghengis Khan ruled this area for a time. Vladimir was the capital of Russia for a time, as was Kiev before Moscow. Peter the Great moved it St Petersberg and it only came back to Moscow after the Revolution of 1917.

Our first stop was a brief stop for the toilet and breakfast at Macdonalds in Sergiev Posad. We were given the opportunity to take photos of the monastary while we were there. It is a place still to visit in the future.

The Monastary from a view point.

A chapel over a well

The entrances. The one to the left was for important visitors. Those less important used the one to the right.

Sergiev Posad is a huge site. In Soviet times it was the base for the Patriach of the Russian Church.

Once more we set off to stop at Pereslavl - Zalessy. Here was an interesting church with a 'tent' roof. Later churches HAD to be built with the, now familiar, domed roofs, which must have 5 domes. As most Russian preferred the tent shape, bell towers witht the tent roof were built close to or as part of the cathedral.

Ivan the Longarms

During our brief stop I visited a tiny shop selling souvenirs and I found a lovey linen handbag to use for 'best'. Linen is huge in this area. Flax is grown in the area and in Rostov Veliky is a linen factory. It is just what I need for Sundays when I don't want to carry my rucsac to church.

It took us a couple of hours to get there as we drove through nothingness. There is a lot of woodland - mostly spruce and silver birch, but there are huge areas of plain. I don't think much of it is cultivated. Every now and then we passed small collections of wooden houses along the road. These are not dacha, they are too far away from anywhere, but family homes. Many are very dilapidated, needing a coat of paint at the very least. Some had been abandoned and were in various stages of falling down. However, some were well maintained, with modern satellite dishes, good cars and gardens. Others had been replaced with new modern houses of various sizes.

Though taken in Kostrama and Plyos, these houses are typical of what we saw all along the trip. Note the patterns around the windows. In heathen times they were designed to keep out evil spirits.  They are still an important part of the houses.  

After twenty minutes to explore, we were off again, this time to Rostov Veliky where lunch had been ordered.. The building looked very unpromising, but we had a hearty meal. We started with salad which is finely diced cooked vegetables, meat and mayonnaise. This was followed by soup and then a hearty pot meal. Meat, potatoes and mushrooms had been cooked in glazed pots in a thick gravy. Very filling and warming. We finished with a tiny dessert and black tea.

These plaster reliefs were on the wall of the restaurant

After lunch we were taken to the Assumption Cathedral.

The domes on the left are painted silver. The one to the right is made of aspen which turns silver with age.

Outside there were opportunties to buy lots of different things made of linen or enamel. I bought a silver lady with an enamel face to hang on the Christmas tree.

Sadly by now my new camera had packed up so these are not my photographs but those of Ann who kindly let me copy hers. This is when I wish I had photographed the market. Didn't think of it at the time.

I bought a linen hat for playground duty. Not particulary flattering but will do the job. Every sort of tableware and clothing has been made of linen. Some of the shirts for men and tops for ladies looked very nice. Then there were the linen socks.

We were off again as we still had a long way to travel.

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