Slightly bizarrely we spent the first part of the trip heading off to the east, stopping for a couple of hours at Novgorod and then heading all the way back west again! So, when we woke up in the morning we were just a few miles further on than we were after we went to bed! The reason was so that we could visit the towns of Vladimir and Suzdal. We actually stopped at the station in Vladimir and after a city tour on the coach, headed out to Suzdal.
The first stop at Suzdal was an outdoor museum of local architecture. We were greeted by a band of traditional singers. Their enthusiasm was hard to match as we stood out in the snow watching, though this situation was much improved when we followed them to a samovar of tea followed by pancakes and jam. There were also a couple of pastry snacks. These were filled with cabbage and potato – the staple diet!
Suzdal (and Vladimir) are part of what is described as the Golden Ring of Moscow. Suzdal is the smallest of the golden ring towns with just 10,000 people, but this is largely due to the fact that the town authorities failed to persuade the builders of the Trans-Siberian railway to come through the town in 1864. Instead, they chose Vladimir. Suzdal’s history dates back to 1024 and was considered the capital of Russia before Moscow.
From the open air museum we walked over the river (frozen) to the Kremlin which is the oldest part of Suzdal dating back to the 10th Century. We were given a short tour round the main site and then into the Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral. Inside we had a short recital from four Orthodox monks – absolutely beautiful, with the music perfectly matched to the acoustics.
From there we were taken round to the Monastery of St. Euthymius which was founded in 1352. As we entered there was a bell ringing taking place. However, where normally you might have expected a team of people ringing the multiple bells, there was just one Monk at the top of the bell tower plucking an interconnected cats cradle of ropes to ring the bells in time. The way he was leaping about made it quite a performance. Once again, the cathedrals were stunning and we had another performance from monks singing inside the Transfiguration Cathedral. The painted interior just took your breath away ……
We were back to the train again and lunchtime and headed on east ….. Next stop – Yekaterinburg.