Days 4 & 5, Suzdal: Peace and quiet

Today (July 11) we hit the road and headed to the small town of Suzdal for a two-day stay. As the bus wound and bumped its way out of Moscow, the scenery changed from urban sprawl to smaller towns and lots of forests. The types of cars on the road changed too - no longer were we seeing big fancy black SUVs. It was about a four-hour ride on a major highway, but there were many stop lights and the speed limit was only about 70. It was interesting to watch what was going on on the shoulders of the road; if they're not being used as additional lanes it's because there's at least one broken-down car blocking the way. There must've been at least 2 cars pulled over with the hood up every 10 kilometers. Most of the group was able to fall asleep despite the erratic movements of the bus.

We arrived at our guest house, dropped our bags and hit the streets. Suzdal is a small historic city within the Golden Ring, a ring of ancient cities northeast of Moscow. Suzdal is known for its churches: there are 33 churches for a population of about 10,000.

Our first priority was getting a bite to eat and some mead, or honey beer. I very much enjoyed my small flavorful glass, but I'm not so sure I could drink more than a little bit at a time as it is quite sweet and thick (and not that cold). Suzdal is known for mead and there are vendors selling it in the market place and on street corners.

Next we headed to Resurrection Church. We were unable to enter the actual church (no shorts allowed and women must cover their heads), but for a small fee we were able to climb a very steep staircase and enjoy the view from the top of bell tower. It was perfect timing as there was a lady in the tower at that moment ringing the bells. There were many bells, each rigged with a string, wire or foot pedal and she performed quite the choreographed dance in order to produce a beautiful melody. We wandered through the market place, bought some fresh blueberries, strawberries, goose berries and red currants from the babushkas (old ladies/grandmothers) then made the long walk home to enjoy our snack.

That evening we went to the home of a Russian woman and her husband for a real feast of traditional Russian food. Our hostess was quite delighted to stuff all 11 of our faces full with soup, crab and vegetable salad, delicious buns with egg and herbs inside, chicken cutlets, rice, lightly pickled cucumbers, sweet dessert buns, tea, and....vodka, of course. :-) She was so thrilled to have us in her home and we were equally happy to have the opportunity to interact with the locals and pig out on yummy Russian food. We booked our tour through a company called Intrepid, and these are the types of unique activities the company is known for. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. After dinner we strolled through their large garden, complete with a guided tour (by her shirtless husband) of the fruits, vegetables, and herbs. It was a slow crawl back to the guesthouse.

The next day began with a walking tour of the town. We met our local guide at the Saviour Monastery of St. Euthymius which was founded in the 14th century. Again we arrived just in time to hear a bell beautiful concert. Other highlights included a view of the monastery prison used to detain religious dissidents and the lovely and very organized and well labelled garden. The monastery grounds were immaculate and quite colorfully decorated with marigolds, petunias, geraniums, and other annuals.

From here we hopped onto a crowded local bus, where we were the object of many a curious stare. You'd think the locals would be used to this considering tourism is the #1 industry. We got off at the Museum of Wooden Architecture and Peasant Life. It's an open air museum, with old wooden buildings done up as they were centuries ago. Kim and I both instantly started singing songs from Fiddler on the Roof in our heads. This attraction wasn't at the top of my list, but it was interesting to see the poor peasant home and the wealthy man's home. It was a big step back in history, as are all of the things done on this trip. I still find 1000 year old sights difficult to wrap my mind around. It reminds me how young Canada is.

Our last stop on the walking tour was the Kremlin in Suzdal. This Kremlin didn't have a stone wall, but rather a dirt embankment to protect the city. It was a wonderfully relaxed day in Suzdal, but then it was time to hop back on the bus to Moscow to get an overnight train to our next destination, Novgorod.

We had some time to kill at the station, so we grabbed a beer and guarded our bags while taking turns going for food.

Photos below are me with my honey beer, our quiet street in Suzdal, a view of the convent in Suzdal, and me and Gary (a fellow tour member) with our Baltika 7s at the train station. We only got told once by the police to hide our beers.

More about our train experience and a day in ancient Novgorod in the next post.

TTFN