We began slowly, as Chris’s cold has developed into a rather nasty cough and he has rather generously shared his cold with me!
We caught the 50 minute bus to Suzdal, and the minibus with a capacity of 40 was crammed to the gunnels! I found myself standing by a reserved seat that wasn’t occupied, and the lady in the next seat said just to sit down! We got chatting and she said she was from Moscow coming specially for the Russian Festival of Spiritual Music and Bells and that was why the bus was so busy.
Suzdal is called the diamond in the Golden Ring. A millennium ago, it was the frontier of the medieval Rus, the principality based in Kiev that extended Christianity into Russia by erecting churches and establishing fortresslike settlements. In the 12th century, Suzdal was the capital of a small principality, though that capital later shifted to Vladimir and ultimately the whole region was absorbed by Moscow. Suzdal was transformed into a major monastic centre during the times of Ivan the Terrible and in the C18th wealthy merchants paid for thirty churches, which still adorn the town, resulting in some forty churches for four hundred families! During Soviet times, it was treated as a museum and churches were not destroyed.
It is also a chance to take it easy out into the countryside for a couple of days and the Suzdal Inn is our home for 3 days, with the traditions of the Russian countryside and all the mod cons of a comfy hotel.
There was bell ringing taking place at the Monastery of St Euthymius so we went to investigate. This large walled complex contains a couple of churches and living quarters for the monks and a huge kitchen garden.
We climbed up into one of the belfries and saw the bells and the view …
There were poetry readings and various music being played and then the bells with both the large set in the belfry and the small set being played together …
We should have noticed the sky darkening and before we knew it, the rain started. Despite waiting in the hope it would pass, in the end we just walked back and reached the inn in a pretty soggy state!
Next day began bright but a bit breezy and we walked into town, passing lots of pretty wooden houses. Some are built like log cabins and called izbas. Some might be dachas, which are country retreats used at the weekend providing a refuge from city life and the chance to grow produce to eat through the winter.
Stalls were set up in the town square selling souvenirs and also homemade produce like preserves, pickles fresh fruit and berries and honey.
We walked on passed churches and souvenir shops …
… to the walled Kremlin which contained the Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral with blue domes sparkling with gold stars. Inside there were frescos of various ages covering the walls, with bible stories and pictures of saints.
We stopped at Kvasnaya Izba for lunch and I tried Solyanka, a soup of pickled veg, meat and potato and once a winter staple which was delicious.
We looked round the Museum of a Wooden Architecture with a couple of wooden churches and houses …
… and took a short boat trip on the river before calling it a day as it had got quite chilly.
On our last day here, we awoke to rain, but it stopped briefly so we could get a walk in.
They make a lot of mead here locally, the type of honey ale drunk by princes of old, and we would have had a tasting yesterday, but didn’t get round to it. It seemed a bit early for alcohol, so we bought a bottle to try later …
… and settled down instead to a pot of buckthorn tea to ease our continuing cold symptoms.
Apparently our trip to Russia would not be complete without a visit to a banya, a cross between a bathhouse and sauna, and even to this day, a weekly event for many Russians. We could have visited the very swanky and very expensive Saduny Baths in Moscow, but chose instead to come to the private banya attached to our hotel here which we had booked for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Leana took us round and explained what it was that we should do. The parilka or steam room, looking very like a sauna, is heated by a wood-fired furnace up to around 100 degrees and one spends maybe 10 minutes in the heat before cooling down by dousing one’s head from a suspended bucket of water and taking a dip in the tub filled with cold water … or if you are feeling like a wimp, just taking a shower! After drying off, and drinking some tea and resting in the relaxing room, the whole experience is repeated several times over a two hour period. We also had a venik or tied bunch of birch branches to lightly beat the flesh, to help cleanse the skin of toxins while in the sauna, which were actually very soft.
It was a great experience, with the hot not quite as hot as I expected while the cold was colder! There was even a pond outside a an alternative venue for a dip, especially in winter when they cut a hole in the ice. As you will see from the pics, not everyone braved the tub!
It’s been a bit of a shame that we’ve been under the weather while here and for that matter that the weather hasn’t been a little better, but we’ve enjoyed our banya as well as the lovely dinners in the restaurant, with some of the ingredients coming from their own farm, and the staff have been very friendly and helpful.
Tomorrow we leave and are off to The Volga.
Off Travelling Together 