A month after our trip to Vladimir and Suzdal (see part 1) we ventured off to a couple more towns on the Golden Ring. First up was Sergiev Posad, home to the Trinity monastery of St Sergius, founded in 1340, which is today one of the most important spiritual sites in Russia and an active… Continue reading The Golden Ring Part 2: Pereslavl-Zalessky and Sergiev Posad
Category: Russia
Siberia part 2 – Lake Baikal
The drive from Irkutsk to Olkhon island is 4 hours. We set off at 10:00 heading north out of town. Slowly the city sprawl and the villages strung out along the road gave way to a vast nothingness. Mile after mile of a gently undulating, muted, two tone landscape; brown trees, brown grass, brown earth… Continue reading Siberia part 2 – Lake Baikal
Siberia part 1 – Irkutsk
I have just spent an amazing 3 days visiting Irkusk and Lake Baikal in Siberia. First let me start with getting there. My husband and I flew with Pobeda, Aeroflot’s low cost airline. The crew were smart and professional and the planes clean but basic. It is a 6 hour flight but the airline is… Continue reading Siberia part 1 – Irkutsk
A Love Poem for St Valentines Day
A Russian love poem about love of his country by Mikhail Lermontov (1814 – 1841). Translated by Peter France. Lermontov was a Romantic and considered the Byron of Russia. My County I love my country, but with a strange love – stronger than reason! ….. Neither the fame that blood can buy, nor the calm… Continue reading A Love Poem for St Valentines Day
A weekend in Zavidovo
This weekend my husband and I went away, as part of a group, to a recreational resort complex on the banks of the rivers Volga and Shosha. The complex, opened during the Soviet times and run by the ‘Ministry of Hospitality’ for the use of diplomats and other ‘foreign representations’, is about 2 hours from… Continue reading A weekend in Zavidovo
Train to St Petersburg
On our second weekend living in Russia my husband had to go to St Petersburg for work. Naturally I went along too. We went by Sapsan, the high speed train between Moscow and St Pete’s. It takes 4 hours and ‘trundles’ along at speeds up to 220km/h. We travelled business class which included a surprisingly… Continue reading Train to St Petersburg
Russian Reflections 