The Golden Ring: Sergiev Posad

Visiting at least a couple of cities on the Golden Ring is recommended when you travel to Russia and spend more than a few days in Moscow. As such, I decided to sign up for a private tour by car of Sergiev Posad offered by Three Whales.

The main attraction when you visit Sergiev Posad is the Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius. It was founded by St. Sergius, who is one of the most venerated saints of the Russian Orthodox Church. As such, it makes perfect sense that this monastery serves as the church's spiritual centre.

Our timing wasn't very good though. We went there on May 1 which was the start of a 5-day holiday in Russia so hundreds (thousands?) of people who live in Moscow headed out to their dachas located outside the capital. This means that the traffic was really bad on our way to Sergiev Posad and it took us an extra hour or more to get there. Also, the toy museum in the monastery, which features a good collection of Matryoshka dolls, was closed due to the long holiday. Finally, the monastery would be celebrating the 700th anniversary of St. Sergius next year (he was born on May 14, 2014) so the Cathedral of the Assumption was closed to the public as it was being renovated. Nevertheless, we still got to see an enjoy other parts of the monastery.

I think there is a law in Russia that allows only city or region locals to provide guided tours. As such, our Three Whales tour guide Oleg endorsed us to our local tour guide (I am not quite sure what his name was, I thought I heard him say Rustan but my mom heard Rusdal or something like that). We kicked off the guided tour underneath the archway entrance which is decorated with murals of the life and eventual canonization of St. Sergius.

Our tour guide then took us to the Trinity Cathedral, which is a very important part of the monastery as St. Sergius' incorrupt relics are kept here. There was a bit of a long line to get in and photos are not allowed inside. Women also have to wear head scarves when they enter the cathedral.

To round out our tour, we went to the Refectory Church of St. Sergius. We actually visited Sergiev Posad before we went inside St. Basil's Cathedral so it was in our trip to the refectory that we got to take photos inside a Russian Orthodox Church for the first time. It was beautiful!

Inside the church was one of the most striking iconostases I got to see in Russia.

As this was already the official end of our tour, I asked our Three Whales guide Oleg for an extra 10 minutes so I could see and take photos of a few other sites in the monastery. One place I wanted to see was the Chapel over the well. The water from this spring can supposedly heal the sick and as such, many people were collecting water from this well.

Since the toy museum at the monastery was closed, Oleg drove us to a nearby exhibition of Matryoshka dolls after we left the monastery, although we had to pay an extra fee to enter as it was not covered in our tour. Visitors have to pay an extra fee to take photos of the displays and in this case, we chose not to take this option. The most impressive set had 47 dolls if I recall correctly. Wow!

There are plenty of souvenir shops outside the monastery and my mom ended up buying an apron in one of them. The souvenirs here are significantly cheaper than in Moscow. In fact, my mom saw some keychains that cost around 10 or 20 rubles only but since our tour was only for abour 5 hours including travel, we didn't really have enough time to look at and purchase souvenirs.

The Sergiev Posad tour offered by Three Whales provides an option to extend your stay (it costs an additional US$40 per extra hour) in case you want to spend more time here taking photos, going into the churches by yourself, and even purchasing souvenirs.

Next post: Vladimir and Suzdal.

The Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro is arguably the best in the world. Not only because the trains come in practically every minute (I don't recall having to wait for more than a minute, which I think is incredible) but also because each station is built like an art gallery.

The impressive Kievskaya station

I first realized that the Moscow Metro is a must-see attraction after I saw a few Moscow itineraries from different travel agents that included a trip here. I went to tripadvisor to read a bit more about it and I saw that it was rated #7 among attractions in Moscow. After seeing a few photos online, I knew I had to include this in our itinerary.

Beautiful wall art at the Komsomolsakaya station

The question though was which stations were the best ones to visit. I checked out the tripadvisor travel forum to see what people had to say and I also noted down the suggested stations in my book. In the end, we managed to visit and take photos of all the stations in my list. (Note however that as I am reading up again about the Moscow Metro now, I realize there are a couple other stations I would have loved to see.)

Kievskaya (Киевская)
There are a couple of different halls at the Kievskaya station. One of them, on the Koltsevaya Line or Circle route, is decorated with mosaics...

Kievskaya hall on the Koltsevaya Line

...while the other, on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line, has paintings. These wall mosaics and paintings display events in Ukrainian history and friendly relations between Russia and Ukraine.

Kievskaya hall on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line

Komsomolskaya (Комсомо́льская)
Russian military heroes such as Peter the Great are depicted on the ceilings of this station.

Komsomolskaya

Mayakovskaya (Маяковская)
Winner of the 1938 Grand Prix in New York, this station is very sleek and stunning.

Mayakovskaya

The brightly lit sky-themed ceiling mosaics add an extra dimension to the brilliance of this must-see station.

Sky-themed ceiling mosaic at Mayakovskaya

Ploshchad Revolutsii (Пло́щадь Револю́ции)
Here you can find life-sized bronze statues of different occupations of Russian men and women.

Pl. Revolutsii

Park Kultury ( Парк культу́ры)
Appropriately, you can find circular bas-reliefs that illustrate different cultural, sporting, and other leisure activities.

Park Kultury

Novoslobodskaya (Новослободская)
This station was quite unique among the ones we saw since it is decorated with exquisite stained-glass panels.

Stained glass panel at Novoslobodskaya

Krasnopresnenskaya (Краснопресненская)
This station is decorated with bas-reliefs that commemorate the 1905 revolution when a strikers' march to petition the tsar in the Winter Palace was fired upon by troops.

Krasnopresnenskaya

Pushkinskaya (Пушкинская)
Alexander Pushkin is considered to be the Russian Shakespeare. We took a quick stop at the station just to see (and take photos) of the artwork that commemorate one of Russia's most important authors and poets.

Pushkinskaya

Partizanskaya (Партизанская)
Floral bas-reliefs strangely adorned with AK-47 machine guns are featured at the top of the pillars in this station. At the top of the escalator is a bronze military-themed sculpture.

Partizanskaya

Teatralnaya (Театральная)
The station you get out of when visiting Bolshoi Theatre, a beautiful chandelier and a wall design that seems to commemorate World War II greet you at the top of the elevator.

Teatralnaya

Smolenskaya (Смоленская)
This metro served as the starting point of our Moscow trips since it was the closest one to our hotel. I took photos of this station for sentimental purposes but while it has a relatively simple design, it does have a massive military-themed sculpture at the far end.

Smolenskaya

Vdnkh (ВДНХ)
We got off this station when we visited the Cosmonautic Memorial Museum on the 2nd of May and it seems that most of Moscow decided to head to that area as well (this is also the stop for the All-Russia Exhibition Centre, which is where I think most of these people went to). It took a while to get out of this station due to the number of people!

The jam-packed Vdnkh station

My favorite stations among the ones I saw are Mayakovskaya, Kievskaya, Komsomolskaya and Novoslobodskaya. Pretty much every station along the Koltsevaya Line (brown line or circle route) is beautiful as this line, which connects the different cross-city routes, was built during the height of Stalinist Architecture to manage the growing number of metro passengers in Moscow.

beautiful wall mosaic at Novoslobodskaya station

A one-way trip on the metro costs 30 rubles only and it's a fixed rate for any destination, no matter how many stations away it is. As such, some say that this is the most inexpensive art gallery in Moscow. I tend to agree. Next post: a day trip to Sergiev Posad.

More Moscow Sights

We visited all these places over the course of a few days but I decided to write about all of them in one post.

You can actually see the massive golden domes of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour when you are standing outside the Kremlin's main entrance (Trinity Gate). I remember stepping out of the Kropotkinstakaya metro station right next to this cathedral, looking up at it and saying 'wow' to myself. After all, it is the tallest Orthodox Christian church in the world. But if you think the outside is awe-inspiring, wait until you get inside. Of all the cathedrals I visited in Moscow, I think this one has the most magnificent interior. Unfortunately, photos are not allowed inside. My mom bought a book of the catehdral in the church shop inside so we could look at the photos and be reminded just how spectacular it is. Entrance is free.

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

Another place you must visit when in Moscow is the Tretyakov Gallery. This museum is ranked #4 among Moscow attractions in tripadvisor and my book recommended a visit here. To be quite honest, I included a stop here in our itinerary because I kept reading about it but I was initially expecting to spend just an hour or two here. As it turns out, the gallery is huge and it houses a very extensive collection of very impressive and brilliant artwork. We ended up spending more than three hours here and even then we felt we could have spent more time just going through the 62 rooms in the museum. They also have a great collection of religious artifacts. Entrance is 450 rubles but it is worth every penny.

Boyarynya Morozova by Vasily Surikov

When you are here, take a quick trip to the Museum Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachy which is also located on museum grounds. Entrance to the church is included in the price of admission but it closes at 4 PM. My mom and I ended our tour around the gallery shortly before 4 PM so we still had time to go into the church. Photos are not allowed here but once again, it features an amazing gold iconostasis and the 12th-century Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.

The Gates of the Palace of Timur (Tamerlane's Mausoleum) by Vasily Vereshchagin

The Church of St. John the Warrior is a short walk away from the Oktyabrskaya metro, and my book suggested a quick visit here to see the mix of Moscow and European baroque styles. It doesn't look that interesting from the outside but once again, the interior with its wooden iconostasis was worth at least a quick look.

Church of St. John the Warrior

There is another, smaller church right outside the Oktyabrskaya metro so we decided to go in for a quick look since we were already there.

I knew about Gorky Park because of the film of the same name that came out back in the 80s. When we tried looking for what apparently is the now-defunct Ice Sculpture Gallery, it was already 6pm and not a lot of sights were still open. My book indicated that Gorky Park was open to the public until 10 PM so we went there instead.

Gorky Park

It used to be an amusement park that was a bit kitschy but most of the rides and games have been cleared out save for a few. They are also building a few places to eat here, although there was at least one cafe that was already in operation and my mom and I had some coffee and pastries here to relax a bit.

The Cosmonautics Memorial Museum is one of my favorite attractions in Moscow. It is quite memorable because most of the places we saw were religious or historical in nature and this museum was the only "futuristic" place we saw. Of course, my inner kid came out and seeing all the "space stuff" made me very excited.

Cosmonautics Memorial Museum

Entrance is 200 rubles but if you want to take photos inside, you need to pay an additional 200 rubles per camera. My advice: pay the extra 200 rubles. We easily spent about 3 hours inside looking at and taking photos of original cosmonaut memorabilia and replicas of the satellites, shuttles, and rockets. It was also interesting getting a glimpse into the lives of Russian cosmonauts.

My mom actually wanted us to visit "Star City" which is where Russian cosmonauts go to train and where visitors actually have an opportunity to have their picture taken inside an actual space suit. However, since this is an actual training facility, you need to work on getting government approval (usually through a travel agent) at least two weeks prior to your visit. Since we couldn't go to Star City, I thought the Cosmonautics Memorial Museum definitely made up for it.

Our final day in Moscow was spent at the Vernissage Market at the Kremlin in Izmailovo. Here you will find a whole horde of Russian souvenirs, including an endless array of Matryoshka dolls. The items here are really cheap and both my mom and I made a few purchases (my mom also got a set of Matryoshka dolls that are now on display at home). We were told that while the market is open every day, the best time to visit is during the weekend when a whole lot more stores are open. There's a part of the market that you can visit for free but most of the shops are located in the gated section that has a 10 or 20 ruble entrance fee.

Vernissage Market

Next to the market is the wildly colorful Kremlin in Izmailovo. There are several beautiful buildings in the area and we took a couple of photos but as we stepped out, we realized that you need to pay to take pictures. Oops! There is a Vodka History Museum here that we didn't visit. My book also indicated that there is a Russian Costume and Culture Museum and a small Toy Museum but no one there could speak in English so we gave up trying to figure out where these two were (the website also doesn't mention these sights so maybe they are no longer present).

Kremlin in Izmailovo

We probably didn't buy as many souvenirs in Vernissage Market because the hotel where we stayed was about a 3-minute walk from Arbat Street where you can also several souvenir shops that stay open until 9 or even 10 PM. As such, my mom was already able to buy a lot of souvenirs over the week that we were there. You can also find several dining options along Arbat Street, and while we did eat at McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts, we also tried some Russian local restaurants and cafes such as Moo Moo and Shokoladnitsa.

Arbat Street

From the end of Arbat Street close to the Smolenskaya Metro station, you also get a good view of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one of Moscow's Seven Sisters which are seven buildings in the city designed in the Stalinist style. Actually, we had an even better view of this beautiful building from our hotel room.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one of Moscow's Seven Sisters

Next post: the amazing Moscow Metro.

Moscow: Kremlin and Red Square

When people think of Russia, the image that often comes to mind is St. Basil's Cathedral. Given that this cathedral with it's multi-colored domes is located in Red Square and right next to the Kremlin, it was natural for us to spend our first day in Moscow here.

St. Basil's Cathedral

The cathedral is named after St. Vasily the Blessed who is buried underneath the cathedral. Religious services are no longer held here; instead, the interior has been converted to a museum that is open to visitors on most days. Except Mondays, apparently. Since we were there on Monday and the museum was closed, we decided to pass by St. Basil's again later in the week. It was definitely worth the return trip because the interior of the cathedral is awe-inspiring!

Iconostasis inside St. Basil's Cathedral

The thing I love about Russian Orthodox churches is that they always feature impressive iconostases (see photo above), which is a wall of icons that separates the nave (or the main section of the church where most people stand) and the sanctuary or altar. Cathedral interiors are also often covered in beautiful frescoes (I say often because in some cases, which I will write about later on, the walls and columns are covered in beautiful mosaic).

Entrance to the museum is 250 rubles (or about 300 PHP), although a group of 2 adults and 1 child can get in at a discounted price of 450 rubles. The experience inside the cathedral is definitely worth the price of admission. One thing to note, however, is that once you head up to the second floor, you can't go back down (the staircase is one way). Since I missed seeing certain sections of the first floor, I had to head out of the exit and request the guard at the entrance to let me in again. Thankfully I was allowed to re-enter.

We were also quite lucky when we where there because a Russian vocal group called Doros were in the Intercession cathedral (or the most central and tallest part of the church) and my mom and I caught them singing a couples of songs. Their voices were absolutely incredible and the performance was made even more impressive by the brilliant acoustics inside the church.

St. Basil's Cathedral is situated at one end of Red Square, or Krasnya Ploshchad. According to my book, this square doesn't get its name from the fact that the color red is linked to communism, nor from the red buildings and walls that border parts of the square. Apparently, the word 'krasnya' used to mean 'beautiful' in old Russian and only came to also mean 'red' in the 20th century. Nevertheless, the name has become quite appropriate because even the main entrance to the square, the Resurrection Gate, is made of red brick...

Resurrection Gate

...as is the State History Museum. (Preparations for Russia's Victory Day celebration on May 9 were in full swing when we were there.) I wanted to go inside but my mom didn't seem that interested so we just had our picture taken outside.

State History Museum

There's a beautiful view of the square from the second floor of St. Basil's Cathedral.

Red Square

We had a quick lunch before spending the afternoon inside the Kremlin. There are quite a few places of interest inside the walls of this political center of Russia and you could easily spend a lot more time inside. There are four different tickets you can purchase at the entrance:

• Architectural complex of the Cathedral Square, which includes entrance to the five museums-cathedrals and the Patriarch's Palace, exhibitions in the Assumption Belfry and One-Pillar Chamber of the Patriarch's Palace (350 rubles)
• Ivan the Great Bell Tower, which apart from entrance to the Ivan the Great Bell Tower also includes admission to the all museums-cathedrals and the Patriarch's Palace (500 rubles)
• Armoury Chamber, which includes access to the Armoury only (700 rubles)
• Diamond Fund, which includes access to the Diamond Fund only (700 rubles)

Kremlin

I wanted to get the Ivan the Great Bell Tower ticket but unfortunately, the tower was closed when we were there. (We actually planned to visit again on the Saturday before we left Moscow for St. Petersburg so that we could watch the ceremonial parade of the Presidential Regiment, which is staged every Saturday at noon. However, when we got there, the line at the Kremlin was extraordinarily long so we decided to abandon that plan.) As such, we decided to just get the standard ticket to the Architectural complex of the Cathedral Square or Sobornaya Ploshchad. This ticket allowed us to enter the Assumption Cathedral, the Annunciation Cathedral, and the Archangel Cathedral.

Annunciation Cathedral in Cathedral Square

Of course, we still got to see and take photos of Ivan the Great Bell Tower.

Ivan the Great Bell Tower

We also got tickets to the Armoury Chamber which has several interesting displays, including gifts to the Russian kings and queens over the centuries, important Russian artifacts and relics, and an impressive set of royal carriages and coaches. Several important Fabergé eggs were also part of the exhibit, although it was quite unfortunate that the Grand Siberian Railway egg which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful ones wasn't on display when we were there. Photography is not allowed inside. My mom and I bought a couple of  souvenirs at the shops located at the entrance of the Armoury Chamber. Important note: large bags are not allowed inside the Kremlin so make sure you leave your bag at the Kremlin left-luggage office (I think it costs 70 rubles per bag).

After our visit to this museum, we spent the rest of the afternoon going through the rest of the Kremlin. We visited the Patriarch's Palace - entrance here is included in our Cathedral square ticket and photography is also not allowed inside - then we swung by the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bell. The Tsar Bell which is on display on the grounds of the Kremlin, is the largest bell in the world and is actually too heavy to be hoisted at the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. You can read more about the history of this bell and why a huge 11-ton piece of the bell was broken off here.

Tsar Bell

Technically, the word 'kremlin' means fortified stronghold in the center of a city or town. The one in Moscow has become the most important one in the entire Russia and as such, it is often referred to simply as the Kremlin (and not as Moscow Kremlin). Outside, there's a beautiful park and several fountains. Makes me wonder if the canal outside used to be a moat.

Aside from the Ivan the Great Bell Tower which we weren't able to enter and the ceremonial parade on Saturday which we missed, we were also unable to visit Lenin's Mausoleum because it was closed when we were there (apparently, it was only going to be open to the public again on May 15). Nevertheless, our Red Square and Kremlin experience was a great start to our tour of Russia. Next post: more Moscow sights.