Read about Ron & Viv's journey so far - Western Russia.
Amber, Russian Dolls - Matryoshka and Faberge Eggs.
St Issacs Church.
The Summer Palace, with its beautiful buildings and famous fountains.
We drove from St Petersburg to Moscow around what is known as the Golden Ring -the route takes in quite a few very traditional wooden houses and small villages.
On the outskirts of Moscow – we parked in the late afternoon, had some tea, and waited for the traffic to subside a little before battling our way into the centre of town – here the boys mull over the maps and try and find our way in.
The famous Red Square.
The beautiful buildings inside the Kremlin red brick fortress walls.
The stunning and sensational building that is St Basil's Church.
8th July to 21st July 2008WESTERN RUSSIA
Across the Border
Then it was on to Russia. Not to put a too fine a point on it, we were looking forward to our first border crossing into this vast country with a great deal of trepidation. Talk to most Norwegians and Finns and you'd feel the same way. Maybe it's because they live right beside a very powerful neighbour; maybe its because Russia has long been seen as an invader or at the very least an intimidating one; maybe the memories of WW2 haven't lost their sting even after 60 years. Whatever the case there doesn't seem too much love lost between them!
Once we got to the Russian border we parked in line and had our passports checked at Immigration and then tried to fill the form out for Customs. It was all in Russian but with the help of a few Finns (most of whom were crossing the border to get cheap grog and fuel) we managed. We then went and bought our 3rd Party Vehicle Insurance at the large building at the border, for the three months we were going to be in (and out off) the country; price was about Ruble 3500 (A$170), while the big Fords because of their bigger engines got hit for about 1000 Ruble more. Back at Immigration we handed all our forms in and with a few stamps on some we headed out to the cars and moved up the line for an inspection. With that done – and it was a very cursory inspection - and another stamp we were allowed to go.
Stopped just up the road to get some fuel and filled up at just A$1.20/litre – what a change from Europe and Norway!!!
Got to the outskirts of St Petersburg at about 3pm but it took the next 2 hours or more to find our way through to the southern side where our hotel was. Gay arrived from Australia after a horrendous 40 hour flight, via Singapore, London and Paris - to cap it off without her luggage!
The Elizar Hotel, ph:(812)336 9339; www.elizar-hotel.ru (GPS 59°53'56”N 30°25'40”E) proved to be ideal and would be for most overlanders as it has a large fenced carpark that is under video surveillance. It costs about A$230/night for a couple. It is only a 200 metre walk to the metro, which is only three stops from the centre of St Pete's. There's a bank right beside the metro as well as a mobile phone place and a couple of small shops and a supermarket and a couple of take-away stores. The two girls behind the desk were most helpful and friendly – Katrina Makeeva could speak a fair amount of English while Natalie Nikoleave could speak a little.
Truly Magnificent St Petersburg
St Petersburg, with its five million people is a bustling, hustling magnificent city that really owes its existence and its delightful persona to Peter the Great. His dream began when he beat the Swedes in 1701 reclaiming this part of Russia and where he first built the Peter and Paul Fortress. In 1712 he made the growing town his capital, while Catherine the Great made it into a lively cosmopolitan city during the first quarter of the 19th century. It remained the capital of the vast country till the Russian Revolution in 1917 and a few years later it was renamed Leningrad.
During WW2 it suffered nearly three years of siege by the German army when over one million locals died here of starvation and shelling. In 1991 the people of the city voted for the old name for the place to be used and today it hosts a few million visitors – that will turn to a flood when the Russian government realizes there's more money to be made from tourists spending than slugging them unrealistic amounts for visas and registration fees.
After a Red Bus Tour to check out the overall city we wandered down the side roads back to the Blood Church, or more correctly the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood – which is partly modeled on the St Basil's cathedral in Moscow and was built between 1883 and 1907. It's different … and impressive!
Near the Blood Church and down by the bridge there were lots of street stall vendors selling a wide range of souvenirs – amber, Russian Dolls - Matryoshka - a set of brightly painted hollow wooden dolls of varying sizes, designed to nest inside one another, and Faberge Eggs (or copies) and jewellery, paintings, furs, fur hats, etc, etc. In the end, after all our travels, this was probably one of the best and cheapest places to buy souvenirs and you could haggle a little as well.
The St Petersburg Palace Square is ringed on one side by the defence building on one side and the Hermitage on the other and is dominated by a Victory Column that was erected to remember the defeat of Napoleon – a recurring theme in both St Pete's and Moscow. The archway into the square is also a beauty. There were a few military vehicles lined up in the square but that was about all – apart from the tourists who mill here or line up to go into the Hermitage.
The Hermitage , once Catherine the Greats Winter Palace and now an art museum of epic proportions has more Rubens, Rembrandts, Raphels, Picasso's and Monet's than you can poke a stick at. There were other great masters on display in this art gallery of over 1000 rooms. Generally there's a room for each artist although some get two rooms to show off their style and there were also museum displays of ancient Rome statues, Greek statues and other fine work from the ancient Middle East. We spent 5 hours there!
At the junction of the two rivers that the city is built around there are a couple of distinct lighthouses backed by a ring of colourful Custom houses, while just down from the Hermitage is the long line of Admiralty buildings.
Catherine the Great's Summer Palace , just down river a little from the centre of St Petersburg – a 30 minute boat ride on a hydrofoil - is unbelievably breathtaking with its magnificent buildings, fantastic gold inlaid rooms, stunning gold statues, hundreds of fountains (more here than anywhere else on earth by all accounts) and cascades. There would have been at least 10,000 tourists there on the day we went – it is peak tourist season here at present!
We walked along the River and enjoyed the passing scenery to the St Isaac's Cathedral , which is a magnificent building capable of sitting 12,000 people is set back a few hundred metres from the river and separated from it by parkland. It took 40 years to build from 1818, while the great pillars of pink granite that ring the building came from Finland and a special train had to be built to accommodate that. The girls were going to go up to colonnade for the expansive view over the city but it was expensive so we headed to a little café in the park opposite and had a beer instead.
In all we spent three full days in this colourful lively city and walked our socks off. The Russian government is spending a fortune here doing the city up (it was Putin's birthplace and he likes showing it off) and there is a lot of work going on. The many magnificent buildings, many of them coloured a different soft hue, makes the place look so much more vibrant than grey drab London or a lot of other European towns and cities.
With its two major rivers and numerous canals it is offered called the ‘Venice of the North' and a couple of our group who have now been to both thought it was better than Venice.
Of course it wasn't all good news. Neil lost his wallet to a slick pick pocket in the subway and had to spend a fair amount of time sorting that out and getting a police report filed. He met a few other people in the same boat!!
Away from the heart of the city it is poorer and more run down. The trams look like they carried troops during the siege of WW2, grass grows in profusion around buildings, the sidewalks are poorly maintained and scrapped cars and rubbish are pretty common everywhere. But no matter, if you get a chance to visit St Petersburg, take it – you will love it!
The Poorer Countryside
Finally got away and headed east. The road was very changeable and lumpy in most parts and never great, although you could cruise along at 80kph with little difficulty. It was busy with trucks and cars so it kept us on our toes.
We passed mainly through forests and a smattering of farmland that hugged the edge of the road with the paddocks taking up 30-100 acres all nearly growing grass. WE passed a couple that were growing a small crop while around the farm houses there were vegetables and the like growing. We only saw about three mobs of cows (each mob of about 30-40 animals at the most). Dense fir forests closely bordered the farms as well and there seemed there was a lot of logging going on with trucks heavily loaded with timber hauling wood to and from the towns along the way.
Stopped and found a spot to camp overnight about 60km north of Sazonovo. The Lakeside Loading Camp (GPS 59°25'57”N 34°40'11”E) is close to a lake and is a cleared area about 100 metres off the road. A few locals used the track into the lake but we had no trouble.
As we got to closer to Cherepovets , the forest gave away to mainly farmland – we even saw an abattoir - but we were soon at the outskirts of this huge industrial city on the northern end of the very large Rybskoye Reservoir. We could see a huge petro-chemical plant and more before we got to the town – all the tall chimneys pumping smoke into the air. As we crossed the bridge across the river we could see the ships, barges and other boats moving along this important waterway.
Continued south, the edge of the lake on the high ground about 500 metres back from the water being a near continual line of wooden houses with an accompanying patch of vegetable garden. Saw a few animals – cows and goats - but no big mobs.
Just south of there we actually found a camping ground (GPS 58°20'33”N 39°02'51”E) – it was early but what the hell we decided to see what a Russian Camping Ground was like. Located on the south-eastern shore of the vast Rybskoye Reservoir there was a café and a bar, the latter having the toilet and showers – or supposedly. We ended up using the house showers and toilet (in their big sauna rooms) as the bar's one wasn't working or in the morning it was locked. The area we camped in was okay but hemmed in by grass and a bit old unused old stuff. There was a small jetty and a few boats and a bit of activity around there as it was a nice day. The owner is a keen fisherman and hunter (pics in the bar area testify) and he has a good enclosure for a herd of about 20 fallow deer.
Our arrival caused quite a bit of interest and two young fellows in a Pajero took a lot of pics of us and yarned to us via the phrase book.
Just across the bridge, which crosses the lake at this point, and about 500 metres away a track heads off to the right leading to a lot of bush camps strung out along the river – a top spot to camp.
At Rybinsk we took the minor road on the north side of the River Volga east and while it was a pleasant enough drive through a rural countryside it turned out to be a bad move as the large town we were heading for doesn't have a bridge or even a ferry to cross the mighty stream. We ended up heading further east meeting with the M8 and turning south to the big city of Yaroslav, where amongst the roadworks and new freeways we got stuffed up for a short time.
Finally headed south through what is known nowadays as The Golden Ring . This region north-east of Moscow has some of the oldest cities and towns in Russia and most were pivotal in the shaping of the great nation. We stopped at the village of Rostov-Veliky, which is situated on the edge of Lake Nero, and while it was once an important city it is now a village that seems to have lost its way. There's a magnificent Monastery of St Jacob which we went and had a look at situated as it is on the edge of the lake. The local Kremlin (a ‘Kremlin' is a fortified place) is also worth a visit but as few English speaking tourists get here there is nothing in English so it is hard to decipher what you are looking at (that's a problem everywhere including St Pete's but worse in the less visited areas).
With our short visit there over we hit the road for the final melee into Moscow!
Moscow
Nothing prepares you for the hub-bub that is Moscow. We found our way to Paveletskaya Square fairly easily with the help of Neil's detailed city maps and a GPS but finding the apartment from that point wasn't easy. The square was crowded and busy even when we arrived at 9.30 at night and it took a while to get into contact with Andrie (ph: +7 (903) 589 0213) who was the local contact we had been given from Passport Travel. Finally we found one another and found the apartment – we had parked almost out the front of it but as no-one could speak English and our Russian phrase book and ‘Translator' wasn't great we couldn't find the place.
The accommodation (GPS 55°43'45”N 37°23'44”E) turned out to be pretty good even though the Viv and I slept on a blow up mattress, Gay on a divan, the power went off for over 12 hours, the kitchen sink drained onto the floor and the washing machine wouldn't open its front-loading door. For the price of about A$1600 for 4 nights for all of us it was very good – especially for Moscow, which is very short on hotels and accommodation for visitors. Tourism is growing at 7% a year with nearly 5 million visitors last year and they can't keep up
Then while on the way to our 6 th floor apartment, Viv and I, and Rod and Kate got stuck in the very small lift. We were there for nearly an hour before being rescued by Emergency Services! It wasn't pleasant but we made the most of it – we had two cans of beer in our bag as well as a can of G&T for the girls!!
We then took the vehicles to a secure parking lot about 10 minutes drive away at Proletarskaya Sqare where they were to stay for a few days behind high steel fences. It's only two stops away by subway but it was a late night before we got back to the apartment and got to bed!
We spent the next couple of days around Red Square and the kremlin. We caught a tourism bus to get an overall view of the city of 12 or more million but stayed around the centre of the city as there is much to see in and around the Kremlin. The Cathedral of Christ the Savior whose domes again dominate the skyline along the Moscow River was originally built between 1839-1883 to commemorate Russia's victory over Napoleon. Stalin had it knocked down so a giant bust of Lenin could take its place – while a swimming pool too up most of the grounds. But in time for Moscow's 850 birthday in 1997 a world wide fund raising took place to rebuild the cathedral. At an estimated cost of US$350 it was completed to its original design and opened in 2000. It is great!
The 99-metre statue of Peter the Great on board a sailing ship, just downriver commemorates the 300 birthday of the Russian navy. We took in the view of the city from a high point not far from the impressive building of the major university – there were a lot of multi storey cranes on the sky line as the city has been gripped with a building frenzy. Even skyscrapers are now appearing – for better or for worse!
We checked out the inside of the Kremlin – or as much as you can but we couldn't get into the Armoury and the Gold Room as they have limited places and tickets only go on sale a few times a day. The cathedrals inside the Kremlin were worth looking at, while the spectacular St Basil's Cathedral is at one end of the square. The long GUM store that lines one side of Red Square is now filled with rich and exclusive brands – a far cry from the old USSR days when long queues lined up for mainly empty shelves.
The old police state isn't finished with though – inside the kremlin and outside there's uniformed whistle blowing police stopping all sort of minor misdemeanors while dark clothed earpiece wearing agents wander the grounds stopping you filming if you have a ‘big' video camera. I couldn't take my SLR into the Kremlin as its front lens was bigger than 70mm in diameter; then because it looked professional they slugged me double in the cloak room for storing it!
Our last day in Moscow was spent sorting out emails, skyping a few people on the computer and checking out the square. Tomorrow we'll head for the Kazakhstan border 1600km or so away!
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Link
to Picture Gallery Page for Western Russia.
We made it into St Petersburg and our hotel – Elizar Hotel, staffed by some lovely girls, especially helpful were Katrina and Natalie.
Our group in front of the Blood Church.
The famous Hermitage – we joined the long queue and then spent a few hours wandering around the hundreds of rooms (well some of them anyway) – it's hard to describe the pure grandure of this place, not to mention the fabulous art of the old masters.
Part of the Summer Palace.
We stopped for a look around one of the bigger towns of Rostov – Veliky and visited its famous churches and Kremlin; the girls had to put on skirts and scarfs provided to enter one of the churches.
The view from our apartment – across a very busy construction zone (and very noisy).
The beautiful Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which was rebuilt in the 1990s for a mere $350 million.
Ron standing beside the mammoth gun, the Tzar's Cannon, cast in 1586, in the grounds of the Kremlin.
