For The Love of Travel

Beautiful sunny day to wake up to in Plyos, followed by an incredible breakfast as only Chastnyy Vizit can put together – smoked salmon with salmon roe option; cherries; freshly squeezed orange juice; omlette with bacon and cherry tomatoes; and if I’d agreed….blini’s; more dessert options like jam-filled doughnuts…..off on the next journey.

Kostroma has an incredible monastery on the Volga river, the Ipatievsky monastery. This is where a young Mikhail Romanov was holed up in the 17th century before going to Moscow to ascend the throne of Tsar. Founded around 1330, over the years the monastery has played host to Catherine the Great and Nicholas 11. After the Bolshevik revolution, the monastery was closed and the majority of treasures transferred to Moscow. Today, the Russian Orthodox church runs the site as a working monastery and museum. Today, my picture of the monastery included a fisherman enjoying the beautiful sunny day on the opposite bank, and hoping for a catch of course!

A few hours drive to Rostov…lots of roadworks and bottlenecks on secondary feeder roads to the M8 freeway, made for a longer journey..….oy! Arrived mid afternoon and legged it to the Kremlin. No sooner than I got there, a thunderstorm and huge rain deluge….curtailed what I was able to see. Still, lovely frescos and iconography from the 15th century.

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Took a panorama of the side of the Kremlin (below), where you can see the onion domes of the Dormition Cathedral (left), the belfry, and St John the Theologian’s Gate Church (right).

The Moscow baroque style of the Hodegetria Icon Church, decorated outside with a pattern of triangles which gives it the effect of reliefs from afar.

And another lovely chrysanthemum, after the storm….

Plyos, the pearl of the Volga, is a tranquil town of old wooden houses and hilly streets winding down to the river. 

The town’s historical renown stems from an artist’s retreat in the late 19th century, Issac Levitan, Russia’s most celebrated landscape painter. It was he who made the view from Sobornaya Hill, one of Russia’s most recognised images.  Plyos became wealthy in the 19th century and brick buildings were built there when the small town on the Volga became a centre for bread and fish trade in Russia.

The mansions of past merchants are still a delight to the eye on the embankment walkway.  In the 19th century, Plyos had already become a favourite destination as a retreat for the nobility, artists and other holidaymakers from Moscow on hot summer days.  It was at this time, when Plyos was a holiday town that the painter Issac Levitan came here with his friends. Plyos’ themes were reflected in Levitan’s paintings called Quiet Abode and Evening Bells, as well as in many others.

The Church of the Resurrection dominates market square and was built in the 19th century in honour of the victory over Napolean. During the Soviet era, the church was closed and fell into disrepair. In the early 2010’s, the church was resurrected thanks to a large sum of money from the then Russian President Medvedev.

Ex-Prime Minister Medvedev’s multibillion-rouble, 80 hectare country estate made history in the area, with anti-corruption activists claiming it has a murky money trail. Politician Alexey Navalny, published a drone video that shows the 19th century manor buildings, guest houses, staff hotel, private ski run, 3 helipads and a multi-tiered pool.

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The delightfully quirky Chastnyy Vizit hotel was my home for the night. Excellent customer service, hospitality, delicious food with elegant presentation.

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Vladimir was one of the country’s medieval capitals (in the 12th and 13th centuries), with significant buildings surviving from this time.  It’s original purpose was as a defensive outpost for the Rostov-Suzdal region.  It had a “Golden Age”, between 1108 and 1237, during which time it enjoyed immense growth and prosperity. Scores of Russian, German and Georgian masons worked on Vladimir’s white stone Cathedrals, monasteries, towers and palaces. Vladimir was besieged by Mongols in 1238 under Batu Khan and never fully recovered – Moscow superceded Vladimir in the 14th century as the seat of the “Grand Prince”.

The magnificent 5-domed Assumption Cathedral was designed as a sepulchur of grand princes, built in a 4 year period in the 12th century, and painted (icons and frescos) by the great Andrei Rublev and Daniil Chyorny in the 13th century.

The Cathedral of St Demetrius was built as a private chapel of Vsevolod the Big Nest (who was the Grand Prince of Vladimir during the “Golden Age” and reigned for over 30 years), in the courtyard of his palace.

The Golden Gate was initially a tower over the city’s main gate; then was topped with a barbican church – the structure survived the Mongol destruction of the city in 1238. But had deteriorated by the 18th century, so Catherine the Great ordered the vaults and barbican be demolished. The two flanking round towers were constructed to reinforce the structure and a new barbican was built.

St Nicholas Galeyskaya church has frescos dating back to the 12th century, and a spring theme happening around the church and altar, a member of the congregation explained to me. Lovely pink chrysanthenums in the little church garden as well.