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| Mike and Yvonne in front of the MS Sergei Yesenin. She is the second ship from the pier, with the lettering visible on her bow. This picture was actually taken in St. Petersburg, the morning we arrived in that city. |
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| The Moscow River Terminal. The building was obviously once very beautiful but is now in pretty bad shape. It is slated to be rebuilt. |
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| Leaving the first of 17 locks that we passed through. This picture was taken about 9:30 at night. Because of how far north we were, it does not get dark until very late in the evening in summer; hence the term "white nights." |
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| Entering another lock, this one with steel gates. Some had wooden gates. This picture was taken from the aft sun lounge on the top deck of the ship. |
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| We had never seen a lock like this. This gate is on the upstream (high water) end of the lock. When the ship is raised up to high water level, the gate "folds down" (note tracks in walls) instead of swinging open, and the ship simply sails over the top of the gate |
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| Sailing along the waterways, one sees lots of unidentified small towns and villages and each one has a church whose steeple can easily be seen. |
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| When the locks were built, reservoirs were created behind them, and over 700 towns and villages were inundated. This church steeple is all that remains visible of one such town. It is not a tower built on an island. |
Our “floating hotel,” the MS Sergei Yesenin, was originally
built for travel by the Russian elite in 1984.
She has been refurbished twice (2002 and 2013) and provides a truly
intimate and friendly atmosphere for her 96 passengers. A crew of 42, including officers, sailors,
kitchen and dining room staff, housekeeping, and reception desk staff worked
tirelessly to take care of all of the passengers. In addition to our tour group of
approximately 26 Americans and 4 Canadians, there were two other tour groups on
board: A Norwegian group and a Danish
group, both approximately equal in numbers to our group. Fifty-five cabins on two decks accommodated
passengers, tour guides, on-board musicians, and officers. “Public areas” on the ship included the
dining room, a glass-enclosed library/reading room/sightseeing area, a
bar/entertainment area, and the aft sun deck.
The 2013 renovation removed the theater/conference room on the third
deck and replaced it with six balcony suites.
Our cabin was cozy, but totally adequate for our needs. Service was impeccable and the ship was
spotless. Our tour guide, Galia, was
marvelous, very knowledgeable, and helpful beyond what any tourist should
expect. The on-board musicians were very
talented. Meals were varied and four
entrée options were offered for both lunch and dinner each day. We were very pleased with our overall
experience.
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| Dining room aboard the ship. Breakfast was always served buffet-style. Lunches and dinners were usually four-course meals served by a very attentive wait-staff |
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| Dinner menu for Monday, June 7. This particular night, there was only one soup served, so no soup choice was listed on the menu. We happened to pick exactly the same meal that night. |
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| Sushi, served as an appetizer the night of the Captain's Farewell Dinner. This was our table-mates' appetizer - neither of us is a fan of raw fish - but it looks pretty. |
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| Mike in the bar / entertainment lounge |
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| Igor, one of a trio of on-board musicians, plays classical guitar as beautifully as anyone we've ever heard. He also served as the ship's photographer on shore excursions. The man seated behind him, next to the window, is the accordion player. |
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| Seated at the bar for a before-dinner drink on the evening of the Captain's Farewell Dinner |
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| Our waitress (front), the dining room manager (back to camera), and the singer from the trio, in traditional costumes on the night of the vodka and caviar-tasting party |
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| Like sailors everywhere, when the ship is docked, you either paint or clean. In this case, they were cleaning the hull while we were tied up in Goritsy. |
Our first port of call was Uglich, located on the bank of
the Volga River in the Yaroslavl Region.
This historic town is Russia’s second-oldest city, dating back more than
1,000 years, and reaching the peak of its prosperity during the 15th
century. In 1591, the most famous event
in Uglich’s history occurred.
Ten-year-old Prince Dmitry, the youngest son and only living heir of Czar
Ivan the Terrible, had been sent into exile in Uglich some seven years earlier. The boy was found murdered - his throat cut –
which led to a dynastic period referred to in history as the “Time of
Troubles.” By the end of the 17th
century, Uglich had become a place of pilgrimage following the construction in
1690 of the Church of St. Dmitry on the Blood, built to honor the slain prince,
who has since been canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
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| St. Dmitry on the Blood Church in Uglich. Originally a wooden chapel was built on the site to honor the boy, then a wooden church. This church was built in 1692. |
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| Frescoes inside St. Dmitry on the Blood Church. Although Boris Godunov, the pretender to the Russian throne, was suspected of having the boy murdered, it was never proven and it can only be said that he died under "mysterious circumstances." |
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| One of many vendor stalls in Uglich, this one selling Matryoshka dolls, more commonly known as Russian nesting dolls. Note in the lower right corner of the display dolls featuring President Trump, President Putin, and British Prime Minister Theresa May |
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| Approaching Uglich, on the Volga River, getting ready to dock. The ship in front of us is another vessel from the same company. We ended up following her all the way to St. Petersburg. (You can also see her, lights ablaze, in an earlier picture where we were exiting the first lock.) |
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| Another unidentified church, with beautiful golden domes, along the river. The features below the domes appear to be crescent moons. |
The city of Yaroslavl was our next stop. Founded in 1010 by Prince Yaroslav the Wise,
the son of Russia’s first Christian Grand Prince, Vladimir the Great, the city
pre-dates Moscow by more than a century-and-a-quarter. Prince Yaroslav arrived at the confluence of
the Volga and Kotorosl Rivers to suppress a hostile pagan tribe that was
raiding passing merchant ships. The city
eventually became a political, economic, and cultural center. Today, it boasts a population of 650,000
people, who work in diverse industries such as oil refining and rubber tire
manufacturing. As our local television stations like to point out, there is a St. Louis connection with Yaroslavl. Vladimir Tarasenko, right-winger for the St. Louis Blues hockey team, was born in Yaroslavl in 1991.
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| Park built at the confluence of the Volga and Kotorosi Rivers to commemorate the Millennial Anniversary of Yaroslavl. Everything we read or were told says the city was founded in 1010, but the city crest, with the bear and halberd, says 1008. |
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| Yaroslavl's WWII Memorial with an eternal flame, with the Assumption Cathedral in the background |
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| Assumption Cathedral, originally built in 1215, was damaged during the 1918 Yaroslavl Rebellion, and then blown up by the Soviets in 1937. After the fall of the Soviet Union, it was rebuilt over a five year period, 2005-2010 |
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| Church of Our Savior on the City, Yaroslavl |
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| Church of the Prophet Elijah, built between 1647 and 1650 |
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| The Church of Elijah the Prophet boasts a magnificent iconostasis and some of the best 17th century frescoes to be found anywhere in Russia. |
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| The church is now a museum, part of the Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve, although services are occasionally held there. |
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| According to legend, the first church in Yaroslavl was dedicated to St. Elijah because it was on his feast day that Yaroslav the Wise killed the bear. |
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| Church of the Epiphany in Yaroslavl, built between 1684 and 1693 |
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| This Soviet-era building (note the two communist hammer-and-sickle symbols above the windows) now serves as Yaroslavl's City Hall. |
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| The Spassky (or Transfiguration) Monastery dates back to the 12th century. It served not only as a monastery, but as a kremlin (fortress) as well. Much of it has been restored but this section, once the monks' residence, has yet to be done. |
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| Normally these bells would be mounted in a bell tower, but they are mounted at ground level so visitors can see first-hand how a single bell ringer can ring all of the bells to create beautiful melodies. Note all of the ropes tied to the clappers and held in the hands |
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| This cupola, with an iron fence around it, stands opposite Assumption Cathedral. Newly-married couples often place a padlock on the fence, signifying that they are forever locked together. |
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| Yvonne poses with a carved bear, the symbol of Yaroslavl. Legend has it that when Prince Yaroslav defeated the pagan tribe, they released a sacred bear to kill him. He felled the bear with one blow of his ax. |
The tiny town of Goritsy, on the Sheksna River, was stop
number three. The village was once the
center of one of the largest accumulations of monasteries in Russia. The Kirillo-Belozerskiy monastery dates back
to 1397. It resisted attacks from Poles
and Lithuanians for centuries, but could not withstand the Bolsheviks after the
1917 revolution. The monks were shot or
sent to labor camps, but unlike many monasteries, this particular one was not
turned into a prison camp. Resurrection
Convent was founded in 1544 by Princess Yefrosiniya, wife of the youngest son
of Ivan the Great. In 1563, then-Czar Ivan the Terrible uncovered a plot by Yefrosiniya and others to overthrow him and install her own
son as Czar. Ivan ordered her exiled to
the very convent she had founded nearly twenty years earlier. She began appealing regularly to the Czar to pardon
and release her. Tired of her constant
pleas, Ivan sent word to the convent that the princess was to be freed. He sent a ship to Goritsy which picked her
up, then promptly took her to the middle of the Sheksna River and drowned her,
in accordance with the Czar’s orders. Despite
the ravages of history, it has preserved its historic grandeur. Today, more than 100,000 visitors stop here
annually on their journey between Moscow and St. Petersburg.
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| The Kirillo-Belozerskiy Monastery (black roof) and the Resurrection Convent (green roof) in Goritsy, are both undergoing major renovation. |
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| The average high temperature in Goritsy in January is 18 degrees F (minus 8 degrees C) and the average low temperature is 6 degrees F (minus 14 degrees C). A good supply of firewood is essential. |
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| Old log barn in Goritsy being restored by jacking the building up and replacing logs that had rotted. Note that a new concrete foundation has also been poured. |
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| More churches along the Sheksna River |
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| And another large town with several large churches visible. |
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| This picture was taken in the same town as the previous one. These buildings appear to be apartments, and from the architectural style, could be 1950's or 1960's Soviet-era construction. |
Situated in the geographical center of Lake Onega, the
seventeenth-largest fresh-water lake in the world, is Kihzi Island, our fourth
port of call. At one point in the 16th
century, the pogost, or parish
center, produced lumber and iron, and had an economy that sustained over one
hundred towns and villages. The
prosperity waned and by the 1950’s all of the original villages disappeared,
leaving few inhabitants on the mostly-neglected island. Today, Kihzi is an outdoor museum of
fascinating restored historic wooden structures. The remarkable Transfiguration Cathedral was
built in 1714 without the use of any nails, except for those used to fasten the wooden shingles to its twenty-two domes. It is currently undergoing exterior repairs which, true to its origins,
are being done without the use of nails. The modest Chapel of the Resurrection of
Lazarus was built in 1391, making it the oldest standing wooden church in
Russia.
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| Transfiguration Cathedral, viewed from the deck of our ship as we approach Kihzi Island. |
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| The Transfiguration Cathedral is unheated, and is considered a "summer church." No services are or were held there during the winters. |
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| The alter was laid June 6, 1714, according to a cross inside the cathedral that is inscribed with the date. It replaced an older church that stood on the same spot but was destroyed by fire when lightening struck it. |
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| Legend has it that the main builder used one ax for the entire construction. He then threw the ax into the lake, with the words "there was not and will be not another one to match it." |
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| There are approximately 180,000 nails securing 60,000 shingles on the roof and the twenty-two domes. |
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| A craftsman cuts shingles by hand. The shingles are made from aspen trees, while most of the rest of the wood of the church is pine. |
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| Close-up of a replacement dome, with shingles already attached, ready to be mounted on the roof. |
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| For a perspective of how big the domes really are, that's Mike - all six feet of him - standing in front of four new domes. |
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| Interesting wood rail fences to keep cattle penned up, and a grain storage building next to it. Mice in the grain were a problem, so a "cat door" was built into the entrance to the grain storage building. |
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| A typical Kihzi Island home. Because of the extremely cold winters, cattle were kept inside. The "barn" is the section of the building to the left of where the balcony ends. |
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| Typical trim on the balcony and roofline. The pointed piece, hanging down from the pinnacle of the roof was not only decorative, but it served to channel rain or melting snow away from the walls, lessening the chances of the logs rotting. |
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| Unlike most windmills, where the pitch of the blades can be adjusted to catch the wind, this windmill is built on a turntable, and the entire structure can be rotated to face into the wind. |
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| The Chapel of the Resurrection of Lazarus, built in 1391, is the oldest wooden church still standing in Russia today. |
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| There is a great deal of logging in the forests of northern Russia. We saw many places along the lakes and rivers with huge stockpiles of logs, many more logs being transported on freighters, and quite a few sawmill operations. |
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| On Lakes Ladoga and Onega, and on toward St. Petersburg, we saw quite a few fast hydrofoils; fewer further south toward Moscow. |
Mandrogi, our fifth port, which is located on the Svir
River, was once a thriving Karellion mill town and fishing settlement. The village was devastated during WWII. After the fall of the Soviet Union, a group
of Russian investors bought the land.
The best of the region’s woodworkers and craftsmen were invited to
construct traditional Russian buildings.
Between 1996 and 1999, the settlement was recreated, with houses, shops,
and hotels. Numerous buildings house
shops where traditional crafts of weaving, painting, jewelry-making and so forth are demonstrated
and, of course, can be purchased. Other
buildings serve as museums; one popular museum is the Vodka and Moonshine
Museum. It contains a collection of over
2,800 different types of vodka from across the Russian Federation. Their website states “Theory with no practice,
as we know, is dead. Actual tastings
allow our guests to reinforce, in practice, what they have learned while
viewing the exhibition.” Any, yes, these
traditional “crafts” can be purchased, too.
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| Reconstructed buildings in Mandrogi. This one is a bakery. |
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| Handrails on the stairs leading into one of the buildings almost have an Asian feel to them - perhaps influenced by Tartars, the combined forces of central Asian people who once conquered Asia and eastern Europe. Today there are over 5 million Tartars and people of Tartar descent in Russia. |
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| This bear welcomes you to the Vodka Museum. |
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| We had a bar-b-que lunch on shore while we were in Mandrogi, and the musicians from the ship, in traditional garb, entertained during lunch. |
The river portion of our journey draws to a close as
our ship leaves Lake Ladoga, glides into the Neva River, and early the
following morning, our seventh day underway, docks at St. Petersburg.
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| Sunset on Lake Ladoga on our last evening before reaching St. Petersburg. The "Cruise of the Czars" was certainly a wonderful experience. |
We’ll cover our visit to St. Petersburg, the “Venice
of the North,” in our next blog.
Moscow to St. Petersburg by ship - 808 miles (1,300 km). Tons of great memories, and even though they
were made on the water, they still make great Road Stories.
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